Theme: Thanksgiving to God
Text: Pr. 9:1-6; Eph. 5:15-20; John 6:51-58
Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for the forgiveness of sin that reconciles us to God and the other is for the ability to lead a victorious life that glorifies God. Whether we admit it or not, each one of us longs for both and our inner being actually cries out for them. We may, however, not realise that our restlessness, confusion and fear can only be dealt with when these two important needs are met. God met our need for forgiveness by sending His only begotten Son into the world to die for our sins on Calvary. God’s forgiveness is available to everyone who truly admits his or her sin and turns to God in repentance believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. God also met our need to live a victorious life by giving us His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It could never have been God’s intention for us to come to Christ in faith and then continue to live a life of defeat and discouragement. Rather His will is to “fulfil every desire and the work of faith with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us” 2 Thess. 1:11-12. God made us and He knows what we need to make a success of life. God went to great lengths to meet our needs and restore His divine plan and purpose for our lives. What Christ did for us should fill our hearts with thanksgiving to God.
We need to be always thankful that Christ through His sacrifice has revealed to us the wisdom of God. His sacrifice has led to the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit who enables the believer to understand God’s revelations and live according to His revealed will, not in an unwise way but in a wise way. Living in an unwise way is to take what appears to be the easy way out. It is focusing on what can be seen and relying on our own wisdom. The wise way, on the other hand, is to focus on God and rely on His wisdom. The wise ones make the most of the opportunities they encounter, as God’s wisdom will always lead them to do His will in His strength at the right time and in the right way. The most important thing in life is to know and do the will of God in obedience to the Holy Spirit. It is the only wise way to use our time and opportunities. In fact, the Christian life or walk demands a reliance on the Holy Spirit for each step we take. As believers it is our duty to find out what the will of God is and respond to it. Even our prayers should be according to His will so that what God has willed takes place.
The wisest thing in life is to know and do the will of God. It is very unwise not to know the will of God. It is like crossing a busy street without paying any attention to the traffic lights that have been placed there to ensure our safety. The right way to cross the street is to stop at the pedestrian crossing, wait for the light to turn green and listen to the signal before crossing the street. Observing these basic steps, stop, look and listen is for our own good and could save our life. Believers should be following these same steps as they walk in the world. They need to constantly stop, take a thorough look at their lives and listen to what God is saying. Failing to do this is very unwise especially when we have the Holy Spirit to help us. Every believer needs to know that the moment he or she accepts Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to life in him or her. Although the Spirit, as the Spirit of grace, indwells every believer He is far too gracious to impose Himself on the believer or force Himself into any area of his personality where He is not welcome. The Holy Spirit will control and direct the believer only to the extent to which he or she voluntarily yields and accepts His control and direction. This can best be understood as Paul explains by contrasting the experience of being filled with the Spirit to that of being filled with alcohol. A person filled with alcohol enjoys a temporary feeling of well being as the alcohol destroys his mind and will and makes him incapable of controlling his actions. So much harm has been come to families and friends as a result of alcohol and today we are being told that Ghana has the highest number of deaths resulting from traffic accidents and the main cause is due to alcohol. In contrast being filled with the Spirit produces the life of Christ in and through the believer. He now has greater self-control, lasting joy and his whole being filled with new life. We all need to be forgiven of our sins and be filled with the Spirit. It is the only way we will be able to set aside time daily to study and meditate on God’s word and listen to what He is saying. A believer who does not do this is not living wisely and cannot sustain a Spirit-filled life.
A Spirit filled person is always filled with thankfulness to God for being made a new creation. Just as a drunken person cannot hide his drunkenness so a Spirit filled person cannot conceal his or her condition. Whereas the drunkard is betrayed by the way he speaks and by what he does which is evil, the person who is filled with the Spirit leads a separated and sanctified life in obedience to the will of God and filled with thanksgiving. Just as a drunkard continues to drink to remain under the influence of alcohol, so a Spirit filled person has to remain spirit-filled by maintaining a relationship with the Holy Spirit. The experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit is not an emotional, ecstatic, and once for all experience but a lasting relationship filled with joy. This relationship is sustained by having a close walk with the Holy Spirit.
The presence of the Holy Spirit will always result in thanksgiving. This is the only way we can express our appreciation and understanding for each aspect of His divine nature. Thanksgiving is a celebration and a boasting in the Lord and the Spirit-filled believer has a song in his or her heart even when going through extremely difficult circumstances. This is the reason why such praise is referred to as a ‘sacrifice of praise’. This phrase suggests that praise is not always easy. This is not the praise we offer when everything is going nicely and according to plan and we are happy and blessed. This is the praise we offer when we do not feel like praising Him, when everything with us seems to be going wrong and our world appears to be falling apart. When filled with the Spirit we will always have something to be thankful for and circumstances cannot rob us of our joy. In fact, nothing should prevent the believer from giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we enjoy suffering. What it means is that we rejoice because we know that God will do something in our lives through the suffering. We are assured of God’s word that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Paul and Silas led a Spirit-filled life. They even praised the Lord in jail after being beaten and put in chains for preaching the gospel. Bleeding and in a lot of pain, instead of complaining and blaming God as many of us would have done, they rather praised Him. They experienced God’s presence as He shook the prison walls and freed them from their chains. The Spirit-filled life is also a life filled with praise and thanksgiving to God. This way praising and thanking God in difficult times comes naturally. We need to offer praise and thanksgiving in both the good times and the bad times. We need to do this when everything is fine and when everything is going wrong.
God wants us to also sustain a spirit filled life by partaking of the Holy Communion. God wants us to be always reminded of His presence and the Eucharist is a reminder and memorial of Jesus’ perfect life on earth and of His death on the cross. The Eucharist is a means of grace to receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation. Christ died to provide forgiveness, give us victory over sin and strength to live a new life. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist He said, “This do….In remembrance of me.” This reminder was necessary because it was possible even for His followers to forget. If His first disciples, who were first hand witnesses, needed to observe the Eucharist, then we also need it as a reminder of what Christ endured to pay for our sins. It is possible to become so busy in the work of the gospel or with ourselves that we fail to have communion with Christ. The Eucharist is a touching memorial that should fill our hearts with gratitude as we partake of it with other believers. It brings to our minds those scenes of our Lord’s suffering portrayed in the Gospels. Christ wants us to remember how He died. He wants us to remember because everything we have as Christians centres in that death. However, this memorial is not simply the recalling of historical facts. It is a participation in spiritual realities. It is having fellowship with a living Saviour and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as our hearts reach out by faith. It is the way Christians express their unity with each other and their mutual loyalty to and love for Jesus Christ.
The words “Do this in remembrance of me” makes the breaking of bread a very intimate act. It helps us to focus on Jesus instead of ourselves. It reminds us of His constant love and His presence. God wants our eyes to be opened - the eyes of our mind and the eyes of our heart to understand this – to understand that the Christian life is a Spirit-filled life. We need to hear the Word and to fellowship with Jesus in order to receive peace, insight and encouragement. We must not neglect meeting together because if we do we may not receive the full revelation of God’s will for us in our circumstances. A relationship with Christ evidenced in the breaking of bread should result in a changed life and behaviour. It should make us sensitive to our sins, our faults, and our failures. It should make us see them in the light of the tremendous price Christ paid to secure our redemption. With this awareness, we must confess our sins and determine with God’s help to forsake them. The Communion declares the truth that we all share a common salvation and make up one body. As we gather with our brothers and sisters to celebrate the Eucharist, we should be conscious of our oneness with those who partake of the elements with us. We all share the wonderful benefits of our Saviour’s atoning work at Calvary and it should be a demonstration of the unity of the Church. The Eucharist is a family meal, and the Lord of the family desires that His children love one another and care for one another. It is impossible for a true Christian to get closer to the Lord while at the same time remain separated from his fellow believers, for whom Christ also died.
The Christian life is a Spirit-filled life. It would be impossible to be a Christian let alone to live and grow as a Christian without being filled with the Holy Spirit. A person without the Holy Spirit but who believes he has received it can be likened to a woman with a false pregnancy. Such a women is so desirous of having a child that her body begins to function as if she were pregnant. The swelling of the abdomen and all the signs of pregnancy make it appear as if an actual child is developing. A woman can travail, agonize and go through the whole process of childbirth but there would be no child unless God had first placed life in the womb. Unless there is a baby, going through travail does not produce a child. It is the child that should produce the travail and not the travail the child. Birth pangs and strong muscle contractions are the natural by product of the presence of the baby in the womb. In a similar way praying without the Holy Spirit that is praying outside the will of God will not produce any result. We need to operate with the Holy Spirit within the will of God to experience real fulfilment in our lives. Jesus can take what seems like the most hopeless situation and make it into something new. If the road of your life is taking you somewhere other than where you hoped to go, you can trust Jesus today to turn things around. If you will allow Him by accepting Him as Saviour and Lord, He will fill you with His Holy Spirit and enable you to lead a victorious life filled with thanksgiving to the praise and glory of His name. Amen!
