THE SECRET OF THANKFULNESS
Phil 4:10-14 November 28, 2021
INTRODUCTION
Every one of us has heard the statement….”The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
Wayne Smith says, “Yeah, but it’s still got to be mowed…and the great theologian Ron White says….”It’s because it grows over a septic tank.”
I laughed out loud when I heard that last one…because I really believe this is the number one way Satan leads people astray…both inside and outside the church.
“I’m gonna show you greener pastures.” I’m gonna show you a more exciting relationship. I’m gonna show you shiny new toys and a way to be more popular… but he never reveals the septic tank these things are planted over!
He’s so subtle, isn’t he? In the midst of a dry or barren spot in your marriage the girl you always thought was pretty asked…”Are you O.K?” “And the coffee room becomes a pasture where the grass looks greener.” And you have to make a fence crossing decision.
You think you'll be happier if you have a new or different car or house… (It has nothing to do with need, but a lot to do with image), so you get it…go deeply into debt…It makes you feel good sitting behind the wheel or decorating the new living room, but underneath the fading happiness is a septic tank.
It’s the satanic carrot in front of the horse…If I can just get this, have this, love him…I’ll be happy…
And for awhile…it seems true…but then something putrid starts to seep through…you try to ignore it…and at first you can…but then it’s impossible and buyer's remorse crashes in…regret…and a longing for what you had comes back hard….
The problem for many of us is we never ever quite learn this truth…we do it over and over and over again and wonder why we keep feeling the way we do…why do I keep ending up back at the same place over and over again.
{In my counseling sessions I almost always tell a simple story…whether it’s to individuals or couples…Pretend that every morning in your life you get up and after you get ready…you walk down the same path that leads to the barn…every morning….it’s a path you perfected and have worn smooth…you can walk it blindfolded…but one morning you wake up and decide you don’t want to go to the barn…you want to go to the pond…but when you start to make the journey that path isn’t easy, its hard and difficult…so you determine that you’ll take the same path you’ve always taken, but still get to the pond..l’m sorry…no matter how much you want to end up at the pond…if you take the same path you’ve taken every single morning of your life you’ll end up back at the barn…]
But I don’t want to take another drink!!!! I don’t want my marriage to be like this…I don’t want to continually try to buy my happiness or find it through another relationship…
Well…If that’s true…you’d better take another path…one that’s not so easy…one that’s new and unfamiliar…you’ll recognize it because its narrow and not many people are on it.
This path is the secret for Thankfulness It’s found in these words “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
What begins with the understanding?
I I NEED TO FOCUS ON OTHERS INSTEAD OF MYSELF
By the way…anyone know where Paul physically is as he writes to the Philippians? He’s in prison.
Even so he writes from behind bars he says… “I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me…Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it”.
The world has a huge “I” problem…it’s caused them to be spiritually blind…but it’s also invaded the church…it’s not an “E.Y.E.” eye problem…it’s a selfish me letter, capital “I” problem.
It’s ironic that the Apostle Paul, in prison says…what causes me to feel joyful is that you’re not thinking about yourselves anymore, but me…it’s not because I want you to think about me first, but I want you to think about others before yourselves…and evidently that had been a problem…it’s always a problem for people in the world…but that same “I” problem is huge for the church. Listen to what Paul tells them 2 chapters earlier.
Phil 2: 1-4
We as the church are to be distantly different than the world…the glue that bonds us together? “Encouragement from being united with Christ. Fellowship with the Spirit…tenderness…compassion.
Not selfish ambition…not vain conceit…humbly think about others…what they need…not just what you need or want.
If you asked me to ascribe a motive to David Platt for writing Radical. “Here it is!”
It’s easy in America to be selfish…our culture shapes us to be materialistic and self satisfying…Don’t! If you seek self satisfying…Don’t, If you would be a follower of Christ…Its Radical to deny yourself and follow in His footsteps…
Those footsteps always put others first…ALWAYS!
If we would lead others then crucifying the giant. “I” must be paramount…whether you are in Philippi 55 AD or Lexington 20211 A.D.
It’s the first essential for understanding the secret of Thankfulness. Don’t live your life looking in a mirror…look up and then look around you….You’ll forget what you look like in the face of Jesus.
The 2nd essential for understanding the secret of Thankfulness is…
II LEARN TO TRUST IN HIS STRENGHT NOT YOUR.
Paul says, I’ve experience the entire spectrum of circumstances…I’ve been in need…I’ve had plenty…I’ve been full and I’ve gone hungry…. I’ve lived rich and I’ve lived poor.
I’ve learned a most important secret…One that helps me be content in both places…
“I can do everything through Him who gives me the strength.”
Here’s an important question…where do you think the apostle Paul learned contentment? Where, did he learn he could depend on Jesus provisions….
Most people would say…when he was hungry…when he was in need…when he was poor…. And your right…Jesus was his companion in the jail cell, He promised bread when his stomach was rumbling and much much more…but I think depending on Jesus as our strength when we’re well feed, rich and have full bank accounts is harder.
Why do I need Jehovah Jireh…"God my provider"…If I can provide what I need without Him? It’s the exact reason Jesus said “It’s harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”
The Disciples are astonished when Jesus says this…after all aren’t material blessings proof God loves us?...It makes them ask who then can be saved?”
Let me share with you unless you reach a place of humility and dependency in God you cannot be saved…It’s harder to reach that place if you think you don’t really need Him. That’s why it takes God to convict us of Spiritual bankruptcy …that’s why the poor in Spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God…. It’s this attitude that will save you whether you have a Billion dollars or none.
Matt 19: 26 says…. Jesus looked at them and said “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!”
Only God can convince both the rich and poor…. He can provide…He is their strength. Paul experienced both…Maybe you have too. It’s easier to humbly trust Him when your resources cannot provide security and He does…We are rich people…all of us….
May God help us learn the secret this world and it’s God ignore…Jesus is King whether I have a lot or a little…It’s easy to depend on him when I have little…I choose to make Him King even with my much…to do that I’ve get to put others first…to do that I’ve got to make a different path and not think or have the same attitude as the world.
Let me end with one last thought…
III DON’T BE AFRAID TO SHARE IN PEOPLES TROUBLES (or let them share in yours) - - (read Vs 14)
Yes I know there are people who you ask “How are you?” and three hours later you try to pry yourself away from. And yes I know there are people who will never tell you what’s really going on and then get mad at you for not knowing.
Yes I know there are people who are busy bodies and love to find out every tidbit of gossip because it entertains them…and they’ll disguise gossip as “fake concern”.
WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE?
The name that popped in your head…is the name that popped in a lot of heads…the Apostle Paul said, “Have Nothing to do with them”. Paul told Titus..."Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them." (Titus 3:10) And only then will they be standing in a bathroom alone looking in the mirror digesting this truth…”It’s me” “Maybe that’s wrong.”
Just like each of you. Kari and I have had our share of troubles…what would we have done without those who truly shared in our troubles…and what would others have done if they had not let us share in theirs.
I will try to love the busybodies and the gossips. (Not what they do). I will try to meet as many needs as possible in ministry…but I will continue to try to teach the church this pasturing principle…”the church is a hospital for hurting people…. It must be a grace place… find people who need you…and when you’re in need…let the appropriate people in…In this world you will have trouble…not might , not could…WILL. The rain and sun is going to fall on the just and unjust.
We can “take cheer” because Jesus has overcome the world…And the one who is in us is greater than Satan and his schemes in the world.
{A while back I was visiting in the burn unit …A friend had called me and asked if I would visit with a young man name Kyle…Kyle was burned pretty badly when he tried to use some gas to get a bonfire going…
The burn unit isn’t my favorite place to go…I spent 3 months in one when I was 10…I remember the smells, the white mesh and the bandages. Why did my friend call me? He called me because He knew I could help Kyle and his Dad in their troubles…because I knew about “burn units” and bandages.
It was a sharing of troubles that I hope gave Kyle and his dad hope and help for his recovery…]
Church if you want to know the secret for a life of thankfulness…come to a place where you desire to live out what the Apostle Paul describes in:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
In a world of trouble…where theirs tons of people who scan social media for other's pain and are entertained...but far fewer who “love the hurting”
Be the first one in the burn unit…be the speaker of Grace and truth after the divorce papers…share the hope of forgiveness to other single moms, instead of the finger that points out faults be the rare scared hand that extends grace.
By the way then you’ll understand what greener grass is all about because “The Lord has become your shepherd…and you will not want for anything…He’ll make the pasture green for you to lie down in and He’ll provide quiet waters beside you…that’s the secret.
