Why is it that we must be reminded to set aside one day a year to be thankful? Should we not be thankful every day? Yes; but unfortunately we don’t always remember to do what we should. And that’s why many Holiday was setting a day aside to remind us of what we should be doing. We need Mother Day and Father Day for example, to remind us to honor our parents, while we need no Children Day, because it’s easier for us to care for the little one. I believe it’s the same thing with Thanksgiving Day; it was designed to remind us of being grateful, because it’s our human nature to gripe and complain, and that’s why we need to be reminded every year. If we ever get to the point of being grateful all the times, then we can set aside one day a year and call it “Grumbling Day”; then spend the other 364 days being thankful.[xi]
Similarly with the Christian life, we are constantly being reminded to live a life worthy of God’s grace on us because we are so easily slipped back into our old habits of sinful nature. How many of you have seen the new movies “The Incredibles?” The superhero in the movie at one point had to save the same people again and again out of troubles; he was frustrated and asked, “Why can’t they stay saved?” The same applied to many of us, after God saved us through Jesus, He also wants us to “stay saved” and provide the instruction manual for us to do so through the Bible.
The letters to the Thessalonians were written from Paul to a community of believers shortly after they accepted Christ. In these letters, Paul expressed his excitement about their new faith, but also provided some concrete instructions for them about “What should I do next after I decided to follow Christ?” We won’t have time to study the whole letters this time, but I would like to highlight the focus on verses 16-18 in chapter 5 only. Let us read from the Word of God “16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Let’s pray…
According to this verse, you can confidently walk up to any other Christians and said, “I know what God’s will is for you,” or “I know what God wants you to do.” And you can meet their amazement by point to this verse, “God wants you to do three things, 1) give thanks in all circumstances, 2) pray continually, and 3) be always joyful.”
Notice the three adverbs of “always”, “continually” and “in all circumstances”; all three encompasses the constant state through times, not just a particular moment. All of you in the United States set aside last Thursday for thanksgiving; but here Paul said that you “in Christ Jesus” should be giving thanks all the time, not only in good times but in bad times as well; that’s what it means by “in all circumstances”.
But first of all, what is thanksgiving? Is thanksgiving the same as gratitude? Not really. When Jesus healed 10 men of leprosy in Luke 17, no doubt that all 10 were grateful for what he had done (you would be insane not to feel grateful to be cured of a disease like that), yet only 1 actually came back to thank Jesus. The issue in the story is not one of gratitude, but of thanksgiving. It is one thing to feel grateful; it is another thing to express it.[i] Gratitude is one of the most difficult emotions to express and maintain. Perhaps our culture is partly to blame. Gratitude is particularly hard when everything comes easily; when our [accomplishment] makes us think we can get whatever we need. Why should we be thankful when we’ve earned it on our own?[ii] And so, if during this past Thanksgiving season you haven’t actually thought of how blessed you are, or if were only getting this warm and fuzzy feeling of gratefulness without actually expressing it, then by definition, you haven’t giving thanks yet.
But then, to whom are we giving thanks? When you say, “Thank you”, there have to be a person you are say thanks to. You cannot just give thanks to nobody, or to yourself.
Harriet Martineau was an atheist. One morning she & a friend stepped out into the glories of a beautiful fall morning. As she saw the brilliant sun peaking through the haze, & the frost on the meadow, & the brightly colored leaves making their way lazily to the ground, she was filled with the beauty & burst forth with "I am so thankful. I’m just so grateful for it all." And her believing friend asked, "Grateful to whom, my dear?"[iii]
In the context of the verses we are studying here, we are reminded to giving thanks to God Himself, not just other people; especially “in all circumstances”, even in the bad circumstances when other people had caused them for you.
Is it realistic to give thanks in all circumstances? Notice that God didn’t command us to give thanks “for all circumstances” but “in all circumstances”.
In fact, the very historical event of the first Thanksgiving was a good illustration of this. Do you know that the Pilgrims giving thanks in a tough circumstance they were in and not because of the fall harvest they received?
In the year 1620, the pilgrims arrived without a harvest. Being newcomers, not having planted crops in the spring, they had nothing to harvest. They had a harsh winter that set in quickly upon them. During their first year there, half of the settlers died. After a year of doing all they could with the help of Indian Squanto, by the time they harvested, despite of their hard times, they still found the need for being thankful, rather than being angry and apathetic, they still found it within them to give thanks. That is how the first Thanksgiving took place.[iv] Not until three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth, Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made Thanksgiving an official feast.
The point is that we don’t thank God because of the sickness we got, but we can thank God during the sickness. We don’t thank God because of we were laid off, but we can thank God that we are still healthy to look for another job. We don’t thank God because of bad grades we received, but we can thank God that He still provides other chances in the future.
It is possible for us to give thanks in even the worse circumstances we’ve got. The question is whether or not are we willing to give thanks during all circumstances or not. If you are not willing, let me convince you with a few causes and effects which come with giving thanks to God in all circumstances.
REASONS TO GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
The first cause/reason for giving thanks to God in all circumstances is that our hope is eternal, beyond any earthly circumstances to be effected by them.
Matthew Henry, the famous commentator, was once mugged by robbers and they took his wallet. He wrote these words in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because, although they took my wallet, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my money, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”[v]
Even the most terrible prospect of sickness and death might not deter a believer from giving thanks to God. After all God had already granted us eternal life with Him in Jesus. It’s not surprising for Paul and other followers of Jesus can have joy and thankfulness, even though their lives were in danger daily. Paul said “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” [Phi.1:21], because “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” [Rom.14:8]
An ancient Christian named Cyprian suffered martyrdom in Carthage in 258. When the sentence of death was read to him he said, “I heartily thank Almighty God who is pleased to set me free from the chains of the body.”[vi]
We can give thanks to God in all circumstances because our hope is eternal, beyond any earthly circumstances to be effected by them.
The second cause/reason for giving thanks to God in all circumstances is that God work out all circumstances for the best for us.
Romans 8:28 said, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Here’s the promise for us that “in all things”, both the good and the bad circumstances, God will be able to work it, “for the good of those who love him”. We don’t know it all, so in the midst of a circumstance we don’t know how it will work out. But God knows it all, and He loves us; He will be able to direct circumstances which might seems bad for us at the time, to be for our good later.
Doctor and author John White told of a times he was a missionary in the jungle of South America. His three years old kid was stepping on a rusty nails, and since the nearest hospital was miles away, John and his wife had to pin his kid down and performed surgery on his feet, removing the nail as well as performing disinfection procedure, even without any painkiller. The child was horrified, crying and screaming to escape the monstrous parents. But little did he know that the painful procedure he endured was ultimately for his own good.
Even earthly parents would strive to give the best to their children. Wouldn’t our heavenly father give us any less, especially if He had already gave the life of His beloved Son for us? We can give thanks to God in all circumstances because we trust that God will work out all circumstances for the good of His children.
The third cause/reason for giving thanks to God in all circumstances is that God is with us in the circumstances we are in.
Before leaving this earth Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever: the [Holy] Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” [John 14:16-18] When we become Christian, and “accepting Jesus into our hearts”; what happened is that the Spirit of God will reside within us. He’s there to counsel us, to comfort and to guide us through every circumstance we face in life.
Life is hard, everyone going through life can testify about it pretty much the same way, both Christians and non-Christians. But God is good; He will be there with us. He will walk through the valleys of shadow of death with us in this life. Therefore, we can give thanks to God in all circumstances because He is with us in the circumstances we are in.
There are more reasons/causes for us to thank God in all circumstances, but I would like to introduce a few paralleling effects/benefits in the practical life as we thanking God.
The first effect is that a thankful heart will produce graceful words. Jesus said that, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” [Mat.12:34] Someone else also said, “Whine is made from sour grapes.”
Two friends met, “You look horrible!” The other guy replied, “Last week a long distance cousin died, left me $100,000 in his will.” “That’s not so bad!” “Well, he had over a million in asset and left only $100K for me!”
You may have known some whiny people such as that guy. At first, it might be some playful fun as they whine about the most stupid things. But remember, it takes sour grapes to make whine, so the habit of looking for sour grapes in everything started to form in their life, and before long, they are no fun to be around at all because they start to see negativity in all situations.
The Bible said that, “Do everything without complaining or arguing” [Phi.2:14]. But how are we going to keep our negative attitude under control? One way is to be developing an attitude of gratitude. A person cannot be gracious and hateful at the same time. A person whose heart is filled with thanksgiving will have no room for such negativity as anger, bitterness, and grumbling.
The second effect is that thanksgiving will change our own attitude. Circumstances around us may not change at all, but with thanksgiving, you can change one of the most important things of all: your attitude.
In a Peanut’s cartoon about Thanksgiving, Snoopy was lying on top of his dog house thinking about dinner, he thought to himself, “Today is Thanksgiving, I am having turkey! For sure I am having leftover turkey for dinner.” On the second frame, you see Charlie Brown brought out his food in a dog bowl. It was no turkey, just normal everyday dog food. Snoopy was said for a little bit. But on the last frame, his face brightened up as he ate his dinner, thinking “It could be worse, I could be the turkey!”
Few things can change a person’s life more dramatically then developing an attitude of gratitude. Your attitude does indeed affect your altitude. It affects how far you will go in life and how much you will enjoy the journey [xi]. In fact, I believe God commanded us to give thanks in all circumstances mostly because of the effects on us.
Last September I went to hear Jim Burns speak to the youth pastors. He encouraged us not to overlook the power of thanksgiving in the stressful world we are in. He told of a particular hard time in his life that he had to conscientiously practicing the spiritual discipline of thanksgiving just to make it through. One particular day it was so tough on him that as he was driving on the freeway, he had to make himself giving thanks. But his mind was completely filled with negativities that he couldn’t start thanking for anything. So he started thanking for the white dividers on the road. [You know how in certain other parts of the US, or in other countries, the road was so narrow and worse, they had no lines?] So Jim prayed, “God, I thank you for allowing big lanes with white lines here, otherwise I might have crashed into someone already.” Then he started thanking God for snow in the mountains, then for the sunshine, and so on and so on. By the time he got to his destination, he felt much better.
Most of the time we could not change anything but our own attitude; and if you want to change your attitude, thanksgiving is a good way to start.
The third effect is that your thanksgiving outlook often determines your outcome. There are two birds flying over the California desert: the vulture and the hummingbird. The vulture looks for dead, rotting, decaying meat. The vulture thrives on the misery of other animals. The hummingbird looks for the tiny blossoms of the cactus flower. The hummingbird thrives on what is living and growing. Each bird finds what it is looking for. What are you looking for? A better question is, “What are you finding?” What you are finding tells what it is you are looking for. I am convinced that as I develop an attitude of gratitude I will discover even more of which I can be thankful [xi].
In the corporate world, our problem solving skills are often being rewarded. Over time, our corporate career produces a side effect: that we are constantly seeing problems everywhere we look, and we become more and more critical, to the point that it’s hard for us to see and celebrate what was going right.
On this passage, Jim Burns offered a valuable insight to people like me, who seems to be lack of joy all the time. He sees the relationship between verse 16, 17 and 18 as an equation of Constant Joy = Unceasing Prayer + Thanksgiving in All Circumstances.
And truly, when you think of it, joy is not so much an action as it is an attitude, and the two concrete actions we can see here in these verses are prayer and thanksgiving. In order to give thanks, we will need to change our perspective to see God’s will in the things which God had already caused to happen; that will also shape our perspective to see what God’s will is like as we pray of Him for the future, and as a result, we will be joyful because we will be more align with God’s will in the presence.[vii] So in away, as we begin to have more of God’s outlook in our life, we will also getting more God’s outcome in our life as well. Am I making any sense here?
There are more reasons for us to giving thanks to God in all circumstances, but I thought the few above would be sufficient. Let us move on to a more pressing issue. The question of “How? How can we give thanks in all circumstances?”
How can we give thanks in all circumstances?
G - Give yourself to others. Thanksgiving, to be truly Thanksgiving, is first thanks, then giving.[viii] To some of you, expression of gratitude to God could be in the form of giving to financially charity, to some other of you, expression of gratitude to God could be in the form of serving others – not because of they deserve it, but because God accept it.
R - Reflect on God’s goodness. It has often been pointed out that thinking precedes thanking. When we are presented with a gift, it is because we think of its significance and meaning that we are led to express our appreciation.[ix] So start with your reflection about the goodness of God, everyday, and in every way. God is good.
O - Overcome discouragement through praise. The best weapon against discouragement is praise and thanksgiving. Whenever you feel discourage you should praise and give thanks to God right away. Learn from the Psalms of how people give thanks to God amidst their circumstances. Listen to praise songs, singing them out loud and let the lyrics remind you of the good grace of God. If it’s too hard for you to start, begin with thank you God for the white lines on the freeway like Jim did.
W - Walk in light of God’s sovereignty. God is sovereign. God is in control. God knows how things must work out for good. That means all I have comes from Him, and as such I should be thankful. The bigger God become in your life the easier for you to give thanks to Him; so enlarge your vision of God, keep looking up until you see Him, and then He will even be bigger still. [x]
I would like to conclude this message with a time of actual Thanksgiving. On the message outline you received today there are some space for reflection. Take time to write down the top three things you are thankful for toward God; then pick one way that you will express your gratitude toward Him. Tear out that reflective expression you had and offer them up to God as thanksgiving, we will have people collect all of them together with any monetary offering to God as thanksgiving too. During this time, I would also like to invite the worship team to lead us in expressing our thanks to God with a song too, “Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks…”
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