Motivations to be Thankful

So good to see all of you here this morning. I hope you. Had a a wonderful Thanksgiving season. And that you are freshly mindful of how much you as a believer have to be grateful for.

in keeping with that theme of Thanksgiving, I wanna speak to you on the topic of Thanksgiving and the title of the message is, motivations to. to be thankful. I hope you realize that Thanksgiving is not something that you do one day out of the year, but it's something that is to be the consistent pattern of our life for reasons that we're going to explore. In the message this morning.

but let me start, by having you turn to Luke chapter 18. We're gonna look at a handful of passages of scripture and we'll start in Luke chapter 18. Robert Emmons, is a psychologist at the University of California, Davis, and back in 2013, he wrote a book entitled Gratitude Works. And speaking of what he learned while researching for this book, he said, and I quote, dozens of studies have found that gratitude can improve well-being and can even help people curb depression and anxiety, improve cholesterol.

And get better sleep. Grateful people engage in more exercise, have better dietary behaviors, and are less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol, unquote, all of which leads Robert Emmons to make. This statement saying. Gratitude.

Is good medicine. Gratitude is good medicine. In uttering that last statement, Robert Emmons reveals that he has climbed a mountain of scientific evidence. And when he reached the top of that mountain, he merely discovered things that the Bible has taught for thousands of years.

And this morning I'd like to share some of that ancient wisdom with you from God's word and ultimately give you. Four biblical motivations for embracing a lifestyle of Thanksgiving every day of the year. But before I do that, I, I do feel compelled to qualify a few things. first of all, let me just start off by qualifying the thankfulness that I'm talking about.

Not every thankfulness is actually appropriate, so there's a particular Thanksgiving. That we're angling towards in the message today. and the Thanksgiving that we're talking about is, first of all, a thankfulness that is directed toward whom? Toward God It is not uncommon nowadays to hear people giving thanks to the universe.

For some good that they've experienced, they're motivational. Speakers nowadays who get paid a ton of money that are counseling their audiences to give thanks to the universe. One woman named Shawna followed such advice and wrote the following poem that she posted online, saying, I give my full gratitude to the universe. For bringing the love of my life to me.

I give thanks for my wonderful kids and thank you for my new job. The universe is good to me. I thank the universe for guiding me. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you. And all God's people said, I don't know what you say, but I'm sure that these words don't fall easily on you. But why don't they? Well, because they fall short of giving to God the glory that he deserves as the ultimate source of.

The blessings that we have received in Our lives and it is ultimately to him that our Thanksgiving should ultimately ascend to. sometimes we actually can be somewhat guilty of the same thing that this woman who wrote this poem is guilty of. Sometimes we may thank people for some gift or blessing that we have received from them, and too much of our thanks is directed towards them. for the blessing that has been received, and there's too little recognition of the fact that that blessing ultimately originated from the heart of God.

And came from him. And reveals his heart. And we should give him ultimately the thanks. And I don't share this to say that it's bad to thank people.

For blessings that we have received from them, but only to say that our expressions of thankfulness even to people should embody some recognition that God is the ultimate source even of the good that has come through them to us. Every good and perfect gift comes from where? From above. James tells us, so any blessing we receive from others should be received as an expression.

Of the loving and the gracious heart of our good heavenly Father and a manifestation of his goodness to us and our thanks ultimately should therefore ascend to him. This is why if you read Paul's epistles, you will notice that in virtually all of his epistles he is careful to thank God for the blessings that he has received from the Christians that. He is writing too. You find this language in virtually every epistle that he writes, and you notice.

That he speaks to. His audiences in a way that makes them feel appreciated, but that ultimately serves to remind them even that any good that they have done to Paul or any way that they have blessed him ultimately comes from God. And by the way, this can be true also on a meaningful level with unbelievers that are in our lives. With blessings that we receive from the nonbelievers that we, we know who by God's common grace may do many things that genuinely meaningfully bless you.

This may be your unsaved parents or unsaved family members or your unsaved coworkers or neighbors. It could be any nonbeliever who by the common grace of God. Is used of God to be a blessing. To you, and we should give thanks for that to God.

I remember one time. being blessed by a non-Christian auto mechanic who had really blessed me, in a significant way, and I asked him, can I pray right now and thank the Lord for you. And he said, sure, and in my prayer, I celebrated the gifts and the abilities that God had given to him along with the specifics of how God had used him to be a timely blessing to me. And when I was done, the mechanic seemed blessed.

by the prayer, and I would hope that he was well served by the reminder that he is an image bearer of God, whose gifts and abilities have come from God and to him. The thanks should go. So we need to make sure that our Thanksgiving is directed toward God. That's the Thanksgiving we're talking about.

But secondly, our Thanksgiving should be humble. Our Thanksgiving should be humble and not serve as a pretense for self-congratulation. Our Thanksgiving must be genuinely humble. We see this negatively illustrated in the passage I had you turn to in Luke chapter 18.

If you look at verse 11, Jesus is talking about a religious man, a Pharisee who came to the temple and prayed, and notice how this religious man starts his prayer. Look at verse 11. Of Luke 18, the Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, God, I thank you. How could you possibly go wrong with a prayer that begins with these words.

But notice what he goes on to say, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer, I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all I get. What this Pharisee is doing is what we call a humble brag, like what people do on Facebook nowadays. This Pharisee really wants to congratulate himself and distinguish himself from others, yet he's careful to couch his brag inside the spiritual sounding language of thanksgiving to God.

Ultimately by the time he's done with his prayer though, we see that his prayer is really not about God, but it's all about himself, right? Which is why Jesus says that the Pharisee stood and was praying this to whom? To himself. Ultimately he was talking to himself and not God.

So here's my point, don't think that just because somewhere in your prayer, or somewhere in your testimony, you say, I thank God. That that means that there cannot be any personal pride or self congratulation in what you say thereafter. Pride is always at work in our hearts, and we need to be ever vigilant, asking ourselves honestly, is there self congratulation at work in my heart? That is giving energy to what I am saying.

Or is my motive truly to glorify God and not merely try to distinguish myself from other people. So it's not good enough to just simply express thanksgiving, we must express thankfulness in a way that is directed to God and truly humble. And truly glorifies Him, not us. And then a third element that I would add.

Here is that our Thanksgiving should recognize God's blessings as a grace. Our Thanksgiving should recognize God's blessings as. The grace that they are, we actually can learn this from. The Greek word for Thanksgiving that we find throughout the New Testament, the Greek expression that is translated thanksgiving or giving thanks.

Is the word Eucharisteo, Eucharisteo. So it's the prefix you that means good, like in the word eulogy, that means a good word about somebody, so the you, the EU. Speaks of something that is good and then it's got the word charis. Which is the word grace.

So it's the word good and the word grace. Inside this word that is translated Thanksgiving in the New Testament. So essentially for us to give thanks is to look at life's blessings and not only to esteem them good. But also to consider them a grace.

To give thanks is to look at life's blessings, large and small, and for us and our fallenness knowing what we deserve to consider them to be good graces from God and keep in mind that grace is not simply. Unmerited favor, it is ill-deserved favor. It's not merely something that we have failed to earn, but it is in fact the opposite of what we have earned from God. So a thankful person biblically speaking.

Is someone who is mindful of his sin and who knows what he deserves for his sin. And he sees the blessings that God has given to him as the opposite. Of what he has deserved, and so he calls each blessing not only good, but a grace, an amazing grace, a wonderful grace. CK Chesterton wrote these words saying, gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder, and the humble Christian. Has great reason to be filled with wonder at the grace of God inside of life's smallest blessings. Especially as he sees those blessings for the graces that they are against the backdrop of the hell. That he deserves for his sins.

So when you see thankfulness in this way, you realize that giving thanks. Is a theological act. And you also see that the gospel centered Christian is uniquely set up to be the most grateful. Person of all.

So to summarize, when we speak of thankfulness in this message, we're speaking of thankfulness that is directed toward God. Thankfulness that is genuinely humble and a thankfulness that appreciates God's gifts as graces. And with the time that we have left, what I want to do is give you 4 reasons. As to why you should embrace a lifestyle of giving this Thanksgiving to the Lord, 4 reasons to embrace a lifestyle of Thanksgiving to God.

Number 1, let's put it this way, because Thanksgiving is the will of God for you and everything. Because Thanksgiving is the will of God for you in. Everything. How's that for a reason?

Let me, let me have you turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 51 Thessalonians 5. And we'll look at verse 18. Where the apostle Paul says in verse 18. These words, in everything, give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Let me read that again. In everything, give thanks for this is God's will for you. In Christ Jesus. Some of you right now are at a stage in your life where you're desperately searching for the will of God, and you're like, I don't know what his will is.

I've got a tough decision to make. Well you can know whatever his will is regarding that thing, right here, something that is his will. And that is that in everything you give thanks. This is a command, this is an imperative.

God commands us here to give thanks. And while on the surface, this may seem like a bummer of a reason to give thanks, think about the heart of God in giving us this command. This is not a burdensome. command that God is seeking to weigh us down with where you hear it and it's like, man, now I gotta add that to my list of things to do.

Just think about the heart of God that gives us this command. This is more like me bringing home some delicious ice cream to my children and saying to my children, eat this. If I said that to my kids, I would be giving them a command, right? But I guarantee you that my children would not hear that command from me and say, man, dad, we just don't like it, all these imperatives coming from you, all these commands, it feels like we're living under law or something, they wouldn't respond that way.

All they would have to do is look at my countenance. And they would know that I'm excited about them partaking of this ice cream because it is good and wonderful, and I'm excited about them entering into the experience of this. And I want you to feel something of that vibe here in a verse like 1 Thessalonians 5:18, when God looks at you and says, in everything give thanks. He has a smile on his face, a knowing smile on his face that should let that he wants to bring you into something that's really good.

And part of what God is trying to bring you into, and to bring you in on is a fundamental reality that underlies this command. Otherwise God would not give this command. And that reality is that in everything, God is always doing something that you can thank him for. That's the promise, the reality that underlies this command in everything, God is always doing something that you can thank him for.

Giving thanks to God and everything it's not just some spiritual pious exercise that is not rooted in reality. The fundamental reality of my life and of your life is that God is good and he's always at work and he's always doing something that we can thank him for and he's telling us here that giving thanks in everything is the way we bring our heart attitude into conformity with this fundamental reality in every circumstance. At all times. You say, well, I get that, but what should I be thankful for?

Paul is telling me to give thanks and everything and right now in my circumstances I look around and I don't see much in my life that I can be thankful for. I hope that's not. Your mindset, but even if it is. Paul gives you a lot of help in this verse.

Look at it again and everything give thanks for this is the will of God. For those in Christ Jesus, for those who are in Christ Jesus, X marks the spot on this treasure map. And the spot where Paul puts the X is in Christ Jesus. And there's a whole trove of treasures inside of just that phrase, inside of Christ for you to give thanks for.

If you want something to be thankful for, how about just simply giving thanks for Jesus Christ? And the fact that you are in Christ Jesus. How about giving thanks for the fact that God chose you in Christ as a believer before the foundation. Of the world and that God drew you to Himself and saved you from your sin.

And put you into Christ Jesus. How about being thankful that you are in Christ Jesus, rather than still in the kingdom of Satan and still in your sins? How about being thankful that you are in Christ Jesus, who is your strong tower? Your refuge.

Your only safe haven from the wrath of God. Not everyone on the planet is in Christ Jesus, which is the safest place to be, but you are by the grace of God. Give thanks for that. How about opening the book of Ephesians and marking all the times you, you are told, and that epistle alone that you are in Christ.

And then making a list of all that that means, and then giving thanks for those things. How about rejoicing in the fact that you are accepted in the beloved, who is Jesus? How about giving thanks for the fact that in him. In him you have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of all of your sins.

How about thanking God that Jesus Christ, because you are in him, is the one great permanent circumstance in which you live and move and have your being every day. No matter what your circumstances are. Circumstances of happiness or brokenness or tragedy, you are always in Christ Jesus. How about thanking God that even in trials, God is always doing a million things for which you can thank Him as He is always working all things for your good and His glory, all because you are in Christ Jesus.

Why should we embrace a lifestyle of Thanksgiving to God? Well, first of all, because Thanksgiving is the will of God for us who are in Christ Jesus. It's God's will because for the person who is in Christ Jesus, God is always doing something that they can be thankful for. But this isn't the only reason we also learned in scripture, another reason that we should embrace a lifestyle of Thanksgiving and let me have you turn to Psalm 147 for this reason, but let's word this reason this way because.

Thanksgiving. Makes you beautiful. Because Thanksgiving makes you beautiful. How's that for a reason?

How many of you want to be beautiful? I see 1 hand, 2. OK, how many of you wanna be ugly? All right, I don't see any hands.

The truth is that all of us want to be beautiful. We wanna be a beautiful person and the Bible literally teaches us that Thanksgiving and giving praise to God makes us beautiful. Let me show you how this is taught. look at Psalm 147 in verse 1, where the psalmist gives us the following counsel.

He says, praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant and praise is becoming. In this verse, the psalmist commands us to praise the Lord. And the Hebrew translated praise the Lord is hallelu, which means praise, and then yah. Which is Jehovah or Yahweh.

Hallelu Yah. Praise Yahweh. The psalmist is saying. Now this command should be enough for us.

God commands me to praise him. I'm going to praise him in obedience to his command, but notice the extra encouragements that the psalmist throws our way to motivate us to praise the Lord. Observe what he says, verse one again, praise the Lord, for it is good. It is good to sing praise to our God.

And the Hebrew word that is translated good here is the word tov tov. And in a context like this, the word tove means beautiful. We could translate this, for it is beautiful to sing praise to our God. We see the word tove used this way in Genesis 6:2 where we're told that the daughters of men were beautiful.

And it's the Hebrew word tov used to describe them as beautiful. In Esther chapter 1 verse 11, we're told that Queen Vashti was beautiful. And that word beautiful is a translation of this word tov. She was tov.

Husbands, if you want to compliment your wife today. Describe her as toad. It means beautiful. In a context like this.

And we know that the context calls for this meaning of the word because of what the psalmist says next. He says for it, speaking of the praise of God is pleasant. And the word pleasant is another word for beauty, but it focuses more on the emotional reaction of the person beholding the beautiful thing. The pleasured reaction, the delighted response, the pleasant sensation.

That it engenders. In the heart of the beholder of the beauty. And then notice the last statement in verse one. Praise, the psalmist says, is becoming.

Some translations say praise is comely. Some say praise is beautiful. 4 times in the Old Testament, this word is translated as lovely and we see it showing up. in the Song of Solomon.

translated as lovely in the new American Standard, it speaks of something that is pleasing. To the eye in the Song of Solomon, this word is used. by Solomon describing his wife's mouth. She has a lovely mouth, and she uses the word to describe Solomon's form.

This is a wonderful word and the psalmist point here is that praising God is a beautiful, lovely thing, and it renders the one praising God, beautiful. By the way, we know that the psalmist equates giving thanks and praising God. In the psalm, because later in the Psalm, in verse 7, the psalmist says sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praises to our God. So to praise God is synonymous with giving thanks to Him.

All in all, we learn here that Thanksgiving is good. It is pleasant. It is lovely and beautiful, and it makes us beautiful to God, and it is the beauty. That God wants us to exhibit both before Him and also to exhibit before others.

And how much do the people in your life see this beauty in you? our society, spends billions of dollars. every year on beauty products. Cosmetics, lotions, surgeries, and injections, all in the hopes that these products might make us.

A little bit more beautiful. Yet we're being told here in Psalm 1471 that the most powerful cosmetic of them all is the cosmetic of praise and thanksgiving to God. And by the way, it's free. It's absolutely free.

So my challenge to you this morning would be to adorn yourself with this cosmetic. Apply this cosmetic of praise and thanksgiving to your person. Put some Thanksgiving on your face every morning and let it beautify you. And I'm talking to you, mom.

And to you, Dad. I'm talking to you, husband and wife. I'm talking to you, children. You teenagers and younger, put some Thanksgiving on your face.

And let it adorn and beautify you. Doing this will make you beautiful before God, and it will make you a more pleasant person for others to be around, I am sure, embracing a lifestyle of Thanksgiving. Is not only the will of God, but it also makes us beautiful, but that's not all. This brings us to the 3rd reason to embrace a lifestyle of Thanksgiving.

And let's word it this way, because Thanksgiving contributes to peace of mind. Because Thanksgiving contributes to peace of mind, and let me have you turn to Philippians chapter 4. For this Philippians chapter 4. You guys know that anxiety is a real problem in our culture today.

Several years ago, the surgeon general, report indicated that it was the #1 mental health issue in our country at the time, with over 20 million people diagnosed with excessive anxiety every year. The present surgeon General says that this problem is much worse now because of all the issues related to the pandemic. I, I will confess to you this morning as I have before that in different seasons of my life I have struggled with anxiety. I think I've always struggled with it, but when I was younger I could physically handle it such that I didn't recognize it, but as I get older.

physically, I can't sustain the anxiety like I used to. And it is sometimes a significant problem. On one occasion, it was anxiety that sent me to the hospital. About 16 years ago, I was experiencing feelings of anxiety and heart palpitations, and I went to the doctor at Kaiser.

And they ran some tests, took some, blood from me. And then the doctor sat me down. When the results came in and said everything physically is checking out here, and then he asked me a question totally out of the blue, he said to me, what do you do for a living? I said, well, I'm, I'm a pastor of a church in Riverside.

And he said, is there something going on at your church right now? And I said, yeah. And literally this doctor looked at me. I don't know if he was a Christian or not, but he just said, my prescription for you is that you address that problem right away.

And so I left the doctor's office. I drove back to my office at the church, and with trembling hands, I picked up the phone. And made a phone call and started a grueling process that ended two weeks later in the resolution. Of a relational conflict.

And after that resolution, my anxiety diminished and my heart palpitations went away. Go figure. But there are other causes for the anxieties that I and we may struggle with. Sometimes it is worry about the future.

Sometimes there are physical causes that feed into our anxieties. Sometimes it is guilt over unconfessed sin that we have not repented of. Or it could be the result of an inappropriate guilt or shame caused by a failure to believe the gospel and to believe that we truly are forgiven by Christ for some past sin. Sometimes our anxiety is the result of idolatry in our life and we need to be honest and frankly admit that.

As Timothy Keller says, if you wanna know what your idols are. You will usually find them lying at the bottom of your anxieties. Let me read that again. If you wanna know what your idols are, you will usually find them lying at the bottom of your anxieties.

Sometimes our anxiety is. The result of a lack of trust in in God. Which is often where my anxieties personally come from, and in such moments, it's not that I don't believe that God can handle my problem. I have no question about God's ability to handle my problem.

It's that I'm not sure. That I can trust God to handle my problem in the way that I want it to be handled. That's the issue. So I carry the burden myself.

And stress myself out in the process and for this reason I would have to say that in my own life if I'm really honest, most of my anxiety is the result of a prideful allegiance to my own agenda. And me trying to hold on to the reins of my life, reins that only God should have control of. So I do want to issue this warning to all of you. From a place of experience.

If you're trying to play God, trust me, you are not up. For that task You try to assume your seat on God's throne and hold the reins of your life that only God should be holding. You will eventually find yourself riddled with anxieties. God, however, can hold the reins of your life, and he can sit on his throne and reign from everlasting to everlasting and never get an ulcer.

So I remember years ago, Alvin and Kim Davis using this expression, and I'll share it with you. So put your junior God badge aside. And let him be God. Let him have the reins of your life and rest in his sovereignty rather than trying.

To be sovereign yourself. Look at what Paul calls upon us to do in moments when we are tempted to be anxious for any of these reasons that we've just explored. In Philippians 4:6, he says, be anxious for what? For nothing.

These words, by the way, are written by a man sitting in prison. Being persecuted for his faith, and he's saying to us, don't let yourself be anxious about anything. He is telling us that as justified ones there is absolutely nothing we will ever encounter that is a legitimate cause for Anxiety in our life as a Christian, if we could truly see as we ought to see. If you're wondering what that means, what it means to be biblically anxious, it, it means to brood over some problem.

In your life as if there were no God who exists, as if there were no God who is in control, as if there were no God who loves you, and who has full power. To carry out all of his loving intentions towards you and to work all things together for your good. It's to hold on to those anxieties under the assumption that there is no God who is good and in total control of your life. That's what anxiety is, and Paul is saying, don't be anxious like this for anything.

And instead of being anxious, look at what Paul says, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. Paul is telling us that instead of being anxious, we should lean into our relationship with God and pray to him and make our requests known to him and to do this in everything. But God wants us to do even more than that. Look at the text.

I, I skipped two words. And what I just read. The solution to your anxiety problem is not simply to pray to God in everything. The solution is that, look at the text, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your request be made known to God. God is saying here, I, I want you to come to me and everything and talk to me. I want you to pray and make requests of me in everything. But I also want you to do so with Thanksgiving.

Then notice the promise of verse 7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What an amazing promise that is. But please know that this promise in verse 7 is not for every believer. This promise is not even for every believer who prays.

This promise is not even for every believer who prays to God in everything. This promise is for every believer who prays to God in everything with thanksgiving. And my own struggles with anxiety. I have noticed that anxiety by its very nature is inherently obsessive.

We're usually anxious when we obsess on particular worrisome issues to the exclusion of other things that we could be also focusing on. We forget about other important things like namely God and his goodness, the goodness of his heart, his past acts of faithfulness to us, his power and his promises to us of continual care. This is the way it is. In my life, at least.

Whenever I am anxious, it's because I am obsessing. I'm so honed in on what is causing me anxiety that I forget about God and about all the other things in my life that I can genuinely be grateful for. And I think this is part of why Paul adds this little prepositional phrase with Thanksgiving. He's trying to break us out of.

Our obsession on our worry and to get us to back up and take in the broad view that includes the full picture of all the things that we can be grateful for. And he encourages us to take some time to give thanks to God, even in our moments of anxiety. See, we, we tend to think that we become anxious. When we're confronted with and therefore looking at things that are worrisome.

But that's actually not the case. The truth is, is that we become anxious when we allow important peace inducing realities to fall from our view. And Thanksgiving is a great way to prevent that from happening, right? Just ask Elisha's servant, whom we see in 2 Kings chapter 6.

The king of Aram had come against Elisha wanting to kill him because he hated him. And he had Elisha surrounded with his horses and chariots, and Elisha's servant sees all of those horses and chariots and he becomes fearful. And he says to Elisha, what shall we do? And Elisha says, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And I'm sure Elisha's servant had a look on his face that revealed that he had no clue what Elisha was talking about. So in 2 Kings chapter 6 verse 17, Elisha prayed and said, oh Lord, I pray, open his eyes. Open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw.

And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. You think that solved his anxiety problem? The king of Aram and all of his horses and chariots were still there, and yet anxiety problems solved. Because he sees.

That truly. There are more, there are more who are with them, Elisha and his servant, than with the king. Of Aram, there are more who are for them. Than those who are against them.

So here's a, a good practice for you, just being practical when you come to God to make request of him in a moment of anxiety. Ask God, just make your first request, Lord, open my eyes and help me to see what I ought to see. Help me to see what I can be thankful for and then just take a few minutes before you make any other request and, and just. Start thanking God for the things that he brings to your mind.

Thank him for saving you. Thank him for his past acts of faithfulness towards you. Thank him for his promises and specify the particular promises that you are very thankful for. Thank him for heaven to come.

Thank him for working all things together for your good and for his glory. Thank him for being present with you always, even to the end of the age. And thank him for how he has shown himself faithful. To saints throughout history, try to list off, make yourself list off 10 things at least that you can be grateful for and express thanks to God for each of those things before you make a request of him.

And what, when you're done. Giving thanks to God for those things, your problem that's causing you anxiety will likely still be there. But you will probably be better able to see your problems within that larger context of God's goodness, past, present, and future. Taking time to thank God.

For things will also probably make you a bolder prayer warrior when you do begin to voice your request to him. Again, here in this passage, Paul says those who pray with thanksgiving will experience verse 7, the peace of God. The peace of God will descend from heaven and will mount guard around their hearts and their minds and will walk as a soldier. Around their heart and mind and protect them from.

Anxiety And Thanksgiving is a part of the ingredients that contributes to this. Experience of God's peace. Thanksgiving contributes to peace of mind, but it does more than this, and this brings us to the 4th and final reason to embrace Thanksgiving as a way of life. Number 4.

Because thanksgiving to God is a powerful antidote to sin. Because thanksgiving to God is a powerful antidote to sin, and let me have you turn to Romans chapter one for this. Nowadays we're concerned about antidotes, antibodies, vaccines. And so this ought to resonate with you.

Thanksgiving to God is a powerful antidote to sin. when you read the second half of Romans chapter 1, none of us wants to experience the fate of those that are described. in Romans chapter one verse 20 I believe it is all the way to the end of the chapter. The second half of Romans 1 starts off talking about those who knew God in their heart of hearts, and yet by the end of the chapter, they're doing things that are worthy of death.

And giving hearty approval to those that are doing such things. In other words, by the end of the. Chapter They are in a place. Where their souls are utterly damned and they're in a state of complete spiritual ruin, and the question that we're left asking when we get to the end of Romans 1 is how did they go?

How did they get there? How did they go from knowing of the existence of God in their hearts all the way to the depths of spiritual ruin that's described in the second half of Romans 1. What was the first domino to fall that started. Their descent what it was?

Unthankfulness. Unthankfulness. Look at Romans 1:21. Paul says even though they knew God.

They did not honor, and this is the word glorify, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks. In other words, they didn't see God's blessings as good and as a grace, and as something that they should give thanks to Him for. So observe what happens next. Verse 21, they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools.

And the downgrade continues on from there, and you can read that. This week or later today, as God gives them over to the lust of their heart, to degrading sexual passions, to depraved minds, such that they engage in things worthy of eternal death. And this whole downward progression started with a refusal to give thanks. Paul is telling us that unthankfulness.

Is the first step on the path to foolishness. And ruined. Al Mohler says it this way, theologians. Have long debated the foundational sin and answers have ranged from lust to pride.

Nevertheless, it would seem that being unthankful, refusing to recognize God as the source of all good things is very close to the essence of the primal sin, unquote. And I agree, in fact, I think we can honestly say that somewhere inside the DNA of all sin in all of its forms is unthankfulness to God. You then begin to realize how important Thanksgiving is. Because it protects us from spiritual ruin, and if everything I've just said from Romans one is true, it, it would seem that the antidote.

To sin and to spiritual ruin would be thanksgiving to God. And so we're not surprised to observe Paul teaching this very thing. Let me have you turn to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, and this may be the last passage I will have you turn to.

Today, Ephesians 5, we'll look at verses 3 and 4. Observe what Paul says in these verses. He says, but beginning in verse 3, but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints, and there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather, are you ready for this? Giving of thanks.

Giving of thanks. How many of you would have expected Paul to say what he says? At the end of verse 4. I think all of us would have looked at what he's telling us not to do in verses 3 and 4, and would have expected him to say, but rather holy speech and holy actions.

But that's not what Paul says. Instead, Paul basically says set all of these sinful actions. And sinful words aside and in their place, put. The giving of thanks.

What Paul is teaching us. Here is to replace immorality and sin and greed with Thanksgiving. Why? Because Paul knows that Thanksgiving is the ultimate antidote to these sins of word and of action.

Paul knows that Thanksgiving is the primal virtue and the mother of all other virtues, and Paul knows that unthankfulness is. The mother of all sin. HA Ironside. Says this perfectly and I quote, unthankfulness is connected to unholiness.

Thankfulness and gratitude to God and holiness of heart and life are linked intimately together. Practically speaking, how is it that gratefulness serves as an antidote to sin? Well, here's how. Think about it this way, take all the bounty that God has given to you and I to enjoy, not only salvation and the blessings of relationship with God, but also the blessings of human relationships and sunrises and sunsets and all the material provision that God has blessed us with that we can legitimately enjoy.

Think of all the things that God has given to us that we can rightly. And legitimately enjoy. Take all of that bounty and draw a circle around it. And then look up in the face of God, and you see a God who is passionate.

About all these things that he has given to you, and he's passionate about you enjoying this provision as a part of your relationship with him and giving thanks to him as you enjoy these things. Just like in the garden of Eden, God said to Adam, of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. That's the first command that God gives in the garden to Adam. It's not don't eat, it's of every tree.

Of the garden, you may freely eat, literally, you may feast sumptuously. This is his first command to Adam, and it's not just a command to eat, but a command to feast sumptuously. Adam would have been able to look around in this garden of perfection and abundance and see the exuberance of God for him to experience the fullness of joy in God's provision. And so, just imagine that and then just draw a circle around everything that God has provided for you in your life to righteously enjoy, and then hear God when he says, feast upon these things that I have provided for you.

Enjoy this bounty from my hand with thanksgiving. And then obey God and enjoy those things with thankfulness of heart. Here's the deal, as long as you and I are doing that. And enjoying God's blessings with thanksgiving to him.

We're not gonna sin. But here's what we often do instead. We stand on the outskirts of that circle of God's provision. And instead of looking at all that he has provided for us to enjoy, we're turned the other way and we're staring at all the stuff that we don't have and the stuff that we shouldn't have.

We look at all the stuff that God has prohibited and. Forbidden and we're thinking, man, that would be nice to have. That would be fun to do. I'd love to have that.

Or to do that. And we start obsessing on what God has forbidden, and it's not long before we find ourselves outside that circle of God's righteous provision. And we're now partaking of what he has. Forbidden.

And here in this passage, Paul is trying to protect us from that. He's saying to us, here's the cure for that. Those of you who are facing away from the circle of God's righteous provision, turn around and look at all of God's provision for you to righteously enjoy, then dive in and feast upon those things with an attitude of thanksgiving to God. I just plead with you to think deeply about this.

I so wish I did years ago. Ponder, even in your life as a young person, how Thanksgiving. Can really be a powerful antidote to sin. When you are tempted to enjoy some sinful pleasure outside of the circle of God's loving provision.

You should speak to your heart. Don't listen to your heart, you should speak to your heart and say, is my life so dry? Under God's provision that I must find refreshment here in this sin. Are there no pleasures that God has given to me to satisfy my.

Thirst for life and cheer. And then turn from the wickedness and turn towards God's provision and dive into enjoying God and all that he has provided for you to righteously enjoy with thanksgiving in your heart to him. Doing this is a powerful antidote to sin, and it's what Adam and Eve should have done in the garden, right? Listen to what Al Mohler says about Adam and Eve's situation.

He says, what explains the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden? A lack of proper thankfulness was at the core of their sin. God gave them unspeakable riches and abundance, but Forbade them the fruit of one tree. A proper thankfulness would have led our first parents to avoid that fruit at all costs and to obey the Lord's command to feast upon what he had given them.

To enjoy And this is exactly why Paul is calling us here in Ephesians 5. To Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving is the most powerful antidote to sin. And I think this is what the British pastor of the last century, John Henry Jowitt meant when he spoke of gratitude and described it in this way. Listen to what he said, gratitude is a vaccine.

An antitoxin. And an antiseptic. Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin. And an antiseptic.

And I agree, gratitude is all of that and so much more. I'm sure for Christmas this year, you're gonna ask for. Many things, we've asked our kids. They've asked me what I want.

I can't think of things that I want, but like we ask our kids, they're like, here's what we want, and here's all the links you need to find exactly what it is for what I want. But Maybe you have a better idea of what you want than I do. I'm sure all of us would ask for many things this Christmas season, but how about asking God to give you a grateful heart? That'd be a great gift.

As I shared with you last Sunday night, say to God with the poet George Herbert, and say to God, thou hast given so much to me. Give one thing more. A grateful heart. And if you have never embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, realize all that God has done to save you.

He sent his son into the world to live the righteous life that you failed to live, and then to die on the cross for your sinful failure to fulfill the law of God. And God raised Jesus from the dead, and Jesus is right now at the right hand of God, giving out salvation, the blessings, the bounty of salvation to everyone who looks to him. Confesses their sins to him and believes in Him as their Lord and Savior. Look to Jesus this morning, believe in him, call upon his name, and then thank him for the salvation that he will be pleasured to give you.

In fact, I think I can say it this way, in all fairness. To reject Jesus as your Lord and savior is the ultimate act of ingratitude. The core reason people reject the way of salvation through Christ. Is because they don't want to have to say thank you to God.

For their salvation. They don't want to be beholden to God. They want God to be beholden. To them.

I was talking to a Muslim a couple of years ago and asked him how he knew that he would make it into heaven. And he had a very simple answer, he said, God and I have a deal. I am good to him, and he responds by being good. To me And then he spent the next several minutes telling me about the amazingly good things.

That he has done in his life and how he has helped people and honestly as I listened to him, I was quite impressed. Honestly, Over the volume of good works that this man had done, but what was obvious to me is that this man. Was not giving thanks to God for his salvation. In his mind, his salvation is God's way of giving thanks to him.

And if God, God let that man into heaven, he would spend all of eternity bragging. About everything he did to get there. This is the way of the world, the way of people who don't want to praise God for their salvation. They wanna be praised for accomplishing their own salvation, but what God wants from all of us is to see our bankruptcy and to come to him and our brokenness and to confess our sins to him and to look to Christ and who he is and all that he has done to provide us salvation.

And then to believe in him. Receive salvation, and then say to God, thank you, God, your salvation is good. Your salvation is an amazing grace, and I receive your gift with thankfulness, and I will spend the rest of my life thanking and praising and boasting about you. This is the greatest act of gratitude.

That anyone can engage in the act of receiving God's gift of salvation and then spending the rest of their life. Saying with the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:15, thanks be to God. For his Unspeakable Gift. Let's pray together and ask God to.

Give us that heart. Lord, we thank you for your word. And the wisdom. That we find in it.

But we confess to you that not a one of us in this room is as grateful to you as we ought to be, and I am chief among them. And I pray that you would. Give to me a grateful heart if you give me nothing else. Give me a grateful heart.

Because there's a whole. Mother lode of good. In gratitude. That is genuinely directed towards you and that sees your blessings from the blessings of salvation through Christ all the way to the tiniest blessing in life as an amazing grace, generously supplied to us from a heart.

From a god whose heart overflows. With goodness And we almost don't need to ask for anything else but for you to give us this gift. And if there's any here today, Lord, who've never received. The gift of salvation.

May they today say, I want my life on a fundamental level to be a grateful life with gratitude directed toward God. And I see what this God has done to give me salvation and forgiveness for my sins. I'm gonna receive it today. And call upon Jesus.

And then spend the rest of my life thanking God for this gift. We would be a powerful congregation wielding enormous influence for you, Lord. We would be a beautiful congregation displaying incredible beauty. If we Have from you a grateful heart.

And live our lives and thanksgiving to you. And praising your holy name. Thank you for hearing this prayer, Lord, from me, and as I speak this prayer on behalf of all of us in this room, Lord, you're good. Abundantly good, and you hear our prayers, and we thank you for your answer.

And we ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.