Why You Need to Be Thankful

INTRODUCTION

Last Sunday we began a new series for the month of November

I’m calling it “Living a Life of Thanksgiving”

That’s what it is—a “life,” more specifically “a lifestyle”

It’s not one moment, one day, one month, one time of year

It’s every day, every moment. It’s your “life”

Someone said…

Thanksgiving is a good thing: thanksliving is better.

But we must remember as Jerry Bridges says…

It’s not a natural virtue; it is a fruit of the Spirit, given by him.

And there are many things that hinder you from being thankful like “doubt, selfishness, worldliness, a critical spirit, impatience, coldness, and rebellion” (MacArthur)

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:2 that being “ungrateful” will be one of the characteristics of the last days

He also identifies this as a deed of the flesh in the list found in Galatians 5:20–21, “20…enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying…carousing…”

Not only do these deeds reveal those doing this “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (v.21), but they also act contrary to the fruit of the Spirit in verses 22-23

There is no thankfulness attached to these deeds

Thankfulness is a fruit of the Spirit not a deed of the flesh

You cannot be thankful when you’re acting like this

It’s only when you’re filled with the Spirit will the fruit of the Spirit be produced at that moment in your life

Each piece of this fruit produces an attitude of thanksgiving that is pleasing to God

(Review) Now, we heard in the first message “Who” we are to thank and focused on each Person of the Trinity

Scripture says we are to thank God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit

Now we’re going to answer a second question—Why are you to be thankful?

There are many reasons why we should be thankful but there is only one that speaks above all the rest and it’s this first one…

Because It is Commanded

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 says we are to “16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

“Rejoice” (chairete) means “to be glad, to take delight, or to express joy.” It is a present, active, imperative verb

Present (ongoing), active (subject causing the action), imperative (command)

This is to be a continuous, habitual action, carried out by your obedience to God

You are to “keep on rejoicing” regardless of the circumstance

D. Edmond Hiebert said…

"The Christian should meet adverse circumstances of life not with a spirit of stoic resignation but with a spirit of unfailing gratitude." 

Paul and Silas are a good example of this

After being beaten and thrown in jail, Acts 16:25 says, “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

They could do this for two reasons: one, they trusted in a sovereign God and not in their wisdom, and two, everyone was listening to them

Before the praise there was suffering but it didn’t diminish it

Verses 22-24 says they “tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them in prison…and fastened their feet in the stocks”

They had just been beaten and they are worshiping God!

That’s all you hear!

That’s what the other prisoner’s were hearing!

They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God

Paul later told the Philippians in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” writing from his own personal experience

There is a principle found in Hebrews 12:28 which says, “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;”

In other words, gratitude is the only service that we can offer God as we come into His presence with reverence and awe

In Acts 5, after the apostles were thrown in prison by the Sadduccees, they were warned not to teach in the name of Jesus, so they “flogged them” (v.40) and let them go

Verse 41 says, “So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

They were grateful that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for Jesus!

So keep on rejoicing!

You are also to “keep on praying”

This too is a command they were to obey all the time

Paul said this in other places too showing that this is a universal, Scripture wide truth

We are to always be in an attitude of prayer

Ephesians 6:18 says “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”

Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

Romans 12:12 says, “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”

Samuel believed it was a sin not to pray for Israel in 1 Samuel 12:23 when he said to them, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.”

The third command which is also a command and is used in the present tense to…

They are to “keep on giving thanks”

You are to personally give thanks to God

This is your responsibility, no one can do it for you

Why are you to always have these three disciples active in your life?

Because It is God’s Will

“this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”

It’s God’s will for you to “rejoice, pray, and give thanks”

To “give thanks” (eucharisteo) means “to be grateful,” “to express gratitude,” “to acknowledge God’s goodness actively, not just in feeling but in spoken or demonstrated gratitude”

We do this in many places and times

One is in the Lord’s Supper

The word for the Lord’s Supper is the Eucharist, which means “an act of thanksgiving to God”

This present, active, imperative verb is a command for continual, habitual thanksgiving as a lifestyle and attitude, not just an occasional activity

Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

This is what the Lord desires of His people all the time

Ephesians 5:20 says, “…always giving thanks”

Hebrews 13:5 says we are to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name”

This is to be our lifestyle according to Colossians 2:6–7 which says, “6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

The phrase “walk in Him” is the familiar NT term denoting the believer’s daily conduct (Gal.5:16)

Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Walking in Christ

walking in Christ means living in union with Him. It means to maintain a lifestyle patterned after His. “The one who says he abides in Him,” the apostle John writes, “ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (

The last phrase in this verse says “overflowing with gratitude”

Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Overflowing with Gratitude

The last of the four participles in verse 7, perisseuontes (overflowing), is the only one in the active voice. It is a response to the other three. Believers who are firmly rooted in Christ, being built up in Him, and established in their faith, will overflow with gratitude to God.

And that is God’s will!

You need to be thankful because you’re commanded, and because it is God’s will, and last…

Because God is Sovereign

The 1828 Edition of Webster's Dictionary defines sovereign as “Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe. Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey him.” 

Elaborating on the word “supreme”, A.W. Pink said…

sovereignty is the “exercise of [God’s] supremacy...Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him” (Gleanings in the Godhead, 31). 

One of the names for God in the OT is El Elyon, which means, “God Most High”

That name is speaking of God’s supremacy; God’s sovereignty

It occurs 31 times

Psalm 47:2 says, “For the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.”

Psalm 97:9 says, “For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.”

As “God Most High” He can do whatever He pleases

Job said in Job 42:2, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

Psalm 115:3 says that “our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.”

Isaiah 46:10 says, “...My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”

A.W. Pink again says…

“Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things "after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11).”

Charles Spurgeon adds…

“There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation-the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands-the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry (charity house) to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust.”

Psalm 95:1–3 says, “1 O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods,”

In this psalm, the writer is encouraging the people of God to approach Him in worship with hearts full of gratitude and voices lifted in joyful praise. It’s a call to recognize God's greatness, goodness, and sovereignty, and to respond with joyful singing and thanksgiving. It reflects a worship experience that is both vocal and deeply heartfelt.

Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

We are to thank Him because He is God

And as God He does what He pleases

It’s for His own glory

We need to learn to thank Him in all things because He is sovereign—in control of everything and everyone even in the most horrible of situations

During World War II, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Their barracks were overcrowded, filthy, and infested with fleas. Corrie wondered how they could survive such conditions.

Betsie encouraged her to obey 1 Thessalonians 5:18—“Give thanks in all circumstances”—insisting that God meant it for every situation, not just the pleasant ones.​

Despite Corrie’s reluctance, the sisters prayed and thanked God even for the fleas. Over time, they noticed something remarkable: the guards never came into their barracks, which allowed them to hold Bible studies and minister to other women without interference. Eventually, they learned that the reason the guards avoided their barracks was because of the fleas. What seemed at first to be a curse became a clear instrument of God’s providence, protecting them and enabling their ministry.​

As Betsie put it, “‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ … Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.” Corrie later realized that God had a purpose even in the hardships, teaching her to praise and trust Him, even for the fleas.

CONCLUSION

Why do you need to be thankful?

Because you are commanded

Because it is God’s will

Because God is sovereign

When are you to do this? “All the time”

You are to be thankful:

When praying (Phil.4:6)

When remembering His faithfulness (Ps.107:1)

When witnessing His deeds (Isa.12:4-5)

When experiencing victory through Christ (1 Cor.15:57)

When facing anxiety and worry (Phil.4:6)

When in times of trouble or testing (Rom.8:28)

When worshiping God (Heb.12:28)

Let’s worship Him as a result of our study today

Gospel

Let’s pray