An Attitude of Gratitude

Welcome

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“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess 5:16-18 NLT

Prayer

Introduction

I have a Word from the Lord for you this morning, and if you’re taking notes, right at the top of your notes I’d like you to write the words An Attitude of Gratitude.

If that’s too much for ya on a Saturday morning, you can just write Thankfulness. That’s okay.

Complaining and bickering has become society’s favorite past time.

We complain about: the price of gas, the government, and the neighbors who always seem to take the nice trips.

We complain about the snow, and then summer comes and we complain about the heat.

We complain about about our grass going brown, then have the audacity to grouse about the rain!

Where did we go wrong? When did we become such a complaint-ridden culture?

Did social media do this to us? Have we always been this way?

I don’t know.

All I know for sure is two things:

The words “Thank you” feel like an endangered species.

I just spent the last minute complaining about complaining.

Transition

As the early church leader, Paul, closes out his first letter to the church of the Thessalonians, he gives the three admonishments that we read just a moment ago.

Rejoice, pray, and give thanks.

We could spend a full three hours exploring each of these words, but let’s take less than 10 minutes to talk about that last admonishment: give thanks.

Gratitude is a natural expression of thanks in response to God’s blessings, protection, and love.

Gratitude is Counter Culture

In a world full of complaints and, being thankful is a counter culture way of living.

But as we explore the New Testament, which Paul wrote the majority of, we see that the Christian life often calls us to live in a counter culture way.

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Paul talks about ungratefulness being one of the characteristics of unbelievers and idol worshippers in his day.

Romans 1:21 “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.”

Gratitude Isn’t Always Easy

Now, these seem like pretty ordinary, run-of-the-mill admonishments until you add those adverbs in.

Always be joyful

Never stop praying

Be thankful in all circumstances

Wow, now we’ve got ourselves a real challenge.

It is easy to give thanks for the blessings; it is more difficult to give thanks for the blessings in disguise.

God often uses difficult times to build our character and strengthen our faith.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

The most difficult task is to give thanks in all circumstances—even the situations that make no sense or are extremely painful.

Notice that Paul did not say be thankful for all circumstances, but in all circumstances.

Bad and evil things will happen to believers and those things do not come from God. So we should not thank him for it.

But when evil strikes, we can still be thankful for God’s presence and help.

Learning to give thanks in everything means:

Learning to trust God completely

Knowing that he is in charge

And understanding that all that happens is part of a larger picture that we may not see.

He’s not asking us to thank God for tragedy or misfortune. He’s encouraging us to be thankful in the midst of the various changing situation in life, be they good or bad.

Dr. Alexander Whyte, a prominent leader in the Church of Scotland in the late 1800s and early 20th century was famous for his pulpit prayers. He always found something to thank God for, even in bad times. One stormy morning, a member of his congregation thought to himself, “The preacher will have nothing to thank God for on a wretched morning like this.” But as Whyte took the pulpit, he began his prayer, “We thank thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”

Gratitude is an Expression of Faith

Giving thanks is one of the ways we praise God for how he blesses us.

As followers of Christ, the object of our thanksgiving is the love of God that was expressed for us in Jesus’ work on the cross.

It’s a genuine response to the faith we place in Jesus.

Col 2:7 “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

I love how the Tyndale Bible Dictionary puts it:

“[Gratitude] is never coerced or fabricated in our minds. It is a joyful commitment of one’s personality to God.”

One of my most common prayers for the last 15 years has been, “God I thank you for who you are, for what you’ve done, and what you’re going to do.”

Psalm 100 “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”

Conclusion

gratitude brings life change

Through the rest of this prayer gathering, I want to invite you to lift up prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving to Jesus this morning.

Thank Him for who He is.

Thank Him for what He’s done.

Thank Him for all He’s going to do.

Prayer