Be Grateful
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Introduction
Introduction
1 Timothy 4:1–5
“1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
Some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. What Paul is explaining here is that people who were in the faith fell away and started teaching the doctrine of demons. They were doing this through restricting marriage and telling the people what they could and could not eat. Both of these things were given to us by God yet they were trying to place laws on them according to the demonic influence that they had fallen under or given themselves over to.
They were keeping christians from enjoying everything that God had given them to enjoy. In essence this is being ungrateful!
Let’s look at Eve in the garden, Satan gets Eve to question the goodness of God. Satan got Eve to focus on the one tree that should could not eat from instead of the thousands of other trees that she could eat from. He told her do you see that tree in the middle of the garden? If God was really for you he would let you eat of that tree and the reason that he doesn’t want you to eat of that tree if that He knows that if you do you will be just like him.
He got her to focus on the one thing that she couldn’t have and by doing so she loose sight of the goodness of God. He got her to focus on the one and by doing so she lost sight of the many.
Today we eat about 10% of the fruits that are on the earth. Over 50% of the plants and fruits found on earth are edible for human consumption. This makes for 300,000 edible plant species that are available to us. This is the amount of flavors and textures that were available to Eve!
If we focus on what we don’t have or can’t have because we are christian then we miss out on our maximum potential as Christians. If we do so we are being ungrateful to Him because of that one thing that we want. Yes, there are things that we cannot do as Christians but there are many more that we can do and live fully by doing so.
Romans 1:18–21
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
The essence of evil man is that they lose sight of giving thanks to God. Lack of gratitude means that you are worshipping the creature more than the creator. They have forgotten God and that is idolatry!
Deuteronomy 6:10–15
“10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.”
God is warning them to not forget what he is done for them. He is coaching them to be grateful for what they have. They are coming out of slavery! They had nothing to call their own until God delivered them and now they are going to get houses and lands in infrastructure that they didn’t build didn’t sweat or bleed over and all He ask here is for them to remember and be grateful for what he is given them!
It is the doctrine of demons for us to not be grateful for what The Lord has done for us! There is nothing that you enjoy today that cannot be attributed to God. Everything that you have can be traced back to the provision of God.
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
If you eat, you do it for the Lord. If you don’t eat you do it for the Lord. Everything that you do you should be doing for the Lord and we should be grateful to do so. Were you able to walk to today? Yes? You should be grateful to the Lord. Able to talk today? You should be grateful to the Lord. Are you able to deal with uncomfortable situations and people? I know this may seem odd but we should be thankful to the Lord!
You know God that person really gave me the stank eye and I know that they don’t like me but I am grateful that I am here in the situation that you allowed me to be in. Help me to represent you towards ole stank eye over there!
A good illustration of this is the story of the 10 Lepers. Leprosy was the worse disease of the day. It you had leprosy you were isolated from everyone that was healthy, you could not live with your family anymore. You had to go live with the other lepers. It causes skin lesions, nerve damage resulting in numbness or pain the the hands and feet. It also caused muscle weakness and ulcers on soles of the feet.
So here are these 10 Lepers, and Jesus comes by and all them cry out “Have mercy on us son of David!” Jesus has compassion on them and speaks the word and says go show yourselves to the priest. As they walked to the priest their skin became as the skin of a baby. They were healed and transformed. I am sure they were hustling their way to the priest! Imagine, they could go home now, go back to being a part of society, do simple things like break bread with their family. So they were happy and moving along. One leper stops and he remembers to go back and thank Jesus for healing him. He goes back and falls at Jesus feet and thanks him. Then Jesus ask “were there not ten?” They were so happy enjoying the blessing that they forgot to thank the blessor!
If we love the blessing more than we love the blessor it’s idolatry. Anything that we love more than God is Idolatry. If you want to be blessed by God you need to start by being grateful for what he has already given you. if you want to hear from Him you need to start with being grateful!
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
What God gives to you is like what comes from a parent to a child. And whatever He gives is good. Now as a parent we know that not everything we do for our children feels good, if the child gets sick and you have to take him to the doctor to get a shot or stitches from the child's perspective it’s not going to feel good. They aren’t going to like being pocked at the sensitive area and would rather it be left along. However ultimately you as the parent know that if you don’t get that child care the situation is going to get more uncomfortable for them. God places us in situations for us to get the medicine that we need in order to heal and grow, and when that happens we need to be grateful.
Back to James, God is the Father of lights. It’s interesting that the earth rotates around the sun and during the course of that rotation we going into shadow or into night. The sun doesn’t move and it doesn’t cease to shine, the earth moves. In our walk with God when we go into darkness it isn’t because He moved it’s because we moved. His light always shines it’s us that go into dark places. We need to keep our eyes on the sun and to be grateful for the light that He provides. The longer we face him the more light we will have in our lives.
17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
I am sure all of us at some time have dreamed of being rich, thinking about how nice it would be to not have to worry about money. Here it’s telling them to not set their hopes on money, on things but to set their hopes on God. Even it you get rich it could fade it could be taken from you. However no one can take you from God’s hand! What ever your finances are we are to be grateful to Him.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
Now I am reading this from the ESV, in some other bibles and in the Greek the word for holy is sanctified. Sanctified is to be set apart for God. Whatever you receive from the Lord, you should receive it with thanksgiving and should be set apart for His purposes.
Unsure if it comes from God? Here is how you know if it is truly from God.
Can you authenticate it through the Word?
Can you pray about it legitimately?
When God gives you something that is good, then ordinary things become extraordinary things when you sanctify them. Or when you give them to God.
5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”
So Jesus and the disciples have a dilema, they have many mouths to feed and they didn’t have the money to solve it. The disciples saw the problem and they focused on the problem. We don’t have enough to take care of this need, we don’t know what to do to solve this problem. Even when they looked at what was available it was a small amount just enough for lunch for one boy.
When Jesus request for the food that the boy had be brought to Him he gave thanks and then told them to pass the food around to the people. Notice, he didn’t speak for hours, he didn’t do any theatrics, he didn’t repeat himself multiple times. He gave thanks!
Giving thanks is a very powerful thing for the Christian! If we give God the praise and thanks that he deserves satan has to flee! Why does he have to flee? Because he wants to steal God’s glory and he can’t do that when we are grateful to God for all that He has done.
7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers. 8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 9 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! 11 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! 12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, 13 O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! 14 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. 15 Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 16 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, 17 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, 18 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, as your portion for an inheritance.” 19 When you were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, 20 wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, 21 he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, 22 saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” 23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. 28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! 29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; 30 tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” 32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! 33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. 34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! 35 Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. 36 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.
If want to encourage you to avoid the doctrine of demons, to not get hung up in the things that we cannot do as Christians, to keep the faith in God he provides all things to us and to be grateful for any situation that we find ourselves in give thanks to our God who cares for us.
