The Thankful Church - Week 1

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Church at the Cadillac this Sunday - 10:30 am - Barrett Fischer Parking Lot

Bring a Lawn Chair

PRAY

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Y’all want to hear something encouraging? Well, I don’t have anything like that, but I do have this — take a listen:

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NLT

1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

Have you ever noticed how awkward it is when somebody forgets to say “thank you”?

You hold the door for somebody — and nothing.

You buy somebody’s lunch — crickets.

You clean the whole kitchen — and somebody walks in and says, “Hey, you missed a spot.”

That messes with you, right?

Now imagine that kind of attitude in the church — a place that is built on the grace of God. And imagine we forget to say thank you to Him… to each other… to the people who serve us… and love us… and lead us.

It’s not just annoying… it’s dangerous, right?

So I’m calling on all of you right now to publicly repent for not being thankful enough for me. Now’s your chance to make it right and say thank you.

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I’m kidding, of course. Unless you want to offer me compliments… my love language is Words of Affirmation.

But in all seriousness — we’re beginning a quick Wednesday night series tonight called “The Thankful Church”. And over the course of the next few weeks, we’re gonna look like what happens to the culture of a church and what that culture looks like when we’re ungracious and unthankful of all that God has blessed us with. Not just the physical things — but blessing of relationships — and restoration — and freedom that He’s given us. We’ve got a family of people here and it can be really easy to be ungrateful for those things, right?

At the beginning of the year if y’all remember we did that series, “Our Tribe”, where we looked at what it means to belong to a church — and be in the family of God. And we looked at why we believe what we believe. We looked at some of the authority we have as church members. And we looked at some of the responsibilities of members of God’s Church.

But we also have some expectations as people who participate in this family of God, and that’s what we’re going to be exploring over the next three weeks. See, we’re called to be thankful — it’s a command from God — just like any other Biblical command.

Just like love your neighbor.

Just like honor your father and mother.

Just like follow God.

We’re called to be thankful people — who are grateful to God for all the blessings — even when times are hard, amen? But if we’re honest… we’re usually not those people, are we?

We’re really quick to forget the mess that God pulled us out of.

We’re quick to take the relationships we’ve built for granted.

We’re quick to even forget all of the tangible ways that God has blessed us — like a roof over our head — or transportation to get to work, or to church — or even just the fact that we can gather here in this place every single week and worship, right?

If I may be totally transparent with y’all — this is an area where I really tend to struggle sometimes. There are times — even as a pastor of Matthew’s Table — that I’m not super gracious or grateful for all that God has done to bless us as a church family… and sometimes I even complain about it.

Let me give you an example — so this building is like a hundred years old, right? So that means that there’s always something to fix here. ALWAYS. SOMETHING. TO. FIX. At least once a week John Clouse comes to me with something else broken and needing the money to fix it. (I’m beginning to think maybe he’s breaking the stuff so we keep him around… but at any rate,) there’s always something needing to be fixed — whether it’s a leak, or the air conditioner goes out (again) or we’ve got to replace something somewhere… to the point that a couple months ago I said to the elders that if this building catches on fire I’m just gonna block the entrances to 23rd Street so the fire trucks can’t get in and we’ll just let it burn and rebuild with the insurance money. And don’t y’all tell our insurance company I said that.

But seriously — I know some of y’all we’re with us during the days before we had this building — but for those of you who were around — y’all remember the Munday Center? We were packed in there like sardines and some days it was standing room only — people spilling over into the hallways and we had to set up and tear down all the chairs, and the equipment, and all of the supplies. And I can remember thinking “Man, how much better would all this be if we had somewhere permanent so we didn’t have to do all this.” And now look at me — trying to burn the building down.

Anyway — the point isn’t my own issues with arson — it’s that I’ve come to this place where I can be really ungrateful. The very thing that I prayed for I can now find myself complaining about if I’m not careful… and I’m sure a lot of you guys can relate.

So let’s dig in to this passage and see what we can dig out — and make sure that we’re not becoming these ungrateful people. Look again at Verses 1 and 2:

2 Timothy 3:1–2 NLT

1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.

Paul lists out all of these signs of spiritual decay:

People will only love themselves…

and their money.

They’ll be boastful…

and prideful.

They’ll scoff at God…

they’ll be disobedient.

And they’ll be ungrateful.

Well, that sucks… doesn’t it?

See ingratitude isn’t just rude — it’s a big red flag for spiritual collapse.

Because when thankfulness leaves our life — everything else starts to unravel. We stop appreciating our spouse — we don’t put in as much effort at work — we don’t care of the stuff that we need to be managing.

When gratitude is gone — grumbling moves in.

When we stop being thankful — we start being critical, right? When we’re not thankful for the ways God has blessed us with something… then it’s really easy to start looking for all the ways it’s not measuring up to us. That program might have looked real nice while we’re sitting in jail… but then a few months in it’s real easy to start complaining about all the expectations. “What do you mean I’ve gotta go to classes and Bible study?”

It’s because we start focusing on what’s wrong instead of what’s right. We’re looking for flaws — not fruit.

See that’s not just a personality thing — it’s a spiritual condition.

Look at how Paul continues in verse 3:

2 Timothy 3:3 NLT

3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.

He’s describing a soul that’s dried up. A heart that’s forgotten Who gave life to it.

You ever met one of those people who can walk into any situation and find something wrong with it? Like, they’ll be mad because a restaurant’s too noisy… or a seat isn’t comfortable enough… or it’s too dark … or too bright… and so on and so on. It’s like everything they do and everywhere they go has something wrong with? Those people are exhausting, right?

And yet — we can easily become those people too, can’t we.

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Actually Blaire and I were out of town several weeks ago and I saw this sign I loved… it said “If you think you can run this place better, make us an offer!” But it’s true, right? When we get negative we can start complaining about EVERYTHING.

That’s what a grumbling spirit does… it makes us blind to the blessings around us.

But look at the counterpoint — this is what we SHOULD be doing:

Philippians 4:8 NLT

8 Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

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It’s a choice — think about the things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Which means we don’t drift into gratitude. We don’t stumble into it on accident. And we don’t just wait for stuff to “get better” before we finally decide to be thankful. Spoiler alert — if you’re just waiting for things to “get better” you’re gonna be waiting till Jesus comes back.

Gratitude is something we practice. It’s a place we live out of and a place we’re always growing in, amen?

I mean — think about it for those of you who’ve been through a program or through counseling. One of the first tools a lot of folks in recovery are given is a gratitude list or a journal, right? And a lot of times you start by writing down three things you’re thankful for — even if they’re small:

Woke up without a hangover.

Got a text from a friend.

Didn’t throat punch somebody.

Those were my three from today in case y’all were wondering.

Gratitude helps us recover our sanity — and our perspective — and our hope.

When we lose it — we spiral.

Same is true for churches. Grumbling spirals become church splits. Complaints grow into division. And petty turns poisonous.

We get passive aggressive and things go unsaid and sometimes — even with the best of intentions — people get hurt because we never take time to seek reconciliation from things that separate us, right?

Let me give you an example — just last week. John Clouse texted something in one of the group chats he and I are in and he was asking a question. It was a genuine question about needing to find something. And me — being the sarcastic person I am — I know… shocking… I responded in a way that was unkind and unhelpful.

Now — my intent was to be funny. I thought what I was saying was lighthearted.

But then about 20 minutes later I went back and re-read it.

And it wasn’t funny… it was actually kind of rude. Not my intent — but also not very helpful.

And so when I re-read it, I thought “Ehh, John will know I was just being funny. It’s not a big deal.” But the Holy Spirit kept nudging — and nudging — and nudging. And so finally I had to send another message to the group apologizing for being rude and unhelpful.

And because Clouse is much more Christ-like than I am, he responded very graciously — and said no worries and we moved on.

But it got me to thinking — how many times do we say or do things that are hurtful or unhelpful that we don’t ever bother to go back and try to fix? How many times do we say or do things that we don’t try to seek reconciliation for?

Now look, I’m not trying to be the hero of my own story here — nothing I did was noble. Honestly I should’ve picked up the phone and called him — or even better yet had a face to face — but the point is — even little things that we blow off can sow seeds of hurt — and resentment — and bitterness that can turn into ungratefulness, right?

And when we start holding things in — and not seeking relationships — and reconciliation — then we get real dangerous. Because ungrateful churches can look Godly… but they can feel empty.

See in this letter to Timothy, Paul isn’t just warning about people outside the church. He’s warning Timothy about a group of people who are much worse. He’s telling Timothy to look out for church people. They’re the worst, right? They know how to play the part but don’t live the life. Look at how he describes them in Verse 5:

2 Timothy 3:5 NLT

5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

They’ve got the look. And they’ve got the right words to say. They know when to stand up and sit down… because they’re *super holy*… but there’s no transformation happening.

Why? Because they’re not living in grace — they’re just rehearsing religion. And without gratitude — even the most religious routines become hollow. See it’s not about serving more — or doing more — or showing up to everything — or even saying the right stuff or looking the right way — it’s about being in relationship with God. And it’s real hard to grow in a relationship with God if you’re always mad at his people, amen?

Gratitude is the bridge between just knowing the truth — and living it. Because gratitude reminds us — “everything I have is because of grace.”

Same thing happens in recovery.

You can memorize the 12 steps — and you can quote the slogans — you can even lead a group.

But if you’re still full of resentment — you’re not recovering. You’re just busy, right? Spiritual healing — and growing in a relationship with God — always involves gratitude.

So how does this apply to us as a church family? Well, a church without thankfulness is kinda like a plant without water.

I’ve got this plant in my office. It was a gift from a former employee of mine several years ago. And y’all — I suck at keeping it alive… because I always forget to water it. Thankfully Lisa Clouse knows I’m not a responsible pet parent so she makes sure it gets what it needs and stays alive.

But I mean — think about a houseplant that’s thriving:

It’s been watered.

It’s in the sunlight.

Somebody’s tending to it.

But if you’re like me —

Then you forget about it for a few days.

Then a few more.

And then one day you look and the leaves are all curled up… and it’s droopy… and crusty… and you’re like “Yep… killed another one.”

It didn’t happen all at once. It was neglect — a slow fade.

And the same thing happens to a church without gratitude.

It dries up.

We come to church and raise our hands during worship but it’s just because that’s what it feels like we’re supposed to do.

It’s like the joy just kinda gets sucked out of the room.

So how do we fight against that? Look at

Colossians 3:16–17 NLT

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Paul’s telling us gratitude should be baked into everything. It’s not a side dish. It’s the seasoning that makes the whole meal taste right.

And that’s what the Christian life is, guys. It’s one of gratitude. Because gratitude — being thankful — it’s what keeps us coming back to the truth. It’s the reminder that God didn’t give up on me — so I’m not going to give up either.

It’s the same with church. Gratitude helps us to be stronger — helps us persevere — and it’s what causes us to worship. And it builds unity within our church family. It’s hard to have a bad time when we’re all really excited to be here and excited about what’s going on, right?

It’s one of the reasons that our trips to the Cadillac and the Jail are so successful — everybody’s excited about our mission, and what we’re doing, and who we’re serving — and everybody shows up and pitches in to make it happen. That’s what gratitude in action looks like.

So here’s the challenge — we’ve gotta remember that gratitude is a spiritual practice… not a personality type.

Some of us are just naturally optimistic people. We just naturally see the bright side of everything.

But others… well… we think Eeyore had a pretty solid worldview, right?

But the things is — gratitude isn’t about our wiring — it’s about our obedience.

God doesn’t say “Be thankful… unless your life’s a mess or if you’re just kind of a pessimistic person.”

No — look at what He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

ALL circumstances. Gratitude isn’t a suggestion for us… it’s survival.

Because when we lose gratitude, we lose:

our joy

our direction

and our memory of what God has already done.

And so as we consider that — my encouragement tonight is to start asking ourselves some questions:

Where have I stopped being grateful?

Who have I failed to thank in my life — my family — my support system — all the people who are praying for me and rooting for my success?

And what would change in my life if I lived from a place of gratitude instead of complaining?

See this isn’t just about being happy and not being negative… it’s about living in the way that God calls us to live. Even when the circumstances are hard and life kinda sucks.

We can’t afford to be ungrateful people, because when we stop saying “thank you”,

we stop seeing grace,

we stop trusting God,

and we stop becoming like Jesus.

But when gratitude becomes our culture — and our conversations — and our worship — our church and our tribe — truly starts to feel like home.

Pray