Gospel Gratitude Part 3

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Gospel Graditude

(Part 3)

Welcome to Jesus Church here and online

We are on part three of our mini-series on gratefulness

• Started talking about the human desire to look past what we have
  • And long for something new
  • And in that… forget what we should find value in
• Have you ever heard the phrase “The grass is always greener”
  • That’s because we see something we don’t have
  • Forget the value of what we do have
• Easy for us (as the early church) to forget the value of God’s grace
  • To remember/rehearse the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice
  • And never allow it to become “NOT” a big deal

Last week we looked at God’s will for our lives… seems like a big deal

1 Thes 5:16-18

Rejoice ALWAYS, pray without ceasing (talk to God throughout your day), give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

• So gratefulness is definitely part of the God’s will for your life
  • We want to think God’s will should be to achieve something
  • But God is far more concerned about your response of gratitude
  • Than the list of your accomplishments
• When we think of Gods will… questions we usually ask are
  • What should I do with my life
  • What decision should I make
  • What path should I take
• But what matters most to God… live a life of gratefulness to him
  • And to do it in ALL circumstance
  • And if we can disconnect our level of gratitude
  • From the circumstances in our lives… we will walk in will of God

Lets pray and we will jump back in to this subject of gratefulness

There’s little that inspires me more than good pep talk

Greatest accomplishments have come from motivational speeches

• I think back to the movie Braveheart and the “Freedom” speech
  • Whether it happened or not… represents what others have done
  • As soldiers were about to give their lives for their beliefs
  • Perspective is given that unifies the mission
• I think to different graduation commencement speeches
  • Where you have a well known public figure
  • Giving perspective on what is going to come next in life
  • Steve Jobs – Failure will free you from fear so you can succeed
• I think to public leaders who’ve prepared people for the next fight…
  • Abraham Lincolns – Gettysburg Address
  • Martin Luther Kings – I have a dream speech
  • Winston Churchill – Wartime “We will never surrender” speech

Each and every one of these inspire because they lead us to what’s next

• In Deuteronomy… God gives us an Epic speech that does the same
  • Moses has seen God face to face (so he has special authority)
  • He’s about to tell God’s people what’s next… prepare them
  • Say… you guys are right on the cusp of something new/exciting

Duet 8:7-9

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land – a land with brooks, streams and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills, a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey, a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

• Now these are all things that we can be grateful for
  • But like last week… danger is these are all tied to circumstance
  • And while we can and should be grateful for good things in life
  • The danger is losing gratitude when things get hard
    • Because its easy to forget what gratitude should be tied to

So Moses follows this up with a warning

Duet 8:10-14

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. (already told them don’t forget how God kept your shirts from falling apart and sandals from wearing out) Be careful not to forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…

• When your gratitude is tied to your circumstance and not your savior
  • It is easy to forget who you should be grateful to
  • You see things flow from the top down
    • Grateful to God…
    • Who gave you a boss…
    • Who created the job…
    • Which gives you the money to provide for your family
• So if you focus on the Father… the order is in alignment
  • But if you focus on the circumstance
  • God can never in His rightful spot
    • Look what Moses says will happen if they do that

Duet 8:17-18

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

• Because Moses knows how easy it is to be grateful for provision
  • And forget all about the provider
  • And the thought process becomes…
  • I’m so lucky… I pulled that one off… I made that happen
• So he shows them what they need to identify as blessings from God
  • Bread… Honey… gushing streams… Precious metals
  • And he says all these things on their own can’t make you content
  • Only happens when God’s provision is combined with gratitude

Illustration – Who knows what this is (Wheat)

This has all the potential in the world to become bread

• But if I was in a field of thousands of these… stuck for a month
  • I would probably starve to death
  • Surrounded by food but I don’t know how to use it
    • I don’t have the knowledge
    • I don’t have the equipment
    • I don’t have the ability to make wheat into bread
• So I can be surrounded by the right stuff
  • But unless I use it in the right way… it can do nothing for me
  • You see other people eating… “How come they get it and I don’t”

We can be surrounded by blessings/friendships/goodness/opportunities

• But if you don’t know how to turn a blessing into gratitude
  • It will never nourish you any more than a raw piece of wheat
  • You know you can swim in the ocean and die of thirst
• Some of us have the blessings of God surrounding our very lives
  • Yet because we won’t allow those gifts to turn us to gratitude
  • We become starved of what God has already provided
• Moses is telling them… maybe its so much about what you get in life
  • But maybe its about more about the one who gives it to you
  • Your level of gratitude should be tied more to giver than the gift
    • Because if you are given the gift but don’t have gratitude
    • It won’t make you happy
  • Some of us… if we were given a new job we wouldn’t value it
    • Because you have issue with last one… issues with next one
    • More money… closer to home… better hours… nicer people
    • But because your gratitude is tied to the gift… not giver
      • You will always find something wrong – Nothing perfect

That’s why the more they study people in situations

• The people who are content aren’t the people with the most stuff
  • It’s the people who make the most of the stuff they are given
  • We’ve all seen people with less stuff…. Yet more joy
• Researcher wrote a book… section devoted to gratitude

When it comes to gratitude, the word that jumped out throughout the process is practice. Practicing Gratitude.

• Because like we said last week – Gratitude is not normal behavior
  • Babies are grateful to be born
  • Toddlers are grateful to have to learn to walk
  • Teens aren’t grateful for sacrifice you made to put food on table

For years, I subscribed to the notion of an ‘attitude of gratitude’. I’ve sense learned that an attitude is an orientation or a way of thinking and that having an attitude doesn’t always translate to a behavior. For example it would be reasonable to say that I have a gym attitude. The ideals and beliefs that guide my life are very in line with the ideas and beliefs that I associate with working out. Dedication, discipline, iron sharpens iron… But let me assure you, my gym attitude and outifts don’t mean anything if you ask me to bench 300 lbs or run 10 miles on a treadmill. As I’m sitting here I have never practiced going to the gym. I’ve never put the attitude into action. It seems that gratitude without practice is a little like faith without works, its not alive.

Its not just do you have a grateful heart… you have to put it into practice

• I gave you homework to use the 72 muscles it takes to speak
  • Make your words grateful talk because it affects decision making
  • It strengthens the part of your brain that makes decisions
  • Which means gratefulness makes your decisions more effective
• Pretty sure Bible says the prayers of a righteous man availeth much
  • And our prayers should always be full of thanksgiving

Ps. 107:1-2

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his faithful love endures forever. Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!

• Which means if God is speaking to you… let someone know
  • If God is speaking to you through the sermon… let me know it
    • You have every right to say Amen… not just for me to know
    • But for your brothers and sisters faith to be stirred up
  • And all that Moses is saying is when the Lord blesses you…
    • Say how He blessed you… that is basic gratefulness

One of the practices Gods people had were festivals

• Each festival revolved around a meal… remember what God did
  • So they would eat to remember what God had provided

Duet 8:10

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

• Know why Christians don’t go to church… don’t think its worth
  • They think they don’t need what God has provided
  • Because I have everything I need on my own
  • Moses warned that we would do it too…
  • “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this…”
• Its amazing how easy it is to sit at Gods table and eat of his blessings
  • And think this is all because of me
  • All concept of gratefulness to God is consumed by our narcissism

Now remember Gods people are learning gratitude

This is gratitude 101: Basic… here it is – circumstance based – be grateful

• Moses says – Be thankful “FOR THE…”
  • For the food
  • For the family
  • For the breath in my lungs (and again these are good things)
• But is this a mature and healthy concept of all gratitude
  • To be grateful only because God made the milk and honey flow
  • No… not even close – But it’s a start
• When you thank God for what he’s given you
  • That’s just manners
  • That’s what we learn as kids
  • But I don’t want to be at a child’s maturity level at His table

To find a healthy and mature level of gratitude – Go to David

• David had a lot of issues… but never forgot where he came from
  • He was born into the life of a common shepherd
  • But God brought him to the place of the King of Israel
• David shows us how to move from the kids table to banquet table
  • While Moses shows us a basic level of gratitude
    • When he blesses you – Remember him
    • When he provides for you – Thank him
• David shows us a more mature – healthy perspective

Ps 23:1

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want (not about circumstance)

• And look what he says in verse 4

Ps 23:4

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me…

While Moses teaches us to be grateful “FOR THE”

• David teaches us to be grateful “DESPITE THE”
  • This is a mature form of gratitude because like we said last week
  • You no longer are tied to the temporal… but to the eternal
• So all hell can break loose in an area of my life
  • But I can still “Lay down by the green pastures”
  • And I know God can still “Restoreth my soul”
  • And I can say with full confidence “It is well with my Soul”
• Even though my heart is broken… It is well
  • Even though I don’t have all the answers… It is well
  • Even though the pain is still there… it is well

While Moses teaches us to be grateful for what you can see

• David teaches us to be grateful for what you cannot
  • Even though I walk through the valley of darkness (cannot see)
  • I will praise you anyways
• There’s definitely a level of satisfaction depending on perspective
  • You can thank him “FOR THE”… and struggle through the rest
  • Or thank him “INSPIRE THE”… and always have confidence/peace

The question is what type of Relationship with God do we want to have

• Are we only gonna thank him for what we can hold in our hands
  • Is that the depth of the relationship that we want with God
  • That’s basically the relationship I have with my dog
  • I have food… he wants food… he follows me… he gets food
• Or am I gonna thank him even when things hurt
  • Even when I’m single
  • Even when things are hard
• What type of relationship do you want to have
  • And I will always thank him for his provision – That never ends
  • But now I’m thanking him for his presence

Ps. 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…

And I have to learn to sit at a table and eat… with enemies all around me

• You prepare a table in the PRESENCE of my enemies
  • In the presence of my insecurities
  • In the presence of my fears
  • In the presence of my doubt
• And if my job is to eat what God has prepared… I have to trust God
  • That I’ll be able to keep eating despite the danger that surrounds
  • Because my foundation isn’t in the food he gave me
  • Its in the God who provided it

And when you learn to eat in the presence of your enemies

• You build a foundation in your relationship with God
  • That can stand the foundations of your world being shaken
  • It’s a relationship that is not moved by the hard times of life
  • And honestly… it’s the relationship that we all want
• Why do you think God waited for the enemies to prepare the meal
  • Because when you trust God like David… have that relationship
  • You will learn that when you are surrounded
  • You can be sure that God is preparing you a meal to eat
• Are you surrounded right now… today… struggling with real life stuff
  • What kind of relationship do you want to build with God
  • Are you gonna praise him when the food is ready
  • Or you gonna praise him because you know he’s setting the table

[PRAY]