Untitled Sermon (6)
This week examines what it looks like when a church exercises a culture of ingratitude. Gratitude, more than a good idea, is a biblical instruction (Colossians 3:16–17). As with other biblical instructions, when we omit it from our lives, we see the negative fruits that come about as a consequence. This week’s weekly text outlines the appearance of a life filled with neglect for biblical instructions. 2. Verses 5 and 7 will absorb much of our focus this week. Paul describes people who appear to have a godly nature but inwardly have failed to arrive at the proper conclusions. “Always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” How painful it is to be lumped in with those to whom this description applies (and we’ve all been there at one time or another). We see that those who fall in this category are likely to show some, if not most, of the characteristics listed in the earlier portions of the passage. These are the fruits of those who reject biblical instruction. How does this relate to our topic, gratitude? 3. What do the members of an ungrateful church look like? They focus on the “minors” in place of the “majors,” focusing on that which should be overlooked but neglecting the truly important things. Their perspective is generally negative, ready to pick out something that is not worthy of thought by the standards of Philippians 4:8. In general, they seem consumed with things that tend to drag them down. This general thinking is the root of ingratitude. Think of it as a captain steering a ship or a rider on the back of a horse. Whatever that person’s eye settles on will prove the actual destination of the greater body under that person’s control. The focus on the one steering determines the results. Whenever those in charge tend to get caught up in “what’s going wrong” rather than what is good, lovely, admirable, and so on, the body under their control will land right in the middle of what is wrong. 4. When a church body lands in the middle of what is wrong, several issues result. None of those potential issues are more detrimental than the impact upon the potential work of God in that church. When we focus on difficulty as a type of “wrongness” as opposed to a source of opportunity, we immediately shut down our ability to ask God to move in to and act upon that situation.Picture a vibrant plant thriving with regular care and attention. One week, however, maybe you get really busy; you forget to water it, or you don’t move it to the window with more sunlight. Over time, if the plant is neglected and not given water or sunlight, it starts to wilt and lose its vitality. We can see ingratitude in a church community as the neglect shown to the once-thriving plant. Just as a plant needs care and proper attention to flourish, the church body thrives on a sense of appreciation for God’s work in our lives (the source of our love for God, which leads to salvation, 1 John 4:19). When ingratitude becomes prevalent, it can lead to a decline in the health and unity of the church. 6. As with all biblical instructions, gratitude is an essential aspect of the life that God instructs us to live. The fact that we do not observe gratitude as widely as prayer, reading our Bibles, and worship attendance is a shortcoming in general church instruction. Gratitude for the work God has done in our lives is an inescapably fundamental aspect of Christianity. When it is lacking, all other aspects erode and become undermined, all the weaker for its absence. We grow weary in doing good. We forget God’s forgiveness. We take for granted the deliverance we’ve experienced. We become heedless of the need for these things in the lives of others. When gratitude is removed from our lives, we will likely atrophy as Christian individuals and as a Christian community.
