HOPE: Thanksgiving

Info:

Honoring All—Refuse Contempt

Operate by the Spirit—Refuse the Temptations of the Devil

Pointing to Jesus—Head Up not down

Expecting Growth—Not loss

Me

Most people do not develop phobias of deer. Deers are cute and sweet. They might steal your roses, but they are not frightful creatures.

But, on occasion deer might become the stuff of your nightmares.

Last month in Colorado, a woman was followed by an adolescent male deer while on a walk. It finally knocked her down and in the victims own words:

"trashed her with its antlers." She was viciously gored.

The story gets worse: the deer was illegally own by the victims neighbor. She took in the fawn, raised it as a pet and the deer with no fear of humans it attacked in a surprising way.

Maybe there are things that cannot be easily tamed.

We

James 3:7–11 NLT

7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?

Our tongue is HARD to train. And, maybe in world that we are living in, our fingers are hard to train.

It is CERTAINLY difficult NOT to do something—don’t, don’t, don’t—but much better when we train the TONGUE to do something!

Last week, we talked about HOPE. Today, we address how THANKSGIVING —something we can DO with our mouths and fingers—can lead to HOPE.

Thanksgiving is not about complimenting others, but is about aligning our hearts and minds with faith. Thanksgiving is a practice that reminds us of God’s goodness and love. Thanksgiving opens us up.

(note: Expressing Thanksgiving does not eliminate the reality of bad things in the world, but it does mold our heart into trusting God.)

Let’s go back to our acronym:

Honoring All—Refuse Contempt

Operate by the Spirit—Refuse the Temptations of the Devil

Pointing to Jesus—Head Up not down

Expecting Growth—Not loss

God

Thanksgiving leads to HOPE.

Honoring All—Refuse Contempt

1 Timothy 2:1–4 NLT

1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

So, we give thanks for people in positions of authority. This is tricky—don’t get distracted by the worst trajectory of any political argument: “but, what about HITLER?”

While Hitler is not the only terrible leader in history, it is such an extreme example—so, let’s not get distracted.

I am going to express some thanks for both sides of the aisle. As an example for you.

I was talking to a Foursquare Missionary recently who told me that working with Trump’s appointed ambassador was a blessing. So, I am thankful for what Trump has done in that way.

On the other side of the aisle—I am thankful for how open and transparent Governor Brown has been in working with the Faith Community through this time. Some people have suggested that Brown wants to shut down churches or religious organizations, but in working with her Faith Liaison, we can say that isn’t the case.

They have listened to many faith leaders. And, so I am thankful.

I often don’t agree with Governor Brown. I often don’t agree with President Trump. But, as a maturing Christian, I can find ways to give thanks for both of them. And this thanksgiving staves off the contempt that wants to overtake me.

Operate by the Spirit—Refuse the Temptations of the Devil

Matthew 4:5–7 NLT

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Here is a brief explanation: The Devil tempts all humans everywhere with the same sort of temptations. The gospel writers place these accounts in our minds to help us to see how Jesus confronts the temptations of the devil that have been long effective.

As Greg Boyd pointed out: The Temptations are called “Temptations” because they are tempting.

In the second temptation that we have just read—the devil is tempting Jesus to manipulate God into doing something IMPRESSIVE.

Doesn’t God want to impress the world into faith? We each tacitly believe that if we saw a miracle we would believe more or believe better.

But, the scriptures are much more honest about the human condition. Consider that the children of Israel were rescued from Egypt by a whole sea being parted, but within days they were complaining.

Exodus 15:19 NLT

19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers rushed into the sea, the Lord brought the water crashing down on them. But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground!

But, just 5 verses later:

New Living Translation Chapter 15

24 Then the people complained and turned against Moses

Experiencing impressive deliverances are awesome and we pray that you experience them. But, they do not automatically lead to deeper faith.

Jesus says no to the impressive show of forcing God’s hand into a spectacular rescue. And, he says yes to plodding from town to town to extending teaching, presence and healing to normal, regular and down to earth people.

Thanksgiving is our friend here. We must stop only giving thanks for the stellar, standout, over the top, incredible, unbelievable aspects of God’s work in the present.

We must become people who marvel at God’s handiwork in the small and mundane. The blade of grass. The common Doug Fir. The small chuckle. The smile between strangers. The food that we have to eat. The skill of your hair dresser. The creativity of the 4 year old.

Refuse the temptation of the enemy to only appreciate the big breakthroughs—and take up the way of giving thanks for the small graces that are with us every day.

Pointing to Jesus—Head Up not down

Philippians 1:3–5 NLT

3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. 4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, 5 for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.

You must know that Paul was writing this letter from prison. Not preferable. Not in his plans. But, for the Jesus follower, the places of suffering can be the places that joy stems from. If it is true that Jesus endured the cross “but for the joy set before him”, than a prison cell can produce joy.

And, Paul, with time to think and reflect, gives thanks for these people in Philippi. Why? Because they were partners in spreading the good news of Jesus.

Paul was dwelling on the work of Jesus. He had given over his whole life to Jesus. And therefore even prison or persecution or injustice couldn’t steal his joy.

Head up.

So, this week, you are going to focus on spreading HOPE by reflecting on and giving thanks for the work of Christ that is going on.

Here are some ideas:

We cannot meet, but we can access teaching and worship online. It isn’t ideal and it isn’t a long term solution, but if Paul can find joy in a prison cell and therefore UNABLE to gather with the church community, than certainly we can find joy in the prison of our homes—by giving thanks for the work of God. By keeping our head up!

Expecting Growth—Not loss

Finally, we produce hope by expecting growth.

1 Peter 1:6–7 NLT

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

The Christian should expect trials. But, thankfully, trials actually shape us. We grow through them.

Our faith is being tested. But, through it we are growing.

So, we learn to express gratitude for that which God can use for our transformation. Romans 8 is helpful:

Romans 8:28–29 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Paul tells us what the purpose is: He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son...

We will GROW! We will strengthen. We will be transformed!

And, so, we say thank you. We don’t have to say “Thank you for cancer” or “thank you for the pandemic”, but we CAN and SHOULD say, “thank you for every chance I have to grow. Thank you for showing me how to be faithful through difficulty.”

You

Today, here are some discussion questions and exercises:

Read James 3:7–11 out loud.

Practice thanksgiving: take 5 minutes and have each person write down 2 obviously positive things to be grateful for and 2 negative things to be thankful for. Then go around the circle and alternately share 1 positive and 1 negative thanksgiving. For positive items say “I am thankful for____.” For negatives say, “I am thankful for how ________ is an opportunity for me to grow.”

Read Matthew 4:5-7 out loud.

Jesus said no to doing an impressive act. Do you find yourself wishing God would be more immediately impressive at times? Explain.

Have you experienced something miraculous, but have forgotten it? Describe.

Make a list of small, common and mundane things we can all be thankful for.

We