“Thanksgiving or Complaining!”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Thanksgiving or complaining -- these words express two contrasting attitudes found in God’s children in regard to His dealings with them. The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing. On the highway leading into Yankton, South Dakota reads: “Yankton, S.D. The Home of 30,000 friendly people and a few sore-heads.” The truth is all of us at times become sore-heads. Now, we may know it by different terms -- such as griping, grumbling, whining, or belly-aching. In the King James the common term used was “murmuring.” Regardless of the word we use to describe it, complaining always has the same symptoms. The dictionary defines it as “an expression of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or discontent.” Complaining is the outward expression of discontent from within.
A certain man, well-known for his constant complaining, inherited a large sum of money. When he got it, he complained about how it was not as much as he thought it should be. He bought a farm and asked his wife what she thought he should name it. She quickly answered, "Why don’t you call it ‘Belly Acres’?" Now, this message probably won’t apply to most of you this morning. I’m sure that none of you have a problem with complaining, but you probably know someone who needs to hear this. Complaining seems to have become the great American past time. We live in a very complaining society. People gripe about everything.
In my opinion, few sins are as ugly to God as the sin of complaining. There seems to be very little thankfulness or gratitude today among God’s people but a whole lot of complaining. Complaining is part of our culture, but it sure isn’t anything new. Let me ask you something, when you were a child, did you ever sit down at the dinner table and say, “We having that again?” (Story of Potato Soup) Human nature hasn’t changed! Let me explain. Centuries ago, the Jewish nation was being fed by God from heaven! Every morning for nearly 40 years, God sent little wafers of manna down to the camp of Israel. The Bible calls it angels’ food – Psa. 78:25! But there came a day when the people complained, “We’re tired of this manna, same old thing every day!” Their experience points out an important truth, and that is, the danger of getting used to our blessings!
God was taking care of the children of Israel! He had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt! He had taken them through the Red Sea, and had defeated their enemies for them! They never had to worry about where to travel because God’s presence went before them! God protected them from danger and God provided them food and water day by day! Now you would think that the people would be thrilled with what God was doing for them, right? But they weren’t. They spent much of their time complaining! They complained about their godly leader, Moses! They complained about the way God led them. They complained about the way God fed them! There was a time when Moses was a great man in their eyes, but not anymore! There was a time when the pillar of fire that led them was an awesome sight, but not anymore! There was a time when they could hardly wait for the morning to come so they could go out and gather the heavenly manna, but not anymore!
Do you know what happened to these people? The same thing that can happen to you and me! They had gotten used to their blessings! The wonder was gone. What was once a daily miracle of God’s love became a routine occurrence! “We’re tired of this manna!” Can you imagine being tired of food that came directly from heaven? Can you imagine getting used to sharing in a daily miracle? Well, it happened to them, and it’s happening to people today. We’ve gotten used to God’s blessings!
Think of the blessings of our nation! Not everything is good about our country, but not everything is bad either! We enjoy freedom here, yet we’ve gotten used to it and take it for granted! Our material wealth is the greatest of any nation on earth. Yet, we complain because we don’t have more! While we Americans are fretting over diets and trying to lose excess weight, many people in the world are trying to find enough food to keep them alive another day!
Take this matter of government. With all its faults and failures, our republican way of life is still the best way! Yet, how many of us really participate in our responsibilities of government? Many Christians don’t even bother to register to vote! If God withdrew from us the national blessings that we enjoy, I’m sure every one of us would cry out and beg God for freedom again! It’s too bad that sometimes we have to lose something to appreciate it! Don’t get used to the blessings we enjoy as a free nation! Cherish these God given privileges and use them wisely! Whenever we start taking something or someone for granted, we start complaining! For some reason, many of us actually enjoy complaining! Yet, the Bible warns us in Phil. 2:14 “Do all things without murmuring and disputing.”
Think of all the complaining that goes on in the home! We take for granted the blessings of the home! Clean clothes. Nourishing meals. Money to pay the bills. Opportunity to be together and enjoy family fellowship. Then something happens and we lose some of those blessings! Perhaps mother has to go in the hospital and we discover what is involved in keeping a home running smoothly! Or perhaps the head of the house is out of work, or has taken a cut in salary, and we find out quickly that money doesn’t grow on trees (like our children think it does)!
Or let’s take the matter of our own personal Christian life! Just think of what prayer really is fellowshipping with the God of the universe and sharing our needs with Him! It is the breath of our relationship! Why, this privilege ought to excite us! It ought to stir us up so much that praying would be the most enjoyable and thrilling experience of the day! But with many, prayer is just a dull routine! Think about what Jesus did for us on the Cross and the reason He went through that is because He desired to have a relationship with us, but yet we take it for granted. What Jesus did for us on the cross ought to excite us! It ought to stir us up to want to live for Him every day!
We have gotten use to our blessings and the results in our lives are tragic! What happens to us when we get use to our blessings? I’ve already mentioned one sad result. We become critical and complain! But something else happens. We lose that sense of wonder that makes life enjoyable! Life becomes very mechanical. Very matter of fact! Instead of having a child-like spirit of humility and wonder, we become cold and hard like a machine!
When you sit down at your table to eat, do you ever feel a sense of wonder that God should take care of you? Just think of all that lies behind even a little piece of bread! Think of the thousands of gallons of rain that had to fall on that field! The thousands of hours of sunshine that God had to send! Think of the harvesting, the milling, the baking, the shipping, the distributing of the loaves! And all of this just so you can have your morning toast!
Please don’t get use to your blessings! Keep that sense of wonder that God is supplying your needs day by day! Live each day as though it might be the last opportunity you will have to enjoy your family, or be with your friends or share in a church service or read your Bible! And when you find yourself taking things for granted, don’t wait for God to deal with you. Immediately ask the Lord to give you a new appreciation for old blessings! Go a little deeper into life. Open your heart wider to the love of God! Keep that sense of wonder in your life! Do not get used to the things God has blessed you with, but rather everyday thank God for those blessings.
Thanksgiving is an attitude of choice. It is a choice we make. We can either be thankful or express gratitude for the rich blessings of God, or we can gripe, murmur, and complain about our circumstances. The choice is ours. We can choose to be thankful or not. Ps 34:1 “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” 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. There is always something we can be thankful about if we look for it.
Two school teachers who hadn’t seen each other in several years met at a convention, and they began filling each other in on what had happened in their lives since the last time they had visited together. One teacher said, "I got married two years ago." "Oh, that’s good," her friend replied. "Well, no, not really," the first one said. "My husband is twice as old as I am." "Oh, that’s bad," her friend replied. "Well, no, not really," she said, "because he is a millionaire several times over." "Oh, that’s good," her friend replied. "Well, no, not really," she said, "because he turned out to be mean, and he won’t give me any money at all." "Oh, that’s bad," her friend replied. "Well, no, not really," she said. "He did build us a $500,000 house." "Oh, that’s good," her friend replied. “Well, no, not really," she said. "It burned down last month." "Oh, that’s bad," her friend replied. "Well, no, not really," she said. "He was in it when it burned down." There is always something to be thankful about if we just look for it church. We are to constantly live a life of Thanksgiving!
So, before we head home this morning I briefly want to share with you about what it means to live a life of thanksgiving. I want to talk about how we can take this annual holiday and turn it into a constant every day attitude? How can we live a life of gratitude and praise? 1 Thess. 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Church, we are to honor God in all we do, think and say. Today I am going to talk about being grateful in all we do, say and think.
1. ACT THANKFULLY!
I want to start by talking about what it means to act thankfully. I believe that we need to demonstrate a life of thankfulness in everything we do. That begins with a heart of service. Serving is a demonstration of appreciation, respect, and love. It can be done in a selfish, ungrateful way, but when it is done right, it is a blessing both to the server and the servee. 1 Timothy 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.” Are you thankful for the area of service that God has called you to? Acting thankfully also involves sacrifice. It requires us to give something of ourselves. One of the ways this is demonstrated is in our financial offerings to God. Giving back to God is a way of thanking Him for his blessings and provisions. Even if we don’t have a lot, or a lot to give, when we give back to God we show that we understand that He owns it all anyway. Don’t give out of guilt or compulsion. Every time you write an offering check or put a dollar in the offering plate, take a second to say, thank you God for everything you have given me.
We can also act thankfully by sharing what we have. This might take the form of sharing some of our abundance with those who don’t have as much. It might be sharing with the homeless or needy. People who really understand thankfulness and appreciation usually are very good at sharing with others. They know how great it feels to give. This doesn’t just apply to sharing our stuff, but, more importantly, sharing our faith. If you have a real understanding of who Jesus Christ is, what He has done for all mankind, and what He has done in your life, you are going to be looking for every opportunity to share that with others. We can best show our appreciation for our salvation by praising God and telling others. If our faith is truly transforming, and valuable, and important, we will share it with those who don’t have it.
2. THINK THANKFULLY!
Secondly, I want to talk about what it means to think thankfully. I believe that gratitude starts with our thought life. It begins with taking captive our every thought. It grows out of an attitude of appreciation, humility, and proper perspective. One of the best biblical descriptions of how thankfulness needs to be infused into our character is in Colossians 3:12-17 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
It’s clear from this passage that thankfulness is supposed to be a regular part of our lives. I believe that gratefulness is emphasized here because it is the perfect antidote to pride and selfishness and a host of other sins. After all, what is the opposite of thankfulness? Things like, complaining, arguing, selfishness, a sense of entitlement. Our sin nature wants to try and convince us that we deserve more, that we are in the right, that we have been taken advantage of, or that we really have it bad. I have to admit, I have a low tolerance for that kind of mentality. I’ve ran across a few people in my life who always seem to be victims, they always seem to feel like they should get more, they always complain about what they have or what they are given. That’s not what we are supposed to be like as believers. Thinking thankfully involves three things.
A. Prayer. Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” In this passage the way in which we keep from being anxious and worry is through prayer. When we present our requests to God, and give control over to Him, our load gets a lot lighter. When we pray with thanksgiving we are thanking God for the ability to pray, we are thanking him for answering our prayers, we are thanking Him for freeing us from worry. When we pray with thankfulness to God it has a way of adjusting our thinking so that it falls in line with what God wants.
B. Worship. Worship also has a way of putting us in a mindset of thankfulness. Verse 16 of that passage in Colossians is a great example of that. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” It’s hard to complain, be grumpy, bitter, and selfish when we are singing joyfully to the Lord, although I think sometimes we try. Singing lifts our spirits, focuses our attention on God, and puts us in an attitude of praise. If that’s not happening to you when you worship, then you might be doing it wrong. Finally, thinking thankfully involves:
C. Dwelling on the good. Our minds can sometimes be uncooperative. They keep wandering back to that nagging money problem, or to past failures, or other unproductive things. Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you are just chilling out or relaxing or spacing out in church, how a weird, random thought will cross your mind? Sometimes the strangest stuff just shows up there. You’ll be lost in a daydream about sitting in a hot tub drinking a Martini, at the playboy mansion. Then you snap out of it and say to yourself, “What was that about? I don’t even like Martini’s.” Because of natural inclination towards evil, we have to train our minds to think about good things. We have to purposefully dwell on the good that God has done. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.” This is a great thought filter. Ask yourself; are my thoughts true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable? If not, it might be time to make an adjustment. Well along with thinking thankfully, we need to:
3. TALK THANKFULLY!
It is important to express our gratitude from time to time. Talking thankfully involves praising others, praising God, and sharing our gratitude. When was the last time you told your spouse, “I’m really thankful that I’m married to you.”? Do you tell you kids that you appreciate them? Do you thank your wife for cooking dinner and doing the laundry? Do you let God know how thankful you are for what He has done in your life? If you are a believer in God, saved by grace, you have a lot to be thankful for. No matter how bad life gets, you still can’t complain.
In Psalms 105, the psalmist begins his song with a call to everyone in v. 1: “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord!” Do you hear the passion in this invitation? Let your heart so overflow with gratitude that you give thanks to the Lord from your heart! He’s not just asking for a dull ritual prayer around the table—he is calling us too fervently and sincerely thank God from the bottom of our hearts. In other words, don’t let your thanks be just a duty, let it be a spontaneous, a sincere expression of grateful love for the Lord. I want to suggest to you that you can passionately give thanks to the Lord if you are first willing to do some serious thinking.
First, think about how much God has given you. How often do you take a break from your hectic schedule and think about every good and perfect gift your Heavenly Father gives you? So often it’s easier to focus on all you don’t have, all of your problems, what you wish would be different. But what if you took the time—say 15 minutes—to think about all the beautiful, wonderful people and things God has provided for you? He gave you that spouse who’s seen you at your worse and still loves you. He gave you those kids who think you’re the greatest. He gives you that nice warm home you enjoy on those cold, chilly nights. He gave you that job that pays all your bills. He gave you an appetite to enjoy eating that big meal. He gave you a heart that can love and be loved. He gave you His Son, Jesus, so you can experience abundant, eternal life.
You and I could both play count your many blessings all day, but you get the point. Sure you have problems, and you can’t run away from them. But for just a little while, can we quit complaining and set aside those problems, and take time to think of all the blessings God has showered on our lives? The really sad thing is so many people never stop to think about their blessings until they’re gone. When you reach for that hand and it isn’t there, when you long for that child and they’re gone, when you can’t make ends meet and your health starts to fail---so often that’s the first time a person realizes how blessed they have been. How much better it would be to take time to count your blessings now, and to tell the Lord how much you appreciate the blessings He has put in your life. At this time I want you to close your eyes and think about your blessings and listen to the words of this song that Bro. Justin will be singing. (Come and Listen by David Crowder)
It is also important that we verbally tell others what we are grateful for. I know that it is kind of an expected tradition in some families to go around the table at thanksgiving time and share what you are thankful for, and to be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of that sharing time. But I’m beginning to learn how important doing that is. We all have so much to be thankful for. And I want to take some time right now to give you the opportunity to share what you are thankful for this year. (Share time from the congregation and close out with Come and Listen)
The best thing about living a thankful life is that it helps us put things into perspective. When we focus on the great things that God has done for us, the annoying junk in life has a way of losing its importance. During this thanksgiving seasons let’s begin to demonstrate our appreciation by acting thankfully. Let’s train our minds to think thankfully. Let’s take the opportunity to talk thankfully. 1 Thess. 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” If you are not giving thanks every day to God, you are out of God’s will.
“Thanksgiving or Complaining!”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
1. ____________ thankfully!
2. ____________ thankfully!
3. ____________ thankfully!
