SAYING THANKS
Text: First Thessalonians 5:13-18
To be thankful is an attitude of gratitude. To be thankful means more than just saying "thank you". When we were growing up our parents taught us to be grateful. When someone did something nice, they taught us to say "thank you" so that eventually we would began to associate the occasions in which we should say thanks. It seems that our parents wanted us to know to say "thank you" in such a way that it would become second nature and natural. They wanted us to learn to say "thank you" without having to think about it.
There is another way that we say "thank you" that defies what true thankfulness is about. When something goes wrong, we might hear someone say, "I have or we have so and so to thank for this predicament". This is not what being thankful is about. When we say that we have someone to thank for the fact that something went wrong, then we are being sarcastic and placing blame on another or others. When we say "thank you" in a sarcastic way, what we are really saying is something that is the opposite of truthfully being thankful.
How do we say thanks? Do we say thank you with sarcasm? Or do we say thank you in such a way that it is genuine thankfulness? It is an important thing for us to ponder how we say thank you. More importantly, we need to ponder how we say thank you to God.
SPECIAL DAYS
There are special days throughout the year that we say thank you.
· Christmas: we give thanks for both the gift of the Savior and salvation.
· New Year’s Day: we give thanks for the beginning of a new year and new opportunities.
· Baptism: hopefully, we give thanks for our spiritual birthday.
· Ash Wednesday: we remember our sins and thank God for the forgiveness of sins.
· Easter: we remember that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God.
· Pentecost Sunday: we remember the birth of the Church and the impact that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives.
· Mother’s Day: we remember with a spirit of thanksgiving our mothers and all that they do.
· Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and Independence Day: we remember our freedom and those who fought for it as well as those who are fighting for it since September 11, 2001.
· Father’s Day: we remember with a spirit of thanksgiving our father’s and what they do or have done for us.
· Grandparents Day which is today (November 21, 2001): we remember with a spirit of thanksgiving all that they do, or have done.
· Boss’s Day, Secretary’s Day: we remember those who work with us, for us or who have employed us.
· Valentine’s Day: we remember those special people in our lives and the love that we have for them.
· Birthdays and Anniversaries: we celebrate the day we or someone else was born or the day we or someone else got married.
· All Saints Day: we remember the gift of eternal life and our loved ones who have joined the great cloud of witnesses in heaven.
· Thanksgiving: we remember and set aside a special time to be thankful for all of our many blessings.
A THANKFUL HEART
Compared to special days or holidays, how often do we say thanks? How often do we count our blessings one by one to see what God has done? How often do we complain? And when we say thanks is it sincere or sarcastic? The difference---that is the difference between complaints or expressions of thanks tell of the focus of hearts. It tells whether or not we have a thankful heart or an ungrateful heart.
If we are not counting our blessings then maybe we are taking our blessings for granted. Exodus 16 is a chapter of significance. The children of Israel complained before God to Moses. They actually said to Moses that they wished God had killed them in Egypt where they at least had food. They said to Moses, "You brought us out in the desert to starve to death" (Exodus 16:2-3). But, Moses was following God’s instructions. After talking with God, Moses was instructed to go to the people and tell them that God was going to give them bread in the morning and meat in the evening (Exodus 16:4-9). They had quail for meat and manna for bread (vv. 12,15). In the morning, when the dew evaporated something thin and flaky was left on the surface (v. 14). Not knowing what it was, they asked each other "What is it?" God has a sense of humor. Here is the proof. That flaky stuff that they did not know what to call is manna. This word sounds like the Hebrew word for "What is it?" (Good News Bible. "footnote" (for Exodus 16:15 on page 75) Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986).
As if it was not enough that they complained about not having anything to eat, even after God solved the problem for them they complained about not having anything to drink in Exodus 17:1-11. Again God, solved the problem as He told Moses to tap a rock from which water flowed. Keep in mind that this is two million people that God was providing for. Sometimes we are just like the people in this story. They did not know how to count their blessings.
"The parents of a young soldier killed in action gave their church a gift of money as a memorial for their son. During the presentation service, the mother of another soldier overseas whispered to her husband, "Let’s give the same amount for our son." "What’s the matter with you?" he asked. "Our boy hasn’t died in battle." "That’s just it," the mother replied. "let’s give it because he was spared." In giving that reply she showed that she was sensitive to the truth that thanksgiving is a way of life." (Ronald Youngblood. Special Day Sermons. Second Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, p. 33). It is true that thanksgiving is a way of life. It is also true that complaining is a way of life as well. The mother in this story knew how to count her blessings and say thanks.
It has been said that "Giving thanks is a course from which we never graduate" (Eleanor Doan’s The Speaker’s Sourcebook. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988, p. 262).
A father was trying not only to share his joy and express his gratitude as he also tried to get his daughter to do the same: "Father asked little Kathy if she didn’t want to thank God for sending her such a fine new baby brother. Imagine his surprise when he heard this prayer: "Thank you, dear God, for Jimmy. I’m really especially thankful that Jimmy wasn’t twins like I heard the doctor say he might be" (The Speaker’ Sourcebook, p. 262).
Consider the very first Thanksgiving in this country.
1) In the year 1620, the pilgrims arrived without a harvest. Being newcomers, not having planted crops in the spring, they had nothing to harvest.
2) They had a harsh winter that set in quickly upon them. During their first year there, half of the settlers died.
3) In the Spring of 1621, they knew that their lives depended upon their ability to grow their own food. With the help of Indian Squanto, they planted twenty acres of corn. Unfortunately, the intense heat and lack of water caused their corn crops to wither.
In spite of their hard times, they still found the need for being thankful.
1) Rather than being angry and apathetic, they still found it within them to give thanks.
2) They had what William Bradford called a day of humiliation: "... toward evening, on this day of humiliation and prayer, it begane to overcaste, and shortly after to rain, with shuch sweete and gentle showers, as gave cause fof rejoyceing, and blessing God. It came, witout wind, or thunder or any
violence, and by dgreese in that abundance, as that the earth was thorowly wete and soaked therewith.
Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corne and other fruits as was wonderfull to see, and made the Indains astonished to behold ... For which mercie (in time conveniente) they also set a parte a day of thanksgiveing."
3) That is how the first Thanksgiving took place. The Pilgrims and the invited Indian guest had a meal together.
"Historically, for many American agricultural families, the day of Thanksgiving was also a day of accounting" (Showalter p. 335) .
(Jim and Doris Morentz. Minister’s Annual: Preaching In 1989. Douglas K. Showalter. "Reviving The Thanks In Thanksgiving." Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 335).
1) "In early New England, it was the custom of families to place five grains of corn at each Thanksgiving plate. These five grains of corn were meant to remind each celebrant of those harsh days in the Pilgrim’s first winter in America, those desperate days when only five grains of corn at a time were rationed to each of the Pilgrims.
2) Nearly half of the Pilgrims died that winter, and of the half that survived, at one time only seven of them were well enough to nurse and care for the rest. How much more meaningful our Thanksgiving would be if we would remember not only the free and easy abundant times, but also the hard times that God has seen us through" (Showalter pp. 335- 336).
My natural mother once wrote a poem about being thankful that I have always treasured since I discovered it. She died in 1984 with skin cancer. But, all that I learned from her is still with me today. I thank God for every memory and every valuable lesson that she taught me about life.
Her Poem went like this…
Thank God for dirty dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While other folks go hungry,
We’re eating very well.
With home and health and happiness
We should not want to fuss.
For by this stack of evidence,
God is very good to us.
(Cecelia D. Williams)
It is often that stack of evidence that we so often forget or slight because we are too busy fussing or complaining.
William Barclay once wrote, "There is always something for which to give thanks; even on the darkest day there are blessings to count. We must remember that if we face the sun the shadows will fall behind us but if we turn our backs on the sun all the shadows will be in front" (From The Daily Study Bible Series: The Letter To The Philipians, Colossians and Thessalonians. Revised Edition. Louisville: The Westminster Press, 1975, p. 207).
I would like to ask you to do something tonight. I would like to ask you to bow your heads where you are sitting and give thanks for your blessings in a tangible way. Every time you think of a blessing that God has given you I want you to clap your hands. I want count your blessings one by one by clapping.
