November 22, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Philippians 4:4-7
Subject: Thanksgiving
Title: Thanksgiving – Really? Three Reasons to Give Thanks
The holiday season is right around the corner. Time to begin preparing for the New Year’s diet. On Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving – a day set aside to remember all the good things you have and enjoy family and eat like a pig. Thanksgiving is like the kick-off for six weeks of extravagance that will conclude for many with New Year’s Eve and is immediately followed by a time of remorse and repentance and then the diet. I’m being a little facetious now. We all know what Thanksgiving is really all about – Don’t we? Yes it is a holiday we celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November every year. It is marked by turkey dinners and family and football. It is a time when we give thanks.
That is where I want to get to this morning. What does it really mean to give thanks? If you look in Webster’s Dictionary the word “give” means, “to offer as a present; to hand over; to put in someone’s hands.” “Thanks” means, “gratitude, or and expression of gratitude.” So “give thanks” means to offer gratitude.
I looked up in Strong’s concordance the phrase “give thanks” and the word “thanksgiving”. They occur a total of forty-six times in the Old Testament and fifteen times in the New Testament. In the OT it means, “to hold out the hands or to worship with hands extended.” In the NT it has more of the English meaning. It means, “to be grateful or to express gratitude – to God”
So when we celebrate “Thanksgiving Day” on Thursday we do so with a much bigger picture in mind.
Turn your bibles to Philippians 4:4-7.
We want to look at three reasons to give thanks.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. GOD IS NEAR. 4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Paul’s admonishment for rejoicing here is based not on our emotions. He doesn’t say we are to be happy all the time, although we can be most of the time. We can make a choice to either be happy and smile, or to display some other negative characteristic. So how do we do that? How can we rejoice in the face of adverse circumstances? How can we be joyful even though the secular world is doing everything it can to tear down what we believe? How can we remain positive even when there are conflicts, whether power struggles or personality conflicts, within the church? How do we rejoice in the face of persecution? James 1:2-4 helps us to see the answer a little more clearly. 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Testing develops perseverance. Every one of us will go through struggles in the world. Jesus even said that we would experience tribulation – not the Great Tribulation – but tribulation or persecution in general. But being in the will of God brings us the greatest joy of all – so rejoice in the Lord… Now, in light of all the adversity that you face in your life Paul says, 5Let your gentleness be evident to all… The word that is translated “gentleness” is a difficult word in the original Greek. It has been translated as words like “gentle, yielding, kind, forbearing and lenient” but no single word do it justice. The Amplified Bible says it this way, “Let all men know and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness), your forbearing spirit… It is much easier to show consideration and gentleness to some than it is to others. But here, Paul indicates that that same spirit is to be shown to all and not to those of your choosing. That would include Christian friends, unbelieving detractors, false teachers. Everyone! OK, so far we have been told to “rejoice” and “show gentleness”. Now we get to the “Why?”. …The Lord is near. This is not a reference to the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the church or individuals. It is referring to His imminent return. Revelation 3 gives us a great reason to give thanks. Jesus told the church in Philadelphia, 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. That is for the faithful church- the church that has kept His commands. That includes “rejoicing” and “gentleness”. In Galatians 5:22-23 we see the fruit of the Spirit that is intended to flow from all believers. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy (rejoicing), peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. What flows out of us is an indication of what is inside of us. So give thanks for the Lord is near…
II. GOD ANSWERS PRAYER In verse 6 Paul gives a dynamic directive - 6Do not be anxious about anything… In order to get the incredible fullness of what he is saying here we have to go back and pick out a few verses from what he has already written and to understand the circumstances under which they were written. 1) Paul was writing from prison. How can anyone who has been imprisoned by a ruthless government, under constant watch by Roman soldiers say, “Don’t be anxious about anything…”? 2) 1:12-13, 12Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard£ and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 3) 1:20-21, 20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 4) 2:17, But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Even under the most oppressive of regimes and the most reprehensible society in history up to that time, Paul knew that he didn’t have anything to be anxious about. The God who had saved him and called him was also able to deliver him. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. There is nothing that can ever come into your life that God won’t take care of one way or another. If there are things in your life that shouldn’t be there the Holy Spirit will reveal those things to you and move you towards change. But if there are things that the enemy is bringing against you, things that you are facing that may be potentially devastating to your life, because of your prayer and petition, with thanksgiving (worshipping God with extended hands) you can present your requests to God. I want to go back to the idea of thanksgiving – worshipping God. When you present your requests to God two things happen. 1) You release God’s power to effectively deal with your situation. That is worship because you are confessing God’s ability to do the things He has promised. In Romans 4:20-21 Paul wrote that Abraham… did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 2) by thanking God (with thanksgiving) you are saying that you understand that according to God, if you are standing on a bible promise, it has already been done. If you are asking for healing, it was already done on the cross. If you are asking for deliverance from something that has control over your life, it’s already yours. Once you understand that God is able and that He’s already done it, what would there be to be anxious about?
III. GOD GIVES YOU PEACE. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That verse is the final stage of the transition that takes place in the life of a believer concerning “giving thanks” (worship with hands extended.) We’ve gone from anxiety to prayer to peace. The word that is translated “peace” in the NT could also be translated “prosperity”. Now, I don’t want you to get worked up here. I’m not proclaiming a prosperity gospel – at least not from the viewpoint of financial gain. But in God’s economy prosperity involves getting the riches that God has for us, whether they are spiritual or physical riches. If God’s word promises it to you, then you can rest assured it is yours. That idea, Paul says, transcends all understanding… I want to say this with all sincerity. You may or may not agree with me on this. The things of God – what He intends for us to have, whether in heaven or now on the earth – those things are beyond our ability to fully understand them. For instance, I know that salvation is real, but can I give a full description of what takes place and how it works when you are saved. The same could be said of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I know the theory behind electricity. I understand the concept of how, when you flip a switch, a circuit is completed that allows a light bulb to come on. I kind of understand how it works. But for the life of me I couldn’t tell you why it works. I just know that it does. What does the peace of God do? It will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus… God’s peace doesn’t just affect the spirit man (heart). It also contends with the natural man (minds). Let’s look at Ephesians 3:20, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… The fact that we can’t even begin to understand what God is able to do is evident here. But this verse was never meant to discourage us from asking God, but to encourage us to ask for more; for things in His word that are beyond our ability understand. God’s peace is beyond our understanding but we know that it is real because we experience the results of it. I don’t know how but I know it’s there.
Let’s recap.
First, we can give thanks to God because we know that the time of His second coming is drawing near. That is a promise that we can hang our hats on. When Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us and that He would come back to get us so we could be with Him. I’m pretty sure that He meant it.
Second, we can give thanks to God because we know that He answers prayer. That is a promise from His word but like so many of His promises it has certain conditions that have to be met. Those conditions are always on us – things that we must do or believe or trust God for in order to see our prayers answered.
Third, we can thank God because He has given us His peace; the peace of mind for eternal life and the peace to believe His revealed word for the here and now.
I want to ask you today to take time to give thanks to God for everything you have received from Him.
Give thanks for all the things that you are believing for but have not seen the physical manifestation of it yet.
So when you are sitting around the table on Thanksgiving Day would you take time to thank Him? Thank Him for your food and your family and your faith.
Thank Him for all the wonder things you have received already and those you haven’t seen yet.
Make it a real day of giving thanks.
