INTRO.- We are to give thanks IN all circumstances. This doesn’t mean that we must give thanks FOR all circumstances, because not everything that happens to us in life is a good thing.
For example, it’s hard to give thanks when a loved one passes away. That is a heart-wrenching time, but we can give thanks if our loved one is in Christ or is a Christian. That makes their passing somewhat bearable. So, in all circumstances we must somehow find a way to give thanks to God. There is something for which to be thankful in every circumstance of life if we will look for it.
ILL.- Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so bad that one church member thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this."
Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that the weather is not always like this." Yes, if nothing else, during bad situations in life we can be thankful that they will eventually pass.
And, of course, normally when we think of giving thanks, we think of giving thanks for our meals.
ILL.- The preacher asked the little girl at church, “Do you say a prayer before you eat your meals?” She replied, “No, we don’t do that because mom’s a good cook.”
If your mom is a good cook then perhaps you don’t need to give thanks for the food or ask God’s blessing on it. Is that right? No, I don’t think so. I think all the food that God gives us (good, bad or otherwise) should be received with thanksgiving.
I Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving! Does this mean we can eat anything?
Our food is consecrated by prayer! Or perhaps by the prayer of thanksgiving. Consecrated. Meaning what? To consecrate something is to make it sacred. Does praying over our food make it sacred? Could be. At least, we should give thanks for whatever we have and ask God to bless it and make it useful to us, give us energy, etc. Does this work for junk food too?
When we pray and give thanks for our food, it may be as we’ve heard it prayed before: that we ask God to bless our food to our bodies and then our bodies to His service. I believe there is something to that since we all are supposed to serve the Lord and we need physical energy to be able to do that.
I think it’s always right to give thanks for everything good in life and ask God’s blessing on it whether it’s food, our work, our lives, our loved ones, our ministries, etc.
The book of Psalms is full of praise to God. We can learn from the Psalms and from David who penned many of the Psalms.
PROP.- The book of Psalms gives us more insight into our expressions of thanksgiving.
1- The reason for thanksgiving
2- The place of thanksgiving
3- The way of thanksgiving
I. THE REASON FOR THANKSGIVING
ILL.- A little boy was softly saying his night prayers kneeling by his Mother. "Say your prayers louder, darling, I can’t hear you," said little Johnny’s Mother. "But I’m not talking to you" was the instant reply.
The God of heaven should always be the object of our prayers. The reason for thanksgiving is because of who God is!
Psalm 7:17 “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”
ILL.- I saw an online survey as to how important the world series was to people. Here is how they rated the baseball world series: Who do you think will win this year’s World Series? Doesn’t matter: 69% Texas Rangers: 15% St Louis Cardinals: 15%
My thought was this: 69 percent of the people thought the world series didn’t matter at all!
There are at least two ways to look at this. One is that in the light of eternity it really didn’t matter. Our eternal salvation is not dependent on baseball, the playing of the World Series or who wins the World series.
The other thought is this: To me, it’s almost un-American to not care about the World Series, because baseball is as American as you can get! It’s almost unchristian to not like baseball and the World series! WELL, MAYBE NOT, but it is crazy to not be thankful to our God who created us! It may not be un-American but it’s unchristian to not be thankful to God!
Psalm 136:2 “Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.” Wow!
No matter what other gods people have, HE IS THE GOD OF GODS! He is a better God! He is the best God because He is actually the only God there is! Consequently, how can we not be thankful to Him?! It’s just totally unthinkable to not give thanks to the God who created us and gives every good and perfect gift to us! We would be nothing and we would have nothing were it not for Him! It’s a shameful thing to not give thanks to Him and do it often!
How would you parents feel if your kids never said, “Thank you” to you for the things you do for them or give them?
- Someone has well said, “An ingrate is neither ‘in’ nor ‘great.’”
- “Giving thanks is a course from which we never graduate.” If we’re smart, the older we get, the more we’ll give thanks!
- “If you have nothing to be thankful for, make up your mind that there is something wrong with you!” AMEN!
ILL.- A Sunday School asked her class of little children what they were thankful for. One little boy said, “I’m thankful for my glasses.” He went on, “They keep the boys from fighting with me and the girls from kissing me.”
We all have something or many things for which we should be thankful and the biggest of all is our great God and Father!
Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
ILL.- The owner of a large department store offered a prize of $5,000 to the one giving the best answer to the question: “How can my business be most speedily and surely improved?” Many people submitted different lengthy answers. Roy McCardell received a check for $5,000 for simply writing on a postal card, “Tell your clerks to say ‘Thank you!’ ”
I don’t know if saying thank you will improve the retail business but it won’t hurt it either. We’ve all been checked out by people who never said thank you, get out of here or anything. I do know, however, that the one big thing that could improve our standing with God is having an overflowing appreciation to Him for who He is and what He’s done for us! No one. No one gives thanks to God too much, but we should try!
II. THE PLACE OF THANKSGIVING
Where do you give thanks the most? At the dinner table? At other times? At other places?
Psalm 35:18 “I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.”
Among the throngs of people I will praise you. We should praise Him in the church and in the world. It’s easy or easier to praise the Lord in the church than it is in the world, but it should be done everywhere. Do you do that? If so, how? Are you quick to praise the Lord in any given situation?
ILL.- I remember several years ago having to see a retinal specialist from Memphis but he had an office here in Jonesboro. Previously, I had been seeing bright lights, flashing in my side vision. My regular optometrist said I needed to see this retinal specialist. He dilated my eyes and put me through an extensive eye exam. Finally, when it was all over he said, “I see no retinal damage or tears.” My reaction was, “Praise the Lord!” To which that doctor said, “Amen.” His was a nice response to my praise. And my praise was a natural response to God’s goodness!
I realize that not everyone will join with you or respond positively when you praise the Lord vocally in public. Some might say an “Amen,” but others might be silent or frown at you, as if to say, “What’s wrong with you?” Or “Are you some kind of religious nut?”
I do think most of the time we are too quiet when it comes to praising the Lord! We should be quick to praise Him for all good things!
Regardless of the response, when we get in public I think we should be quick to praise the Lord for every good and perfect gift He sends our way, whether it’s a good eye exam or a good grade at school, good report from the doctor or whatever. Thank you, Lord!
Or it could even be that you’re watching your favorite ball team and they get a run or score a touchdown and you shout, “praise the Lord!” or “Hallelujah!” (The word “Hallelujah” probably sounds a little more secular and less religious sounding than “praise the Lord,” but it means the same thing.)
Psalm 105:1 “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”
Giving thanks verbally or vocally is a way of making God known in public. Whenever you bow in public to pray and give thanks, you are pointing to the God of heaven.
ILL.- Just as preacher Harry 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!"
Brothers and sisters, when we pause in public to pray we are not being boastful in our faith, but we are humbly pointing to the Lord who gives us life and everything else that is good. It is only right to give Him thanks and we never know who is watching. Giving thanks to God is a good deed but it’s also a good witness for the Lord. It says a lot about what we believe and who we believe in! Please don’t be afraid to publicly praise the Lord!
III. THE WAY OF THANKSGIVING
Psalm 69:30 “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.”
Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
Psalm 147:7 “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.”
Ephesians 5:19-20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 3:16-17 “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 should be obvious that we are to both ‘say’ our thanks to God and ‘sing’ our thanks to Him! We sing in church and well we should, but we should sing our thanks to the Lord at other times as well! Do you sing in the shower? Try singing a hymn of two! Do you sing while you drive? Why not sing a hymn while driving?
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Both of my children sing better than their daddy, but that doesn’t stop me from singing to the Lord! I have my favorite hymns that I love to sing to the Lord. DO YOU? What is your favorite hymn to hum or sing to Him?
And even when we can’t sing well, we should still sing. I sometimes get way off key but I just apologize to the Lord and keep right on singing. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
And when I don’t feel like singing I often play one of two different gospel CD’s on my computer: Michael W. Smith’s “Worship” which has “Above All”...a favorite. Or I will play Allen Jackson’s “Precious Memories” that has all the old hymns of faith: Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine, How Great Thou Art, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, etc.
Anyway you do it is a good way to do it! Sing praise. Sing your thanks to the Lord!
CONCLUSION--------------------
ILL.- A conference at a Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy to the Lord. Since they were rather reserved Presbyterians, they weren’t free to say "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord." All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over there were still 1/3 of the balloons that had not been released. WHY NOT?
This Thanksgiving, do your thing! Enjoy a big delicious meal! But also do what is right! Be overwhelmed by God’s goodness to you, by His blessings and give Him all the thanks and praise you can!
Let your balloon of praise go! LET YOUR PRAISE BE HEARD BY THE LORD! He deserves it!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
