Give Thanks to the Lord

Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve

Introduction

Welcome! What a joy it is to worship with you this morning on this Thanksgiving weekend. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did; grateful for opportunity to just be with family and with friends. We just have that day where you get to naturally reflect on all the things that you are grateful for at different meals and gatherings. And just as we were praying, you know, it was so good to just think through, really, “Why am I grateful?” Sometimes we say those things, but that “Yeah I’m grateful, I’m thankful,” but why? And to go into those, you know, really go into the details. It’s like man, this is the reason why I’m grateful for health and family and a roof over my head. All of those things are good. And so this morning I just want to take some time to just ponder this topic on giving thanks to the Lord and why we need to be grateful.

Again, just as we think about this wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I thought I’ll just start us off with a downer. If you had way too much turkey, the average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving is 4,500. I think I was at 4,700. A lot of good potato and meat. It takes about 10.9 hours and 27 minutes for an average male to burn 4,500 calories. So I don’t know why you are sitting down. We’re actually gonna do some exercises right now together.

Everything Good Is From God

Just interesting, thankfulness is mentioned around 73 times in the New Testament. And this morning, kind of our baseline scripture is from James chapter 1 verse 17. It says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above,” can I hear an amen? “… coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Can I just say this morning that God is the ultimate source of every good and perfect gift in our lives. Amen? And that’s why we can be grateful this morning, why we are thankful as we think about all of the things that the Lord pours into our lives. I have absolutely nothing that is good in my life that is not from the Lord.

And a lot of times there’s maybe pride in our lives. And we say, “Oh, it’s… you know, I work hard when I look at my house or my car.” And it’s like, yes, we do work hard. But who provided that for you? Who provided you with the brains and the skillset that you have to be able to do your job? And so really, if we’re honest with ourselves and with each other this morning, and we think about everything that is good in our lives, it can all point back to God and say, “He is the giver of everything good in our lives.” And that in us creates praise and thankfulness. And so that should really actually, in a sense, keep us busy. Amen?

And like what Christo shared, it is so easy for us to reflect on complaining and all of the negative things that’s in our lives, that we actually miss all of the good things that God is doing in our lives. And He is the ultimate source, like I said, of every good and perfect gift in our lives, and I’m so grateful for that.

God Is Good All The Time

God’s nature is inherently good. He’s not just a dispenser of good things, rather goodness flows from His very essence.

I don’t have a balloon, but I have something way better. I have a PEZ. So, you know, some of us get to preach maybe once a month. Some of us get to preach 42 Sundays a year, plus, for more than 20 seconds.

It is easy to think about God in the same way as this PEZ, to think, “Well, maybe God’s... I’ve done some good things this week. I was well behaved, I tithed, all of that. I went to church. I cleaned the dishes,” whatever it is. And then we think, “Okay, because I’ve done all those things, God is now gonna bless me. There’s gonna be some good things that is coming out of Him.” And, you know, with this PEZ, there’s only as long as you feed candy. I’m so lame this morning; I didn’t even have candy in this. And that’s, again, easy to see God this way. But in all honesty, God is good all the time. It is His nature. We don’t have to do good things to experience His good nature. He is inherently good. Can I hear an amen?

I’ve got several scriptures for you. I don’t have it on the screen, but just Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord God, mercy and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and in truth.” Psalm 145:9, “The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are all over His works.” Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.” And what I love about this passage in James 1 is this last part as well. It says, “Man, He does not change like shifting shadows.”

I don’t know about you or maybe in your own life or when you’ve dealt with teenagers, you know that emotions are kind of up and down, right? One day you don’t know, is this gonna be a happy teenager? We were in the cities yesterday. I stepped up my dating game and I took Vanessa all the way to the cities. And yeah, I’m excited to see what she’s doing next week. But for some reason, we saw a lot of cranky, difficult kids. I don’t know if it was full moon or what the deal was, but there was just a lot of unhappy kids that was throwing tantrums. And you know, there might be many reasons for that. I’m sure I was very cranky with all my parents shopping when I was young, right? When they dragged you to all the different stores. But you know, just ups and downs and different emotions that we experience in our marriages and our families and different things. But when it comes to God, He is always the same. And He is always good in spite of your bad behavior, in spite of your sin, in spite of your shortcomings. He is good all the time. And that will never change. Amen?

And His love isn’t just now gonna disappear or grow smaller because of, you know, your lack of faithfulness. He is always good. It is who he is. And that’s why we can show up every Sunday and praise his name, why we have a time of praise and worship. It is more than just singing some of these songs. And those are good things, and it helps us to reflect on God’s character, and it helps us to realize again why we are thankful for God’s love.

And, you know, it’s just, man, God is good all the time. And He’s not gonna change. He’s not gonna change. Even when you and I are facing all kinds of challenges and trials in our lives, and we think, “Oh, now God is suddenly mad at me and different things.” It’s like, no, God is good all the time. And He’s worthy of my praises all the time. And we need to live that out.

And then just this, yeah, this consistency of God, Numbers 23:9, “God is not a man that He should lie nor a son of man that He should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?” And then Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Why Give Thanks?

Even in the life of Jesus, when you scan through the Gospels, we see moments where Jesus is thankful and where he gives thanks. Luke 10, “At that same time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. And He said, ‘Thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.’” And then in John 6:11, “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” And then one more example here, John 11, “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” And so if we see some of these examples in the life of Jesus, then we need to be people of thanksgiving as well.

Why do people, why do Christians, why do we as Salem need to be people that are thankful? Well, a couple of things. Number one, it is commanded by God. Can I hear an amen? It is commanded by God. 1 Thessalonians 5.18, “Give thanks in all circumstances…” not just when it’s 75 degrees and sunny, even in the snow. Not when I have money in the bank, but even when I am poor. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Right? Is it easy? No. It’s easier to complain for a lot of us. I know it seems like sometimes I have that spiritual gift of complaining. It’s like, man, where did that come from? And why is it so hard for me to think about the good things in my life and to think about the goodness of God and so easy for me to complain? And here’s the commandment to every believer. Man, we should be people that give thanks. We need to teach our kids to give thanks and to be people of praise.

Number two, why we need to praise or why we need to give thanks: We have no reason to praise God without a spirit of thankfulness. Just reflect on that for a second. We have no reason to praise God without a spirit of thankfulness. Worship time, at least in church setting, as we do music and as we share prayer with God, will mean absolutely zero if we don’t have a spirit that is thankful for all the things that He has done in our lives. And it will be very hard for you to worship, it will be very hard for you to praise, if this is not a reality in your life. And so it is really important in our lives to cultivate this spirit, a spirit of thankfulness, and to be reminded of the things that God has done in our lives. If there’s nothing else, at least to be grateful for the cross, that God loved us so much that he gave his Son Jesus Christ to us. But again, if you’re somebody that’s constantly cranky, always complaining, and there’s not a sense of gratefulness in your life, worship will be extremely difficult for us.

And so this morning, even just opportunity for us to think about, man, why am I grateful? Why am I thankful for the Lord this morning? “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

One quote here from J.I. Packer, “We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the Psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal.”

And then thirdly, it helps to remind us of our limited control in life. James 4:13–14, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?”

When we ponder our life, you know, it is so easy to think that we are in control, and we can do all of the planning. And it’s like, “Well, I’ve got my five-year plan, I’ve got my ten-year plan.” And when we’re thinking about God in our lives and we just see how quickly we can get sick or emergencies can show up and really change the course of our life, then we realize again, “Man, I am not in control. I am not in control.” And even that this morning just should create praises in our lives to say, “God, I am not in control, but you are. And I’m so grateful for that. I’ve made all my plans and I can do my best, but at the end of the day, I’m grateful that you are leading my life.”

Jeremiah 10:23, “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own. It is not for them to direct their steps.”

And then last quote, “God is in control and therefore in everything I can give thanks, not because of the situation, but because of the one who directs and rules over it.”

Steps to Cultivating a Spirit of Gratitude

I wanna skip this point. Let me just give you two practical steps on how to cultivate a spirit of gratitude this morning. Because again, it’s easy for us to say, “Oh, yeah, be grateful, cultivate a spirit of gratitude.” But how do we actually do that? Well, two things again: reflect on God’s faithfulness. Reflect on God’s faithfulness. Just quickly, even right now, think back about your life. Where have you seen God’s faithfulness show up in your life? Let’s ponder that. I wanna just give you 30 seconds to ponder that.

Number two, practice mindfulness. Embrace the present moment and be mindful of the blessings surrounding you. If I’m very honest with you, I’m not always very good at this. It seems that it is so easy to rush through life, through our calendars, through our appointments, that a lot of times we can miss out on the present moment. It seems we’re either always in the past or always in the future, and we don’t take time to reflect in the moment, to be mindful about “What is God doing in this moment as I’m sitting around this table with family and friends? What is He doing right now?” As you’re traveling, as you… whatever it might be, to just to be aware and to be still and to say, “God, I see you. Thank you for this moment, for this sacred space.” And so I wanna encourage you again to live maybe a little bit more in the moment as well and to become aware of God’s presence.

Psalm 104, “May my meditation be pleasing to Him as I rejoice in the Lord.”

Closing

I want to close us this morning with a poem. And so I just want you to relax. You can close your eyes if you want to. Let’s be mindful of this moment and of the Holy Spirit.

In the laughter of children, pure and bright,
God’s goodness sparkles in the joyous light.
A tender touch, a comforting embrace,
and every moment God reveals His grace. 

In the stormy seas and the darkest night,
God’s goodness is a beacon, a guiding light.
A refuge in trials, a fortress strong,
his love prevails unwavering and long. 

So let our hearts be grateful evermore
for God’s goodness, a treasure to adore.
And every blessing, big and small,
we find His goodness the greatest of all.

Father God, we give you thanks this morning as your people. Help us to be mindful just of your love. Thank you that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We’re so grateful. And so Lord, just receive our worship, our praises this morning. Again, what can we offer up to you, a God that gave everything? And all we have this morning is our heart. All we have this morning is our worship and our praises unto you.

And Holy Spirit, I just pray in these moments that you will minister to us, that you will lift our spirit. Lord, I pray that you will help our mindsets even to change this morning from complaining, from being discouraged, to be people of hope, to be people that are grateful for every blessing that’s in our lives. Thank you that you are the God that’s love endures forever. Thank you that you are the one that gives amazing gifts, good gifts in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let’s stand together.