Thanking God for His Goodness

We

Our love for each other grows the corps all by itself.

A Life of Contentment

Next few weeks, when preaching on Sunday evening, going to explore what it means to appreciate God’s goodness to us. We’re going to think about gratitude, and how it can help protect us against sins such as selfishness, gluttony and pride. To look at how it helps us to see the beauty in what God provides for us.

God’s Blessings Need Careful Handling

And God does provide so many things for us. Just think for a moment of all the blessings in your life. Many of us have/have had jobs, homes to live in, children, grandchildren, even great grandchildren, spouses, brothers and sisters, cars, gadgets, hobbies, talents and skills, health. So many things, but they all have one thing in common: they are all blessings from God. Every one of them is a blessing from God.

But they also betray us. Because how we treat the blessings God gives us portrays how we think about God.

Story of the prodigal son, but looking at it from an angle I’ve not explored before. As we read the story together, start to think about how ungrateful both sons are: the younger, prodigal son and the older brother, and what that has to say about their attitude to their loving father.

God

Luke 15:11-32, p.1049

Luke 15:11–32 NLT

11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.” ’ 20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ 22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ 28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ 31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ”

The Younger Son believes His Father Doesn’t Want Him to be Happy

Luke 15:12 NLT

The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

This family holds a certain amount of land. To this point, the father has shared the family’s land with the two sons in partnership. The Jews considered family land to be God’s gift to their whole family.

But this is not enough for the rebellious younger son. Partnership with his father is not good enough. He wants sole control over his share. He demands separation of the partnership. In Jewish village life, this meant just one, shocking thing: the younger son wants his father to die. Division of the family’s wealth and land holdings would usually come at the very end of the father’s life and not before.

His father’s love has been poured out on him his whole, young life, but he rejects his father in the worst way possible. He rejected his love and showed arrogant disregard for his father’s authority.

He Wastes His Resources on Pleasure

Luke 15:13 NLT

“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

Why does he treat his father this way? Well, what he does next tells us all we need to know. He squanders his property in reckless living. It seems the younger son believed his father was standing between him and happiness. His pursuit of what he thought was happiness - living on the wild side, spending freely on whatever he wanted - was part of his plan when he asked for his share.

But instead of finding happiness he is left ultimately unfulfilled and miserable, until he comes to his senses.

The Older Brother Underestimates the Blessings He Receives from His Father

Luke 15:29 NLT

but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.

What about the older brother? His ungratefulness is as offensive as his younger brother’s. He rants and raves about the fact he’s had to serve his father whilst his younger brother was away apparently enjoying himself. But that overlooks the fact he’s actually been working in partnership with his father who has already given the other part of his land and wealth to his older son at the same time as the younger son received his portion. The older son would have received two thirds of the estate to his brother’s one third. The older son’s suggestion that he’s been his father’s slave whilst his younger brother has been away sounds rather hollow! And the goat he berates his father for keeping from him? It already belonged to him! He didn’t need his father to give it to him again!

More Than Enough to Go Round

Luke 15:31 NLT

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.

The older brother simply underestimates the gift he has received from his father. His father has to gently and lovingly turn his older son’s perspective back to his love and bounty. You’re still my firstborn son. I still love you. And there is plenty to go around he says. No one is going to run short - all that is mine is yours. I still have many blessings to bestow on you.

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Don’t Take God’s Blessings for Granted

The two sons in Jesus’ story have much to teach us about God’s blessings and our attitude towards them. As we remember all that God has given us, let us not be guilty of taking them for granted. Some people see the things God has given them as theirs for the taking to do what they like with. They take their possessions, the talents God has given them and the resources they have and simply waste them on reckless living. Let’s be good stewards of all God has given us.

Don’t Waste the Blessings God has Given You

Wasting God’s gifts on our pleasure and for our own glory leaves us as unfilled and miserable as the younger son. Just think for a moment of the celebrities you have seen over the years, people of talent and gifts like Elvis Presley, George Best, Marilyn Monroe and many others, who sought fulfilment in success and when that success no longer fulfilled them, slowly gave into reckless living until their lives were taken from them.

We may not live at such an extreme. But a failure to appreciate the blessings God has given us, and to use them in the right way will tempt us to follow one empty pursuit after another. Misuse of God’s blessings can very quickly lead to broken relationships, squandered opportunities and lost dreams.

Let’s use the blessings God gives us in the right ways.

Don’t See Blessings as a Burden

And unlike the older brother, let’s not see God’s blessings as a burden. Let’s not see them as hard work. Let’s not allow pride, jealousy, anger or self-righteousness get in the way of enjoying them. Let’s celebrate them instead.

Instead, Be Thankful

Instead, let’s remind ourselves this evening to be thankful for the blessings God has given us. Let’s remind ourselves that behind every good gift we have in our lives is a loving father who wants to show his love to us in the gifts he gives us.

So here’s a challenge for the coming week: This week take five minutes to write about how grateful you are for all of the wonderful things that you currently have in your life. Don’t long for what you don’t possess—instead, take stock of all the blessings you already enjoy and thank God for them. Sing and make music in your heart for your generous, loving Lord.

Next Steps

SB 390 - Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord

Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, Give thanks to God for everything. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, Give thanks for everything. Give thanks every day for everything  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Give thanks every day for everything  In the name of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20 Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 30158 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 390