1 Thessalonians 5:18 - Give Thanks in Everything

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Target Date: Sunday, 28 May 2023

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

Give thanks – εὐχαριστέω ĕucharistĕō - express thanks

More than simply BEING thankful or grateful, it is the imperative to EXPRESS that gratitude.

As the other imperatives in this series, the focus is plural: the church together should give thanks.

This corporate responsibility does not mitigate the individual’s responsibility for personal gratitude; to the contrary, it trains the individual believer to live a life of gratitude in each moment and circumstance.

As with these other disciplines, what we practice and teach corporately, we perfect individually. And what we practice individually, we overflow with corporately.

This derives from the same root as “joy” and “grace”. All these are inseparable in the believer – one will lead to all.

All – can mean all circumstances or all times. There is little difference in meaning between the two.

But the difference in meaning is not great, and Paul may have chosen an ambiguous phrase to cover both time and circumstance (cf. Eph 5:20, “give thanks always and for everything,” RSV). Paul never instructed the church to thank God for evil events but to thank God that even in evil times and circumstances our hope remains, and God continues his work in our lives (Rom 8:28).

Thoughts on the Passage:

Giving thanks must be as much a part of our daily prayers as petitions.

It is the ungrateful child who only ever asks and takes no time to give thanks.

Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving; indeed, their prayers should partake largely of the nature of thanksgiving.

There are times, we all know, at which thanksgiving is natural and easy. When our life has taken the course which we ourselves had purposed, and the result seems to justify our foresight; when those whom we love are prosperous and happy; when we have escaped a great danger, or recovered from a severe illness, we feel, or say we feel, so thankful. Even in such circumstances we are possibly not so thankful as we ought to be. Perhaps, if we were, our lives would be a great deal happier. But at all events we frankly admit that we have cause for thanksgiving; God has been good to us, even in our own estimate of goodness; and we ought to cherish and express our grateful love toward Him. Let us not forget to do so.

We should be thankful in every condition, even in adversity as well as prosperity. It is never so bad with us but it might be worse. If we have ever so much occasion to make our humble complaints to God, we never can have any reason to complain of God, and have always much reason to praise and give thanks

“Give thanks in all circumstances” (5:18). Paul is not asking his readers to thank God for tragedy and misfortune, but exhorts them to be thankful in the midst of the various and changing situations in life, be they good or bad. There are always good reasons for gratitude. In contrast to pagans whose lives are characterized by ingratitude (Rom. 1:21), God’s children are to be “overflowing with thankfulness” (Col. 2:7).

I am of opinion that a more ample meaning is included under these terms—that God has such a disposition towards us in Christ, that even in our afflictions we have large occasion of thanksgiving. For what is fitter or more suitable for pacifying us, than when we learn that God embraces us in Christ so tenderly, that he turns to our advantage and welfare everything that befalls us? Let us, therefore, bear in mind, that this is a special remedy for correcting our impatience—to turn away our eyes from beholding present evils that torment us, and to direct our views to a consideration of a different nature—how God stands affected towards us in Christ.

and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. – Ephesians 5:4

always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father - Ephesians 5:20

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. – Colossians 2:6-7

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and [prove yourselves] be thankful. – Colossians 3:15

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. – Colossians 3:17

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving - Colossians 4:2

This passage is not speaking of a simple “thank you” to God, although that would be often rare enough.

This command is for a meditation on the things we have to be grateful for, and making true gratitude express and heartfelt.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; - Psalm 103:1-2

This verse comes at the head of 6 chapters of psalms recounting the gracious dealings of God on a personal and a national level (103-108).

Otherwise, our hearts are not tuned toward gratitude; they are selfishly-focused and bent on acquisition.

We would not be so apt to protest against the idea of giving thanks in everything if it had ever been our habit to give thanks in anything.

Ingratitude is a characteristic of the ungodly:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. – Romans 1:21

Thanksgiving must be intentional and serious, being found on our hearts before it proceeds to our lips.

This is not to say we should stop our lips from thanksgiving until we FEEL thankful;

It is to say that we must push our hearts forward to gratitude when it lags behind our social graces.

It has been said that an unblessed sorrow is the saddest thing in life; but perhaps as sad a thing is an unblessed joy. And every joy is unblessed for which we do not give God thanks.

If God is sovereign, His hand is in every trial we face. God’s goodness, therefore, can be found in even the severest trial if we will but allow ourselves to search Him out.

To thank God at all times is to see God working in every situation to bring about the divine saving will. This is not to say that God causes suffering and affliction, but to acknowledge, as Paul does in Rom. 8:28, that God works for the good of the elect through every situation. For this reason the Christian is obliged to give thanks to God at all times.

for there is no event of our lives, which has not its bright side as well as its dark; no incident which may not be turned to good account, and therefore nothing for which we have not reason to thank God, if we view it in a right spirit.

This conviction of the divine sovereignty and providence leads to the command, give thanks in all circumstances. It may not be easy to see the bright side of a particular trial, but if God is over all, then his hand is in that trial; his own cannot but recognize his goodness and make their thanksgiving.

But the Apostle rises high above this when he says, “In everything give thanks.” He knew, as I have remarked already, that the Thessalonians had been visited by suffering and death: is there a place for thanksgiving there? Yes, he says; for the Christian does not look on sorrow with the eyes of another man. When sickness comes to him or to his home; when there is loss to be borne, or disappointment, or bereavement; when his plans are frustrated, his hopes deferred, and the whole conduct of his life simply taken out of his hands, he is still called to give thanks to God. For he knows that God is love. He knows that God has a purpose of His own in his life,—a purpose which at the moment he may not discern, but which he is bound to believe wiser and larger than any he could purpose for himself.

Do the children of God have the right to be chronic complainers?

Over the last century, with the suppression of the London Confession and the Reformed doctrines of grace, the Baptist churches of the U.S. have abandoned thankfulness for belligerence, becoming willing partisans in the cultural conflicts of the world.

The great Princeton theologian Benjamin Warfield told the story of a Christian man who traveled west during the days of the pioneers. One day he found himself in the middle of a gunfight in a wild western town. The whole town was in an uproar, but he saw one man who—despite all the commotion—remained calm, cool, and collected. The traveler was so amazed at the man’s composure that he said to himself, “Now there is a man who knows his theology.” At this he walked up to him and asked the first question in the Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man?” The man answered correctly, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” “Ah!” said he; “I knew you were a Shorter Catechism boy by your looks!” “Why that is just what I was thinking of you,” was the rejoinder. Young people who are raised on the biblical truth of God’s sovereignty as summarized in the Shorter Catechism grow up to be adults who possess confidence in God’s working for his glory and our salvation.

Thinking on this truth caused the Scottish preacher George Matheson to grow in spiritual maturity. Matheson had often trusted God to help him manage the near-blindness that he had suffered since childhood, but he could not remember ever thanking God for this dreadful affliction. Then he prayed: “My God, I have never thanked you for my ‘thorn’. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my ‘thorn’.… Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows.” Likewise, when we realize that God is sovereignly working in all our circumstances, knowing the faithfulness of his love, we will thank the Lord at all times.

We will become thankful not by means of reminders that we place on our desks but by coming to know God better and reflecting on everything that he has secured for us eternally in his Son. In short, it is through a worshiping heart that is directed to God that these graces arise in our souls.

We do not offer thanks so that God will continue His “good behavior” toward us.

Our thanks does NOT reinforce His grace in any way.

We thank God because we have received mercy and grace undeserved. When we deserved the serpent, He gave us the fish.

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. 6 Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, “I will never be moved.” 7 O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong; You hid Your face, I was dismayed. 8 To You, O Lord, I called, And to the Lord I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness? 10 “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper.” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, 12 That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever. – Psalm 30

Building Points:

Thanksgiving is not simply looking on the bright side:

We can be thankful for God’s ameliorating hand.

We can be thankful for God’s sustaining hand.

We can be thankful for God’s strengthening hand.

Sermon Text:

Today we will consider verse 18: Give thanks in everything.

I depart from the ESV translation we just read not because it is necessarily wrong, but perhaps too specific.

Literally, the verse says only: In all, thank.

Meaning, in all, give thanks.

In everything, express thanks.

And this seems to be a deliberate choice of the apostles to be vague by using the non-specific “In all”.

Because it can mean “In all circumstances”,

Or it can mean “in all times”;

It could even be seen, by its placement in this list, “In all your prayers.”

I would, though, like to highlight first that the verse does not say: In everything, be thankful.

Now please understand: we should BE thankful, but the command here is to EXPRESS that gratitude, that thankfulness.

Our heart must be involved, no doubt, but that is simply not enough.

It is not enough to be thankful inside; we must continually EXPRESS that gratitude.

It is easy to believe you are a thankful person because you always FEEL thankful, but the truly thankful person is the one who expresses that thanks.

Similar to the story we read earlier in Luke 17: every one of those ten cleansed lepers may have been thankful they were healed, but only a single one returned to offer his thanks.

Also in today’s verse, the RECIPIENT of that thanksgiving is not named specifically.

But we can easily understand from the context that the primary intention of the apostles is to direct our thanksgiving first and primarily to God, the Giver of all good things.

But in examining ourselves, looking to determine if “I” am truly grateful, we can also look to see if we routinely and habitually express thanks or gratitude to anyone.

Now this examination really only works in one direction:

And that is if we find ourselves rarely or begrudgingly offering thanks to people around us, we will very likely find we do not offer sufficient thanks to God either.

If we find it a bother to offer thanks to others, do we consider it less of a bother to offer thanks to God, who knows already the gratitude of our heart?

Because if we allow the heart of ingratitude toward others, it will likely be because we are ungrateful for any benefits, perhaps considering them our right or what we deserve.

Our behavior toward others, just like our words, pour forth from the truth of our heart.

But this test fails if we try to use it the other way around: the fact that we do routinely offer thanks to people around us makes no guarantee at all as to whether we offer sufficient thanks to God.

We might have just been “raised right”, always returning “Thank You” notes for gifts and expressing our gratitude for things done for us.

But some of those same people will offer not a single sincere word of thanks to God, either:

1. Because He already KNOWS we feel grateful.

Or 2. We take His benefits for granted.

Like a child who, every birthday, gets money from his relatives;

But then gets bothered if the gift is delayed or missed.

We EXPECT only happy things from God, and then are bent out of shape when something unpleasant disturbs us.

It is easy, when considering thanks to God, to consider Him to be One to only be petitioned, but never thanked.

For many, the only thanks we return to God is for the meal we eat or for the “day He has given us”.

And these are worthy things to thank Him for.

We should be thanking Him for these things.

We must realize that everything that sustains us comes from Him.

Including our very lives.

But if that is all we find to thank Him for, out of his manifold blessings, we simply are not looking hard enough,

or we are much more ungrateful than we think we are.

Sadly, for many believers, I think this is very much the case.

We think that by including some thanks to God that we are thankful people.

Perhaps because we remember the TRUE meaning of our Thanksgiving holiday or because we do remember without fail to stop and thank God for our meals.

But I would suggest to us all today that “giving thanks in everything” requires much more of us than many have, to this point, been willing to pay.

First, let’s consider this command to give thanks in its immediate context.

This letter, after all, was dictated and was intended to be read to the church.

So, picking up with the ceaseless prayer we discussed last week, the very next thing the apostles say is “in all, give thanks.”

I said at the beginning this “all” is quite ambiguous as to what “all” means – you can picture it as Paul, with a sweeping motion of his arm, saying “all”.

We might imagine that, on his return to Thessalonica, one of the members of that church came to him over what this “all” meant, asking him:

“What do you mean “in all”? Do you mean in all our prayers, or at all times, or in all circumstances?

To which the apostle would have, without much doubt, replied “Yes”.

It is not a matter of which; it is a matter of “all”.

In each prayer, at every moment, in all circumstances – give thanks.

So in the time remaining, let’s look at each of these opportunities to give thanks.

Do you, in the context of your regular, protected prayers with God, have a significant amount of time devoted to giving thanks?

And, please hear me when I ask, of those things you thank God for, do you truly FEEL grateful?

Is your heart filled with gratitude for them, deeply embracing God’s provision more than the things themselves?

Put into an earthly analogy: do you hug the gift to your chest, or cherish and hug the giver?

It your gratitude toward the thing provided, or to the One who provides it?

I think you will discover that it is much harder, it requires more time and consideration, to be more thankful to God than you are for the gift.

Colossians 4:2 (which we read last week) tells us:

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.

The very devotion to prayer we looked at last week is also a devotion to SEARCHING for opportunities to give thanks to God.

The church, indeed, the believer, has grown shallow if they EXPECT or worse, DEMAND, pleasant things from God.

But there are churches bursting at the seams who proclaim the benefits of being “a child of the King”, but who fail to understand that we are rebels who have been saved by God’s grace alone.

We, who were once enemies of God, have been brought into His kingdom, His family, by His grace alone;

It is not our prerogatives and rights we should be exercising, but our gratitude toward God.

The grateful heart reinforces our humility; the ungrateful heart justifies our pride.

We must resist the temptation to become chronic complainers, expert protestors, or anything of that sort.

Over the last century, many Baptist churches of the United States have left the London Confession and the doctrines of grace, becoming political surrogates and partisans in the cultural conflicts of the world.

In many places, giving thanks to God has been neglected, and with it, the practice of humility in our hearts.

Ingratitude is the mark of the rebel, of the ungodly:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. – Romans 1:21

But how many times do we make a real effort to recall, re-feel, and thank God for His blessings?

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; - Psalm 103:1-2

But if you will read them, this and the next five Psalms are LISTS of God’s benefits for which the psalmist was grateful.

Let them guide you in recognizing God’s hand in your life.

Many of these are spiritual; many of them are earthly.

For the believer, we can embrace the Giver for all good things.

I would prefer to think that we have not gone through the effort to thank God for His benefits, recalling each one, simply because we didn’t know better.

But now we know.

And so I suggest to each of us that it might be a very good use of our prayer time, even once a week, to leave off all other prayers to focus on discovering, with the Holy Spirit’s help, the great benefits we have received from God.

This understanding and the gratitude it churns up within us will inform every other part of our prayers, leading to greater adoration, deeper confession, more godly petitions, and a greater view in our intercession for others.

As one commentator put it:

We will become thankful not by means of reminders that we place on our desks but by coming to know God better and reflecting on everything that he has secured for us eternally in his Son. In short, it is through a worshiping heart that is directed to God that these graces arise in our souls.

And in the remembrance of these things, we will find our faith increased as we see God’s hand in all things.

One thing is for certain: we will not become thankful people without the intentional effort of giving thanks.

When we read in the Bible of “meditating”, that is what it means.

Not the non-sensical emptying or your mind and chanting some meaningless phrase.

Scriptural meditation is thinking deeply about the works and instruction of God, considering the things He has revealed.

And in this, allowing His truth to permeate our thoughts, feelings, and desires.

Considering questions and applications of God’s word and allowing the truth of Scripture to change us.

And it is the surest way to the peace of Christ within us.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and [prove yourselves] thankful. – Colossians 3:15

One word of warning before we go on: we do not offer thanks to God so He will continue His “good behavior” toward us. We must never think this is the case.

Many times, we offer thanks to others so they will continue their positive behavior toward us.

In a sense training others to be well-disposed to us.

But we must be certain that our thanks do not reinforce His grace in any way.

We aren’t thanking Him so He will be better-disposed toward us.

He is not required by our gratitude to continue His pleasant blessings toward us.

We thank Him because we have received mercy and grace undeserved.

When we deserved the serpent, He gave us a fish.

Our gratitude pours out because of His grace.

But outside these dedicated times of prayer, we are also to give thanks in all other times as well.

Whether we see it as “at all times” or “in all circumstances” it makes little difference. They effectively mean the same thing.

Because if we have applied ourselves to becoming more sensitive to God’s blessings around us, we will inevitably notice them more at the time they happen.

And the gratitude we feel will well up within us almost unbidden as we walk in thankfulness.

And we will find that we can be grateful in times that are unpleasant or frightening.

As we talked about Wednesday night, I will not call these things “good” or “bad” simply because that is our momentary judgment of pleasant or unpleasant circumstances.

And we do not get to define “good”; that is reserved to God alone to declare good and evil.

We even declare sin as evil only because God has declared it so. It is His judgment that matters.

Good and bad are defined by His word alone.

The great pastor Matthew Henry put it this way:

We should be thankful in every condition, even in adversity as well as prosperity. It is never so bad with us but it might be worse. If we have ever so much occasion to make our humble complaints to God, we never can have any reason to complain of God, and have always much reason to praise and give thanks

King David wrote a psalm (Psalm 30) to be sung at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

That house where prayer and thanksgiving were being constantly lifted to God.

In its twelve verses, it speaks directly to giving thanks in everything:

He begins with a general call to praise and thanksgiving:

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. – Psalm 30:1-4

But then he tells of his ingratitude in the face of God’s blessings:

Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, “I will never be moved.” 7 O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong; - Psalm 30:6-7a

But in the same breath, David then says:

You hid Your face, I was dismayed. – Psalm 30:7b

In David’s prosperity, he thought he would never be shaken.

Even the chosen king of Israel relied on the blessing and favor of God.

We all depend on that very blessing and favor.

And so, in the conclusion of his prayer of contrition, he concludes the psalm in verse 12:

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

I would, therefore, remind us all to look to the blessings of God each day, giving thanks in the moment, as we live in continual thanksgiving to Him.

And that brings us to the difficult times. How can we offer true thanks for something we would rather avoid?

There are some who would try to comfort us by taking us to the bright side, helping us to see the silver lining of the storm cloud.

This can sometimes be helpful, but often just serves as a nice saying.

I offer four things to keep in mind during difficult times in the hopes we will offer thanks in the midst of the trouble.

1. We can be thankful for the blessings that are unrelated to the trial.

Sometimes the trials we face tempt us greatly to treat them as the only thing in the world we have to be concerned about.

And if we allow ourselves to stew in that temptation, we might even think that we are being tried more severely than anyone else.

To that, I would point out there is only one Job, and you are not him.

And God does not require another one to teach us the lessons His Holy Spirit put into that book.

I am not suggesting you simply “forget it and move on” – nothing of the sort.

I am suggesting you keep the trouble in its proper scope and perspective.

For example, perhaps someone really doesn’t like you, and they have determined to do you some harm – perhaps by spreading a rumor about you.

That is a devilish thing to do, to be sure.

But does their disapproval, malice, or lie compare to the grace, mercy, and blessing you have received from the Father?

Pray for the person, asking God to change their heart or nullify their attack – that is fine.

But do not let it make any pause in your thanksgiving to God.

For those trials that are more serious or life-threatening, keep them in perspective as well.

Will they separate you from the love of God? No.

Will they remove you from His family? No.

Bring those petitions to God, absolutely.

But notice that when Paul speaks of his “thorn in the flesh”, he does so in 2 Corinthians 12, after taking care of more than 11 chapters of things that are more important.

2. We can be thankful for God’s mitigating hand.

There is no trial we face that could not be unspeakably worse if God had not protected us.

We have never been promised a trouble-free life.

But we see that even Job, the Old Testament example of suffering, received the trials only so far as the Lord allowed the Satan to proceed.

The trials we endure are meant by God, shaped by God, to bring about continued salvation and sanctification in us.

3. We can be thankful for God’s sustaining hand.

The promise of our Lord to “be with us always” is not idle; He is with us.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:15-16

What a wonderful blessing that is: He knows what we endure, and He helps us in our time of need.

4. We can be thankful for God’s strengthening hand.

We may, perhaps, not recognize this until we have emerged from the dark valley of trial, but we will understand that God has strengthened us through our ordeal.

[He] comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. – 2 Corinthians 1:4