THE THANKSGIVING THIEVES
Psalm 92:1
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: EXCUSES ABOUT NOT GOING TO CHURCH
1. Two Christian men were fishing on Sunday morning but were feeling pretty guilty, especially since the fish weren't biting.
2. One said to the other, "I feel a little guilty about not being in church. I guess I should have stayed home and gone to the service."
3. The other replied lazily, "Well, I couldn't have gone to church anyway." "Why not?" "My wife is sick in bed."
B. THANKSGIVING DAY THIEVES CAUGHT
1. Last Thanksgiving (Nov. 25, 2021), Santa Barbara, California Sherriff’s deputies responded to a call about a theft that had just occurred of a catalytic converter.
2. Deputies canvassed the area and located 3 suspects. When they approached the vehicle, deputies noticed catalytic converters as well as saws and a large vehicle jack in plain view. Three males were subsequently arrested for being turkeys on Thanksgiving Day.
3. Like the Grinch who stole Christmas, they were found guilty of stealing people’s joy at Thanksgiving.
C. APPLIED TO US
1. Just like these thieves, there are four thieves that steal our joy at Thanksgiving and ought to be arrested and put behind bars. These creatures of chaos need to receive an eviction notice from the Lord and be ejected from our lives.
2. The four are self-centeredness, aggravation at small problems, discontent, and unbelief in God. Let’s look at these four Thanksgiving Thieves! The first is...
I. SELF-CENTEREDNESS
A. “WHERE ARE THE NINE?”
1. “One [leper], when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Lk. 17:15-19
2. The Lord Jesus was shocked that the other nine lepers never returned to say “Thank you” for their healing. Why didn’t they? Because they were focused on themselves and not on the God who had done so much for them.
B. THE “BIG ME:” US IN FOCUS
1. Researcher David Brooks discovered data suggesting that there’s been a broad shift in the US from a culture of humility to a culture of “the Big Me;” from a culture that encouraged people to think humbly of themselves to a culture that encourages people to see themselves as the center of the universe.
2. In 1954, psychologists asked 10,000 adolescents whether they considered themselves to be a very important person. 12 percent said ‘yes.’ In 1989, 80 percent of boys and 77 percent of girls said something like, “Somebody should write a biography about me.” Now, 93% of young people agree with the statement, “I am an extraordinary person.” [David Brooks The Road to Character, Random House, 2016].
3. Nicolaus Copernicus declared, "Earth is not the center of the cosmos--The sun does not move around us; we move around the sun." Years later, Jean Piaget studied children and declared, "Each child must experience his or her own 'Copernican revolution.' They must learn that they are not the center of their world." They do not always get to have things the way they want them.
4. But Satan wants us to put ourselves in the center. The second Thanksgiving Thief is...
II. AGGRAVATION AT SMALL PROBLEMS
A. THE MARTHA SYNDROME
1. Luke 10:40 says, “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to [Jesus] and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
2. When Martha complained to Jesus about Mary not helping her with the task of serving, Jesus replied, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her"(Vs. 41-42).
3. Luke described Martha as "cumbered” (KJV) or weighed down with much serving. This hints that Martha had put ACTIVITY in the place of COMMUNION WITH JESUS!
B. HOLY SPIRIT SPOTLIGHT
1. There’s something remarkable about this passage of Scripture; Jesus preached a sermon in Martha's living room, yet the content of what he said was not considered important enough to record.
2. The Holy Spirit felt that it was more important that we notice the difference between Mary and Martha, than what the Lord Jesus said! The Holy Spirit, in doing this, shows how important this lesson is to God.
3. For some of us, becoming more thankful means we must simplify our lives and carve out time in our schedules so we can spend quality time with Jesus. The 3rd Thanksgiving Thief is...
III. DISCONTENT
A. THANKFULNESS IS A SPIRIT
1. The natural impulse of most people is to be ungrateful, discontented, unappreciable, and thankless. We’re not born with thankful hearts!
2. COMPLAINERS ENCOUNTER MORE PROBLEMS
ILL.- Dr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I’ve come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.” Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.”
3. ILLUSTRATION: DISCONTENT
a. A monk joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years of absolutely no speaking at all, his superior called him in and asked, “Do you have anything to say?” The monk replied, “Food bad.”
b. After another 10 years of perfect silence the monk again had opportunity to voice his thoughts. He said, “Bed hard.”
c. Another 10 years went by and again he was called in before his superior. When asked if he had anything to say, he responded, “I quit.”
d. The older monk replied, “That doesn’t surprise me a bit. You’ve done nothing but gripe and complain ever since you got here.”
B. CONTENTMENT IS NOT OUR NORMAL STATE
1. Have you noticed how easy it is to be discontent? It almost seems natural to grumble. Stand around the coffee pot at work and listen to people voice their protests about how the company is run. Get a group of students together and see how long it takes to start complaining about the math teacher, or the basketball coach. Human nature gravitates toward griping.
2. But Paul says, “I have learned to be content.” Contentment didn’t come natural to Paul; he had to learn the secret of thanksgiving—he had to learn to be content. He had once been on top of the world as a Roman citizen and Jewish Rabbi and Pharisee. He was probably well-educated and fairly well off financially.
3. But when he met Jesus on the Damascus road, his life changed forever. He lost his prestige and power, and ended up living with persecution and death threats. It took a lot of effort for Paul to learn to be content. You have to learn to be content if you want to truly live a life of thanksgiving.
4. HUMOR
a. A little girl stayed for dinner at the home of her first-grade friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli, and the mother asked if she liked it. The child replied very politely, "Oh, yes, I love it."
b. But when the bowl of broccoli was passed she declined to take any. The hostess said, "I thought you said you loved broccoli." The girl replied sweetly, "Oh, yes, ma’am, I do, but not enough to eat it!"
C. WHAT’S THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT?
Paul says that if you want to be thankful, you have to learn to be content with whatever is put on your plate. How?
1. DON’T LOOK AT EXTERNALS. Paul chose I not to allow his external circumstances to determine his internal attitude.
2. COMPARISON TO OTHERS MUST GO.
3. HIGH EXPECTATIONS MUST GO. Paul told Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain....But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” 1 Tim. 6:6-8.
4. TRUSTING GOD KNOWS BEST & TREATS ALL EQUALLY
Job put himself in the hands of God, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" (1:21). Though Job didn’t know why the terrible events had happened to his family, he trusted that God knew what He was doing.
5. It should be so easy for us to be thankful sitting around a table full of turkey and dressing, living in a warm house, having clothes and shoes and plenty of all we need. And yet many of us can count all of those blessings, and still not be content, still not truly be thankful. The last Thanksgiving Thief is...
IV. UNBELIEF
A. FAITH MAKES US THANKFUL
1. Paul said, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” Rom. 1:21.
2. Thankfulness & gratitude both have to do with faith. If all the blessings of this life are a result of accident, then we don’t need to feel grateful.
3. There was a young female atheist who woke up and saw how beautiful the fields and trees looked on a frosty morning. She exclaimed to her friend, “I’m so grateful for all of this!” Her Christian friend said, “Grateful?...to whom?”
B. THE KEY TO HAPPINESS
1. Dennis Prager, author of "Happiness is a Serious Problem," Says, "There’s a secret to happiness ... and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy.” I’ve found that a CRITICAL SPIRIT ALWAYS LEADS TO A DOUBTING HEART.
2. Become grateful and you’ll become a much happier person. Psalm 92:1 says, "It is good to give thanks to the Lord." Why? Because God needs our gratitude? No: because WE need it.
3. Learning to be thankful (to God & others) is the best vaccination against taking our blessings for granted.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A man decided to sell his house so he hired a realtor. The realtor came over and wrote up all the positive aspects of the house, as if he were a buyer looking for those aspects.
2. The next day the realtor called the owner and read him the description of the house to be placed on the “Multiple Listing Service” online.
3. As he described the house, it’s unique beauties, and the spacious grounds, the owner stopped him and said, “This house IS NOT for sale! This is what I’ve always wanted and I had no idea I had it until you described it!” [Walter Knights Master Bk of New Illus., p. 675]
4. It’s like the old song, “Count Your Many Blessings, name them one by one!” If we would all compare what we have to what people have in the 3rd world countries, we would realize how blessed we really have it!
B. THE CALL
1. We’ve talked about the 4 thieves troubling us - self-centeredness, aggravation at small problems, discontent, & unbelief? Are you battling with any of these?
2. How many of you are struggle with something that keeps you off balance? That steals your joy? Let’s pray that this Thanksgiving is one that’s filled with true thanks!
3. PRAYER.
