“Thanksgiving Vs. Thanks-living (part 2)”
Intro: The fact that God expects us to thank Him for His blessings in our lives, is evident in the words of Jesus, to the one lone ex-leper who returned to thank Him.
Luke 17:15 “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”
1. God not only deserves our thanks, but He also desires them. He wants us to be grateful for His goodness, and not to take it for granted.
2. I trust that each of you took time out this past week to re-count your blessings and thank God for everything He’s done for you.
3. But remember, as I said last week, God doesn’t want our thanksgiving to be limited to one Thursday in November, - He wants us to continually thank Him. He wants us to live a life of thankfulness.
4. Remember the words of Paul?
I Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 5:19 Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Rejoice.
5. The apostle Paul made it clear that our giving of thanks is to be continual and not contingent. That it is to be ongoing in spite of our circumstances, not just because everything is going well.
6. Paul was able to maintain an attitude of gratitude even though he faced some very devastating circumstances, because he held onto a proper perspective of both God and His circumstances.
a) he knew that God was good all the time
b) and consequently, he knew that a good God would only allow circumstances that would ultimately result in something good.
· His attitude - Since God is good, then this bad circumstance must be meant to bring about some further good in or through my life, or else God would not have allowed it.
Genesis 50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
What a accurate picture of the pain and suffering, of all the negative stuff, that we have to face in this life – It all originates from satan, who intends to harm us, but when
God allows it to happen, it can only mean He has something good in store.
Remember, as I said last week in the case of Paul in prison and in the example of Joseph here, sometimes the good that God wants to bring through our suffering is intended for someone else.
7. But don’t forget, such gratitude requires us to maintain the proper perspective of God and our circumstances.
a) speaking of having a proper perspective – listen to this poem from Thursday’s newspaper.
8. Knowing that God expects us to live a life of thanksgiving rather than offering limited thanks, and knowing that we must never lose sight of God’s goodness, and God’s hand at work in everything we face – I want to share you with you now three reasons why our thanksgiving must be continual and not contingent.
FIRST OF ALL, BECAUSE THE WORLD IS WATCHING AND LISTENING.
How many parents, have ever had to repeat something to your child / children, because they weren’t listening the first time? (raise your hand – look around you, you’re not alone)
How many parents have ever said something that you wished your child hadn’t heard, because you knew they would repeat it to others?
(ill.) It’s like the story of the little boy, who goes up to the preacher after the service and tells him, “when I grow up and get a job, I’m going to give you some of my money.” The preacher pats him on the head and replies, “well, that’s awful nice of you son, but why would you want to do that?” The boy replies, “because when you were preaching I heard my daddy whisper to mommy, “that’s the poorest preacher, I’ve ever heard.”
Isn’t it amazing how selective hearing works with kids? It seems like they rarely hear what you want them to hear, and yet they always hear what you don’t want them to hear.
The same can be said about the relationship of the believer to the world.
While the world seems to ignore the “good news” we try to share with them, they seem to be all ears, when negative circumstances come our way:
Acts 16:22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
When our circumstances turn from good to bad, when the flow of God’s blessings seem to be temporarily turned off in our lives, what we tend to forget is that at these moments, the world is most likely to be watching our lives.
What I’m saying is this – suffering provides you and I, the greatest opportunity to demonstrate the validity of Christianity.
If we’re grateful and joyful, only when things are going good then how are we any different than the world? What do we have that they would want?
I Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Friend, do you want to be used of God to bring your unsaved co-workers to Christ? Then you must continually praise God, even when things aren’t going good for you – because it’s then, when you’ve got their attention.
SECONDLY, WE MUST OFFER CONTINUAL THANKS, BECAUSE SATAN IS WATCHING AND LISTENING
I Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
What kind of animals to lions most often devour? The weak, the injured and the sick.
Guess what tips him off and lets satan know that we might be at a point of vulnerability? That our suffering has weakened us? when he hears our praise turn sour and our thanksgiving disappear.
Peter warns us to be careful, to be on our guard, to watch out for satan’s attempts to devour us. To resist satan by standing firm in the faith.
I can’t think of a better way to resist the devil and stand firm in your faith, than to thank God, even when it looks like there’s nothing left to thank Him for.
Satan accused Job of only serving God only because God had blessed Job. In fact, he even said to God, if you take away your blessings, Job will curse you to your face.
I truly believe that when satan sees our thanksgiving disappear at the first sign of suffering, that he turns up the heat all the more.
Like a lion listening for the sound of a wounded gazelle, satan listens for us to gripe and complain, he listens for the sounds of us accusing God of being either unfair or unfaithful because of our circumstances.
Notice further – Peter tells his readers to take heart, “because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
Satan knows that if he can isolate us in our suffering, or at least make us feel that we’re the only ones facing such struggles, then he can begin to choke off our thankfulness.
Friend, we must continually offer thanks to God not only because the world is listening and our witness depends on it, but also because satan is listening and our walk depends on it.
THIRDLY, WE MUST CONTINUALLY THANKS, BECAUSE GOD IS WATCHING AND LISTENING
“2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…”
These words were originally spoken to Asa King of Judah, when God was greatly displeased with his actions.
King Asa, had been confronted by a mighty army, and rather than rely on God, he had made an alliance with the King of Aram. – hence these words.
What God was saying is – I’m looking for people that I can demonstrate my power and strength through. I’m looking for people whose hearts are fully committed to me and trust me through the good, the bad and the ugly.
Just a few chapters later in that same book another King came along, named Jehoshphat and he did just that.
And when God saw the commitment of his heart, He released His mighty power to deliver Jehoshpat from his impossible circumstances (3 armies against 1)
But listen to what God asked of him:
II Chronicles 20:17 Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’”
18Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice.
20Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 21After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever.”
22As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
24When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
Thanksgiving opens the door to God’s power, which opens the door to victory.
Let me say it again – God is looking for people in whom He can show Himself strong, but those people must be people whose hearts are fully committed to Him. People who are willing to thank Him even when face to face difficult circumstances.
Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”
In Paul’s situation, thanksgiving brought them freedom, - suddenly their chains came loose as God shook the foundation of the prison.
But as we read on, they didn’t yet get out of prison, - vs. 35 indicatives that it wasn’t until daylight that they were actually released from prison.
To me this is significant, because thanksgiving doesn’t always immediately bring an end to your adverse circumstances, but it will always bring an inner freedom in the midst of them.
Paul and Silas served the remainder of their sentence in prison, but they did so loosed from the chains that had bound them.
Concl: The circumstances won’t end until God has finished the work He has begun, but our suffering, in the midst of suffering will come to an end, as we learn to give thanks in everything.
Phillipians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I wish that I could say that I’ve done well when it comes to thanks-living, but I have to be honest this morning, as I reflect on my Christian walk, more often than not my thankfulness has been contingent and not continual.
And yet the deeper I go into His Word, the more evident it becomes that I must truly possess and attitude of gratitude. God help me and you and as well not just to be hearers of the Word, but to be doers of the Word.
