I Thessalonians 5:18 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
These words were written by the
apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica. Paul wrote over a dozen different
letters that became books of the New Testament. Most theologians think that
this was the very first letter that he wrote. It was written around 60 AD. Paul
spent a lot of time in Thessalonica and in Acts 17 we learn that he was being
accused of preaching another king., King Jesus rather than King Caesar. It
would have been heresy or treason. At the worst it would have meant death or
imprisonment. At best it would have landed him on a glorified watch list. His
preaching incited a riot that cause Paul and Silas to flee in the night. The
church continued to experience persecution even after Paul left. In his letter
to the church, he passes along some council straight from the heart of God.
They serve as a reminder to us.
It is what he wants you
to embrace. It is a natural response to wonder what God has for
me. What is God’s will for my life? Some take the fortune cookie approach
thinking that the answer is going to show up in a predictable way. Some try the
magic 8-ball approach where you ask the question and the answer is on the
bottom and you keep shaking it until you get the answer you always wanted
anyway. For others it would be Siri. I
was checking the other day what some of the most commonly asked questions
are. One of the most commonly ask
questions Siri is asked is what is the meaning of life. I tried that the other
day and do you know what she told me? The meaning of life is chocolate.
**God is more concerned with who we are on the journey than
the actual destination.
We often think in terms of the destination. Where am I going
to land? What is the path that I am going to take? Often God focuses on who we
are on the path and along the way. I want us to focus on all five
words in this section: give thanks in all circumstances.
>>Give
Thanks
This is to say it is going to cost you something. It has got
to be intentional and deliberate. There are some people that seem to be
appreciative, thankful, and grateful because it is their nature. Some of us would say I am not wired that way.
That is not who I am. That is not the way I am put together. I tend to be more
cynical or a little on the dark side.
We learn in scripture that contentment is a learned thing
and the more we look at life through the lens of gratitude, the more we begin
to see things that way. It is something that we are taught. One of the first
words our kids learned was “More”. That is not a good word to be one of the
first words to learn. We are a lot like that. The older we get the more our
hearts are saying; more, more, more. That one word seems to mark our prayers to
God…more. It is easier to teach kids-more but it is more difficult to team them
thank you. You don’t have to remind them
to say more but you often have to remind them to say thank you.
**More focuses on what we get but thank you focuses on what
we give. Thanksgiving is not thanks
until it is given. When we give thanks, what we get in return is so much
greater. When we give thanks it comes back to us in many fold.
There was a study in
Psychology Today they divided participants into two groups. In one group they
were told to keep a thanksgiving journal. They were to list everything they
were thankful for. The other group was told to keep an annoyance journal. They
found out the effects of each of the groups. The first group had more
enthusiasm; they slept better and were significantly less depressed. The
national institute of health studied that the blood flow to the brain in the
area that controls our sleep function
stress level and metabolism was better for those who were thankful. It
is true physiologically but also relationally. It showed that people who gave
thanks. If people were thanked for giving direction, they did more so in the
future. Social workers who received thank you notes from their clients were
more likely to make more visits to their clients in the future. Servers in a restaurant who write thank you
on the check are more likely to get a bigger tip. Husbands who get a thank you
for washing the dishes are more likely to wash them the next time. Mothers that are thanked for fixing the meals
do more so in the future.
It is like making an investment. It comes back to us
greater. The more specific in our thanksgiving the more benefit it is for them
and for us.
>>All
Circumstances
This is where it gets difficult. We think that our thanks is
dependent on our circumstances. Somehow
if our circumstances were different it would somehow unlock the key to us being
thankful. The thinking we sometimes take is that our thanks is conditional on
our circumstances.
In fact the bible says we are to give thanks in all things.
We think if our circumstance were more abundant we would be more thankful. We think with these equations: [Abundance+
Comfort = Thanksgiving.} however, Abundance is actually the enemy of gratitude.
Therefore the equation more times than not is:
**[Abundance +Comfort=Discontentment. The truth is the more
we get the more we want. If you look at our culture and all the things that we have you would think we would be the most thankful people on the planet. 76% of people living below the poverty level have A/C while 30 years ago 36% of the entire population had it. In other words we are more comfortable than we have ever been. In 1973 the average house had 1600 square feet but today the average home has over 2400 square feet. More abundance than ever before. Of the 46 million Americans living below the poverty level right now, 74% own a car or a truck. 90% pay for cable service. 53% have a video system of some kind in their home. There is more abundance than there has ever been so the question is: Are we more grateful?
Studies show that people born after 1945 are ten times more
depressed than those born earlier. We have become so aware of what we don’t
have that we have become discontent with what we do have.
**So the equation we operate under is Abundance + Comfort =
Entitlement. We finally get what we have been wanting and when we get it we think in our spirit it is about time. On a mission trip the kids were given flavored water or juice, something they would rarely get. They started bringing their empty cups back to the team. They thought they wanted more but in reality they were bringing them their empty cups out of gratitude so that the other kids could have some drinks too. If we tried this in America they would say: Where is the ice? They would look at the size drink that the kid next to them got and say: Why did he get more? Then when they were finished they would come back for more. We would look at each other and say well that is how kids are. Guess where they learned that?
Another way this equation is manifest is:
**Abundance + Comfort= Complaining. People that seem to
complain the most are usually the most well off. Did you know that first class passengers
complain more than passengers in coach? The more we have often leads to
discontentment, entitlement and complaining.
What do we do about it? We have to be intentional in being
thankful in all things and in all circumstances. Here are some ways to give
thanks:
a. Through Singing- Psalm 147:7 Sing to the Lord with
grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. The more we worship,
the more thankful we are.
b. Through Serving- Hebrews 12:28 28 Therefore, since we are
receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship
God acceptably with reverence and awe,
Often we find ourselves serving for what we can get out of
it such as recognition or appreciation.
c. Through Giving- Psalm 50:14 14 “Sacrifice thank offerings
to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
>>In
That short word makes all the difference in the world in
interpreting that correctly. When we talk about thanksgiving we use a different
preposition. What is it? “For.”
Certainly it is okay to be thankful for. But when you make your list of what
you are thankful in it becomes more difficult.
We are not told to be thankful for all things. I am not thankful for
cancer, divorce, or car accident. But we can be thankful in all circumstances.
I can be thankful in
all things because:
1. He has a greater purpose than I can see. He knows what I
don’t. he understands what I can’t. our
vision is so limited but his is eternal.
Romans 8:28 We give thanks in all
things because in all things he works things together for the good.
2. He can work in me so that I can grow. 3. He will give me the power so that I can overcome.
4. He gave His son so that I can be saved.
Conclusion: God does not owe us anything. We can say: More
More but he doesn’t owe us. What he did for us is because he loved us. If we
put our trust in the finished work of Christ, that is more than enough to be
thankful for. So we put our hope and our
thanks in Him.
A missionary came back from a mission trip where he had
visited a leper colony and they asked does anybody have a request for a song to
sing. A woman in the back raised her fingerless hand and said could we sing:
count your many blessings? When he is all you’ve got you realize that is more
than you deserve. 
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