I think that it is very ironic
that Thanksgiving Day, the day on which we give thanks for all the Lord
has blessed us with, is the day before the biggest shopping day of the
year. I wonder how many of you, as you gather with your family next
Thursday, to give thanks for all that God has given you, how many of
you will be thinking the whole day of what you’re going to go out
and get for yourself the next day? Yet in this verse, Paul doesn’t
want us to merely set aside one day during the year to give thanks,
he wants us to give thanks every second, of every minute, of every hour,
of every day of the year.
I wonder if this attitude is characteristic of your life? I don’t
know whether or not you realize it, but the ability to offer up to God
a continual sacrifice of praise is one of the things that makes our
life distinctive from the life of a non-Christian. Of all people, we
as Christians, ought to be able to remain cheerful even through difficult
circumstances.
Have you ever noticed that when God spares an atheist from a near-death
experience that an atheist has no one to thank? An atheist will thank
his good fortunes on luck. Sometimes, we too can act like an atheist.
I have heard far too many Christians say how lucky they were, when in
reality, it was God who prevented something bad from happening to them.
The only luck I acknowledge is when I use it as an acronym to mean that
I am living under Christ’s knowledge. To live under Christ’s
knowledge, means I can trust him fully with all my life, because I know
that since he knows what I can handle, he will only allow that which
will work out for my good, and his glory, and that which will cause
me to turn to him for the source of my strength. And as long as I am
living under Christ’s knowledge, I can thank him for all things.
This section of Thessalonians has been called the Christian’s Ten
Commandments. And the third commandment deals with a general attitude
towards life that every believer in Jesus Christ ought to have. Not
only are we to be prayerful & joyful, but we are to be thankful.
Our general attitude towards life is that we are to have an attitude
of gratitude.
When you hear those words, they sound good, and they sound right. Why
they even sound biblical. Most of us would agree that words of thanks
are words that ought to constantly be coming out of a Christian’s
mouth. Yet I wonder how many of you are guilty of tacking the word “but”
onto the end of this verse. The way you might say it is: “I will
give God thanks in everything, but!”
When we say “but,” what we are saying to God is that although
what he commands here sounds good and right, but, it just doesn’t
work in the real world! We tend to dismiss many of the hard things of
the Christian life that way, don’t we? One of our biggest enemies
is the “yeah, but” tribe that lives in our mind.
Yeah I know I’m supposed to live holy, but. Yeah I know I’m
supposed to pray, but. Yeah I know I’m supposed to tithe, but.
The yeah, but tribe has convinced us that many Christian theories sounds
good, but they just won’t work in the real world.
However, this is true only when it comes to manmade theories. I remember
taking a theology of pastoral ministry class at seminary. During the
course we learned the theories about how congregational life ought to
work. Since all the students were going to be pastors, we wrote down
every word which fell from the professor’s lips. And we listened
intently to his great words of wisdom that came from many years of being
a pastor. At the end of one particular section, the professor said to
us, “What the author is saying sounds real nice, but it won’t
work in most churches of today.” He told us that pastoral ministry
is messy. And if we didn’t like getting dirty, then we’d better
not become a pastor. He did that to burst the bubble that was in the
minds of most of the students who thought that pastoral ministry would
be nothing but fun and games.
While manmade theories may not work in the real world, God’s theories
always will. I say that because there maybe some of you who are thinking
to yourself, as we hear Paul give this great theory of giving thanks,
“Well, that sounds nice Paul, but there are just some times when
there is no way I can give God thanks. So while I agree with you in
theory, but!”
But Paul is serious about this command. Just like the commandments God
gave to Moses were not 10 suggestions, this too is not a suggestion.
This a command that God expects us to obey. And I think by the difficulty
of obeying this command, we see that this command is far more than a
sentimental expression that Paul wants us to incorporate into our lives.
God really expects us to become grateful people in both the good times,
and the bad times.
An attitude of thanksgiving is easy to do when the blessings from heaven
are falling all around you. But it can be very difficult to do when
the various trials of life are trying to get you to fall down. Yet,
even in those times of life, Paul wants us to give thanks. So to help
us to be able to do that, I want to point out 3 things that Paul says
in this one little, but difficult command.
First of all, Paul tells us the attitude we need to develop when he
says that “In everything give thanks--v. 18. Now I want you to
notice what Paul does not say here. He does not say, “for”
everything give thanks. He says “in” everything, good or bad,
we are to give thanks. The reason Paul said “in” and not “for”
is because Paul isn’t asking you to be a hypocrite.
There are some circumstances in our lives in which it would be improper
to give thanks for. Yet, some people teach that no matter how difficult
the situation is, we are to go around saying, “I’m just praising
the Lord and thanking him for my trials.”
If you were to walk out to your car today, and discover you have a flat
tire, don’t start yelling out, “Hallelujah!” As I said
earlier, this sections is the 10 Commandments of Christian living. And
just like the 3rd Commandment tells us not to take the name of God in
vain, by using the word “in” and not “for” Paul
uses this commandment to keep us from doing the same. If you were to
walk around saying “Praise the Lord,” when on the inside you
are saying, “God, I can’t believe this is happening to me,”
those words are vain words. And by saying them, when this really isn’t
the attitude of your heart, it would be hypocritical.
God wants us to always maintain a balance in our Christian walk. On
the one hand, God doesn’t want us to develop a victim mentality
when it comes to going through the various trials we are going to experience
here on earth. That kind of mindset will cause us to want to get mad
at God every time something bad happens to us. With a victim mentality,
we can never see God’s hand at work.
But on the other hand, God doesn’t want us to become a fatalist.
That kind of mindset will cause us to offer up insincere words of praise.
While there’s nothing in the Bible that says you have to give thanks
for your trials, the Bible does teach that you need to be thanking God
in every circumstance, no matter how catastrophic it may be.
When you start to give God thanks in the midst of all situations, instead
of allowing the circumstances to get you depressed, the situations will
instead cause you to look to God. And as you are looking towards God,
you will discover that God has absolute sovereign control over your
life. And since God is in absolute control, we know that he isn’t
going to allow something in our lives that isn’t for our good or
for his glory. Armed with that knowledge, it is easy to give God thanks
in all things.
Some of the reasons we give can thanks to God in the circumstance is
because first of all God is going to use the circumstance to demonstrate
his sustaining power. Secondly, God is going to use the circumstance
to equip us for greater service. Thirdly, God is going to use the circumstance
to show us that we always come out victorious on the other side. And
finally, we can thank God in the circumstance because we know that God
is going to prosper us no matter how painful the circumstance maybe
right now.
Now when we look at any trial in light of these facts, we can thank
God in the midst of our trials. But as long as you don’t see God
as being the one in control, you will never see your problems as being
beneficial, and you will never be able to thank God in the midst of
your trials. The truth about trials is that God has designed them to
come into our lives so that we might focus more on Jesus. An amazing
thing happens when we focus on Jesus instead of our problems, Jesus
gets bigger & bigger and our problems get smaller & smaller.
What most of us don’t realize is that thankfulness is a habit that
has to be cultivated. It is the reward of seeking after God. But as
with all other Christian virtues, we can’t employ a mechanical
technique to make us more thankful. This means we have to start to develop
within us an attitude of gratitude. A simple way I learned was instead
of complaining about the trials I do go through, I started to thank
God for some of the trials I didn’t go through. Let me give just
a few examples.
Thank God that you weren’t mugged this year. Thank God that none
of your family was killed by a train this year. Thank God that your
house didn’t burn down this year.Thank God that you and your spouse
worked out your problems instead of getting a divorce. Thank God that
you had to trip over your son’s book bag or you couldn’t find
a place for the margarine in the fridge door because your daughter filled
it with bottles of nail polish, because at least they are still living
at home, and not on the streets. Thank God that the phone call in the
middle of the night was a wrong number and not someone calling to tell
you about a death in the family. But mostly, thank God for every uneventful
day you had, knowing that those days could have been filled with the
worse disasters known to man.
Thankfulness is a matter of responding to what the eyes of our heart
perceives. Thankfulness is really a matter of vision. We need to allow
everything that happens to us cause us to draw closer to God in appreciation
for who he is and what he has done. Therefore, God has designed thanksgiving
as a means to catapult us into his presence. All throughout the book
of Psalms,
King David praises God during his trials. He was able to do so because
he always expected the mighty hand of God to prevail. It all boils down
to this, you can thank God for all things, past, present, and future,
because you know that God is in control, and he has a perfect plan for
your life. And when we do that, then the Holy Spirit will comfort us,
fill us with his peace, and give us a renewed strength in the midst
of our difficulties.
All of you know the story of Helen Keller. When she was 19 months old,
she caught a fever that left her without sight and without the ability
to hear. She was forever to be locked into a world of darkness and silence.
Now a person in Helen Keller’s situation would be very tempted
to become bitter and angry, and the last thing that would be on the
agenda for a person like that might well be thankfulness. But I want
you to look to what Helen Keller said: “For three things I thank
God every day of my life. Thanks that He has granted me knowledge of
His works; deep thanks that He has set in my darkness the light of faith;
deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to--a life joyous
with light and flowers and heavenly song.” Helen Keller may not
have been thankful for the circumstance that God had dealt to her, but
she was thankful in that circumstance. And that is precisely what Paul
is saying to us. In every circumstance, we are to give thanks.
Secondly, Paul tells us why we are to give thanks: “For this is
God’s will for you”--v. 18. The Bible gives us many reasons
why we are to be thankful to God. We are told to give thanks to the
Lord, for he is good. We are to thank God because the Almighty God,
Creator of heaven and earth is not some sort of a tyrant with a bad
sense of humor, waiting to zap us with a lightening bolt the second
we make a mistake. Instead, he’s a loving God who watches over
us; protects us; and cares for us.
But did you notice that Paul didn’t say we are to think about any
of these reasons. Instead, Paul gives us a command. He says you are
to give thanks, with no questions asked.
It’s just like your mother saying, “Eat your broccoli.”
And when you said “Why?,” she answered with that incredible
phrase that is packed full with wisdom, “Because I said so.”
And Paul is saying, “Give thanks because God said so.”
The reason Paul commands this is because there’s something bigger
and greater going on behind the scene than merely the words that come
out of our mouths. Paul knows that God’s grand design is not to
create shriveled up, ungrateful, miserable people. God’s ultimate
purpose in redeeming us from Satan’s power is for us to reflect
his glory, whether it is with our time, our talents, our treasures,
or our temple. And one of the greatest ways to glorify God’s name
is to show the world that in light of the greatness of God’s gift
of salvation that we are forever thankful to him.
Right before Martin Luther wrote the great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress
Is Our God,” it is said that he threw an inkwell at the wall trying
to hit Satan. Satan was buffeting him so bad, that Luther got mad. But
getting mad at Satan didn’t help Luther defeat him. Something else
did, though. Luther writes in that hymn, “The prince of darkness
grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom
is sure: One little word will fell him.” Church historians tell
us that the word that the Holy Spirit gave to Luther, the word that
help him knock Satan to the ground, was the word joy.
In light of the fact that our greatest foe can be defeated by joy, we
ought to be the most joyous, the most grateful people in all the world.
We shouldn’t go around looking like we just got through sucking
on a persimmon. Brothers & sisters, I don’t know about you,
but I enjoy being a Christian. And I hope that my countenance reflects
this attitude, because this is the only way I can be light & salt
to the world around me. Church historians say that it was the ability
to be joyful and thankful in the midst of pain and persecution that
was displayed by the early Christians that caused many heathens to say,
“I don’t know what they have, but I want it.”
In the gospels we read about 10 lepers who Jesus changed their lives.
Each one of the 10 lepers had a tale of personal horror to tell. All
of them experienced the nightmare as they watched the disease slowly
creep across their bodies. They watched in horror as the white patches
appeared on their skin. They all shared the common sadness as the numbness
crawled up their limbs, stealing the strength from their muscles, and
their fingers and toes. Worst of all, they all experienced the shame
that came from the jeers of the crowds whenever the passed too near
a village. They all experienced the piercing of their hearts when the
little children would yell out, “Lepers! Come too close and we’ll
throw rocks at you ugly faces.” Yet, one morning, a healer from
the town of Nazareth came to their village. And instead of yelling at
them to get away, he stood there and looked at them.
All at once, they all said in unison, “Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us!” Instead of picking up rocks to throw at them, Jesus hurled
these words, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Luke
indicates that at first nothing happened. Perhaps they felt that they
were once again the butt of another cruel joke. But as they were headed
towards the priests, all of a sudden, “They were cleansed.”
Yet, 9 of the men never looked back at the one who ended their nightmare.
But one man, a Samaritan, went back to Jesus and said 2 simple words,
“Thank you!” Or as Luke tells us, “When he saw that he
had been healed, he turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and
fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.”
I tremble every time I read the gospel account of the 10 cleansed lepers.
I tremble because I wonder if I had been one of those 10 men who were
healed that day, if I would have run off with the 9, or would I have
been the one who came back to Jesus to say thank you. Would Jesus have
found in me a grateful heart? The reason I wonder this is because it
is still easier for me to give thanks to God only when I experience
his goodness.
But I want to get to the point where even when I find myself going though
a trial, that instead of letting that thing rob me of my joy, my first
response will be to give thanks to God. You see, despite my theological
training, despite my many years of studying God’s Word, despite
spending time in the trenches with y’all when you go through the
struggles of life, I too have a hard time automatically giving thanks
to God. And this week God gave me an opportunity to do so.
Just last Thursday, I had come back from Columbia, where I had gone
to spend some time ministering to one of God’s precious saints,
and I stopped at the gas station at exit 18 to fill the tank of my Suburban.
When I got back in and tried to crank it up, I heard the sound we all
dread to hear: clic, clic, clic, clic. Since my headlights worked, but
my radio didn’t I knew that it wasn’t the battery, and that
I was in trouble.
At first, I started to get mad. The first thoughts that came into my
mind were not to thank God, but more of the lines of the words Job’s
wife gave to him. I wanted to curse God instead of thanking him. But
those thoughts never came to fruition.
Instead of cursing him, I actually started to praise him. I was able
to do so because of the study I had done for this sermon. Standing there,
looking inside the hood of my truck, I started to realized just how
gracious God had been to me. In the midst of my initial anger, it dawned
on me that the truck broke down in Aiken, and not in Columbia.
If it had not started in Columbia, I would have had to have somebody
up there fix it. Plus, Carol would have had to drive up to Columbia
to pick me up. Or if I had wanted to have it towed to Aiken, I would
have had to pay for the towing. But since it happened in Aiken, my insurance
company paid for the towing. When I started to add all those things
up, it was no problem for me to start to give God thanks in even this
situation.
But in the midst of my celebration, God spoke some powerful words to
my heart. He asked me if I would still be able to praise him if the
truck had broke down in Columbia and not in Aiken? I wondered why that
was so important? Then it dawned on me that no matter where it broke
down, God still loved me. God’s Spirit reminded me no matter what
happens to me, I am still one of God’s children.
At that moment, the final truth that Paul shares here came to life.
These words became Rhema, living words, not just words on a page of
my Bible. Last Thursday, around 3pm, God revealed to me the secret of
being able to praise him in all things.
The only way any of us are going to be able to give God thanks more
than getting mad at him is found in the last three words of our text.
In these last 3 words, Paul gives us the secret of how we can give thanks
in all things. And the reason comes from the fact that we are in Christ
Jesus--v. 18.
There are 2 benefits that come from being in Christ. The first is an
immediate benefit, the second is a future benefit. In order to give
thanks to God in all things we first of all need to constantly reflect
on the fact that through Jesus’ death & resurrection God has
forgiven us from our all sins. The word for forgiveness literally means
to “let go” or to “send away.”
In the Old Testament, the priests used 2 goats in the ceremony on the
day of Atonement. One goat was sacrificed as a sin offering, and its
blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The
other goat was called a scapegoat, a term we still use today to indicate
someone who unfairly takes the blame for a crime. After the high priest
came out of the Holy of Holies, he would grab the goat by the horns
and symbolically confess the sins of Israel on it.
Then, he would walk outside the city walls and release the goat into
the wilderness. He forgave the goat, even though it symbolically represented
the innumerable sins of the Israelites by letting it go without harming
it. This is a picture of how God releases us from punishment, though
we are full of innumerable sins, because Jesus has taken our punishment
upon himself.
God’s forgiveness is all about putting our sins upon Jesus, instead
of punishing us for what we did. When you received Jesus as your lord,
God released you, he sent you away from the punishment you deserved.
When we can remember that, then we will have no problem giving thanks
to God in everything.
I don’t know about you, but it’s still hard for me to grasp
the fact that Jesus loves me so much that he was willing to die to save
me. I still stand in awe when I think about Jesus having to suffer for
something he didn’t do, just so I wouldn’t have to suffer
the consequences for those thing that I did. Although I know that sometimes
the trials that I go through are because of my sins, I can still praise
God that because I am in Jesus, God has redeemed from the eternal consequences
of my sin.
Along with knowing that our sins are forgiven, we also have been given
the promise that no matter how bad life may get now, we have a better
world waiting for us then this world is. It is a world that is void
of all the problems we now face. It is a world in which there will be
nothing that will cause us to shed a tear, not even death. And it is
a world in which there is nothing that will cause us any pain, either
physically or emotionally!
We have to remember that the one who wrote this command was also the
one who was beaten 5 times by the Jews. He was beaten 3 times with sticks.
He was also once stoned . He experienced ship wrecks, sleepless nights,
hunger and thirst, and the harshness of winter. Yet, because he knew
he was heaven bound, Paul said this about his trials, “For momentary,
light afflictions is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far
beyond all comparison.”
I know that what Paul is telling us to do seems to be impossible. But
we can do this if only we will believe what Augustine said, “Lord,
command what You will, but give what You command.” Always remember
that when God gives us a command, God also gives the ability to do what
he commands. So if God wants us to constantly be thanking him, he will
give us that ability. All you have to do is, is by an act of your will,
is to look to God, and then open your mouth and begin to thank him for
being with you during the troubles of life.
Let me conclude with another true story. I’m one of the volunteer
chaplains at the Aiken hospital. When I get a call, normally it is when
somebody has died, or is about to die. These are never easy times of
ministry, but they have been some of the most precious times of ministry.
Once, I was called to come and minister to a mother whose baby was about
to die. Since there was nothing medically that could be done for the
baby, the nurses were letting her hold her a two-year-old son in her
arms. So she sat there and rocked with him as he took his last breath.
After the baby died, she look up at me and said, “Chaplain, would
you sing the doxology with me?”
Let me tell you, I wondered how in the world can she do this? The reason
she could sing praises to God is because she has seen the face of God
in Jesus Christ. The reason she experienced such a peace that enabled
her to give thanks to God is because she had tasted and seen that Jesus
is good. Because of this, she rested in God’s sovereign will for
her life, thus she was able to give thanks to God even in the death
of her baby.
When you can learn to enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving
everyday, and not just on Thanksgiving, then you too will learn to trust
him with all areas of your life, and not just the spiritual areas. And
once you learn to trust in his sovereign will, you will find the spiritual
strength to give him thanks in everything, both good & bad. May
God grant us the ability to be people who are thankful at all times.
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