How To Express Our Gratitude?

Opening:

Rudyard Kipling was a great writer and poet whose writings we have all enjoyed. Unlike many old writers, Kipling was one of the few who had the opportunity to enjoy his success while he lived. He also made a great deal of money at his trade.

One day a newspaper reporter came to him and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over a hundred dollars a word." Mr. Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that." The reporter cynically reached into his pocket pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill gave it to Kipling and said, "Here’s a hundred-dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now, you give me one of your hundred-dollar words." Mr. Kipling looked at that hundred-dollar bill for a moment, took it folded it up put it in his pocket, and said, "Thanks."

Last Sunday, we learned one of God's wills: to give thanks in all circumstances. There are many ways to express our thankfulness to God.

1. Through Our Words.

- Through our prayers. We can say to God: “Thank You, God, for ….” Paul says in Ephesians 1:16, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

- Through songs that we sing. Like King David in 1 Chronicle 29:13, “Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”

- Through our daily conversation with others. Ephesians 5:19 says, “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,”

- Through telling the truth. Ephesians 4:25 says, "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

We should not give thanks to the Lord only on Thanksgiving Week or a Thanksgiving Sunday Service in November. We should express our gratitude to God through daily prayer, praise, and conversation with others!

2. Through Loving God and Others.

We have received God’s incredible love. He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to replace our eternal punishment on his body so that we who believe Him may be forgiven and have eternal life in heaven with Him. Of course, we are so thankful for His wonderful love. Because of that, we want to love Him back. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” I want you to focus on the words “with all.” Three times Jesus said, “with all.” It shows how He wants us to love God wholeheartedly, not with half-hardheartedly love, but full love.

Only people who have received God’s love can love Him wholeheartedly. They love God because they appreciate and are so grateful for the love of God that they have received. 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” We express our gratitude to God by loving Him, who first loved us, wholeheartedly.

Since we have received God's, we should express our gratitude by loving others. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” So, we express our gratitude NOT only through words but by loving God and others.

3. Through Serving God.

Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus, the Creator, King of kings, and Lord of lords, came to be a Servant to serve and give His life to us. What wondrous love, commitment, and humility are. People who realize and receive His love will not be quiet and do nothing. Their hearts must be moved to thank Him and do something for Him. Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 what motivated him to serve God, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

The love of Christ that we have received should be our primary motive to serve Him through His church. People may serve the Lord for the wrong reasons, such as because it makes them feel important, or because they like to do it, or because they don’t have anything else to do, or other self-interest motives. We should serve in gratitude for what Jesus has done.

Here are some specific questions to help us evaluate our motives:

1. If no one ever knows what I am doing (giving, serving, sacrificing), would I still want to do it?