INTRO.- ILL.- A Sunday School teacher asked her class what they were thankful for. One little boy said, “My glasses.” When asked why he was thankful for his glasses, he said, “Because they keep the boys from fighting me and the girls from kissing me.”
This is the season of thanksgiving and we need to be thankful to God for EVERYTHING He has given to us and EVERYTHING He has done for us. Large or small blessings, significant and seemingly insignificant, we need to be thankful.
ILL.- Many years ago (probably 25 to 30) I had my eyes examined by an optician at Horner Rausch Optical in the mall at Carbondale, IL. I complained somewhat to the optician about my poor eyesight. He said, “Oh, your eyes are not bad at all. We have many foreign students come for an exam and most of them have far worse eyesight than you. THEY ARE EXTREMELY NEARSIGHTED, TO THE POINT WHERE IT IS ALMOST UNCORRECTABLE.” I shut up after that.
Brothers and sisters, do we even have a speck of an idea of how blessed we are to have been born and raised in America? And decent eyesight is just one of those many blessings.
ILL.- Some months ago I had a stress/echo heart test done. I was having some breathlessness while mowing in the heat and my doctor thought I should have the test. I did it and passed with flying colors. My heart doctor was Dr. Tagupa, who is originally from the Philippines.
While visiting with him after the test I told him that I had been sending some money to a preacher in the Philippines. And immediately, red flags went up with Dr. Tagupa and he asked me how well I knew this preacher.
He said that the people in the Philippines are so poor that any mail from the United States is generally stolen because those people believe all Americans are rich.
Well, I assured him that I checked out my preacher friend, Packs Padilla. I discovered that he went to our Bible college over there and Brother Roger Celis knows him and confirmed that he is on the “up and up.” So I felt good about sending him money.
Dr. Tagupa proceeded to tell me that if a person was receiving only $700 a month in social security payments they could go to the Philippines and live in a nice house with air conditioning, eat very well and even have a maid. In other words, live like a king. I told Elaine about it and said, “Let’s go!”
Brothers and sisters, even though our money doesn’t seem to go very far here in America we are still rich and very blessed! GOD NEEDS TO WAKE US UP AND SHAKE US UP ABOUT THIS AND MANY OTHER THINGS.
ILL.- It was on Thanksgiving many years ago that actress Helen Hayes cooked her first turkey. Before serving it she announced to her husband, Charles MacArthur, and their son James: “Now I know this is the first turkey I’ve ever cooked. If it isn’t right, I don’t want anybody to say a word. We’ll just get up from the table without comment, and go out to eat for dinner.”
Then she retired to the kitchen. When she entered the dining room, bearing the turkey, she found her husband and son seated at the table—wearing their hats and coats.
Brothers and sisters, we are so blessed with good food, good restaurants and THE MONEY to be able to eat well whether at home or otherwise. WE NEED TO BE THANKFUL!
PROP.- This text in Romans chapter one reveals the sin of ingratitude and just how bad it is in God’s mind. I have two thoughts to share.
1- The anger of God
2- The ingratitude of man
I. THE ANGER OF GOD
Rom. 1:18-19 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”
The wrath of God or the anger of God is something that we don’t talk about. We don’t LIKE to talk about it or even think about it but it does exist.
Psalm 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.” Woe, as in bad news.
Psalm 38:1 “O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.”
Why does God ever get angry at mankind? Because He is righteous and we are not. Because He is holy and we are not.
Job 37:23 “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.”
God is beyond our reach as far as righteousness and holiness is concerned. We cannot even begin to touch the hem of His garment, so to speak. We can’t even begin to imagine how holy He is.
Isaiah of old saw our Holy God and exclaimed, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Wonder what we would exclaim in His presence? We ALL would be greatly humbled. He is righteous but often, we are not.
ILL.- It’s exactly three miles from our house on 405 Hunter’s Ridge to the church. I drive that trip several times a day. To get home I drive down Alexander Drive and then over the bypass on Southwest Drive. Southwest Drive is not the best street to get onto at 5 p.m. each day. It’s sometimes like a racetrack. And it’s every driver for himself or herself.
There have been many times when I have pulled up to Southwest drive and had to wait on the drivers ahead of me to pull out into the traffic.
I have sat there waiting, thinking, and even sometimes irritated by drivers who are either not paying attention to the traffic or else could care less about anybody else, about any other drivers behind them, INCLUDING ME!
James 1:19-20 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”
What is my point? Just this. Many times our human anger or wrath is not justified, but God’s is. Many times we human beings just get mad because we didn’t get what we wanted or things didn’t go the way we wanted. But when God gets angry it is because He is just, holy, pure, and right.
On a few rare occasions, however, our anger may be justified or righteous.
ILL.- This past summer my daughter and her family came to visit us. They drove that 900 mile trip from Mechanicsville, VA. I was pleased they came but hated the drive for them. One day I told my son-in-law, Chris Santasiere, “let’s go wash your van.” So we drove past the Parker St. Wal-mart to the carwash. On the way back down Parker St. we stopped behind a car and two motorcycles. There was one car at the stoplight and two of those cycles that I call crotch rockets or sport bikes.
One of the guys proceeded to do a burnout with his brake on. Chris and I were sitting in his van right behind him. The smoke from the bike’s rear tire fogged the air and the next thing I knew rubber from the tire started flying on the windshield of Chris’ van that we had just washed. The cyclist just sat on his bike, doing the burnout. Finally, when he stopped the burnout, I was very irritated (very) so I opened the car door, got out and walked up to him and said, “What in the world do you think you are doing?” I said, “You just sprayed rubber all over the front of this van we washed.” He proceeded to make a gesture with his hands and said some dirty words to me, which I can’t repeat.
At that point, I really didn’t know what was going to happen next, but suddenly an angel appeared. No, not my son-in-law. He was still sitting in the van. Although he said if the guy had taken a swing at me he was going to come and help me.
That angel who appeared was in the form of a Jonesboro Police officer. I just looked up and there he was. God bless all the good angels! He told those cyclists to pull into the service station driveway next to us. Then he motioned for us to pull up there too. Chris said, “What does he want with us?” I said, “I don’t know but let’s go.” When I got out of the van and explained to the officer what had happened, he said, “I know. I saw the whole thing.” He asked if we had any damage and I said, “No, but that guy was not nice and used some foul language.” He said, “I know and he’s going to get several tickets.”
Now, brothers and sisters, that was ONE time when my anger or irritability was justified. BUT HOW RARE THAT IS! Often, our anger is not a holy anger. But you can be sure that whenever God gets angry, it is justified. It is right. It is warranted.
Gen. 1:26-27 “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Mankind was made in God’s image. Whenever I look in the mirror all I see is an old man. But apparently, whenever God looks at us He sees something better…a likeness of His image. Actually, the meaning probably includes intellectual and spiritual likeness, certainly, the power to rise far above that of animal life. NOW WATCH THIS!
Gen. 6:5-8 “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
It’s amazing to me to think that God created man in His own image and yet in just a short while mankind had gone downhill to the point where his thoughts were only evil all the time and God was so grieved and irritated that He wanted to wipe mankind out.
Romans 1:18 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness of men…”
God’s wrath has been revealed at times throughout history and may continue to be revealed. But may God have mercy on those who believe in Him and His son Jesus.
II. THE INGRATITUDE OF MAN
Romans 1:21 “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.”
How foolish it is not to glorify God as God! To not give Him credit for the Creator/God He is! And how foolish it is not to be thankful to the God who created us, and sustains us and saves us! It’s biting the hand that feeds you. It’s slapping the face that saves you.
ILL.- One time a young boy was walking down the street with his mother. They met a neighbor on the street, returning home with a bag of groceries. The neighbor gave the boy an orange and the mother said to her son: “And what do you say to the nice man?” Looking at the man, he said: “Peel it!”
Did you ever know a kid like that? Or perhaps an adult like that? Or maybe a country like that? It sounds something like America to me. We already have everything and want even more without giving thanks for what we’ve already been given.
ILL.- As a hippie couple strolled down the street, he fellow said to his traveling companion: “I am going over to pick up my unemployment check. Then I’ll drop in at the university to see what’s holding up my check for my federal education grant. After that I’ll pick up our food stamps. Meanwhile, you go over to the free clinic and check your tests, pick up my new glasses at the health center, then go to the Welfare Department and apply for an increase in our eligibility limit. Then I’ll meet you at 5 o’clock at the Federal Building for the mass demonstration against the rotten Establishment.”
Brothers and sisters, there are probably some people who would actually do this. And why would this not make someone angry?
Nobody likes a freeloader who doesn’t give back in some form or show his appreciation for he’s been given!
ILL.- When a robber broke into a home in Cleveland, Ohio, he discovered that the 81-year-old woman resident was none other than his old schoolteacher. “You were always good to me,” said the thief, kissing her tenderly on the cheek.
Then he and an accomplice fled with $210. The thief’s show of gratitude and affection did not, however, change his way of life.
Hmmm, doesn’t this sound somewhat familiar? Could it be that God our Father has been very good to us, and yet we have failed to show our gratitude by the way we live?
What does God’s anger have to do with the foolishness of ingratitude? Is not ingratitude a sin?
ILL.- Andrew Carnegie, the multimillionaire, left $1 million to one of his relatives, who in return cursed Carnegie because he had left $365 million to public charities and had cut him off with just one measly million. Whoa!
Could it be that we have been so blessed by God that we expect more and yet forget to give proper thanks? We of all people in this world have been blessed abundantly.
I don’t like being taken for granted, do you? If we don’t like being taken for granted, how do you think God, our Father, feels about it? Could it be that the sin of ingratitude is a lot more serious that we might think?
ILL.- I don’t recall who it was, but they said something to the effect of: “I never lift a glass of water to my lips without giving thanks.” THIS SHOULD HUMBLE US ALL and remind us to be thankful for all things. We have it so good!
ILL.- Someone said, “Not only count your blessings, but also consider their source.” Also, “Don’t count your blessings without praising the blesser.”
ILL.- Someone else suggested that perhaps we should change our prayers. Perhaps we should wake up in the morning and ask, “Dear Lord, is there anything I can do for you today?”
It is a sin and foolish not to be thankful to God for life, breath and everything else.
CONCLUSION---------------------------
ILL.- Dr. David Soper, in God Is Inescapable, suggests that basically the difference between a prison and a monastery is just the difference between griping and gratitude.
Imprisoned criminals spend every waking moment griping; self-imprisoned saints spend every waking moment offering thanks. Dr. Soper says that when a criminal becomes a saint, a prison may become a monastery; when a saint gives up gratitude, a monastery may become a prison.
May God have mercy on us and help us to become a people of gratitude, a people who constantly, daily, hourly praise Him!
