This week, as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Pastor Jonny brought a topical message for this season.
As Christians we should be the most thankful people in the world
We know what we’ve been saved from and we know that we have been gifted with the greatest gift of all: eternal life.
We have been forgiven of our sins, we have an incredible relationship with God now and an eternity in His presence.
The Israelites are God’s chosen people. God saved them multiple times. He saved them from slavery in Egypt and God reminded them of it. Unfortunately, they were ungrateful when they should have been praising Him. God continued providing for them after their escape from slavery in the form of manna as food, and His presence as a pillar of fire as a guide.
In the Christian life, we have so much to be thankful for. Much of our gratitude can be for the past, the present and the future.
We should be grateful for the moment that we were saved. We should be grateful for the fact that we are currently being saved every time we sin. We should be grateful that we will be saved in the future, in eternity.
The same sort of gratitude applies when we consider how we are/were forgiven, accepted, loved and rescued.
We ought to be thankful for our salvation and our redemption. Salvation is the theological form of saying that we are saved. We are saved from our sin and its punishment (the wrath of God and Hell), from ourselves and our own poor decision making.
Sometimes the lure of our sinful past can seem more appealing than being a Christian living a good life now. We need to remember the bad that God has saved and redeemed us from and be grateful to be part of the family of God, the Church. We were bought at a cost and we shouldn’t take it for granted.
We also need to be thankful for what God has saved us from since our salvation. In the parable of the Ten Lepers, only one went back to say thank you. We need to be the one leper who understands what we’ve been saved from and what we’ve been saved for. God deserves our hands and our heart.
11Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
(2 Corinthians 9:11)
In the above verse, Paul was writing about a collection from the Corinthian church to bless the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem church would give thanks to God for the generosity of the Corinthians. Today we can apply that passage knowing the same principle applies: our generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
And just like the Jerusalem church, when we are on the receiving end of somebody’s generosity, say thank you when they give you gifts and bless you in life
God’s provision is an ongoing process, meeting our needs and empowering us from the inside through the power of the Holy Spirit
The Christian life should be a journey and we should always be moving in the right direction, towards looking more like Jesus. He gives us new mercies every morning.
Part of the fall is that we gained the concept of “tomorrow” because there was only “today” being in God’s presence. With “tomorrow” comes anxiety, planning, and trying to store up and provide for ourselves.
1Praise the LORD!
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
(Psalm 106:1)
Praise is the answer, as you can see from the Psalm above!
Finally, we need to be thankful for our future, for eternity.
We know our life is going to end at some point, and we need to plan for it. If you were to die tonight, where are you going? If you’re a Christian, you can confidently say Heaven, an eternity spent worshiping in the presence of God.
God is giving us a gift of new life and new hope in the future. The best is yet to come.
So how do we show we are thankful?
28Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
(Hebrews 12:28)
We ought to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Reverence is synonymous with fear. We understand that God is King and we are not. We need to come with humility, because He is king and we are His created beings.
Ultimately, remember what He called you out from and look forward to what He has called you to.