Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
If you have ever watched the A Team you know there is a character named B.A. Baracus.
B and the A stand for Bad Attitude.
He is called us because he is a rough and tumble guy but gets things done.
He has earned his name.
I wonder things morning, how often do we have a bad attitude.
And specifically a bad attitude towards thankfulness.
As we are preparing for the thanksgiving holiday this week, and heading into Christmas, it can be difficult to truly prepare our hearts for the season.
If we set aside the craziness that is happening in the world around us, there is often plenty of difficulties in our own families.
Strained relationships, loss of a loved one, financial insecurity.
Then we add back in all the rest of what is happening in the world.
It is hard.
It can be hard to be thankful.
A local example, just down the road, the Clinton Community Church.
If you haven’t heard or don’t know, they were partnered with the Missoula Food Bank to hand out free lunches in the community.
One of the lunches that was to be handed out had a coloring page that supported the LGBTQ agenda.
As such the church decided they could no longer participate in the program.
To announce that, the pastor made a social media post noting that -
“This has been a great honor for us to be able to support the kids and families in our community with these meals throughout the summer months.
This past week, we found printed material in the lunches that we were handing out that went against our Biblical doctrine.
After conversations with the food bank, we have found that our beliefs and that of the Missoula Food Bank do not align.
Due to this, Clinton Community Church has decided to end our partnership with the Missoula Food Bank effective today, July 2, 2021.”
Well worded, not apparently offensive, but a community member took offense and reported the pastor to the realtor board, as he is one, claiming that his statements were discriminatory and that he engaged in hate speech.
This is a direct assault on that pastors livelihood, as he is supported by his work as a realtor.
How can he give thanks in this situation?
This is happening in our back yard so to speak.
Clinton Community Church has joined the RMBM, so is sort of a sister church to us, the pastor is not yet a missionary, but as a RMBM church, we could be guilty by association.
I am not saying that is a bad thing, because we will stand for Biblical truth as well.
But how can we be thankful in midst of trials?
It is hard to want to be thankful when there is so much craziness going on in the world around us.
It is very easy to not want to be thankful, but we must remember, that we have the best and most important reason to be thankful.
That is for our salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord.
To help us make some sense of this, we will turn to the Bible.
God’s holy written word, written for each of us.
There are multiple examples that we could look at in scripture.
We could very easily look to David, He had plenty of reasons to despair and yet was thankful.
Look at the prophets, called to a people who had turned their backs on God.
Look at the disciples who witnessed Jesus death.
I would like to focus this morning on Paul specifically.
When we consider the life of Paul, look at all of the things that he went through.
When we observe Paul’s life in scripture, we see a man zealous for a cause.
He was driven.
As a Pharisee, he made significant efforts to see men and women who followed the way, followed Jesus, thrown in to jail or killed.
He was present and approved of the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7.
As he was going out on the road to Damascus we are told.
But God saved him.
We read these verses together at the end of our time last week.
Paul gives praise in his address to Timothy, thanks for the mighty things that God has done in His life.
Paul’s life was not easy though.
As we read in 2 Cor 12 we read of Paul describing a thorn in his flesh.
Some commentators believe this may have been memories of the people he persecuted before God’s saving work.
Some believe he had some sort of physical ailment.
No matter the reason, this was not his only difficulty in his life.
Earlier in 2 Cor. he recounted other persecution he suffered.
And yet through this all, Paul remained thankful.
If Paul can praise God in the midst of trials.
It gives us hope that we can as well.
There are many passages of Scripture that instruct us to rejoice and be thankful in every circumstance,
We can think specifically of
As we are entering this season of thankfulness, perhaps we don’t want to be thankful.
This comes when we are consumed by the discouraging things happening around.
Maybe this is the boat you are in this morning.
No matter where we are it is important to remember the who, what, when, why, and how at the root of our thankfulness.
Who begins our thanks?
As Paul wrote in Eph 5.
Which helps us to remember when we should give thanks.
Should we only give thanks in the good times?
It is easier yes, but the answer from scripture is clearly no.
When should we give thanks?
Remember back to Paul’s statement in Thess
Whether good or bad, give thanks.
Every situation, every time.
Give credit where credit is due, especially in the difficult times.
Because God is at work.
In this we really have no greater example than that of Job and his story.
Job lost everything.
Job in response to his wife shows this clearly.
Why
The why of giving thanks in troublesome times must come from a long term view and knowledge of the truth of God’s character.
Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount.
When we give thanks to God, we give Him the glory that He is due.
It is God’s will, God’s desire for believers to give thanks to Him.
What
The what of our thanks is abundantly clear.
Creation, life, and salvation.
I encourage you this week, read Ps. 136 individually and as a family.
How
The how can be the difficult part, especially when we don’t feel it.
Feelings, or emotions, are a powerful part of our lives.
So much so that they tend to control us.
Perhaps you have been wiped out by depression, consumed with anger, overwhelmed by shame.
Negative emotions feel so strongly and impact us greatly.
But we need not be controlled by our emotions.
God gave us emotions.
When we learn to understand our emotions and turn to Go for help and hope, our emotions begin to work for us.
Leading us, guiding us, and showing us how to best live and glorify God.
Some specifics on how we can give thanks to God, especially when we don’t feel can begin with music.
1) Worship the Lord through song and praise.
Turn on some good quality christian music, if you don’t know any, I would be happy to point you in the direction of the genre you prefer.
It is amazing to me the impact music has upon our attitudes.
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