Cornerstone Church November 18, 2012
“Giving Thanks Is Normal!”
Ephesians 5:20
We live in interesting and difficult days!
Daily from the media we hear about America driving off the Fiscal Cliff.
Trillion Dollar Deficits spiraling out of control
* More taxes just approved for tax burdened Californians
* More layoffs looming on the horizon
* More Murders
* More States approving same sex marriage
* More babies doomed to be aborted
Today some of the smartest people in our society are the dumbest!
“CBS New York reported that Michael Bloomberg, New York City's mayor, has outlawed food donations to homeless shelters in the city because authorities can’t assess their fat, salt and fiber content.”
Really? A hungry person is counting carbs?
Forest Gump is a Genius compared to these individuals!
"Stupid is as stupid? does"
If all of this wasn’t bad enough, Hostess is closing!
Where are we going to get our Twinkies?
No wonder we find it is hard to be thankful!
Is this the “New Normal?”
What happened to Normal?
Just a decade ago all seemed to be humming along!
What happened to the good old days?
When I was little I remember waking up on Thanksgiving morning and watching all of the parades. Then we would load up in the car and drive to my grandparent’s home.
Soon the whole family was gathered together.
It was a place with:
* Lots of Joy!
* Lots of Love!
* Lots of Food!
It seemed (at least in my memories) that neither of my grandparents or parents had a care in the word or any problems. Life was good!
But that wasn’t true….
* My great-grandmother came to the US just before Hitler closed the borders in Poland.
* My grandmother lost her father when she was young
* My grandparents lived through the great depression
* My grandmother battled cancer for many years
* My grandfather worked 10 -12 hours days for .25 cents per hour for what became TRW but feared going to the bathroom thinking he might be one of the people fired that day.
But they were thankful people!
Maybe the “New Normal” is really “normal life!”
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Eccl. 1:4-9 NIV
Life is routine and boring!
Most of the New Testament books and epistles are written to saints going through incredible times of great hardship or struggles:
* Poverty
* Persecution from the culture
* Lived under rulers like: Caligula, Claudius and Nero
In those books, however, they were never encouraged to sit around and:
* Whine
* Give up
* Get even
* Get mad
They (and we today) are told to rejoice and give thanks!
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Phil. 4:4 NASB
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psa. 100:4 NASB
WHEN ARE WE TO BE THANKFUL?
“Always giving thanks!”
We must come to understand that God governs and controls all aspects of our lives. He is working on conforming us to the image of His dear Son.
THREE LEVELS OF THANKFULNESS:
1) THANKFUL WHEN WE ARE BLESSED
Here we are thankful, after the fact. Our prayer has been answered and we are grateful. We are happy because life is going our way, new job or relief from some sickness. This is the easiest to manifest.
2) THANKFUL FOR FUTURE BLESSINGS AND VICTORIES
Here we are thankful in anticipation for victories.
Now we are beginning to exercise faith, hope and trust in God.
We do not know the outcome but we thank God in advance for what He will do.
We trust God’s Word, which reveals to us God’s nature and know He is going to work out everything perfectly according to His plan for us.
3) THANKFUL IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM, BATTLE OR TRIAL
Here is where we manifest true praise and trust. In the midst of hardship we glorify the Lord trusting Him to keep us during the storm.
Dan. 6:10 NASB Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.
Job 13:15 NASB “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him...”
FOR WHAT ARE WE TO GIVE THANKS?
“for everything”
We should manifest and foster a grateful heart. Worship is the chief reason we are still here. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks in
Question #1 What is the Chief End of Man?
Answer: To enjoy God and Glorify Him Forever.
1 Ths. 5:18 NASB in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Job 1:21 NASB And he said, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
2 Cor. 9:12 NASB For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.... 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR YOUR:
* Health?
* Family?
* Job?
* Friends?
* Length of days?
* Food?
* Home?
* Salvation?
* Past blessings?
* Future Blessings?
* Trials?
ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR CHRIST:
* His Love?
* His Grace?
* His Goodness to you?
We must guard our hearts from thanklessness! The lack of thankfulness is pride in disguise. Perhaps, we are saying to God that what we have is not as good as what we deserve.
PRIDE THANKFUL
Never more like Never more like
Satan Christ
HOW ARE WE TO BE THANKFUL?
“in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
All that we are or ever hope to be comes from the fact that Jesus Christ has enabled us to do it. Even Jesus humbly revealed this truth.
John 5:30 NASB “I can do nothing on My own initiative.”
JESUS ALWAYS WAS THANKFUL:
He deserved Glory Received humiliation
He deserved Love Received hatred
He deserved Honor Received dishonor
He deserved Praise Received scorn
He deserved Riches Received poverty
He deserved Holiness Received sin
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Phil. 2:5-8 NASB
WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL:
We deserved hatred We received love
We deserved dishonor We received honor
We deserved scorn We received praise
We deserved poverty We received riches
We deserved sin’s curse We received eternal life
TO WHOM ARE WE TO BE THANKFUL?
“to God the Father!”
James 1:17 NASB Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.
Phil. 4:6 NASB Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Hebr. 13:15 NASB Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
The New Normal really is normal!
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S.Lewis
God calls us to live extraordinary lives amidst the normal!
* God wants us to Trust Him!
* God wants us to Serve Him!
* God wants us to Thank and Praise Him!
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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Eph. 3:20-21 NIV
Let us truly worship and thank our great God
for His bountiful provisions!
Not only on Thanksgiving, but every day!
Sing the Doxology
Outline was taken and modified from:
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on The Book of Ephesians
by Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr.
