Disciplines of a Thankful Christian

Intro

Colossians 2:6–7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

Lats week during our thanksgiving service I told you that the short devotion I gave would be the only thanksgiving sermon you would get this year! I may have unintentionally fibbed.

For, as I was thinking and praying about this weeks message, the thanksgiving season kept reeling through my mind. Maybe it was because it was the week of thanksgiving and all I could think about was turkey and dressing! But still, this is where we find ourselves.

One thing Scripture is clear on, and one thing that life evidences just as well, is the changing of seasons. In East Tennessee, we experience about 4 different flip-flops from fall to summer and then all of the sudden, a deep winter. It’s annoying. But it is our reality! One we have seen even some this past week.

And, as it is the last day of November, your minds are shifting, aren’t they? Shifting from Thanksgiving to Christmas!

If you are cool like me, then you would have been celebrating Christmas in October! But, I digress!

As we transition from one season to the next, it is often so easy to leave behind the wonderful principles learned, or the special times experienced in that season.

This tends to be the case with the thanksgiving season. We tend to be thankful, practice thankfulness, and then not talk about it for another year.

But, this isn’t what Scripture says to do, it is what our culture says to do.

So, I encourage you today and next week to look with me at some disciplines of a thankful Christian that God commands for you to practice year round!

The Bible is clear not only that we should be thankful, but it gives some wonderful examples as well!

Give Thanks in All Circumstances

We touched on this for a minute or two last week, and I tend to address it annually. But, the command is so valuable, that I see no benefit in skipping past it.

So often we hear a misquoted version of Scripture that tells us to be thankful for all things … this is not what Scripture calls us to do.

Rather, listen to the familiar passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

This is a call rather a command from God to be thankful in all circumstances. Not necessarily for all circumstances.

I promised some good biblical examples today, so look with me at a guy in history who really had to be thankful in all circumstances although he was not thankful for them.

Job 1:21 “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In the story of Job, we read of a man who lost everything he owned, all of his livestock, all of his children, and was abandoned by his wife all basically at the same time.

Now, in the 42 chapters of Job, you see spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional flip-flopping with Job as he tried to wrap his mind around what was happening, but, as we just read from the very first chapter, he remembered that God had a plan, even if he didn’t like it!

Job questioned God, Job got it wrong a time or two, but the majority of the time, in the worst situations that we could imagine, he was thankful.

And, even when he messed up, he recognized his wrong doings and made it right with God for the glory of God.

Job 42:1–6 “Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, And that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel Without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: But now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent In dust and ashes.”

We see another great example of thankfulness for God’s plans even when the plans are hard or seemingly impossible.

Luke 22:42 “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

Not only do we see this here, but right before this passage at the last supper with his disciples, He is thankful for the very same cup, the plan of salvation.

Was the cross easy? NO!

But, it was the plan of the Father.

Jesus was not thankful for the pain, He was thankful for the plan.

This is our call, the command from our God. You don’t have to be thankful for injustice, for misery, for suffering, and for pain, but you must remain thankful that God DOES in fact have a plan for it!

Come with Singing and Praise

As we remain thankful to God, we must do so as Scripture commands.

Psalm 100 “A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.”

Be joyful in your thanksgiving, for the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations!

Come with singing and praise to God!

This is a sign of a thankful Christian, one like the previous point, that can and must be done year round, not just in November!

This, just like all of His commandments, should not be done obligatorily but out of a heart of passion for a loving God.

That means 1) you should come to God with joy, praises, and singing because God is good not because God said so.

2) it means that you have no excuse! Oh, but pastor I cannot sing.

It is not the quality of the voice that God is looking for, it is the quality of praise in your heart!

Raise your voice and sing to God with a heart of thankfulness.

Sing here in the church

Sing in your vehicle

Sing at home

Sing as work

Have a song of praise in your heart for God and sing it often!

You probably know my favorite song of worship, Goodness of God. I think it is just the perfect song of praise to a good God!

Every time I sing that chorus, all my life you have been faithful, and all my life you have been so, so good, a thought pops into my head, an image even.

I think of a specific time, before I even accepted Jesus as my Savior, that God watched out for me. I think of the time that my house was being watched by someone who wanted bad for us, and God protected us. I think of a time where we were left in a vehicle for hours while the people who were supposed to care for us abandoned us for substances.

I think of times that God was faithful and good even when I wasn’t. Those times still happen today. I am unfaithful to God at times, and I am not good. Only Christ.

So, I sing songs of praise in my heart and out loud, because God is worthy!

1 Chronicles 16:34 “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; For his mercy endureth for ever.”

Offer Thanks in Prayer

This thought continues in your heart. You give thanks to God in your heart not only with your songs, but with your prayers.

Philippians 4:6–7 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

This passage is so beautiful as it reminds us of the wonderful truth that when we come to God, He comes to us! He is near.

Offer thanks to God in your prayers.

This is how thanksgiving is offered most commonly. In our story of Job, he was praying to God when he thanked Him.

You time in prayer to God is vital, and the amount of that time you spend simply thanking God is even more vital.

God does everything for you! Why would you use Him like a genie to ask for 3 things, just the right way, and cross your fingers in hope that He will step up.

This is NOT the God we serve. We serve a God who is good always, despite our feeble attempts at prayer, singing, preaching, and evangelism. So, be thankful for that! Use your feeble and needy prayer to worship a God who loves you!

Offer thanks to God in prayer, and do it much and often!

Spend significant time in prayer to God, for this is how we commune with Him. And do so being a thankful servant.

Acknowledge God’s Provision

And, as you thank Him, acknowledge His provision in your life.

Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

I want to stop for a moment and as you to think with me. Close your eyes and think, how many things has God done for me just today. The number is likely significant if you follow Christ. And, if you don’t your number is likely 0. I ask you though, as you open your eyes, to remember, the very breath in your lungs is a gift from the Maker.

Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

You are made and loved by a wonderful God. Thank Him.

Remember, thankfulness is a choice, one you must make.

Think of Abraham. In Genesis, Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son, the one he has just thanked God for giving him and his wife Sarah through miraculous circumstances. Yet, he was obedient and took his son to sacrifice him, and at the last minute, God stopped him and sent a ram for sacrifice. (this story of course points to Christ) but heart Abraham’s cry.

Genesis 22:13–14 “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”

Do you know what Jehovah-jireh means? The Lord will provide!

God provided for Abraham, and Abraham acknowledge God’s provision!

When is the last time you acknowledge an answered prayer in your life as “The Lord Provided”

When God provides, and He does daily, acknowledge it!

Remember, church, these aren’t “November” principles or “thanksgiving” commands.

These are the daily principles God gives His children to follow.

Are you following them?

Are you like Hannah who prayed this when God gave her Samuel as a son

1 Samuel 2:1–10 “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord: My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; Because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord: For there is none beside thee: Neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: For the Lord is a God of knowledge, And by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, And they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; And they that were hungry ceased: So that the barren hath born seven; And she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes, And to make them inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, And the wicked shall be silent in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; And he shall give strength unto his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed.”

This is a model prayer, one of acknowledgement, recognition, and thanksgiving.

Acknowledge God as your Provider. Do so with your prayers, do so with your life.

Make your life and your prayers God focused, not you focused, and you will see great blessings!

SONG

Conclusion

Church, are you guilty of Novemeber thankfulness? The cultural disease that teaches that we should only be thankful in November, or extra thankful on Thanksgiving day?

Do you struggle practicing the daily discipline of thankfulness?

May I leave you with one last encouragement as we close?

Be in the Word

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Not only will it teach you thankfulness. It will point out where you haven’t been thankful so you can work to fix it.

Being thankful is more than a one month gig, and it about more than just you.

Be thankful.

Be God centered with your life and prayers.

Be thankful IN all things, come to God with singing and praise, offer your thanks in prayer, and acknowledge your Provider.

Maybe you struggle with thankfulness because you have never met the provider.

*Salvation plea*