PRESENTER'S NOTES

342 published messages on the new site.184 by four Musketeers

And, if it weren’t for the message given by Mr. Smith last month, none of them would have had a form of the word, “Thank”, in the title. The reason I discovered this is because Thanksgiving, being on a Thursday, falls on a day known as “Throw Back Thursday”, where on social media, people will repost something from the past or simply share something from the past. I’ve been using our church Facebook page to mainly share our messages, and when Thursday comes, I will post a message from previous years.

Since Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, I thought to myself, “For throwback Thursday, I will post to our Facebook Page one of our older messages about giving thanks.” That led to the sound of crickets. We had none!!

That experience led to today’s message, but how would I approach the topic? If you will recollect from November 7th, Mr. Smith shared with us examples of thanksgiving going back in biblical time, he shared with us man’s proclivity to be unthankful, and he shared with us a range extending from unthankfulness to deep gratitude.

Since that time, I have reviewed from other congregations other messages about giving thanks to discover the approach taken. These were all great messages to remind us of our blessings, that we should be thankful for them, and they also offered great ways to practice thanksgiving.

Today’s message, however, will attempt to explain, “How to be Truly Thankful”. In other words, I do not want to discuss practicing thankfulness so much as I want us to discover that that inspires thankfulness so that the expression of thanks is not something that must be reasoned.

Let’s consider something all of us have experienced in one way or another to clarify what I want to focus upon.

Imagine a child with her parents. She’s four years old, it’s two weeks before her birthday (something she’s not thinking about), she’s watching the TV with her parents, and a commercial comes on advertising a beautiful baby doll. This little girl, who loves being babied by her mom, becomes mesmerized by the description of a doll she can feed and change, the eyes closing when she is laid down, that cries and coos. The advertisement ends, she looks right at her parents and confesses, “Oh, that doll is so wonderful, and if I had that doll to take care of I would never, ever, never want another doll again!”

Dad replies, “Well, your birthday is coming soon!”

The girl is too young to be setting up a strategy, though with her daddy’s words, she believes her parents will provide at some time in the future.

Her dad gives her mom some cash, and she buys the doll as a gift for the child’s birthday. The day before her birthday she gets a cold (runny nose, low-grade fever, cough), she wants comfort from her parents. She might ask them for medicine or soup for instance, but she’s also happily dreaming about having the dolly. Her birthday arrives, she’s still sick, but she receives the wrapped present, and she’s excited though not knowing exactly every detail about what this doll will look like, this doll that she believes will be the doll above all dolls. She opens the present. She sees the picture of the doll on the package. And, without having completely unwrapped it, now totally detached from her troubles, she drops the package and flies into her mother’s arms with a huge smile, tears in her eyes, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mommy!” Straight to her dad she runs, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Daddy!”

Consider the following. Was this little girl doing something expected of her, or was this spontaneous, heartfelt thanksgiving toward the people she immediately recognized as the source of her fulfilled desire. She had no question in her mind about what she thought would make her happy forever, even when sick. And, she had no question in her mind about who provided the gift.

Something similar happens in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 17: 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. (continued)
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks…

Like the little girl in my example, this cleansed leper; once he realized his desire to be healed was fulfilled by Jesus, he spontaneously runs back, figuratively speaking, to wrap his arms around the neck of his benefactor and cry, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
 
2168 eucharisteo yoo-khar-is-teh'-o from 2170; to be grateful, i.e. (actively) to express gratitude (towards); specially, to say grace at a meal:--(give) thank(-ful, -s). see GREEK for 2170

But, from other scriptures like Philippians 4, we see this same kind of thanksgiving expressed no matter the circumstances.

Philippians 4: 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So, let’s say you have family troubles that would naturally lead to anxiety. The instruction here is that you need not worry but take your problem to God for resolution. The kicker here is that it must be done with thanksgiving. What does that mean? Thanksgiving for the trial? I don’t think so. Verse 7 defines the thanksgiving, so what is this peace of God which passes all understanding?

2169 eucharistia yoo-khar-is-tee'-ah from 2170; gratitude; actively, grateful language (to God, as an act of worship):--thankfulness, (giving of) thanks(-giving). see GREEK for 2170

So, this thankfulness is something that exists whether things are going well or going badly. (ESV)

1 Thessalonians 5: 16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

So, hearing these stories and definitions brought to us through scripture; what inspires spontaneous, heartfelt thanksgiving, and in ANY circumstance? If it’s this peace of God that surpasses human understanding, what is this peace?

1 Peter 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The little child was given a toy that fulfilled her every desire, and she was grateful to her parents for that gift she could not acquire herself. The leper was healed, and he was grateful to Jesus for that gift of healing knowing healing was not possible otherwise.

What do you want more than anything else, EVER? What is it that you with God’s Spirit can be so thankful for that you can thank God in EVERY circumstance? What is this thing that bestows upon us the peace of God?

In closing, God has offered us a gift that, with His Spirit to give us the vision, is to be desired above all other desires. If you and I learn how to desire that gift, and that gift is God’s promise of eternal salvation, then we can endure any and all things with spontaneous, truly grateful thanksgiving for the promise.