Ephesians 5:15-21
A Real Church Service 3: Thanksgiving
I. Introduction
-Ill. Two men walking through a field spotted a charging bull.
1. They raced for the nearest fence but realized they would not make it in time.
2. ‘A' said: "Put up a prayer, b/c we're in for it!"
3. ‘B' said: "I can't, I've never prayed in public!"
4. ‘A' "Just do it the bull is about to catch us!"
5. ‘B' "All right, I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father use to repeat at the table: ‘O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"
-Thanksgiving- Be Thankful!
-Ill. "There is always somebody worse off than you!"
1. Good reason to give thanks?
2. What if you are the one person in the world that is worse off than the whole rest of the planet? 3. Could that person give thanks?
-What really is thanksgiving?
II. Scripture
III. Blessed?
-What can I say new about thanksgiving?
1. Probably nothing!
2. Be thankful, some are not.
-We are blessed!
1. America is the richest nation to ever exist.
2. We enjoy more freedom than any other country has ever known!
3. We have bigger homes, bigger cars, more cars, more money, and greater prosperity!
4. How many have a ‘spare' bedroom? Unheard of in the rest of the world!
5. Grocery store choices! Half an aisle of beans!
6. Green, white, kidney beans, northern, garbanzo, etc.
-It's hard for us to imagine what it means to be in need!
1. Our government even takes care of the poor, the disabled, the unemployed.
2. Universal Health care is already in existence, just go to the hospital w/ or w/out health insurance!
-It would seem we have more to be thankful for than the rest of the world.
-Yet we have more cases of depression, despair, and suicide.
1. The world around us seeks to drive us toward some ‘new need'.
2. Commercials, ‘keeping up with the Jones,' and a desire to be a step above others drives us.
-Money says: "In God we trust"
1. In my lifetime, I don't think I've ever witnessed our world living that out.
2. "One nation under God" has never been a reality in my lifetime.
-God is not a communist.
1. But neither is He a republican nor democrat.
2. U.S. is not a Christian country, but a secular country with a strong Christian presence.
3. We have bonded our faith in Christ w/ patriotism.
-Ill. Nazi soldiers wore on belt buckle "God is with us"
1. Holocaust (6 million Jews)
2. Abortion (47 million babies)
-Please don't miss my point.
IV. Analytical Worship
-I fear in the church, we may have become analytical worshipers.
-Ill. Pastor stayed w/ a young couple overnight.
1. In the morning he woke to hear a soprano voice singing "Nearer My God to Thee"
2. At breakfast he thanked the wife for the beautiful song and told her of the blessing it was as he woke in the morning.
3. "Oh, well, it's an old song my mother used to sing. I sing it b/c I've found it's a good one to boil eggs by. Just repeat the 1st verse 5 x's for soft-boiled, and 8 x's for hard-boiled."
-We've analyzed the divine out of the picture!
1. Music gifted: wrong note, tempo, poor blending, etc
2. Organizationally gifted: Order of worship was not followed closely enough, over time, that testimony was scheduled, etc.
3. Theologically gifted: theological correctness, incorrect song lyrics, incorrect testimony, etc.
-So our praise & thanksgiving becomes an issue of solely the intellect.
1. Mark 12:30 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
2. But v. 19b "singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart."
3. I'm not promoting emotionalism.
4. But I am promoting worship from the heart!
-We have so much, we do not know what gratitude is!
V. Foolishness
-Paul says foolishness is not knowing God's will for our lives.
-Ill. Budapest a man asks his pastor: "Life is unbearable. I have a family of 9 in one room. What can I do?"
1. Pastor; "Take your goat into the room w/ you & come back in a week."
2. Next week man says: "It cannot stand it any longer, the goat is filthy and unbearable!"
3. Pastor: "Let the goat out."
4. The next day the man said: "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat- only the nine of us."
-Ill. H.A. Ironside in a crowded restaurant
1. Man wanted to sit with him, and Ironside bowed to pray.
2. The other man asked, are you okay?
3. "Yes, I was just giving thanks before eating."
4. "Oh, you're one of those? Well, I never give thanks for what I eat, b/c I earn it by the sweat of my brow. I don't bow my head I just start right in!"
5. Ironside responded: "My dog does that too!"
-I'm not arguing for or against a prayer before meals.
1. I'm arguing for a thankful heart.
2. v. 20 "giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"
-What do you really believe is God's Will for your life?
1. Wealth, picture perfect life, perfect health, fame, fortune, popularity?
2. Or just being grateful for what you have?
3. Thanksgiving is the foundation for contentment!
VI. Worse Off?
-So what are some of the reasons to give thanks?
1. "There is always somebody worse off than you."
2. "Do not grumble because you do not get what you want; be thankful you do not get what you deserve!"
-But what if you are the one worst off by the world's standards?
-Maude Royden "When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough."
-C. S. Lewis "He who has God and many other things has no more than he who has God alone."
-In our quest to accumulate we have grown cold in gratitude!
-There is no one worse off than that person who does not know Christ.
-There is no one more blessed than that person who knows Christ as savior!
-If God never gave another ‘blessing' we would still be blessed beyond imagination
-If you are a Christian this morning, you have all the reason you will ever need to give God thanks!
VII. Scriptural Thanks!
-The Bible Says...
-1 Chron. 16:34-35 "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Say also: ‘Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.'"
-Psalm 7:17 "I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."
-Daniel 6:10 "When Daniel knew that the [law against prayer] document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously."
-1 Cor. 15:57 "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
-2 Cor. 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere."
-2 Cor. 9:15 "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"
-When the Lord returns:
Rev. 11:17 "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign."
VIII. Conclusion
-Have you worshiped today?
-Ill. Gene & Joyce Williams
1. Pastor of Wichita, KA 1st Nazarene & prolific author.
2. All his children were Christians but one (Pat).
3. Pat came into their room and said: "Mom & Dad, I love you."
4. Pat shot himself at the foot of their bed.
5. He survived and told his dad years later: "During the closing hymn we sang ‘Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus' and that's what I did this morning."
-In our ‘culturally informed' way of thinking, we come to church looking for more blessings.
1. Prosperity gospel/ get rich quick
2. Maybe we should come willing to give to Him.
3. Give thanks to Him.
-Maybe that's a real church service!
1. Maybe that's real worship.
2. Maybe that's what we're all about.
-Different response:
1. Stand from your position.
2. Say: "I give God thanks."
3. Will you stand and give thanks to God today?
