(upbeat music) - Well, why do we thank anyone? It's a great question, really. Candice writes in to ask it. Here's her question. Hello, Pastor John and Tony, thank you for this podcast. It has been a great help to me. And thanking you two plunges us right into my question.

How can we genuinely thank anyone but God? If God is sovereign over all things, what role do people themselves play? I just listened to APJ 1195, how does God's sovereignty not violate our decision-making? But as these truths are new to me, I think I could really benefit from your answer to this specific question.

If you go to a restaurant and are served by a waitress, God gives the waitress all the abilities required to do her job, the opportunity to do her job, maybe the willingness to do her work diligently in her very life and breath and existence. Since she is working, it seems right to thank her for her efforts, but since the Lord gives us everything, it seems right in another sense only to thank him.

How, Pastor John, do you process this? Well, I think this is a very good question, even though some people probably will think it's totally unnecessary, since a spirit of thanksgiving seems like such a healthy trait in a Christian soul. Why would anybody ever question it? But one of the reasons why it's such a worthy question is because, now this is gonna surprise a lot of people, I'm not aware of any single place in the Bible at all where one human being explicitly thanks another human being for anything.

Isn't that amazing? I mean, I could be wrong. So if our listeners find an exception to that, they should write you. Yep, yep, send us an email. You can tell them, yeah, and you can forward it to me if you think they're right. But that's where I am right now.

So when I hear this question, I say, yeah, I've gotta come to terms with that. I know a very godly Christian scholar who sees that, what I just pointed out, and he infers that that's his duty. He does not thank people for anything. He thanks God for people, and he may tell them that.

So it may seem like an unwarranted question, but really it's not. Now, my own conviction and practice is to say thank you a lot. I say thank you a lot to a lot of people, or something like, I really appreciate that, or you have encouraged me so much, thank you.

Candace is asking the question like this. Since God is the ultimate giver in the end, through all things, in all things, why would it ever be appropriate to thank anyone but God? So Paul says, from him, through him, to him, are all things to him be glory forever and ever, Romans 11:36.

He says in Acts 17.25, God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything. So if I'm served well at a restaurant, God created the server, God gave the breath, God inclined the heart to courtesy, God gave everything that makes my meal pleasant, so God, be thanked, not the waiter, or the waitress, or the server.

And of course, that's true, God did give everything, and God should be thanked. In all of our thankfulness, we should have God ultimately in mind as the giver and sustainer and the providential guide in every good that happens to us, indeed, every bad thing that happens to us, which God turns for good if we're Christians, which is why Paul says, by the way, give thanks in all circumstances, 1 Thessalonians 5.18, and give thanks for all things, Ephesians 5.20.

But here's why I don't think any of those truths means we should not thank other people for benefits which we receive through their hands. I think we all would agree that human beings become instruments in the hands of God for doing many good things that God wants done. So for example, Jesus says about Paul when he commissioned him, he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles, and the kings, and the children of Israel.

That's Acts 9.15. And then he says to Paul, I am sending you to open their eyes. I'm sending you, you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins. That's Acts 26.18.

And of course, this is the way God has worked ever since the beginning. He gives commandments, he gives promises, he gives warnings, he gives help. But there is no doubt that human beings are God's primary created instrument for accomplishing in the world what he wants done. So the question becomes, how does God think about our instrumentality?

What status does the instrument itself, us, have in God's hands? Can the instrument in God's hands be called good, or praiseworthy, or faithful, or obedient, or pleasing? Does God view the instruments in his hands as proper recipients of his rewards, his commendation, his praise? And if God does view the instruments in his hands as fitting recipients of his own commendation and rewards and praise, then what should our attitude and response towards those human instruments be?

Well, the Bible is very clear that God is the rewarder of those who seek him. Several times Jesus said that the Father will reward us for acting certain ways, Matthew 6. Great will be your reward in heaven for enduring persecution, Matthew 5.12. Time after time we are told God rewards us for the good that we do, Ephesians 6.8.

Amazing statement. Whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord. Wow. And even more than reward, Paul says that we'll all receive our commendation, and literally the word is praise from God. That's just almost unfathomable. C.S. Lewis calls it the weight of glory that we would ever hear, well done, well done.

How could God speak such a thing to a worm like me, right? So even though everything good that we do is enabled by God, it is sustained by God, it is made useful by God, nevertheless, God has graciously chosen to look upon obedient instruments in his hands as pleasing to him and fitting recipients of his rewards and commendation.

So my heart inclination is to say if God Almighty, in infinite perfection and having no need whatsoever, can look with favor and reward and commendation and praise upon the imperfect work of his people, might it not be fitting that I would look upon human instruments in his hand with a humble sense of expressed, glad indebtedness?

And that would be my definition of thankfulness, expressed, glad indebtedness to them for their instrumentality in mediating to me good from God. God should always be, in my mind, the ultimate giver, and he gets thanks in everything, for everything, but the role of instruments in his hands is an amazing role, and I am put in debt to that instrument as well as to God.

If something good happens to me because of another person's instrumentality in the hand of God, I am glad, and the mixture of gladness and a sense of indebtedness is what I call thankfulness. It belongs ultimately to God continually, and I think it is fitting that this gladness find expression toward the morally responsible human instruments in God's hands as well.

In a sense, an expression of thankfulness is simply an expression of humility. It says, "I have become your debtor, and I don't resent it as though you made me a welfare case. I receive it, and I am glad for it, and I want you to know that my gladness is owing in part to you and what you've done." So, in conclusion, I would say, as long as we are not detracting from God and we're acknowledging him behind and in everything that comes to us, then thanking other people for the benefits they give us is a fitting, humble expression of our glad indebtedness.

- Amen, thank you, Pastor John. And that mention of Acts 26, verses 17 to 18 that you just made is quite a startling text to meditate on in this line of thinking. The resurrected Christ appeared to Paul and commissioned him to the Gentiles in order to open the eyes of unbelievers to the gospel.

It's a stunning commission, and one we've talked about on this podcast in ABJ episodes 841, 1209, and 1344. It's stunning, episodes 841, 1209, and 1344, if you want to dwell on that text more fully. Thank you for joining us today. You can ask a question of your own, search our growing archive and find those episodes, or subscribe to the podcast, all at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

Well, why did God need part of Adam to make Eve when he made Adam from dust? It's a Bible question from a female listener to the podcast, another really good one from you, and it's up next time. I'm your host Tony Rehnke. We'll see you back here on Monday.

Have a great weekend, and keep sending in those great Bible questions. We'll see you Monday. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)