Thanksgiving: A Lifestyle

2023 Spring Branch

Ephesians 5:18-21; 1 Thess.5:18

Thanksgiving: A Lifestyle

The Book of Ephesians is laid out in this way: This is what God has done, this is who we are, whose we are and what we have. Therefore, live out of this; live out of this. Live out of what? Who God is. Who you are in Christ. Live out of the love, grace and mercies of God.

There was this life and lifestyle you once lived as you lived for sin, and for this world. There was a lifestyle and an attitude of discontentment that once filled you. But now, you are a new creation. Now you are in the truth, and you are no longer ignorant to the truths of God. You are not lost; you are found!

Divine life has come to you, making you alive to the things of God. Light has come to shed abroad in your heart.

At one time our hearts were aimless… wondering compasses on ships following every breeze… without direction, anchor, ability… dead in the water… but what?

By God’s grace, through His mercy...Christ came to us.

Our life came to us, and has saved us. The satisfaction of the soul has become a reality. The longing heart tastes of real food and real drink… and nothing else can now compete. You are too high of a creature to be content with anything or anyone else… Only God can and will satisfy…

There is now a source of life that we may be filled with gratitude, or thankfulness. “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!”

But what happens? The sinful nature and the serpent stir up discontentment.

We, as Christians, are called to a lifestyle… a Christian lifestyle.

18-21 - It is not a lifestyle of drunkenness or any other sin. No. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – This is the will of God: Give thanks in everything. This is the will of God… All throughout Scripture.

If God, or since God, is the Source of our Thankful hearts, and therefore the Ultimate Source of our Thanksgiving. What are we doing to quench that spirit? What is cutting off an attitude of gratitude, and a lifestyle of thanksgiving?

These bad habits, or practices may need to be examined:

1. Self-pity. 2. Complaining. 3. Entitlement… all of these are enemies of gratitude.

Self-Pity - You are self-absorbed, unhappy because of trouble, or just unhappy about you.Its all about your feelings or interests. Maybe the goal is to get attention, to get empathy, or it is a cry for help. As sinful creatures we are all prone to do this, out of our self-centeredness.

Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering/pain. We sulk and obsess over our pain, and it is all about us: Our rights, our importance… and we think more highly about ourselves than we ought… and we say “how could God allow this to happen to me.”

Bitterness and anger comes in, leaving us in a terrible emotional place. We constantly wallow in this, feeling sorry for ourselves. This is a dark place. This is miserable.

There is no thanksgiving here. We cannot see the blessings of God beyond ourselves.

2. Complaining - This leads us to a complaining spirit.

The Greek word translated “complainer” means literally “one who is discontented with his lot in life.” And it comes out of the individual with verbal complaint.

Philippians 2:14 - Do all things without complaining.

This is destructive to the Christian. This cripples the Christian. This also drives away everyone around them, and it misrepresents the Name of Christ.

A complaining spirit leads to envy and strife. It leads to resentment, fights, and quarrels. It communicates: You are unfulfilled. You are not content. All you can see is the bad. All you can see is what you do not have.

God is not enough. Christ is not enough. What God has given you is not enough.

3. Thirdly - Entitlement –You believe that you have a right to something, or you deserve something. If we are ungrateful, it is possible that we believe that we are entitled to have something or something more. The entitled person starts from “I deserve this or that.”

a. I deserve gifts. I deserve blessings. I deserve good health. I deserve a good family. I deserve a good job, a house, a dog, my fives senses, a good salary… and so on and so forth… And entitled people will always be ungrateful people...

Who can you give thanks to when you deserve all things?

b. Pride is the mother of entitlement. Pride keeps us looking at self instead of looking to God and His grace. Pride elevates self and brings God down. Pride demands; pride expects. And as long as this exists, we will never live lives of gratitude and we will not express a lifestyle of thanksgiving.

This message today may offend us today for different reasons, but lets face it: We are surrounded by and are immersed in a world that grows entitlement people.

The ads, commercials, the slogans, the campaigns… It’s all around us. And it gets into our heads and hearts that everything is about us, and everything should be ours...

Without a Bible, we don’t know any different. Even after saving faith, we fight against it daily. And it is the enemy of the Gospel. It is an enemy of our message. It is an enemy of the light within us, and it is an enemy of gratitude and thanksgiving.

2. How can we wage war against entitlement and cultivate an attitude of gratitude?

*We must come into the truth and believe that God owes us nothing and this world owes us nothing. Without this reality and humility, we will not experience Christianity fully… and we will suffer from our own pride and entitlement spirit.

a. Believe and remember the Gospel message. Christ makes me who I am. Christ is enough. Remember who you are in your sins and trespasses, without Christ. Keep yourself in this humility by remembering the truth.

b. With this Divine Well… you can be filled with thanks and give thanks every day.

c. From the Source - As the Word of Christ dwells in you richly - Use thanksgiving to defeat the entitlement spirit and to grow a lifestyle of gratitude.

d. Enter every day with a “thank you.” As soon as you enjoy something, give a “thank you.” As soon as you are blessed, don’t give a second for pride to come in, say “thank you.” As soon as someone else is blessed… thank God for that.

e. The prophet Willie Nelson said: “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”

f. Spurgeon said, “It’s not how much we have but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” Think about and praise God for what He has already given you. It’s only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

Thanksgiving adds value. Thanksgiving enriches life.

Thanksgiving helps to eliminate bad attitudes and it tenderizes the heart for spiritual growth.

Listen: Entitlement, complaining, and self-pity will grieve the Spirit of God in our lives and we will suffer, along with the people around us, as long as we will let it.

“As long as we will let it? Do we have some power over our ungrateful spirits?” Through Christ Jesus, absolutely.

Now just start obeying Christ and see what happens to your life.

We can have… and we can start experiencing a lifestyle of Thanksgiving today.

Thanksgiving is not just a holiday, it’s an attitude we can practice, experience and enjoy every day.

Is there something to confess and to turn away from today:

1. Do you believe that you are entitled today? Do you believe that you deserve, that you have the right to, that God owes you… that the world owes you…?

a. That’s a big problem for people who want to experience the Christian life.

b. For others: Is it doubt, bitterness, anger. Are you mad with God?

2. Are you ready to wage war against your pride and entitlement today and experience the Christian life like never before?

Psalm 107:1-3 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so… Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy…