Turning Thanksgivng to Thanksliving

This is the manuscript of the fourth and final sermon in the "What Giving does for You" series of sermons on stewardship in Thanksgiving month of November.

Colossians 2:6‭-‬7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

We know that God created everything so that makes Him the owner of everything. In his grace He placed man in His creation to manage and care for it, so mankind is the manager or steward of all that God created, including our own lives.

The fact that we belong to God because He created us, He saved us, and He cares for us expresses the Christian approach to what I call “thanksliving”. Because we have found grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, our lives should be lived as an expression of thanks and gratitude to God. We should live in thanks to God, so that thankliving results in thanksgiving, and thanksgiving results in “thanksliving”.

Scripture

Psalms 107:1‭-‬9 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

 

This is the first Sunday of Avent.

 

In 2022, Advent is observed from November 27th to December 24th. It begins four Sundays before Christmas and always ends on Christmas Day.

 

Advent means "arrival" and signifies the start of an event or the arrival of a person. In Christian communities around the world, Advent refers to a four-week season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth on Earth.

 

Introduction 

 

Text:

 

Colossians 2:6‭-‬7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

 

We know that God created everything so that makes Him the owner of everything.   In his grace He placed man in His creation to manage and care for it, so mankind is the manager or steward of all that God created, including our own lives.

We are humbled and we will respond with thanksgiving when we realize that God has made us stewards of our lives and that we are responsible to him. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are not our own but have been bought with a price.  

1 Corinthians 6:19‭-‬20 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Life is God-given. Life is a charge from God. Each of our lives has great potential so let's be good stewards and glorify God. Let's make the most of what God has given to us.

1. We belong to God because he created us. 

Genesis 1:27 NIV So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:7 NIV Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

2. We belong to God because he has saved us. 

Ephesians 2:8‭-‬10 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Romans 6:23 NIV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God has saved us, given us eternal life. We belong to him.

Psalms 100:1‭-‬3 NIV Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

John 1:12‭-‬13 NIV Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

3. We belong to God because of his providential care for us. 

Everything we have is the gift of God. 

1 Timothy 6:6‭-‬8 NIV But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

The psalmist said,

Psalms 24:1‭-‬2 NIV The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

Every good and perfect gift comes from his bountiful hands. 

James 1:16‭-‬18 NIV Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

God provides for us. He cares for us and meets our every need.

Philippians 4:19‭-‬20 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

The fact that we belong to God because He created us, He saved us, and He cares for us expresses the Christian approach to what I call “thanksliving”.   Because we have found grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, our lives should be  lived as an expression of thanks and gratitude to God. 

 

That is the principle that Paul expressed in verse 6 of our text;

 

Colossians 2:6 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

 

We should live in thanks to God, so that  thankliving results in thanksgiving, and thanksgiving results in “thanksliving”.

 

1. Thanksliving rests on a firm foundation of faith. 

 

1. This foundation of faith is expressed by four metaphors that are in our text they are; live, rooted, built up and strengthened 

 

1. The first metaphor is live. 

 

The word “live” has to do with kind of life we 

Ive. We Christians live as pilgrims in this world.

 

1 Peter 2:11‭-‬12 NIV Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 

Hebrews chapter 11 is often called the faith chapter and  has a list of people some named others unnamed that many call the Faith Hall of Fame.  Here's what verse 13 says

 

Hebrews 11:13 NIV All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

 

And verses 39 and 40 of that same chapter  say

 

Hebrews 11:39‭-‬40 NIV These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

 

When we walk in faith we walk with God. We are temporary residents here whose true home is in heaven. 

 

2.  The second metaphor in our text is the word  is rooted.  

 

When used as a verb, “root” derives from the Greek word rhizoo, which Strong’s Bible Dictionary defines as becoming stable. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon describes being rooted as “to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded”.

 

To be rooted is a commitment to God and your faith. It is not the easy way out.  When things get tough and discouraging, we have to choose to stick it out with Jesus. 

 

There are three scriptures that come to mind in order to understand the commitment that is needed for our Christian faith so that we become rooted. 

 

1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

 

 

Ephesians 3:16‭-‬19 NIV I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 

Just as a plant grows strong when it is  properly rooted in good soil. Through faith we are rooted in Christ.

 

A few weeks ago, we talked about us also being attached to Christ as branches are attached to a vine. 

 

John 15:5 NIV “I am the true vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” 

 

3. The third metaphor from our text is the saying "built up". 

 

Colossians 2:6‭-‬7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

 

To build up is often used in the sense of strengthening, establishing, and causing to prosper. God builds us by the Holy Spirit.  We are to be grounded in the body of truth that constitutes faith; we are built up by prayer. 

 

Jude 1:20‭-‬21 NIV But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

 

Our fourth metaphor is the word strengthened. 

 

Colossians 2:6‭-‬7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

 

We strengthen our faith as we “live by faith”. We learn to live each day trusting God to care for us and empower us. 

 

2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV For we live by faith, not by sight.

 

Ephesians 4:14 NIV Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

 

It may be frightening sometimes but God will not fail you. 

 

2. A solid foundation of faith is essential for life and the foundation of our faith rests on Christ. 

 

Jesus Christ is the only adequate foundation for life. The common element in the four metaphors for the foundation of faith; live,rooted, built up and strengthened is Jesus Christ. They are all based on Jesus Christ. The Christian lives in Christ, is rooted in Christ, is built up by Christ, and is strengthened in Christ. Christ is the only firm foundation for life. 

 

2. The title of this sermon is thanksliving when faith functions through thanksliving, it will seek to reproduce the spirit of Christ.  When faith functions through thanksliving, it will show mercy, kindness, and grace to others as Christ did. 

 

When we try to reproduce the spirit of Christ, we will also seek to live out the characteristics of Christ. The things that Christ did in the world will become our goals. 

 

Ephesians 5:1‭-‬2 NKJV Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

 

3. When faith functions through thanksliving, we can have victory over self.

 

Victory can be defined as overcoming or winning in a competition or struggle over an opponent, or difficult problems.  That is what we can have as we build our foundation of faith. 

 

I John 5:4‭-‬5 NKJV For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

The victorious Christian life is the life that is lived, by faith, in moment-by-moment surrender to God. The victorious Christian life is rooted and grounded in faith

 

The victorious Christian life is lived with our eyes set on the things of heaven, not of this world with Jesus as our model.

 

Hebrews 12:1‭-‬2 NKJV Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

The eternal life of the believer is set securely in Christ. We, too, are at God’s right hand, by faith. As victorious Christians we live with that reality.

 

Conclusion 

 

Thanksliving is a way of life. It does not come just once a year. It comes throughout life by living in gratitude to God. Let's be good stewards of all of life, for God gave it to us. He sustains life. He supplies our needs. Therefore, let us honor him with all that we are and with all that we have.  Let our lives be lives of thanksgiving resulting in thanksliving. 

 

There’s an old song, “We’ve Come This Far By Faith” that many of us have heard and sung.  

 

The chorus is to that song is;

 

We've come this far by faith

Leaning on the Lord

Trusting in His holy word

He's never failed me yet

Oh! Can’t turn around

We’ve come this far by faith

 

 

Let's Pray, 

 

Father, forgive us for overlooking Your lavish benefits and for neglecting to say thanks. Cultivate in us a heart of gratitude that's thankful from morning to night. Thank you, Lord, for what You've done for us in Christ, what you are doing today, and for the promise of what you'll do in the future. May our lives exhibit "thanksliving" every day. In Jesus' name Amen.

Sermon Audio

 

Give Thanks

This is the manuscript of the third sermon in the "What Giving does for You" series of sermons on stewardship leading up to Thanksgiving.  

Luke 17:15‭-‬17 NLT One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?

There are two categories of people, the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all that they have.

In the story of the lepers, we see that only 10% of them were thankful and 90% appeared to be thankless. Is that an accurate picture of mankind?

Scripture

Luke 17:11‭-‬19 NIV Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Psalms 100:1‭-‬5 NIV Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures frever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Introduction

Thanksgiving is an American holiday and a biblical principle. 

The philosopher Cicero, who was not a Christian said, “A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” Plutarch,  an early church leader, said, “The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart.” Another saying is, “God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in meek and thankful hearts.”

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag (wampanog) Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and state but It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day setting apart the last Thursday in November. For seventy-five years Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. In 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt changed it to the third Thursday. Congress ruled after 1941 that Thanksgiving Day would be the fourth Thursday in November. We complain about what we see happening in our country but if we are really honest we will agree that the USA is a great nation. So let all of us take our stand as good citizens. Let all of us pray that our country's greatest days are yet to come.

Text

Luke 17:15‭-‬16 NIV One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

In the scripture that Jean read earlier from Luke there’s the story of Jesus' encounter with 10 lepers, and as out text tells us that only one came back to thank Him.  

That means that ninety percent of all the lepers in Luke 17 were ingrates, I know that's a harsh word, but they didn't even acknowledge their healer.  It was almost like they never met Jesus. 

What a shame! They were so completely healed that there was not a hint of their disease. They were healed, they could go back to their communities. They were free to run for office—any office they might imagine. They were free to return to their former bridge clubs, Kiwanis clubs, golf clubs. At one time they had to cry out, "Unclean" so others would not come near them, and become infected. Now they could say, "Give me five!" The untouchables were now embraceable. The infected had become respected. The isolated tomb-dwellers had become the officers at Toastmasters.

However, for all the joy of their cleansing, we never would have known about them at all, except for the 10 percent of their group who knew the art of gratitude. 

Luke 17:15‭-‬16 NIV One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked a most perplexing question: 

Luke 17:17‭-‬18 NIV …“Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

In this story of the lepers we see that only 10% of them were thankful and 90% appeared to be thankless. Is that an accurate picture of mankind? Think about it. 

Here is something that C.S. Lewis, the great author and theologian said.  He said that an ancient man approached God out of a strong feeling that he was approaching a judge. "For modern man, the roles are reversed," Modern man is the judge and God is the one being questioned.  

Maybe therefore we feel we have no obligation to thank Him. This is what lies behind the reason we are developing a culture without a sense of thankfulness. There's an old definition of atheist as "someone who sometimes feels gratitude but has absolutely no one to thank for it!"

There are two categories of people, the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all that they have. 

Gratitude is an attitude, it's a lifestyle.  It has absolutely nothing to do with what we have.  

Is Jesus sorry He cleanses the ungrateful? Of course, not; it is God's nature to cleanse, heal and give; however, He does ask a fair question "Where are the other nine?" 

God is a giver. As I said last week God is the great giver.  He gave His best

John 3:16 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

And then Jesus said:

John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

 

I know God does not always provide us all the abundance we want and in the way we want, but let me remind you of what it says in;

Psalms 37:25 NIV I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

My guess is that this week most of us will sit down to a great Thanksgiving meal.  I know I will.  As you do I hope you will remember verse 4 of Psalms 100;

Psalms 100:4 NIV Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

There’s a story of a Missionary who was in Haiti who said that as he was eating a meal, he started to pick up his fork and eat when he glanced to the window, which was near his table, and saw the faces of little hungry Haitian children, faces pressed against the glass watching him eat, mesmerized.

"For a moment," he said, "I had the awful feeling of guilt and sat poised, not knowing whether to eat or not." Then the waiter stepped over and said, "Sir, don't let this bother you," and pulled the blinds.

Here’s what the missionary thought at that moment. "It's so like the American culture to forget to thank God for what we have, to pull the blinds and forget that we are part of the 6 percent of the world that has enough continually to eat again and again and again. We should always ‘Enter His courts with praise; enter His gates with thanksgiving.'"

While you are eating your Thanksgiving turkey, or ham or whatever you have on Thanksgiving, consider this: 600 people will die of starvation while you're eating that meal. On Thanksgiving Day, 12,000 people will die of starvation. Eight hundred million people in this world will not  have had enough to eat that day. One of every 10 babies born this week will die within the first week. Twenty-five percent of those babies will never reach age 5. There are people on the streets of Los Angeles, who may get a meal on Thanksgiving, but may not know when they will get another meal.  When you think about that you will understand what it means to be blessed and live in a nation upon whom God has rained His blessings.

We all sometimes complain that God is unfair, when things don’t go our way or that we are struggling to survive but I want to give you something to remember when we start to complain. 

Habakkuk 3:17‭-‬18 NIV Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Jesus' one leper is a picture of great gratitude, a picture of grace.  Don’t be part of the thankless 90 percent.

This Thanksgiving, enter His courts with thanksgiving and enter His gates with praise.

The real blessing of coming to faith is not just being rescued from a crisis. That is one of the fringe benefits, but the real blessing is knowing God and bringing Him glory. Yet so many people miss this. They want only what they can get from God, and when they’ve gotten it, they abandon Him. The greatest blessing of all is walking with God and knowing Him

We are truly blessed people. Let us express our gratitude. Let us give thanks!

Psalm 100:1‭-‬5 KJV Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.

"Were there not ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine?"

 Sermon Audio