Message by Chad Kelly
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (MSG)
16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Seriously, Chad? Do you have any idea of the week that I”™ve had? Please tell me you”™re not going to give me some “feel good” sermon that”™s not real and waste my Sunday morning.
I promise”¦what I”™m going to tell you this morning is real.
It won”™t change what you”™re dealing with. It won”™t completely remove the pain, the fear, the uncertainty, etc.
But it WILL change you and how you deal with all that is coming at you right now.
And how you deal with it all matters.
MacDonald
A thankful attitude begins and ends with seeing the goodness of the Lord.
If our hearts are not focused on God”™s goodness, we will not be thankful day in and day out. We will quickly find ourselves ungrateful.
MacDonald
If ingratitude is allowed to become a habit, it will weigh you down with the burdens of life, leading to bitterness, depression, and despair.
Life is full of NOT good things, however. Bad, tragic, horrific circumstances come our way all too frequently. And we naturally get lost in the weeds of these circumstances and thankfulness leaks out of our hearts, slowly but surely.
HOW do we keep the goodness of the Lord in view and, thereby, keep a thankful attitude “no matter what happens”?
There is only ONE way.
We come to this Table.
You may be wondering, “How in the world does that work?”
We call it Communion or The Lord”™s Supper. Throughout church history, it has most often been called The Eucharist, because Jesus Himself “gave thanks”, which is the Greek word eucharisteo. I don”™t give you many Greek lessons”¦but this is one worth sharing.
Voskamp
The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning “grace” (and yep, that”™s where Robin and I got our youngest daughter”™s name J). Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks.
And so, it is at this Table, through The Eucharist, “The Thanksgiving”, that we see the Lord”™s goodness and grace and, thereby, keep a thankful heart!
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NLT)
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it.
Don”™t miss the significance of JESUS”™ gratitude to God here! He was just about to be betrayed into the hands of those who would crucify Him”¦and He knew it. And yet, He thanks God for the gift of bread that represented His own body that would soon be beaten and shredded and crucified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was thankful for the love of God for US!
Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people””an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord”™s death until he comes again.
And THAT is something to be thankful for! If Jesus was thankful for God”™s love to us in His own crucifixion and resurrection, how can WE not live every day full of thanks to Him?
When we have nothing we feel thankful for, Jesus”™ death and resurrection for us reboots our gratitude and puts all of life in perspective.
I invite you this morning to come to the Table.
CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST
The Foundation for True Gratitude
Thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus is the foundation of gratitude in all of life!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God”™s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus is the foundation of gratitude in all of life!
BECAUSE you belong to Christ Jesus, you CAN””we MUST””give thanks in all circumstances because circumstances can”™t take us out of the Father”™s loving hand!
MacDonald
Thankfulness is a decision based in reality”¦We dishonor God with anything less.
Because of the reality we”™ve just experienced””the grace and mercy and love of God in Jesus””the decision to be thankful no matter what is NOT just “positive thinking”. It is reality””for we have far more to be thankful for in Jesus than we will ever fully know!
Colossians 3:15-17 (NLT)
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
And to really understand the backdrop of these commands to be thankful, you need to spend some time reading and meditating on verses 1-14, where Paul unfolds our salvation and how God has changed us and remade us through Jesus!
Thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus is the foundation of gratitude in all of life!
MacDonald
God commands us to be thankful because our gratitude is not based on whether we are enjoying life but on the realities of our lives in God; being filled with gratitude for who God is, for His Son, and for our salvation go deeper than any feelings drawn out of our experiences of pain or joy.
Thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus is the foundation of gratitude in all of life!
Romans 8:31-39 (NLT)
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won”™t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one””for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one””for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God”™s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ”™s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God”™s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow””not even the powers of hell can separate us from God”™s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below””indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have to make ourselves think about God”™s love and remember it day by day. And then we have to choose to be thankful for such love and grace! We have to embrace with gratitude the hope that is ours in Jesus that can never be taken away by anything or anyone, no matter what!
Thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus is the foundation of gratitude in all of life!
And from the foundation of our salvation in Jesus, we”™ll begin to see a multitude of gifts to be thankful for! But it all starts and ends with Jesus!