Allen Jackson - Give Thanks - Part 2

Jesus standing outside Lazarus’s tomb, you remember the story. His friend’s been sick, and Jesus purposefully delays going to see him. He waits until he knows he’s dead. That is poor pastoral care. It is. And when he gets there, the family’s not happy with him. The sister said, «Lord, if you had been here he wouldn’t have died». You know, you read that and you think it’s grief. No, that feels pretty much like an attack if you’re the one making the call. «If you’d been here». And he said, «Oh no, really, everything’s all the possibilities are still on the table». «Yeah, yeah, I know, Lord, you know, in the resurrection». «That’s not the table I’m talking about». And finally he says, «You know, take me to where you buried him and open the tomb». And they go, «Oh no. Mm, not a good idea». «Open the tomb».

And this is his prayer, you have it in your notes. It’s John 11:41, «They took away the stone. And Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, '» this is a heavy lift. «'Father, I thank you that you’ve heard me.'» You know what he said next? «Lazarus, get out here». Dude walked out. I have to tell you, as a person who’s prayed a lot of prayers in public and I’ve had to pray some prayers in circumstances, it seemed really difficult or intimidating to me, that’s not the way I would have done it. I’d have taken the worship team. I mean, after all, we know this one, this isn’t gonna be easy. The family’s already mad at us. We didn’t get here on time. I’d probably ask you to fast and pray for a few days before I went.

You know, you wanna get your spiritual momentum up. Remember when you were a kid, you’d wind up. This feels like one of those situations where you wanna wind up. And Jesus walked up and said, «Open the tomb. Father, I thank you». Thankfulness opens, unlocks the supernatural power of God. And it’s available to you and me every day. It’s not based on our feelings. In fact, often it’s completely disconnected from our feelings. It’s an expression of our will. It’s a decision that we make.

Exodus 15, Moses has led the children, the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, the Red Sea’s parted, this is their first stop. They’re 72 hours on the other side of the Red Sea. They still have mud in their sandals from the bottom of the Red Sea. And the first water they come to is not drinkable. It’s bitter. The place is called Mara, but that just means bitter in Hebrew, so it’s, you shouldn’t be surprised if the sign over the place says bitter water and you drink it and it doesn’t taste good. But when the people had that experience, he says, «So the people grumbled against Moses. 'What are we to drink? ' And Moses cried out to the Lord». Those are the options. You can grumble or we can call on the Lord. Thankfulness will unlock the supernatural power of God.

I wanna take a minute and look at the alternative to this 'cause it’s more prevalent. I don’t find that we are overwhelmed with gratitude. You know, we have more than any people in history. We do. We have more freedom and more liberty, and I understand it’s been infringed upon and they’ve been nibbling around the edges of it, but we have more. We have more food. We’re mad about that. It’s not the right kind. It’s been genetically modified. Yeah, probably has. 'Cause you know, so you know how to get away from genetically modified food. Grow your own. «Well, well, now don’t get extreme. Not really into all that organic stuff that far».

We have a difficult time with this. And it isn’t because of the goodness of God is absent us, you know. Few years ago and it’s been a while now, but I went with a group. We sent a medical team to the Amazon and my only, my primary reason for going was to carry bags. But I got to go along and we went really to the edge of the civilization. We made a couple of stops on the plane and the plane finally landed in a town where there was no roads. To get out of town, you had to get on a boat to one of the tributaries in the Amazon. We got on the boat and we went down the river. I mean, there was no electricity. We were doing dental clinics and health clinics for people who had very marginal exposure to civilization as we know it.

Most of them didn’t have access to electricity or all the things that would bring… you can imagine, very isolated. Children would line up. They had no access to dental care. They would line up and stand in line for long periods of time to have their teeth pulled. They would give them a shot, Novocaine, to deaden it and then pull their teeth. And I watched these little small children stand in line, never cry, never flinch, never hesitate. They were so grateful for the opportunity. And I watched those people for those days and I thought, you know, the only difference in their life and my life were the circumstances of my birth. I could have been born where they were born and I’d been standing in one of those lines if I was fortunate. I didn’t earn it. I didn’t deserve it. It’s not merit based. It’s not 'cause I had great faith or discernment or wisdom, the sovereignty of God.

So the least perhaps I could do would be to say thank you. But you know how torqued up I can get because the traffic on the highway is too thick? Or because it took them too long to finish the improvements on Highway 99. Orange barrels used to raise my blood pressure. I still see them someplace else like they’re following me. You know how easy it is to get grumpy. I find that the fuse in us for a lack of gratitude and dissatisfaction tends to be much more easily ignited than the fuse for gratitude. You take one negative experience 'cause there’s spiritual support for this. You can get spiritual support for good things and you can get spiritual support for negative things.

If you’ll give yourself the ungodly thoughts, lack of… I’m not talking about immorality and pornography. I mean, those are ungodly, but it’s ungodly to be ungrateful. And if you’ll cultivate that, you’ll get unhealthy spiritual support for that, and it’ll grow. You can take one little short brief experience, somebody looked at you wrong. «Did you see how they looked at me»? I read this story about a little boy they were leaving church and his mother said, «Did you see how that person looked at me»? And she said, «Oh no, Mama, you had that look when you came into church». We have to choose. The refusal to give thanks, unthankfulness is a potent spiritual force. Please don’t align yourself with it.

There’s an incremental decline that the Bible tells us about. Time prohibits a detailed exploration. You can check me out on your own. Romans chapter 1 has one of the most careful presentations of the decline of human character, the degradation of human character that ends in horrific destruction. It begins with the inherent knowledge of God that every person knows there’s a God. That God has revealed to us in his creation. That every human being, regardless of academic opportunities, education, every human being knows there’s a God.

This is in Romans chapter 1, and it deteriorates into this appalling wickedness. Gross perversion. The basis perversion of human experience. And you know what the linchpin is in that progression? It’s in your notes, it’s Romans 1 verse 21. «Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened». You see, I don’t think we’re conscious of the fact that when we choose not to be grateful that we unleash something that plunges us into a place of demonic things.

2 Timothy describes it. Paul’s writing to Timothy, a young man he’s coaching, and he describes the end of the age. And it’s a very similar, the language is different, but it’s very similar. Paul describes 18 attributes of human character that will decline at the end of the age. His introductory sentences, he said, «Be certain of this that the times at the end of the age will be exceedingly fierce». And then he lists these 18 attributes of human character. I gave you a sample. «Mark this: There’ll be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy».

I want you to think about that a little bit. That ungrateful and unholy are two sides of a coin. That when you refuse to be grateful, you’re refusing holiness. Ungrateful and unholy. See, we’re not just grateful for everything, we have everything the way we want it. Gratitude really isn’t connected to your circumstances. We’ve already looked at that. That the peace of God can dwell in our hearts because in all things we can choose to be thankful. «Well, I don’t know why you’d be thankful». Because there’s a power that’s more important to me than my immediate comfort or convenience. There’s something more important to me than my dream and my desire.

I have been shown grace, remember? The unearned, the undeserved kindness and goodness of God. And I will be thankful. It’s rather popular these days to be actively unthankful. What’s the opposite of being thankful? There’s a whole list of words I suppose we could plug in. You can look them up on your phone on some, but to murmur, to grumble, to complain. To be unthankful is to be without thanks. Complaining is the act of expression of ingratitude. So I want you to be aware that when you complain, what you’re doing is giving voice to a lack of gratitude. I’m not gonna be grateful. I’m gonna complain about my circumstance. I know somebody might be thankful, but I have a higher objective. There may be somebody passive enough that they would tolerate this. I’m gonna voice my lack of gratitude. We boast about it. It’s almost a cultural phenomenon. There’s training in it.

Look at 1 Corinthians 10. «These things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did». These are the people God chose. These are people, he’s talking about the Exodus generation. They’re living with the supernatural provision of God, manna, water, pillar of cloud, pillar of fire. They’ve seen more miracles perhaps than any generation in all of human existence. So they’re not separate from the power of God, the provision of God. Moses is amongst, I mean, they’ve got good leadership. I mean, they got the portfolio. But it says they set their hearts on evil things. That should unsettle us 'cause we can have all the things and still set our hearts on evil things.

Then in verse 7, «Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written; 'The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.' And we shouldn’t commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died». Can you imagine you can have all those experiences with the Lord and still choose to worship idols or still choose the pursuit of pleasure over obedience? They chose sexual immorality. See, we don’t say it that way any longer. We just say, you know, who has a right to define what’s moral and immoral? God does. And the church has a responsibility to share that message with the world in which we live. It’s not being judgy. «Well, who are you to judge»?

I’m not judging anybody, I’m telling you what the designer said. You can choose. But don’t be immoral and demand God’s blessings. You’re not the designer, nor am I. We submit to the King. See, submit is not a word that we like to use very much. It’s very difficult to be thankful if you don’t submit. Because if you’re not submitted, you’re demanding your rights in your way and your timetable and your plans and your purposes and God better get busy with it. I’ve quoted him four scriptures. I’ve been to church three weeks in a row. I wrote a tithe check. I’m expecting some action. And I’m a little put out with him. «We shouldn’t commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We shouldn’t test the Lord, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. And don’t grumble, as some of them did, destroyed by the destroying angel».

They’re listed there. Don’t be idolaters don’t commit sexual immorality, and don’t grumble. Do you have room for that? Grumbling in the same list with sexual immorality and idolatry? «Well, you know, Pastor, I’m not immoral. I just like to express my opinion. I mean, I’m not an idolater. I just like to tell people how it is». May I borrow your notes? Your notes, thank you. I didn’t get to the pulpit with all of mine, so I’m gonna borrow hers. Ah, I bet when I check after service, my printer ran out of paper. And I’m such a trusting soul. I just picked it up off my printer. I don’t know, it’s better to confess your sin in public than just, I couldn’t believe it either, to be honest. But the reality is we are actively unthankful.

Most of us are more comfortable, more at home, more acclimated to giving expression to what we don’t like than we are practicing gratitude. And I tell you that not to bring shame or guilt. I believe we need new outcomes. I believe we need a church that’s vibrant with the energy of God that is completely secured by the peace of God that knows that we have access to Almighty God because we need his power in our midst. And for those things to define us going forward, no matter what comes to the earth, it’s going to be linked to our ability to give expression to thankfulness and gratitude. One last bit and then we’re gonna practice for just a moment.

The refusal to be thankful, there’s some symptoms to ingratitude in our lives. You can listen for it. Start around your kitchen table 'cause they’re gonna reflect you. Things like laziness, complaining. We’re not satisfied, we’re entitled. No, I deserve better. I have a right to. I have expectations. We’re very familiar. We’re given so much license. There’s so many voices that give us permission to give expression to our little bit of gratitude. You see, it wouldn’t have the space it occupies in Scripture if it weren’t a persistent problem, if it wasn’t a place where our adversary has been enormously effective in tripping us up. You could be like God, aren’t you unhappy that God has power that you don’t have? You could be godlike, just have a bite of this.

Proverbs 26. «The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answered discretely». The sluggard, it’s a fun biblical word. The sluggard. Very few of us have t-shirts, «I am sluggard». And there’s a whole handful of statements in the book of Proverbs, but he’s wiser in his own eyes. There’s a verse we looked at recently, Proverbs 26, same chapter says, «Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There’s more hope for a fool». God said to be wise in your own eyes is to be worse than a fool. And he says a sluggard is worse than a fool.

You see, we’re entitled, we don’t have to do anything, it should come to me. Opportunities should come to me. Somebody should be concerned about my well-being. Somebody should be interested in my future. It’s not my responsibility. The refusal to be thankful. So here’s the invitation. On a regular basis, multiple times during the day. Maybe in the routine things of your day, if you’ve got to drive to work, if there’s something you do for exercise and you’ve got some downtime while you do that, maybe you’ve got some mundane tasks you do, things that don’t require you to be focused on your thoughts, take those times that are in your calendar and very intentionally, very purposely start to use them to give thanks to the Lord. And you can choose buckets.

You can thank God for the things personally. God, I thank you for my health, for my breath that I can see and hear, that I have the strength to me today. You can thank God for your family. «God, I thank you for my family». For some of you that’ll be more challenging. You’re not thanking him that your family’s perfect. You’re thanking him that you’re not completely alone. That you haven’t been totally rejected. «Well, I’ve been rejected by some in my family». You have, but not by all. You can thank God for the freedoms that we have. Well, our freedoms have been diminished, yes, but we still have more than most people on the planet. You can thank God for the food we have or water to drink.

There’s so many, you start with categories, you can start with physical things. You can start, you can give God thanks for the times he’s been faithful in your life. When he’s delivered you. When he’s forgiven your sin. When he chose you out of darkness. Of all the people in the world, he called your name to be a part of his eternal kingdom. Have you told him thank you lately? Or did you think he was just so relieved to get you on the team? There are so many places and things. Maybe you want to start with some…I don’t care, but begin to verbally out loud, say, «God, I wanna thank you. You’ve been good to me».

We have so much abundance we can keep ourselves up at night burning money that goes pop in the sky. That’s a blessed nation. I’m old enough to remember when we used to watch fireworks on TV, about the best we could have at home was like a Roman candle. We’d shoot them at one another. But let’s begin to give thanks. God has been good to us. Morning, noon, and night. Day after day, let’s see what will happen if we took 21 days to give thanks. What would happen if we took this month to give thanks to God? Let’s just see what he will do.

See how our heart will change, how our spiritual immune system will get better. It’ll change our lives. I brought you a way to practice, it’s just a starter kit. I’ll bring you some more. Actually, I didn’t bring it, but this wonderful lady on the front row shared her starter kit with me. Jeez, let’s stand together. It’s Psalm 107. You should be relieved. I had like 22 verses, but they wouldn’t fit on the outline, so. I put four here because it captures the idea. I’ll read it to you and then I gave it to you. I just put it in a bit of a first person and we’ll say that together, but let me read you the psalm.

«Give thanks to the LORD, for he’s good; his love endures forever. Let those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and he fills the hungry with good things». Now you could take that and read it morning, noon, and night. If this is completely new to you, you just start to say that. «God, this is my declaration». But I gave it to you in just Middle Tennessee English. Let’s read this together.

I will give thanks to the Lord, His love endures forever. The Lord has redeemed me from the hand of the enemy. I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds in the earth. God has satisfied my thirst and filled my life with good things.

I think we ought to say it again. I wanted to gain momentum in my own heart. Let’s say that again: