Gratitude: The Giving and Receiving of Grace (Part 2).
Gratitude: The Giving and Receiving of Grace • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 22 viewsIf God is the ultimate giver and gratitude is our response to God, then what does that look like? What gift do you give to God who has given you everything?
Files
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Last week I preached on Gratitude: The Giving and Receiving of Grace
You might call this series- “Gratitude: How to give and receive gracefully.”
It’s 37 shopping days until Christmas! Maybe you already have dozens of presents tucked away in your closet. Or maybe you’re one of those people who will make the mad dash on Black Friday to get as many gifts checked off your list as possible. Or perhaps your that person who will do all of your shopping online between now and December 20.
The question that always comes up is, “who do we give gift to and how much should we spend?”
Of course, when you ask that question, you are also thinking, “Who is going to give me gifts?” You want to be prepared to reciprocate in kind.
Isn’t it embarrassing to get a gift, especially a nice gift, and not have anything to give in return!
You might think that giving and receiving would be purely an expression of our joy and gratitude without expecting anything in return?
But when is comes to the holidays we often revert to the more primal definition of gratitude... as an obligation!
Outwardly, we give and receive gifts with grace. But inwardly…
So to understand what I mean about gratitude and definitions, let’s review a bit from last week:
The word that is translated as gratitude or thanksgiving in the Scriptures has the words Joy and Grace as it’s roots.
chara = joy, charis = grace, eucharisto = thanksgiving
Remember that grace is favor. It’s God’s pleasure to give us grace.
Gratitude is our joy and pleasure reflected back to God.
We also talked about gratitude as being characterized as the exchange of gifts.
When someone gives you a gift, you are supposed to give something in return - that’s called gratitude.
We consider gratitude to be primarily an emotion, but for centuries many cultures have considered gratitude to be first and foremost a duty.
A culture of gratitude says that a benefit demands a response.
So if God’s grace (charis) is His gift to you; then your thanksgiving (eucharisto) is the appropriate response.
We also talked about the giving of thanks to God as taking us outside of the usual human patterns of “give and take.”
Both Greek and Roman cultures exploited the use of gifts and social indebtedness in a way that was manipulative.
Jesus broke the mold by teaching that we should not do things just to gain favor.
And Paul directed all thanks and indebtedness to God who is the ultimate giver of every good thing.
If God is the ultimate giver and gratitude is our response to God, then what does that look like? What gift to you give to God who has given you everything?
The gift of contentment
The gift of contentment
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Contentment
CONTENTMENT Internal satisfaction which does not demand changes in external circumstances.
It is God’s will that you would be content, that is to be able to give thanks regardless of circumstances.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Contentment
CONTENTMENT Internal satisfaction which does not demand changes in external circumstances.
God’s gift to you is His grace: His favor, His blessing, His empowering.
What God wants, more than anything else, is for you to receive what He gives to you.
God’s gift to you is His grace: his favor, his blessing, his empowering.
Your thankfulness tells God that you have received who He is to you and are reflecting that back to Him.
Contentment is a choice to be satisfied with what we have.
6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
The Christian understanding of gratitude is that God is the ultimate giver and the one to whom we ultimately owe our gratitude.
That means that we can be generous without fear of lack because God has the resources to repay where others may not.
Compensation may come in many forms, not just financial.
And it may come at a different time, maybe even in the next life.
Our choice is to receive His grace internally rather than expecting all to go well externally.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
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.
Phil 4:11=13
Grace in this example comes in the form of strength or empowering.
The point is that we often rely on external things to make us feel good and to motivate us.
We may say, “I will be able to really serve God when...”
But if our sense of empowerment and the motivation comes from anything other that knowing who we are in Christ, it’s not going to happen.
The gift of stewardship
The gift of stewardship
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
God is pleased when we use the gift that He has given to us.
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
So if gratitude were merely giving back to God the grace or the favor that He has given us, it would be enough to worship God and give Him praise.
But God wants more than just adoration, or you could say that there is something God want’s more than our adoration.
God has blessed us to make us a blessing!
Just as God’s makes up for our shortcomings, He wants us to extend grace to others.
God does not tell us to ignore circles of gratitude which represent mutual obligation.
We are to give others their due.
7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
But our duty to God is not really satisfied until we go beyond our duty and recognize that we have a debt that can never fully be paid.
7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. 8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The endless debt to love causes us to draw on God, not just our own resources.
Stewardship goes beyond repaying a debt, it is to give back with increase.
Gratitude is the basis for human relationships.
When we give something, we expect a response.
It is that giving and responding than bonds us to one another.
But because we are selfish, our giving and responding turns into manipulation and demanding.
The love that is spoken of in Romans 13:8 is agape love.
It is a love that is already satisfied and therefore gives and makes no demands.
It is a love that gives freely out of boundless resource.
This word for love is rarely used outside of Scripture.
It’s a “God kind of love,” that goes beyond human love.
If gratitude means to reciprocate a gift, then love means to give above and beyond.
Love is giving out of the overflow of God’s love for you.
God is love- that means He is the source of love.
Love radiates from God’s nature.
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
titus 3:3-5
Human love is not enough.
Agape love comes from receiving God’s gift of love and letting it multiply and increase in our lives as we give it out to others.
The gift of thankfulness
The gift of thankfulness
Thanksgiving is not just an annual celebration, it is a daily commitment.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Gratitude
Gratitude. Natural expression of thanks in response to blessings, protection, or love. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, gratitude is not a tool used to manipulate the will of God. It is never coerced or fabricated in one’s mind; rather, gratitude is a joyful commitment of one’s personality to God.
We have already said that contentment is a choice. Thankfulness is also a choice that we can make.
By choice, I do not mean that we force ourselves to be grateful, but we commit ourselves to God and thankfulness is the result.
I commit myself to God, the ultimate giver to be my provider.
I commit myself to allowing God to repay what has not been repaid to me.
I look to God for my satisfaction and for my reward.
I can rest in the fact that God is in charge of my life.
Thankfulness is more than words that we say, it is a mindset, an attitude and a lifestyle.
Dr Caroline Leaf writes about the gratitude mindset: “When we choose to be grateful, we tap into our natural design. Research on the effects gratitude has on our biology shows how being thankful increases our longevity, our ability to use our imagination and our ability to problem-solve. It also improves our overall health.” - Think, Learn, Succeed, Dr. Caroline Leaf, p. 85
You could say that thankfulness, gratitude, is an antidote to depression.
One of the first phrases that each of us learn as a child is to say, “thank you.”
You can teach a child to say thanks, but learning to be thankful is something that we cultivate over time.
What if today, we were just grateful for everything! - Charlie Brown
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Thankfulness is the fruit of a life that is transformed.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
gal
Why isn’t thankfulness listed as a fruit of the Spirit?
gal
g
Why isn’t thankfulness listed as a fruit of the Spirit?
It is, as we said, derived from joy.
But eucharisto, in the New testament primarily speaks of thankfulness to God.
The fruit of the Spirit are responses primarily to others.
You could say that thankfulness and the fruit of the Spirit go hand in hand.
Both are the result of a life that is transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Thankfulness is our response to God.
The fruit of the Spirit is our response to others.
1 thes
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Questions for Reflection:
Questions for Reflection:
Can you say that you are content? What would it take for you to be content? Of the things that you mention, how many things can you actually change? What can you change to be more content?
Who are the people in your life that you would say that you are indebted to? Are there people in your life that have given far more than you will ever be able to repay? What if your repayment was simply to love others the way that you have been loved by God? Is that something you can do?
How easy is it for you to be thankful? Can you immediately think of several things that you are thankful for? How and when do you practice thankfulness? What would happen if, as Charlie Brown says, “today, you were just thankful for everything!”