Sermon: Persevering in Thanks: When Gratitude is Hard

If you take a copy of God's word this morning, we're gonna turn open to the book of one Thessalonians, and if you wanna use a pew Bible, you can just grab it and turn right to page 9, 8 8 in the Pew Bible 9, 8, 8. This morning we are looking at one Thessalonians chapter five in verses 16 through 18, 5 16 through 18.

And let me pray for us before we hear God's word red and hear it preach this morning.

Father, we do pray this morning that as the word is read, it wouldn't be mere words that are floating through the air, Rather that it would be truth that filters in through our ear and grips our minds.

It finds its way down to our hearts and it doesn't quickly disappear, but that it is planted deep and establishes roots

and that fruit from our hearts, one of the fruits being the stirring of our affections, that we find that as we leave this place and as we go about our day and our week, that we are moved with greater love for you and greater desire for you, greater hope in you, greater faith in you. And we are more and more presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice before you. Would you do that work this morning? The work that only you can do by the power of your spirit?

We pray all this in the strong name of Christ. Amen. First Thessalonians chapter five verses 16 through 18. This is the holy inherent sufficient word of God. Rejoice, always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. The grass withers and the flower fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

This morning we continue what we call our faith focus here at URCI know this is a Sunday where there are a number of visitors and most students are back for the first time this Sunday. But we've been doing this since the first week in January. What we do each year is our elders identify something that we feel like we want to see more in the DNA of the church or more in the life of the church. And so what we do just for the month

of January is we take a break from our steady diet of working our way through books of the Bible and we just focus on that subject and we preach through it in the morning services, we preach through it in the evening services and all in an attempt to make it more in the life of the church. And this January, our faith focus is gratitude and we subtitled it. Thanks be to God gratitude, thanks be to God. We look the first week at the portrait of thanks

or what is Christian gratitude. That was the first week in January. The second week we looked at the posture of thanks or the posture of gratitude, how to have and what are the benefits of gratitude. And then this morning we are looking what at what may be the most challenging and that is persevering in things when gratitude is hard. Paul says in our passage this morning, he says, rejoice always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances.

If it was just the imperatives and there were no attending a adverbs or adver, adv, proverbial dependent clauses, it wouldn't be that difficult. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. I can do that. It's the adverbs and it's those adversial dependent clauses that make it difficult always without ceasing in all circumstances for Paul, there's no qualification. There's no limitation. This is an absolute statement for all of life at all times in all things rejoice,

always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances

the context of this, Paul has just finished speaking about the fact that we are not to repay evil with evil, that we are to respond in goodness to those that sow evil towards us. And then he, he says, rejoice that is, as Christians, you and I are those who have been forgiven. We're a new creation. We are a saved sinner. We are a child of God as that one that him says, this is my father's world and we live as children in the world of our father.

And so we can start here and we can say in light of all of that, the Christian always has reason to rejoice. Rejoice always. Leon Morris, um, 20th century New Testament scholar said this. He said, by and large, the Christian's way is a happy way. His spiritual resources are so great that earthly things can disturb, cannot disturb his composure. And he goes on his way with a song in his heart. Colossians three 16, there's a wonderful

poem I was reminded of this week by William Wordsworth called the Happy Warrior. It's worth you reading. Christians are happy warriors in this world. Rejoice, always notice so that he follows that with pray without ceasing. H how do you rejoice always. It's not that we are always to be uttering prayers, pray without ceasing. That's not what Paul has in mind. But rather that you and I are to live in a spirit of prayer,

there's this constant communion with God and that leads him then to say, give thanks in all circumstances. This is so important for Paul that he then introduces a, a, a, a clause there, a purpose clause for for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Alright? That's the whole, that's the whole thought. What I want to do now is think through those parts together, but what I want to do is start at the back so that we can understand the parts.

So let's start here at the back or at the end if you will. This is the will of God for you. Paul says, what's interesting is he used that phrase earlier in chapter four, verse three. I want you to look, flip back there with me just one chapter before. And there he says this Chapter four verse three for this is the will of God your sanctification. It literally reads for this is God's will. It's the same construction as our verse.

It is God's will for this is God's will. And that construction is only found here in one Thessalonians is not found in any of other polls, letters. And so we would be right to infer that these two verses are tied together. This is God's will for you, your sanctification, your holiness. This is God's will for you. That holiness, that sanctification is intimately tied with thanksgiving. Your sanctification is tied together

with your thanksgiving having a spirit of gratitude. Why? Because we live Coram Deo. We live before the face of God.

Paul says in Ephesians five, 19 through 20, this is a parallel passage doors. He says this there, sing and make music in your heart to the Lord always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always and in every circumstance we are to have in Paul's mind, God in view, he's always to be seen in the framework of our minds and our hearts as we're pilgrim our way through this world.

As we're walking through it, he, we always have in view. All of life lived to him and all of life lived before him and all of life lived for him. He was saying Romans 12, we were to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, a thanksgiving offering to him. This is the will of God for you. But second notice, it's the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

That is this imperative. Rejoice, always pray without ceasing. Give thanks. In all circumstances, these imperatives are given to Christians. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

In that same Ephesians five passage I just cited, it shouldn't have been lost on us that Paul says there that we are always to give thanks to God the Father in everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is we live in Christ Jesus, our passage and we live under the lordship of Christ Jesus. In the Ephesians five passage, that is the realm of rejoicing in all things and giving thanks in all circumstances is uniquely a realm

occupied by Christians. No one else can dwell there. No one else has this ethic. Just the Christian. Why?

Because let's be frank, life is hard.

It's just hard.

We stub our toes, we get paper cuts. We work by the sweat of our brow, our body's ache. We have sleepless nights. We feel alone. No one seems to understand me. Others have close friends, but not me. We feel undervalued in the workplace, unloved in the home, uncared. For in the church there's the pain of poverty, of want, of hunger, the suffering of abuse, of neglect, grief, loss, betrayal, worry, anxiety, depression, fear.

We struggle with aging and illness and disease and being touched by death as our loved ones and friends perish and on, we could go from stubbed toes to death.

This is hard world.

This world aches. Paul says in Romans a eight, the whole creation has been groaning together. It just aches and we live and are part of that ache.

But the Christian pulses, the Christian is to live in that aching world with rejoicing and thankfulness. This is God's will for you. So here's the question. Is Paul dismissing your pain?

Is he sweeping your grief under the rug?

Notice that second element. It's so important. He says, pray without ceasing. Rejoice always pray without ceasing. Give thanks In all circumstances, these three things, they go together. Why does he say pray? Pray without ceasing. Because in prayer we can ask God to relieve these things that are trying our souls. Souls. In prayer, we recognize that I'm not in this suffering alone. In prayer, I recognize that the sovereign God over heaven

and earth is with me. In prayer, I'm recognizing I have an outlet and I have a comfort

it. It is not, Paul is not saying grin and bear it. It is the foolish Christian that says that we are just a bucket up When hard things come, no, we don't bucket it up, we pray it up. That's the picture we cry out to God.

You think through the psalms, the psalmist takes their struggles and their complaints to God. They, they don't complain against, they don't curse, they don't forsake God, but they run to God. They pray without ceasing. So Psalm 94 as an example, the psalmist cries out, oh Lord, how long shall the wicked? How long shall the alt? They pour out their arrogant words. All the evil doers boast, they crush your people. They say the Lord does not see the God of Jacob,

does not perceive the psalmist. He is, he's filled with personal anguish

and they're mocking us God and they're mocking you and they seem to be thriving. And he, he just feels pummeled by the world and he cries out to God. Later in the psalm, he says this, when I thought my foot slips your steadfast love, oh Lord held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolation cheer my soul. He was where we have all been like reign on a path. His life was drenched with the downpour of trials

and temptations and the struggles of this world. So much so that he felt like his foot was slipping and he was going to fall and crash and burn.

As a psalmist was saying in another psalm, he says, I feel like a tottering fence. Alls it would take is just one little poke. One more thing and over I go.

But he says, your steadfast love, oh Lord, held me up when the cares of my heart are many. Your consolations cheer my soul. He rejoices. The Lord has become my stronghold and my God, the rock of my refuge. Only the Christian has God in Christ Jesus. And we run to him and we pray without ceasing. And that opens up the door to rejoice. Always give thanks in all circumstances, pulses In Philippians four, he says, rejoice in the Lord always again,

I will say rejoice seems hard, Paul, he continues. The Lord is at hand. He's with you. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will safeguard your hearts in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice, pray with thanksgiving. But Paul, you don't know.

Oh he does. Paul, when he's writing to the Philippians that he's sitting in jail, he's been cut off from all the people that he loves and values. He's prevented from doing what he wants to do. As he will say later in Philippians, he faces want and he is staring death in the face. He knows. And he had a spirit of gratitude. He was rejoicing and giving thanks and praying without ceasing

seems like an impossibility to rejoice always or to give thanks in all circumstances. How? How can you grieve and rejoice? H how? How can you do both? Because grief is right. It's good when someone close to us dies and they've been affected by the, the fruit of sin in this world. And there is death. It's, it's right to grieve. It would be un-Christian not to grieve in a world that's touched by death, how? How can you lament the effects of evil and sin

and also give thanksgiving? That seems like a formula that doesn't work. That's an equation where there's no answer

except for the Christian in Christ alone. Grief and blessedness go hand in hand. Loss and gain can be true. At the same time, sorrow and joy can both be present. Mourning and rejoicing can coexist. Grief and gratitude can be in the same heart because this is not only a fallen world, this is also my father's world.

It's not a paradox for the Christian.

So the widow who just lost her husband of 50 years is gripped with grief.

But she can at the same moment have gratitude for the blessedness of heaven to come.

The Christian parent who just lost their child in the womb,

think one of the greatest sorrows this life has to offer

is rightfully gripped with grief

and mourning and at the same time can be rejoicing that their child never had to suffer through the pains of this life. But immediately as a covenant child was transported to heaven and is gazing upon the glory of God in the face of Christ. And that's all this child has ever known.

Augustine once wrote in happiness. I remember past sadness and in sadness. I remember past happiness. It's not a paradox for us.

Back in four 13, Paul, here in Thesal and this letter to the Thessalonians, they've, they've lost members of their congregation. And so he's seeking to comfort them and he's comforting them with the fact that Christ is going to return and that there is a resurrection of the dead. And he says this, but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about these, those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope.

And we often quote that at funerals. I often quote that at funerals 'cause it's a great verse for Christians at funerals, we, we, we don't grieve as those without, without hope.

And that's right, it, it presents hope. But here's what we often miss, that that word grieve is in the present tense. Paul is saying to them, you are grieving and that present tense has the idea of you continue to grieve. He's not saying, here is hope, let's dismiss your grief. No, he's saying you are grieving, you continue to grieve. And as you continue to grieve and it's, it's probably going to be a lifelong grief if it's somebody close to you.

But even in the midst of that ongoing grief, there's hope. They go together. Grief and blessedness, sorrow and joy, pain and thanksgiving can coexist and do coexist in the Christian because we knowingly live life under the sovereignty of our king. And we live in our king in Christ Jesus. He reigns over this world even as he reigns in us.

David Powell, a theologian who has written on this topic, said this. He said in Paul, therefore, Thanksgiving does not reflect a sense of complacency or passive quiets that is controlled by the memory of the past. Pauline Thanksgiving points to an active and living God who will continue to work among his people. With the recognition of the sovereignty of God. We can also present all our daily needs to God since he is the Lord of all.

The call to offer for thanksgiving in all circumstances is therefore a call to submit all under the lordship of Christ. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. It's a Christian combination for all of life lived under and in Christ.

I was challenged this week and over these last weeks reading testimonies from different brothers and sisters in Christ and their ability to do this and rejoice and pray without ceasing and give thanks. And what I would count as extreme circumstances when think how often I fall when very small circumstances.

Before doing this series, I read five or so books on gratitude and probably my favorite was the one that was written by Nancy Lee de Moss, uh, Wilmuth. And she wrote a wonderful book on gratitude and she tells the story of a man that she calls dad Johnson. Dad Johnson was not her dad, but she called him Dad Johnson because she lived with he and his wife when she was in college. And she goes on to explain how Dad Johnson

suffered incredibly through life, all kinds of different sufferings. And yet he was a man that was committed to living with a spirit of gratitude.

And then she gave this story that seems unreal if it wasn't real. She said that the Johnsons were vacationing in southern California and they were at a cottage in southern California and and they were sitting in this cottage and up came a car driving up the driveway and Dad Johnson saw the car coming up the driveway. And so he walked out to meet it and the car stopped and out jumped one of his friends with two other men

and the three of them approach Dad Johnson. And they conveyed to him horrific news

that the Johnson 17-year-old daughter Karen had been hit by a drunk driver and she had died in the accident.

And they all report that he heard this and he walked them inside the college cottage and he called his wife and his four remaining living children to the family room. And he said this to them, quote before we asked God why he took Karen home in a head-on collision a few hours ago. Let's thank him for 17 years. We had her and he began to pray.

I'll confess this morning. I'm not confident I could do that right now, but I want to be able to.

You see what he did? He, he was rightfully looking through the lens of grief. He just lost his 17-year-old daughter.

But he also took out the lens of, ah, I have thanks to give as will the lens of gratitude. We're always looking through lenses. He, he didn't ignore this lens, but he didn't ignore this lens. He, he brought both of them into focus and he said, let us give thanks before we ask. Why. Let us have a spirit of gratitude even as we have the spirit of grief.

As hard as it is to say it is true, we have every reason and every well, we have reason and every circumstance to respond with some measure of gratitude.

Billy Graham said it this way. Spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord, thank God in the midst of trials, in every persecution because this isn't just a fallen world. This is my father's world

and everything I have is a gift from him.

It's God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul says.

How do I do this when these hard things I, how do I do this? Why? I want to give you just three things, closing thoughts on giving thanks and hard things first,

anything that loosens my grip on earth and sets my mind on things above is a reason to give things.

Anything that loosens my grip on earth and sets my mind on things above as a reason to give things and hard things do this, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated. Paul says in Colossians three, and then he says, do you not know that you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God? Christian, your life is hidden with Christ in God. And that is to shape your thinking and that is to shape your living.

It is to shape everything about you.

Life is just different now. It alters the way that we see the world. It alters the way that we enter in and outta various circumstances,

maybe more than anything. This is what makes us look so different from the world around us.

Anything and everything that helps me long more for that which is above is actually good for me. It may not be good. The thing itself may be evil, but in an ultimate sense it is good for me. So that Joseph could famously say what you meant for evil, God meant for good. That also helps to make sense of that passage that I quoted from Ephesians five where Paul says there what are very hard words. He doesn't just say give thanks,

not just in all circumstances. As we see in our passage, he says, give thanks for everything. Give thanks for everything.

Which leads to the second closing thought on giving thanks and hard things. Anything that conforms me more to the likeness of my savior is a reason to give thanks.

It's not easy, but here's something to try and do mentally and with your heart is to take a step back. Here's what happens. Suffering and pain and anguish and grief and loss. And they come and they hit us and it's right here. It's in the face and this becomes the focus. But just taking a step back

gains a little perspective. You and I have something much greater in view in Christ. We have a much greater aim in life than just getting through this.

We want to be more like Christ.

We want to live more like Christ. We want to give more glory to Christ. Therefore, anything that conforms me more to the likeness of my savior is a reason to give thanks.

He had no place to lay his head. He was betrayed, he was mocked, he was despised, he was persecuted, he was falsely accused. He was abandoned. He was made perfect through suffering.

Peter points out in one Peter two that when you suffer for Christ, you follow in the footsteps of Christ who suffered for you anything.

It makes me more look like Christ. I I. There's a reason to get thanks in there.

Third and finally thought on giving thanks and hard things, anything that leads me to greater dependence upon God is a reason to give thanks. And everything hard does that

we won't always understand why this or that has happened. Not this side of glory, this or that may look random or useless or unnecessary or simply hurtful but God. But God has a plan and a purpose.

We depend upon him rejoicing and thanksgiving and praying without ceasing it. It all lines up together. It all fits together in kind of this, this magical paradigm for Christian living. And it all says, I can trust him. I I can trust him.

John Newton once illustrated this by saying something along these lines. He said, life is similar to walking by a piece of property. And you walk by that piece of property and there are all kinds of of different things laying on this prop property. There's a whole bunch of nails and there are different boards that are stre and all over it. Some may be as long as an arm, some as long as a man. And they're all different shapes

and they're all different sizes. And you walk by and you go, that is a mess. What a mess. And that's how we often look at our lives and this coming and entering our lives. And they, what a mess. But that's only from what we see as Newton says, when the architect steps up,

he looks upon all of that so-called mess. And with his plan in hand, he sees what he's going to do and it's going to be beautiful.

And he makes it beautiful.

You can trust him. We don't always see, we can't see it amidst all the constituent parts, but he sees the whole

and and he's worthy of trust.

And I say that knowing better than probably anybody in this room, how much suffering there is in this room,

he's worthy of trust.

Again, that does not mean that we have to act as though our hardships aren't hardships. No, we run to him. It doesn't mean that our griefs, our losses, our sorrows, our pains are worth nothing. Know that they're part of the greater plan and the purposes of our God who is worthy of trust. But here's the key. This is the key to all of it. His plans and purposes are always aimed at the good of his people. And so we can rejoice,

we can give thanks in all circumstances.

Psalm 56 is one of my favorite Psalms and I think it's one of my favorite psal because I think it's there that this first I, I first came to really see this, to really know this. You know when you know something but then all of a sudden, you know something. And Psalm 56 was that for me, I saw it there in Psalm 56. The psalmist just surrounded by enemies and he feels like he is going to crash and burn and he feels all of the weight of this life

and all of these adversaries against him. And then in the middle part of that psalm, he says this in verses eight through 11, he says, you have kept count of my tossings. You put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? That is the trials of God's people are not lost on God. When you and I are on our beds at night and we are flipping back and forth because we can't quiet our mind down. We are so afflicted that's not lost on him.

Every tear that you cry, it's not just brushed away. No. David uses the imagery. Say he collects it in his bottle and then he writes it in his book, none of your tears are lost on him.

It's great to know that there's a God

and it's great to know that he's my God.

But what really changes it is verse nine. It will change a life

after noting that God keeps track of his tossings in tear. David says this in a bold proclamation. He says this, I know this. I know that God is for me.

God is for me.

Knowing that will change a life,

that little prepositional clause, it's just two little words for me. It changes everything.

It's one thing to know that there is a God. It's another thing even better to know that this is my God, but it's still greater to know that this God who is my God is for me.

How do you ultimately know that?

'cause God so loved the world, so loved me that he sent his only begotten son,

the Son who reigns over all and ordains all things in this world is a savior who died for me, who is a shepherd for me, who is a high priest, who intercedes for me, who is a king who safeguards me.

It's not just that God's plans and purposes are being worked out in this world and somehow in kind of a a tangential way or in some kind of general way, it's for my benefit. No, it's for me.

He's for me.

And every Christian can say that He's for me.

This affords the Christian the great gift and the blessing of being able to rejoice, always to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in all circumstances

because he's so worthy, so worthy. Let's pray together.

Our Father, we are thankful

that you are a sovereign God. Not just a sovereign God, but our sovereign God. And not just our sovereign God, but our sovereign God who is for us.

Ah, may we have a spirit of gratitude. May we rejoice always. May we live in a spirit of prayerfulness, praying without ceasing, and may we give thanks and all things for you are so worthy of us living a life of thanksgiving to you in Christ's name. Amen.