Introduction:
I recently read a list of seven things that mothers should be thankful for. It said you should be thankful for…
• automatic dishwashers. They make it possible to get out of the kitchen before the family comes in for their after-dinner snacks.
• husbands who attack small repair jobs around the house. They usually make them big enough to call in professionals.
• the bathtub -- the one place the family allows Mom some time to herself.
• children who put away their things and clean up after themselves. They’re such a joy you hate to see them go home to their own parents.
• gardening. It’s a relief to deal with dirt outside the house for a change.
• teenagers. They give parents an opportunity to learn a second language.
• smoke alarms. They let you know when the turkey’s done.
We’re well aware of how important the attitude of thanksgiving should be in our lives. In the prayers we have recorded in the New Testament, thanksgiving to God is an important part of each and every one of them. In I Thessalonians 5:18, Paul sums up the New Testament teaching by saying, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
But I wonder if perhaps Christians are tempted to see thanking God as some sort of business investment. What I mean by that is that we enjoy all the good things God has been blessing us with, and we want those gifts to continue. So, to insure that those bless¬ings will continue, we pause every now and then to thank God.
It’s like what I experienced this past semester at Lipscomb. I took a graduate class and received a significant credit due to a scholarship that was provided on my behalf. Toward the end of the semester, I received a letter from Lipscomb that said, “Here are the people responsible for your scholarship. You might want to take a few moments to write them a letter of appreciation.” Then it added one line which provided some added incentive: “Writing these letters will keep you eligible for future scholarships.” Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think I wrote those letters? You better believe I did!
And that was the attitude of the ancient pagan practice of appeasement. Pagans were concerned only with keeping the gods happy; keeping them appeased. So, from time to time, the pagans would make some kind of offer¬ing. But the whole idea behind their worship was insuring future blessings; it was a “what’s in it for me” religion.
But, Christianity is not a “what’s in it for me” religion. The Bible views thanksgiving as the sincere overflow of gratitude we have for all that God has given to us. Thanksgiving is not at all self-centered; it’s intended to be God-centered.
As we look through the Bible, it’s in the book of Psalms that thanksgiving is really stressed. There are at least 16 of the psalms that were specifically written for the purpose of giving thanks to God, and many more than that which include words of thanksgiving.
Of those 16 psalms, about half of them are considered psalms of communi¬ty thanksgiving. Those psalms give thanks for the kinds of things that everyone is able to enjoy by the good hand of God —- things like the rain that makes the crops grow.
The other half of the thanksgiving psalms are considered to be psalms of individual thanksgiving. Through them, we get a glimpse of David and other men giving thanks to God for things that have happened to them in their own personal lives.
Now, in our growth groups tonight, we’re going to be studying from two psalms – one of each category. We’ll be looking at Psalm 100, which is a psalm of community thanksgiving, and then we’ll look at Psalm 145, which is a psalm of individual thanksgiving.
But, this morning, I want us to focus on one of the other thanksgiving psalms -- Psalm 116. This is also a psalm of individ¬ual thanksgiving. We don’t know who the author of this particular psalm is. It could have been David. But, whoever it was, it was a man whom God had taken care of through some difficult times. And as he reflected on what God had done for him, he poured out his heart in thanksgiving.
Psalm 116 was one of six psalms that the Jews sang every year at the Passover meal. And, in fact, they still do. First they sing Psalms 113, 114, and 115. Then they eat! Then they lean back in their chairs, and relax, and talk about the good old days when God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt. Then they sing Psalm 116: "I love the Lord.”
The psalm actually has two parts. In the first half, the psalmist pours out his praise as he tells about the love of God and lists the many ways that God has blessed him. Then, in the second half, the psalmist tells how he plans to respond to God’s blessings.
We come now to the interactive portion of the sermon. This is something I heard Milton Jones do at a retreat several years ago. I believe he said he does this with the church up in Seattle every Sunday. Here’s how it works. Whenever I say, “God is good”, you say “all the time”. Then when I say “All the time”, you say, “God is good.” Let’s try it.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
I. The Psalmist’s Reason For Thanksgiving
Let’s look now at Psalm 116. The psalm begins with the words “I love the Lord because...” In the 19th century, there was young English girl, Elizabeth Barrett, who suffered a spinal injury at the age of 15 which left her a semi-invalid for many years afterward. There was a man that she loved very deeply and eventually married -- Robert Browning. Her love for him was beautifully expressed in her work “Sonnets From the Portuguese’. Now, that title may not sound familiar to you, but I think that the words which she wrote will sound familiar, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...” Then she went on to describe the depth of her love for her husband.
And that’s what the psalmist does here. Why does he love the Lord? Let him count the ways.
1. Because God heard him
“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1).
What’s he saying? He’s saying, “When I speak, God listens. God pays attention to what I have to say.” And the best way I can relate to that is as a father.
As they were growing up, my children often wanted to come and talk to me when I was home. Most of the time, that wasn’t a problem. But sometimes I was in the middle of something important. You know, like working a crossword puzzle. Or maybe I was watching an important television show, like a football game. And my kids would come up to me and say, “Look, Dad, at this paper I brought home from school. And I would go, “Uh, huh, that’s real nice.”
Now I always tried not to do that, but I know it still happened from time to time. But the psalmist is saying here that it’s not like that with God. He hears our voice. He inclines his ear to our prayers. He stops what he’s doing and he pays attention to us.
The apostle John put it this way, “Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.” (I John 5:14-15)
Giving thanks to God should begin with the realization that God has heard our many prayers, and God has answered those prayers.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
2. Because God delivered and rescued him
“The pains of death encompassed me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: ‘0 Lord, I implore you, deliver my soul!’ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and he saved me....For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” (Psalm 116:3-6,8)
As I said earlier, we don’t know for sure who wrote this psalm, but it’s certainly easy to picture David as the author perhaps after being rescued from King Saul. But, whoever the psalmist is, he remembers the problems that he’s had in the past. He’s had some terribly painful experiences. And he did what most of us would do under similar circum¬stances -- he prayed to God. He asked God to save him.
And his prayer was answered. He didn’t die. So he gives God the credit. He firmly believes that God stepped into the picture and snatched him from the jaws of death, and he’s very thankful.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
3. Because God had richly blessed him
“Return to your rest, 0 my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” (Psalm 116:7).
Notice those words, in particular, God has “dealt bountifully”. The idea is that God has piled gift after gift upon us. We often sing the song Count Your Bless¬ings. And the psalmist here is doing just that; he’s reflecting on all the things that God has done for him. And we need to learn to do the same thing.
I love the story that’s told about two old friends who bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked terribly upset, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked him, "What’s wrong?”
The sad fellow said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me 10 thousand dollars."
"Wow! That’s a lot of money.”
"Then two weeks ago, a cousin died, and left me 25 thousand dollars.”
His friend said, “It sounds to me like you’ve been blessed.”
The man said, “No, you don’t understand! Last week my great-aunt passed away and I inherited almost 75 thousand dollars.”
Now his friend was really confused. He said, “Then, why do you look so unhappy?"
He said, “This week... nothing!”
You see, that’s the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis. Even though it’s a gift, we eventually come to expect it. This is the “entitlement mindset” that has embedded itself in American society at almost every level. We have been blessed to live in a land of plenty. The blessings that we enjoy in this country stagger the imagination. But, as a result, there is a tendency to become complacent and not give thanks to God for anything.
We read in the Bible about Solomon, the richest man in all the world. Maybe you’ve found yourself thinking,, “What a lucky man he was!” But, you know, with all the gold Solomon collected, he never had electricity in his home. He didn’t own an air conditioner. He never used a flush toilet or took a hot shower. He never drove in an automobile, nor traveled across the world in an airplane. I suspect that he never tasted a banana or a home-baked chocolate chip cookie. When Solomon got a cold, he couldn’t run down to the store and pick up a bottle of Nyquil to help him sleep better. In almost every way I can think of, I have more luxuries surrounding me, things which I consider very ordinary, than Solomon the richest man in the world ever even dreamed of having.
What I’m trying to point out is that we’re blessed materially far beyond our ability to understand. Sure, we’ve got problems in our lives, but they’re mostly the problems of affluence, not the problems of poverty. We don’t worry about hunger; we worry about losing weight. We don’t worry about our children not having clothes to wear, but rather where we’re going to find them name-brand clothes.
When we consider the many, many blessings that we have, we should be driven to our knees in thanksgiving. “Count your many bless¬ings, name them one by one.”
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
II. The Psalmist’s Response to God
The psalmist is thankful for God’s blessings, blessings that he knows he doesn’t deserve. And he needs to find some way to express that gratitude. That’s the reason for his question in the next verse, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12).
In other words: How can I return my thanks? What will possibly be enough to prove my gratitude? God has done so very much for me, how can I adequately render my appreciation to him? How can I possibly repay him? And, in response to that question, the psalmist gives a couple of answers.
1. Expressing thanks
“What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord....I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:12-13,17).
The psalmist simply can’t contain his desire to express his thanks to God.
Harriet Martineau was an atheist. One morning she and a Christian friend stepped out on a beautiful fall morning. As Harriet saw the brilliant sun peaking through the haze, and the frost on the meadow, and the brightly colored leaves falling to the ground, she was filled with a sense of the beauty of this world and she said, "I am so thankful. I’m just so grateful for it all." And her Christian friend was smart enough to ask her, "Grateful to whom, my dear?"
You see, there is something inside of each of us that needs to give thanks to God. It’s the same courtesy that should be given to anyone who does something especially nice for us. We’re reminded of the ten lepers in Luke 17 who were healed by Christ and how only one of them bothered to come back to Jesus and thank him.
We wonder how anybody could receive such a wonderful blessing and not give thanks for it, but most of us only have to look at ourselves to under¬stand how that could happen. How often do we fail to express our apprecia¬tion and gratitude to God?
In Ephesians 5:20, Paul said, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lard Jesus Christ.” That’s difficult. We know we should thank God for the good things. But for everything? Both the pleasant and unpleasant things?
I heard of a little girl who refused to give thanks at the dinner table because her mother had put a generous serving of spinach on her plate – and she couldn’t stand spinach. Her mother didn’t force her to return thanks, but she did force her to eat the spinach. When the meal was over, the little girl asked if she could leave the table. Her mother said she could after she gave thanks. For a long while she sat and pouted. Finally she said, “God, thank you for not letting that spinach kill me. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now can I go?”
That’s not exactly the attitude Paul had in mind. As we mature in our Christianity, we learn to thank God even for trouble because we have strong enough faith to believe that “all things” truly will “work together for good”.
To thank God for everything means to give thanks for both the big and little gifts. Things like the forgiveness of our sins. Like warm clothing and good food. Like the love of our family. Like the health that we enjoy.
The blessings are truly bountiful. In another place, the psalmist said, “Many, 0 Lord my God, are your wonderful works. ...If I were to declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” (Psalm 40:5). How true that is. And how important it is that we actually express our thanks to God.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
2. Dedicating our lives to God
But thanksgiving is more than just expressing our thanks to God. It includes dedication. Twice the psalmist says, “I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people.” (Psalm 116:14,18).
He says here that thanksgiving requires a person to fulfill his responsi¬bilities to God. Those of us who are Christians made a vow to God long ago, a promise that we would put him first in our lives, that we would serve with all our strength and ability. If we’re truly thankful, we’ll fulfill that vow before the Lord. In fact, total, unconditional surrender to God is the highest form of thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is not merely saying something nice to God, or occasionally treating him with courtesy and respect. Nor is it just setting aside a cer¬tain day when we eat more than usual and watch a parade or a ball game —- and somewhere along the line say “thanks” to God for the blessings of the past year -— and then put him on the shelf until the same occasion next year. Rather, as someone has said, thanksgiving is “the habitual recognition of life as a great obligation.”
We as Christians ought to be aware more than any others of the impor¬tance of thanking God through the way that we live. As Paul reminds us, “Do you not know that...you are not your own? For you were bought with a price.” Then he continues with the only logical conclusion: “Therefore glori¬fy God in your body and your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:20).
There is no such thing as real thanksgiving without dedicated living. In fact, thanksgiving isn’t complete unless it leads to thanksLIVING. It’s not just enough to offer the praise of our lips – there also be the praise of our lives.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
III. Ways to Develop Thanksgiving in Our Lives
Before we close, I want to get very practical. I think we’re all in agreement that we need to be thankful. And I think we’d probably all agree that we want to be more thankful than we are. So, let me close by mentioning three things that we can do to develop a more thankful spirit.
1. Remember that EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS FROM GOD.
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” (NIV). When we remember that, then we’re forced to acknowledge that everything we own has been given to us as a loan from God.
The story is told of a poor man who was given a loaf of bread. He thanked the baker, but the baker said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the miller who made the flour.” So he went and thanked the miller, but the miller said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the farmer who planted the wheat.”
So he thanked the farmer. But the farmer said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the Lord. He gave the sunshine and the rain made the soil fertile, and that’s why you have bread to eat.”
Everything we own, we ultimately received from God and we owe him thanks. James says in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.”
2. Secondly, if we want to be thankful we need to AVOID COMPLAINING.
Dr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.” Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.”
Recently, I found a list of questions where serve as a test as to whether or not we are truly grateful people:
#1 Which do you tend to talk about more – your blessings, or your disappointments?
#2 Are you a complainer, always grumbling, always finding fault with your circumstances?
#3 Are you content with what you have, or always dissatisfied and wanting more?
#4 Do you find it easier to count your blessings, or is it easier to count your afflictions?
#5 Do you express thanks to others when they help you, or do you just take it as your due?
#6 Would others around you say that you are a thankful person?
Complaining is the archenemy of thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart. Paul says in Philippians 2:14, “Do all things without complaining and disputing.” I want to give each of you a challenge – a challenge to quit complaining for a whole month. Just try it. When you feel tempted to complain, instead of complaining, thank God. I guarantee it will change your life
3. One last thing we can to do to produce a spirit of thanksgiving is to DEVELOP A HABIT OF GIVING THANKS.
In order to be thankful people, we need to start to give thanks everyday. Not just once a year on Thanksgiving. We need to discipline ourselves to find something each and every day that we should be thankful for and express our thanks to God. Maybe keep a written list in a journal or set up a file on your computer where you list the things God has done for you. Thanksgiving needs to become a daily habit.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Always is the key word. Not just on Thanksgiving. Not just on Sundays. Every day.
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (All the time)
All the time (God is good)
Conclusion:
Psalm 116 points very eloquently to the fact that thanksgiving to God is a concern of every Christian. Day by day, may we remember how richly God has blessed each of us, may we daily express our thanks to him for his goodness, and may we in response dedicate our lives to him who gave his all for us.
