Turn back in your Bibles to 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. We have fast come upon the end
of another year, haven't we? And we can probably echo with
many around the world the statement, where has the time gone? But
we could say that about our life as a whole, couldn't we? Where
has the time gone? Time seems to move so quickly
And we find ourselves back at the same place again so frequently. And we often wonder what is that
about? And sometimes it can bring about
a little consternation. You can find yourself going full
circle and being at the same spot that you were last year
this time and wondering, have you accomplished anything? Do
we make any advancements? Did we achieve any goals? Did we succeed in any of our
resolves and endeavors the previous year? And the reason we ask those
questions often is because we know intuitively that by nature
we're called upon to grow and we're called upon to advance.
We're called upon to progress towards some type of climax. That's because we're created
in the image of God. Encourage you earnestly to if you cannot
be part of our women's theology class or our men's theology class
get the series that we are about to embark upon biblical theology
for this new year because biblical theology really gets into the
issue of why we are here and How are we to respond to this? progression of human history
and our part in it. While we all knew intuitively,
we got to come to the end of our life and we got to meet God.
So biblical theology gives us a handle on what this is all
about. And today I just want to, as
it were, pull out one subject matter, which for us at Grace
is going to be our new year's theme. You know, I give you a
theme every year. In fact, I asked God to give
us one. Themes are good because what
themes do is they sort of crystallize a point of objective and purpose
for us. If you recall last year when
we came into this facility, for us it's a brand new facility,
the theme for the year 2012 was, ye are my what? And so my objective was to share
with us the profound benefit and blessing and privilege of
being the light of the world, the people of God, the witness
of the spirit and the people by whom the gospel is proclaimed
to the world. I don't know how that theme impacted
your life last year. I don't know if you remember
the theme that was before last year's theme in the year 2011,
but I'll share it with you. He must increase and I must decrease. And so we were working in that
year on the concept of coming to know Christ more fully, more
thoroughly, more personally. And we anticipate in that process
the necessity of personal diminishing. To the extent that I come to
know Christ more fully, to that extent I'm going to diminish.
That's what happens when you come into the presence of greatness,
if you don't know. When you come into the presence
of greatness, and God is great, isn't God great? When you come
into the presence of greatness, you diminish naturally because
you are conscious of your smallness. That's where you begin worship.
You're not worshiping God if you have a sense of your own
greatness, our largeness, our significance. You will experience
the epitome of worship when you disappear in the presence of
God. I know that's a whole topic of
itself. But I am speaking of the blessing
of coming into the presence of greatness. And what I wanted
to see accomplished for us back the year before last was on a
personal level, Christ becoming more to you. Maybe he did for
some, maybe he didn't. And last year when we talked
about witnessing, well, we are coming to a new facility and
God had really blessed us with an opportunity to enjoy this
lavish, comfortable, air-conditioned, heated facility that we are in
now compared to where we were. Remember where we were? And I
wanted us to not forget that we're here to be a light to the
world, not to sit on cush, plush pews. and enjoy the benefits
of a modern atmosphere because it's real easy to play church
and do church and not be the church. So when you leave the
doors, church is over with. This year, I wanna call your
attention to another theme. And it's, in fact, I'm hoping
that this becomes our GBC t-shirts and sweatshirts and everything
else. You know, we have t-shirts with, you know, it's not about
me, it's about him and all sorts of stuff. little sort of terse
statements that say a lot. Today I want to talk to you about
thankfulness. As we end a year and begin to embark upon a new
year, here's what I want for grace. My brothers and sisters
who've been with us at grace for years and you who are new
with us, here's what I want you to think about with me for this
year. The idea of thankfulness. Thankfulness. Now, Now arrest
yourself if you think you know what that means and you can go
to sleep for the most of this sermon. Please stop. Don't do
that. I want you to I want you to work with me now for a minute.
Just just just act like you never heard the word thankfulness in
your life. What in the world is he talking about? So we can
work through this. See what I am asking you to do
with me for this year is to grow in an area of our life that I
know that we're all inadequate in. And that's appreciation. for the things that God has done
for us. I want you to grow in that area. I want you to grow
in the area of thankfulness and it's not me that really wants
you to. It's a commandment from God given to us in our text.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18 says in everything give what?
So that's where I want us to meditate today. I want to talk
to you about what I believe will be a new discovery in your own
heart and mind about the concept of thankfulness and how important
thankfulness is to where you and I are in the blessings of
the gospel in relationship to Jesus Christ. That's what I want
to do with you. So first I want to talk to you about the meaning
of thankfulness. What does thankfulness mean? I'm sure you, have some ideas
of what it means, but you can follow me in your outline as
we work through this. Thankfulness is a term that basically
means that we are grateful. We are grateful for benevolence
and benefits and those things that are accrued to us for our
welfare and for our being. The man or the woman that is
thankful is a person who is conscious, really, of the blessings of God. So I want to start with a simple
definition because we're getting ready to unpack this. I want
to talk about the meaning of thankfulness. Then I want to
give you some models of thankfulness, that is examples in the scripture.
And then I want to give you the gospel motive for thankfulness.
So the meaning of thankfulness in its first sense is an awareness
or a consciousness of the benefits and the blessings of God in your
life. What is thankfulness? It is an awareness and consciousness
of the blessings of God in your life. And what we mean by that
is that you are aware intellectually, you are aware emotionally, you
are aware in the whole of your being that God has been gracious
to you. And there is a natural disposition
in your soul that is gratuitous, it is grateful, it is thankful
to God for being God in your life. Now, if that definition
fits, what it means is this, a thankful person, is a person
who has had a revelation, who has had an epiphany, who has
had granted to them a revelation of the character of God, of the
nature of God, of the work of God, watch this, and of the promises
of God to you particularly. When you meet grateful people,
they are actually reveling in something that they have experienced.
And so, when you are grateful, you are in a mode of acknowledgment. That's the other way you can
understand the term thankful. In the Hebrew, the word is yadah.
Yadah is one of our common Hebrew words for knowledge. For knowledge. When a man or woman knows something,
and they act on what they know, their actions correspond to that
knowledge, doesn't it? And if you know that God has
dug you out of a deep and horrible pit, and you're grateful for
it, you're gonna act like it. you're going to act like it.
And so when we talk about thankfulness, we are talking about a temperament
and attitude and an expression of life that is consistent with
your knowledge and awareness of who you are in God and what
God has done for you in the full spectrum of his work of redemption.
Now, if that definition is true, you and I ought to be off the
chart with thankfulness every day. Shouldn't we we ought to
be off the track with thankfulness? So I I just want to continue
to develop develop it because I know that you and I have a
problem with thankfulness If that's true, I I know I'm not
as thankful as I ought to be but is my thankfulness or lack
thereof a consequence of knowledge a lack of knowledge or neglect
of that knowledge Am I making some sense as I say that? Because
if I am an object of mercy and grace in terms of God's goodness
in my life And I am a knowledgeable of it aware of it. Shouldn't
that knowledge impact the way I think? It should impact the
way I think so to be thankful for is to be aware of and responding
to, or respecting, or acknowledging what God has done for us. In
your outline, what is thankfulness? In the Hebrew, tada or yada,
these are two sides of the same Hebrew word, and it means to
confess, confess. Now you know what confession
is, and we've talked about this in 1 John chapter three. Whosoever,
1 John chapter one rather, whosoever confesses his sins, God is just
and faithful to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Isn't that what the Bible says?
He that confesses his sins, it's in a present indicative verb
form, which means I by nature am constantly confessing that
I am a sinner. That was a revelation given to
me. But my confession of it is not merely the idea that I know
what I am. It's also the idea that I know
the God who is able to fix that problem. And in my relationship
to the God of mercy and the God of grace and the God of forgiveness,
I am more than willing to confess that God says to me, if you confess
and forsake your sins, I have already forgiven you. I've already
cleansed you. I have already imputed to you
my righteousness in the person of my son, Jesus Christ. So for
me, thankfulness in the area of confession is simply telling
the truth about who I am and what God is. So when we talk
about thankfulness in the idea of confession, what thankfulness
is in the Hebrew, here's how the metaphor goes. Are you ready?
It's opening up your hands to God and showing Him all the cards. That's the Hebrew metaphor for
thankfulness. Stay with me now, because this
is part of a relational concept of knowledge. In our last The
Gospel of Sexuality class, I dealt with heterosexual sex and what
is good sex according to God. Remember that? That's a catchy
title, isn't it? But what we shared was that in the Bible,
sex is understood from God's perspective as knowledge. The Hebrew word and the Greek
word for sex is to know. And Eve and Adam knew his wife
Eve and she conceived. For God, intimacy and revelation
is the knowledge that he calls us to by which we come to know
him and he comes to know us. And sexuality in that sense is
an unfolding or manifestation of our person before the one
we love in such a way that all of our cards are wide open. When
a man or woman is in intimate fellowship with God, when they
know God, remember John 17 3, and this is eternal life, that
they might know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom
he has sent. When one is in fellowship with the true and the living
God, you can come to the point where you can trust God so much
that you can open up to God completely. Show Him all your call hearts.
That's what it means to be thankful. To be thankful is the ability
for you to recognize that God has covered you in every aspect
of your life. Our elders said it isn't something
to be covered by God. To be covered by God. To be covered
by God when we are such sinful creatures and there are times
when we need to be covered. Isn't that right? That's the
veil part of the sexuality we talked about. There's a veil
there where God covers us in our sinfulness and our nakedness
so no one sees it but God. Don't we love him for it? And
so the idea of faithfulness is the idea of confessing or acknowledging
or respecting or opening the hand to. Here's another way I
want you to grasp this. It means to be honest. To be
thankful means to be honest. If you and I are thankful people,
we're going to be honest about our condition, our situation,
our status before God. Now watch what I'm saying by
this. This is what I'm saying. I'm saying that When I am a thankful
person, I'm thankful because I have a God who is able to fix
every problem I have. And so I'm going to be honest
about God in relationship to the situation I'm in. I'm going
to be thankful. I'm going to be open. I'm going
to be honest. I'm going to be candid before
God because God has revealed to me how he has more than prepared
what is necessary to deliver me from every problem. Now with
that thought, I'm nurturing your thoughts right now. With those
thoughts, doesn't it make sense that God would command us as
his people, as his bride, to be thankful in everything? See, if a man or woman is able
to be thankful, that is gratuitous, that is respectful, that is delighted
in, that's honest, that's candid in everything, it means that
they recognize the sufficiency of their God to meet every need,
doesn't matter what it is. Am I making some sense? See,
to be thankful is to give in a real sense. This is what we're
getting ready to get into now. Honor to your God. When you and
I are thankful, we are honoring God. When you and I are thankful,
we are acknowledging that God is sovereign. God's almighty. He's immutable. He's unchangeable.
Now watch this. When you and I are thankful,
in every case, I'm getting ready to develop that, but if we're
thankful in every case, you know what we're saying? God is good. He only does good Now watch this
and because he's my God What he does ultimately will be good
for me therefore I'm going to thank God in every situation
because my thankfulness is not rooted in the situation is rooted
in my knowledge of God and and the covenant-keeping God who
was able to take everything, all things, and make them work
to the good for those that believe. Now see, now when we talk about
thanksgiving in that sense, you know what we're talking about?
Faith. We're talking about trusting the one who has revealed himself
to us. We're talking about being able to depend on God. Am I making
some sense? So watch this now. When God calls you and I to thankfulness,
He's simply saying, please respond to me according to the manner
in which I have revealed myself to you. That's good, isn't it? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord for his name is holy. Oh, give thanks unto the
Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men. I will
give thanks unto the Lord morning and at evening and in the midnight
hour, says David. The psalmist says, give thanks
unto the Lord because of who he is and what he does give thanks
unto the Lord because of his immutable promises to you you
know what that means I can thank God in a difficult situation
because I can trust God to take that difficulty and make it work
for his glory and my good whoa whoa I know you're getting some
revelations right now but this here is designed to actually
stop you in your tracks and help you do something with me and
that is stop using the term, thank you, Jesus, in such a cheap
and unthoughtful manner. See, because thankfulness is
not the quick release of a phrase out of your lips based upon religious
mantra or just because of the appropriateness of it lacking
a heart knowledge of the God who is keeping you in the midst
of that trial. See, thankfulness really is a
studied response to an understanding of your situation based upon
a God who is keeping you in that situation according to His promises
specific to that situation. Thankfulness then is a fruit
of faith based on a knowledge of God. I'm getting ready to
develop that. I just want to nurture your thoughts
in this. The meaning of thankfulness, the meaning of thankfulness is
to be able to confess God as our covenant keeping God, is
to acknowledge God in all of his attributes, in all of his
characteristics, is to understand that God is a covenant keeping
God and to rely upon the promises of God, is to be candid with
the God you know. And what is it to God? What is
it to God for you and I as the people of God to be thankful?
Here's what it is, if you don't know. When you and I are thankful,
we are giving honor to God. When we are thankful, we are
giving glory to God. When we are thankful, we are
rendering to God the due benevolence that he deserves because he's
a glorious God. If he's not a glorious God to
anyone in the world, he's a glorious God to you. And if God has chosen
for you today to simply be the only person in the world to demonstrate
the glorious nature of God in the context of Thanksgiving,
let you be the one to do it. Let the world experience the
unraveling and dissolution of this topsy-turvy earth and the
chaos and the disintegration that's going on and let them
cry and let them scream and let them rage while you stand in
calm, joyful, serene Trust in the living God saying, thank
you, Lord. Thank you for being God. Thank you for revealing your
glory to you. Thank you for showing me that in all this evil, you
keep your people. Am I making some sense? And now
the Psalms are running through my mind as they're running through
your mind how that God keeps His people in the midst of all
kinds of evil. Isn't that right? He promises
and He does keep His people in the midst of those evils. And
it's in the context of trouble, really, that God calls for us
to be thankful. It's in the context of a world
that's falling apart that his people, out of all people in
the world, are to be thankful people. Thankfulness then becomes
an adorning of the character of God on the part of the bride
of Christ who is to be the glory of the true and the living God.
It becomes a fragrance. It becomes an odor. It becomes
an emanating scent of which the world ought to be attracted to.
Why is it that you can be so thankful to God in the midst
of all of this calamity? Because it could be worse. Because
God still shows mercy. Because when this thing is over
with, God's going to redeem somebody. He's going to save somebody,
deliver somebody, and sustain his own integrity. Because God
can't lie, change, or fail. Because all things work together
for good to them that believe God, that trust God, that love
God. Everything is working after the counsel of his own will.
All things are working in my behalf to, as it were, affirm
and accrue to me a greater weight of good. That's why I can be
thankful to God in the midst of a mess. See what I'm getting
at? Oh, this is tough. Because right
now I know why we can shout amen. It just doesn't work out practically
like that. And I want to talk about why it is that thankfulness
for some of us is not an experience and more particularly in times
of trouble. Why it is that the people of God are not able to
be thankful like some of the people in the scriptures that
you can look to who are thankful in the midst of difficult times.
What is thankfulness to God? It's honor to him, it's glory
to him, it's respect to him. What is it to his people? It's
a manifestation of trust, understanding, faith, respect, a settled dependence
upon God's providence. See that in your point outline?
A settled dependence upon God's providence. That word is new
for some of you newer people. Providence really refers to the
secondary and remote causes by which God manifests himself to
you. Let me help you a little bit so I can build on this. We
do like to conceive of God as a transcendent being, infinite,
immutable, unchangeable, everywhere present, omniscient, omnipotent,
and all that. We love to acknowledge that because it's true. What
we fail often to do is to recognize God's instrumental means by which
he blesses us. And what I mean by that are secondary
and tertiary causes by which God sustains our life and takes
care of us. Like, do you know that that little muscle in your
heart, in your body called the heart, is a silent servant that
beats millions of times within the span of your life? to serve
to keep you alive, that little muscle of which we pay little
regard to because it's such a silent servant. Am I making some sense? But have you ever had that silent
servant to choose to get some recognition from you from time
to time? Have you ever had that to happen? Have you ever had
the silent servant to say, you know, I'm gonna skip a beat here
and there. I'm gonna move from a two, four to a three, six.
Have you ever had that to happen to a six, eight? Have you ever
had that happen? And you go, oh, I got a heart.
And then it goes back to a two, four, a four, a four, the normal
rhythm pattern. And you know what you do? You
go, thank you, Jesus. Stay with me for a moment. God
may manifest to you something that you were unconscious of
because we take things for granted, like the means by which our bodies
operate. And we take for granted, let's say, oxygen. When's the
last time you thanked God for oxygen? Stay with me now. I know it seems mundane, but
this is important. If God was just to take you while
you're making your walk to the car and kind of put a bubble
around you and stick a pin in that bubble and stick a hose
and suck all the air out that bubble for you for like 10 seconds,
you know what you would do? You would thank God for oxygen. And what I'm getting at is biblical
theology teaches the children of God, when we come into a deeper
understanding of Christ, to rightly thank God for everything, because
he uses everything for his glory. And the only people in the universe
that can render praise to God for it are people who know God,
who know the ways of God, who know the works of God, who know
the means of God. Do you thank God for your job?
You ought to because you know when you lose it it's not easy
to get another job equivalent to that one. Do you thank God
for good health? You ought to because when you
lose it it's not recovering good health is not easy. Do you thank
God for your spouse? You ought to because whether
you know it or not that your spouse plays a constituent role
in your comfort and your welfare, and in a lot of ways a very significant
role with respect to how God manifests his glory to you through
them. You see what I'm getting at about
thankfulness? You see how thankfulness becomes difficult? And the reason
why it's difficult is two categories. I want you to follow this now.
One is faith. Faith. A lack of faith. We don't actually
believe God in these areas. The other is knowledge, because
where there's a lack of knowledge, there's a lack of what? Faith.
If I have a lack of knowledge of these things, if I'm not digging
deep into God's Word, if I'm not asking God to reveal Himself
in the nook and crannies of biblical truth so that I can marvel at
the glory of God and the management of His universe and the intricacies
of keeping a human body intact and the providence of God and
being able to sustain my life so that in my body I can glorify
God, well I'm not going to do it because I'm ignorant. Now
the last people on planet Earth that ought to be ignorant are
the people of God. The last people on planet earth that ought to
be ignorant are the people of God. So you and I are going to have
12 months, my prayer is, for us to nurture and to develop
and to strengthen the concept of thankfulness to God, which
is merely the fruit of a knowledge of the gospel of the glory of
God in our life. I'll be able to determine am
I appreciating the gospel more fully by the nature of thankfulness
that manifests from me on a day-to-day basis. I'll be able to determine
it. Or will I fall prey to, which is where I'm getting ready to
go now, to a worldly type of mindset that basically is unthankful. You know one of the reasons for
which God gives a nation up? Because of a lack of thankfulness
and that what the Bible says Romans chapter 1 he plainly says
in the Romans run around verse 21 because they were not thankful
He gave them up unto a reprobate mind Because when they knew God
they glorified him not as God and neither were they what thankful
that's the That's the premise of the world. That's the attitude
of the world. And that's the thought of the world. Now, you
and I know now, after having our senses exercised for 20 minutes
on what are the precedents for thankfulness, the reason why
the world is not thankful to God is because it doesn't know
Him. But what's our excuse? What's our excuse? And so when
we talk about thankfulness, we are really talking about going
deeper in an intimate personal knowledge of God so that it bears
forth the fruit that's appropriate to this God who has revealed
his glory to us. Now here's where the challenge
is going to come. In our outline, and in verse
18, because what I'm doing is unpacking verse 18. In our outline,
point number four says, in everything give thanks. Verse 18. In everything. You guys see that? In everything. Pastor, what does that say in
the Greek? Now watch this. Everything. That's what it says
in the Greek. The Greek word Panta in all things,
in every situation, in every circumstance, in every event,
under all conditions, in every realm, in every sphere, in every
situation. everywhere at all times under
all situations you and I are to seek to achieve the objective
of giving God thanks. Now what this requires for us to be able to do it in
every situation is a training of the mind. Your mind has to be trained Our minds have to be trained. There's an extremely beneficial
factor to giving God thanks. When God gives us the commandment
to give him thanks, really what he's doing is blessing us by
a commandment that really works to our benefit. Let me see if
I can help you. I'm going to use a little bit
of psychology on you and bring you back to the gospel here in
a little bit. But God does this. God created man after he created
a garden. After he gave him a marvelous
sort of resource for man to live, eat, and enjoy life, he created
man and put him in it, didn't he? You know what that means?
When he made mankind, he did not make mankind first without
also providing for him resources by which his life was sustained
and by which he would enjoy the pleasures of God's resources.
He made those first and then he made man. Am I making some
sense? God is good, isn't he? So this is what I'm saying. When
God gives us commandments, he gives us commandments not only
for his glory, but for our good. Do you know the most healthy
people in the world are thankful people? Do you know the people
that live the most quality of life are people who naturally
are thankful? The statistics are clear that
grateful minded people, thankful people, people who have a real
sense of gratuity or gratefulness for the resources or the blessings
that are in their life. Watch this now. They have less
stress in their life. They have less anguish in their
life. They have less conflicts and turmoil in their life because
they are aware The benefits and the blessings that are given
to them even when they don't know God now watch this on a
hearing out on a physiological level the body and the soul The
being of man is made more healthy when he is able to recognize
the resources and blessings of God in their life You are going
to do a whole lot better physiologically, physically, when you are able
to see the goodness of God in your life. When you're able to
acknowledge the resources that we talked about. And to be able
to say, you know, I'm thankful for just another day. I'm thankful
to be in my right mind. I'm thankful to have a roof over
my head. I'm thankful that I got taste
buds in my mouth. I'm thankful for hands. I'm thankful
for legs. I'm thankful for a mind that
can think God's thoughts after him. Those are going to be healthy
people. In fact, what the proverb says is it's healing to us. Now
I want you to stay with me now. I am not calling you to mere
lip service mantra. I'm calling you to the training
of the mind to think God's thoughts after Him, and to be able to
draw from the nectar, the nectar of the fruit of God's grace in
your life, so that your soul can eat and be fat and be thankful
for the goodness of God to you. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? That's what I'm calling you to I'm calling you to be
able to reach to the tree of life and pluck the fruit and
thank God for what you have watch this now because you as bad as
your Situation may appear to be are much better off than the
neighbor down the street than the people in the other country
then the folks on the other side of the world and You're better
off and therefore you are you are obligated because you are
better off to give God. Thanks for his providence in
your life Oh, this is good. Now. Why is it then? Why is it
that we struggle? With the concept of Thanksgiving
well because our minds are mine. Do you know the the psychologists
say I? that people who do grasp the
concept of thankfulness benefit from it because it affects us
on a physiological level. All of the pleasure principles
kick in when your mind is grateful and thankful for what you have.
We've talked about this before in the rules of engagement. Serotonin,
dopamine, norephrenin, Oxycodone. These are all chemicals that
the brain kicks into the body to make you feel good when you're
going through life. You know, when you experience
a blessed message of the gospel and your soul is happy, you feel
good. Well, I want to share something
with you. How you and I feel is a critical component to our
human makeup that needs to be understood. What the psychologists
say is this. People struggle between two realms. And we know this is true. And
these two realms are, watch this now, fear of threat. Watch this now. And the pursuit
of rewards and gratification that ultimately bring about pleasure
in their flesh. These are the two realms in which
human beings are operating all the time. Watch this now. The
fear of threat. They say that most people that
are dominated by a sense of negativity, it's called a negative bias,
we all got it. Wake up, you got a negative bias
in you, I do too. We are all born negative. We
all act negatively. The psychologist, the secular
psychiatrist would argue that that negative bias is no good. because that negative bias is
sort of a false signal that keeps you from the blessing of the
rewards of pursuing the positive. I want you to stay with me now.
They will tell you, because they don't know God, that there is
no reason or grounds for which you ought to be negative. But
I would say to the psychologists and the psychiatrists, you are
dead wrong. You are absolutely dead wrong.
that when God told Adam and Eve all of the trees you may freely
eat but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil don't touch
he placed within them a negativity are you hearing me a negativity
that should have been such a bias on their part that they would
have never had any temptation or inclination to eat of that
tree ever Am I making some sense? In other words, now we have a
negative bias in our being because we're all, what's the word? The
world doesn't like to hear that term. We're all sinners. And
because you're a sinner, you have a negative bias in you.
It's an innate fear or phobia of threats, like the threat of
pain and the threat of death and the threat of suffering and
the threat of rejection. and the threat of humiliation.
See, when we ate of the tree, what did we do? We ran and hid
and covered ourselves. Can I talk to you today? And
that principle is operating in us yet and still today. Only
the secular psychologists would tell you, take the fig leaves
off. Get from behind the tree. You have nothing to fear. Watch
this now. God doesn't exist. There is no
such thing as sin and death and hell. I would beg to differ. And so our brains, they say,
have an aversion to threats, but it also has a strong propensity,
watch this now, to rewards. Rewards. Now you and I know this
is true. This is the foundation for every addictive behavior
pattern in our life. A propensity for rewards. Raise
your hand if you don't understand what I'm talking about. Good,
you follow me. One or two. A propensity for
reward. When Adam and Eve were told not
to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God meant for
them not to experience the consequences of that fruit. The devil reconstructed
the proposition and the argument about the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil in such a way that he caused Eve to see it
as a reward and she pursued it. And in her pursuit of it, she
was told that it was a tree made for pleasure, that it was tree
good to eat, and a tree to make her wise. Once she fell into
that trap, her and Adam, and now the whole human race, you
and I are inexorably bound to and driven towards a reward model
of pursuit by which we become addicted, watch this now, to
pleasure. And I'm here to tell you that
when we talk about thankfulness, thankfulness, thankfulness, not
only are believers thankful, but unbelievers are thankful
too. Stay with me now. I'm going to help you understand
why it is you and I will fail to utilize a biblical gospel
centered understanding of thankfulness while other people will be thankful
for things that we know they shouldn't be thankful for. Why
is it that we will be thankful for material things, secular
things, earthly things, carnal things, watch it now, and sinful
things? Why will we be thankful for immoral
things? Why will we be thankful for temporal
things that don't necessarily glorify God? Here's the reason
why we will be thankful or grateful for them. It's because we are
driven towards pleasure to gratify us instead of God. And the problem is our brains
are trained by our nature to pursue that which fulfills the
lust of our flesh in ways that don't honor God. Can I get a
witness? See, that's part of the struggle
or the battle that we're fighting. Now, what I want you to do is
work with me for a few more moments on this concept, because if you
embrace the objective with me for the year 2013 to be thankful
in everything, You may be successful in part, but you may be a failure
in whole if your pursuit of thankfulness is discovered to be thankful
for things that really don't honor God. And then you're going
to be in a conundrum. You're going to be in a struggle
because you're going to be wondering why it is that I am gratified
by carnal, secular, immoral, irrelevant, irreverent, superficial,
temporal things. and not the things of God. Isn't
this a powerful insight that we're having right now? Let me
share with you. The reason why you and I do not
have the proportionate and appropriate thankfulness for the things of
God is because our minds, our minds are not renewed enough
to affect our brains. So that all of the chemical,
the biochemical dynamics that produce pleasure, the pleasure
principles that come from the neurotransmitters that fire and
say, hey, this makes me feel good. This gives me desire. This
fulfills my plate. This gives me well-being. All
that stuff. Are you hearing me? If I am a child of God, my neurotransmitters
should be firing based upon true the glory of God. the promises
of God, the goodness of God, the delivering power of God,
the grace of God, a knowledge of biblical truth. In other words,
if you and I are going to be successful that this year at
thanking God, our minds must be renewed so that it takes over
our brain because the mind and the brain are two different things.
The brain is that that chemical thing in your head that fires
the signals that makes your body feels good. But that mind is
your will, is your volition, is your understanding. And unless
that's changed, you're going to struggle with knowing what's
right, but neither doing what's right or enjoying the rightness
of what you do. Am I helping you? Am I helping
you? So what you and I are going to
have to do, we are going to have to engage in a continued concerted
effort to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. We're
going to have to ask God to renew our mind, to transform us by
the renewing of our mind, to take out old data, put in new
data, to fill us with a knowledge of his will, to engraft the word
of God into our soul, to change our thinking so that we think
his thoughts after him. I want the mind of Christ. I want to know the will of God.
I want to live in my soul, in my spirit, in conformity to the
knowledge of God. To the degree that my being is
brought into captivity to the knowledge of God, to that degree,
I am going to be genuinely thankful for the things of God. If not,
my carnal man is going to cancel out what should be thankfulness
for who God is and what God has done and what God will do. because
I'm not able to actually enjoy it because my brain doesn't fire.
Those neurotransmitters, when someone tells me, God will keep
you in all your ways from the evil that will destroy your soul.
When I'm looking around at material things and saying, God, I want
this and God, I want that and I want the other thing. And God
doesn't seem to be bringing me those things. I am not able to
rejoice in the truth, delight myself in the promises of God,
embrace the benefits of the gospel. Are you hearing me? This is so
critical. This is so critical. If you and
I are going to give thanks to God in everything, your mind
must be renewed. Your heart has to be renewed. The Spirit of God has to do something
for me. The Spirit of God has to do something
for me. He has to bring me into a knowledge
of the truth in a vital way by which I am able to rejoice in
God. He's going to have to do that.
in order for me to fulfill this commandment. In order for you
to fulfill this commandment. So the imperative comes to us
to rejoice in everything. I'm going to give you an example.
Go with me in your Bible now to Philippians chapter 3. Show you
an example, one example. Then I'm going to give you three
models of gospel thankfulness and then I'm going to close with
the motive for gospel thankfulness. Philippians chapter 3. We talked
about this in our prayer service. I want to show you the very man
that's speaking to the church at Thessalonica is speaking to the brothers and
sisters in Philippi. And this is chapter four. And
here is what the apostle Paul says about it. Now you guys remember
what the apostle Paul said in chapter three concerning thankfulness. He says that we are to be thankful
in everything. We are to not be anxious for
anything, but with prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving,
we are to make our requests known unto God. You guys remember that?
We are not to be anxious for anything, But with prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving make our requests known unto
God I want you to mark what the apostle says is the basis upon
which he is able to actually be thankful I want you to see
a key here. Here it is verse 12 I'm going to start at verse 11
Not that I speak in respect of one. In fact, what Paul was saying
to the church at Philippi, he's commending them for giving him
the gifts and resources that he needed while he was at prison
in Rome. He says, I'm not commending you because I speak in respect
of one. I'm not thanking you for the material things you're
giving me because I need something. Watch this now. For I have what? For I have what? I have what? Learn! Stay with me now. See what the apostle says? God
taught me. God trained my mind. God instructed
me in every situation. You know those situations where
naturally, carnally, fleshly, we would rise up and fight against
it? What God did with Paul was to
instruct him. Now you know Paul went through
some suffering, didn't he? Did he go through some suffering?
Did he go through some trouble? I wouldn't want Paul's lot for
nothing in the world. Listen, I thank God for using
Paul like he did, don't you? I wouldn't go through... I wouldn't
go through what Paul went through for nothing in the world. The
way God wrung Paul out for my soul's salvation, I just want
to worship God for it. I don't want to be in Paul's
place. That brother talked about stuff in light of the circumstances
that he was going through, of which I know only God could have
done that for him. He's in prison. He's in Rome. He's tied between a whole host
of soldiers. I mean, he's in a Roman dungeon.
He's not in the prison systems we are part of, you know, where
you've got TVs and three hot meals and showers. No, no. This
brother is going through hard times and it's in hard times
that he's telling us to rejoice always. And again, I say rejoice
and to be thankful always. The component of that thankfulness
is prayer. And he says, and I'm telling
you why, because God has taught me. God has taught me. Stay here. Listen. God has taught
me for I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be what? So that wasn't just like a gift
from the Holy Ghost on high drop down on you out of heaven. That
was the work of the spirit of God changing his mind, helping
him to be able to see God in the midst of his troubles, helping
him to see the glory of God and the presence of Christ and the
purpose of God and the redemptive accomplishments of God in his
pain. God would show Paul his glory
in the midst of his troubles and say, Paul, this is the trade
off for your trouble. The trade-off for your trouble
is a revelation of my redemptive glory in Christ for you and to
the people that are going to hear you for the suffering you're
going through. Whoa! Paul, I want you to be content
with that. I want you to be content with
thorns in your side and revelations of glory so abundant that you
can't utter it. I want you to be able to, in
every situation, to be able to say, I see the glory of God in
it. I see the hand of a sovereign God. He's still on His throne. He's still running the universe.
He's still upholding all things by the word of His Father. He's
still keeping a brother. He's still manifesting His glory.
He's still proclaiming the gospel. He's still saving sinners. He's
still able to keep me and make all grace abound in everything,
always, so that I have all sufficiency in everything. You know what
Paul said? God had to teach me that. Are
you with me so far? He had to teach me that. So what
I'm saying to grace is for the year 2013, be ready to be taught
because you're not going to do it without being taught. The only thing you and I will
be able to do with the word thank you is to go, thank you Jesus,
but our heart won't be in it. Our soul won't be settled with
the reality of the unchangeableness of the goodness of God in my
life, no matter what I'm going through. Until I am transformed
by the renewing of my mind. Now watch the language. I know
both how to what? Be abased. You mean the Apostle Paul knew
how to go to church three times a week when he lost his jaw?
Instead of once? You mean he endeavored more in
the things of Christ at the loss of essential things? Abasement. Abasement. You know, we do good. We can shout open our mouth wide
about the goodness of God while we're on high, right? While God
has lifted up. He's honored us. He's blessed
us. Oh, hallelujah. Bless your name. Soon as we fall.
See, God taught him. I don't have time to talk about
it today. God taught him. how to see the glory of God and
the condescending humility of the God-man Jesus Christ who
came down. He could see the redemptive glory
of Christ in his own humility. He could see the humility of
Christ in his own humility. Are you hearing me? He could
see the humility of the God-man Jesus Christ in his own humility
and it was sufficient for him to endure humility because his
master had endured humility. Do you see it? Do you see it?
God taught me how to abound. I mean, a base. And he has also
taught me how to what? You know, people lose their mind
when they get a few dollars, don't they? Stay with me. Stay
with me. See, this is life up and down. It's called a sin curve in wave
patterns for electricity. Am I telling the truth, brother?
It's called a sin curve. I like the way they turn that,
don't you? It's called a sin curve. Don't we know something
about the sin curve? That's the life we live, a sin
curve. What believers have to learn
how to do is ride the sin curve. The ups and downs of life, the
sin curve. Because this is the way it is.
It's a sin curve. It's not always down and it's
not always up. Am I telling the truth? But whether
down or up, I need to learn how to give God thanks for it in
the midst of those things. But if I'm going to do it, God's
got to train me. He's got to teach me. He's got
to renew my mind. He's got to take old doubt out,
put new doubt in. He's got to fill me with a knowledge
of His will. He's got to transform my understanding. He's got to
make the gospel have an impact on my life. That's what has to
happen for me to be thankful. See, because I can know the language
and it has no penetrating impact in my soul, where it results
in thankfulness to God. It will be canceled out by a
mind that is driven by carnal things. You're hearing me, aren't
you? Let me go on. So the apostle
Paul says, I am instructed. Do you see it? I've learned. He's taught me. I am instructed
to be both full and hungry, both abound and to suffer need. Here's
the key. I can do all things. through Christ, which strengthens
me. So now what I am talking about
is a thanksgiving that is rooted in a communion and fellowship
with Christ by which the Son of God is able to work in me
thanksgiving because of the revelations of his glory and his redemptive
purposes in my life through the gospel. Do you see it? All right,
let's go to the next point. and everything give thanks this
is what paul says going back to verse uh chapter 5 verse 18
and everything give thanks and here is the point we want to
nail down now because this is the will of god you see it this
is the will of god you know how we are we always ask the question what
is the will of god well i've shared with you before The will
of God is not hard to find. It's really not. If you are sincere
about knowing what the will of God is, start right here with
the Word of God. Because the Word of God is the
will of God. Am I making some sense? You're
not going to know anything about God's will apart from knowing
God's Word. God's not calling us to mysticism. He's not calling
us to paganism. He's not calling us to dreams
and visions and revelations He's calling us to a knowledge of
his word That's Colossians chapter 1 verse 9 that God will fill
you with a knowledge of his will To know his will is to know his
word if you know his word By virtue of the ministry of the
Spirit of God, you're going to know God's will And here's God's will
watch this now that you and I are so impacted by the gospel That
we give thanks in everything because of Christ This is the
will of God for us. This is the will of God for us
that the that the apostle Paul says that We are to in everything
give thanks for this is the will of God Watch this now in Christ. Jesus. Do you see that in Christ
Jesus in? Everything the children of God
are to give thanks Because this is the will of God. His revealed
will, His purpose is clearly established in the Scriptures.
You can read Scripture after Scripture after Scripture where
it speaks concerning the will of God. 1 Thessalonians 4, 3,
you know what it says? And this is the will of God.
Even your sanctification that you should avoid fornication.
That's the will of God. Did you know that? Whoa, pastor,
I didn't know that. Now you know. Romans 12, verses 1, 2, and 3. I beseech you by the mercies
of God. that you be renewed in your mind, transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you might know what the good and
acceptable and perfect, what? Will of God is. Remember what
Jesus said in John chapter 5? He says, And this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone who sees the Son might believe
on him and have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. You know what the will of God is? For men and women to
see the glory of God in Christ. That's the explicit will of God.
Explicit will of God. Explicit will of God the scriptures
are clear with the explicit will of God if you and I will pursue
it and a knowledge Of his will will bring us into a place where
we can be thankful. But now mark what he says it
is the will of God in Christ Jesus You see what Paul was doing
all along Was saying to the church at Thessalonica the church at
Thessalonica which he's saying that Grace Church is this Men
and women who are objects of God's mercy, people who've been
saved by the grace of God have every reason to rejoice because
of who Christ is and what Christ has done to manifest this eternal
redemption, which is ours in Christ in such a fullness of
revelation. that your and my drinking of
Christ every day, reading of Christ, being taught of Christ,
hearing the gospel of Christ, knowing the offices of Christ,
understanding the work of Christ, the redemption of Christ, should
be people, of all people, most thankful because of who Christ
is for us. In other words, when he says
that this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, He's saying
Christ is our mediator and he is the mediator of a covenant
of which you and I are a part of, a blessed covenant of grace
and redemption. Blessed covenant watch this now
a covenant that God made with his darling son before the world
began By which he would bestow upon Undeserving sinners like
us eternal life and eternal blessings eternal life and eternal blessings
Which has enormous benefits both now and for all eternity for
those who want to read the covenant For those who want to understand
the covenant for those who want to be a partaker of the covenant.
Do you know every man or woman who is elect of God, and called
of God, and chosen of God, and quickened by His grace, is given
a knowledge of Christ? And to the degree that you are
given a knowledge of Christ, you are given a knowledge of
all of His offices. His sin-bearing office. Your
substitute. Your surety. Your redeemer. Your
advocate. your righteousness, your sanctification,
your glory, your go-between, your mediator, your Redeemer,
your Savior. All of these offices that are
in Christ Jesus are designed to cause you to be so comfortable
in the midst of your trouble, because everything that Christ
is, you are in Him, so that when you see Christ, You see the security
of your eternal destination in Him so that you rest fully in
this reality. Just as I am His, He is mine. And just as He cannot fail, I
shall not fail. Because God can't lie. God can't
change. God can't fail. He's a covenant-keeping
God. I can see Christ. I can see Him. I can see Him
so full. in all of his offices. I can
see him as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
I can see him as God's prophet proclaiming to me from Genesis
to Revelation, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's
written of me to do thy will, O God. I can see him as the king
of glory sitting on his throne ruling this universe. I can see
him as the sinner's substitute hanging on Calvary's tree saying,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I can
see him as my counselor. revealing to me the knowledge
of God in the mysteries of the gospel by the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in the gospel of his grace. I can see him. Can
you see him? I can see Christ fulfilling all these offices
to let me know, Lord, I am with you always to the end of the
world. When you go through the fire, Jesse, I'm going through
the fire with you. Stand there. and let me and behold
my glory in the midst of the fire. Only when you're in the
fire, you've got to do one thing. You've got to thank me when you're
in the fire. You've got to thank me when you're
in the fire because I've already gone through the fire for you.
I've already swallowed up death. I've swallowed up hell. I've
swallowed up damnation. There is therefore no condemnation
to him, to them, to her, to us that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, no condemnation,
no separation. Nothing shall separate me from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God offered up his
only begotten Son for us, how shall he not also freely give
us all things? This is what I'm talking about.
The giving to us the promises of God in the person of Christ
in such a magnanimous way that all I can do is give him thanks
whether I'm down or whether I'm up, whether I'm in or whether
I'm out. I'm always right in the midst
of God because of Jesus Christ, my Mediator and my Savior. Is
anybody hearing what I'm saying? Is anybody hearing what I'm saying?
It's critical for you to stop playing with the gospel and get
it. Get it. Get it. Get on your knees. Beg God to make this glorious
Savior reality to you. I got five more minutes. So you take my brother Job. He
was a perfect man and upright in his generation. There was
none like Job. You know God boasted in Job?
Didn't he boast in Job? To all of the angels, all of
the demons, all... See my servant Job? We went through
that, right? Watch this now. I wouldn't want
to go through what Joe went through For nothing in the world bless
God for brother Joe I'm willing to learn all I can over here
in the 21st century from brother Joe Knowing that brother Joe
was a great type of my suffering Savior Jesus Christ and Bearing
the wrath of God in such a mystery that not only his three miserable
friends who represent us Could understand what that brother
was going through until after he went through it So it is with
Jesus Christ, but I'm here to remind you that at the beginning
of our brother's suffering Joe You remember what he said? When
in one day he lost everything You know how much a fool you
and I would act. I if we lost everything? Job sat down in regal honor and
serene peace in the midst of his storm and he said, my God
gives and my God takes away. Watch this. Blessed be the name
of my God. Now, why did he do that? He wasn't
in church. He was in Christ. And because
he had revelations of God's glory, here's what he knew. He knew
the God that gave and he knew the God that took away was not
going to give or take away in such a way that would threaten
God's eternal purpose for him. All things work together for
good to them that what? Love God. He also said in the midst
of his trial, watch this now, though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. That's called thanksgiving. That's
thanksgiving. That's Thanksgiving. That's what
God wants you and I to be able to do. Why? Because his mind
was renewed. He had the knowledge of God. His heart was filled
with the gospel of God's glory. Give you another brother, King
David. Remember King David? I love David. I would never want
to go through what David went through. Thank you, Lord, for
David. But David, you... I wouldn't
want to go through what David... David went through some stuff.
But one time when David was on the low end of the sin curve,
because, you know, he had his heights, he had his lows. We
all do, don't we? He had his enemies coming after him. Now
I know something about this. He had his enemies coming after
him because King Saul, which is a type of the flesh, David
is a type of the spirit, King Saul is a type of legalism, David
is a type of the gospel. Legalism was flourishing for
a time and pursuing King David to kill him. And one of the servants
of King Saul, Shimei, saw David in his trouble. Even David's
own sons is betraying him. We know trouble like that. He
said, ah, ah, King Saul's house is going to destroy your house,
David. And Shimei started cursing David out. Remember that? And one of David's mighty soldiers
that just loved to put people's mouths closed said, Lord, just
give me one swing at it. That's what he said to David.
I just want one swing. Watch it. It'll be a clean cut.
Nobody will know. We can keep rolling. You know,
those are the kind of soldiers you want on your wings to flank
you, you know. You know what David said? David says, no, no,
let him cuss. Let that brother cuss me out.
It may be that the Lord will show me some good in his cursing
me out. You know what David was doing?
He was thanking God. the middle of his trouble because
he understood nothing can come against him that won't serve
for his edification in God's glory. Are you hearing me? This
is in the middle of David's trouble. Can I give you another one? I'm
giving you models now. Remember Joseph? Bless God for
Joseph! But I would never want to be
in Joseph's shoes. I'm just here to tell you, you
know, what Joseph went through is remarkable. The trouble, the
pain, the suffering, part of it he owned. God owned it all.
Mark that down. You and I are not going to grow
in Christ if we lie about our sin, our sinfulness, our weakness,
our carnality. We got to own it. And I've told
you before, if you own your sin, God will own your sin. And Joseph
got into trouble, in my own opinion, because he was human. But God
was going to use it for his glory. This brother started at 17 years
old telling everybody that he's going to be the head. Everybody
else is going to be the tail. How do you think you're not going
to get in trouble with any and everybody when you talk like
that? Right? I'm going to be the head. Y'all
going to be the tail. You're going to get in trouble with somebody, right?
So he took this 11 brothers off, which represented national Israel.
Joseph is a great type of Christ. And they threw him in the pit.
They wanted to kill him, sold him to Egypt. Egypt sent him
down the river, right? And 33 years later, 23 years later, you know what Joseph
was able to say after all of the trouble he went through?
Watch this now. This is what I mean by thanksgiving. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. Do you see that? You
meant it for evil, but God meant it. Watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
And it wasn't an asinine bitterness in his soul. He wasn't hateful
of his brothers. Can I share with you why? Because
the goodness of God that followed Joseph from the pit to the throne
was so overwhelming That by the time him and his brothers met
up again He was so full of gratefulness so full of thankfulness so full
of the goodness of God in his life Remember the term and God
was with him that when he met up with his brothers again He
was more than willing to forgive them because he knew he couldn't
get where he was without them. I Are you hearing what I'm saying?
I'm going to close this motto out with one more, and that's
our Lord Jesus Christ. If there's no other reason for
which you ought to learn thankfulness and endeavor in it, yes, with
your lips, but primarily from your heart, it's because your
Savior demonstrated thankfulness to His Father constantly. I remember four occasions, and
there are many more. The first occasion upon which I remember
our Lord giving thanks is when he had multiplied the loaves
of bread. When there wasn't but a couple of fishes and a couple
of loaves and 15,000 people to feed. And his father manifested
his glory in his son. And he said, set all the people
down, break the bread, give it to them. But before they ate,
he took the bread and he lifted it to heaven. And he said, Father,
I thank you. I thank you because you are a
God who provides for your people who trust you. Are you hearing
me? The next time our Lord Jesus Christ uttered the word thankful
was in Matthew chapter 11, where in Matthew 11, the disciples
are enjoying a revelation of the gospel and its power to save
people. And in Matthew 11, around verse 25 to 27, this is what
God says. Christ is lifting his hands to
heaven. He says, Father, I thank you that you have not revealed
these things to the wise and to the prudent, to the arrogant
and to the haughty, to the knowledgeable and to the scholar, but you have
hidden these things from them and revealed them to babes. You
know what he was thanking God for? His electing love to undeserving
sinners like you and me. Christ was thankful that God
would be pleased to save people who don't deserve to be saved.
Are you thankful for God's people? No, you're not, but you should
be. Okay, here's the other one. Now follow me now. I'm just helping.
I'm making sure you go out of here halfway clean today. I know
you said it, but I want to help you now. Here's the last one.
This is going to close us out. This is remarkable. This is the
reason why in all of Paul's epistles, all through his epistles, it's
permeated the concept of Thanksgiving. You can't open an epistle Where
Paul didn't say, I thank my God and Father through our Lord Jesus
Christ for you always remembering you always in all my prayers
for his blessings and his goodness to you. This was the constant
thankfulness of the soul of the man who saw God's glory. Are
you hearing me? Paul was a thankful brother because he saw the glory
of God in Christ. The only man in the universe
that can deliver your soul out of hell. and put you into the
presence of God safe and secure from all alarm is the man who
the same night the world took him and nailed him to a tree
and rejected God. That same night he took the bread
and he blessed it and he lifted it and he gave thanks to God. He gave thanks to God. You see, thankfulness in the
New Testament is the term Eucharisteo from which we get the term Eucharist. And Eucharist means to be thankful
or grateful for the gift. to be thankful and grateful for
the gift. UO is our prefix for good. Like when we do eulogies, UO,
it means good, grateful, thankful. Kharis is our Greek term for
gift, for the grant, for the privilege, for the blessing.
And when you and I are truly thankful from our hearts, We
are giving Eucharist to God for giving us the gifts of His grace,
most dominantly in the person of Christ, for saving our soul. And then, because of Christ,
keeping our souls in this life, up to this moment, in every way,
physically, domestically, economically, financially, health-wise, emotionally,
psychologically, spiritually, in every way. Because of Christ,
he has bought us lock, stock, and barrel. And his objective
is to bring us into his presence to experience his everlasting
blessings in body and soul because of Jesus Christ. No one in the
world is to be as thankful to God for the things that we have,
then God's elect. If you do it for no other reason,
do it for this, because Christ hath regarded your helpless estate
and has given his own life for your soul. Amen.