1. Review of Inside Out
a. We are selfish, self-centered and self-absorbed.
b. We turn to meeting our own needs and our own wants all too easily.
c. God doesn’t want us to be that way.
i. How do I know that? Because that is what is at the core of what we call sin – self.
ii. If you think about this for a few minutes, you will come the conclusion that at the core of your own behavior and motivation is yourself. Yes, you might do a few things for others, but most of the time, our attention is “inward focused.”
d. God wants us to become outward & others focused, not “me-focused”
e. This is because God Himself is outward focused.
i. Listen to this description of love:
1. 1 Cor 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
ii. Love is not self-centered.
iii. God is love.
2. Previously on this subject of being turned inside out, I have spoken to you about letting what grips the heart of God grip our hearts.
a. We need to to feel what God feels. We need to let what stirs God stir us.
i. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
ii. And we move toward that attitude by allowing God to show us what breaks His heart. (Poverty, people suffering)
b. We have talked about a number of other things as well and how they can help us see the world and our church and our lives differently.
i. How we need a renewed and changed mind about the world around us, even a different perspective about the Kingdom of Heaven being in the here and now.
c. But there is one thing we can do to change our perspective from being “me focused” to “God focused.”
i. It involves an act of the will and an act of your mind.
ii. The bible tells us that those who “walk according to the Spirit have their minds set upon the things of the Spirit” and that those “who walk according to the flesh have their minds set upon what the flesh desires.” (Romans 8:5)
1. When our mind is set up on the things of the Spirit, we will be “outward focused.”
2. When our mind is set upon the things of the flesh, we are “inward focused.”
3. So while Christians may be born of the Spirit, unless we learn to walk by the Spirit (which means to set our minds on the things of the Spirit), we will look like and act like the rest of the world.
4. Do you want to look and act like the rest of the world? I hope not.
3. This morning I want to share a biblical principal that will help change your perspective and the way you look at life, the way you look at yourself, and the way you look at other people.
4. To become an inside-out person, develop a thankful heart.
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5. The Power of Thanks. Before I begin to develop this thought, let me share a list of things housewives are most thankful for:
a. Thankful "For automatic dishwashers because they make it possible to get out of the kitchen before the family comes back in for their after-dinner snacks.
b. Thankful For husbands who try to do small repair jobs around the house because they usually make them big enough to call in the professionals.
c. Thankful For children who put away their things & clean up after themselves. They’re such a joy you hate to see them go home to their own parents.
d. Thankful For teenagers because they give parents an opportunity to learn a second language.
e. Thankful For smoke alarms because they let you know when dinners done."
6. What does a thankful heart do?
a. An attitude of thanks crucifies a prideful spirit.
i. At the core of Pride is the exaltation of “self”.
ii. We cannot look at God if we are looking at self.
b. When we give thanks to God, we turn our attention from ourselves to God.
c. Prideful people are ungrateful people:
i. Ungrateful people are ungrateful because in their minds (subconscious or conscious) they believe that they are responsible for their blessings or success.
ii. They believe that they have made themselves what they are, that they have earned what they have and owe no one else credit or thanks.
iii. The great Preacher H.A. Ironside was in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don’t." The other man asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat." The man said, "Oh, you’re one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!" Ironside said, "Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!"
1. Ouch!
iv. ILLUSTRATION: We are much like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought and handed the orange back and said, “Peel it.”
v. Unfortunately, an attitude of ingratitude is more common than we think
vi. Ingratitude:
1. Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
2. Ingratitude leads to a darkened heart, one that becomes hardened toward God. Another passage says that in the last days men will be “ungrateful.”
3. Ingratitude leads to a self-centered, self-focused, self-absorbed, self-pleasing life.
4. Ingratitude is the result of a man separated from God.
d. Thanksgiving is how we meet God.
i. In Psalm 95:1-2 “Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation! Let us come before Him with thanksgiving.”
ii. Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.”. (NLT)
iii. All worship/prayer truly BEGINS with thanksgiving.
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1. It is what opens the gates of heaven and turns our hearts appropriately from self to God.
2. When our eyes move from us to Jesus, something amazing happens!
3. EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENS!
iv. The Temple of Jesus’ Day was surrounded by four courtyards, each enclosed by walls on each side. Each courtyard in turn was entered through various gates, or doorways in the surrounding wall enclosures.
1. The Outer Courtyard included
a. the Court of the Gentiles into which people of all nationalities had access.
b. the Court of the Women, and all Jews whether they be men, women, or children could enter.
c. the Court of Israel into which only Jewish men could come and worship.
2. The inner court that surrounded the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was the Court of the Priests, and only the priests could enter this courtyard for the purpose of ministry.
3. The Holy of Holies was where only the High Priest would enter once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer the annual sacrifice and incense.
v. Enter His gates with thanksgiving… And His courts with praise.
1. It is when we thank God that we begin the journey into His presence.
2. “Enter His gates,” not your gates, but His gates. Do not ask God to come meet you; go meet Him with thanksgiving. Enter His presence!.
3. Prayer should begin with thanksgiving.
a. Daughter thanks me – I am willing to give her almost anything because she acknowledges my generosity.
i. Thanksgiving isn’t flattery, it is acknowledging the generosity and goodness of God, the One who gives.
4. Worship should begin with thanksgiving.
e. Thanksgiving is an attitude.
i. It is a choice we make.
1. We can either be thankful and express gratitude for the rich blessings of God, or we can gripe, murmur, and complain about our circumstances.
2. The choice is ours.
3. We can choose to thankful or not. We can choose to look outward or inward, at ourselves or at God.
ii. Ps 34:1 “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
1. David makes a deliberate choice to praise the Lord. We can and should make a deliberate choice to move from Grumbling Alley to Thanksgiving Place.
2. Have you ever heard of Michael J Fox? Family Ties- Back to the future.
a. He also has Parkinson’s Disease. He’s had it for about 10 years, and its getting progressively worse.
b. He said in his book that "if you made a deal with God that he would take away my Parkinson’s disease and cancel out the last ten years of my life, I would tell you to take a hike. My life is so good now. I’m helping a lot of people cope with the stigma of this disease. And it makes me appreciate life as a precious gift."
f. Thankful people are happy people.
i. Dennis Prager, author of the book "Happiness is a Serious Problem."
1. "There is a ’secret to happiness,’" Prager writes, "and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is
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complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person."
7. Why should we thank God? Because God needs our gratitude? No: because we need it.
a. We need to set our eyes off of ourselves and our pitiful problems and place them on God.
b. When I counsel folks, I often encourage them to thank God for 100 things.
i. Have you ever tried this? I encourage you to try it sometime.
c. When you retell how you met Jesus, are you filled with thanksgiving? Why or why not?
i. Spending nearly ten years working among the urban poor, Irwin McManus faced unending crises and expectations. He felt obligated to meet needs on demand.
1. While he did a great deal to serve people, it became clear they were not helping them get better. The same people would return with the same issues again and again.
2. He never forgot the insight a homeless man gave me one day. He approached their car asking for money or food. His wife offered him my lunch, consisting of a sandwich and chips. Without hesitation, he looked into our car, pointed to his soup, and demanded that also. Not one ounce of gratitude. Irwin gave him his sandwich, but kept the soup.
3. He tells it like this: “Gratitude expands both our capacity to love and to experience love.Helping someone grow in gratitude is relational art, requiring firm but gentle strokes of the brush. If a person is a believer, a good place to begin is the cross. Considering his sacrifice for us, how much more does Jesus need to do for us to be eternally grateful? Discipling begins with the fact that what we deserve is nothing.”
4. Gratitude increases our capacity for an outward focus.
d. We have all read stories of thanklessness, but this week I read a story of one man who was a great swimmer who rescued 17 people. Later he was interviewed as a hero and was asked to comment on the entire event. He said, what amazed me the most is that no one said thank you.
e. Grateful people are thankful for what they have and demand little of others. They see the glass half full and are thankful for what they’re given, since they expected nothing. A person who is ungrateful wonders who drank their other half.
8. Closing Thoughts:
a. Thanksgiving is an attitude that acknowledges God as the Source.
i. Thanksgiving focuses on the Source, the Savior.
ii. Complaining focuses on WHO? ME!
1. My needs, my problems, my wants, my concerns, my desire.
2. That is the destructive power of complaining!
b. Thankful people choose to focus on the positives not the negatives of life.
i. Negatives always happen its a matter of what you spend your time thinking about.
c. Thankful people find a way to turn negatives into positives.
i. They realize that God really does cause all things to work together for good.
ii. Start by writing down three things you are thankful for - every day. Instead of comparing your life to the “rich and famous,” rate it against those who have less fame and fortune. You can see your own situation in a more positive light if you compare yourself to someone in a similar situation or recognize there are people with worse problems than your own.
d. Thankful people look for the best in the world around them.
i. I met someone this week – Doug from the mission team. Several of us were complaining. He found the good in it instead. Doug is a Deacon for his church. I can see why!
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ii. You often you find exactly what you are looking for.
e. Thankful people are grateful for what they have not obsessed on what they want or don’t have..
f. Thankful people are externally focused.
9. Which are you? Are you a thankful person? Or have you taken God for granted? Have you somehow believed that you were responsible for all that you have and all you have accomplished? Have you forgotten all the goodness of God?
a. How thankful are you for the people in your life? Do you thank God for them?
b. How thankful are you for the circumstances of life? Do you thank God for them?
10. Would you like to be happy? Start thanking God for what you have and are!
11. Would you like to make a difference in others’ lives?
a. Thank God!
b. Jer 30:19 “From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased;”
i. Sounds as though because songs of thanksgiving arise from them that God will add to their numbers.
c. Col 4:2 2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”
d. Psalm 50:23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God."
