Being Thankful For God's Grace

Being Thankful for God’s Grace

Ephesians 5:19, John 4

Prayer-

Introduction-

This morning we are a few days from Thanksgiving. A time many will gather with family and hopefully give thanks for the things God has done for us. If we just gather and we do not give thanks, it would not be thanksgiving celebration, it would be a family gathering.

Illustration-

The story is told of two old friends bumping into each other on the street, and one said to the other that he looked like trouble was upon him, almost on the verge of tears. His friend said, “What has this world done to you, my old friend?” The sad fellow said, let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me 40,000 dollars. That’s a lot of money. But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never knew died, and left me 85,000 dollars. Sounds, like you have been blessed. You don’t understand, last week, my great aunt died and I inherited almost a quarter million dollars. Now, I am really confused, why do you look so glum? This week… nothing! Can you believe it?

We live in a land of plenty, and we live in a country where many are not thankful for what God has given them.

Plenty is the norm and if our expectation is anything less than abundance, we feel cheated and unfulfilled.

We need to take an attitude check and really see the good things that God has done and is doing in our lives.

I thank God for some of the positive reports I have been given this week. People getting out of the hospital, people scared of diagnoses and hearing great reports, things going back to normal in their lives. I say Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

The pilgrims set aside time to give thanks for God’s hand in their lives and the things that He gave them.

It is daily, continual, and in all things, not just the blessings.

The Lord is telling us that we cannot wait to be happy.

Don’t postpone happiness until the time is right and all situations are going your way.

If you cannot learn to be content with less, you will not be content with more.

You must learn by God’s grace to be happy in all circumstances.

Nobody should run around with a fake smile on their face when things are going bad and smile and says “Thank you …may I have another.”

Many of us live in the If of life…

If only I had this…

If only it were different…

If only I could do that…

If only this had not happened in my life…

Contentment begins when you realize that this world cannot satisfy. That satisfaction only comes from a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Thankfulness and having the right attitude allows us to see the grace of God in our lives.

Each one of us sitting here has more than most of the whole world.

It is just that in this country, we feel God owes us more… and when we have troubles, we blame God for not meeting our wants instead of our needs.

The text this morning points us back to Christ, His work on the cross and His Amazing Grace that He has shed on us.

It is why we as Christians should be thankful and why we should be looking at what He has already done and not only looking at what He should still do for us.

Text

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Romans 5:8-

“But God demonstrated his own love for us in this; while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

To be truly thankful, we must understand the grace of God. We will come back to the text in a moment, but let’s define Grace.

Grace in Theological terms-

Grace is-God’s love toward people who do not deserve God’s love

Grace is-God moving heaven and earth to save sinners because they could not save themselves.

Grace is-unmerited or undeserving favor of God to those that would be condemned by God’s holiness.

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”