SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: March 5, 2001
Date Preached: March 7, 2001
Church: BBC (PM) Wed Night
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Great Imperatives for the Christian Walk
Title: The Imperative of an Attitude of Gratitude
Text: 1 Thess 5:18
“…Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…” [RSV]
Introduction:
A positive mental attitude is essential for the Christian to live the victorious Christian life that Christ intends us to live.
If we look at the Williams translation of this passage tonight it reads, “…Make it a habit to give thanks for everything…”
So I believe it is not a stretch when I say tonight that it is an IMPERATIVE of the Christian walk that we Christians develop the habit of being thankful at all times in all circumstances.
William Law said, “For it is certain that whatever calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.”
If we develop a habit of being thankful at all times, we will open the door so God can provide divine assistance during life’s tragedies and disappointments.
But for the human, thankfulness does not come easily; thankfulness is actually against our very nature. In fact the habit of thankfulness is a learned behavior on the part of the Christian…we must develop this habit by ‘learning how to do it.’
The first thing is that when disappointment or tragedy does come our way our first reaction is to complain and be depressed. I know that is my initial reaction to distressing news.
However, instead of reacting with complaining and depression, we need to take inventory of the things for which we can be thankful!
What Jesus has done for you, your salvation, your eventual home in heaven, God’s desire to use you in His kingdom work, the family God has blessed you with, the health that God gives you each day, the children in your care…and on and on we could go.
We must develop the habit of 1st dwelling on what God HAS blessed us with and not on what we desire and have not gotten!
If we can 1st learn to focus our thoughts on what we ARE blessed with it will help us to do the 2nd thing and that is for us to acquire a habit of giving thanks at ALL times.
In the story of the healing of the 10 lepers in Luke 17 Luke reveals to us that only 1 of the lepers had developed the habit of being thankful.
I see myself and most of us here tonight like the other 9 lepers who neglected to give thanks, even in a time when something very wonderful had happened to them.
Now I am sure that those 9 were relieved and thankful for the healing they received, but the problem was that they did not show it, they did not verbalize it.
It has been said if you hear something you retain approximately 20% of it after about 3-5 hours. However, when one hears and then there is an exercise to enhance and illustrate the verbal, you retain about 80% of the material.
Our thankfulness kept to ourselves does others no good and shows great disrespect to God. God knows our hearts, but just like prayer…this is part of the relationship that God wants us to come to Him and verbalize our thankfulness to Him. We must develop the habit of being openly and verbally thankful to God and others…even when the situation is not the best of times.
Why do we need to worry about this? Why is it so important for us to worry about our habits during a crisis? I believe that as disciples of Christ we must give attention to the habits we form and keep.
First of all bad habits do nothing but destroy our witness to the world and degrade our relationship with God and our fellow Christians.
I believe that we need to seriously work at developing our GOOD habits, not just getting rid of the bad ones, especially the habit of being thankful through all situations.
It was once said about human nature that 1st we make the habit and then the habit makes us. We must be about making the habit of being thankful at all times a vital part of our Christian walk!
But why develop this habit? I believe there is some wisdom that can be gained by the Christian by developing a habit of being thankful in all things.
The psalmist said in Ps 92.1, “…It is good to give thanks to the Lord…” However, not only is it a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, it is a good thing to give thanks to others around us. There are many benefits that come to those who develop the habit of counting their blessings and being thankful.
The 1st benefit I see when we develop the habit of giving thanks is that it will produce joy in our lives. Our thankfulness will…
Bring joy to the very heart of God
Bring joy to all those around us
And our habit of giving thanks will bring joy to ourselves as we recognize the things for which we can rejoice.
The 2nd habit I see when we develop this habit of giving thanks in all situations is that it will strengthen our faith in God and His goodness.
Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi as they brought their petitions to God’s throne to be sure they gave thanks for God’s past and present blessings in their lives (Phil 4:6-7)
One of the best ways to overcome despondency is to count our blessings and to thank God for His goodness in our lives.
The 3rd benefit for this habit of giving thanks in all situations is that it will increase our capacity to love. It will enhance our ability to love God and to love others.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This is the great commandment for relationships here on this earth. If we have a habit of being thankful…
Our love for our family members will increase
Our love for our friends and associates will increase
Our love for God will increase as we discover how much he has done for us
The 4th benefit that I can see is that a habit of thankfulness will enable us to have an optimistic attitude toward life.
In this life with all its disappointments and tragedies it is only natural for us to be pessimistic in our view of things, but we are not to be ‘natural’, as Christians we are to be ‘supernatural’ because of who we belong to.
If you find yourself being overly pessimistic about all things, try developing this attitude of gratitude and eventually you will begin to make steps toward the optimistic outlook that Christians should have.
Finally the 5th benefit I see in developing a habit of being thankful in all things is that it will add beauty and joy to the privilege of living. Instead of moaning and groaning about the negative things along the road of life, an attitude of gratitude will enable us to see the beauty and joy that we would miss if we did not ‘look’ for it.
But HOW? How can I develop this habit preacher? This seems like it would be too hard! Well it will not be something that you can do on your own, 1st we must realize our dependence on God for our strength and guidance and wisdom…once we realize it is not our strength but His it makes things a bit easier.
But how can I respond to the imperative of being thankful in all situations?
1st we must realize that the ungrateful and complaining lifestyle is a self-destructive way of life. All it does is bring us hurt and pain to us personally and to those around us.
2nd we must continue to realize that as Christians we must seek forgiveness for our own ungrateful attitude and ask God to help us to be thankful in all things.
3rd we must earnestly desire to make a change in our overall outlook on life. We must take a new perspective on the various events that we encounter on a daily basis in our walk through this life.
Finally, we must respond positively to the truth that God will work for the good in all events for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. (Rom 8:28)
For us to do this we must show God’s love in and through all situations, and look to God in faith and love and hope in all situations. We can also begin to express thanks to those around us for the little things they do for us.
It is the will of God that all who call Him their Savior and Lord that they develop in their lives a habit of being thankful in all things and in all situations.
If we really think about this…even if we had the worst life in the world and everything were going against us (as the world sees it) and we still have Christ in our lives…we are truly blessed. For a deeper insight into thankfulness in all situations read the book of Job.
God will help us develop this habit of having an attitude of gratitude. We must pray that God will open our eyes to see the goodness of God that is all around us everyday! Let’s ask God to help us to be more thankful, especially to those who care about us and do things for us. Developing an attitude of gratitude is NOT an option if you desire to live the Christian life as one should live the Christian life.
