back to index2015-11-22 In Everything Give Thanks
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Let's meet the first Thessalonians chapter 5 16 to 18. We're going to take a break just 00:00:10.000 |
to prepare us for the Thanksgiving week that's coming up. First Thessalonians 5 16 to 18. 00:00:16.240 |
Okay. Reading from verse 16 to 18. Rejoice always pray without seizing in everything 00:00:26.440 |
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Let's pray. Heavenly 00:00:34.320 |
Father we thank you so much for this morning. We thank you Lord God that even in the midst 00:00:39.860 |
of chaos around the world that we know that our peace is with you. That as long as you 00:00:46.960 |
are faithful as long as you are gracious Lord God that we know that we are safe and we pray 00:00:53.660 |
father that we would not respond to all the turmoil like the rest of the world that we 00:00:59.920 |
know that this is not our home and it's just a constant reminder to us Lord God of the 00:01:03.840 |
spiritual warfare that we're in. So help us to remain sober help us Lord God to seek the 00:01:09.980 |
eternal things Lord not temporary safety and we pray father God that our worship may simply 00:01:15.560 |
be an overflow of all that you have given us in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Merry Christmas. 00:01:23.940 |
All right. I mean sarcastic. Every year it seems like Thanksgiving is just disappearing. 00:01:30.380 |
You know especially this year and I've been saying this for the last few years but this 00:01:33.880 |
year in particular I don't see Thanksgiving at all. You know it's almost like whenever 00:01:38.860 |
we talk about Thanksgiving it's about the sale that's coming. Is this you're going to 00:01:42.140 |
buy it online or you're going to go to the store. You know what stores are going to be 00:01:45.740 |
open what kind of sales you have outside of that the idea of Thanksgiving is almost disappearing 00:01:50.500 |
in this country. We have three major Christian holidays at least in the United States. We 00:01:56.300 |
have Christmas we have Easter and we have Thanksgiving. Christmas is it wasn't really 00:02:01.540 |
started by Christians it was a pagan holiday that the Christians decided to convert into 00:02:06.740 |
Christian theme saying that this is when Jesus was born. Actuality Jesus probably was not 00:02:11.200 |
born in the winter. He probably was born sometime in spring. But again the Christians when they 00:02:15.860 |
were in power they they decided to well let's let's convert this to a Christian theme. And 00:02:22.300 |
then Easter obviously again was not a Christian holiday. It was a celebration of some some 00:02:28.220 |
Persian goddess named Ishtar and that turned into a celebration of Jesus's resurrection. 00:02:36.020 |
Thanksgiving is a unique Christian holiday because it was started by Christians for the 00:02:40.180 |
purpose of worshiping God. And I think this is one true holiday that that the secular 00:02:45.060 |
world really doesn't know what to do with. You can't change the name you can't change 00:02:48.620 |
the meaning because it's embedded into it. So it's almost kind of like the way that Thanksgiving 00:02:53.860 |
is being attacked instead of focusing on families getting together and having worship and thanking 00:02:59.340 |
God it's turned into a shopping day you know. And that's pretty much all it's become now. 00:03:03.980 |
I mean you don't see it online. I mean I you know we don't watch television so I don't 00:03:08.460 |
know what the commercials are but on Facebook you just don't see much of it. You know in 00:03:12.260 |
fact this year right after Halloween we started seeing Christmas decorations going up you 00:03:17.380 |
know in the stores and people's houses already. It's almost kind of like okay the shopping 00:03:21.820 |
day is coming you know and then when that happens and then we focus on Christmas. Thanksgiving 00:03:29.020 |
really ought to be a day that we are deliberate among all the other days because Thanksgiving 00:03:34.140 |
is really at the core of what it means to be a Christian. And I know this how Thanksgiving 00:03:38.660 |
the day only comes once a year but really if we examine the scriptures carefully you'll 00:03:43.940 |
realize that without Thanksgiving you don't have Christianity you don't have worship. 00:03:51.060 |
It's not just about the family gathering together. Thanksgiving is really at the heart and the 00:03:54.700 |
core of why you and I are here. What worship is ultimately about. The text that we looked 00:04:01.620 |
at in 1 Thessalonians 5 16 to 18 he doesn't just say rejoice he says rejoice always. He 00:04:09.660 |
doesn't just say pray he says pray without ceasing constantly and then he says to give 00:04:14.660 |
thanks in all things rejoice and pray and give thanks in all things for this is the 00:04:22.300 |
will of God in Christ Jesus for you. This is the will of God. I know there's probably 00:04:28.760 |
many of you sitting in here who are wrestling with the will of God. Maybe you just had you 00:04:35.420 |
know DTR with somebody and DTR is determining the relationship. OK. Those of you who are 00:04:41.220 |
not hip. So that's what DTR means. So maybe some of you guys are wrestling with the idea 00:04:48.060 |
of should I marry this guy should I get into a relationship with this guy. Maybe you're 00:04:51.140 |
in the process of finding a new job. Is this the will of God. Should I go on this or that. 00:04:56.660 |
Maybe some of you college students are praying about which field to get into. What is the 00:05:00.300 |
will of God. Well the Bible is not clear about your vocation. You know no matter how much 00:05:06.340 |
you search you're not going to have somebody says God says you should do this because it's 00:05:10.540 |
not clear. Right. There's no mention about you being a lawyer or doctor as the will of 00:05:16.180 |
God. But there are some things that the Bible says is absolutely crystal clear and every 00:05:21.720 |
Christian ought to know. Our salvation God's election of us is the will of God. Worshiping 00:05:28.860 |
glorifying God that is the will of God. Our sanctification that we live in such a way 00:05:33.700 |
that we glorify and honor God is his will. All the other stuff are things that we need 00:05:40.160 |
to discern. How does being a businessman affect my sanctification. How does me coming to a 00:05:49.060 |
relationship with this person or that person. How does that affect glorifying God. So everything 00:05:54.220 |
else that we determine has to fit in under the larger umbrella of what is clearly stated 00:06:00.020 |
as his will. So the text that we're looking at clearly says one of the primary things 00:06:06.340 |
that God desires and wills for us is that we are thankful. We are thankful. Now it says 00:06:14.060 |
to be thankful for everything. If he just said be thankful we can sit here and say well 00:06:17.860 |
what are you thankful for. And I'm sure during this Thanksgiving season you're going to be 00:06:22.140 |
asked that question a lot. Especially if you're a Christian. What are you thankful for. Right. 00:06:26.540 |
You sit there thinking maybe some of you guys got a new job. You know I'm thankful for that. 00:06:32.220 |
You started a business and it's really taken off. I'm thankful for that. You know I was 00:06:36.580 |
sick and God answered my prayer and I'm no longer sick. And I'm thankful for that. I'm 00:06:42.020 |
thankful for my family. Thank you for the health of my children. And we can think about 00:06:45.500 |
all of these things. But if you look at the context in which Paul is commanding, not suggesting, 00:06:52.340 |
but commanding the Thessalonians to be thankful, we kind of get a better perspective of what 00:06:58.220 |
Paul is really getting at. You have to remember that the Gospel when it came into Thessalonica 00:07:05.620 |
it was met with much opposition. In fact the persecution was so intense that they went 00:07:12.180 |
out looking for Paul and his companions. And because they couldn't find him they ended 00:07:15.980 |
up going to one of his, one of the key men who became a Christian and they went after 00:07:21.980 |
him and his family. And in Acts chapter 17, 4-6 it says they actually dragged Jason out 00:07:28.180 |
of his house and his family, take him to the Roman court and basically saying that these 00:07:32.900 |
guys are ruining our culture. These guys are coming in, they're rocking the world. We need 00:07:37.020 |
to do something about this and maybe put them in jail, maybe whip them, maybe even stone 00:07:42.620 |
them. Because it wasn't uncommon at that time to stone people. Paul himself says in 1 Thessalonians 00:07:50.740 |
1-6, he says the reason why I know that your faith is genuine, that in the midst of much 00:07:56.780 |
opposition that you became followers of Jesus Christ. Think how contrary that is to our 00:08:04.620 |
culture and the way that we plant churches, the way that we supposedly bear fruit. We 00:08:09.260 |
want to make it as easy as possible to get as many people to come to church, to have 00:08:13.340 |
as many people to be serving in the church. But here it says despite. I know your faith 00:08:19.060 |
is genuine, but despite persecution that you came. You know again when we talk about persecution 00:08:26.740 |
it's not like persecution that you and I face today. You know and I don't think that's something 00:08:31.140 |
that we should be praying to God, you know bring persecution. I'm thankful that we live 00:08:36.820 |
in a free country. I'm thankful that my children, that I don't have to worry about my children 00:08:40.460 |
being stoned going to school just because they're praying for their meal. But the persecution 00:08:46.140 |
that we're talking about in the early church looked a lot like what we see on television 00:08:51.500 |
in the Middle East. Because of what they're saying, a lot of them were stoned to death. 00:08:58.680 |
At minimum they had a very difficult time earning money, income. So imagine today you 00:09:04.700 |
know it's hard enough to get a job, but because your confession of faith in Jesus Christ that 00:09:09.660 |
they was just straight out you know to tell you you're a Christian we don't want you. 00:09:13.820 |
You know another businessman maybe you're in the middle of this huge contract and find 00:09:17.300 |
out you're a Christian and they said no I don't want to do business with a Christian. 00:09:21.980 |
And that's at that's the minimum trials that they had. Most people face that kind of trial 00:09:26.420 |
in the early church. But in this particular church the persecution was so intense you 00:09:33.460 |
rarely see Apostle Paul packing up his bag and leaving his city. Do you remember in Lystra 00:09:37.820 |
he gets stoned, dragged out? He goes back in, preaches the gospel. The second missionary 00:09:42.460 |
journey he comes around he preaches the gospel in that city. So we're not talking about a 00:09:46.620 |
man who was afraid to die. But the persecution in Thessalonica was so intense and he was 00:09:54.380 |
concerned that not only him but the people converted were all may also get stoned. So 00:10:00.140 |
he actually packs up his bag and then he leaves Thessalonica. And then remember where he goes? 00:10:06.020 |
He goes to Berea. Right? So I don't think humanly speaking Berea was one of the cities 00:10:11.620 |
that he was targeting. It just happened that because of persecution he ended up going to 00:10:15.140 |
Berea. The Thessalonians were so angry about the spread of Christianity they actually follow 00:10:20.820 |
him to Berea and then he ends up running from there to another city. That's how intense 00:10:25.620 |
the persecution was in Thessalonica. And the whole reason why he's even writing this letter 00:10:31.660 |
is because he had to take off and he was concerned that the persecution would have squashed this 00:10:36.400 |
church. And so he gets the report back and realizes not only were they not squashed, 00:10:42.660 |
they're thriving and they become the model church in Macedonia. And so it is in this 00:10:48.660 |
context, in the context of this intense persecution, people having a hard time living, possibly 00:10:54.460 |
some maybe even stoning, that he's writing to them. He says, "Rejoice always." I mean 00:11:02.020 |
rejoice always. You can't get a job. You may be having a hard time feeding your kids. It's 00:11:06.900 |
in that context he's saying this. Pray without ceasing. Be thankful. Be thankful for everything. 00:11:15.080 |
So think about if we were to use our modern paradigm, even among Christians, about what 00:11:21.900 |
we are thankful for, that we're thankful for a job, we're thankful for safety, we're thankful 00:11:25.980 |
for health. If you look at the church that he is commanding to be thankful for everything, 00:11:32.260 |
humanly speaking, what could they be thankful for? But he commands it. And he commands in 00:11:39.860 |
everything he says. Now what is he referring to? I believe what Paul is saying, and not 00:11:46.260 |
only here but all throughout the New Testament, the command to be thankful is not simply about 00:11:51.820 |
our circumstance. He's not saying that because of this, you know, greater things are going 00:11:56.700 |
to come. He's saying be thankful. Be thankful ultimately for what? Because they've been 00:12:03.020 |
saved. That even if they are stoned, even if they can't eat, even if they're being dragged 00:12:10.560 |
into prison and their children are having a hard time going to school, despite all of 00:12:14.300 |
that, that you are favored by God. That God has sovereignly chosen you for salvation. 00:12:21.820 |
That because of your faith, you may be suffering, but in the midst of that, don't forget, you 00:12:27.460 |
have become a child of God. When was the last time that we were truly thankful for our salvation? 00:12:38.300 |
You know, I know we talk about it, we sing about it, we balk to Scripture, we share our 00:12:42.420 |
testimonies to one another, but let's be frank and honest with ourselves. When was the last 00:12:48.220 |
time you were really thankful for our salvation? We have a tendency, if we're not careful, 00:12:57.420 |
to trivialize what is fantastic. And then we try to magnify what is trivial. What gift 00:13:08.620 |
have you received that is better than your salvation? What kind of raise did you get 00:13:18.540 |
that was better than what God has given you? What is it possibly that you are desiring 00:13:24.300 |
with all your heart that comes even close to the love of God? And if you really soberly 00:13:33.020 |
take a step back and think about it, everything that we are hopeful for, everything that we 00:13:37.300 |
are thankful for, everything that we are frustrated with in the context of our salvation, it is 00:13:45.740 |
trivial. But again, you and I have a tendency to trivialize what's fantastic. And then we 00:13:54.620 |
take what is trivial and we try to dress it up and make it fantastic. You know, every 00:14:02.300 |
time I travel outside the country and people ask me where I live and I say California, 00:14:06.700 |
most people know where California is even outside the country. They say California is 00:14:10.500 |
big. You know, we're talking about 15, 16 hours of driving from one end to the other. 00:14:17.540 |
So usually the way I would describe where I live, I would tell them I'm near Disneyland. 00:14:22.220 |
Right? That's usually what I say. I'm near Disneyland. And they say, whoa, Disneyland, 00:14:26.980 |
where? I'm about 15 minutes away from Disneyland. You know, and if they've heard about it, you 00:14:32.580 |
know, the next question is what's it like? I say, it's crowded. You know, the food is 00:14:42.940 |
ridiculously expensive. You know, like one churro is like five bucks. You can get it 00:14:47.300 |
for, so what's a churro? I say, don't worry about it. It's like, you live 10 minutes from 00:14:55.100 |
Disneyland. So, you know, we can become so accustomed. I mean, this is Disneyland, right? 00:15:03.300 |
That every child that knows about this thinks like, oh, one of these days, you know, if 00:15:07.300 |
God is gracious enough, I'm going to go to Disneyland, go to California, go to Disneyland. 00:15:10.860 |
You know, some of you guys have annual passes. You've been there so many times you're sick 00:15:14.180 |
of it. Right? You know, we're at Disneyland and it's like, oh, how was Disneyland? You 00:15:19.060 |
know, and all we know is that it's crowded. There's a lot of obnoxious people. I hate 00:15:23.700 |
those people with selfie sticks. Man, selfie sticks. I hate it. And instead of talking 00:15:30.540 |
about what Disneyland is about, you talk about what you don't like. Food is expensive. People 00:15:36.020 |
with selfie sticks. The teenagers making out in the line. Like all the stuff that you can't 00:15:40.940 |
stand about Disneyland. Like that's what's filled your head. That's what's filled your 00:15:45.740 |
heart. And the thing, the amazing part of us even being near there and being, you know, 00:15:54.580 |
able to go and being in a free country, having the money and the time to be able to enjoy 00:15:58.420 |
this stuff that 99% of the world can only dream of. See, that's what tends to happen 00:16:08.500 |
with our faith. The fact that you and I have the freedom to be able to be in this room 00:16:13.980 |
with air conditioning, with the Bible translation. I mean, we do this even with Bible translations. 00:16:20.500 |
We study the ESVs. Like, ESVs, you know, out of whack. You know, don't study this Bible, 00:16:24.780 |
that Bible. We have like 15 different translations to even have the Bible. Which again, majority 00:16:32.060 |
of the world doesn't even have access to this. And we can get so caught up in the trivial 00:16:38.260 |
things in life that we forget what it is that we have in Christ. See, real worship is not, 00:16:48.020 |
you know, God gave me certain things. And again, you know, next Sunday, if we're caught 00:16:52.140 |
up like the rest of the world, you may come back next Sunday ready to worship because 00:16:57.540 |
you found the best deals. And you think, "What are you thankful for? Oh, there was a sale 00:17:03.740 |
on iPod Touch. Or there was a sale and iPhone 7 came out and I was first in line. Lord, 00:17:10.820 |
you're so good. You're so good. You're so good. And you get in line and somebody cuts 00:17:17.620 |
and you didn't get it and you know, you couldn't get the color you want. You know what I mean? 00:17:22.100 |
You got the gray one instead of the pink one? Why, Lord? Why?" As trivial as that is, think 00:17:31.900 |
about all the things that frustrate us. And considering what it is that you and I are 00:17:37.780 |
doing this morning, we have access to God. We have access to God. God of the universe. 00:17:49.860 |
Imagine how you feel when you didn't expect it and all of a sudden somebody remembers 00:17:54.300 |
your birthday. I remember so specifically, I think it was, I'm pretty sure it was my 00:17:59.140 |
19th birthday. And I was working full time as a janitor, working from 5 to 2 and then 00:18:04.300 |
during the day I was going to school so I didn't have any human contact. And then my 00:18:07.660 |
birthday came around in February and I was already feeling like isolated and lonely and 00:18:12.740 |
I was just like, "Okay, this is one of those, you know, it's going to be one of those hard 00:18:15.860 |
birthdays that I'm just going to walk through the whole day and no one's going to know." 00:18:19.380 |
And I was walking by and this guy that I knew in high school from two years ago, I haven't 00:18:24.500 |
seen him in over two years. Somehow I ran into him and I didn't even have a direct conversation 00:18:29.540 |
with him. I saw him maybe about a hundred yards away. He recognized me. He said, "Hey 00:18:33.940 |
Peter!" And I said, "Hey, hey, how you doing?" And he looked at me and he's like, "Hey, happy 00:18:39.100 |
birthday!" And then he walked in. I remember that to this day. There's a little man tear 00:18:45.620 |
on the side that was walking by. "Somebody remember?" It was just a passing thing. I 00:18:55.580 |
was like, "How did he remember?" You know? Something as trivial as that has that kind 00:19:02.060 |
of effect on me even to this day. What about God? I mean, He stepped off His throne. I 00:19:10.580 |
mean, we say this all the time. We sing about this. We exposit this. And you weren't even 00:19:16.900 |
neutral. You weren't even a friend. The Bible says while we were yet hostile to Him, blaspheming 00:19:21.860 |
His name, we had no concern for Him. And He remembered us. And He cried out and He pursued 00:19:29.740 |
us. And He gave up everything so that you and I can be here and listen to His Word and 00:19:36.060 |
understand that what is happening here didn't just happen. It's because the Son of God gave 00:19:43.580 |
up everything so that you and I could be an adopted child into His kingdom. And yet, if 00:19:52.180 |
we're not careful, we can say, "Wow, you know, yes, Jesus died for me, but, you know, I've 00:19:56.420 |
been praying for this bike, but God's not giving me this bike. Yeah, what about, what 00:20:00.740 |
about this?" Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, of course, I'm a Christian. I believe 00:20:05.180 |
that. Yeah, but I've been praying for a bike, though. And He didn't give me a bike. Like, 00:20:09.340 |
what are you thankful for? Yeah, I'm thankful for salvation, but I didn't get my bike. How 00:20:15.260 |
trivial the things that we complain about, things that fill our hearts. See, in 2 Timothy 00:20:22.060 |
3, 1 and 2, it says, Paul says, "But mark this, there will be terrible times in the 00:20:27.180 |
last days." Now, I want you to understand this. When Paul is writing this to Timothy, 00:20:30.900 |
his last letter, he's writing to Timothy to prepare him to be a pastor at the Church of 00:20:35.460 |
Ephesus. When he talks about the condition of the last days, he's not talking about non-Christians. 00:20:42.700 |
He's talking about the condition of the Church. And he says, and you guys remember at the 00:20:47.940 |
end when Paul says, "To preach the Word in season and out of season." There's going to 00:20:52.860 |
come a time when people are not going to put up with sound doctrine, but in order to tickle 00:20:56.360 |
their ears, they're going to gather around them many teachers. But you, preach the Word 00:21:01.780 |
in season and out of season. He's not talking about the world. He's talking about in the 00:21:06.180 |
Church. And in the Church, he says, "Mark this, there will be terrible times in the 00:21:12.380 |
last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, 00:21:16.780 |
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and unholy." Ungrateful. One of the characteristics 00:21:25.360 |
of the last days, when their hearts become cold, when they begin to drift away from God, 00:21:31.900 |
one of the characteristics is they're ungrateful. A constant repetition of what they are dissatisfied 00:21:39.220 |
with. In Romans chapter 1, 21, the wrath of God is being revealed. He said, "For although 00:21:45.500 |
they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking 00:21:51.820 |
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." If Jesus is only an avenue for 00:22:00.260 |
a fulfillment, some sort of blessing in this life, your thankful heart will fluctuate depending 00:22:06.260 |
on the trivial things that happen or don't happen in life. If Jesus is just an avenue 00:22:11.500 |
that you pray to in order for Him to get you a good job or good friends or a certain environment, 00:22:17.140 |
certain community, whatever that may be, when you get it, you're worshiping, you're thankful. 00:22:23.260 |
When you don't get it, you're not. If that's all He is. But when Paul commands them to 00:22:30.100 |
be thankful, he's not talking about based upon our trivial circumstances. That despite 00:22:35.380 |
the persecution, despite the hardships, despite maybe even the possibility of physical harm, 00:22:43.860 |
he says, "Be thankful for everything." You know in Romans when it says that all things 00:22:49.740 |
work together for good for those who have been called according to His purpose? You 00:22:54.660 |
know we can take that out of context and apply it and say, "You know what? The hardship that 00:22:58.900 |
you have right now, God is preparing you for something greater." And so we can misapply 00:23:04.020 |
it and think that, "You know what? These bad things happened when I was young in order 00:23:07.980 |
for good things to happen when I'm older. Bad things happened in January so that God 00:23:12.460 |
can prepare us for good things in December." If you look at the context of Roman 8, He's 00:23:18.020 |
not talking about a peaceful, quiet, healthy, wealthy life. He's talking about in the context 00:23:25.180 |
that all of these things that is happening all over the world and possibly even in your 00:23:28.820 |
life, God has worked for what purpose? What is the good that He is talking about? Your 00:23:34.380 |
salvation and the salvation of the world. So all the things that He's talking about 00:23:41.140 |
and all of that leading to what is good, He's referring to salvation. That even if you're 00:23:48.380 |
being stung, consider it pure joy because that God has ordained to bring salvation. 00:23:55.980 |
That all the persecution in the early church and many of them even losing their life, He 00:23:59.420 |
said all of that, who have been called according to His purpose, is for the purpose of salvation. 00:24:04.140 |
It is not good because, you know what? Sometimes God causes us to suffer because He has a greater 00:24:10.060 |
thing awaiting for us. My business went bankrupt today so that I can have a multi-million dollar 00:24:16.300 |
company tomorrow. My relationships went sour today so that I can have better relationships 00:24:21.580 |
in the future. See that's a worldly thinking. The thing that He's talking about that even 00:24:26.780 |
in death, even in death, God is absolutely sovereign. That He who began a good work in 00:24:35.300 |
you will carry it unto completion until the day of Christ. Until you die and come to Christ. 00:24:41.660 |
So He has you. What can possibly separate you from the love of Christ? Why thankfulness 00:24:49.860 |
is so important. You know the story in Luke chapter 17, 11-19. You don't need to turn 00:24:54.620 |
your Bibles there. You know that's the story of the 10 lepers. Where you know that the 00:24:59.100 |
lepers at that time, that the illustration of leprosy is the closest thing that we can 00:25:04.700 |
think of of what sin is like. If you had leprosy, it wasn't just that you were sick and you 00:25:10.860 |
were miserable. You were shunned in society. You couldn't go into worship. You had to tell 00:25:15.580 |
everybody and just coming into contact with you would make them unclean. So it wasn't 00:25:21.140 |
simply, I mean they were miserable as it was just physically. But in every way they were 00:25:25.980 |
shunned from society. And people just assumed if you have leprosy it's because you did something 00:25:30.860 |
wrong or your parents did something wrong. So you must have deserved that. Jesus tells 00:25:36.660 |
a story about, or Luke tells a story about when Jesus is going through a part of Samaria. 00:25:43.460 |
These lepers come running to Him and they stood at a distance because they were required 00:25:47.780 |
to stand at a distance. And called out in a loud voice, "Jesus Master have pity on us." 00:25:53.700 |
See this is a picture of sin. This is a picture of every single person who doesn't know Christ, 00:26:01.420 |
whose sins haven't been forgiven. That we are not allowed, we cannot get in the presence 00:26:06.820 |
of this God. He says they cry out, "Have pity on us." When He saw them He said, "Go show 00:26:12.460 |
yourself to the priests." And the reason why they had to go show themselves to the priests 00:26:16.580 |
is because according to Old Testament law, the priest had to confirm that the disease 00:26:22.020 |
was gone. In order for them to enter into the temple, to be able to walk among the society, 00:26:28.980 |
He says go show them so that they can be confirmed that a miracle did take place. Well verse 00:26:33.780 |
15 says, "One of them when he saw he was healed came back praising God in a loud voice." 00:26:38.700 |
One of them. "He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him and he was a Samaritan." So 00:26:44.860 |
Luke goes out of his way to describe that this was out of all the lepers, of all the 00:26:50.300 |
Jews who had all the privileges, of people who saw the miracles and had the prophets 00:26:55.540 |
and had the Torah, among all of them only the Samaritan recognizes who Jesus is. Jesus 00:27:03.420 |
asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return 00:27:08.220 |
and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then He said to him, "Rise and go. Your faith 00:27:13.260 |
has made you well." Now all ten of them were healed. So why does He say to the one, "Your 00:27:21.340 |
faith has made you well?" See his gratitude and his thanksgiving was evidence of his faith. 00:27:29.980 |
Was evidence that something great happened. It wasn't just about his physical healing. 00:27:33.700 |
He recognized who Jesus is and he comes and he gives thanks. And he says because of the 00:27:38.620 |
thankful attitude, he recognizes that there was not only a physical healing but a spiritual 00:27:43.300 |
healing that takes place in him. See our biggest issue and our biggest problem living in a 00:27:49.620 |
rich country is that whatever we have it's almost never enough. And it's almost embedded, 00:27:58.980 |
it's almost embedded into our culture to not to be satisfied about something. You know? 00:28:06.860 |
Anytime do an experiment on Facebook. You know when you have good news put it on Facebook 00:28:11.940 |
and see what kind of response you get. You'll get congratulations, it's good and whatever. 00:28:16.380 |
You know but it doesn't go viral. You put something nasty up on there, oh man it goes, 00:28:22.300 |
it's wildfire. It goes pretty bad. Say something controversial or you have some juicy news 00:28:27.500 |
about somebody negative. I mean it has a tendency because it's kind of embedded into our culture. 00:28:33.020 |
Right? You talk about marriage and you talk about how great marriage is, it's kind of 00:28:37.260 |
like oh my god, what a sap. You know? It's almost like weird to talk about marriage in 00:28:43.020 |
a positive light. To be in a rich country we kind of again have a tendency to point 00:28:51.180 |
out because you know we're spoiled. See that was a tendency with the nation of Israel. 00:28:56.140 |
So Deuteronomy is a three separate collection of Moses' basically speech or presentation 00:29:04.220 |
or sermon if you will to the nation of Israel as they are preparing to go into the promised 00:29:09.060 |
land. So the word Deuteronomy, the direct translation of that is the second law. And 00:29:14.980 |
what Moses is doing is reminding them what was already taught and causing them to remember. 00:29:22.240 |
So the theme of Deuteronomy is to cause them to remember. Remember the law of God and remember 00:29:29.420 |
who He is and what He has done so that they would give praise and live in obedience when 00:29:33.900 |
they get into the promised land. So over and over again in Deuteronomy it says to remember. 00:29:40.460 |
Deuteronomy 5.15, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God 00:29:44.380 |
brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." Deuteronomy 8.18, 00:29:49.700 |
"But remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth." 00:29:54.580 |
Deuteronomy 15.15, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed 00:29:59.180 |
you." And Deuteronomy 16.3, He actually says to put aside a day out of the year, the Passover, 00:30:08.100 |
and go through this whole ritual for the purpose of remembering what God has done. In fact 00:30:13.740 |
when we get to Nehemiah, Nehemiah prophesies, he says, "The reason why the nation of Israel 00:30:18.860 |
is the way that they are," he says in Nehemiah 9.17, "They refused to listen and failed to 00:30:24.140 |
remember the miracles that you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their 00:30:30.480 |
rebellion appointed leaders in order to return to their slavery. They followed the ways of 00:30:35.540 |
the nations instead of remembering who their God is." Have you forgotten, maybe some of 00:30:43.620 |
us have forgotten the preciousness of the gift that we have in Christ. Maybe some of 00:30:49.460 |
you have forgotten what it was like before you met Christ, when you were in your sin. 00:30:54.660 |
Maybe some of you were suicidal before you met Christ. Maybe some of you were lonely, 00:30:59.260 |
maybe some of you were lost, and you didn't know what the reason was, why you need to 00:31:04.140 |
go on. But for whatever it was, every Christian knows, every Christian has to know, who were 00:31:13.260 |
you before you met Christ, what happened when you met Christ, what happened after you met 00:31:17.980 |
Christ. Because that testimony is your story of salvation. So if you don't have that testimony, 00:31:27.660 |
we question, was there salvation? Because salvation means that we were once this way, 00:31:31.940 |
and then we met Christ, and now we have a new life. Have you forgotten what it was like 00:31:37.020 |
when you were in your sins? Maybe you've forgotten what it felt like to have God in the universe, 00:31:43.220 |
care about you. Maybe you are more moved by a few of your friends taking you out to dinner, 00:31:50.660 |
than you are with the sovereign God, who've elected you in the midst of your sins. Maybe 00:31:57.220 |
you are more thankful about a trivial gift that you may have received, or maybe a promise 00:32:03.060 |
of a raise from your boss, than you are about the God of the universe knowing your name, 00:32:10.740 |
and He hears your prayers. And what it is that we're doing now has become so mundane 00:32:17.100 |
and trivial. Because we do it every Sunday. We do it every Sunday. Some of you have been 00:32:23.060 |
doing this for 10, 15 plus years. And so now it has become mundane. It's something to do 00:32:30.660 |
and get done. So when we think about what we're thankful for, that's not the first thing 00:32:34.740 |
that comes to mind. You see, when the spectacular becomes mundane, and we try so hard to make 00:32:43.180 |
the mundane spectacular, we are no longer worshipping God. And that's the temptation, 00:32:50.540 |
that's the danger of where you and I are. That we get excited over trivial things, you 00:32:57.780 |
know. "Oh, I found 20 bucks in my pocket. Oh, I got a sale. There's a sale going on. 00:33:02.140 |
I'm going to stand in line. There's a new movie coming in December. Get the tickets, 00:33:06.740 |
get in line, get the people. We're going to fellowship." It's not sin, but we have a tendency 00:33:17.140 |
to forget what it is that we have in Christ. And something, worship is something to be 00:33:20.980 |
done. And that's where we find life somewhere else. Church is something that I must do. 00:33:28.960 |
Worship is something I have to do because I'm a Christian. But when was the last time 00:33:33.060 |
that we recognized the gift that we have, and the privilege that you and I have to be 00:33:39.940 |
to come and call the God of the universe our Abba Father. Our Abba Father. An ungrateful 00:33:48.100 |
heart leads to all kinds of other sins. A complaining heart does not have room for love 00:33:55.460 |
for others. A complaining heart does not have room to glorify God. An ungrateful heart causes 00:34:03.380 |
us to feel frustrated and bitter. Someone with an ungrateful heart will be unforgiving 00:34:10.020 |
to others. Remember in Matthew 18, 22, 35, Peter asked Jesus, "How many times should 00:34:19.340 |
I forgive my brother?" Seven times? I don't think Peter was asking a hypothetical question. 00:34:26.820 |
I don't think Peter was saying, "You know what, I have this good question." I was just 00:34:29.780 |
thinking, I was just in my room thinking one day, and I was thinking, "How many times 00:34:33.240 |
I should forgive?" I think somebody was annoying Peter. You know, I can think of a few people 00:34:39.420 |
among that group that might be annoying Peter. Peter is a go-getter, right? He's a go-getter. 00:34:45.740 |
So anybody who gets in his way is going to be annoying to him. You know who was the primary 00:34:51.620 |
guy? You know, it's usually the bean counters. I'm talking about the tax collector. Peter 00:34:58.820 |
is not into details. Peter is like, "Let's do it! Is that you, Jesus? Call me out!" 00:35:06.860 |
That's Peter. And I bet you Matthew is in the back, he's like, "Foolish, foolish." 00:35:11.660 |
And you probably say, "Why is he doing that? What's he doing?" You know? He's like, "Yes, 00:35:17.900 |
you know, let's do it! We're going to conquer!" And takes out a sword, about to fight. You 00:35:21.420 |
know? Matthew is like, "Oh my gosh, it's this guy. We're outnumbered." You know, and this 00:35:26.820 |
guy is getting, I can think of a few people. Judas, remember? You know, every time they 00:35:30.380 |
use money, he's like, "That could be used for the poor." Liar. Right? But you could 00:35:36.580 |
tell, you know, I mean, think about the 12 disciples that they had. They had some interesting 00:35:40.980 |
characters. I mean, you had a zealot in there with a tax collector. I mean, zealot, one 00:35:47.220 |
of the first people that he would have killed was a tax collector. Think about it. Because 00:35:52.860 |
he considered Matthew a traitor. And that's worse than the Romans. This guy sold us out. 00:35:59.660 |
And so he put them together. Right? He put Judas, and you had these guys. If you left 00:36:06.260 |
James and John alone, they would have been mass murderers. They were in Samaria. "Hey, 00:36:10.740 |
these guys won't accept us. You want fire to come down and consume all these people 00:36:15.220 |
because these three guys wouldn't help us?" You know what I mean? And so you have those 00:36:20.020 |
12 people. I think when Peter was asking the question seven times, I think, I have a feeling 00:36:24.900 |
that he already did it seven times. So Jesus said seven times, like, "Yes! This is the 00:36:31.540 |
eighth time. Now I'm going to get this guy." Right? So Peter asked him seven times, and 00:36:37.740 |
Jesus said, "Seven times seventy." Like, "Oh my gosh. That's going to take forever." And 00:36:43.660 |
obviously you know the point that Jesus is trying to get to. And then it's in that context 00:36:47.100 |
he tells this illustration. He tells a story about a servant who owed all this money. And 00:36:53.660 |
the money that he describes is 10,000 talents. One talent is equivalent at that time to 15 00:37:03.500 |
years of labor. 15 years of labor. We're talking about 150,000 years of labor. Now, Jesus was 00:37:11.460 |
exaggerating. You know, you could have said, "Oh, he owed a couple million." He said, "He 00:37:15.740 |
owed trillions of dollars." Who lent him this money? I don't know. But you know what he's 00:37:24.060 |
describing here, right? When he's describing the money that he lent, he's describing sin. 00:37:30.500 |
Right? He's describing sin. He's saying this guy was forgiven 150,000 years of labor, and 00:37:39.540 |
then he is let go, and then there's another servant. His servant comes around, and he 00:37:43.940 |
owed 100 denarii. A hundred denarii was worth about 18 days. $18 a day for about 100 days. 00:37:53.020 |
So we're talking about maybe 3, 4, 5 months or something like that of labor. And it was 00:37:58.900 |
trivial compared to. So there's a reason why he exaggerates the amount the first one owed 00:38:05.660 |
versus the second one. Because the exact point that he was trying to get at is, "You were 00:38:10.520 |
forgiven this much sin, and yet for a few months' worth of salary, you're willing to 00:38:16.940 |
beat him and put him in prison?" And so he said, "Then the master called the servant 00:38:21.860 |
in, 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all the debt yours because you begged me to. 00:38:28.020 |
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?' In anger, 00:38:32.900 |
his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all 00:38:39.300 |
he owed, which is absolutely impossible. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each 00:38:45.500 |
of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.'" Now you know who he was talking 00:38:50.780 |
to? Peter. Peter was saying seven times, he said, "Peter, if you don't forgive your brother, 00:39:00.380 |
this is who you are. You are the wicked servant. Considering what you have been forgiven, and 00:39:06.100 |
you refuse to forgive, what is trivial?" See, an unthankful heart will be unforgiving because 00:39:15.300 |
we have forgotten what it is that we have been given. I think this is a good illustration 00:39:23.420 |
of our perspective of why we should be thankful. He said, "I am thankful for the taxes that 00:39:29.620 |
I pay because it means I am employed. I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little 00:39:35.420 |
too snug because it means I have more than enough to eat. I am thankful for a lawn that 00:39:40.940 |
needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means 00:39:45.660 |
I have a home. I am thankful for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because 00:39:51.820 |
it means I am capable of walking. I am thankful for my huge heating bill because it means 00:39:57.260 |
I am warm. I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means 00:40:03.220 |
we have freedom of speech. I am thankful for the person behind me in church who sings off-key 00:40:09.900 |
because it means I can hear. I am thankful for piles of laundry and ironing because it 00:40:15.500 |
means my loved ones are nearby. I am thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning 00:40:22.300 |
hours because it means that I'm alive." How much of our culture, how much of what we are 00:40:32.460 |
thankful for, not thankful for, is because we have completely missed, because we've forgotten 00:40:38.780 |
what it is that we have in Christ. See, when we don't have a thankful heart, we can't worship 00:40:44.020 |
God. We can't worship God. We can come in here and check off the list and you become 00:40:48.780 |
more of an examiner than worshiper. You examine to see what's going on and you're never really 00:40:56.140 |
able to give worship. You know, Thanksgiving, technically it said it happened 1621, but 00:41:04.740 |
the Thanksgiving was really inspired by the event that happened 11 years prior in 1610. 00:41:10.380 |
409 settlers came to America and that first winter was so cold that only 60 people remained 00:41:19.620 |
after that winter, out of 409. And so you would think that after majority of the people 00:41:26.260 |
dying off, they would come at the other end saying, "God, we came here seeking religious 00:41:30.060 |
freedom to worship you. Why did you bring us here?" Instead, that was the beginning of 00:41:35.820 |
Thanksgiving, that those who remained decided to thank God for his blessing, that they were 00:41:42.620 |
able to live and have a harvest the next year. And that's the background behind Thanksgiving. 00:41:49.740 |
That our Thanksgiving is not because we got a good job, because we have health, we have 00:41:54.260 |
good things that happen just like the rest of the world. That even if the worst possible 00:41:59.700 |
thing can possibly happen in our life, that we have Christ. Even if the most wildest dream 00:42:08.060 |
in this world happens, it is only temporary. And one day we're going to be with him. And 00:42:16.380 |
so this Thanksgiving, again, is a reminder for us, is to get us realigned and get us 00:42:23.620 |
refocused. What causes Thanksgiving in you? What causes you to be worshipful to God? Trivial 00:42:31.460 |
things or ultimately because God saved and loved you? In Psalm 145, "Enter his gates 00:42:40.340 |
with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For 00:42:46.540 |
the Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations." 00:42:52.940 |
Would you join with me and take a minute to pray as we invite the praise team to come 00:42:56.740 |
up? Let's take some time to not make a list of, "Here are the things that I'm thankful 00:43:02.580 |
for," but just ask yourself, "When's the last time you really celebrated God's grace in 00:43:07.620 |
your life?" Not just verbally, not just telling other people, but in your heart. And until 00:43:14.100 |
we remember the height that we have fallen, until we are celebrating the salvation that 00:43:20.020 |
we have in Christ, all the other things that we're concerned about, all the other things 00:43:23.900 |
that we're not satisfied with, are trivial. Let's make the spectacular spectacular and 00:43:29.460 |
trivial trivial. Let's come before the Lord and take some time to pray as our worship