The Discipline Of Thankfulness

THE DISCIPLINE OF THANKFULNESS

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

Pastor John Oscar — CCCAG

December 14th, 2025

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Introduction

Good morning, church. I hope you had a blessed few weeks since Thanksgiving.

This is a message I had originally for Thanksgiving, but instead of tossing it in the sermon folder and doing a new one, I read through it and discovered that the principles here are very important for us to know for the time we live in.

Did you know that the bible talks a lot about Thanksgiving.

Not the huge meal first celebrated by people on the Mayflower with the indigenous tribes of the area.

But as an attitude to get you through the toughest moments in life.

Believe it or not, we have some stressful moments coming. As much as we love the joy of the approaching Christmas season, it’s often a time of huge stress as well. So before we jump into this season, let’s review the attitude we should bring to it first.

Let’s open our bibles to see the wisdom it has for us about the spiritual discipline of thanksgiving, and the power it has to keep our perspective safe from stress and it’s nasty cousins- fear, doubt, and unbelief.

In the book of 1 Thessalonians, written to the people of the Greek City of Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul lists several different spiritual practices that will help Christians be a light in the world of darkness, and he included being thankful among them.

Let’s review what the bible has to say about this-

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t stifle the Spirit.

Prayer

Having a mindset of thankfulness has been said in our day as “Having an Attitude of Gratitude.”

This is really important for us as it keep our minds and hearts focused on what is truly important in life.

As we enter this Christmas season, Let me help you have the right focus going into it.

It’s not about the presents

It’s not status in comparing how you are doing with other members of your inner circle

It’s not wealth

It’s not doing better than the family down the block

It’s not social media cred

It’s about having a heart and mind that is set to focus on the positive things in life. A mind set this way is powerful as it is unmoved by circumstances that seem really negative, but we find out later were protective to us in the long run.

One of the ways we see that is one of the most difficult for us to see in the moment, and that is-

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1. What Didn’t Happen

In the ER, we measure life in seconds and inches. One inch difference, one second slower or faster, and the entire story changes.

I’ve had countless times where a patient rolled in after a car crash, and while I’m checking them over, it hits me:

If that seatbelt had been off…

If that steering wheel had been a little higher…

If traffic had been heavier…

Wasn’t my patient but once at a former ER, we had a patient who had a steel rod fall off a flatbed in front of him, piercing the window and just giving him a scrape on his cheek.

A few centimeters over, he doesn’t have a face.

These kinds of moments remind us how fleeting our lives can be.

It shows that that

Sometimes the miracle isn’t what God gives.

Sometimes the miracle is what God spares us from.

We don’t always thank Him for that because we don’t always see it. But when you’ve lived long enough, you start to realize how many close calls God already carried you through without you even being aware of it.

However, Thankfulness starts with awareness.

All of us should take a moment and ask God to remind us of a time where HE orchestrated something that seemed like an evil at the time, but in the end, turned out for our good.

Thankfulness also begins with humility—“Lord, You were working even when I didn’t see it.”

So let’s look at-

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2. The Biblical Call to Thankfulness

Let’s look at our anchor passage today and it’s three imperatives-

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

• “Rejoice always.”

• “Pray continually.”

• “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Paul doesn’t write, “Give thanks for all circumstances.”

He says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”

God is not asking you to thank Him for the car accident, for the job loss, for the grief, for the diagnosis.

He’s asking you to thank Him in the middle of them.

Why? Doesn’t it seem counterintuitive.

Almost like sarcasm to thank God for something that isn’t very pleasant to deal with?