Alba 11-3-13 (Revised 11-6-2022)
Three Marks of a Thankful Christian
A boy had only heard his grandfather pray at Thanksgiving, Easter, and other special occasions; when he typically would say a long prayer of thanks over the food.
One night, after a fun camp-out and fishing trip, grandfather (to the boy's surprise) asked a very brief blessing on the food. With a gleam in his eye, the boy grinned at his grandfather and said, "You don't pray so long when you're hungry, do you Grandpa?"
An old farmer once had an ungodly relative visit him. After the farmer had bowed his head and thanked God for the food they were about to eat, the relative rudely said, “What did you do that for? There’s no God. We live in an age of enlightenment.”
The old farmer smiled and said, “There is one on the farm who doesn’t thank God before he eats.” The relative sat up and said, “Who is this enlightened one?”
To which the farmer quietly replied, “My pig.”
I Thessalonians 5:18 says we are to "give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." This is God’s will for us, to give thanks in all circumstances. And He knows, if we will do it, our lives will be better.
How thankful are you? How can you tell? Today we will look at three marks of a Thankful Christian.
1) A Thankful Christian is a Growing Christian.
The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.”
In Colossians 1:10-12 we are told as Christians we should “..walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”
“Increasing in the knowledge of God” and “giving thanks to the Father”. The NIV translates those verses saying we should be “growing in the knowledge of God”, and “giving joyful thanks to the Father.”
Growing in the knowledge of God and giving thanks. Is that what we do, or are we more like babies? Think about babies. How do they behave? The truth is that a baby is ungrateful.
You can take a little baby when it has colic and walk the floor with it for hours. And when you put that baby down - it won’t say, "Thank You." More than likely, it will just yell a little louder.
A baby is constantly in need of care and feeding! Most newborns require a small amount nourishment every few hours.
They are not able to handle large volumes of food or milk at first because their stomachs are still growing and developing.
You cannot turn your back for long on small children. They are in need of constant monitoring, and constant care for their own protection.
Now most babies are cute, huggable and lovable, but anyone who still acts like a baby after having grown a few years is looked upon much differently. The older we get while still acting like a baby, the more it becomes offensive.
A new born baby sucking on a bottle is a natural thing. But a grown man who is still sucking on a baby bottle certainly is not. In fact, he would look downright foolish.
To a certain extent we all have to go through growth periods spiritually, just as we must do so physically. No one ever becomes a man or woman by skipping the adolescent years between childhood and manhood.
Sometimes we may wish we could skip those troublesome teenage years with their mood swings, raging hormones and attitude problems, but it simply can’t be done.
Going through the rough times of the formative and learning years are an essential part of life and they shape our character for many years to come.
Even so, there are far too many who choose to remain in the Primary Department instead of moving on to bigger, better and more mature things. Sad to say, many never come out of that Primary Department.
One man said that if his small grandaughter wants a cracker that’s on the counter, she is unable to say the words, “Give me that cracker.”
So instead she will stand there and point and cry as you try to guess everything that is on the counter until you hit on the right thing. Then she is unable to say thank you.
Children have to be taught to be thankful. It just doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes you almost have to force a child to say thank you.
It takes spiritual maturity (growth) to communicate in a manner that makes your desires, needs, wants and concerns understandable to others, and includes thankfulness.
Learning to communicate with God and with others with thankfulness is a huge step in the direction of spiritual maturity.
Where are our words of Thanksgiving? How many times, like a very small child, do we just take and not thank God for all that He provides?
When we realize how blessed we are by others, and by God, and express that with thanksgiving - we are growing.
2) A Thankful Christian is also a Giving Christian.
When we realize how much God has done for us and how much He continues to do, we should be more than happy to give something back to Him. This comes through our time and also our financial giving.
Someone has said that for Thanksgiving to be real Thanksgiving, there must be "Thanks" and there must be "Giving." Just as God has blessed us - so we should bless His work by our giving.
James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights." Think about it. Do you have any good gifts in your life? What does God receive in return?
When people go to a restaurant, they are more than happy to give a good waitress a 15% tip or more. But for some reason, many have a problem with giving God 10% of all the good gifts he has given us. We need to ask ourselves if we are truly thankful.
Thanks and Giving go together. There was a bumper sticker once that read: "If You Love Jesus, tithe. Anybody can honk."
God is not indebted to us to give us anything, but He does it anyway. It says in I Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Do you understand the point here? Why does God bless us? Some people think he blesses us because we’ve been good. The Prosperity Doctrine teachers are a bit like the Hindus. They think that if you’re generous, God will bless you.
Some people would like to imply that God is saying, "You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity."
But that turns things around. You see, God first blesses us, not to reward us, but to enable us to give and to share generously, abundantly with others.
When the people gave of their resources to build the temple in Solomon's time, they didn't give out of a grudge. They didn't give out of pressure. They didn't give because somebody forced them too. They didn't give with a reluctant heart.
It says this in 1 Chronicles 29:13-14 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. 14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. (NIV)
They gave realizing that what they had to give had come from God. They gave out of gratitude. They gave with thanksgiving. Their giving was the result of their thankfulness. When you give with gratitude, it becomes an act of worship. Remember “God loves a cheerful giver.”
A giving Christian can expect to grow spiritually. It stretches you, stretches your faith, stretches your commitment, stretches your priorities, your values, what you're willing to sacrifice.
But it also blesses you. You can expect to experience joy. That always happens when we put God first in our talent, in our time, and in our treasure.
Colossians 3:17 says "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
What that says is that everything we do and say should be done with a grateful heart and an attitude of gratitude. God is saying “I don't want thanksgiving to be an event in your life, I want it to be a lifestyle.”
Our motivation for thankful giving should be to see God glorified, to bring thanksgiving to God for the way he provides for us, whatever our personal circumstances or potential happens to be.
Generosity with our material wealth will show the genuineness of our love, our faith, and our thankfulness to God.
So, we learn that Thankfulness is a mark of a growing Christian, a giving Christian and (for alliteration's sake)...
3) A Glowing Christian.
What does that mean? Well, deep in the sea there are creatures which have been created by God to emit light from their bodies.
There is even a fish called the “flashlight fish,” which has a luminescent organ on its head just below the eyes. It can turn its light off and on at will, presumably to attract or blind its food.
And of course, we’re all familiar with the lightning bugs, or fireflies, whose little bodies produce a chemical reaction which causes a small light to glow on and off as it flies.
And there are many other things which are man-made and glow in the dark: watches, pajamas, stars that stick onto the ceiling, and various toys, just to name a few.
But unlike the creatures deep in the sea and the fireflies, those man-made novelties require exposure to a light source before they can actually glow in the dark.
The stronger the light, the closer the object is to the light, and the longer it is exposed to the light, the brighter the object will glow.
What an obvious parallel between those things which glow in the dark, and those of us as believers! We are surrounded by darkness on every side, and yet we are told by Jesus Himself in Matthew 5:14 that we are the light of the world.
But Jesus also said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
So obviously, our light comes from His light. And the closer we stay to Him, and the more we expose our lives to His light, the brighter we shine.
Here’s a beautiful verse from Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” God turns our darkness into light. That is a reason to be thankful.
Henry Frost served for many years as a missionary to China. In his journal he wrote of a very difficult time in his life. He said...
"I had received sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed, BUT the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, BUT the darkness only deepened.
“Then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: 'TRY THANKSGIVING.' I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return.”
Remember that verse in Colossians 1:12 that I quoted earlier? We are to be “giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”
From our lives, we will radiate whatever it is that is consuming our hearts and minds, whether it be good or bad.
If we were to put a mirror to our heart, would we see a glow? Would someone know there's something different about us just by the way we appear?
It would be wise to take inventory of how we spend our day. Is there a time in our schedules to ensure we are walking "in the light"?
The closer we walk with our Heavenly Father each day and seek fellowship with Him, the more we will bask in His glow and reflect His irresistible light to others around us (1 John 1:7).
A thankful heart glows with the light of the Lord. That should be our aim today. I hope that others can see a glow about us, so that they will ask what is different in our lives.
Hopefully by our example, and by our "glow" as those who have spent time with the Lord, we will encourage others to do the same.
So let us be thankful, and make the most of our time here on earth to seek the Father's face, so that He may shine through us as we
Grow,
Give
and Glow.
CLOSE:
There was a boy (named Joe Fode) who was crying because mother could not buy him banana. Actually his mother wanted to buy him some bananas but had already spent the money she had on some other grocery items she came to buy.
Luckily, a friend of this woman was passing by and was obviously concerned about Joe Fode’s tantrum.
The friend was told that Joe was crying for banana. She then pulled from her shopping bag a piece of this fruit and gave it to Joe Fode. “What do you say?” the mother asked the boy.
Joe Fode then told the friend. “Peel it.” The poor mother was so embarrassed. Obviously she expected Joe Fode to say “Thank you.”
We must not behave like the boy in that story. Instead of saying thanks for the gift he received, what he wanted was for this gracious friend to do something more for him.
Definitely, when we think of what God has done for us by allowing Jesus to die in our place on that cross so that our penalty for sin could be paid and we could be forgiven, we have to ask ourselves;
“Why do we keep asking for more?” And yet He lets us ask. Certainly we must be thankful to Him.
We must, as apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5:20 be, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
