- Response
- What do you do when someone gives you a gift?
- Thank them!
- There is a huge emphasis in the Bible on giving thanks to God.
- A few months back at thanksgiving I preached on thanksgiving and faith
- Now I want to talk about giving thanks for the gift we have in Jesus
- Two weeks ago we had a Sunday where we had four people speaking
- we were exploring the kind of meetings the early church had where there was a lot of participation
- We looked at 1 Corinthians, but there are two parallel passages in Ephesians and Colossians which describe our meetings
- both of them are pretty broad:
- Everything we do should be done with thankfulness [Col 3:17]
- Not just words, but in our hearts [Col 3:16]
- Always and for everything [Eph 5:20]
- Corrie Ten Boom and her devout Christian family hid Jews from the Gestapo in their Holland home. A sting operation exposed their participation in the Dutch resistance movement. The Gestapo raided their home and confined them to concentration camps.
- Fleas infested the concentration camp in Ravensbruck, Germany, where ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent. Toilets overflowed. It reeked from the foul odor of poor plumbing and sweat. Rags hung for windows instead of glass. Stains spotted the bedding. Conditions were so cramped ten Boom felt her sister’s heartbeat as they slept.
- And yet, Betsie received the message “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” [1 Thessalonians 5:18.]
- Only three letters bothered her about this teaching: A-L-L.
- Obediently, Betsie gave thanks for their surroundings, including the fleas.
- They discovered later that this is what had kept the guards from entering their room and raping them
- But here is a problem:
- What if we are not really thankful, are we just to mouth the words?
- What do you think?
- Thankfulness is a mindset that you can control
- An optimist and a pessimist: (I am sure you have heard this)
- When shown half a glass of water
- The optimist says it is half full
- The pessimist says it is half empty
- There is a lot of truth in that
- I am sure you have met “glass half empty” people
- They are complaining about everything
- Maybe you have met “glass half full” people
- My mum is one of them—she is always thankful
- Mrs Weller
- So how do you get to be such a person?
- Not simply saying things you don’t believe
- But do you really believe that God is to be thanked?
- take an inventory (count your blessings)
- Lost boy is amazed at the happiness of people who have so little
- As far as material things are concerned, we live as kings compared to most people in history
- But what if things are really bad?
- Are we to be dishonest?
- I actually think that thankfulness is something we can grow in as we practice it
- The problem is that we are not in a culture of thankfulness!
- Paul warns us about this in Col 2
- So we are to be overflowing with thankfulness
- How is this to be when many of them lived terrible lives
- brutal slaveowners
- very little healthcare
- injustice
- inadequate diet
- most people would not have the opportunity of marrying for love
- low life expectancy
- This brings us back to our Christmas theme
- He is the gift that above all things makes us thankful
- I have found that I can actully increase my level of happiness by practicing thankfulness
- This is what I do:
- First I start on the basic necessities
- This is a quote from Psalm 44 which is very depressing
- The answer to the worst of outward circumstances is to know the love of Christ
- Nevertheless we should not deny the pain of life’s circumstances
- If someone is grieving over the death of a loved one, we don’t simply say “just give thanks!”
- We are told to “weep with those who weep”
- Jesus wept when Lazarus died
- There is a time for weeping, but we should not remain in it
- Ask if anyone wants to share thanks right now?