THE DISCIPLINE OF THANKFULNESS
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
Pastor John Oscar — CCCAG
December 14th, 2025
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Introduction
Good morning, church. I hope you had a blessed few weeks since Thanksgiving.
This is a message I had originally for Thanksgiving, but instead of tossing it in the sermon folder and doing a new one, I read through it and discovered that the principles here are very important for us to know for the time we live in.
Did you know that the bible talks a lot about Thanksgiving.
Not the huge meal first celebrated by people on the Mayflower with the indigenous tribes of the area.
But as an attitude to get you through the toughest moments in life.
Believe it or not, we have some stressful moments coming. As much as we love the joy of the approaching Christmas season, it’s often a time of huge stress as well. So before we jump into this season, let’s review the attitude we should bring to it first.
Let’s open our bibles to see the wisdom it has for us about the spiritual discipline of thanksgiving, and the power it has to keep our perspective safe from stress and it’s nasty cousins- fear, doubt, and unbelief.
In the book of 1 Thessalonians, written to the people of the Greek City of Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul lists several different spiritual practices that will help Christians be a light in the world of darkness, and he included being thankful among them.
Let’s review what the bible has to say about this-
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t stifle the Spirit.
Prayer
Having a mindset of thankfulness has been said in our day as “Having an Attitude of Gratitude.”
This is really important for us as it keep our minds and hearts focused on what is truly important in life.
As we enter this Christmas season, Let me help you have the right focus going into it.
It’s not about the presents
It’s not status in comparing how you are doing with other members of your inner circle
It’s not wealth
It’s not doing better than the family down the block
It’s not social media cred
It’s about having a heart and mind that is set to focus on the positive things in life. A mind set this way is powerful as it is unmoved by circumstances that seem really negative, but we find out later were protective to us in the long run.
One of the ways we see that is one of the most difficult for us to see in the moment, and that is-
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1. What Didn’t Happen
In the ER, we measure life in seconds and inches. One inch difference, one second slower or faster, and the entire story changes.
I’ve had countless times where a patient rolled in after a car crash, and while I’m checking them over, it hits me:
If that seatbelt had been off…
If that steering wheel had been a little higher…
If traffic had been heavier…
Wasn’t my patient but once at a former ER, we had a patient who had a steel rod fall off a flatbed in front of him, piercing the window and just giving him a scrape on his cheek.
A few centimeters over, he doesn’t have a face.
These kinds of moments remind us how fleeting our lives can be.
It shows that that
Sometimes the miracle isn’t what God gives.
Sometimes the miracle is what God spares us from.
We don’t always thank Him for that because we don’t always see it. But when you’ve lived long enough, you start to realize how many close calls God already carried you through without you even being aware of it.
However, Thankfulness starts with awareness.
All of us should take a moment and ask God to remind us of a time where HE orchestrated something that seemed like an evil at the time, but in the end, turned out for our good.
Thankfulness also begins with humility—“Lord, You were working even when I didn’t see it.”
So let’s look at-
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2. The Biblical Call to Thankfulness
Let’s look at our anchor passage today and it’s three imperatives-
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
• “Rejoice always.”
• “Pray continually.”
• “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Paul doesn’t write, “Give thanks for all circumstances.”
He says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”
God is not asking you to thank Him for the car accident, for the job loss, for the grief, for the diagnosis.
He’s asking you to thank Him in the middle of them.
Why? Doesn’t it seem counterintuitive.
Almost like sarcasm to thank God for something that isn’t very pleasant to deal with?
Because gratitude is not denial.
Gratitude is declaration:
“God, I acknowledge You’re still here.
I acknowledge You’re still good.
I acknowledge You’re still working, even when I don’t understand.”
There was a song years ago that had these lyrics-
“God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you can see his plan
When you can’t trace his hand
Trust HIS heart.
That’s what thankfulness can do for us- reorient our hearts and minds back on the Father God who loves us.
Another way of looking at this-
Thankfulness is an act of spiritual defiance against despair.
It says:
“My circumstances do not get the final say—my Savior does.”
That is a powerful declaration to have inside your spirit.
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3. Why Thankfulness Is So Important
A. Thankfulness Recenters Our Perspective
Life has a way of narrowing our vision. When you’re stressed or hurting, the world becomes a tunnel. All you can see is the problem right in front of you.
If you have not done hard things, or inoculated yourself against the effects of stress, you’ll freeze in those moments.
Stress inoculation is why basic training the military is so hard. It’s 12 weeks of constant harassment, sometimes brutal PT to reinforce lessons or punish poor performance
The goal is to to teach you handle the ultimate stress- someone trying to kill you.
It is proven science that for those without that kind of background, if you are stressed out, you cannot learn something new, you can’t respond logically to a situation, and every decision you make will be self-preservation focused and not done in trust of God’s faithfulness in your life.
That’s why having heart set on giving thanks in all circumstances is so powerful for us.
Thankfulness widens your field of view again. It reminds you:
• God has been faithful before.
• God is faithful now.
• God will be faithful tomorrow.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is stop and say,
“Lord… thank You.”
If you can muster up the spiritual strength to do that in those circumstances- It snaps the lens back into focus.
Another way thanksgiving helps us is that-
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B. Thankfulness Protects the Heart
Here is a huge biblical and spiritual truth-
A thankful heart is hard for the enemy to poison.
Bitterness can’t take root and survive in the soil of gratitude.
Fear and gratitude can’t hold the same space for very long.
Thankfulness is like spiritual armor.
When you intentionally practice gratitude, you are guarding your heart from the corrosive effects of:
• comparison
• resentment
• anxiety
• self-pity
• hopelessness
All of these in some way produces a heart that covets what is not there in that moment, when that happens, your front door is wide open for the enemy to wreak havoc in your life.
This is why having thankful attitude is so important for us-
Gratitude keeps the soul of our hearts soft where life tries to make it hard.
The next thing thankfulness does is
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C. Thankfulness Reveals God’s Fingerprints
Sometimes God works loudly—miracles, breakthroughs, the obvious stuff.
But more often?
He works in the quiet.
In the small mercies.
In the subtle turns.
In the ordinary moments.
And the truth is, we often don’t recognize God’s fingerprints until we look back through the lens of thanksgiving and gratitude.
Here is a thought I believe will help someone listening today-
“The most compelling evidence of God’s grace in your life isn’t your successes—it’s the healed scars left by your failures.”
Gratitude helps you see those scars for what they really are:
The places where God proved Himself faithful.
Spiritually speaking A scar isn’t an imperfection, it’s a testimony of healed trauma.
It’s proof that something tried to harm or kill you, but God’s mercy intervened and changed it for the good.
Even if, we don’t understand the how or the why, if you are still breathing HIS air on this planet, HE still has plans for you, and being thankful in all circumstances keeps our focus on HIS plan, and not our pain.
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4. A Story From Real Life
Let me share a moment from a long time ago when I was working in an ER in Southern Wisconsin.
A patient came in the ER from the local ambulance service. He had been in a car crash, and after he was transferred to the ER bed he became nauseated and pale. Then he vomited, his blood pressure tanked. Everyone thought his possible spleen injury had suddenly let go and he was bleeding out internally.
People ran out of the room to assemble the trauma team. Things were escalating quickly.
But something clicked in my brain which made me pause and say,
“Wait. Let’s take it again.”
We repositioned him. We gave him a chance to breathe. And the blood pressure returned to normal.
It was simply a reaction to sudden movement and a vasovagal reaction to the vomiting.
The crisis wasn’t a crisis.
The disaster wasn’t a disaster, and it saved him from some invasive procedures being done to him in an emergency setting.
He just needed a moment.
Thankfulness often starts the same way—taking your eyes off the immediate problem, taking a breath and looking again.
Let me ask you a question-
How many times has God steadied you when you thought everything was falling apart?
How many moments looked like disaster… until they didn’t?
I sometimes wonder if at the judgment seat, God will enable us to look back and see the spiritual side of what we were going through.
I wonder if we will see
His strength entering us when we thought we were taking our last gasp.
His protection against a disaster we never even knew about.
Or HIS whisper in our spirits, giving us direction and strength to chose differently from the path we were on, that would have ended up in a very bad place.
I think if we could see the spiritual side of our lives the way and accountant could look at a spreadsheet, we would realize God has been stabilizing us more often than we know.
And that is the beginning of developing that thankful heart.
Some of you might still be in that bad place where you can’t think of anything to be thankful for-
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5. So, What Should We Be Thankful For?
Let me give you three categories that every Christian can hold onto:
A. Thankful for What God Has Done
Your salvation. No matter what else happens- that should always be the starting point to develop that thankful spirit within you.
Your calling.
Your endurance.
Your protection.
Your growth.
Your healed wounds.
Your forgiven sins.
The second catagory
B. Thankful for What God Is Doing Right Now
Even if you can’t see it.
Even if it feels messy.
Even if you’re tired.
He’s working in your home.
He’s working in your heart.
He’s working in your mind.
He’s working in your relationships.
He’s working in your future.
The third category is-
C. Thankful for What God Will Do
Christians live with forward-facing hope.
The best is not behind us—it is before us.
There is a resurrection coming.
There is restoration coming.
There is healing coming.
There is a Kingdom coming.
Every “thank You” you say today is a seed planted in the soil of tomorrow’s miracle. (Repeat)
So now that have a few things to hold in our pockets to be thankful for, let’s look at two challenges we can use to kick start this right now this morning
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6. The Two Questions That Change Everything
1. What has God protected you from this year?
Take a moment. Think about it.
The illness that wasn’t worse.
The accident that didn’t happen.
The temptation you walked away from.
The decision you didn’t make.
The emotional cliff you stepped back from.
The relationship that didn’t destroy you.
The darkness that didn’t swallow you.
There are things God shielded you from that you may never know this side of heaven.
2. What has God taught you through something hard this year?
Not why it happened—because God rarely answers that one.
But what He taught you through it.
Strength?
Patience?
Humility?
Dependence?
Resilience?
Compassion?
Thanksgiving and Gratitude doesn’t deny the hardness of the year.
It recognizes the growth that came through it.
Moving forward-
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7. Moving Toward Advent
We’re stepping into Advent—the season of waiting, longing, and hope.
And the truth is:
We’re thankful because Jesus didn’t just come into the world 2,000 years ago.
He comes into our world—your world—right now.
Into your chaos.
Into your questions.
Into your family.
Into your pain.
Into your frustration.
Into your weariness.
He still brings peace.
And thankfulness is the doorway that opens our eyes to see Him.
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Conclusion
My friends, thankfulness isn’t a seasonal emotion.
It’s a spiritual discipline.
A posture.
A way of seeing.
And when you choose gratitude:
• your perspective shifts
• your heart is protected
• and God’s fingerprints become visible
Conclusion-
All Rise
Paul closes this passage with a warning: “Don’t stifle the Spirit.”
And one of the quiet ways we do that isn’t rebellion — it’s neglect.
When gratitude disappears, our hearts harden.
When prayer fades, our awareness dulls.
When rejoicing becomes conditional, our spiritual sensitivity shrinks.
A thankful heart keeps the soil soft.
It keeps us receptive.
It keeps us listening.
Gratitude doesn’t create the Spirit’s presence — but it creates space for the Spirit to move, to guide, to comfort, and to correct.
If you want the Spirit to have greater influence in your life, start where Paul starts: rejoice, pray, and give thanks — and don’t silence what God is already trying to say.*
I want to close with a simple challenge:
This week, thank God for three things He’s done…
three things He’s doing…
and three things you trust Him to do.
Let gratitude be the language your soul speaks—even when life is heavy.
Because thankfulness doesn’t change God…
But it will absolutely change you.
Ending Prayer-
