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Have you ever “sought God’s will”? Have you ever prayed for
God to show you or make known to you His will? It is a noble aim, for who among
does not wish to live our lives in accordance with God’s will. A problem
arises, however, when we come down to how
we go about seeking God’s will, or how we expect God to make it known.
Often times, we expect God to make His will known by some sign or some
experience or emotion. At times, perhaps, we expect others to inform us of what
God’s will is. It is as though we believe that God has hidden His will away
from us, and expects us to go on some odyssean quest to find it, not unlike
some mythological adventure to lay hands on the Holy Grail. What this amounts
to, in fact, is a mistaken notion of who our God is. He is not hiding His will
from us, but rather desires to guide us in the doing of His will. And this is
why He has revealed Himself and His will to us plainly in His Word, the Bible.
Everything that the Bible says “do,” it is God’s will for us to do. Everything
that the Bible says, “do not do,” it is God’s will for us not to do it! Now let
us not be like the rich young ruler, to whom Jesus said, “Keep the
commandments,” and he responded, “Which ones?” When Jesus began to enumerate
them, the young man said, “All these things I have kept; what am I still
lacking?” (Matt 19:16-22). If we say, “Well, I am waiting for God to let me
know what His will is,” the answer is that He has told you in His Word. And if
we say, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?”, then we lie
to ourselves and to God. The fact of the matter is that we have our hands full
with the doing and not doing of what is plainly stated in Scripture, and if we
will but obey His Word, we will find ourselves actually doing His will as His
providence directs our lives. Even if we reduce it down to the two greatest
commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor, beyond this, we are free in
Christ to follow the desires of our hearts.
In 1 Thessalonians 5, we find a passage in which several
aspects of God’s will for our lives are spelled out specifically. It includes
encouraging one another, appreciating those who labor for the Lord, living in
peace with one another. It also includes admonishing the unruly, helping the
weak, and showing patience to all; not repaying evil with evil, but always
seeking the good of others. In verses 16-17, Paul says, “Rejoice always; pray
without ceasing.” And then in verse 18, he says, “in everything give thanks; for
this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” His will encompasses all these
things, and others which are set forth in Scripture, but today – on the Sunday
preceding Thanksgiving – I want to focus our attention on this singular aspect
of God’s will for His people: “In everything give thanks.”
I. What does it mean to “give thanks”?
One of the greatest demonstrations of thanksgiving in the
Bible is found in Luke 17. There we read about ten lepers “who stood at a
distance” as Jesus passed by. They cried out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us!” And Jesus did just that. He spoke, and they were healed of their
disease. As they went away from Him, one “turned back, glorifying God with a
loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.” Jesus
said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine – where are they?” (Luke
17:11-19).
We all find ourselves somewhere in that story. All of us are
like those lepers. We have nothing in and of ourselves to commend ourselves to
God or for which to boast before men. Anything and everything we have comes to
us from God’s gracious hand. And so, we are ever recipients before Him. Moments ago in this service, we collected an
offering. In that moment, perhaps you thought, “I am a giver. I am giving what
is mine to God.” No, for what we give to God is but a portion of what He first
has given to us. So we are always the
receiver, even in our giving. Now, there are some who, like the one leper in
the story, who recognize this and render appropriate thanks to the Lord. Some
see that apart from His provision, we would have nothing and be nothing. And so
we give Him thanks. But many more, and all of us at times, are like the other
nine. Having received freely from God all that we have, we fail to render thanks
to Him for His mercy and grace.
To give thanks or show gratitude is to recognize God is the
ultimate giver of all good things. As James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given
and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” He may give to us through
intermediate agents, but He is the ultimate source of the gift. Suppose someone
gives you a gift of some sort. It is right to give them thanks for their
generosity, but then we must also give thanks to God, who put it in their
hearts to give. A thankful person is one who recognizes this and acknowledges
to God and man that all that we have and all that we are is ours because of the
kindness of God.
The great Puritan Richard Baxter, in his monumental work A Christian Directory, devotes a great
deal of attention to thankfulness. He begins, “Let thankfulness to God thy
Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, be the very temperament of thy soul, and
faithfully expressed by thy tongue and life.” And then he says, “An unthankful
person is but a devourer of mercies, and a grave to bury them in, and one that
hath not the wit and honesty to know and acknowledge the hand that giveth them;
but the thankful looketh above himself, and returneth all, as he is able, to
Him from whom they flow.” [1]
Suppose that you were to invite a guest to dinner at your
home. In preparation for the occasion, you go out and spend a lot of money on
special ingredients for the meal, and you slave away for hours in the kitchen
and dining room. You make all the favorite dishes of your guest, and clean the
house and set the table to perfection. Some of you will do this very thing this
week. Now, suppose that your guest arrives. As you open the door for your
guest, he or she walks past you without a word, plops down at the table and
begins to bang the silverware on the table saying, “I’m hungry! Feed me!”
Overlooking the impertinence, you serve the feast that has been loving and
painstakingly prepared. Imagine your guest then helping himself or herself to
excessive portions, depriving others of their own portions, and gulping them
down hurriedly, before arising from the table and bolting out the door without
a word. Maybe they pause at the door and turn back to you and say, “I will be
back for breakfast in the morning!” And off they go into the night. How would
you feel about that? Have they not been but a devourer of mercies? Have not
your mercies been buried in the shallow grave of their ungrateful bodies? How
offended we would be if such were to happen at our dinner tables on Thursday!
And yet, we are all guilty of an ever greater ingratitude toward God on
occasion, and some habitually.
Again, Richard Baxter says, “True thankfulness kindleth in
the heart a love to the Giver above the gift.”[2]
That means that we do not merely give thanks to God for the things He has given to us and done for
us, but we thank Him for being a God
who loves us and cares for us enough to provide for our needs. The gifts are
great! But the Giver of these gifts is even greater! This is why it is
beneficial for Christian people to periodically and prayerfully fast. Fasting
is typically associated with giving up food or with certain kinds of food. But
in reality, a fast can be of anything in our lives. For example, we might fast
from such things as watching television or engaging in social media. Whatever
it is that we choose to give up for the season of fasting, the purpose is to
move our gratitude beyond the gifts themselves and focus our joy with laser-like
precision on the Giver Himself. Fasting says, “God, you are greater to me than
_____________.” And you fill in the blank with whatever it is that you are
giving up. And in so doing, we demonstrate our gratitude for God because of who He is, and not merely what He has
done for us or given to us.
The greatest lesson in thankfulness I ever learned was
taught to me one night, many years ago, in a prayer meeting in another church I
pastored. It was the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, and I began the prayer
meeting by having us sing together, “Count Your Blessings, Name Them One By
One.” And then I asked every person present to name one thing for which they
were thankful. So it began, “my family,” “good health,” “the freedoms we have
in America ,”
“my job,” “my home,” and so on. And as we came around to a precious elderly
woman – one of the greatest prayer warriors and wisest students of the Bible I
have ever known. She said, “Well, it’s not that I am not thankful for all those
things that have already been mentioned, but even pagans can be thankful for
those things!” And then, from memory, she began to recite from the first
chapter of Ephesians,
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before
Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention
which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the
fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things
in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all
things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to
hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after
listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also
believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given
as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own
possession, to the praise of His glory.
Then she said, “That
is what I am thankful for!” The room was silent. Some were embarrassed, some
were ashamed, and some (myself included) were convicted! That dear saint, who is now with the Lord, taught me and
a whole lot of other folks that night that, of all people, Christians have so
much for which to give thanks! We have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ! We have
been chosen, predestined, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, enlightened, saved,
sealed with the Holy Spirit! So, as Baxter says, “True thankfulness having a
just estimate of mercies comparatively, preferreth spiritual and everlasting
mercies before those that are merely corporal and transitory.” And he goes on
to specify what some of those spiritual mercies are: “The saving of our souls
from hell, and promising us eternal life, besides the giving us our very beings
and all that we have.” He says that these things “oblige us to be totally and
absolutely His, that is so transcendent a Benefactor to us, and causeth the
thankful person to devote and resign himself and all that he hath to God, to
answer so great an obligation.”[3]
So what does it mean to give thanks? It means to ever
recognize the goodness of God, who by His loving and gracious nature, has given
to us all that we have and all that we are. It is to thank Him for the gifts,
but most of all to honor Him as the merciful Giver and yield ourselves to Him
in full faith and allegiance. Baxter says, “A creature that is wholly his
Creator’s, and is preserved every moment by Him, and daily fed and maintained
by His bounty, and is put into a capacity of life eternal, must needs be
obliged to incessant gratitude.”[4] And
with this understanding of thanksgiving, we are prepared to tackle the more
difficult question that 1 Thessalonians 5:18 raises for us. It is God’s will
for us to give thanks, and to give thanks in everything.
The question we now consider is …
II. How can I give thanks in everything?
Most of you know that I am a tremendous nerd when it comes
to Disney stuff. It’s been a lifelong obsession. Now, I take a lot of flack for
that from some people. People say, “That’s just kids’ stuff.” Well, I happen to
agree with C. S. Lewis on what he said about children’s literature. He said,
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and
often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty …. The only imaginative works
we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read
at all.”[5]
Elsewhere he said, “A book worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading
even then.”[6] It is
really fascinating to go back and revisit the stories, whether in book or
movie, that I enjoyed as a child and see how they impact me now as an adult. It
is an entirely different experience, and mostly for the better. One example of
this is the Disney movie “Bambi.” When I was a kid, I really didn’t like this
movie! It was so sad! I mean, who takes a kid to watch a movie in which such
terrible things happen to the main character? Spoiler alert: less than half way
through the movie, Bambi’s mother gets killed and his forest home goes up in
flames! When I was a kid, all I could think about was how much this poor little
deer lost. But now I’m an adult, and
I realize that life is filled with loss. So Bambi is not unique in the losses
he suffered. And I think that is one of the points of the movie that I get as
an adult that I missed as a child. It’s not really about what he lost, but about what he had. At every stage of life, in spite of
the hardships he faced, Bambi had the support of loving relationships to help
carry him through.
You see, when the Bible tells us to give thanks in everything, we need to understand
that it is not telling us to give thanks for
everything. The idea is not here that we should stand on the side of the
road after a terrible car accident and say, “Well, thank God for that!” If we
fall down the steps, we don’t say at the bottom, “Thank you Lord for that fall
down the steps!” I chose silly examples out of sensitivity and discretion, but
you can imagine the scenario of far worse things. There have been many times
when I have been in the middle of a sorrow- and shock-filled room saying,
“Lord, why?” And the one thing I am always sure not to say to hurting people is, “Well, now, let’s give thanks to
God for this terrible thing that has happened.” No, there are many things in
life that we have encountered and will encounter for which we cannot give
thanks.
Though we cannot give thanks for them, however, we can give thanks in them. And that is what the Bible says here. IN everything, give thanks. No matter what it is that
you are going through, there is something (likely, many things) for which you
can give thanks to God! It is not always easy to do in the midst of disquieting
circumstances, but if we will tune our hearts to praise and thank Him, we will
find that even in the midst of the difficulties, His goodness abounds to us.
Here again, Baxter’s words are so helpful: “If you cannot be so thankful as you
desire, yet spend as much time in the confessing of God’s mercy to you, as in
confessing you sins and mentioning your wants. Thanksgiving is an effectual
petitioning for more: it showeth that the soul is not drowned in selfishness,
but would carry the fruit of all His mercies back to God.”[7]
When all you can think of is what you have lost and what you
lack, it helps to discipline your mind to consider what you have, what you have
not lost, and what you cannot lose. Baxter says, “Compare thy proportion of
mercies with the rest of the people’s in the world. And thou wilt find that it
is not one of many thousands that hath thy proportion. It is so small a part of
the world that are Christians, and of those so few that are orthodox, reformed
Christians, and of those so few that are seriously godly as devoted to God, and
of those so few that fall not into some perplexities, errors, scandals, or
great afflictions and distress, that those few that are in none of these ranks
have cause of wondrous thankfulness to God.” And Baxter says this is true, even
of “the most afflicted Christians in the world.”[8]
If we could but train our minds to ever rehearse all that is
ours in Jesus Christ … it would change our perspective every day that we live.
Whether on the mountain top or in the valley; whether at work or at home;
whether in the hospital or the funeral home; if we could recount before God
with thanksgiving all the blessings that He has bestowed upon us, we would know
that no matter how bad things are, we are never alone, never forgotten, never
abandoned, never unloved. This is why Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.” Again Baxter: “Let the greatness of the manifold
mercies of God, be continually before your eyes. Thankfulness is caused by the
due apprehension of the greatness of mercies.”[9]
So what are these manifold mercies which are to be
continually before our eyes? Time does not permit me to quote Baxter at length
here, for he expounds on a full fifteen of
them. But let me summarize and condense as much as I am able.
- The love of God in giving us a redeemer, and the love of Christ in giving His life for us.
- God's grace, His pardon of all our sins, His justification (that is, He has clothed us in the righteousness of Christ), our adoption into His family, and the promise of eternal life.
- His providence and the servants He used to bring us to faith in Christ.
- The faith, repentance, and right desires, which He has given to us by the power of His Holy Spirit who dwells within us to put sin to death and purify us
- He has placed us in His church, given us His word, and fellowship with His people.
- The kindness that is shown to us by His people, even as they admonish, reprove and encourage us.
- The preservation and deliverance of our souls from error, seduction, terror, distress, temptation "and many a soul-wounding sin."
- “The mercies of adversity,” be they necessary chastisements, or the honor of suffering for His name, and His comfort that accompanies these adversities.
- The fellowship we have with God in our public and private acts of prayer, meditation, and worship.
- That He chooses to use the likes of us for the good of others.
- His patience with us which preserves us in faith in spite of our "constant unprofitableness and provocations."
- "Our hopes of everlasting rest and glory, when this sinful life is at an end."[10]
- “Let heaven be ever in thine eye, and still think of the endless joy which thou shalt have with Christ – for that is the mercy of all mercies; and he that hath not that in hope to be thankful for, will never thankful aright for anything. … The more believing and heavenly the mind is, the more thankful.”[11]
It is for these reasons, and countless more we could list,
that the child of God who has been born again by faith in Christ can give
thanks in everything! These are mercies that are ours in Christ for eternity.
No matter what we lose in this life, and we will lose much because of sin’s
devastation of the human race and this world, these things are ours and can
never be taken from us, lost, or forfeited! When we have lost it all, we have
not lost it all! We can give thanks to God for what those who have it all have
never had! So the Christian does not have one day a year to call
“Thanksgiving.” For the follower of Jesus, every moment of every day is Thanksgiving.
Baxter says, “Aggravate these mercies in your more enlarged meditations, and
they will sure constrain you to cry out, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me, bless His holy name!” He is quoting Psalm 103:
Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;
Who
pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases;
Who
redeems your life from the pit,
Who
crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.
If you have yet to come into a personal relationship with
God by faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you still have much for
which to give thanks to God. Though you are separated from Him, His love knows
no boundaries. He gives you life and breath and every good thing in your life.
Most of all, He has given you this day called “today” and this moment called
“now” as an opportunity for you to respond to His love and grace by turning
from sin and self to cast yourself upon Him in faith and receive the infinite
and eternal mercies of salvation and eternal life in Jesus Christ. With
thanksgiving, would you turn to Him and be saved?
[1] Richard
Baxter, A Christian Directory (Grand Rapids : Soli Deo
Gloria, 2008), 142.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.,
142-143.
[4] Ibid.,
143.
[5] C. S.
Lewis, “On Stories,” in Of Other Worlds (San
Diego: Harcourt, 1975), 15.
[6] Lewis,
“Fairy Stories,” in Of Other Worlds,
38.
[7] Baxter,
145.
[8] Ibid.,
144.
[9] Ibid.,
143.
[10]
Summarized, paraphrased, and condensed from Baxter, 143-144.
[11] Ibid.,
145.
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