(adapted from a message by Darryl Dash entitled The Ultimate Lifestyle: Living Gratefully)
SPECIAL DAY: THANKSGIVING
TEXT: HEBREWS 12:28
TITLE: “DEVELOPING A LIFE OF GRATITUDE”
INTRODUCTION: A. An older fellow came into the post office with a post card in his hand. He
approached the postal employee behind the counter and said, “Sir, could you please
address this post card for me?” The employee gladly did so.
The older fellow then asked the postal employee if he could write a short message
on the post card for him. The employee agreed to do so. Then the older fellow asked
if he would sign it for him, too.
When he was finished, the postal employee asked, “Is there anything else I can do
for you?” The old fellow thought about it for a minute and then said, “Yes. At the
end could you just put, ‘P.S. Please excuse the sloppy handwriting?’”
--People are not naturally grateful
B. Some reasons for a lack of gratitude:
1. One of the reasons we struggle with gratitude is the pace of our life
a. We’re in too big of a hurry to be grateful
b. We’re so accustomed to being on the run that we never stop long enough to
recognize just how blessed we are.
2. Another reason for a lack of gratitude is that we’re too consumer oriented
--We approach life as if it’s a big shopping trip in which the name of the game is
acquiring more
3. The reason that we’re so busy and given to consumerism is that we take everything
for granted
--We forget to show gratitude to God for all that he has given us
C. Characteristics of ungrateful people:
1. Ungrateful people are never satisfied
a. No matter what happens, it’s never good enough for them.
--They’re always waiting on something bigger and better
b. Is. 1:3 – God says, “Even the animals – the donkey and the ox- know their owner
and appreciate his care, but not my people Israel. No matter what I do for them,
they still do not understand.”
2. Ungrateful people are always stressed out
a. The reason they’re so stressed out is that they’re ungrateful
b. People who are ungrateful believe that they’ve done it all themselves
1). If you believe you’ve done it all yourself in the past then you probably
believe that it’s all up to you in the future.
--You don’t need people. You don’t need God. You just carry the load
yourself
2). The result is a stressed-out life
c. Deut. 8:10 – “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your
God for the good land he has given you.”
3. Ungrateful people have no joy
a. If ungrateful people are never satisfied and they’re always stressed out, the
result is going to be a lack of joy
b. Prov. 10:28 – “The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked
come to nothing.”
D. Heb. 12:28 – “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let
us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”
--How do you develop a life of gratitude and “so worship God acceptably”?
1. When the economy isn’t good
2. When things aren’t going your way
3. When our nation is at war
4. The Bible gives us three keys to developing a life of gratitude
I. RECOGNIZE THAT EVERYTHING IS A GIFT FROM GOD
A. The first key to developing a life of gratitude is to remember who gave us what we have in the first place
1. We’re very good at getting
--But we quickly forget who gave us everything we have
2. Have you ever gone to McDonalds with your kids or grandkids?
a. You let them order the meal they want. You pay for it. Then when you sit down at a table and reach
out and take one of their fries, what do they say? They say, “Hey! Those are my fries!”
b. Who made it possible for your kids or grandkids to be able to have them in the first place?
--But those fries are now “they’re fries!”
3. Likewise, we have a tendency to forget that everything we have isn’t really ours – it’s really God’s.
--He just allows us to use it
4. The Bible is very clear in its teaching on this very subject
a. 1 Chron. 29:16 – “O LORD our God, as for all this abundance … it comes from your hand, and all
of it belongs to you.”
b. Acts 17:28 – “In him we live and move and have our being.”
--Even every breath we take is a gift from God
B. How do we remember that God is the source of everything?
1. First way is to establish a relationship with Him
a. Rom. 1:21says this about wicked people: “For 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.”
--One of the signs that you don’t have a right relationship with God is that you do not thank Him
b. Every Sunday morning we celebrate communion or the Lord’s Supper
1). One word that some churches use to describe communion is the “Eucharist” - “give thanks”
--What do we give thanks for in communion?
a). That Jesus came to pay for our sins
--for all the things that we have or ever will do wrong against God
b). Not only that, we’re thankful that He came to give us a purpose for the present and to give us
a hope in the future
2). The first and most important step in developing a grateful mindset is to come to know God
through His Son Jesus Christ
2. Another step to remember that God is the source of everything is through an active prayer life
a. In Mt. 6:11, Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”
b. When we pray the way Jesus us taught us to pray, we begin to realize how dependent we are on God
for everything that we have and everything that we do.
3. A third step in remembering that God is the source of all things is to give back to God
a. Giving back to God reminds us that God owns everything in the first place
1). We’re just the stewards. We’re not the owners
--God is!
2). What you give is an indication of how grateful you are.
--One guideline for giving in Dt. 16:10 says that you should give “a freewill offering in
proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.”
4. A fourth step is to make time to give thanks
a. We live in a culture that is too busy
b. The Bible says that we need to set aside times to focus on God and to worship Him
--Why? Because He’s worthy of our worship
c. If we’re too busy to be together with God’s people at regular times of worship and study, our
schedules are too full
--J.C. Penny said that if you’re too busy to be in the Lord’s house around the Lord’s table, you’re too
busy
**along with recognizing that everything we have is a gift of God, we should also…
II. RECALL ALL THAT GOD HAS DONE
A. We sang: Count Your Blessings, Name Them One by One
1. I actually think that’s a profitable thing to do
2. What is it that you’re grateful for?
--Make a list
3. In the classic work of literature, Robinson Crusoe, the main character is shipwrecked on a deserted
island. As he surveys his situation, he makes a list of all the negative things he’s going to face and in
another column he lists all the positive things and finds out that the good clearly outweighs the bad.
]
B. One thing that you notice when you read the Bible is how many times thankful people recall all that God
has done for them
--Ps. 103 is a good example
1. Ps. 103:2 – “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”
2. What benefits?
a. For one thing: the grace and mercy of God
b. Ps. 103:3, 10-12 – “3Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…” “10-12He does not
treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are
above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far
has he removed our transgressions from us.
1). Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t give you what you deserve?
--Instead aren’t you glad that God gives you what you need?
2). If you don’t understand God’s grace; if your heart doesn’t explode with gratitude when you
understand the grace of God, you don’t have a clue of what bad shape you were in before you
met Christ.
3). I can sum it up in one word: HOPELESS
--You had no meaning, no purpose in your life. Instead it was filled with guilt, fear, bitterness,
worry, and regrets. You had nothing you could do to get rid of those things. You had no hope
for the future. Your were headed for hell instead of heaven. You could never be good enough
to earn your salvation. But God came alone in His wonderful love and said, “I’m going to
show you grace.”
c. But David is also thankful for everything else that he’s received from God
--Ps. 103:5 – “Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle’s.”
C. Summarizing the keys to developing a life of gratitude:
1. Recognize that everything is a gift from God
2. Recall all that God has done
3. and number three…
III. RESOLVE TO GIVE THANKS IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
A. Many of us are waiting for ideal circumstances before we’re thankful
1. Even I have to admit, sometimes I’m waiting for things to get better to be thankful
--What are you waiting on?
a. For your health to improve?
b. For your relationships to get better?
c. For your bills to be paid?
d. For the time that you can sit back in the your E-Z chair and say, “Life is good. I’m finally
thankful”?
2. But that’s not what the Bible teaches
a. I want you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 Thess. 5:16-18 – “Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
--We’re to give thanks in all circumstances
b. Take a pen and circle the word “in”
--That’s the most important word to keep us from misinterpreting this verse
c. It doesn’t say, “Give thanks FOR every circumstance”
1). The Bible doesn’t teach that we should give thanks FOR everything
2). You don’t have to give thanks for evil in the world
--If my children were murdered, I wouldn’t be thankful for their murders. If my wife came
down with a debilitating disease, I wouldn’t be thankful for the disease. We’re at war with
terrorists. I’m not thankful for the war.
B. The Bible does not say to be thankful for evil
1. Instead it says, “give thanks IN all circumstances”
--Not for every circumstance but in every circumstance
2. What’s the difference?
--No matter how bad the circumstances, God can bring good and you can give thanks becaue:
a. You know He has a purpose bigger than your problem
b. He will give you the power to overcome the problem
c. You will grow in spiritual maturity through the experience if you’ll allow it
3. A prime example is Joseph in the Old Testament
a. Sold into slavery by his brothers, became head of Potiphar’s household, falsely accused of trying
to sexually assault Potiphar’s wife, spent years in an Egyptian prison, and came out as second in
command over all of Egypt right under the Pharaoh
b. When he met his brothers years later, he eventually told them who he was. They were frightened
he would do them harm.
--Listen to what Joseph told them in Gen. 50:20 – “You intended to harm me, but God intended
it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
c. The apostle Paul reinforces this idea in Rom. 8:28 – “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.”
4. In a Peanuts comic strip, it’s Thanksgiving Day & the aroma of roast turkey fills Charlie Brown’s
house. Snoopy, outside, lying on top of his doghouse, smells that aroma, & he is thinking, “It’s
Thanksgiving Day. Everybody eats turkey on Thanksgiving Day.” So he lies there, watching the back
door, eagerly awaiting his Thanksgiving dinner.
Finally, the door opens & here comes Charlie Brown with a bowl of dog food, & he puts it on the
ground. Snoopy gets off his house & stares at the dog food with a forlorn look on his face. And he
thinks, “Just because I’m a dog, I have to eat dog food on Thanksgiving Day.”
Then the frame shows him looking at the dog food more intently and thinks, “It could be worse. I
could be the turkey.”
C. A lot of people ask, “What is God’s will for my life?”
1. Part of the answer is right here in 1 Thess. 5:18 – “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s
will for you in Christ Jesus.”
2. The corollary to that is just as true: If you’re not developing a life of gratitude, you’re not doing
God’s will.
CONCLUSION: A. Steve Brown, Jumping Hurdles, Hitting Glitches, Overcoming Setbacks:
The most unhappy person in the world is not someone who didn’t get what he or she
wanted. The most unhappy person is the one who got what he or she wanted and then
found out that it wasn’t as wonderful as expected.
The secret of a happy life is not to get what you want but to live with what you’ve got.
Most of us spend our lives concentrating on what we don’t have instead of thanking God
for what we do have. Then we wake up, our life is over, and we missed the beauty of the
present. You think about that.”
B. What are you taking for granted?
--Your health? Your freedom? Your spouse? Your children? Your job? Your church?
Your salvation?
1. Col. 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
2. Two responses to life:
a. This is the day the devil has made; I will complain and be miserable in it.
b. This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.
3. What’s your response?
