We read in the Bible that Solomon was the richest man in the world. Maybe you’ve found yourself thinking, “What a lucky man he was!”
--But Solomon, with all his gold, never enjoyed the benefits of electricity.
--He never owned an air conditioner, never talked on a telephone, never drove a car or flew in an airplane.
--Solomon never experienced the joy and benefit of a flush toilet, never tasted a hot, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie.
--When he got a cold, he couldn’t run down to the store and pick up a bottle of Nyquil to help him sleep better.
--He never listened to a radio or viewed a television, let alone be able to e-mail a friend or send a text message to anyone.
--In fact, we have numerous luxuries surrounding us that we consider ordinary, but Solomon, the richest man in the world, never even dreamed of such luxury.
As we noted last week, we should be demonstrating a 24-7 attitude of gratitude for all God has blessed us with.
--And this Thursday is the day many people will finally take time to stop and count their blessings.
<>But being aware of what we should be thankful for, and knowing how to express our thanks to God are two different things.
Today, we want to go beyond having an attitude of gratitude and look at HOW we can express our thanks to God.
I invite you to open a Bible and turn once again to Luke 17.
--ILL>While you’re turning, I recently found this list of seven things mothers can be thankful for:
----Automatic dishwashers -- They make it possible to get out of the kitchen before the family comes back in for their after-dinner snacks.
----Husbands who attack small repair jobs around the house -- They usually make them big enough to call in professionals.
----The bathtub -- The one place the family usually allows mom some time to herself.
----Children who put away their things and clean up after themselves -- They’re such a joy you hate to see them go home to their own parents.
----Gardening -- It’s a relief to deal with dirt outside the house for a change.
----Teenagers -- They give parents an opportunity to learn a second language.
----And smoke alarms -- They let you know when the turkey is done.
Last week we noted that having an attitude of gratitude allows us to have a changed perspective, to be able to see good stuff even in tough times.
<>But there’s still more to truly understanding and in truly pursuing thanks.
--ILL>One Thanksgiving season, a family was seated around the Thanksgiving Day table, looking at the annual holiday bird. From the oldest to the youngest, they were to express their thanks. The last to speak, when they finally came to the five-year old in the family, he began by looking at the turkey, expressing thanks for the turkey, saying that although he had not yet tasted it he knew it would be good. Then he went on to thank his mother for cooking the turkey, and his father for buying the turkey. But he went beyond that...he joined together a multitude of those he wanted to say thank you to: He expressed thanks for the checker at the grocery store who checked out the turkey, the grocery store employees who put the turkey on the shelf, the farmer who made the turkey fat, the man who made the feed that the turkey ate, and even those who brought the turkey to the store. In a Columbo-like little mind, he traced the turkey all the way from its origin to his plate. Then, in the end, he asked, “Did I leave anybody out?” His smart-aleck older brother, embarrassed by the proceedings to this point, then said, “You left out God.” Without being flustered at all, the five-year old said, “I was about to get to Him.”
<>Well, true thanks begins with recognizing that it is God who is the giver of all good things.
Today I want us to look at...
FIVE WAYS THE BIBLE TEACHES US IN HOW WE CAN EXPRESS OUR THANKS TO GOD...*
1) SPEAKING OUR GRATITUDE. -- Stopping to say, “Thank you.”
--Luke 17:15-16 -- ”...one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back...glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.”
It’s not really that hard, but it’s often times neglected.
--ILL>A Vermont couple was sitting together, swinging in their front porch swing. They had been together forty-two years. The husband looked over at his wife, and in his Vermont “close to the vest, stiff upper lift” way, said to her, “Wife, you have been so wonderful to me all these years, I can hardly keep from telling you.”
--ILL>I was raised in a home that might have been similar to the one you were raised in, one in which there were some “magic words.” The first was “Please,” and the others were, “Thank you.”
----They were “magic” because they put a smile on the face of the person you said them to, and “magic” in the sense of helping you learn manners and learn the power of being nice.
-As we grow older, saying thanks is sometimes done so by way of a thank you note or a greeting card, but it’s still saying thanks.
-When it comes to thanking God, sometimes it takes the form of singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, similar to how Mary sang “The Magnificat” in Luke after she learned God had selected her to be the mother of the Messiah.
--ILL>Years ago Mike and the Mechanics came out with a song that said it well...”Say it now, say it clear...it’s too late when we die.”
----The idea is we shouldn’t wait to say good things about a person when the person’s body is lying in a casket.
----We need to say those words NOW. Say them today.
<>Unfortunately, though, “Thank you” is not being spoken as much as it should be.
--ILL>On a crowded New York City subway, a man got up and offered his seat to a lady. She was overwhelmed by the rarity of such kindness she passed out. When she came to, she said “Thank you” to the man, then HE passed out.
It’s sad that saying thanks and demonstrating an attitude of gratitude has become such an oddity in our world.
--ILL>Rudyard Kipling became very wealthy as a writer. A cynical reporter found him one day and said, “Mr. Kipling, it has been discovered that you make as much as $100 for every word you write. The reporter than pulled out a $100 bill, handed it to Kipling, and said, “Could you give me a $100 word?” Kipling folded the bill, put it in his pocket, and said, “Thanks.”
Thanks is the one hundred dollar word alright, and once we understand that God is the giver of all good gifts, our thanks should be spoken to Him.
<>It takes such a little bit of time, but just as the one leper who returned to say thank you was a blessing to Jesus, our saying thanks should also be a natural activity in our lives.
-->Notice: Even Jesus was disappointed that the other nine lepers didn’t bother to say thank you.
<>I wonder how many times we disappoint the Lord when we don’t bother to acknowledge His gifts to us.
2) TESTIFYING TO OTHERS. -- Telling others of the goodness of God and how He has blessed our lives.
--Acts 4:20 -- ”for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
<>I don’t preach because I’m a preacher...I preach because I’m a satisfied customer.
---And out of gratitude for what the Lord has done for me I want others to know He can make a difference in their lives too.
---It’s a fire down in my bones...true “heartburn”...a burning desire to tell others of God’s goodness.
--ILL>Would you ever believe a lady was truly thankful and excited about receiving an engagement ring if she kept it hidden all the time, never showed it?
----No, that’s not what a lady does. She immediately calls her friends, holds her hand up high every opportunity she has, and “shows off” her prized possession, and tells of her wonderful guy, and how she loves him so much.
-The gospel is the good news.
--We should be thankful for the privilege of telling others about God’s goodness.
--And we should be ready, looking for every opportunity.
---1 Peter 13:15 -- ”but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to...give an account for the hope that is in you...”
3) HELPING OTHERS. -- Spreading His goodness by helping others in response of how He’s helped you so.
--Acts 20:35 -- ”...you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
<>It means we are to “pay it forward.”
--Paying it forward as a means of paying it back.
--In sociology it’s called serial reciprocity.
---It is purported to have started with Benjamin Franklin, who wrote an accompanying note to a person to whom he was giving money: ”I do not pretend to give you such a sum; I only lend it to you. When you...meet with another honest man in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this sum to him, enjoining him to discharge the debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shalt meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go through many hands, before it meets with a knave that will stop its progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”
--ILL>In 2000, the movie entitled, “Pay It Forward,” based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, described paying it forward as doing three good deeds for someone for every good deed, good gift given to you by someone else...with the result being exponentially powerful in putting smiles on people’s faces.
--ILL>In my first semester as a seminary student (first time around, first Masters degree), being on a very limited budget, my car’s water pump went out, and I didn’t have the funds to fix it. Yet, I had to have it fixed because I needed to drive 80 miles each way to serve at my church in Van Alstyne, Texas. A man in the church stepped in to pay for the repairs, even though I explained to him I was not going to able to pay him back anytime soon. His response: "You can pay it back to me sometime later on your life when you’re able to afford it...paying it back by helping out someone else who has a similar need. Help them in the same way I’m helping you, and you’ll be paying me back."
<>You see, the idea helping others because of the good things God has brought into our own lives didn’t originate with Ben Franklin...
<>The Bible encourages us to give to others in gratitude to God.
<>He’s given us so much, we’re to help others in need.
--ILL>The reason my mom brings guests, homeless persons, to her Thanksgiving meal table?
----Because God has given her so much she wants to provide someone with a hot meal and a place of acceptance that day who might miss out otherwise.
--ILL>Why are we going to Nogales this Friday to prepare and serve lunch to needy persons at the Crossroads Rescue Mission?
----Same reason: We’re grateful for what the Lord has done for us, and we want to pass it along to others.
--ILL>Why did we send out 37 shoe boxes last week full of toys and treats for children overseas?
----Same reason: Because God has been so good to us we want boys and girls to hear of how God loves them so.
The final two ways are not as obvious, but every bit as important...
4) OBEYING HIS INSTRUCTIONS. -- Doing what He has instructed us to do.
<>Twice in Psalm 116 the Psalmist says, “I shall pay my vows to the Lord; Oh may it be in the presence of all His people.”
<>Paying our vows” means fulfilling our responsibilities to God.
--Those of us who are Christians made a vow to God as we accepted Jesus by faith, as we turned over our lives to Him as Lord.
--We promised we would put Him first in our lives.
---That we would serve Him with all of our strength and ability...and that we’d so for the rest of our lives.
<>If we’re truly thankful, we shall fulfill that vow before the Lord.
<>In fact, total unconditional surrender to God is the highest form of thanksgiving.
--ILL>My first car was a ’55 Chevy, left to me by my grandmother in her will. I loved that car, and I loved the thrill driving it brought me as a 16-year old. However, although the car belonged to me, the keys belonged to my dad. In other words, if I ever disobeyed the house rules, my keys could be taken away from me.
----Do you think I bucked the idea of taking out the garbage if that meant I could lose my privilege of driving? Not on your life.
----I was so thankful for the privilege of driving I “fulfilled my vows” gladly.
5) GIVING OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS. -- Giving back to God a portion of what He has given us.
--2 Corinthians 9:7 -- ”Each one must do just as he purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
<>Being a cheerful giver is only possible because we’re grateful to God for all that He has given us, and we’re thankful to have the opportunity of giving back to Him.
--We talked last week about the mom who, hearing of parents who gave a gift to the church in honor of their son who was killed in the war, whispered to her husband that she wanted to give an equal gift in honor of her son...because God spared him, bringing him through the war with his life.
--We even call some gifts for services rendered an “honorarium,” because it conveys thanks, wanting to “honor” the person’s contributions.
--In the weeks upcoming you’ll hear us talking about the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for International Missions...and we’ll give an over-and-above our tithes to support missionary work around the world because we’re thankful for what God has given us, and because we want to pass those benefits along...around the world.
Bringing it home...
After an especially tough fall and winter, the Pilgrims gathered together to give thanks to God for bringing them through, and providing for them.
<>Now it’s our turn.
--I invite you to ask yourself these questions today...
--1) Have I said “thank you” to those for whom I truly am thankful?
----Say it now, say it clear. Don’t wait.
----Don’t be caught after their gone, wishing you had one more time to tell someone how much you appreciate them.
----You have one more opportunity...TODAY. Tell them today.
--2) Am I telling others of how good God has been to me?
--3) In response to my gratitude to God for all He’s given me, am I paying it forward, responding by helping others in His name?
--4) Am I obeying His instructions...the instructions He gave me because He loves me and truly does know what it best for me?
--5) And...am I holding back or am I giving financially a tithe of my income, and over and above offerings as He leads me to do?
<>As the poet once said...
--”Lord, you have given me so much. Please give me one more thing: a grateful heart.”
