Thanksgiving.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Amen.

[0:01] All right. [0:02] Go ahead and have a seat. [0:03] Welcome to Village Church. [0:04] If this is the first time you’ve been here, my name’s Steve. [0:06] I’m one of the pastors here at Village. [0:08] As always, I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you.

[0:12] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. [0:17] We’ll be in verse 18 for much of the morning. [0:19] We’ll be in other texts as well, but we’ll always be returning right here. [0:24] So we are headed into Thanksgiving this week. [0:29] And I just want to let you know there’s a close-handed issue around here. [0:32] The Christmas season does not start until next week.

[0:38] Now I know some of y’all jumped the gun, and there’s still time to turn back. [0:44] Thanksgiving has not yet happened yet, and it is a holiday in and of itself. [0:50] So if you have already begun Christmas festivities, you are in sin. [0:56] And I am calling you to repent. [0:59] So next week we’ll begin the Christmas season. [1:04] And so next week we’re going to start our Christmas series.

[1:08] And that’s going to take us all the way through Christmas Eve. [1:11] And so I’m excited to head into the Christmas season. [1:14] I love the Christmas season. [1:16] And I pretty much love everything about Christmas. [1:19] There’s no part of Christmas that I don’t love. [1:22] I know some of you are like, you know, it’s too commercial and all this terrible, terribleness.

[1:27] I like that part. [1:28] I mean, I like everything. [1:30] But first, we have to have Thanksgiving to prepare us for the Christmas season. [1:38] And so to enjoy Christmas, I think that it is absolutely necessary to enjoy Thanksgiving [1:46] because you can’t celebrate the birth of Jesus without being thankful for the work of Jesus. [1:53] And so therefore to celebrate Thanksgiving is not just a necessity.

[1:58] I believe it needs to be viewed as a really a Christian privilege because we should be, [2:06] of all people, the most thankful on the face of the earth because Christians are unique. [2:13] We have something that the rest of the world is desperate for, [2:19] something that they are in desperate need of, that our Thanksgiving does not terminate on itself. [2:26] Because a lot of people are practical atheists in the way that they’re thankful. [2:30] Your Thanksgiving kind of terminates on the trinket or the lifestyle or the person that you’re thankful for.

[2:37] You never really have this robust understanding of what it is to actually give thanks [2:42] that it needs to go past the stuff, past the thing, past the person to the God, [2:49] who is the creator of all things, who’s the supplier of all things. [2:53] This past week, I was privileged, our denomination, we have a yearly meeting every November. [2:59] And of course, I was a part of it and I go to it and I kind of help kind of in the background [3:04] of some of the working in the organization of it.

[3:06] And it’s always a good time every year. [3:08] It’s wonderful because we don’t, it’s called annual homecoming, [3:12] but we’ve moved past Southern gospel music. [3:16] And it’s just that’s something that I’m thankful for in and of itself, [3:19] that we’ve really started to move into the 1980s. [3:23] And so it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.

[3:27] But every year, I see guys that I haven’t seen from throughout the state for the rest of the year. [3:32] And so we come together, we give these bro hugs and we update each other. [3:37] And it’s just this wonderful time. [3:39] But usually a few minutes into it, into our reunions, we’ll start asking about, [3:46] hey, where is this guy? [3:47] Where is this family?

[3:49] Where are they? [3:50] And so then it starts to kind of turn and it turns into this thing, [3:54] well, he burned out, man. [3:58] Or this guy disqualified himself in a moral situation this year, [4:02] or, you know, as a tricky situation, the church just didn’t make it. [4:08] Or, you know, and in some instances over the past 10 years, there have been, you know,

[4:11] one or two guys where it’s just like these guys even left the faith. [4:16] And it’s like, you just kind of like this unfortunate aspect of where we are. [4:21] And then later that night, we were setting up for this reception. [4:25] And we were going to have the president of our mission board here in North America. [4:31] He was going to do a Q&A after he spoke to the crowd. [4:34] And so we’re setting up for it.

[4:36] And so I’m sitting there after we were finished with set up with all these church planters, [4:40] all these guys that have started churches all over the state of Virginia. [4:44] And I’m just sitting there and I’m like, man, this is an amazing moment where I’m with these guys [4:50] that I respect, I’m with these guys that I admire. [4:53] And they have leveraged their finances. [4:56] They have leveraged their professional and personal life.

[4:59] They’ve leveraged their families to start churches so that people can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, [5:07] some of whom is the only way they would have heard it is through this new church. [5:11] And I’m just kind of sitting there. [5:13] I’m like, man, I am so thankful to be here. [5:18] And then I start thinking about some of the guys that I’ve been told news of that I didn’t know [5:22] that that weren’t with us anymore, had kind of moved on from pastoral ministry.

[5:26] And I’m just thinking, I don’t deserve this, you know, but by the grace of God, I would be where those guys are. [5:35] And there are just some moments where you’re able to sit and you’re like, I don’t deserve to be around these heroes of the faith. [5:43] And it’s just a thankful moment. [5:47] And so when I talk about what the world is in desperate need of, it’s that attitude where we build lives. [5:56] Where we do things with our faith that we can just actually have moments where we sit and we see the hand of God working. [6:05] We see what God has done.

[6:07] And we actually have this moment like I don’t deserve what God is doing in my life right now. [6:14] I don’t deserve this amazing privilege. [6:20] See, the entire world is in need of the gift that has been given to us. [6:28] This gift of reconciliation with God, this reconciled relationship with God, where our lives have been made right because of the work of Jesus Christ. [6:42] We have more to be thankful for than anyone else in this world. [6:48] We need to begin to understand and form an ethic where we actually realize that to be unthankful is to be un-Christian.

[6:59] To not be thankful is a sin against God. [7:04] Because I believe that inside of even the Church of Jesus Christ, that we have syncretized ourselves with the world in ways that we wouldn’t necessarily think that we’ve syncretized with. [7:15] Because when we start to think about that, we start thinking about these issues of immorality, these issues of thou shalt not. [7:22] But I think we’ve syncretized with the world in a whole other category.

[7:27] We have a culture now that is overcome with rage. [7:32] It’s overcome with outrage. [7:35] It’s overcome with discontent. [7:38] It’s overcome with criticism of anything and everything. [7:42] I mean, every morning, sometimes every hour on the hour, there is a new report. [7:48] And what do we do?

[7:49] We run to social media, say, outrage. [7:53] And it’s as if we’re addicted to it. [7:55] It’s as if we feed off of our anger.

[8:00] What I hope we can catch light of, even if it’s in this Thanksgiving week, is that that is not the apologetic for who we are supposed to be. [8:10] But rather, we are to be the ones who are thankful above all. [8:14] And we never despair of hope. [8:17] We never despair of gratitude because there is a deficit of thankfulness in our lives.

[8:27] We’ll get right into it. [8:28] Number one, this morning, thankfulness is a mark of the Christian life. [8:32] Thankfulness is a mark of the Christian life. [8:37] Of all of the things that Christians are the most convicted about, and, man, you all are a convicted bunch. [8:43] I mean, you all bring it to me all the time. [8:46] I rarely, I mean, I tried to think over the past few weeks, I rarely, if ever, I can’t remember anyone ever coming to me and saying,

[8:54] I am convicted of my unthankfulness.

[9:01] I’m convicted by my lack of gratitude. [9:04] And over the past few weeks, as I’ve had time to really think about and prepare for this morning, the more I’ve prayed, [9:12] the more I’ve searched the scriptures and the more I’ve just simply thought about the issue of thankfulness, [9:19] the more I consider that it is a thankfulness deficit that is at the core of what holds most of us back from the life that God has designed us to walk into. [9:31] And it is actually our critical nature, it is actually our anger, it is our rage, it is our ungratefulness, [9:39] it is our focusing on what we don’t have rather than what has been given into our lives by God that holds us back from following Jesus with radical thanksgiving.

[9:54] In the second half of 1 Thessalonians 5, it contains what reads almost like a bullet list of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonian Church and how they were to live. [10:07] And if you go through that, I mean, it is golden, it is so full of truth and goodness for practical life. [10:15] But in the middle of that list, around the middle is verse 18, which tells us that thankfulness should saturate our lives. [10:23] And here’s what the Apostle Paul writes, he says, give thanks in all circumstances. [10:28] And usually that’s where we stop to our detriment, because the sentence goes on to what actually is the robust nature of the theology of thanksgiving. [10:41] Because when we simply throw this cliche, we’ll give thanks in all circumstances, or in some translations it’s going to say, we’ll give thanks for everything.

[10:49] I mean, that’s just crazy. [10:52] That doesn’t even make sense. [10:54] How is it possible that you can be thankful for everything? [10:59] How is it possible that you can be thankful in all circumstances? [11:04] Because there are some crummy circumstances, and if you’re thankful just for that circumstance, you’re crazy. [11:11] Because it’s not a good circumstance.

[11:15] Unless there’s something beyond the circumstance, and that’s where Paul takes it. [11:20] He says, give thanks in all circumstances. [11:21] Why? For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. [11:28] And so what he’s doing there is he’s saying, do you want to know what God’s will is for your life? [11:34] It is to give thanks in all circumstances. [11:38] How can you do that?

[11:40] Because of what God has done in Christ Jesus for you. [11:44] That is how you can do it. [11:46] And the reality is that this challenges the way that we think about the will of God. [11:50] Because how do we typically think about the will of God? [11:53] Well, the will of God’s about a job. [11:55] Well, the will of God’s about a spouse.

[12:00] What the apostle Paul’s doing here is challenging that. [12:03] He’s saying the will of God is less about what is out there and it is more about what is in here. [12:13] Saying the will of God is not this mystical thing that you’re trying to find. [12:19] And if you don’t hit the target, life’s over. [12:21] Now, what he’s saying is, is that God wants his will for you to be determined about what God is [12:29] actually bringing out of who you are.

[12:33] And so the will of God is about this thankful heart in which you can look at everything that God has brought into your life, [12:42] everything that God has taken out of your life. [12:45] And because of what Jesus has done, you can sit back in any and all circumstances and you can say, I am thankful.

[12:56] I am thankful. [12:58] And Paul says it is so vital that you understand that, that he says, I mean, this is extreme words in the Bible when anyone says, [13:07] this is the will of God.

[13:14] So if you are not thankful, you are not in God’s will.

[13:24] That’s a bad place to be.

[13:27] Say, I think sometimes we use God’s will to excuse ourselves from what God wants to do inside of us by pretending that it’s hard to find. [13:37] God says it’s not hard to find.

[13:40] He wants to do something to your soul. [13:43] He wants to do something to how you view the world. [13:47] God wants to change you more than he wants to change the things around you. [13:54] And that’s why he says in all circumstances, he’s saying the biggest problem in your life is not the circumstance that you find yourself in. [14:04] The biggest problem that you find yourself in is what’s going on in your soul.

[14:10] He says, that’s what God wants to do. [14:12] He doesn’t always want to change our circumstance.

[14:17] Sometimes God wants us to sit in these circumstance for a while because the circumstance is what he’s going to use to change our lives.

[14:27] And the only way we can see that is how through Christ Jesus.

[14:33] The only way that you can ever be thankful for something that wasn’t that much fun, and let’s be honest, something that kind of hurt or something that really hurt, something that was very unpleasant. [14:44] The only way that you can do that is through the lens of the cross of Jesus Christ. [14:48] The only way that you can do that is when you have a suffering savior. [14:53] That’s the only way you can do it.

[14:55] Paul says, you want to be thankful? [14:57] In Christ, the only place it can ever really happen. [15:01] Paul is talking about building a consistent ethic for what many people call an attitude of gratitude.

[15:11] Apostle Paul wants us to build that in our lives. [15:13] And we do that through really the way that we view two different areas in our lives, the way that we view what theology calls common grace and the way that we view specific grace. [15:22] Common grace is something that all of us experience every single day. [15:27] When my first son was born, I’d never been a father before, you know, after your, before your first child, you’re not a parent. [15:35] Just blew some of your minds. [15:36] And when my first son was born, it was really hard on me.

[15:41] Labor was tough. [15:44] I believe it was harder on me than it was my wife. [15:47] I mean, my feet, the standing there hour after hour saying, can we move this along? [15:55] And then the things I’ve seen.

[15:59] Television lies. [16:01] I believed standing at the headboard would protect me. [16:06] It doesn’t. [16:08] You’re like two feet away. [16:09] And so the geometry of TV makes no sense. [16:14] But after the birth of my son and they fixed the cone head, which concerned me, I was very concerned.

[16:20] I mean, it was weird. [16:22] He’s got a regular head now, by God’s grace. [16:25] Doctors are amazing people. [16:28] And so two days later, they’re releasing us from the hospital and they go through all this rigmarole. [16:33] It’s boring. [16:35] And one of the doctors comes in and so they’re assigning all the stuff and they’re like, oh, and we’ve went ahead and we’ve made an appointment for you guys to get that heart murmur checked out.

[16:48] Because I didn’t know what heart murmur was. [16:51] And and no one had said anything to us about that. [16:55] And I was like, what do you mean heart murmur? [16:57] And so when when the pediatrician was here, he marked that that he heard a murmur in your son’s heart. [17:05] And so we’ve made an appointment for you to go see a cardiologist about that. [17:09] And so when your new parents and you know how stupid you already are after day one, that’s like devastating because you’re like, we don’t even I had to Google.

[17:18] I didn’t even know what it was. [17:20] And so then we go to the cardiologist just like a couple of days later. [17:24] And I mean, my son, at that point, he could basically almost fit in my hand, like such a tiny baby. [17:31] And they put him under this machine, most amazing machine that I’ve ever seen in my life to this day, because it’s this machine that can literally look through him into his heart. [17:42] You see it full color on the television. [17:44] You can see it beating.

[17:45] You can see it pulsing. [17:47] You see it in color. [17:47] You see the blood moving in. [17:49] You see the blood moving out. [17:50] You can see every artery. [17:51] You can see every valve.

[17:53] And it’s this amazing machine. [17:55] And then in a moment, the doctor, the cardiologist says, there it is. [18:03] And when you’re not a doctor, which I am not, you kind of do that on the edge of your seat. [18:11] And he says, there’s a hole in your son’s heart. [18:16] That was probably and you only understand this if you’re a parent and had only been a parent for a brief time. [18:23] It was the most frightening moment of my life.

[18:26] Most I’ve never been more terrified than in that moment, because then he found another one and then he found another one. [18:34] And so when you’re dealing heart, you’re like, this is life or death. [18:38] But then he says, but I’m not that concerned. [18:43] And my response was, I am. [18:48] But you’re not concerned. [18:49] There aren’t supposed to be holes there.

[18:53] He looks at a small wife and I and he says, this is just it didn’t form completely in the womb in six months. [19:02] The muscles will form over those holes. [19:05] I’m not concerned about this at all. [19:07] It’s just follow up in six months. [19:09] You’ll be OK. [19:11] So, of course, you know, for the next six months, I’m a little pessimistic.

[19:15] And then I’m like, there’s going to be bigger holes in six months. [19:19] But we go back in six months. [19:21] Everything happened exactly the way the doctor said it would happen. [19:24] Eight years later, my son’s got a fully functioning heart. [19:27] He’s fine. But when I think about the common grace of God, I think about the era that we live in. [19:33] The Lord has kind of unlocked this human creativity and this science, scientific knowledge in the mind of man to be able to build these machines that can look into the heart, where you can see the most

[19:49] minuscule aspect of the human heart. [19:51] And he’s given us the knowledge where there are people have studied enough to where they can view one hole and say, we’ll be fine in six months. [20:02] They give you another hole and say, we need to operate.

[20:07] So we’re talking about the common grace of God. [20:09] That’s the common grace of God that he’s given to all of us. [20:12] That a hundred years ago, what was not known is now known.

[20:19] But the common grace is not sufficient. [20:23] It’s something to be overwhelmingly grateful for. [20:26] But it is not something that is sufficient to get us all the way to God.

[20:33] Abraham Kuyper, the theologian, puts it this way. [20:36] He says, God is glorified in the total development toward which human life and power over nature gradually march on under the guardianship. [20:49] Of common grace. [20:52] What he’s saying there is that God gives us this common grace where we can walk outside and see beautiful blue. [21:00] We can see kind of troubling gray. [21:02] We can see vast nature and we can see all of its wrath, all of its fury.

[21:08] But then in the next moment, all of its beauty. [21:10] And Abraham Kuyper saying that is meant to guardian us to see something bigger, to see beyond what our eyes see to the one who is controlling it all.

[21:24] That march of common grace is to point us to God. [21:30] It is common grace that begs the question, what is behind it all?

[21:36] Is the designer God? [21:38] Is a God who is there and a God in the words of Francis Schaeffer, who has not been silent, but worked all of history. [21:48] Towards letting us know him so that under the power of his spirit, we could find him in the person and work of Jesus Christ. [21:56] Because that’s why it’s so vital in first Thessalonians five that Paul says that thankfulness is in Christ Jesus. [22:03] Because gratitude for anything in this world is meant to awaken enough curiosity for us to want to know the God behind it, who’s been fully revealed in Jesus Christ. [22:20] While common grace is not enough by God’s grace, he has not meant it to be enough.

[22:27] And he has fully shown himself to us in his word through his prophets, through his apostles, and ultimately to point us to the son of God, Jesus Christ.

[22:41] There’s undeniable joy and there must be undeniable gratitude in the life of the Christian for that. [22:49] Secondly, this morning, once we know that, we should be known for our gratitude. [22:57] We should be known for our gratitude. [22:59] Do you know that thankfulness worships God? [23:03] You see, in Christ, God returns the thankfulness that sin has robbed from our soul. [23:11] You see, sin destroys, evil corrupts and decomposes what it is to be human.

[23:20] And Jesus then resurrects the image of God into our minds to turn us back to God for satisfaction, to turn us back to God for worship and to turn us back to him for restoration. [23:34] And that is the core of what Paul talks further about in Colossians chapter three, verse 17. [23:40] He says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. [23:48] Doing what? Giving thanks to God the Father through him.

[23:55] You see, the big question you have to deal with is, do you notice what God has given into your life or do you focus on what you lack in life?

[24:05] Because when your focus is on what you lack in life, you cannot look at this text and read it. [24:14] It says, whatever you do in word or deed, do in the name of Christ Jesus, because you typically, whatever you do in word or deed, you are doing in light of what you want out of this world. [24:28] The only way to do things in the name of Christ Jesus is if you look at what Jesus has done and your actions are predicated on a reality that you are thankful for what God has given into your life. [24:44] So you are following him into the life of his making. [24:49] And when you are an ungrateful person, you cannot do that. [24:53] Thankfulness is the core of connecting our life’s mission to God.

[25:00] Our actions and our words are to point to God. [25:05] And then Paul writes that we give thanks to God through Christ in doing this. [25:10] Our mission is defined by thanksgiving. [25:15] But that’s not how we normally look at it. [25:18] You see, the effort and the sacrifice often leave us less than thankful many times. [25:26] See, that’s not worship.

[25:29] When you reorder your life to follow Jesus, Paul writes that the motivating catalyst is thankfulness that then gives way to more thankfulness because we realize just what we have recovered in redemption through Jesus. [25:45] And it is only when you realize what you have recovered in Christ that your life gives way to thanksgiving for what you are able to do in Christ versus what you could not do without Christ. [26:02] You see, God calls us to walk on a path and develop a rhythm of thankfulness. [26:09] You see, you need to begin to make moves to put yourself in environments that build gratitude. [26:18] Now, you may be thinking, I can’t see what God is doing. [26:23] How can I be thankful for what I don’t have?

[26:28] See, that’s where I would caution you. [26:30] God is doing something. [26:32] But you may not be walking in the right path to see what God is doing. [26:38] Because when you walk the path of ingratitude versus the path of gratitude, you have to understand Jesus isn’t on the path of ingratitude.

[26:48] So it’s not that God isn’t working. [26:50] It’s that you can’t see it. [26:53] Some of you are waiting for God to work so that then you can be thankful instead of moving with God while being thankful in all circumstances. [27:06] Stop sitting still and saying, OK, God, do something. [27:13] And then I’ll thank you. [27:16] Now, God calls us and he says, move with me.

[27:20] And while you move with God, you see the life that Jesus designed for you to have for really the first time in everything that it could be. [27:29] And then you say, I am so thankful that God has brought me onto his path. [27:34] It is only through the movement that you can begin to truly be grateful for the life that God has for you. [27:40] So long as you are sitting still, so long as you are immobile.

[27:48] You will not be thankful.

[27:51] You will not see what God is doing, even if God is doing much. [27:55] Here’s how commentator Charles Wanamaker puts it. [27:58] The only way Jesus to thank God at all times is to see God working in every situation to bring about the divine saving will. [28:05] But for some of us, the problem with that is, is that there are things that we want more than to see God work in salvific ways throughout the world. [28:16] We prefer the trinkets to the movement.

[28:20] What you need to understand is that gratitude was meant to put us on a path of the mission of Jesus. [28:25] Do you know that it is the saving will of God that builds our thanksgiving? [28:30] And it is that thanksgiving that the world looks at and sees something that they do not have. [28:37] We need to build a thankfulness in our lives that the world longs for. [28:43] Too often though, we build our lives around ingratitude rather than gratitude. [28:50] We think to ourselves, you know, why am I not leading people to faith in Jesus Christ?

[28:55] Why am I not seeing God work through my life into the lives of others? [29:00] And the whole while, all that you are known for is you are a complainer. [29:04] You’re someone that’s not thankful for anything. [29:07] You’re someone that only has bad things to say about everything. [29:10] And so if I’m not a follower of Jesus Christ and I look into your life and all I see is complaint, all I see is negativity, [29:16] all I see is what you don’t have and what you wish you had.

[29:20] And I think to myself, I’ve already got enough problems. [29:24] What do I need? What you’ve got going on for?

[29:28] In Philippians, chapter two, the apostle Paul puts it this way. [29:32] He says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. [29:35] You know, I hate that verse.

[29:39] Because there’s no way to get out of it. [29:41] It’s like, oh, well, I’m guilty. [29:44] I asked my wife. [29:47] She tells me all the time. I grumble too much. [29:49] I want you to want to help me. [29:50] No, don’t.

[29:52] It’s never going to happen. [29:55] Oh, oh, verse 14. That’s wrong. [29:57] Oh, OK. [29:59] Then verse 15. [30:01] That you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation [30:08] among whom you shine as lights in the world.

[30:12] Do you know what the opposite of grumbling and disputing is? [30:17] Gratitude. [30:19] Radical thankfulness.

[30:24] Apostle Paul is saying, stop grumbling.

[30:29] Stop disputing. [30:32] Stop finding something wrong with absolutely everything. [30:37] But that’s what we’re used to. [30:39] That’s our default mode. [30:41] That’s the rhythm that we have built apart from Christ. [30:45] And in Christ, we are struggling to build new rhythms.

[30:51] We see more of what is wrong than we see of what is right.

[30:58] And Paul’s point is that the natural inclination to criticize, complain and argue doesn’t show the life of God in us.

[31:11] He says, do you want to show the life of God in you? [31:15] Be a radical thanksgiving person.

[31:21] He says, if you give thanks for all things, if you find the joy in the hard moments, [31:28] in the middle of a crooked and twisted generation, they will look at you and say, I need what that person has. [31:41] But too often they look at our lives and they don’t see much different than what they already have. [31:46] And like I said, verse 14 is the great equalizer. [31:49] We are all struggling there.

[31:53] I want to take a moment just to talk to the fathers in the room about this. [31:59] And for some of you, you are single parents and I know that. [32:02] And so you are actually called to more radical lives because you inhibit two offices in the family. [32:09] You both you act as both father and mother. [32:12] But to the fathers, I want you to understand that the calling of you is to teach an apologetic of thankfulness in your family. [32:22] Faith is meant to go to the next generation.

[32:25] I believe that. [32:27] And fathers are to be the chief gratitude officers in their homes. [32:32] You see, you must become the pastor of your home and you need to understand that thankfulness is a spiritual discipline. [32:42] I’m a father. [32:43] And so I know what it’s like. [32:45] Fathers complain a lot.

[32:47] We grumble a little bit. [32:50] But what we see of fathers in pop culture and what we see about what dads are like on television and the like, [32:58] We need to run from that and we need to go a different direction because we are seen as the dopes who complain about everything and who aren’t happy about anything.

[33:08] And so what we do sometimes is we say, oh, and this is true, as Doug Wilson puts it, that we as fathers are to reflect the fatherhood of God to our families. [33:20] And so we’ll read that and we’ll agree with it because it’s true. [33:23] But then what we will do is we will take some of the hardest parts of God’s attributes. [33:31] And God is the lawgiver and he is. [33:33] God is the judge and he is. [33:35] God is out for justice and he is.

[33:38] And sometimes that’s what we’ll limit it to. [33:41] And we’ll walk around our houses. [33:43] Is anyone sitting?

[33:49] I’ve got a belt on. [33:50] I’m not afraid to use it.

[33:54] See, God is those things, but he’s more. [33:58] We must have a more robust view of God, the God who does not only give the law, but designs it in such a way that it leads to the grace of Jesus Christ. [34:09] A God who finds joy in his people.

[34:14] We must become known for our thankfulness. [34:20] Above really anything else. [34:22] We must point our families to thankfulness for the sovereignty of God over all things by overflowing with gratitude to him for all things. [34:33] That is our mission. [34:35] I have yet to meet the child who’s grown up and then really has a huge load of baggage on their shoulders. [34:42] And they’re like, you just don’t understand what it was like to have parents that were that thankful.

[34:50] It was a hard life. [34:51] My parents had so much gratitude. [34:54] They were thanking God. [34:56] They were thanking me. [34:57] They were thanking other people.

[35:01] I’m struggling with that baggage.

[35:05] See, it is in a heart of Thanksgiving that we really learn what the fatherhood of God is really like. [35:14] Let’s not reduce it to just one or two things. [35:17] Let’s give a holistic picture of who God is through the lens of the word that he has given to us. [35:25] And that is our mission with our families. [35:28] But it is also a mission past our families into this world.

[35:34] Thirdly, this morning, let’s not kid ourselves. [35:37] It takes faith to be thankful. [35:40] It takes faith to be thankful. [35:42] So when we think about Thanksgiving, we have to think of what or who are you thankful for? [35:49] And where does that gratitude go? [35:52] Let’s not reduce this to cliche platitudes.

[35:57] Our Thanksgiving should be more robust than that. [36:00] Our ultimate Thanksgiving is to God himself. [36:03] And everything only finds its meaning and whether it is founded in Christ or not. [36:09] See, yes, we do stand the risk of trivializing Thanksgiving when we don’t think it through. [36:17] Not just about what am I thankful for, but why and to whom am I thankful? [36:24] And I think it’s a fine activity.

[36:25] I’m not trying to devalue this activity. [36:27] I think it’s helpful. [36:28] Thanksgiving Day, we get a little full and then we’re like, okay, everyone, let’s everybody say one thing that they’re thankful for.

[36:36] That’s a good thing. [36:38] If you want to do that, do it. [36:39] It’s great. [36:40] But don’t reduce it in your family to where we just start naming trinkets and we never go past it. [36:48] And so the thanks terminates on itself. [36:52] So the problem that a lot of us have with the type of Thanksgiving that we give is that we are practical atheists in the way that we are thankful.

[37:00] We are thankful for something, but we’re not thankful to someone. [37:05] And so back, what am I thankful for?

[37:09] My car.

[37:13] All right. [37:16] Why?

[37:18] Thankful for this. [37:20] Thankful for that. [37:21] I’m thankful for a heater that works.

[37:24] Oh, yeah. [37:26] Why?

[37:29] Does it go or does it just terminate on the thing? [37:33] And here’s why that’s dangerous. [37:35] Look in Romans chapter one, verse 21.

[37:39] Says, for although they knew God and we says they he’s talking about the whole world at that point. [37:44] He says they did not honor him as God or what? [37:48] Give thanks to him. [37:50] What is Paul talking about in Romans one? [37:52] Paul is talking about the original sin that we all struggle for. [37:56] The worship that God deserved and the worship that we turned away from God and gave over to created things and even to ourselves.

[38:07] And he’s saying that a core root of that sinfulness is not giving thanks to God. [38:15] It is not enough just to give thanks that thanks must lead to God. [38:20] And you say, well, that’s hard for some of the things I’m thankful for. [38:24] Then you’re not really thankful for them. [38:26] Or maybe you just shouldn’t even have it in your life.

[38:31] He’s challenging our thankfulness here in Romans chapter one. [38:34] And he’s saying the root of our sinfulness sometimes lies in what we are thankful for and why we are even thankful for it. [38:41] And he says, what happened then is that we became feudal in our thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. [38:48] That is why we struggle with thankfulness. [38:52] That is why we are ungrateful is because we have turned our thankfulness from God and we’ve turned it on to just the trinkets that he created.

[39:04] And sometimes our thankfulness goes from the thing and it just boomerangs and he says, why am I really thankful for it? [39:12] Because look at how awesome I am.

[39:16] I mean, let’s be honest. [39:17] Sometimes when we’re thankful for our house, it’s because we want our kids to realize daddy bought it.

[39:27] And our thankfulness cannot be so darkened. [39:31] Our thankfulness needs to go from the house to the provider of the house. [39:35] Our thankfulness needs to go from our spouse to the provider of the spouse. [39:39] Our thankfulness needs to go from the food to the provider of the food. [39:43] Our thankfulness needs to go from creation to the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, the savior of all things. [39:56] Our thanksgiving must go through the thing to Jesus Christ, our God and King.

[40:04] That is a robust thankfulness that restores the original created order. [40:11] Do you see how vital thanksgiving is in the scriptures now?

[40:19] You see, I would rather live a life of thanksgiving to God than a life of thanksgiving for things that will not outlast God. [40:32] You see, but sometimes we may fall into a trap. [40:35] And it’s a trap that I’ve fallen into before, and it’s a trap of excusing our overarching pessimism and ingratitude by pointing to evil.

[40:45] It’s that’s the whole attitude. [40:46] That’s kind of a Debbie Downer, but it’s like, man, this year, Thanksgiving is going to be tough. [40:51] Really? Why? [40:54] There’s so much bad. [40:56] The world is so dark. [40:59] How can we be thankful in such an evil place?

[41:02] How can we be thankful in such a dark world?

[41:07] You see, that attitude should be overcome for the Christian with our hopeful future because of and in Jesus Christ. [41:17] You say, but but Steve, evil is so pervasive. [41:21] It is a real problem. [41:22] And I would rather, frankly, have an answer for the problem of evil than be left hopeless in the face of the existence of evil. [41:30] Yes, the problem of sin is real and it should never be denied. [41:36] But the problem of sin should give way to the reality that we are thankful for an explanation for who has power over sin.

[41:48] The problem of evil is a problem, but it is not a problem without an answer. [41:52] The answer is always in God. [41:56] You see, faith is honest. [41:58] But faith always brings thankfulness. [42:01] I mean, without faith, Thanksgiving is meaningless.

[42:05] Without faith, Thanksgiving is nonsensical because of how quickly it terminates on itself. [42:11] It’s nonsense because there needs to be something behind the things that we are thankful for. [42:16] It also crumbles. [42:19] When I am just thankful for the things without the God who makes the things. [42:24] Faith is the source of our gratitude. [42:28] That is why 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18 is so vital because it reveals the truth of the gospel.

[42:39] So when he says, give thanks in all circumstances, then he goes on and he says, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. [42:50] What he is doing is he is saying that Jesus has restored what sin has robbed from us. [43:02] He is saying that without Christ, you cannot know the will of God. [43:07] And when you do not know the will of God, you will have no answer for the things that come in your life. [43:14] Both the good things and the unpleasant things. [43:18] Both the fun things and the miserable things.

[43:23] He says, and when you have no answer for those things, how and who can you give things to?

[43:32] But you see the beauty of the gospel and why this text is so powerful.

[43:39] Is that because in Christ Jesus, the will of God is revealed.

[43:47] In Christ Jesus, the circumstances are explained or at least they have a promise that God will work them to good behind them.

[44:00] In Christ Jesus, I can give thanks and it is a thanks that has got teeth to it. [44:12] So I ask you, are you thankful?

[44:17] Why? Why not? [44:21] For what are you thankful? [44:23] And what is the source of those things?

[44:27] When people look at your life, do they see a person who looks at every part of life, every circumstance and walks with gratitude because of the creator of the world? [44:37] You see friends, I tell you that God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus. [44:43] And because of that, I can walk in God’s will. [44:50] Thankful.

[44:52] As the band comes up, we’ve got Thanksgiving coming.

[44:59] Christmas is right behind it. [45:01] And if we’re not careful, we will be run over by all of it without the perspective that it’s all meant to worship Jesus.

[45:11] There might be someone in here that doesn’t know Jesus that I’ve talked for a few minutes now and you’re thinking to yourself, I don’t know what that type of gratitude is. [45:21] I don’t know what it is to really be thankful to Jesus. [45:26] And so if that’s you, I want you to know that you can know Jesus. [45:30] I want you to know that the reconciled relationship with God that I’ve been talking about, you can have that today.

[45:38] If you want to know Jesus, I’m going to ask you in just a moment to really step out into the foyer. [45:44] There’ll be somebody there to talk with you, somebody to pray with you, somebody that can answer some of the questions that you might have about what it means to put your faith in Jesus Christ. [45:53] But for those of you that are in here, if you know Christ, if you love Jesus, if He has saved your life, [46:01] here’s what I want you to understand, that we are walking into a season that needs to be known by radical thankfulness. [46:08] It needs to be known with overwhelming gratitude. [46:12] And I want you to understand that you have more to be thankful for than anyone in this world.

[46:18] And this season affords us an opportunity to display that to everyone around us, to family, to friends, to coworkers. [46:29] So this Thursday, wherever you find yourself, go back for seconds, maybe go back for thirds, and celebrate the name of Jesus well. [46:39] And be known more for what you are thankful for than what you wish you had. [46:44] And if you’re a Christian, the meal is up front, the meal is in the back, and Christ beckons you, He says, come eat and drink with me. [46:54] Celebrate our kingdom that is coming.