The Capacity of Thanksgiving

Ephesians 5:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Introduction

The Turkey Popped Out of the Oven The Turkey popped out of the oven and rocketed into the air; It knocked every plate off the table and partly demolished a chair. It ricocheted into a corner and burst with a deafening boom, Then splattered all over the kitchen, completely obscuring the room. It stuck to the walls and the windows, it totally coated the floor, There was turkey attached to the ceiling, where there had never been turkey before. It blanketed every appliance, it smeared every saucer and bowl: There wasn't a way I could stop it; that turkey was out of control. I scraped and I scraped with displeasure and thought with chagrin as I mopped, That I would never again stuff a turkey with popcorn that hadn't been popped. written by Jack Prelutsky

Even in times like these we need a Savior! That is our objective today.. to learn today to be thankful for everything in all times.

 Thanksgiving is more than a holiday. For the believer, thanksgiving is a capacity of the heart-a posture, a habit, a lifestyle. We will learn from Paul’s letters that we are to give thanks always...for all things...in everything.

That means that thanksgiving is not seasonal-its spiritual.

Not occasional-but ongoing

Not circumstantial-but convictional.

This morning, let’s approach this idea of having an attitude of gratitude.  And...to gain an understanding of the overall capacity of thanksgiving to our Christian pilgrimage.

This morning we look at two verses from Paul’s letters that challenge us to be more thankful.

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 5:19–20 NKJV

19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NKJV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Prayer

Message

Our first verse we read was from Ephesians, Eph. 5:19-20. Paul wrote from prison to remind the believers in Asia Minor of their identity in Christ and the ethical lifestyle that flows from that identity. Chapter 5 is part of his “walk” section (4:1–6:20). What do the outward manifestations of the Christian life look like?

In 5:19–20, Paul explains what it means to be “filled with the Spirit.” Spirit-filling is not primarily emotional; it produces corporate worship, mutual edification, internal joy, and constant thanksgiving. These verses occur in the context of daily Christian living—not a worship service—showing that thanksgiving is a continual posture, not an event.

The second verse I read was 1 Thess. 5:16-18.

When Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, He was writing to a young persecuted church that needed encouragement, stability, and clarity about holy living and the return of Christ. Paul rapid fires with some imperatives describing a Christian’s life that is aligned with the will of God.

As you listened to these two sets of Scriptures, did you listen out for these terms:

Paul’s main subject here is PRAISE, THANKSGIVING. Notice the other important words in these passages; ALWAYS, CONTINUALLY, and IN ALL THINGS. It sounds as if Paul is talking about a church service here, especially in Ephesians 5:19 “19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,”

Now these actions in our worship encourage our Thanksgiving.

“Psalms, hymns, and Spiritual songs”

-Announce Ron in official capacity

Blended worship

“Make melody in your heart”

But he isn’t. He is discussing the idea of having a continual attitude of gratitude for Christians - an attitude of the heart. He is speaking here to the church and how we should be to each other. The question that immediately comes to mind is:

How can we have this attitude continually, especially "in all circumstances?" I believe the answer lies in our perspective of thanksgiving. We need the proper perspective.

Ill. One young lady wrote home from college, "Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg, when I jumped from the second floor of my dormitory...when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and called the Fire Department. They were there in minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory livable again, I moved in with him. He was so nice. I must admit that I am pregnant. Paul and I plan to get married just as soon as he gets a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine and will write more when I get the chance. Love, Your daughter, Susie P.S. None of the above is true. But I did get a "C" in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted you to receive this news in its "Proper Perspective!" To be thankful in all circumstances, we need a proper perspective of our circumstances and of our God. Only then will we be able to give thanks to the Lord always. Now, I believe there are at least three attitudes that steal away our gratitude. Three things that keep us from being thankful. 1) Pride One is our pride. This is the attitude that says, "Nobody ever gave me anything, I worked hard for everything I have." For years, you studied hard and now it is finally paying off. With this kind of attitude, we feel that we have no one to thank but ourselves. 2) Critical spirit or constant complaining. Another attitude that keeps us from being thankful is a critical spirit or constant complaining. Instead of being grateful, this person will always find something to complain about. "A lady known as an incurable grumbler constantly complained about everything. At last, her preacher thought he had found something about which she would be happy, for her farm crop was the finest for miles around. When he met her, he said with a beaming smile, `You must be very happy Mary. Everyone is saying how healthy your potatoes look this year.’ `True, they’re pretty good, but what am I going to do when I need bad ones to feed the pigs.’" 3) Carelessness-A third attitude that keeps us from being grateful is carelessness. Someone once said that if the stars only came out once a year, we would stay out all night to watch them. But they are there every night and we have grown accustomed to them. The Israelites grumbled because they had no food, so God miraculously sent manna (a crust-like bread) to cover the ground each day except the Sabbath day. Then they started to grumble because it was the same thing every day. They had a miracle - straight from God every day but were no longer satisfied. Because of pride, carelessness or a critical spirit we will never be truly thankful for all that God has given us.

Rudyard Kipling of the 19th and 20th century ( who wrote the Jungle Book among many others) was a great writer and poet whose writings many of you have enjoyed. Unlike many old writers, Kipling was one of the few who had opportunity to enjoy his success while he lived. He also made a great deal of money at his trade. One time a newspaper reporter came up to him and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over a hundred dollars a word; Mr. Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that." The reporter cynically reached down into his pocket and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, "Here’s a hundred-dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now, you give me one of your hundred-dollar words." Mr. Kipling looked at that hundred-dollar bill for a moment, took it and folded it up and put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks." He’s right! The word “thanks” is certainly a hundred-dollar word. In fact, I would say it is more like a million-dollar word. It’s one word that is too seldom heard and too rarely spoken and too often forgotten. If we all adopt an attitude of thanksgiving into our lives - our lives would be changed. We would savor each day. If any nation ought to be thankful to God and grateful for his goodness, it ought to be America. If any people in America ought to be thankful to God and grateful for his goodness, it ought to be Christians. This morning, I would like to share with you three things we learn about thanksgiving from the Bible.

 1. Our Thanksgiving’s Conveyance

What message do we convey when we exhibit and attitude of gratitude?

Firstly, consider the fact that our conveyance of Thanksgiving should be expressive. 

One of the choruses, “He Has Made Me Glad” from Ps.100 which says: I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad, He has made me glad, I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad, He has made me glad, I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

David says in Ps. 107 "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! For His mercy endures forever." We should express our thanks to God and others. In Luke 17 we read about ten men who were healed by Jesus of their leprosy. Out of those ten men only one came back to give thanks and Jesus said, "Where are the other nine?" He was the only one willing to take time to go back and say "thank you." Because of that Jesus said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Have you ever wondered why Jesus said that? I mean like the others; the man was already healed of his leprosy from the time they went to show themselves to the priest. But when Jesus says to this one man, "Your faith has made you well”, he wasn’t just talking about a physical healing, he was talking about a spiritual one, a mental one. He was made whole.

Thanksgiving is Life Living We too are made whole by our thanksgiving. Psychologists today tell us that sincere gratitude, thanksgiving, is the healthiest of all human emotions. Hans Selye, who is considered the father of stress studies, has said that gratitude produces more positive emotional energy than any other attitude in life. And a thankful heart will endear others to us and us to others. For you see thanksgiving is not only good for the giver but also good for the receiver. God appreciates our thanksgiving. It lifts Him up and it glorifies Him. And thanksgiving endears him to us. It draws us closer. If we are not grateful, if we do not express our thanksgiving, then it can have the opposite effect. In Rom. 1:21 Paul says:

Romans 1:21 “21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

This passage seems to imply that people who are ungrateful to God will soon fall away - their hearts will become hardened. Here, we see pride keeping people from worshipping God and being thankful.

Conversely, listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:15 “15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”

Paul states that we receive many blessings every day that is the grace of God bestowed on us, but when we exhibit an attitude of gratitude it abounds to the glory of God. When we remember where our blessings come from, the Lord is edified and glorified and built up around us in the lives of others.

Before we leave this point that thanksgiving should be conveyed,  let me list a few ways that we can say thank you to God. You say thank you to God when you: 1) Obey His Word John 14:15 “15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” 2) Worship Him sincerely Hebrews 13:15 “15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” 3) Give generously 2 Corinthians 9:7–8“7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 4) Serve faithfully Colossians 3:23 “23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,” 5) Forgive quickly Ephesians 4:32 “32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” 6) Share Jesus with someone Philemon 6 “6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” 7) Testify of His goodness Psalm 66:16 “16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul.”

2. Our Thanksgiving’s Comprehensiveness

20 giving thanks always for all things

18 in everything give thanks

Look with me at the comprehensiveness of Thanksgiving, always, all things, in everything.  Thanksgiving should include 3 areas: 1) The Blessings of Life You know, I really love my wife. She is special to me. She’s truly a blessing to my life. One thing that is special is that each evening she stands in our kitchen and thanks God for our sink full of dirty dishes. No, she doesn’t do that! Who does? But we should. A sink full of dirty dishes usually means that we have been blessed by God with daily food & sustenance.

When we hit the holidays and our immediate family of 20 are under roof, they can go through some groceries and cause us to clean up all over again. Oh dearly beloved, the fact we had the groceries to feed them is blessings, and the messes a bunch of grandkids makes means life. Now, we do not always look at it that way, but we should. Do you realize that two thirds of the world goes to bed hungry every night? Our prayers are often very general. We say, "Thank you God for all your blessings" but what blessings are we thankful for? Count your blessings...name them one by one...count your blessings see what God has done. Our Thanksgiving should also include: 2) The Burdens of Life This is a tough one. I Thes. 5:18 says: "Give thanks in everything." Eph. 5:20 says, "give thanks always."

You may think, surely Paul made a mistake or even that this was easy for him to say. But it wasn’t. Paul suffered from some very difficult problem that he called a “thorn in the flesh”. He also had been run out of town, beaten, whipped, imprisoned, betrayed by friends, naked, cold, hungry shipwrecked, and stoned because of his faith. Yet, Paul never stopped giving thanks. Paul said several things that really show he had the proper perspective of the burdens of life... Romans 8:18 “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” This is a dot in eternity and heaven awaits us. Its our hope. 2 Corinthians 12:10 “10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -Oh dearly beloved, its in our weakest times we give all the praise and honor and glory to the Lord who carries us. Philippians 1:12 “12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel,” When we like Paul understand the capacity of Thanksgiving we to can give thanks in all things... A lady by the name of Rhea, 35 years old, just finished college, mother of 3 boys 4/15/18.  She had a new job at GTE and developed lupus.  Her husband left her.   Her oldest son went to jail for dealing drugs.  Rhea in turn lost weight.  She could not hold her head up or get in and out of the bathtub by herself.  She told her pastor these words: “all of this has been a blessing in disguise -- it had allowed me to spend more time with the Lord.” In our weakness God can make us strong. When we are struggling, God can work in our lives. He helps us through times that we could have never faced on our own. Now, notice, The Bible does not say that we are to thankful for the difficult times, but that we are to be thankful in those periods knowing the Lord will see us through. These are growing times and the Lord enlarges our hearts in Him as we see His sustaining grace. 

Romans 8:28 (NKJV) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

And being thankful; in them allows God to use them for His greater good. Remember Joseph’s Words to his Family in Israel,

Genesis 50:20 “20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

There is a story we know well about Paul and Silas while they are in jail in Philippi: Acts 16:25–26 “25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

The Philippian Jailer was ready to take his life because an earthquake freed his prisoners but what saved him was the attitude of Peter and Silas during their difficult imprisonment. They were singing and praising God even though they were in chains. But they knew God and that He would help them through. Because of their joy the jailer and all his household became Christians. Understand others can come to Christ because of your example especially during difficult times. Our thanksgiving should include: 3) The benefits of life as well When the Israelites focused on what they didn’t have, they failed to see ALL that they DID have. We are constantly adding to our prayer list but more than anything we should be adding to our PRAISE list.

This morning let’s break the mold and make Sunday morning time praise time. 

Who has something you are thankful for?  Geoff Moore, song writer sings a song in which, at the beginning of a new day, he says, "Well, I wonder what today will see. Will I find my dreams OR stare in the face of tragedy? Whatever may come, whatever may be, of this I am SURE, I’m forgiven and free and I will live like I believe - It’s good to be alive... It’s good to be alive, to feel the wind in my face, see the blue in the sky. It’s days like this, I realize what a gift it is - It’s good to be alive.”

Is that your praise song? Can you put your praise on today?  Here in a few minutes when we have the invitation.  Sing it like you mean it.  Oh, we have all had some difficult times. Maybe even times that we have despaired even of life itself. But, if we really look at all the benefits of life, I think we will find that it’s good to be alive. To feel the wind in our face, to see the sunrise, to fall in love, to see our new born child or grandchild for the first time, to feel our child, parent, grandchild, and yes, church friends hug us and tell us we are special. An experiment was done in New York’s Central Park where an advertising firm dressed a man up as a blind man and gave him a cup to collect money. One day they put a sign around his neck that read, "I’m Blind." On that day, he collected about $4.00. The next day they dressed him the same way, placed him in the same place but changed the sign to read, "It’s Spring and I’m Blind." That day he collected nearly $40.00. That day, those people realized how blessed they were by the beautiful flowers, birds, the sunrise and sunset and their ability to enjoy Spring.  The fact they could see the season’s change, and he was thankful because he could feel the season’s change.  And as Christians there are other benefits of life. We can be sure that we are forgiven and free. Oh, it’s good to be alive! Not only should Thanksgiving be conveyed and comprehensive,  but also we learn that,

3. Thanksgiving Has Conviction

Paul says we are to "give thanks in all circumstances BECAUSE this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." This is God’s will for us. And he knows, if we will do it, that our lives will be changed. 1) This is the mark of a Growing Christian. For example, a baby is ungrateful. You can take a little baby when it has colic and walk the floor with them for hours and when you put that baby down - they don’t say, "Thank You." More than likely, they will just yell a little louder. A child must be taught to be thankful. It just doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes you must almost force them to say thank you. When we realize how blessed we are by others and by God and express that - we are growing. 2) Our thanksgiving is also the mark of a Giving Christian. When we realize how much God has done for us and how much he continues to do, we should be more than happy to give something back to him. This comes through our time and our financial giving. Someone has said that for Thanksgiving to be real Thanksgiving, there must be "Thanks" and there must be "Giving."  Our church has been so truly blessed by God. We see God doing a great work and Mt Zion’s best days are ahead.   We see God at work and new families attending.  We have been truly blessed.    Just as our ministries have grown, so have the need for additional resources. And just as God has blessed us - so should we bless his work by our giving. James 1:17 says:

James 1:17 “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

When we go to a restaurant, we are more than happy to give a good waitress a 20% tip, but for some reason, many have a problem with giving God 10% of all the good gifts he has given us. We need to ask ourselves if we are truly thankful. Remember God loves a cheerful giver..... Thanksgiving is a mark of a growing Christian, a giving Christian and 3) A Glowing Christian If you are thankful to God then you will be glowing. You will not be constantly critical and pessimistic but eternally Thankful. Though the difficult times are just that - they will not break you. 2 Corinthians 4:8–10 “8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” Henry Frost served for many years as a missionary to China. In his journal, he wrote of a very difficult time in his life. He says, "I had received sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed BUT the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, BUT the darkness only deepened. Then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: ’TRY THANKSGIVING.’ I did, and in a moment, every shadow was gone, not to return. Yes the Psalmist was right, ’It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord." Have you been going through some difficult times? Have you prayed but they’re still there? Have you told yourself to keep on going and it would someday disappear - but it got deeper? Then why not try THANKSGIVING?

Invitation

Thanksgiving is the Cross

Galatians 6:14 “14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

One of my favorite texts should cause us to be thankful:

Romans 8:35–39 NKJV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.