Thanksgiving2007
IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS 1 THESSALONIANS 5:18
We gather, this Lord’s Day, to reflect upon an attitude that ought to be true in every believer. It is an attitude that ought to reflect everyday of our life and not just this week of Thanksgiving. I am talking about the attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is being thankful for the things that God has done in our lives. It is being thankful for the things that God does. We thank Him for the blessings He bestows upon our lives every single day.
So this morning, I want to turn our attention to a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Thessalonica. If you have your Bibles turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
This coming Thanksgiving Day, both believers and non-believers will gather around the dinner table. Both will offer thanks for the things of life. Both will be grateful for the things that they have in life such as family, friends, health, material things and the like. Yet, there will be a vast difference in the thanks that will be offered. For the Christian, thanksgiving will be offered to God, who is the giver of every good gift and every perfect gift (James 1:17).
But thanks for the unbeliever is quite different. Paul, in Romans 1, identifies the ungodly as being ungrateful to God. Listen to his stinging words, “For although they knew God,” (that is in their conscience and the visible creation of things), “they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him” (Rom. 1:21). In other words, what Paul is saying is that the unbeliever refuses to thank God for everything. You see there is a difference between the unbeliever and the believer. The believer is thankful unto God for all things, while the unbeliever is not.
Can I suggest to you that there are several reasons that the unbeliever is not thankful to God? The first reason that these are ungrateful to God is because they go through life thinking that things happen as a result of luck. They think it's just a coming together of events over which nothing has control, it just happens to happen that way. And if it doesn't happen the way it ought to happen for them, they become bitter and complaining and angry and hostile and life takes on a sour dour kind of meaning. And even though they may try to manipulate the lucky factors of life, they are unsuccessful and so they have no thankfulness at all. Who is to thank? You can't thank luck; luck doesn't even have control over itself. There is no thanks in their heart. What little good may come to them they attribute to luck and the rest of it they don't like?
The second reason that unbelievers are ungrateful to God is because they think there is some exorable-{ek-ser-uh-buhl} (hopeless) force out there. These people don’t believe in luck, they are fatalists. There is some certain inevitability that is preset, maybe by the stars or some other aberration in their own thinking and somehow it's all forced down a track and they fatalistically and reluctantly accept what is utterly inevitable and unchangeable. And that's the way it will be, it is destiny, don't argue with it. Who is to thank for whatever good comes in that? There's no one to thank, it's a nameless force, an unidentifiable movement that has no personhood and so there's no one to thank for anything, good or bad.
The third reason that unbelievers are ungrateful to God is because they believe that somehow they can control their life. They're the positive thinkers, they're the usually successful people who having been successful, and they're not sure why at first and then they eventually attribute it to their own skill, but everything good that happens to them, they've done it, they've arranged it, they've orchestrated it, they've made it happen, they dreamed it, schemed it, planned it, made it happen, pulled it off. And all the credit goes to them. None for God. After all, what did He have to do with anything?
But the Christian attitude for thanksgiving is quite different. In fact, for the Christian this ought to be our prevailing attitude toward God. It is the attitude that every good and perfect gift comes from above. For the Christian things do not happen by chance. There is a personal God, who is sovereign, over everything. He is the One who creates and sustains life. Also, as Christians we know that there is no impersonal force who has preset the destiny of all human beings. In fact, Scripture reminds that all things happen for God’s glory. As Christians, we cannot thank even ourselves because God has given us life and keeps life going for us. If it was not for God’s grace, then we would not even be here at this present moment.
So thankfulness is a part of the new life that is given to us at salvation. The inner being has been transformed by the grace of God and should display itself in thankfulness. Gratitude ought to be a part of the fabric of our life because of all that God has done. But even as Christians, we can be unthankful. For the unbeliever it is normal for them not to be thankful, but for the Christian it should be abnormal. It goes against the grain of the new life, new nature that is given us in Christ Jesus.
Paul says give thanks in all circumstances. This means there are no exceptions and no excuses for giving thanks. This means no matter the struggle, the trial, the testing, the circumstance, or what happens we are to give thanks to God. As Christians, we are commanded in Scripture to give thanks.
For example, I can be thankful for the pain that I go through in a surgery if I know that there's healing coming because of it. I can be thankful for the difficulty I go through in preparation if I know that the product of that preparation is going to change lives. I can be thankful for the process of pain that I might inflict on my body if I know that in the end I'm going to be healthier because I exercise. There are many things in life that involve that. As long as you look at the end result you can be thankful even for a process that's less than happy, joyful.
Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” What this means is that God can take the bad thing and work it for our good and eternal glory. If you live believing that God is at work sovereignly controlling all of the contingencies of life, blending them all together each component to lead to a sovereignly designed goal for your good and glory, then you can handle anything in life and be thankful because you know it fits in to the ultimate plan.
In the Bible, John 9 tells the story of a man who was born blind. The disciples conversing with Jesus asked the logical question that most of us would ask and that is who sinned the man or his parents. For the Jews, things that were considered bad happened because someone was living a unrighteous life. Isn’t that what Job’s friends accused him for the lost of his flock, his family, and his health. But Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” In other words, God allowed this to happen for His purpose.
Many of you know the story of Helen Keller. She was born in 1882. I didn’t know until this morning that she didn’t die until 1968. Helen Keller was born in 1882, and when she was 19 months old, a beautiful, precocious little girl, she caught a fever that so ravaged her and that left her without sight and without the ability to hear. She was locked into a world of darkness and silence; but she was determined and she was extremely smart. Now, I want to pause right now. Fathers of daughters, can you feel the intensity of what is going on here? Can you imagine that precious little girl that you hold in your arms and you delight in, and suddenly, she is locked away from you in darkness and silence. And she was determined to be able to communicate with the outside world, and she began to be able to imitate to her family things that she wanted. When she wanted a piece of bread she would make a hand motion as if she were cutting a piece of bread to let her family know. When she wanted ice cream, she would wrap her arms around herself and she would shiver. And she developed about sixty different motions that she could do in order to communicate with her family, but it frustrated her as she understood that people communicated with their lips and she couldn’t communicate with her lips to her family. And as she grew, she became more and more frustrated and more and more violent because of her frustration. She would smash things; she would throw objects. She was out of control. At age seven, her parents got her a tutor to help her learn to communicate. And very instrumental in Helen Keller’s ability to cope with this was her trust in the living God.
Now, my friends, a person in Helen Keller’s situation would be very tempted to become bitter and angry, and the last thing that would be on the agenda for a person like that might well be gratefulness and thankfulness. But I want you to listen to what Helen Keller once said. She said, “For three things I thank God every day of my life. Thanks that He has vouchsafed me knowledge of His works; deep thanks that He has set in my darkness the light of faith; deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to--a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song. Helen Keller may not have been thankful for the circumstance that God had dealt to her, but she was thankful in that circumstance. And that is precisely what Paul is saying to us. In every circumstance, we are to give thanks.
So when we can begin to see the end results of what God is doing by bringing all things together for our good, then we can learn to be thankful for everything. We need to reminded of this great truth because we live in a culture that is not grateful and therefore this attitude can invade our lives if we are not careful. Thankfulness ought to be a characteristic of the Christian life. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:15, “as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” What Paul is saying is that as people receive salvation by the grace of God, it leads to more grateful hearts. Salvation is a reason to be thankful.
In 2 Corinthians 9:11 he is simply saying, "Having been enriched with everything, it produces thanksgiving to God." Not only do you have salvation but you have everything. God has poured out everything. God has given bread for your food, He'll supply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness and the result of all that He's doing in your life should be unending thanksgiving. In Ephesians chapter 5 the Apostle Paul writing at the beginning of the chapter in verse 3 says, "Don't let immorality or impurity or greed be named among you," and he's talking there about deeds. Then in verse 4 he says, "There shouldn't be filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting but rather giving of thanks." And there he's talking about speech. He's saying when you open your mouth nothing dirty ought to come out, what ought to come out is thanksgiving. Christians ought to be known by their thanksgiving. It's just constant. When they open their mouth they're expressing gratitude to God.
Over in chapter 5 verse 18, same chapter, Ephesians, verse 18, listen to this, he says, "Don't be drunk with wine," that is dissipation, "be filled with the Spirit." And what will happen? "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." That's joy, rejoicing, prayer, praise will happen. Then verse 20, "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father."
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 6, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him, established in your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude." Wow! He says you're to talk the right way, and here's how to walk, walk overflowing with gratitude, just gushing with gratitude because of all you have in Christ. You ought to be characterized by overflowing gratitude. It ought to be said of every Christian, "That is a thankful person, my what a thankful person...Every time that person opens his or her mouth, out comes thanksgiving, out comes gratitude to God, overflowing."
Colossians chapter 3 verse 15 says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful." Verse 17, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in everything." In absolutely everything. In verse 2 of chapter 4 he says, "Devote your life to it. Devote your life to praying with an attitude of thanksgiving. Devote your life to it."
Number one is doubt...doubt. What do you mean by that? I mean doubt about God, doubt about the character of God. You're not sure, first of all, that God's Word can be trusted. When He says that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose, when He says that His heart and desire for us is for our good and not evil, when He says that He wills the benefits of His love upon us...I'm not sure we can trust Him. When He says that He is faithful and His mercies are new every morning, He may not be telling us the truth. If you doubt God's truthfulness, if you doubt God's character, you're going to have trouble being thankful because you're not going to be necessarily sure that He's really going to keep His promise to make it work for your good.
Or if you doubt His sovereign power. Maybe you think He means well He just can't pull it off. You can sure trust His Word, He's got good intentions, He just doesn't have the power to deal with it. It's beyond Him, too complex, too difficult, He can't work this one out, He's not going to pull this off. So you doubt His sovereign power.
Or maybe you doubt His wisdom. You say, "I'll tell you what, He wants to keep His Word, He's got the ability to keep His Word, He's just not too smart. So when He works it all out it isn't really very good. If He would just consult me, I could clear some things up for Him because I've got this deal laid out and if it works my way, it will be perfect and you can see by the way it's working that God's plan is certainly not up to the standard of mine." So you're questioning His wisdom.
And then some might even question His love and say, "Well, God would never let this happen if He really loved me. Certainly can't love me and be letting this go on." Any of those kinds of doubts that attach themselves to the character, the Word, the love, the wisdom, the power or character of God are going to take away your thankfulness. Those are going to poison the springs of your redeemed heart that should be gushing forth in overflowing gratitude.
Secondly, selfishness. You can add to doubt selfishness. This will really poison the springs of gratitude. This is the attitude that says, "Look, I don't want it the way it is. I want it the way I want it. I am not content with the way God is working out my life. I am not content with the circumstances in which I find myself presently. I am not content with the things that are going on in my little world. I do not want it this way. It's not what I desire." That's selfishness. And selfishness basically says, "God, get off the throne and put me on it. I want to be in charge, I want to run my life, I want to call the shots." Self‑will is more important than God's will, my plan is more important than God's plan...selfishness. I want my life this way. I want my job this way. I want my church this way. I want my spouse this way. I want my kids this way. I want my career this way. I want...I want...I want...I want. And if God doesn't come in and fit the picture perfectly, then self‑will begins to run rough‑shod over the plan of God and a thankless spirit is the result.
Third, the third hindrance to a thankful heart would be worldliness...worldliness, the love of the world. You say, "What do you mean by that?" Well, someone whose vision is filled with trivial things. Someone whose vision is filled with pleasure, prominence, popularity, prestige, people, places, possessions, pursuits. I can't think of any more "P's" off hand. Somebody whose vision is all filled up with the trivia of the world, the stuff that is passing away. And they're so consumed with all that stuff that if that all doesn't work out the way they want it, they're not going to be thankful. I mean, they had their eye on a relationship with a person, they had their eye on a certain pleasurable achievement, accomplishment or experience, they had their eye on a place they wanted to be or a certain possession they wanted to have or a certain pursuit they wanted to accomplish, they had their eye on some kind of prestige they wanted to gain or some popularity they wanted to achieve and it didn't happen and because it didn't happen their whole life is in the dumps. And you and I know people like that. There are people in our world who because they didn't get somewhere along the line what they wanted, they took their ball spiritually and went home. And they spend the rest of their life with a thankless attitude. They never ever see the blessing of God cause they're not looking at it. You know that great old hymn "Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart?" That's the heart of the Christian's vision. Be Thou my vision, Lord of my heart. It's You I see. It's You I want. It's You I long for. And as long as that's your vision, you're going to see the blessing of God pouring into your life. But if your vision is the material world, then you miss all of that and so you have no cause for thanksgiving because everything that you've attached your affection to that doesn't work out causes you to be thankless and ungrateful.
Number four, a critical spirit...a critical spirit. Here again is something that will steal thankfulness blind...a critical spirit, a person who is bitter, a person who is negative, who has a sour life attitude. It can be produced by a number of things but if it is running unchecked, it will destroy a thankful heart. It will blind your vision. It will warp your understanding. It will make you useless to God and a pain in the proverbial neck to everybody around you. It will corrode your spirituality, it will corrode your love, this critical spirit, this over‑analysis of everything, this need to criticize everything that isn't exactly the way it ought to be. A critical spirit makes a bitter negative thankless person. And that again rises from pride. It rises from an enlarged ego that says I deserve better than this, I'm worthy of better than this. Or it says I want people to think I'm better than I really am so I want stuff around me to make me look good and it's not making me look as good as I want to look and so I get sour and bitter. Or I've been hurt, or I've been wounded by somebody and I'm just going to take the pain and I'm going to run it through the course of the rest of my life. That kind of critical attitude destroys thankfulness.
Number five, impatience...impatience. Some people don't give thanks simply because they're discontent over the perception that God doesn't move on their Day-Timer. God doesn't operate according to their schedule. God isn't working by their clock. They just can't take process. You know people like that. They want instant gratification, instant gratification. They can't deal with process. They can't say, "Thank you, Lord, I can see Your hand at work. The process is slow, I see it. I thank You for it. I praise You for it." They say, "God," it's like the child with a tantrum, "I want it, I want it now." No process, my time, not Yours. They want everything fixed in their world and they want it fixed immediately. They cannot patiently wait, they cannot patiently thank God for an unfinished process. They want God to work for them to accomplish all their goals in their own time frame. Impatience will just destroy thankfulness. Learn to thank God for the process. And learn, if you're looking at your partner in life or your children or whatever it is, for the little signals of process for which you can thank God that He's accomplishing His great purpose. Don't be in a hurry to see the things happen that are happening perfectly on time in His economy.
What robs gratitude? Doubt, selfishness, worldliness, critical spirit, impatience...two more. Coldness, spiritual coldness, you could call it apathy, you could call it lethargy. I use the word coldness in thinking about the lukewarm heart of the Laodiceans or thinking about the Ephesian church in Revelation also that had left its first love. There's a lack of zeal for Christian service. There's a lack of love for Christ. There's a lack of diligence in the study of Scripture. There's a lack of passion in worship. There's a neglect of the Bible and a neglect of prayer. There's a waste of time on the trivia of life. And it leaves people empty. They just become spiritually indifferent, lethargic, apathetic.
And lastly is rebellion. And by this I simply mean just downright, outright, flat‑out rebellion. "I'm not thankful because I'm angry with God. I'm not thankful because I don't like what He's doing in my life. I'm...I'm...I'm mad and I'm unthankful and I know I'm unthankful and I'm going to stay unthankful." Just plain rebellious.