Thanksgiving - Celebrating our Blessings

Give Thanks in Everything

In the United States, we set aside the fourth Thursday of November every year for a day of thanksgiving. This began in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln decreed a national Thanksgiving Day. It’s great to have one day set aside to focus on giving thanks, but for believers in Christ come on we know that God's desire for us is to live a lifestyle of Thanksgiving. For us, we could say Thanksliving instead of Thanksgiving.

So as we're continuing our Thanksgiving series. Last week we looked at the account of the 10 lepers and we learned 3 truths:

Jesus Sees Your Need. He saw their pain; knew what they were going through; He reached out to them.

Jesus Will Test Your Faith.

Jesus Is The Prize!

I’m really going to break down more this morning that Jesus saw their need.

Many people have asked, “What is God’s will for my life?” Have you asked that question? Do you want to know what He wants you to do?

Well, this morning, we are going to look at a passage that clearly spells out three things.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Those three things are: (1) Rejoice always, (2) Pray continually, and (3) in everything give thanks.

Rejoice always. This means not only rejoicing in happy things, but in sorrows as well. As Christians, we can rejoice always because our joy is not based on circumstances, but in God. Our circumstances change, but God does not. He is faithful. He is immutable, which means He cannot change.

Pray without Ceasing. Christians are to pray continually. Prayer is communication with God, and we must live every minute of the day in a constant, flowing, conversation with God. You should never find yourself in a place where you could not pray. “Constantly recurring,” not continuously occurring. We should always be in touch with God so that our praying is part of a long conversation that is not broken.

In everything give thanks. In everything? Yes. The Greek word is pas (pahs) which means all, every, each, each thing individually considered.

Notice something really important here, though. Verse 18 does not tell us to give thanks for all circumstances but in all circumstances. Evil, injustice, and cruelty exist every day in the world around us. Scripture never instructs us to give thanks for wicked, immoral, and sinful circumstances but to give thanks in them. Evil does not come from God, so we should not thank Him for it. But when evil strikes, or just bad circumstances, we can still be thankful to God.

Paul had learned that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). That is an amazing truth! Paul tells the believers in Rome that in light of their sufferings they are facing (Rom 8:18), we know (possessing information), because of all the evidence of how He has been faithful to His people, that God will work out all things together for the good of those who love God. God is able to make to make all of the suffering work out for your good, conforming to Christ, and His good, what He has planned.

We are to do these three things, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, because this this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now, let's understand the context in which this letter is written. Paul was writing this to a Christian community suffering from intense persecution.

Look at with me briefly at what Paul already wrote. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit”

And then 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men.

It says that they suffered the same things. When they chose to believe in the gospel, they became the targets of persecution. Was this something new? No, the Church of God has always suffered persecution. So now they became imitators of those who had suffered before them. Paul tells them that they are in good company, because Jesus suffered and faced persecution, as did the Christians in Judea before them, as well as Paul and the other apostles who were suffering because of Christ.

These early believers new that persecution was inevitable. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” … Remember, Jesus told His followers, “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first” (Jn 15:18) and “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20).

And still, as Paul writes a letter of encouragement to them, he encourages them to give thanks in all circumstances.

So how do we give thanks in all circumstances? How do we have an attitude of thankfulness when we are suffering, in pain, walking through a difficult trial?

How do we give thanks when cancer … spouse leaves us … work trouble … bullied at school or our friends turn on you or back stab you … family or a close friend turns on you for your faith …

First, you need to know …

God is fair and life is not. Don’t get the two mixed up. We see this in the book of Job. His friends accused him of suffering because of sin. False. Job suffered because Satan was attacking him. Why? Because life is unfair. And Job hung on to the character of God: His goodness, love, grace, mercy, and His faithfulness.

I want to give you 3 truths about God that will help us. Because in the difficult times, we can’t focus on ourself (it’s not going to be through our willpower, positive thinking?), or our circumstances, but we need to focus on God.

This is nothing new, but hopefully review. Hopefully encouraging to remind each other of who our God is.

#1 We give thanks because of

God’s Presence

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

God spoke this as encouragement to His chosen people, Israel, during a time of judgment, reassuring them of who He is. Again, as God’s people, we know that He is with us and that He is powerful and able to help us in whatever our need is.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.

This comes during a time of transition of the nation of Israel, when their beloved leader Moses is gone and now Joshua is leading the people. God was still with them.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

God, the Shepherd, is always with us, even during fearful times, He banishes the fear we feel and comforts us.

Matthew 28:20b And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (CSB)

Jesus promised His followers His constant presence with them while they make disciples of all the nations, and suffer the persecution that would come with that.

Jesus told Paul in Acts 18, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you.” (Acts 18:9-10a NIV) While in Corinth.

Paul learned this because when he tells about his first trial and defense in Rome, he tells Timothy, “Everyone deserted me … but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me” (2 Tim 4:16-17 CSB).

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

So fear not, do not be dismayed in your circumstance. Do not fear but be strong and courageous, even in your darkest valley, your darkest day, our God is always with you and He is there to help you.

These are promises from God! When you’re going through a hard time, take that to the bank! Cash them in!

Live out this promise. You might say, “It’s not easy for me.” Well, it’s not easy for me either. This is why we study the Bible, pray, learn about our God and His faithfulness, meet with other believers so that we all can grow in our awareness of who God is.

#2 We give thanks because of

God’s Understanding

Last week, we saw that Jesus sees us in our pain. That’s absolutely correct.

When it comes to God understanding what we are going through, I want to focus in on the humanity of Jesus Christ. Jesus was both fully God and fully human (Col 2:9). Because of this, He fully comprehends everything that we experience.

Jesus can identify with our feelings, including those times when we are in personal pain. Jesus became a human and experienced daily life just as we do. He was a baby, a child, a teenager, and then an adult man. As Jesus walked this earth, He selflessly poured Himself out for others. And just like you and me, He experienced and suffered embarrassment, humiliation, abandonment, betrayal, and rejection. He knows how it feels to be emotionally and physically broken by other people because He experienced it firsthand.

When you are in pain, whatever kind it is, know that God is not only with you but He understands. Jesus sees you and empathizes with you because He FULLY understands your pain. Maybe you think God doesn’t understand you and what you’re going through, but think again. He does.

So here are some things Jesus experienced as a human …

Young people, Jesus would have experienced many of the issues you find yourself in with your friends and your family. He faced rejection from His own family. His own brothers did not believe in Him (Jn 7:5). Imagine what kind of family tension and difficulties that caused.

He faced abandonment. The disciples, His closest friends, abandoned Him when Jesus was confronted and arrested (Matt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22; Jn 18).

He was rejected by His own people (Jn 1:11; Is 53:3). The Jews hated Him and put Him to death.

I’m not dogmatic about this but I believe Jesus didn’t grow up with an earthly father, that Joseph died while Jesus was younger as tradition says.

Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53:3 that Jesus was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Jesus knew sorrow and He knew grief. Those Hebrew words refer to more than just physical pain but convey mental and emotional pain as well due to affliction.

Think about his emotional suffering. Let’s think about the week of His death. His mental anguish was evident in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed earnestly and in so much agony for what was about to happen that His sweat became like drops of blood (Lk 22:44).

He was isolated from His disciples, He faced the illegal trials on His own, He hung there on the cross on His own, and in His humanity felt separated from God the Father.

Jesus endured the greatest suffering the world has ever known. The most traumatic event in history was the Son of God literally being crucified on the cross. Not only did He suffer mentally and emotionally, but He suffered physically as well.

Crucifixion was one of the most brutal forms of capital punishment in ancient history. The Romans perfected this method of killing that began centuries beforehand so that it caused as much pain as possible before death.

This turned into spiritual suffering as well. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus who was perfect, who never ever bore the weight of sin, and shame, and the guilt that comes along with that, Jesus literally took all of that upon Him on that cross when God treated Him as a sinner and God poured out His wrath on His Son for all of humanity.

Church, Jesus suffered as no human has ever suffered in history. He understands life, and He understands mental, emotional, and physical pain. He understands relational pain and spiritual pain.

So whatever you’re going through, I want you to know that God understands. He truly does.

#3 We give thanks because of

God’s Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:3-4a says this very clearly, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation ...

God cares about you. He cares about you when you’re hurting, when you’re suffering, when you’re in pain. He cares and He wants to help you.

I don’t know Greek, but I can read the guys that do know Greek. The Greek word Paul uses here is paraklēsis. Does anyone recognize that word? Jesus said it was better for Him to leave this earth so that the Paraclete (paraklētos) would come (Jn 16:7). That’s the word for Jesus uses to describe the function of the Holy Spirit.

I want you to understand the depth of this paraklēsis, God’s comfort. Paraklēsis is always more than soothing sympathy. Yes, there is an idea of soothing in this comfort, and we need soothing of pain when we are hurting, but the meaning of this word goes much deeper and has this idea of strengthening, helping, and making strong!

Pastor David Guzik, https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/2-corinthians-1/

So when you think of God as being the God of all comfort, when you think of the work of the Paraclete, you need to think of this in two terms: (1) an aspect of soothing and (2) an aspect of strengthening.

Yes, He soothes us in our pain, but it’s not just tenderly rub on the shoulder but He wants to give you His strength. When you feel the weight of your circumstance, when you’re in pain and you feel the screws tightening, it’s in that moment that God looks to you and says, “I want to be the God of all comfort to you. I want to be the God who is there for you in your time of stress, in your time of crises, in your time of difficulty. I am there for you the God of all comfort.”

Why does it say “the God of all comfort” and not just “the God of comfort? (1) This tells us that there is not a single aspect of our suffering that God is not concerned about in some way. (2) This also points to God’s reservoir of comfort. You can never exhaust God’s comfort. You’ll never be exhaust God’s ability to provide you with soothing and strength. The kind of comfort you need is in God.

I’ll say it again, God loves you and cares about you and He wants to comfort you in each individual situation you are in.

And God comforts us in many ways: through the wonderful promises of His Word, through fellow believers, and of course through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. God is always present to bring comfort to the children of God.

Let me point you to one more psalm. Pastor Jason referenced this last week. Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near the brokenhearted, he saves those crushed in spirit.

Conclusion

It is a command and the will of God to give thanks in all things (1 Thess 5:18). Not just when things are wonderful and going well, but also in the hard times.

We know all things work for our good, and that’s not always easy when we’re hurting real bad. But that’s when look to God, focus on Him, not ourselves or our circumstances and say, “Lord, I don’t know why You’re allowing this to happen in my life. I’m hurting bad. But I know You’re working in the midst of my situation.” I will choose to trust you live live in faith.

This is when we need to turn to the promises of God and thank Him for who He is and His goodness; that He’s always with us, He understands what we are going through, and for the comfort and help that He provides.

You have a decision to make. Bitterness, anger, resentment, or use me Lord. I hope we can all say we want to be used by God no matter how intense the pain is to bring good into a messy situation.

‌Whenever we’re struggling in one of these areas, we have a Savior who gets it. Our Savior, literally in every way, experientially, actually to even greater degree then we’ll ever know, understands your pain.

‌Do you know what that means? Jesus is the safest person to come to to process your pain. There is no one in this world who is safer than Jesus to talk about what you are going through. Our Savior is compassionate, empathetic, and an understanding person you can talk to about everything you’re going through.

In times of suffering, turn to Jesus, who comprehends and empathizes with your pain in a way no one else can. He is the compassionate, understanding savior we can always rely on to process our pain.