Thankful

7:40 AM

Well, like a lot of things this week, this message changed quite a bit at 7:40 AM Tuesday. Just 11 minutes after I found out that Kyle Gut was on his way to the hospital, I found out he had passed. A colleague. A friend. More than a principle, he was a mentor to so many, a trusted advisor, he was the embodiment of the smiling emoji and an alarm clock for so many kids telling them it was time to start their school day.

His body was laid to rest yesterday after just 41 years of tireless work, but for those of us who remain on this side of heaven? Anything but at rest. And, to a large extent, anything but thankful. I mean, how can we be? Thankful now? Even if you didn’t know Kyle all that well, even if your visiting with us today for the very first time and have no idea who I’m talking about, when a young, active Dad and Husband passes away in the middle of what we consider his prime… it’s hard to be thankful for something like that. Confusion. Anger. Fear. Frustration. Loneliness. Loss. Those are more like it.

This message had to change. But the theme didn’t. It couldn’t. Because, even in Kyle’s death, there are things to be thankful for, right? Thankful that Kyle is enjoying the wonder of heaven. Thankful that God had placed him into our lives. Thankful that God has granted Christian friends and family to walk with us through this time of grief. Thankful that God’s promises are more true when the going gets tough, not less. And that’s just in regards to this. What about everything else? The car you are going to drive to lunch or brunch or home today? The job many of you will return to later this week? The family that’s here with you today? The esteem that others hold you in? The respect you command at work? The children that are growing and flourishing in your house? There are a lot of things, even now, to be incredibly thankful for, so many things that are going right.

And if our theme hasn’t changed, certainly the Word of God hasn’t, either. Not in general - we know it hasn’t changed in two thousand years. But God’s instruction for us today hasn’t changed. Because God’s solution for thankfulness is the same whether you have a little or a lot, whether you are rejoicing or mourning, whether life has gone back to normal or is still completely sideways. Here’s what God has to say about the heart of thankfulness:

Philippians 4:11–13 NIV

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

You see why it hasn’t changed? The secret here applies whether you are well-fed, in plenty - it’s Tuesday AM at 7:20, or in want, when there isn’t enough, Tuesday at 7:40. This passage is for the the hurt, the broken, the failing. And we’ve spent the last several weeks talking about that in our weekend messages. You can find those videos on our youtube channel or on facebook.

But, what’s the secret, in good times and bad in finding contentment? That’s a great question, but I have to back up one to the question. Let me ask it this way? What feeds the hunger that is the opposite of contentment? Said another way, what robs gratitude? I think there are probably three things that steal gratitude. The first one is that you have for the first time. You get your first paycheck, you go on a great first date, you get accepted into that first choice school. It’s your first time. And the natural gratitude that should be an automatic is replaced with either entitlement, “I worked hard for this” or fear, “This isn’t going to last long.” So, it’s your first time. Sometimes gratitude is stolen by being a regular in the “winner’s circle.” You get the third promotion in as many years. You pay off your mortgage after 30 years of faithfully paying every month, your kids get the awards or recognition at school. Contentment is stolen by a feeling of, “I belong here.” The third thing that steals contentment is comparison. Either to the “have’s”, the Jones’ or the “have-nots.” You can finally afford that house you’ve been saving for in the neighborhood you really like, and all of a sudden, that push mower doesn’t look quite as nice as the riding mower. Or, you feel guilty when people come over because you don’t want to look like you are showing off. But, it all boils down to this simple fact: we have too much.

Listen, I’ve sat at a small table with a family of three, surrounded by a 300 square foot home the walls of which leaned further to the right when I leaned against the doorjamb. I’ve eaten with folks for whom, me eating just enough to be full meant they would go hungry tomorrow, but my saying “no” would have been an unbearable insult. I’ve played mahjong with people who couldn’t afford any other transportation between my house and theirs than their own two legs.

And in every case, the Jesus-followers that I met in those situations lived their faith so boldly, so openly, so desperately that it put me to shame. Their gratitude was on such open display that they drew others to them like a magnet. I wondered if those who have less don’t have so many things competing for the MVP prize, that’s the “most valuable possession.” Their contentedness and gratitude was strengthened by their lack. They had learned the secret. A secret that eludes many of us who have so much.

But we want to be content. We want to be grateful. I don’t know anybody who goes through life wanting to seem entitled, ungrateful or having too much to value what really matters. We are those things, not because we want to be, but because we there’s somebody we need to meet, and if we already know his name, maybe it’s time we remember who he is.

Paul simply refers to him as “the one who gives me strength.” Couple of really important things to keep in mind here. The first is that, even if this reference is pretty short and to the point, the whole book of Philippians introduces us to the “one who strengthens me.” He’s the one who had equality with God, but didn’t consider it something to leverage for his own good. He’s the one who humbled himself that his servants might be exalted. He’s the one who has been highly exalted to the right hand fo the Father. We know him to be the one who he one who said no to every temptation, the one who stood before the prince of Hell and told him to take a hike, the one who calmed the storm with a command of his voice. He broke the chains of death, breaking out of the cave like a prison made of paper.

If contentment doesn’t fill your heart, if this morning’s prayer wasn’t first of gratitude, then here is your Savior. The one who took that thankless heart as his own. Look into his eyes as he hangs on the cross, the light flickers out of them, for the firs time, God without life. Stare into the darkness of the empty tomb and find there the vacuum of accusations the devil now has. The one who looks so weak on the cross choses, instead, to pour into you his strength to give you contentedness in every situation.

That’s the heart of that word: contentedness. Paul literally says that he has learned the secret to “self-sufficiency.” His definition is so strange to us. Usually, self-sufficiency is just that: the self. The idea that you have what you need, and what you don’t have, you have the skills or the work ethic to get yourself. It’s as though I stand alone in this hula hoop and I don’t need anybody to help me. But the hoop ends up expanding to include the things and people that make me happy, that help me move forward. But the Jesus follower knows that when I stand in this hula hoop, there’s always two standing here. Me. And Christ in me. If nothing and no one else ever came into this hula hoop with me, if it never expanded, I would still have enough.

That’s the second thing to remember about the one who strengthens me. It happens continuously. He keeps on strengthening you. He keeps on living in that circle with you. It’s ongoing, daily, moment by moment gift of strength to not need anything else in this circle.

Even when the accolades, the respect, the love, the accomplishments and the trophies, when they all pile up around you, they never come into the circle. You don’t need them. You are content even as the piles grow.

Whether everything has changed this last week for you or nothing has. Recognize that you have been gifted in ways that others only dream of. But don’t let it get in the way of your contentedness. Let that gratitude flow as you better get to know your God. As you more fully understand who it is that strengthens you. Everything else will stop getting in the way of your gratitude.

There’s this story of a man who had an abundance. Listed in Forbes wealthiest people, he had it all. He had the garage full of cars, the coolest gadgets, the imagination of the nation, the winter home and the summer cottage. He had a big family of successful kids. They loved each other and spent time together. He donated to charity in their name the day after every one of their parties. He wanted to make sure that whatever might have happened the night before, the net was always positive.

One day, all of that vanished. In a tragic accident, all of his children died in a fire that quickly engulfed the restaurant they were eating in. That same day, the stock market crashed and hackers stole identity. In just 24 hours he had lost everything. It was all gone. It was not long before the losses took a physical toll on him. He began to break out in painful sores. And in less than a week they covered his entire body.

You know what he was quoted as saying soon after losing everything?

Job 1:21 NIV

21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

He was able to say that in a time of need. But he backed it up in time of plenty, too. Because, a year after losing everything, the doctors were able to find a cure for his skin condition. He and his wife were blessed with more children and his finances took a hard right turn back into the positive. But he didn’t forget. His three daughters born to him after calamity? “Dove” - not so much a bird of peace as a bird of hope and trust. “Aroma” - an offering to God given day in and day out. “Beauty” - a testament that whether life is ugly or gorgeous, God is always wonderful to look at.

You’ve experienced some of the same things as job. The lowest lows, the highest highs. You’ve lost and you’ve gained. But, here’s what Paul is getting at when he talks about the secret is contentment: the secret is sufficiency. The word he uses there is literally, “Self-sufficient.” But he means it in a different way than we do. When we talk about being self-sufficient, we talk about the person who lacks something and possesses the ability to go out and get it. You are self-sufficient if you have a job. You are self-sufficient if you have a retirement plan. You are self-sufficient if you can pay for what you want and need. For us, “self-sufficient” is a proxy for, “successful.”

But you know how it feels to gain that level of success, to have the family you thought you always wanted, to work for wealth and stuff and vacations only to find that you are just as empty with them as you are without them. That they don’t have the ability to give you meaning and purpose. “Self-sufficient” as a proxy for “successful” isn’t enough! It leads to emptiness the more you chase it.