Dr. H.A. Ironside was a wonderful preacher who was known at times for being rather blunt. One day in a crowded restaurant, just as he was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited his to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Dr. Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, “Do you have a headache?” “No, I don’t.” “Well, is there something wrong with your food?” “No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.” The man said, “Oh, you’re one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!” Ironside said, “Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!”
Many people find it difficult to return thanks to God for what they have and its usually only when a tragedy comes there way that they tend to become aware of just how blessed they are. On 9/11 our world was changed forever and along with it, a lot of people as well. And for the first time in many years, many people took a look around and realized just how much they had to be thankful for.
Many of you know who Conan O’Brien is. He’s a late night talk show host on NBC and on his first night back on the air after the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings, said: “I don’t exactly know how we’re going to do this [go on with the show]. But we’re going to try to do it…. That’s what a lot of people here feel is the right thing to do—is get back and to try our hardest to move forward and to make sense of our lives at a time when absolutely nothing makes sense.
I don’t talk about these things on the air, but I was raised Catholic. And today I did what I haven’t done since the first show when I went on the air, September 15th [1993]. So, I felt like I needed someone, or I needed something to help me. I went across the street to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and I sat for a bit. And I’m glad I did…. Sitting there I felt this is such a beautiful place. And we have to thank God…. We have to thank God for what we still have and what we can still do.”
Why is it that we often don’t realize how much we need God, or how much God has blessed us with until a traumatic event comes along. We see this in a way in our text that was read for you earlier. In the Old Testament, we realize that the nation of Israel was a blessed nation. God had handpicked her, blessed her with a land flowing with milk and honey, provided for her every need, and even allowed her to erect a temple for and bless them with His presence. But eventually they took all this for granted, and in time instead of returning thanks to God for all that He had done, they grumbled against Him and rebelled against His goodness. Eventually God had enough, and He allowed the Babylonians led by King Nebachednezzer who destroyed the Holy city of Jerusalem, the homes, the walls, and most importantly the precious Temple. Those who did not die by the sword were led away into exile where they would wait.
But now in our text, the exile period is ending, and the exiled Jews are returning home to pick up the pieces. The years of captivity is the only reminder of a land once favored by God, and as they once again lay a foundation for the temple some of the older ones who were around for the exile recall just how good they had it, and they begin to realize just how good they had it.
You know, if we are not careful, we can fall into the same cycle of grumbling and stumbling, grumbling and stumbling just as the Israelites did, and it will eat away at our happiness and with our relationship with God. So this morning I want us to look at how we can avoid this trap of grumbling and stumbling by looking at two basic principles that will help to give thanks this holiday week.
The first is this. Realize how blessed you are. Take a look around you and realize just how much God has truly blessed you with. Many times you hear people saying bless me bless me bless me. And God is saying “take a look around. I already have!” You know so often we get so used to being blessed that we fail to even see it. Emerson once said, “If the stars came out only one night a year, we would all go out to see them, yet since they’re out every night, they have few admirers.” We become so accustomed to our blessings that we fail to recognize them.
There is no telling how many of this older men who were weeping in our text, no telling how many times they strolled by that temple and never gave it a second look. Never gave it a second thought. They never considered its significance, how David had prayed so hard for it, and how God had finally allowed Solomon to build it. They never saw its significance because it was right there, just as it had always been, and it wasn’t until it was gone did they realize how valuable it was.
There’s an old adage that says, “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone!” How true that is. We tend to complain so often without realizing how blessed we are right now. I did this a couple of months ago and I want to make the same offer again.
In 24 hours, I can make you not only grateful, but ecstatic about your situation right now. Now it would be a brutal 24 hours. I would first have your boss call and tell you that you’ve been laid off from work effective immediately. I then would have an IRS agent come and tell you that you have years of unpaid back taxes and that your house and property will be seized. I then would have a friend who you trusted call and tell you that all your children have been involved in an accident and not one survived. I then would have your spouse confess to you that they’ve been having an affair and have decided life would better without you. I then would have a pastor who you have always trusted call and tell you that he’s been doing some more studying and he has realized that the bible is wrong, there is no life after death.
Now after those 24 hours are up, and you have sanked deep into depression, I then would tell you that it was all made up… you still had your job, your house, your family, your marriage, your health and your home in heaven, it was all made up, not one bit of it is and after you came to your senses, and after you slugged me…you’d be thrilled with your situation as it is and you would no doubt give thanks to God for what you have.
Now if we are so blessed, why is it then that we often fail to realize it? Well I think the main reason is that we are taught in many ways to be discontent with what we have. We’re taught not to focus on what we have but rather on what we don’t have. Now there is a lot we don’t have. But I guarantee you that a lot of what you don’t have is just what you want to have and not what you need to have, right. God has provided for our every need. You may not have all you want, but you have all you need. Often we get the two confused. Comedian Ken Davis said that he saw his daughter with a string tied around her tooth and the other end tied to a doorknob. So he said, "Let me examine that tooth", Why it’s not even loose! His daughter looked at him and said, "Leave me alone Dad, I need the money!" We get the two confused.
I read this week that the average American is exposed to 3,000 ads a day, and their sole purpose is to make you feel so dissatisfied without their product that your life would be incomplete without it. We got to have this to be happy, or have this and that.
I love this time of year, but I’ve learned that come November and December, it seems that every 5 seconds there is a commercial on for a toy, and for every commercial I get to hear, “Daddy! I want that !” I’ve finally learned to say, “Just tell Santa.” One day Clarissa saw an add for a certain Barbie Doll, and she screamed, “Daddy! I want that!” And I said, “Darling, you already got it!” You see no one’s immune, not even the preacher’s kid…not even the preacher.
We are always striving for more. The American Dream to get more and be satisfied so you wouldn’t have to worry. Interesting, I came across an article in US News & World Report it was reported that said, “For Americans with household incomes under $25,000, it would take $54,000 a year to fulfill the American dream. Those who make $100,000 plus, crave an average of $192,000. In other words, the American Dream usually lies nearly twice the distance away.
We need to learn to be content with what God has provided us with. Like an eight-year-old girl named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When she was asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, “I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!” Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
So instead of grumbling about what you don’t have, take a look around you and start thanking God for what you do have, and think about what all He has given you already. Think about the gift of Christmas, the incarnation of God. Have you ever seen all the things that happen when a President comes for a visit? He is honored by traveling on air force one. He’s whisked in and whisked out of his stretch limousine, the presidential seal is placed on the podium, Hail to the Chief is played and he is given standing ovations.
Quite a contrast to how God chose to come to earth…born in a barn. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." No secret service, Jesus came with no protection he came with complete exposure. Rich became poor, left heaven for earth everywhere he went in heaven he was accustom to angels falling down and worshipping Him and saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. He willingly chose to set aside his power in order to demonstrate his love. God coming to earth is not a rags to riches story, it is a riches to rags story and the best thing is that God did it for you.
God came to earth to be with you and yet He was not content with just that, because God also wanted you to go to be with Him, but the problem was that sin blocked out path to God, so God did the only thing He could do to get you to Heaven, and that was that God in the flesh, God the Son went to the cross to die for the sin that separated us and God, thus paving a way for us to Heaven. What a gift. So don’t overlook your blessings. God gave us His best when He gave us His Son. We truly are a blessed people if we have only Christ and Christ alone.
Now the second principle deals with the first, and that it Don’t take your blessings for granted. In our text today, these older men were in tears as they looked at the new temple being built. They were probably crying because they knew it was there disobedience that caused the temple to be destroyed in the first place, and no matter how beautiful this new temple would be, it would pale in comparison to the previous temple that Solomon had built. In Haggai 2:3 God asked, “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?”
The temple had been destroyed in part because they took God for granted. They automatically assumed that since they were God’s chosen people then they could get away with whatever they wanted, and no matter what they did in the present, God would always bless them just as He did in the past. They felt as if their former glory would make them immune from any responsibility of their present actions.
Some of the darkest days in Kentucky basketball history came when the mighty Kentucky basketball program thought they were immune from all the NCAA rules, simply because they were Kentucky so the boosters and coaches went under the table, and the saddest day in Kentucky basketball history was when the cover of Sports Illustrated had a picture of a Kentucky player with the word “Shame” written over him. It was a hard lesson to learn, that you are not immune from the responsibility of your actions, but we learned just as Israel had to learn. They took God for granted, but God will not be mocked. He will not be made a fool of, and He will not tolerate us abusing His grace.
Friends, God owes us nothing, but in His grace He has given these wonderful things to us so freely. So this holiday weekend, take a look around you and see what He has blessed you with. Give thanks for the roof over your head, for the food on your plate, for the freedom to celebrate this holiday and for the family around you and above all, Give thanks to God for His goodness and mercy endures forever.
