A Scriptural-Spiritual Lens for Resolve in 2022 - Part Nine
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Introduction
Introduction
Why is thankfulness to God of such significance in the Christian life? The importance of thanksgiving is because it makes much of God.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
In contrast, Ingratitude makes much of man, ourselves or others. Ingratitude makes much of things either what we have or do not have. Ingratitude makes much of circumstances as if a particular situation is more important than the presence and blessing of God.
PRAY
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Gratefulness is an essential resolve
Gratefulness is an essential resolve
And be thankful - The participants of the new man are called to gratitude. The new man does not see this as a burden. They want to be thankful and ultimately will be. Why?
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This could be hard to understand because of difficulties and struggles in the Christian life, however the problems are not because of the commandments of Christ. It is often our approach to them. Here are some essentials truths to help us understand:
Does not mean God’s laws are not demanding, because they are.
Does not mean that there will not be a struggle, because this is.
Does not mean that Christians will not feel burdened if they trust in the flesh.
Does mean that God’s laws are not oppressive. They are for our good.
Does mean that God gives the Christian grace to be able to live up to that standard
Does mean God empowers Christians to obey and understand his command rightly
Gratefulness can and does grow
Gratefulness can and does grow
And be thankful. Become thankful - grateful, the language seems to imply that there is an ongoing process of becoming thankful or that thankfulness is not instant and permanent. Therefore, we have the responsibility to move toward thankfulness in our lives.
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
Illustration: Ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants do not always appreciate what parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday, but what are you doing for me today. The past is meaningless and so is the future. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those who laboured in the past. They recognize those who labour during the present and provide for those who will be labouring in the future.
Gratefulness originates from within
Gratefulness originates from within
With thankfulness in your hearts - thankfulness - as a verbal thank offering to God, gratitude, “must live in you” as “must influence how you live with one another” or “must determine how you behave toward one another.” If gratefulness to God is within a person, it will eventually flow out of that person and make itself known.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Test yourself: Is thankfulness coming from your mouth?
Gratefulness is directed above
Gratefulness is directed above
To God (16), Giving thanks to God the Father (17)
Thankfulness is not man-centered like the following example.
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
True thankfulness is directed to the Father, but is rooted in God’s work.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Gratefulness extends to all of life
Gratefulness extends to all of life
Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Think of the worst situation you have been through or the worst possible situation you could go through. Now apply this truth to it. You are to be thankful in that situation. If you find yourself complaining about life and things that happens to you, you are not in the will of God. The will of God is emphatically, TO BE THANKFUL.
What shall we give thanks for? The reasons for us to be thankful are many.
We give thanks because we know God through the redemption.
We give thanks because of God meets all of our needs from water to clothing.
We give thanks to God for the abundance blessings of life (family, friends, freedom, etc…)
We give thanks to God for all the other realities of which we are not aware.
Gratefulness is found in Christ
Gratefulness is found in Christ
Through him
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
These verses teach us that the true reference point for thankfulness is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that produces true thankfulness. Conversion is the entry door into a life of thanksgiving.
Illustration: A Puritan sat down to his meal and found that he had only a little bread and some water. His response was to exclaim, “What? All this and Jesus Christ, too!”
Practical Application:
Practical Application:
Repent quickly of ingratitude
See all of life through faith
Gaze upon God and his goodness
Study your rescue from sin, misery and condemnation
Deliberately speak thanksgiving