Keys to Life Series July 11, 2004
Gratitude
Romans 1:21
You may remember the famous speech in the 1987 movie “Wall Street” by Michael Douglas playing Gordon Gekko
“The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.“
In many ways Greed is the spirit of the age
Years ago a reporter asked John D. Rockefeller, the richest man of his day, “How many millions does it take to satisfy a man?” The answer was simple: “The next million.” Someone asked Andrew Carnegie, a man who had amassed an immense fortune in steel, “How much is enough?” To that question, Carnegie replied, “Just a little more.”
Arthur Agnos, Mayor of San Francisco asked the same question to the most powerful CEOs in his city just after a large corporation tried to close down a well loved local businessman because they could make a few more percentage points on the land he was leasing from them. He said “Here’s a man with a family to support, owner of his own franchise for 16 years, the business is thriving. Then a wealthy corporation announces it’s going to shut him down. He’s always made money for the company, yet some green analyst in headquarters figures on paper the company can make a few percentage points more. So let me ask you something: How much is enough?"
All conversation and movement came to a stop. Agnos, it seems, had uttered an unpardonable blasphemy. The bank executive came back with emotion: "Arthur, the very fact that you can ask that question terrifies me."
If Greed is the spirit of the age and a spirit that leads to death, the opposite spirit, that leads to life is the spirit of gratitude.
Gratitude Leads to Life
Don Postema writes in the book “Space for God;”
“Not much in our society stimulates us to such appreciation. Instead of suggesting that we give thanks, TV advertising encourages us to be greedy for more gifts. Periodicals tell us of the many things we could own but don’t. And our neighbors describe their latest purchases in detail. If we listen to all these voices, we won’t feel much gratitude. Instead we’ll start thinking that we have practically nothing and need to get more ... and more.
It’s that attitude that makes us hostile - that leads us to guard what we have from others. We need special locks on our doors; we need guns and even bombs to protect it all.
We are afraid to share our personal or national resources because much of what we hear says we don’t have enough. It looks past what we have to what we do not have and urges us to grab for more.
Greed grabs. Gratitude receives. That’s why gratitude often seems like a radical reaction to life. Gratitude takes nothing for granted. When you are truly grateful, you recognize not only the dinner someone prepared as a gift, but also become aware of the person who prepared it. You are cognizant of the concern it took for someone to call, to send a card, to give a compliment. You are aware of the love involved in a routine offer to do the dishes, fix a leaky faucet, take out the garbage. You may get a glimpse at the wonder of friends and family.
Gratitude brings us life because by being grateful, we embrace the gift that life is. If we take the gifts of God for granted or whine about them, we miss the gift and our life is diminished.
Postema writes a memory that may be too common to us all…
“I remember bringing a gift to a birthday party when I was a child. The birthday child met me at the door, grabbed the gift without a thank-you, ran into the room, and through it among all the other gifts.
Why do I still remember that incident? Because the giving of that gift is not complete after all these years! I never received the thank-you needed to close the circle and establish a mutual exchange.
… The exchange is like … a spiral in which the give gets thanked and so becomes the receiver, and the joy of giving and receiving rises higher and higher.
Luke 17
Ten Healed of Leprosy
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[1] met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.
15One 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? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
The one leper completes the loop and returns to Thank Jesus – he is the one who understands what a gift life is, he is the one for whom life will give its greatest rewards.
Through Gratitude We Enter God’s Presence
Romans 1:21 describes why the pagan nations do not follow God, but instead worship idols. Paul says…
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
In a backwards sort of way, he tells us what our first response to God should be after we recognize him and honour him as God, and that is gratitude. A few weeks ago, I wrote a back page that said that if their thinking became futile and their hearts darkened because they refused to honour God and thank him, then the way to fruitful thoughts and enlightened hearts is to honour and thank him!
The way into his presence is through thanking him.
Psalm 100
1 Shout for joy to the LORD , all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his [1] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Although there are many times when we find ourselves in great need, and we immediately cry out to God for salvation from our dire circumstances, that should not be our first mode of prayer. Our regular prayer should begin with thanks and praise. It is in thanksgiving that we enter his courts.
This is pretty simple: as I’m preparing breakfast in the morning, one of my kids might come in and the first thing out of their mouth is some whiny complaint. I send them out of the room and tell them to try again with, “good morning Daddy, great to see you, what are you making?”
Sometimes I wonder if God doesn’t tire of our complaints – we need to enter his courts with thanksgiving
Gratitude is commanded
The Psalms are covered with the command to give thanks to God.
Psalm 95 is an invitation to gratitude as much as it is a command…
Psalm 95 NLT
Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come before him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing him psalms of praise.
For the LORD is a great God,
the great King above all gods.
He owns the depths of the earth,
and even the mightiest mountains are his.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the sheep under his care.
Throughout the rest of scripture, we are commended to thank God
Colossians 3:15b-17
Always be thankful. … Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Giving thanks to God is a command as much as loving God is, loving our neighbour, not killing, stealing… We need to take it as seriously as we do these other commands, to not be thankful, to not cultivate an attitude of gratitude is to sin and to wrong God.
Gratitude Is Not Reliant On Circumstances
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This doesn’t mean that we are thankful for every circumstance. Although there are times, in hindsight, that we can give thanks for a bad time that we went through, if we see the good that has come of it, it is really difficult to give thanks for the bad times while we are in them.
What did the Calvinist say after he fell down the stairs? “thank God that’s over with!”
What we can do is continue in an attitude of thankfulness no matter what the circumstances. No matter what is happening to us, no matter how bad it is, there is always something to be thankful for. In Acts 16, after being unjustly beaten and thrown into prison, we find Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God! I remember hearing the story of a pastor in a Chinese concentration camp for his faith. He was given the most horrendous job of stirring the liquid manure in the septic pond. He would have to bodily get into the pond. But he was able to give thanks because the guards would not go near him because of the smell and it gave him amazing freedom to sing and pray without interruption or punishment!
Gratitude is an attitude that is formed in good times, but it is proven in bad times.
Gratitude is a Choice
When I was a teenager, I went on a mission trip with Teen Missions. (my nieces are with the same group in Africa right now!). Many things stuck with me from that trip, one of them was a little rhyme:
Two men looked out from prison bars
One saw mud, the other saw stars
What the rhyme speaks to me is that we have a choice as to what we see in life and what we live by. We can choose to be greedy or whiny, or we can choose to be grateful. To choose gratitude is to choose life
The way we choose gratitude:
Think about the good
Philippians 4: 8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Meditate, not on your troubles, but on the works of God.
Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
Just do it. I want to develop an attitude of gratitude in my children, so periodically I ask them what they are thankful for, out of the blue. Ask yourself the same question. “What am I thankful for?” Keep asking it, because it is something that will grow into your whole life if you let it. The light will shine in the darkness of your heart and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights-
His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.
23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies,
His love endures forever.
25 and who gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.
