Thankfulness

The Collect:

Father of All

You gave your only Son Jesus Christ, To take upon Himself the form of a servant, and to be obedient, even to death on a cross. Give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that sharing in His humility, we may come to be with Him in His glory; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spiritone God, now and forever.

Intro

Luke 17:11–19 KJV 1900

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

This is on one hand a wonderful encounter with Jesus for one man. But at the same time is a sad reality for 90% of people.

This is the biblical statistiuc: Only 1 out 10 people are thankful.

That stat will not change, this is always be the case. What matters today is making sure that you are part of that small 10%.

The Enemy of Thnbkfulness

The enemy of thanfulness or gratitude is Self - more specifically: Self-sufficency.

This is tricky because in some circumstances self sufficiecy is good. When children becaome self sufficient from their parents - good. When citazins becaome self suffeicnt from goverment handouts - very good.

But from a Christian point of view the danger is that we becaome decieved and begin to think of ourself because self sufficient from God.

This is challanging because its not some conscience procolomation of you saying “I dont need God”, its more a subconscience perception that there are certan things that you can do complety well on your own.

When you think you can do it fine on your own, doing it does not invoke a sence of dependancy and therefore does not create the desire to be thankful.

for example:

If i run out of milk, i can hop in my car, drive to spar and get milk - God does not seem to have anthing to do with that so no feeling of gratitude.

In the moring, i get up, get ready, take bella to school come to the office and begin work. I can do this fine on my own, i do it every day, i have for the last 9 years - no feelings of thanksgiving.

It is in the mundane habits and regularities of our lives that a sence of self sufficency grows.

And yet, the true christian knows that were it not for God’s grace and presence even the mundane wouldnot be possible without God.

John 15:5 KJV 1900

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The Goat vs the Sheep

This is the difference between a goat and a sheep.

Goats are independant animals. They are mobile, agile, intelligent, quick witted. Goats do not need constant care and attention.

Sheep however are hopeless. They are top heavy, cant get up when they fall over, cannot run fast, cannot climb and are dull witted.

If you went and bopught 20 goats and left them alone with no shephrd = fine.

20 Sheep with no shepherd = 10 are lost 5 fall down a well, 5 got eaten by wolves.

The goat is a more desirable animnal to be, but God calls us sheep because He wants to be our shephjerd.

John 10:11 KJV 1900

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

What actually is thanksgiving?

What exacally does it mean to be thankful and give God thanksgiving?

Well lets look at the 10 lepers.

Do you really think for one moment that those other 9 were not thankful? Of course they were. Jesus does not say that the 9 were NOT thankful, but that only 1 returned to give glory to God.

My friends thankfulness is NOT just a feeling of gratitude in your heart! True thankfulfull is that feeling WITH a returning and giving of glory!

Psalm 50:23 KJV 1900

23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: And to him that ordereth his conversation aright Will I shew the salvation of God.

Notice that is is not the feelings iof the heart that glorifies God, but in the offering of praise!

You have got to ask: How can i, or what can i do in my life, publically that will bring God glory, which will show forth my thankgiving towards Him?

Because while sitting at home and saying thanks to God is lovley - is that bringing glory to His name? No.

It is only in the public manifestation of our relationship with God that brings him glory.

Matthew 5:16 KJV 1900

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Like this 1 leper, he returned, brought is thanksgiving before men (the disciples and onlookers) and only he gave God glory.

And so we see my frineds maybe now why onlyb 1 in 10 give thanks. Because thanksgiving involes 2 things:

1: Actually being thanful and 2: Returning and shiniong that thanjgiving before men that they may see and glorify your father which is in Heaven.

What kind of Good works and praise offerings are we talking about?

1: Public praise and thanksgiving

Singing togather in coirproate worship is a public demonstration of your thanks to God. You need to spend a few moments before we gather, maybe make a list of some of the things you are grateful for and then holding that in your hand sing to God prasing, worshipping, thanking him in yor song about what He has done.

and part of this is of course also the sharing of testamony. A testamony is simply you being a wittness to God’s goodness and telling us about it.

And like i said: God does not have to save you from a buring biulding for it to cout as a testamony, it can just be about God’s continual faithfulness in your life.

Psalm 136:1–3 KJV 1900

1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever. 2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: For his mercy endureth for ever. 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: For his mercy endureth for ever.

2: Faithfulness in Service

When i read about how Paul suffered and yet remained faithful, I give God glory. When i read about David’s trails and yet remained faithful - I give God glory. When i see the prophets show up day after day and preach their message - i give God glory.

When i see you come to church week after week, knowing what some of you are facing - i give God glory.

When i see you serving God in spite of personal challanged - i cannot help but glorify God in Heaven.

The demonstration of your faith in faithfulness glorifies God

3: The Sacrificial Offering

In the OT when God’s peole wanted to show their gratitude to God they did so by offering a Thanksgibing Offering.

Leviticus 7:11–15 KJV 1900

11 And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. 12 If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. 13 Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. 14 And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. 15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

For us, everytime we sow into God’s kingdom with gratful hearts we bring glory to God.

This church, doors open, lights on, gospel preached, people ebing baptised, sheep being fed 0- all of this is is God’s glory. And it exists and it sustain by God’s faiuthfulness in your lives.

Conclusion:

Thankfulness is the heartbest of the christian life.

Like the heart, if it stops beating, death will come. It does not matter how smart the brain is, how strong the legs are, how good the eyes see or how well the ears hear. If the heart stops beating, nothing else matters.

When the christian stops living in continual thanksgiving, spiritual death is not far behaind.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV 1900

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Ephesians 5:20 KJV 1900

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

These verses are not God looking for attention: These verse are our Shepherd telling us how to survive.