A Grateful Church

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 725: Thanksgiving

In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years’ War, a German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year, an average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster.

In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children:

Now thank we all our God

With heart and hands and voices;

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom his world rejoices.

Who, from our mother’s arms,

Hath led us on our way

With countless gifts of love

And still is ours today.

Here was a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward circumstances

Gratitude is a natural outpouring of our new life in Christ.

Colossians 2:6–7 KJV 1900

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

The good news of Jesus brings an entirely new life to those who receive it.

Walk in Him.

This has to do with our lives.

They are based in Him.

Rooted and built up in him.

We are secured by Him.

We move forward through Him.

Stablished in the faith as we have been taught.

Others have invested in us.

Teaching us.

The only successful Christian teacher is the one that points us back to Him.

In this new life we abound.

This means that as we live and grow in Jesus, we will naturally overflow with something.

Paul says we are meant to overflow with thanksgiving.

A lack of thanksgiving is actually a pretty dangerous sign in the life of the Christian.

Ingratitude is actually a symptom of our natural unregenerate status before we got saved.

Romans 1:21 KJV 1900

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Does this mean that people who are ungrateful, habitually, are not saved?

No, but it could mean that they are still basing their identity on the pre-gospel life rather than on their gospel identity.

Which they have in Jesus.

Gratitude motivates our service.

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.

If our service is done in the name of the Lord, then that means it is done with His authority and for His glory.

This produces a selfless motivation of service in us.

I am not trying to get glory for myself.

Neither am I trying to earn God’s favor or indebtedness.

Instead, I serve God with a motivation of thankfulness.

Thankful for what?

Thankful for life.

Thankful for salvation.

Thankful for ability and opportunity.

Gratitude squelches discontentment.

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.

Discontentment leads to a lot of other issues.

Complaining

Bitterness

In-fighting

Unrest

Do you notice what word we see mentioned beside thankfulness in this verse?

Peace

Recognizing the plethora of reasons for gratitude will change our outlook on our lives.

We realize that God has treated us better than we deserve.

We can trust that His grace in the past will remain unchanged as we carry it into the future.

A spirit of gratitude towards God will produce an inner peace that is impossible in a discontented person.

Gratitude affects those around us.

Colossians 1:3 KJV 1900

3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

There are statements like this throughout the epistles.

It is a clear evidence of the fact that thankfulness affects others.

In this case, Paul’s thankfulness to God leads him to pray for the Colossians.

He is thankful for the work God has already done in them, and it motivates him to pray for what God will yet do in them.

It’s not just the prayers that are offered but also the testimony of God’s goodness.

Later in the book Paul says this in Colossians 3:17 “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.”

We know from our study of music a few weeks ago that praising God is closely tied to a spirit of thanksgiving.

We affect others when we sing songs of thanksgiving to God.

We provoke them to think about all the blessings and goodness of God.

As we move forward as a church we need to grow in our gratitude to God.

What can the people of the Baptist Tabernacle thank God for?

This spirit should flow from our new life in Him.

When we as a church are grateful, we will be a church at peace.

When we get worked up over all the things that we wish were different about our church, then we will lose that peace.

From my perspective there is plenty to be thankful for at the Baptist Tabernacle.

All it takes is a few vocal, thankful people to begin to affect others.

It will affect the inward culture of the church.

It will also affect the outward perception of the community.