1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 The Gifts of Christmas: Gratitude
The Worst Thing
What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?
Have you:
lost a loved-one (a parent, a spouse, a child?)
fought a debilitating, painful illness
experienced a crushing divorce
been fired from a job?
What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?
Have you:
been embarrassed publicly
gone through what seemed like an endless time of depression
been the victim of cruel child abuse
had something meaningful stolen from you?
It's probably different in some way for each person here.
The surprising thing about the passage that we are looking at this morning in God's Word is that you and I--as believers in Jesus Christ--are to give thanks to God in the middle of all those kinds of experiences.
In the middle of all those worst things, whatever they were, whatever the circumstances surrounding them might be, we are supposed to give thanks.
In the loss of your job, in the middle of your heartbreak, in the midst of the worst thing that has ever happened to you, God says, this: "Give thanks…in all circumstances."
Now, you have probably already thought of a hundred objections. But, but, but, but, but... Hold on to them. Let's look at this verse closely, and make sure that we understand what it says and what it doesn't say, and then talk about what we're going to do about it. Let's put this verse under our microscope.
Here’s the passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. With a special emphasis on verse 18:
16Be joyful always: 17pray continually; 18Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Gifts of Christmas
Today is the Sunday after Christmas. Through the month of December we’ve been doing a series called “The Gifts of Christmas.” I’ve been asking the question: what does Christmas create in us? What attitudes and behaviors are possible in our lives because Jesus came to earth as a baby born in a manger?
Already we’ve talked about hope, compassion, generosity, servanthood and joy. Now, today, as we wrap up this series, I want to talk about gratitude. I don’t want to say that this is the final gift that comes from Christmas, because there are a lot of other things we could talk about. But it is the last gift we are going to talk about this year. Because of the gift of Jesus, we can be people who give thanks in everything.
Let’s break this verse down:
A Command
The first thing we see in this verse is that thanksgiving is commanded. We are commanded to give thanks.
Look at verse 18 closely. "Give thanks." That's a command. It’s an imperative verb. Paul says, "for this is God's will for you." His will.
Do you want to know what God's will is for you? Do you ever say: “I wish I knew what God wanted from me?” Well, here’s an answer: He wants you to be thankful.
One thing that this passage teaches us is that it is God's will, God's command, that we give Him thanks.
The Greek Word translated "give thanks" eucharisteite is almost exclusively used in the New Testament for giving thanks to God, not other humans.
And that's what's in view here. Give thanks to God.
We have a command. We are accountable to God for following it.
Giving thanks is a choice, not just a feeling.
In modern America, we have weakened the idea of thankfulness down to a feeling. We say things like, "I was sooo thankful that it didn't rain today." or "I was thankful that dinner came when it did." When all that we mean is "I felt happy, I felt glad when things turned out my way."
Here in 1 Thessalonians 5, being thankful is not just a feeling that wells up inside of you addressed to no one in particular. What you might call "a Warm Fuzzy."
Giving Thanks is not just a Warm Fuzzy. It's a choice. It’s something that you do.
It’s a personal choice from your heart to express your gratitude to God Himself. It’s an act of the will to recognize Him as good and as the giver of all your good gifts. It's a heart-choice.
Paul is saying essentially the same thing in verse 16 when he says: “Be joyful always.” That’s a command too.
How can you possibly be joyful always? You can’t, if joyfulness is just a feeling. If it is dependent on your perception of events and the way you feel at a particular moment, nobody can be joyful all the time.
That’s the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness equals “what’s happening now.” Happiness is entirely dependent on circumstances.
Joy isn’t dependent on circumstances. Joy is strength. Joy is internal. Joy is eternal. Whenever you are happy, you are probably also experiencing joy. But joy is something you can also experience even when you are not happy.
That’s why God can command us to be joyful—why He can require us to be thankful. It’s a choice. An attitude of the heart.
No Matter What
Now, the second thing we learn in this verse about gratitude is that we should be thankful whatever the circumstances. We should give thanks no matter what.
Look again at verse 18:
Give thanks in all circumstances.
Everything falls in this category. The KJV and the NASB says "In every thing give thanks." Every thing. All things. All circumstances. It's universal in scope. All.
Wherever we find ourselves in life. Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times or anywhere in between...We are to give thanks to God.
When our circumstances are going well, this is easy (though we often forget, which is one reason why we're commanded to do it!)
When our circumstances are favorable, giving thanks is relatively easy.
But what about that worst thing that ever happened to you?
What about that?
What about then?
Do I give thanks when my kid strays away?
Do I give thanks when my friend spits in my face?
Do I give thanks when I'm diagnosed with something terrible?
What about the worst thing that I'm going through now?
Do I give thanks when someone I love is suffering and dying?
Do I give thanks when my whole world falls apart?
The answer is "yes."
You and I as believers in Jesus Christ are to give thanks in the middle of all those kinds of circumstances. "Give thanks in all circumstances."
Before you say, "Pastor Russell, that's impossible!" And before we look at how it becomes possible, let's look at a tiny little preposition. It’s a little word that sheds a lot of light on this hard teaching.
The word is "in." I-N. “In.” Verse 18 again:
Give thanks IN all circumstances.
This word is important because it's not another word—it’s not the word "for."
See, if it was the word "for" the verse would read like this, "Give thanks FOR all circumstances..."
My friend Matt passes along some words of a grade-schooler who tried to take this verse to heart, but who thought that the word was "for."
"Yesterday," the little boy said, "I was riding home on the bus and the kid behind me got sick all over the back of my neck and I just said, "Thank you for that, Jesus." When I got home, I found my little sister had knocked over the aquarium and left the water running in the bathroom all day and the whole house looked like an ankle-deep goldfish pond, but I just thanked the Lord for it. And then this morning I mistook Dad's Ben Gay ointment for my toothpaste, but I just swallowed hard and said, ‘Praise the Lord!’"
Nice try, but that's NOT what this verse is talking about. It says "in" not "for."
You don't have to give thanks FOR the worst thing that ever happened to you or the worst thing that is happening to you now. The worst thing that ever happened to you was probably evil. Probably the worst thing that you are experiencing now is evil, too.
You don't have to pretend that it was or is good.
Death, Depression, Abuse, Deceit, Hate, and Racism are great evils. God is not asking for you and I to deny reality and call them good. He’s not saying that we have to be thankful for evil. Just a couple verses later, in verse 22, Paul says “Avoid every kind of evil.” God is not asking us to be thankful for it.
But He is asking us to look beyond evil to Him.
He says, "IN all circumstances."
That means that no matter what the circumstances, no matter how bad the situation, no matter what, in it--in the middle of it--you can know that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ that God is going to use it for His ultimate glory and your ultimate good.
It's based on the truth Paul spelled out in the awesome promises of Romans 8:
We know that all things [same word as “all circumstances” in 1 Thessalonians] God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose...If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8;28, 32)
He will. He will. All things. In ALL circumstances. No matter what.
In the middle of whatever tornado you have found yourself, your God is still good and still faithful and still worthy of your thanks.
There is always--and I mean always a reason to be thankful--in--whatever circumstances you find yourself. No matter what.
And that reason is always God.
Our thanksgiving should not be circumstance-driven, it should be God-driven.
Your circumstances right now may not be good. They may be quite evil. And it may not change any time soon. You may be praying against your circumstances--as well you should pray—continually--against evil. But IN them, IN EVERY THING you can give thanks to God.
A man named Pastor Jack Hinton tells a story about a short-term missions trip he took to the island of Tobago. He was leading a worship service at a leper colony there. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit during the service suddenly turned around. Pastor Hinton said, "It was the most hideous face I had ever seen. Leprosy had done its dirty work. The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, "Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?"
Overcome with emotion, Pastor Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess that you'll never be able to sing that song again."
"Yes, I will," he replied, "but I'll never sing it the same way."
That suffering woman knew God and understood that the kind of thanksgiving that God is concerned about is not about all of the blessings that God has given us, (food and family and comfort and safety and jobs and so on) it's about how great God is! It's not about the gifts; it's about the Giver.
In Christ Jesus
Now, you may still be wondering how all of this is possible. It seems impossible, considering the circumstances we can find ourselves in.
The fuel for this kind of thanksgiving is found in the remainder of the verse. Verse 18 again:
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Give thanks in Jesus Christ. This is where Christmas comes into this verse. Here’s why I say gratefulness is a gift of Christmas. The ability to thank God in all circumstances is only possible through a relationship with and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
If it wasn’t for Christmas, this command to give thanks in all circumstances would be nonsense. If it wasn’t for Christmas, it would be simply ridiculous. I know, some of you still feel like it is ridiculous. You’re reflecting on your current situation and you don’t feel much gratitude.
But when we understand what Christmas represents, what Jesus’ coming to earth means, then we can show gratitude no matter what.
Here’s something you need to know: whenever God wills something in Scripture, He also provides the means necessary to accomplish it.
What God requires, God provides.
When He tells us to give thanks in all circumstances, He’s not commanding us to do something impossible. He has provided the ability to do just that, and it is in Jesus Christ.
Look with me just a couple of verses down, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify your through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
God’s will for us is that we would be sanctified. He wants to find us blameless on the day we stand before His throne in heaven. And then notice verse 24: “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
What God requires, God provides. He will sanctify us. He will keep us blameless. He is faithful, and He will do it.
I’ve mentioned a lot of problems in this sermon. A lot of tough circumstances you might be facing. Relationship problems. Rebellious kids. Unpaid bills. Bitter disappointment. Loved ones who are sick or dying. And I absolutely do not want to downplay the pain or struggle of any of those problems.
But the Bible says our biggest problem is sin. I talked about this on Christmas Eve. Our biggest problem, and really the root cause of all the other problems that we encounter, is sin. It’s the problem that overshadows every other problem we have. It’s a problem we cannot pretend away or ignore. We’ve disobeyed our creator. We’ve gone our own way. We’ve placed ourselves at the center of the world, and in the process we’ve made a mess of the world.
And, more significantly, we’ve broken our relationship with our holy and blameless God—the one we were created for. That’s why this verse talks about being sanctified and blameless. Without that, we cannot be in relationship with God. We are eternally separated from Him.
We all have problems, but sin is our biggest problem. And at Christmas, Jesus came to do something about it. Christmas is the celebration of God so loving the world that He sent His son into the world to rescue us from sin.
Christmas is Jesus coming to take care of our biggest problem. And as we reflect on the wonder of him coming to save us from our biggest problem; all of our other problems look small in comparison to what He’s already done.
Pining for Egypt
Let me close by reminding you of the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. Do you remember what happens almost immediately after the Israelites cross the Red Sea? You know what these people, who have just miraculously been rescued out of 400 years of slavery do? They complain.
They start to bitterly and consistently whine about their new circumstances. They’ve just witnessed this awesome miracle of God—10 plagues against the Egyptians and the incredible parting of the Red Sea—and almost immediately they start complaining about the menu. In Egypt they were killing our male children, but oh, those cucumbers, they were absolutely to die for. In Egypt we had to build pyramids and make bricks without straw and they whipped our backs…but those melons were fantastic. It makes no sense!
Whenever I read that story I get so ticked off. I think, you ungrateful, whiny, rebellious Israelites. You oughta get up every day and the first thing you do, before you get out of your tent or put on your sandals, you oughta say: “Thank you God! I was a slave in Egypt and you rescued me. Thank you!” That’s what the Israelites should’ve done.
And then the Holy Spirit says to me: “What about you Russell?” Because I can be just as bad as the Israelites.
I can so quickly take my eyes off the fact that God has changed my eternal destiny. I whine and complain about my circumstances and what’s hard and what isn’t going according to my plan, and I totally lose sight of the fact that something greater than the parting of the Red Sea has taken place in my life.
This is the gift of Christmas. God loved me so much that He sent His Son to die in my place. So that I don’t have to be afraid of death or what lies on the other side. I know there is a loving God waiting for me, an eternity of pleasure and joy, and all the circumstances of my life are held in His hand and He is working things out for my good and His glory, all because of—not what I have done—but what Jesus has done for me. That’s the gift of Christmas. And yet I forget it so quickly.
The truth is, every day of my life I should wake up, and before I ever get out of bed or put my slippers on, I oughta say: “Thank you God! I was a slave to sin, I was dead in my sins and my transgressions, and you rescued me. Jesus came to earth as a human so that He could suffer and die on my behalf and He is risen to life so that I can share in His resurrection power. And even if it feels at times like I’m wandering in a desert, I know where my home is, and I’m secure.”
And that’s how we can be grateful people. That’s how it is possible to give thanks in all circumstances. What God commands, He provides. He is faithful. And He will do it.
