Be Thankful

A Christmas Carol

The Story

It’s about this time of year I start thinking of watching or reading Charles Dickens classic short story, A Christmas Carol.

So, I need to preface. I am not doing what it seems like our culture is doing and jumping strait from Halloween to Christmas. It is hard to commercialize a holiday that is about being thankful. Marketing and consumerism depends on creating a feeling in us of dissatisfaction so that we long for the advertised product. Thanksgiving is a time for us to be thankful for what we already have, especially if we happen to have Turkey and Candied Yams!

But that brings me back to a Christmas Carol. It’s a book has had a profound impact on how we celebrate Christmas, before the book became a sensation Christmas had been minimized by the protestant leaders of the time for the materialism that had become associated with the holiday, Dickens book single handedly brought celebration back to the holiday with his themes of redemption and good chair.

But what strikes me in this story is the character of Bob Cratchit. Bob throughout the book has an attitude of Thanksgiving: When he sits down to Christmas dinner he is presented with a cheap and no doubt small bird, just enough for each member of the family to get a taste before they filled up on applesauce. Yet, we find Bob’s spirit to be joyful and grateful. At the end of the meal they gather around and Cratchit exclaims

‘A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!’ Which all the family re-echoed.

‘God bless us every one!’ said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

And then Scrooge overheard Bob’s toast

“Mr. Scrooge!” said Bob; “I’ll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!”

“The Founder of the Feast indeed!” cried Mrs. Cratchit, reddening. “I wish I had him here. I’d give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he’d have a good appetite for it.”

Even in the meagerness of their Christmas dinner and in the face of his wife’s pragmatism, still Bob was thankful. A man filled with gratitude. A gratitude that impacted his children.

Cratchit said of his crippled son:

He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.

The Truth

In this Christmas story we find the fundamental character of Thankfulness demonstrated repeatedly. But this isn’t just some over blown trope to move the story forward, the character of Thanksgiving is a fundamental characteristic of Christians. Let me show you. Turn your Bibles over to Colossians 3 as we read from 12 to 17.

Colossians 3:12–17 KJV 1900

12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Our message this morning is entitled Be Thankful

Let’s Pray

Christian Character

Biblical Guidance

If someone were to ask you to summarize Christian Character, you could do a whole lot worse than turning your Bible over to Colossians 3. And bear with me through this list:

Negatives

Verses 5 through 10 are a list of things that the believer does away with, look what we have starting in verse 5:

fornication (meaning sexual immorality)

uncleaness (meaning impurity)

evil concupiscence (or evil desire)

And covetousness

And at the end of the verse it calls all of these things idolatry. The things we worship rather than God.

Then in verse 8 the list continues. The Christian should put away in their life:

Anger

Wrath

Malice

blaspheme (or slander, not specifically against God as we tend to thing of the word)

filthy communication out of your mouth (or obscene talk)

and in verse 9 lying.

And this affords us some self examination, because when these characteristics are present in our lives we can be assured that we are not spiritually healthy.

Positives

But how does verse 12 begin? Put on then. It is an interesting contrast in words. In verse 5 we read that we are to Put to Death carrying with it the idea of stopping some actions completely and then we are to exchange these negative characteristics for positive where our Bible says to put them on. And what are they? Well follow with me in v12

bowels of mercies ( meaning compassionate hearts)

kindness

humbleness of mind

meekness

longsuffering (meaning emotionally self-controlled)

Forbearance, or patience with one another

And Forgiving one another

And having the forgiveness of Christ

Verse 14 continues

above all is Charity (and this word means sacrificial level of love not charity as we think of it today).

Verse 15 says

to let the peace of God rule in your hearts

and then it says and be ye thankful (we will come back to this)

Verse 16 says to

Let the word of Christ dwell in you

that we are to use music to teach and to warn with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs and that our music should be an outpouring of grace from our hearts to the Lord.

And then v17 is where we will conclude.

Colossians 3:17 KJV 1900

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

The Character of Thankfulness

This is quite the list and if time allowed we could probably spend a Sunday morning covering each of these points individually, but we see two of these points repeated.

In verse 15 we read

Colossians 3:15 (KJV 1900)

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye -- thankful.

and at the end of verse 17

Colossians 3:17 (KJV 1900)

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

A repeated topic

The topic of thanksgiving comes up in 133 verses throughout our Bible. I told that to Kate and here advice was to open with that point, close in prayer and tell everyone if they want details to come see me after. No such luck.

The first time we read about thanksgiving is in Leviticus 7 where the offerings are being discussed. In Leviticus 7:12 of the offering it says

Leviticus 7:12 KJV 1900

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.

The details aren’t really necessary for what we are talking about today but what is, is that an offering given, not just for atonement but out of a heart of thankfulness to God. See, like I said thankfulness is foundational and goes all the back through the Old Testament to Leviticus and the offerings to God.

A Thankful Spirit

1 Thess 5:18 says

1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV 1900

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

A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to determine what God’s will is for their life and this is a pretty good place to start. I mean it says it pretty clearly right here, This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you…what?....To be thankful, to give thanks in everything!

The Psalms give us some pretty good reasons to be thankful:

Psalm 106:1 KJV 1900

1 Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 107:1 KJV 1900

1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 118:1 KJV 1900

1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: Because his mercy endureth for ever.

I could go on, 118:29, 136:1, 136:2, 136:3 Guess what Psalm 136:26 says?

Psalm 136:26 KJV 1900

26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: For his mercy endureth for ever.

if there is anything that we should be thankful for it is that God’s mercy endure’s forever. For anyone to examine their own salvation in Christ, to consider that God would save us -- who have existed in rebellion has to come to the conclusion that God’s mercy endureth forever and it is worthy of thankfulness. When I examine my heart and I know how often I blow it and I have to crawl back before the throne of God I have to be thankful that God’s mercy endureth forever.

Thankful In Difficult Times

Consider, that even Jesus had a spirit of thanksgiving. I can’t think of much a darker time in Christ’s ministry than His final passover, yes still as Jesus supped with his disciples, what does it say in Luke 22:17-19

Luke 22:17–19 KJV 1900

17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

You might not realize this, but the word in Greek translated gave thanks in our Bible is εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteō), for those of you who have connections to the catholic church, you may recognize this term as related to the term they use for the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist and this is in essence what the passover meal was, a remembrance, a thanks in remembrance God liberating Israel out of Egyptian slavery.

So, Jesus knowing that he would soon be seized and tried and put to death broke break with his disciples with a spirit of thanksgiving.

Our Thankful Disposition

I can’t help but consider this question. To what degree am I thankful? Let me rephrase that: Where does my thankfulness end and my self pity begin?

William Law, a man who was put out service the Anglican church for his refusal to pledge allegiance to the monarchy said this:

If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness, and all perfection, he must tell you to make a rule to yourself, to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.

And his point rings true. We don’t know how and in what ways our diffuculties may be used of God. We don’t know when we will say as Joseph did

Genesis 50:20 KJV 1900

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

This week were are celebrating a holiday that can easily be neglected. And hopefully you have a lot of obvious things to be thankful for. Hopefully you get to eat a big meal with loved ones and you can reflect on the ways that you have been blessed by God.

But even this morning if you find that life has thrown you some curve balls let me remind you that thankfulness is a fundamental Christian characteristic. We serve a merciful God who loves us, who is patient with us and even in our trials in tribulation may be using them for some future good that we don’t yet understand.

I know he’s just a character in a short story but I like Tiny Tim’s statement in A Christmas Carol, that he:

hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.

Pastor Wally Miller at Bible Baptist Church, one of the churches that supports Harvest said something that had a big impact on me, he said:

Sometimes God allows Christians to go through difficulties so that people can see how Christians handle difficulties.

What I ask you this morning is to join me in being thankful. We don’t know what kind of impact our thankfulness will have.

Could our thankful hearts be our source of happiness and blessing as William law suggests? Could our thankfulness be what someone on the outside looking in recognizes as Christian character and by our spirit decides to look more into this Christ we speak of.

I don’t know, but what I do know is that thankfulness is not just for this upcoming holiday, but it is something that should be definitive of your character, every day. If it’s not, then let me suggest that your relationship with God is hurting. Something is wrong and I hope you will make a serious commitment this morning to make it right.

If you have any questions about this message or if you would like to know more about our savior Jesus Christ, in just a moment we are going to close in prayer. After, please meet with me and I would love to talk to you. If you are at home, you can send me a private message through Harvests page on facebook and I will get back to you, confidentially, as soon as I can.

Let’s Pray