Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO

My wife Hannah’s favorite holiday is bar-none Thanksgiving.

She just loves the tradition of gathering with friends and family around a lovingly prepared meal and sharing gratitude.

We share that sentiment.

We have traditions as I am sure many of you have.

I do a three day brine for my turkey before I inject it with butter and baby it.

Hannah has always tried to create a motif.

One year she included a pretty creative thanksgiving party hats.

Here is a picture for your amusement.

Hannah also has us practice the tradition of going around and saying what we’re all thankful for.

Now that’s not necessarily new for many of us.

It’s a tradition of those even who don’t have faith.

One theologian talked about the idea of not having faith and being thankful as a pattern of thanksgiving without a grantor.

We’re thankful we’re just not sure to whom.

Paul as we can see in our passage doesn't have that problem.

Paul overflows with gratitude to the Lord.

Today we are going to zoom in on these 6 verses and my prayer is that you would be challenged towards gratitude.

Specifically here is what I want us to see, The gospel produces confident gratitude.

These verses constitute the beginning of a prayer.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism does a masterful job to remind is that gratitude is the essence of any prayer would offer to the Lord.

"What is prayer?

Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of

our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies" (WSC 98)

This is a robust and beautiful acknowledgement of God and all his blessings.

As we consider the reality that the gospel produces gratitude we’re gonna see both lessons and reasons.

We will see three lessons from Paul’s gratitude and three reasons for his gratitude.

Let’s dive in and see first three lessons from Paul’s gratitude.

I. Lessons on Gratitude

Philippians 1:3 (ESV)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,

Perspective on Gratitude.

Paul has a very specific perspective and it should grab you.

Notice he isn't thanking the Philippians for their kindness, he is thanking God for them.

Paul has a right prospective on his life.

Consider what we hear in James1:17

James 1:17 (ESV)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

If we’re honest many of us are so quick to notice kindness from others.

We say thank you at the grocery store checkout line almost instinctively.

We’re raised to be aware and thankful to others.

But we often lack the godward prospective of Paul.

How often do we pray prayers of gratitude for what he has done for us.

Are your prayers marked by thankfulness?

Are moments of comfort, provision moments where you practice gratitude friend?

It is possible to measure the selfishness of our hearts and indeed our prayers by the degree of thankfulness that we find in them.

The person who feels entitled is rarely a thankful person.

So we see first that we should have a reset prospective looking at the fact that every good gift, every moment of joy, all of it comes from the Lord.

That is the first lesson.

the next lesson

Thankful Prayers

Thanksgiving saturates Paul’s prayer life.

Look at verses 3 and 4 together

Philippians 1:3–4 (ESV)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,

Gratitude marks Pauls prayers

E.M. Bounds one of histories most prevalent voices on prayer said:

"Giving thanks is the very life of prayer.

It is its fragrance and music, its poetry and its crown."

_E.M Bounds

That is absolutely Pauline.

When we look at this prayer and other prayers throughout Paul’s epistles you don’t get the idea that gratitude is tacked on lack an afterthought.

You don’t get the idea that this prayer is some kind of grudging duty.

This is someone who sees everywhere the grace of God.

He sees it in every life that is changed, in every kindness given, every trial

IN all of it Paul never seems to come up short with thanksgiving.

But here is the most challenging part of this prayer.

Look at verse 7

Philippians 1:7 (ESV)

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Wow

Now context.

We will learn as we read this letter that even though this is a beloved church for Paul it is not without it’s difficulties.

Later in the letter we catch clues that these believers were reacting to external opposition not by strengthening their bonds of unity with each other but by letting their fellowship fragment into competing pockets of self-centeredness.

At the very time when they should have been giving and receiving each other’s support and encouragement, when hostility and pressure from the surrounding society should have driven them together, the congregation was marred by individuals’ preoccupation with their personal problems while ignoring others’ needs (2:4)

and by their grumbling against each other and their questioning of the goodness of God (2:14).

Yet here is Paul in chains.

He has really two options as we will see.

Death or Freedom.

Prison wasnt a punishment but a holding place until judgement was determined.

Yet Paul is grateful, holding his friends in his heart.

In evaluating our own gratitude for the grace of God Coram Deo I don’t want just say, “Remember to be thankful when you pray.”

But rather is thankfulness and gratitude overflowing in every prayer of yours no matter the circumstances.

this brings us to the third lesson

Joyful Prayer

Joy fuels Paul’s prayer

Philippians 1:4 (ESV)

always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,

Paul has learned to see God’s masterful hand in every moment of his life.

Every circumstance, every blessing, the good and the bad all of it Paul can find reason for joy in the grace of God.

If you remember last week I told you that joy is one of the dominate themes of the book of Philippians.

This idea permeates the book and here is the lesson.

This kind of joy despite circumstances.

This kind of joy that produces grateful prayer

It isn't just for guys like Paul who write Bible it is for you.

This joy is what we chase isn't it?

It’s why we binge watch only to be sad when the series is over.

It’s why we chase after the latest and greatest.

It’s what we look at the scale for or the likes for.

We want a deep abiding joy.

Paul is going to be calling out to us that this Joy is available to us and it can overflow into every area of our lives!!!