Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning, I want to preach on the eighth Pillar of Christian Character.

That characteristic is Thanksgiving.

Christians are to be a thankful people.

Thanksgiving is a fundamental attribute that, I believe, is at the core of a Christ-like life.

In this series, we have already looked it seven other pillars of Christian character.

They included: faith, obedience, humility, love, unity, forgiveness, and joy.

After this morning, we’ll have two more to examine: compassion, and contentment.

The life of the church flows from these spiritual attitudes and attributes.

What people perceive this church to be, is a direct result of the character they see in the members this congregation: Is it a Christ-like character, or is it not?

Outwardly, we can sing the hymns, and we can pray the prayers, and we can go through the motions of worship, and we can sit and listen to the sermons, but if those things are not transforming you on the inside, then they are meaningless.

My passion for this congregation is that Christ would be fully formed inside of each of you.

It’s the thing that I pray for.

It’s the thing that I diligently study for so that I might present to you the uncompromised Word of God that it might dwell in you richly.

It’s why everything we do as a church ought to be motivated by the desire to see lives transformed.

This morning I want us to look at the eighth pillar of Christian character.

This is the pillar of thanksgiving.

God desires that we would grow in thankfulness.

It is an important characteristic of the Christian faith, and one of the Scriptural proofs that we are genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit.

I’ve chosen two texts this morning for us to look at.

One in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and the other is Luke 17:11-19.

The Thessalonian text is part of a general list of imperatives that the Apostle Paul gives to the Christians at the church in Thessolonica.

He comes to the end of his letter and reals off a litany of spiritual essentials: /Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing, Quench not the Spirit, Do not despise preaching, Prove all things; hold fast that which is good, Abstain from all appearance of evil./

And in verse 18 he tells us plainly: /In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you./

The Apostle’s meaning is pretty clear.

We don’t have to scratch our heads and wonder, /“What did the Apostle Paul really mean when he said ‘In every thing give thanks’?”/

In the Gospel of Luke, we have the story of a remarkable healing.

Ten men have come out from a village to meet Jesus.

But they cannot approach him because they are lepers.

Leprosy was a loathsome disease in that day.

It was regarded as an awful punishment from the Lord.

Anyone who had was considered a sinner and spiritually unclean.

In Christ’s day no leper could live in a walled town, though he might in an open village.

A person with leprosy was required to wear mourning-clothes, leave their hair in disorder and cry ‘Unclean!

unclean!’ to warn passers-by to keep away.

They could not speak to any one, or receive or return a salutation, since in that culture this involves an embrace.

Their disease cut the suffer off from every aspect of normal life.

They could not hold down a job and were frequently forced to beg.

Jesus commands them to go show yourselves to the priests and as they are were going, they were healed.

Ten men are miraculously and gloriously healed, but only one shows gratitude.

/“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.”/

(Luke 17:15, NIV84)

As we read the text, I think we witness a genuine hurt over the ingratitude of nine men who failed to show the slightest appreciation for what he had done for them.

Jesus had healed them of the most dreaded disease of the day.

Only one comes back to say ‘thank you’.

/“Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed?

Where are the other nine?

Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”/

(Luke 17:17–19, NIV84)

Among other things, it’s a story that illustrates how ugly ingratitude is.

I have felt for a long time that one of the particular temptations for Christians is the danger of taking God’s blessings for granted.

Like the world traveler who has been everywhere and seen everything and done everything, the Christian’s great sin is becoming blasé toward the blessings of God—getting so accustomed to them that they fail to excite us.

The result is that we become thankless Christians.

!

I. INGRATITUDE IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF PAGAN DEPRAVITY

#. in his letter to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul lists the roots of the problem with the human race

#. one of those root problems is thanklessness

* /" ... when they [the pagans] knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ..."/ (Rom.

1:21, NIV)

#. on the whole, the human race is an ungrateful lot

#. men do not want to recognize and honor God’s sovereignty in their lives which being thankful to Him would imply

#. there are many ways to tell if a person is a true believer or not, gratitude toward God being one

#.

our expressions of gratitude toward God and in what circumstances we offer that thanks will often indicate how close or how far away we are from God

#.

Christians ought to be a thankful people, yet we often display an attitude of ingratitude which is characteristic of the unchurched

!! A. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE AWASH IN A SEA OF NEGATIVITY

#. too many believers have forgotten how to /"count their blessings"/

#. instead, they /"list their misfortunes"/

#. "You wouldn't believe the week I’ve had!"

#. some of the most negative people in the world can be found within the walls of a church sanctuary

#. do you fuss and fume about every little thing in your life?

#. are you stressed out, disappointed, or depressed by things that don’t go just right?

#. do you feel that the world has not recognized your brilliance and industry and contribution to humanity?

#.

I think that few things grieve God more than the negativity and ingratitude of His very own people

#. when was the last time you really spent some significant time thanking God for anything other than a quick grace at your last meal?

* ILLUS.

If you are the average Christian you will spend 2% of your prayer time praising God; about 2% would be spent in intercession – praying for other.

Probably about 90% of your prayers are spent in supplication – asking God for those things you want or need or think you need.

Most of us spend only about 1% of our prayer time in thanking God for the good things He has brought our way.

!! B. ATTITUDES THAT DROWN OUT A SPIRIT OF GRATITUDE

#.

I believe there are at least four attitudes that steal away our gratitude and keep us from being thankful

#.

One is our pride

#. this is the attitude that says, /"Nobody ever gave me noth’in, I worked hard for everything I have."/

#. for years you studied hard and worked hard and now it is finally paying off

#. with this kind of attitude, we feel that we have no one to thank but ourselves

* ILLUS.

The great American writer Henry Ward Beecher once wrote, /"Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."/

#. another attitude that keeps us from being thankful is a critical spirit or spirit of bitterness

#. instead of being grateful, this person will always find something to complain about

#. this is the person who feels that life has somehow cheated them

#. a third attitude that keeps us from being grateful is carelessness

* ILLUS.

Emerson said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them.

We have seen the stars so often that we don’t bother to look at them anymore.

#. carelessness simply fails to notice the blessings of God

#. another sentiment that keeps us from being grateful is plain old selfishness

#. it’s an attitude that say, /“No matter what I’ve got, I don’t have what I really want.

I don’t have enough.

I just want more.”/

#. that attitude will really destroy a spirit of gratitude

#. ingratitude is an insidious sin which leads one down a path of spiritual stagnation