Thanks-Living
CCCAG, 11-20-22
Scripture: Luke 22:14-21
As we know, this next week begins a glorious time in the state of Wisconsin.
What am I speaking about?
Gun Deer hunting of course. The time of year when the citizens of Wisconsin transform into the largest standing army in the world, all dedicated to saving us from those evil quadruped brown four legged beasts that run out in front of us when we are driving.
So remember…thank a deer hunter today! We might even share of some of the bounty with you if we can shoot one.
There is another important holiday during this time- Thanksgiving. It’s a time when families come together to feast on turkey, stuffing, cranberrys and pumpkin pie, and spend time visiting loved ones that live in different areas….we especially visit those who live in areas where the deer are plentiful.
After all, it’s just being good stewards of our time to combined both things at once. Maybe even include some venison stew for the Thanksgiving table.
Some of my favorite memories growing up was getting to take a few days off of school to drive to Hayward where we would all cram into my grandparents house. The ladies usually did the cooking, the guys went hunting and even took me on most days and I paid for that by having to do KP duty after supper. But it was still a great time.
I’m very thankful that God gave me that experience growing up, and the older I get and look back on where He has brought me from, the more thankful I become.
This thought led me to look at the bible to see how many times Jesus gave thanks to His Father, and I found the following-
7 times Jesus gave thanks or praise to God the Father-
1. Thanking the Father: “because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Mt 11:25).
2. Saying this same phrase again with thanks in (Lk 10:21). (This may have been the same occasion as above, but it is unclear.)
***Note: Some versions use “praise” instead of “thanks” for these first two.
3. Before feeding the 4000 (Mt 15:36)(Mk 8:6).
4. Before feeding the 5000 (Jn 6:11).
5. Before raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:41).
6. Before sharing wine at the Passover meal (Lk 22:17-18).
7. Before breaking bread (Lk 22:19), and sharing wine (Mt 26:27)(Mk 14:23) at The Last Supper.
It occurred to me that Jesus didn’t just live a life of thanksgiving, but his life could better be defined as thanks-living; having a heart that overflowed with thankfulness to His Father in heaven.
Let’s look at this thought and dig a little deeper into that now as we read our scripture for today-
Luke 22:14-20
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Prayer
One of the reasons that the church today seems to be losing his influence and power in our culture and nation today is because its members have lost this idea of living a life filled with thanks to God.
I think many of us, myself included, have been swept up into this world of consumerism- we want the latest, the greatest, and the best, and we want it now.
The other day I was in the store and there was a very tired looking mother trying to get their 5- or 6-year-old daughter to quit grabbing everything off of the shelf, and the child having repeated temper tantrums screaming, “I want it, and I want it now!”
Doesn’t that drive you crazy when you see that?
It reminded me of that bratty kid Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Willie Wonka takes these children on a tour of his factory after they found the golden ticket, and she keeps yelling out, “I want it, and I want it now!”
I think may of us have kind of allowed ourselves to become like that girl.
We want everything the world has to offer, and we want it right now!
We don’t even have to leave home anymore. You can work from home, have groceries delivered right to your door, some garages will pick up the car you never drive for an oil change and bring it back. A lawn service will maintain your yard and shovel your snow. In larger cities, Amazon can have many things you order at your doorstep within an hour, sometimes by an aerial drone drop off.
It's pretty cool living in our time isn’t it?
It's like Veruca Salt escaped the chocolate factory and created a world where she could have everything she wants and have it right now.
The problem with this world is creates a heart that covets more…and more…and more…and more.
You know the one thing that is destroyed by this coveting mindset?
Thankfulness.
But we don’t want that.
We never slow down, look around, and see what we already have. All we can see is having more.
And it’s destroying us as believers, and it’s destroying the church.
Premise- We need to rediscover and reintegrate the idea of thanks living into our lives.
I have a few ways I think we can do that this morning
The first way we can develop a life of thanksliving is-
I. Realize you don’t deserve anything (other than hell!)
I know what you are thinking- wow, he just went completely off the rails here. We went from cuddly feely family stuff to damnation in 1 paragraph.
But it is true. Most of what sucks away our joy is unmet expectation in life that we often blame on God.
I just want to take a moment to remind you that God doesn’t owe you anything.
He doesn’t.
IN fact, if you are a Christian, you had to beg forgiveness from being guilty of high treason against the King of Kings.
Even today in America, the penalty for treason is death. Before you accepted Christ as Lord, God, Savior, and King you were a dead person walking.
Picture this for a moment- what was your worst day or experience in your life?
Whatever it was, and I’m sure it was horrible to experience and I would never ever downplay that.
You would beg for that experience if you were in hell because it would infinitely better than what you would be experiencing there.
Pause
That’s why the first step to Thanks living is being eternally grateful for what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Any time you see a Cross your heart should fill with gratitude. If you were here last week we played a song at the end of service that had this thought in it expressed through song-
“Oh to grace, how great a debtor, Jesus Saves!”
That’s my life verse friends. It’s the first step toward thanks living- understanding what God has done for you in sending Jesus to bear the punishment for your sin.
He who was without sin became sin for us so we could have the righteousness that God requires.
If God did nothing else for you- that much alone should fill your heart with gratitude and thanks, but God didn’t stop there.
You have clothes on your back, a car you drove here, a roof over your head, and food in your belly. You are already richer than over half of the world’s population.
Give thanks, and live with that thanks in your heart. Then you will be thanks living.
The second way we can live a life of Thanks-living is
II. Realize this is temporary, and being totally present matters
There is the old saying that he who dies with the most toys….
Still dies
I haven’t yet seen a hearse with a trailer hitch for a Uhaul trailer to follow the body to the graveyard.
Take a moment and think of what your most prized physical possession is-
For some, it might be a piece of jewelry. Perhaps a wedding ring, or a heirloom passed down from a beloved relative.
For me, probably my books and my hunting equipment along with some old paramedic patches and badges from old jobs along with a few things from my military service I still have.
But you know what…I won’t have any of that in the grave with me. I won’t buy two plots- one for me, and one for my stuff. I’m not going to be like an Egyptian pharaoh and make people build a huge mausoleum for me and my earthly possessions.
All this stuff we try to accumulate in life- all temporary. We need to focus on what we have, including the time that God gives us and be thankful for that.
For most people, and studies bear this out, our phones are our own worst enemy when it comes to being here, in the moment, with the people we love.
More about that in a second, I want to share a few things about smart phone use that studies are starting to show.
An interesting statistic from the medical field I just read in a nursing journal I read doing some work toward my bachelor’s degree- from the year 2010 until now, cases of cervical spine kyphosis and nearsightedness have increased exponentially. The reason?
Smart phones- everyone is doing this (look down at your phone).
Do you what else spiked since 2010? Not just your eyesight and posture.
Severe depression and other mental health disorders, especially ones that deal with dopamine dysregulation. Dopamine is the reward neurochemical in your brain that make you feel great. Its what smartphones, in particular Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and especially TicTok (please get rid of that! Don’t rant) directly stimulate your dopamine receptors to crave more dopamine which your brain tries to keep up with, draining it and eventually leaving a person in severe depression. They are finding that these things can cause an addiction similar to nicotine or even in severe cases, heroin.
If we are supposed to live with eternity in mind, we should remember this- You know what we won’t have in heaven? Smartphones. Praise God!
I bring that up because thanksgiving is coming. You know what many families will be doing? Sitting in the same room, earphones in, staring at a 5 inch screen and not actually spending time with each other.
This last week I was in a room with a family saying goodbye to their loved one right before we shut off life support. As I was writing this it occurred to me that no one was looking at a phone, no one as tuning out the world with earbuds in, or absorbed with social media or gaming. They were all in at this moment saying goodbye.
And then it occurred to me- how many minutes did they waste being around this person while they were still alive staring at a screen, isolating themselves from what is real for what is digital?
Pause
Thanksgiving is coming up and families and friends will gather.
Please, take a few pictures, and then leave the smartphones off, the earbuds out, and actually engage in conversation and quality time
with those you love....
Because if I've learned anything in the last 30+ years in healthcare and 20+ in ministry...there will be a day when you'd smash that phone for 10 minutes more with that person.
So I beg you as your pastor and as your friend, snap a few photos of what you are eating and of your family, then put the phones away and actually be a family.
If you do that, you’ll be on the way of living thanks-living
The third and final way to life a life of Thanks-Living
III. Realize that God is everything you need
We have touched on this several times this morning, but consider this illustration, and I’ve used it before so some of you may have heard it.
A man worked hard all of his life and had grown his business to the point of being able to buy some nicer things in life. One of the things he always wanted was one bar of pure, pressed gold like they had in Fort Knox. So he saved up and bought one gold bar.
It weighed 27.5 pounds, and was worth about $18,000. He kept it on his desk at work as a representation of all of his hard work paying off.
When he died, the family gathered to hear the reading of the will the day before the funeral and were surprised that he requested that he be buried with that gold bar next to him.
You may wonder why.
Let’s turn our eyes into the spiritual and watch that man as he enters eternity.
The man shows up to heaven and meets St Peter at the pearly gates. St. Peter welcomes him into heaven and congratulates him for serving God all of his life. St. Peter notices that the man is struggling a little walking, and since his infirmities were healed immediately upon entering heaven, he asked why he was struggling.
The man showed St. Peter the package he was carrying and said he wanted to bring this with him for his mansion in heaven. Peter said, “Sir, you are in you Father’s kingdom. You will have everything you will ever want or need and nothing from the previous world can pass this gate.”
The man was insistent, and the line into heaven was starting to back up a little so St. Peter ordered the man, “Just open the package and let me see what you are trying to bring in”
The man opened the package, revealing the bar of gold he took to the grave with him.
Astonished, St Peter looked at him and said, “You brought pavement to heaven?”
My friends, the bible says that the streets of heaven are paved with solid gold, so pure you can see through it.
God has created everything that was, is, and ever shall be.
There is nothing on this earth that will ever satisfy you like God can.
That is why the devils whole kingdom is set up to making you doubt that fact. (repeat)
That is why so many people are miserable, because they believed the lie instead of embracing that truth.
Let’s be a different people this morning.
Let’s be God’s people this morning. Learn to love what He has already given you- salvation, family, food on the table, a roof over your head.
Learn to live in the moment and not distracted by the things of this world
Finally, don’t love the things of earth- everything here is doomed for destruction someday when God makes the new heavens and the new earth.
Put your hope and love in eternal things, and you will be well on your way to thanks-living.
Prayer
