Attitude of Gratitude

Again, I'm glad to see all of you today and certainly very wonderful Sabbath to be able to meet together. And I thank Tom for the information he provided us regarding Thanksgiving and how it is that we do really celebrate a day that involves the blessings of God. It involves how it is that God has been involved in the lives of those of us who live in this country over the last 200 years.

And we have a great deal to be thankful for and certainly want to be appreciative of that. And I'm wanting to give something today that's related to Thanksgiving, but certainly not directly involving what Tom gave this week or last week. But it is obviously a time when the entire nation looks to at least a day that's set aside that's supposed to be a day of Thanksgiving.

And as it's mentioned, you know, sometimes that isn't the case. Sometimes people rarely even think about being thankful about what it is they have. And usually the activities of the day are consuming any real thoughts of drawing close to God. And so I think it's good for us to think of, you know, what is the Christian's responsibility regarding Thanksgiving?

And again, I'm not saying Thanksgiving Day, I'm just saying what is the Christian's responsibility regarding thankfulness? It really is an essential element of Christianity. In many ways, it may be a focal element of Christianity, because as we come to understand the role of God in our lives, you can very clearly see that being thankful to God, relating to God in appreciation and in gratitude.

And now I'm talking not just as a nation or as a group, but each of us individually, we each have that responsibility. And actually, in many ways, thankfulness is a wonderful, a wonderful quality. Because if we focus on that, if we really put our mind to it and gain the benefits of being thankful, it's actually a safeguard. It's a safeguard against having a hardened heart and actually becoming embittered, because sometimes that can even happen. You know, things can go wrong, as all of us know. You know, none of us like to have difficulties or trouble or problems, but we all have.

At least some of those, we may have a lot of those. But to be safeguard against being bitter or having a heart that is not sensitive to the benefits and blessings of honoring God and thanking God and obeying God, thankfulness is a real key to that. I want to talk about the Apostle Paul today. I think most of you know the Apostle Paul.

He was not one of the original 12. He was an apostle that God drew. As you read the book of Acts, you see him being brought into the service of God. And he was brought into the service of God in a miraculous way. He was struck down. He had been out killing the church. He had been killing the Christians. That was his job. And of course, he came to see that was wrong. And so God drew him to be a servant, primarily to the Gentile world. He would sometimes go to the Jews, of course, and talk with them. But primarily his role was to those who were outside of Israel. And he was going to the cities that we even see books of the Bible written about, Ephesus and Philippi and Colossae and Thessalonica and Rome and Corinth.

What we see in his writings is that he often sent greetings to these churches, to the people who were in the congregation in these different cities. He'd send greetings, and he'd send encouragement, and he'd also warn them or correct them or give them direction. And yet what I want to focus on, as Paul describes his own life, because you have to say, from Paul's description as a Christian, he had a pretty tough time. He had a very tough time. And actually, when you read the book of Acts, which is primarily the history of the apostles, the history of the acts or the works that the apostles did, you read about some of the things that happened to Paul.

You read about a few of them.

You don't read about all of them. You read about some of them. And then you, and I'm going to go over this. You read what he says he did, which is a little bit different. But nonetheless, it documents the many things that he went through, the many perils that he went through in his life. And yet I think it's unusual that you can actually say that, at least from the writing of Paul, you could say he was an apostle of Thanksgiving. He mentions being thankful more than any of the others. Now, it's not that the others weren't, or that they don't directly mention it, or they only mention it briefly in cases. You see him mentioning it over and over again. Let's look at Ephesians. The book of Ephesians, chapter 5, and of course, he wrote this book to instruct the people in Ephesus, the church members, the Christians in Ephesus. He wanted them to be aware of a lot of things. Actually, the whole book is an extremely great book to be able to read, but I only want to focus on a couple of verses here that are in the mid part of chapter 5. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 15, he says, Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people, but as wise, redeeming the time, making the most of your time. And so he clearly was talking directly to them. He says, Don't waste all your time. You know, be smart, be wise about what it is that you focus on. He says in verse 17, don't be foolish. Understand what the will of the Lord is. And so he wants the Christians, and I'm sure God wants us as Christians today, he wants us to know what the will of God is. He wants us to learn what the will of God is for us. In verse 18, he says, Don't get drunk with wine, but that's debauchery, but actually be filled with the Spirit of God. And so he said, In order to be wise, you're going to need to be asking for more of the Spirit of God. You're going to need to be recognizing I need it, and asking that God would provide that help that comes from his Spirit. But he says, Be filled with the Spirit as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart. Verse 20. Verse 20 is where I'm getting to. Giving thanks. Giving thanks to God the Father when? Giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now that's a mouthful. Give thanks for everything and at all times. He doesn't say do that on Thanksgiving Day.

He doesn't say do that occasionally. And even as Tom mentioned, a lot of times people are not asking a blessing over their meal, which is certainly a good practice and something I would encourage you to do. And I'm sure you do, as you are thanking God for the sustenance that we have, even with our refreshments or if we have a meal here after services, as we do monthly. We ask God for his blessing. Thank you for what you have provided. But what you see Paul telling the people in Ephesus is you need to give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything. And in many ways that almost seems when you read what Paul went through and what he endured, it seems like it's almost doesn't seem to match up. How could he possibly be thanking God for all the stuff he went through? See, I want to examine Paul's attitude of gratitude. You can write that down.

Since Hank's always trying to figure out what the title of the sermon is, sometimes we have to make it a little more clear than we might otherwise.

But I want to look at Paul's attitude of gratitude and not only that Paul had that, but that we need to learn to have that type of an outlook. I want to look at that, and of course it should be something we emulate as Christians today. Here in 2 Corinthians, I mentioned that Paul certainly writes about being thankful. He writes about just telling people to be thankful. He writes about that in almost every one of his books, repeatedly. And that's why I say he could be called an apostle of Thanksgiving, because he's encouraging people to be thankful.

But here in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 11, you see a listing of things that Paul endured. And of course, at this time, he was defending his responsibility as an apostle. He was not, in a sense, bragging about what it was. He even says, I'm talking like a fool. I'm talking like a madman. Why do I even have to say any of this? It's what he really was saying. And yet, whenever you look at the type of suffering that Paul went through, how could you possibly give thanks at all times and for everything like he just told the Ephesians? Starting here in verse 21, as I said, he was, in a sense, defending his responsibilities here. He says, to my shame, I must say, you know, we were too weak for that, but whatever anyone dares to boast of, I'm speaking like a fool. I dare to boast of that. And so he was having to make a defense of his own actions, of his own authority that he had to tell the church how to live their lives, how to live a godly life.

Because others were claiming to be impressive. They were claiming to be apostles, and he was actually saying, no, they're not. They are not real. They are not genuine. They're actually false.

And so he says here in verse 22, he says, are they Hebrews? And so he's talking about others who were trying to put him down. Are they Hebrews? Well, he says, so am I. So what they were meaning by that was not just were they Israelite in descent, or do they speak Hebrew? That's what he was saying, because those who were criticizing him said, Paul's name, he doesn't even maintain the ancient language which they were. And Paul said, no, I can speak it. I can talk as a Hebrew. He goes on to say, are they Israelites? Well, of course, he says, so am I. And he had quite the genealogy to go back to through the tribe of Benjamin, and so clearly was an Israelite. He says, so am I. He says, are they descendants of Abraham? Well, clearly so am I. And so he was kind of laying the groundwork with those statements. He says in verse 23, are they ministers of Christ? Of course, he was saying that he was.

Are they ministers of Christ? Well, I'm talking like a madman. I'm an even better one with far greater... and then he's going to elaborate on what he's been through. He says, I'm a minister of Christ, and actually I have far better labor. I have far more imprisonments. I have countless floggings, and I have often been near death. Now there he summarizes several things that I would not want to go through.

Several things that I would not wish to ever see. I don't want to be scourged. I don't want to be flogged. I don't want to be near death several times, but he even goes on to say more about this. He says in verse 24, and see some of this, as I mentioned, is written about in the book of Acts. You see him actually being stoned. You see him being let down in a basket out to get away from people who are trying to hurt him. You see him, I think, a night and a day in the deep. You know, he's a shipwreck. He's going to mention those things a little later, but you only see a few of those things. But here you see Paul say in verse 24, 5 times I've received from the Jews 40 lashes minus 1.

Five times he was flogged by the Jews because of him proclaiming the Christianity that he had been called. And of course, the description, 39 lashes came from the reference that if someone was scourged, 40 lashes was what they could get. But they always backed off of that a little. Be sure not to go over, because if they went over, then the last surer was to be punished. You know, because he was in error. And certainly if the person ended up dying, then the individual involved in the scourging would be probably put to death as well. But here he talks about just of his own people. Five times he was scourged or flogged.

Now, I would find it hard to give thanks at all times and for everything if I were going through that. You know, we know, of course, ultimately Jesus went through that same type of scourging before he would later be put to death, shortly be put to death. But you see, Paul, you know, this almost seems like every other year or every year he's going through some life-threatening debacle. Of course, here he says five times, I've been punished by the Jews. Verse 25, three times I was beaten with rods! Now, this was a different type of flogging. This was actually a Roman flogging where they did this through just using rods instead of the type of a whip that the Jews would be using in their scourging. You know, some rods were used in this Roman scourging. And, of course, again, you know, how could Paul thank God that I'm going through this? That I'm enduring, again, a flogging that in many ways you could say he didn't deserve and legally couldn't even be done to him because he was a Roman citizen. But, of course, when the mob gets out of control, there's little you can do. They didn't take into account, even though he later, you know, would be able to get out of a few things because he said, I'm a Roman. I'm a Roman citizen, and you shouldn't be treating me this way. And they thought, oh, we've got to send him on to Rome. You know, we've got to get him out of our jurisdiction because we don't want to hurt him and incriminate ourselves. So he mentions being beaten these eight times, at least. The last part of verse 25, he says, once I received a stoning. I think that's referenced. I didn't look that up. I believe it is.

And yet, what's the purpose of stoning? You know, it's not simply to maim. It may, if they do a bad job. The purpose, if they do a good job, is to kill. He says, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Three times I was shipwrecked.

Now, I wonder if he was riding the cruise line around Italy. Even today, that can be problematic. But I'm sure, and I'll tell you, this is too easy to read. Three times I was shipwrecked. It's too easy to read because whenever we read that, you know, I think of the cruise line, and that wasn't what he was on. That wasn't what he was on at all. He wasn't on the Carnival Cruise Line. He wasn't on the Alaskan Cruise Line. I'm sure they have, some of you may have been on cruises. And I'm not terribly thrilled about looking forward to a cruise. That isn't something I would like to do. Some people might like to do that. I wouldn't like to do that because I think it would be, you know, the scenery might be okay, but otherwise kind of boring. I'm not much of a water person. I can swim, but I don't like to just lay around and worsen my skin condition in the sun. I'm not interested in a cruise. But see, this wasn't what Paul was talking about. He was talking about, you know, being on a ship, probably a much less pleasant ship, where he says at least three times. And so I would assume he was probably on many different, somewhat maybe just transport vessels, just trying to carry cargo.

Let's see, the fact was, whenever you see what... I'm going to assume would be in the Mediterranean or around to the Aegean, as far as the areas where he was, at that time, in that day, you know, to get out on the ship was essentially just taking your life in your hands. You didn't know whether you were going to make it to the other side. You didn't know what kind of storms were going to come up. You didn't know. Well, of course, I think he even mentions in Book of Acts, you know, the ship being, you know, so overpowered by a huge storm, and them having to, you know, pitch everything, and then finally, we need to pray that God will help us because we're goners. We're going to die. See, that was the way they thought about shipping or riding on a ship. And yet Paul, apparently, you know, he didn't learn the first time because he still kept getting on the boat. He still, you know, he felt compelled. He had a mission that he needed to complete, and that mission was from God, and that mission was to take a message of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to other parts of the world, which was going to require that he traveled like he did. But he says three times, I was shipwrecked.

He says one time, you know, at least a day and a night, I spent a drift at sea.

You know, we have all kinds of, you know, search and rescue missions that people, you know, every time something happens, you know, there are people who are maybe alive from capsizing. You know, you've got helicopters and you've got all kinds of things that I doubt that any of that was there. You know, nothing, no one was looking for Paul whenever he spent a night and day in the deep. You know, what kind of prayers would you pray? I don't even know how cold the waters of the Mediterranean are. They could be, I guess. I would think they are at least certain times of the year. But see, that's what he says he went through. And yet he also was telling everybody else, you know, be thankful at all times and be thankful for everything.

He was setting quite an example, quite a pattern. He goes on in describing his perils. I've been frequently traveling. I'm a frequent journeyer. I've been in danger or peril from rivers. I've been in danger from bandits. I've been in danger from my own people and I've been in danger from the Gentiles. Endangered in the city, endangered in the wilderness, endangered at sea, endangered from false brethren. I've been in toil and hardship. I've been through many a sleepless night. I've been hungry and thirsty and often without food, cold and naked.

Now that kind of a description I can't identify with. You know, my life is a little more pleasant than that. At least I try to make it that way. Or I would like for it to be that way. And I think all of us. We enjoy a life type here in this country that is extraordinary. Certainly compared with many around the world. But when you read Paul's description, you really wonder how is he able to say you should be thankful for everything. How can you have that outlook?

I think what we realized is that Thanksgiving, the giving of thanks for Paul, was really a daily reality. It was a daily reality. It's what he thought about every day, no matter what happened.

It was a daily reality that changed his life and made him a joyful person, even in distressing circumstances. And brethren, we can't allow a spirit of ingratitude to harden our heart and actually chill our relationship with God. Because that's what it does. If we don't remind ourselves to be thankful, to be thankful at all times and for everything, well then that can draw us down. That can harden us. And actually nothing turns us into bitter or dissatisfied people more quickly than an ungrateful heart. That can allow. That allows those other bad qualities that we may want to avoid. But if we don't do the positive things, which Thanksgiving would be a positive thing, the giving of thanks. Of course, you find Paul in 2 Timothy and in the book of Romans talking about how at the end of the age, people will be, and they're described in many different ways as far as sinful and wrong. But one of the clear patterns that's there is that they're not grateful. They're ungrateful. They're unthankful. And because they are not thankful, and perhaps that's a description of what we see in our world today, because they don't relate to God in a loving respect, then they suffer from many of the tragic categories here. I want to point out three things that I think could be helpful to us today. Why was it or how was it that Paul could be thankful in the way that he was? Well, first of all, I think he had a view of the material blessings that he had that was extremely important. He was grateful to God for the physical things that were available to him. Sometimes that was a lot. Sometimes that was a little. Sometimes that was not. But he said he was grateful for those physical things. And certainly as we think about it, we clearly, you know, we've not gone through. We have a rain here every now and then, and sometimes a tornado comes through reasonably close to us. We've not gone through a typhoon in the last two weeks. You know, some of our brethren have. Millions of people in the Philippines were affected. By a typhoon that took their property and took their houses. You know, we may suffer some of that at times. And certain of people we know may go through that. But see, are we trying to take the attitude that Paul has regarding the physical abundance that we enjoy? Let's look at Philippians, a book that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi. Congregation there, a congregation that he actually greatly loved. It was what appears to be a very stable and very optimistic group, and one who had been given. Many blessed them, who were reeling, extraordinary in their service to other people. You know, you find this in the book of Philippians. But what I want to point out here is in Philippians chapter 4, because it has to do with how Paul viewed the physical abundance that God had provided him, whatever it was. Even if it was in shipwreck, or it can be hard to believe, you could be too thankful for the flogging. You know, I'll say that a little bit later, but here in Philippians 4, Philippians 4 verse 10, he says, I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you've revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned for me, but you didn't have an opportunity to show it. He was commending the people at Philippi. They were generous. They were willing to help. They looked out for others. They helped if someone needed help. They were Christian in what they did, and certainly they wanted to be Christian toward Paul, because he was the one who had initiated their congregation. God had drawn people together at his preaching. And so here in verse 11, he says, I thank you for your concern for me.

But in verse 11, he says, not that I'm referring to being in need, for I've learned to be content with whatever I have. Now, this is a verse, you know, we often would read about contentment of being content. And certainly having an understanding or an appreciation or gratitude for what we have would be involved in this. But this is how Paul looked at it. He says, I've learned to be content with whatever I have. I know in verse 12 what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret. And so here he says, I've learned the secret. You know, this secret could be Thanksgiving. It could be giving thanks for whatever it is that I may currently have. But he says, I've learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.

And he says, I know I can do all things through him who strengthens me, of course, through Jesus Christ. But he says in verse 14, in any case, it's nice of you to share my distress. You know, he was able to point out to them that, well, I go through all kinds of stuff. Sometimes things are great. Sometimes they are terrible. But I'm grateful for whatever the situation is, whatever the circumstances are. In his case, you could say they kind of come and go. Because certainly, when he describes a lot of the poor man in peril that he went through, you know, you'd have to say, well, you know, you certainly hope it wasn't that way all the time. And yet, you also find him suffering in jail. That doesn't always sound to be a very pleasant situation. Certainly wouldn't be here and now. I'm sure it wasn't then. You find him even suffering being imprisoned and at the subject subjected to others. And yet, he says, you know, being thankful for whatever your physical abundance is, whatever material blessings you currently enjoy. And maybe that's a good way to state it. Because that can change, as all of us know. That can change. That can be different. We'd like for that to continually, and as Tom mentioned, you know, the system is one that allows for people to prosper here in this country. And yet, we'd like for that to always be on the up. It isn't always on the up. Sometimes there are downs. And sometimes there are a lot of reversals. And then people try to get back up and get going again. And that would seem to describe what Paul's describing here about the contentment and the secret, I think, being thankful for whatever physical blessings, you know, we have. And we can think of many different blessings that would fit into that category. And I would hope that you would think of those. Are we constantly preoccupied with what we don't have?

Or, as Paul, if we learn to thank God for what we do. Yeah, I think that's kind of a summary of what Paul had to say. Actually, if we jump up a few verses here, you see that Paul said again, he says in verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, Rejoice, let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and mind. In Jesus Christ, he said, this is where you have real contentment. This is where you have real peace. If you are praying and doing that with thanksgiving. And so, obviously, the first thing Paul mentions, and I think would stand out regarding Paul and his situation, is that he was grateful, you know, no matter what situation he happened to be in, whether it was a good one or whether it was certainly less than good. The second thing that is very obvious to see, and it clearly is what we should do, we should be thankful for not only the physical abundance, which I mentioned, but for the spiritual abundance that we have. Knowing the truth of God, having been drawn by God the Father to recognize our need for Jesus Christ, and for the forgiveness and mercy that he extends to us and for the salvation that God holds out before us. What more would be a motivating factor in anyone's life? How much should we be thankful for that? You see in the book of Colossians, again, another one of the churches that Paul is writing to, Colossae. You actually have several different...this is a couple of pages further in your Bible...the book of Colossians, you see four different chapters, and in each one of them he actually has something to say about being thankful. But primarily it's about being thankful that God has drawn you to understand the truth of God. Here in Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, verse 11, he says, "...may ye be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power." And we can be thankful not just for physical things, but for the spiritual power that God has made available to us. He says, "...may ye be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may ye be prepared to endure everything with patience, and joyfully give thanks to the Lord." So here he's telling them that they have a responsibility understanding their calling and understanding what's available spiritually. He says, "...joyfully give thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light." Yeah, we don't usually think of ourselves as saints. I think I don't. Maybe you do.

Maybe not that you think of me, but you think of yourself. Probably you did not think of me at all. But see, we usually don't think of ourselves as the saints of God. And yet, that's the way God looks at us as the children of God. He looks at us as his little kids, his sons and daughters, the brethren, the brothers and sisters in Christ. That's the way God looks at us. But again, what Paul mentions to the people there in Colossae, "...joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light." He has rescued you. He had rescued us from the power of darkness.

And he's transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. That's again a whole sermon in itself, those few verses. But that's what Paul told them. You need to be thankful, not just for whatever physical situation you're in, but you can be thankful for the tremendous intervention of God in your life. Having granted you forgiveness, having granted you mercy, having set you on the path to eternal life. And we can be extremely thankful for that here in chapter 2. You can read some of these same descriptions in each of the chapters because he's telling them, I want you to appreciate what God has done for you because that, of course, is a spiritual blessing that we can be thankful for. So not only do we have physical abundance, but we have spiritual abundance here in chapter 2, verse 6. He says, as you therefore have received Jesus Christ the Lord, continue to live your lives in Him. That, of course, is what we all want to do. We want to live our lives in Jesus Christ, rooted and build up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding. Abounding in thanksgiving. He was saying, be thankful for your spiritual calling. Be thankful for the abundance that God has made available through knowing Him and knowing Jesus Christ.

And I think we could also say to be thankful. To be thankful, you know, for one another. To be thankful for our congregation here. To be thankful for the encouragement that we can receive.

I'm thankful for every one of you. I'm thankful that you're here. I'm thankful that you are growing in Jesus Christ. I want to be thankful for what spiritual abundance God allows us to have. And, of course, He wants us to continue to grow. He wants us to continue to be grateful for that. In Romans, another one of Paul's books here, Romans chapter 12, he talks about the will of God in our lives. And I was thinking of this as I was reading an article in The Good News the other day that was pointing out the type of a sacrificial service that was extended to Jesus Christ by a woman when she came in and washed his feet in Simon the Pharisee's house.

Truly a wonderful example, wonderful admonition to us. Let's see, we want to be thankful for not only God drawing us and for us being able to nurture and encourage and build up one another, but also for the opportunity. The tremendous privilege it is to simply to live a life of serving others, because that's what our lives should be. If we're going to be following Jesus Christ, then that's what He did. Here in verse 1 of chapter 12 of Romans, I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God to present your body's living sacrifice. Only an acceptable God, which is your reasonable service or spiritual worship, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the will of God, that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, He wants us to be. The will of God is that we be living a life of service to others. And so that's a motivating factor. That is a powerful motivating factor in our lives. At least it should be. And it should be something that we are thankful to God for in the life that we live here as Christians. The last thing I want to mention, because Paul made it very clear, you know, he was thankful for the physical abundance. He was thankful for the spiritual abundance. He was thankful for the churches that he worked with and that he got to go serve. He got to go serve on a boat. You know, that's how he had to get there sometimes. He was glad. Ah, we have a shipwreck every now and then. Yeah, but that's not the end of the world because I've got a bigger purpose in mind. I want to do something that has a greater benefit than just the fact that I might run into a little bit of difficulty. And of course, this last one is that we can certainly even be thankful in the midst of trials and despair and disappointment and reversals and distress. That's what Paul would have to be premier in being able to express.

And God, he's fully aware of whatever dilemmas that we are in, whatever dilemmas we have gotten ourselves in sometimes. He's fully aware of that. He's aware of the distress and the despair that we suffer. You know, many of us have sicknesses and illnesses at times.

It doesn't have to get older. Now really, and I may not be the same age as every one of you, but I'm older than I was. I never thought about being sick before I was 40.

I really went downhill after that.

But I really didn't think about it because I was healthy. I never had anything go wrong. Never did break bones and, you know, fall down and break my shoulders. Didn't do those things when I was 40. And yet, you know, there can be a lot of things that can be despairing.

Some people are very lonely, and there may be, well, reason for that.

But see, what does God tell us? Let's look at 2 Corinthians. Again, this is Paul writing. Here, in this case, he's writing to the church in Corinth. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, starting in verse 6, it says, it's God who says, Let light shine out of darkness, because he has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He's the one who's given us that spiritual blessing. Verse 7, for we have this treasure, we have this wonderful blessing of knowing God in clay jars so that it may be made clear that his extraordinary power belongs, or this power belongs to God, but does not come from us. You know, well, God's the one who has empowered us to know him. And so Paul makes this, again, it's a declarative statement in verse 8. He's described as, you know, the many things that he lived through. I'd be the only way you could say some of them. Loggings and shipwreck and night and a day in the deep. He said, I've been robbed. They had a problem with their highways, kind of like we have today. Unfortunately, you know, you're not always safe when you're out on the highway. You're not always safe in town. You know, there are people who will take things from you. And Paul said, you know, I've been among the bandits, you know, even traveling, you know, in the hillsides or the wilderness, as he called it. You know, that was that was risky at times. But he says, in that God has drawn us to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Since God has drawn us to that wonderful blessing, he says in verse 8, we're afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed.

He's going to make a few comparisons here. We're afflicted, but we're not crushed. We're not destroyed. He says we can we might be perplexed, but we're not driven to despair. You know, at times, you know, we are perplexed. I certainly am perplexed at times.

He says we can be in verse 9 persecuted, but we certainly are not forsaken. In persecution, in a sense, whenever it talks about it's going to be through much tribulation, you enter the kingdom of God, or that in the Beatitudes it talks about, blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. And of course, it says theirs is the kingdom of God. Theirs is a focus on something far more better. There he says persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our body. So he says the way in which, you know, God allows us, you know, and this is seemed to me to be a, you know, sometimes you have scriptures that are a little harder to understand, and you kind of have to put information together and be able then to understand what it says. You know, this is almost, and we would call those sometimes, a difficult scripture. Difficult because it's hard to understand, maybe hard to clearly explain.

One of the most difficult scriptures that I think we find in the Bible is in James. Now, that's not Paul's, but James chapter 1, verse 2. James chapter 1, verse 2.

Here I am venturing away from Paul. I shouldn't do that. But here in James chapter 1, verse 2, he says, brethren, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy. You know, that seems like a difficult scripture to me.

It says, be joyful when you fall into diverse temptation in King James.

That's hard to do. That's very hard to do. To be actually joyful. And this is what Paul describes when he says, we're troubled, but we're not distressed. We're perplexed, but we're not in despair. We're persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We cast down, but we're not destroyed. He was able to see beyond whatever the difficulty was at the time. And like I said, how to be joyful in the face of trial. I think Paul must have had a corner on the market on that. You know, he had to be able, as he said, be thankful in everything. And he tells us, you know, we can learn to be thankful even in the face of the distress and discouragement, you know, that we may be allowed to go through.

So, you know, those are areas. There are a lot of others that I could cover here, but for time I'm going to not cover them. But see, as we think about our Christian responsibility toward God, in many ways a key part of that is being thankful. Being thankful for the physical abundance, many material blessings that we have whenever they're great or whenever they're blessed. Being thankful for the spiritual abundance that we've been given, and even being thankful for it's really hard to pray, thank you for this trial. Thank you for this mess that I'm now in. That's very hard to do. I've tried to do that a little. It does actually help. It actually helps because, you know, what you find, and this is, I believe, an important thing for us to keep in mind, what we find is, even though we may be in a difficulty, a distressing situation, what we find is that when we're thankful, we realize that God is with us in that trial. Many times we think, you know, trials may be of our making or not of our making, just something happens. We almost think that is in a punishment. You know, sometimes, you know, the trying of our faith is going to cause us to grow in the divine nature. I mean, that's another section of Peter that is really important to fully understand. But realizing, or even being thankful for a trial that we see we're going through, causes us to realize that God is with us. And in Psalm 23, I know all of you can probably recite that. It says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. That's not talking about dying, per se. It's actually saying walking through, going through, traversing some type of a difficulty or a steep gully, if you're thinking of the mountains that I think David was writing about. He says, even though you're walking through this, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to fear because what?

Because I am with you. The Good Shepherd is with you. Those are the things that I think we're able to think whenever we choose to be thankful in all things and for everything. And that's what Paul, I believe, was trying to teach. So I hope that being reminded of these things that we will be able to see beyond any ingratitude that we might suffer because at times we surely are not as thankful as we should be. But that we can see beyond that and realize, well, that just hardens our heart. That draws us down. And we don't want to stay in that type of a selfish or a bitter outlook. But if we let thanksgiving be the way we think, what we first think of, in spite of the difficulty, well then we're going to certainly live a much more joyful life. Here in 1 Thessalonians we'll conclude with this verse, again another one, of Paul's directions regarding thanksgiving to the church meeting in Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, this is kind of in his concluding statements here, his final exhortations.

He's giving them a lot of instruction here starting in verse 12 and verse 14.

Verse 16, he says, rejoice always. Now these are pretty, you can remember these verses, there are only two word verses. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you. You know, that's not the same one I read earlier, but it's very similar, and it expresses the same thing. Because what Paul was reiterating and what he showed through his lifetime of often desperation, surely. You know, he had to have desperate situations. He says he was close to death numerous times, and you know, that's something that, you know, it's hard to even imagine. He said he was shipwrecked, and he said he was beaten so many different times. He certainly was castigated with words by many others who claimed he can't even be a part of the true church. He was out killing the church before God converted him. That was an accusation. Now, he's not acceptable. You know, he had a lot of things to overcome, but God, of course, helped him to do that. And so, in verse 18, he says, give thanks in all circumstances. This is the will of God, God's will for you. And for me, is to give thanks in all things and in all circumstances. And I think, you know, it's certainly, you know, as we do this, it's not simply something that we think about on Thanksgiving Day, you know, it's something I hope we would be mindful of at that time, but that it would be, as I said earlier about Paul, it would be a daily reality. Thanksgiving was a way of life. It was a daily reality for Paul. And rather than it can be, and it should be, a daily reality for us.