Saying it again

 

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV)  This short verse has occupied my thoughts for several weeks, the theme of my November sermons, the challenge of my personal life. The Spirit is calling me (and you) to bring thankfulness to God to the forefront of our mind.  G.K. Chesterton wrote that we need to get in the habit of "taking things with gratitude and not taking things for granted.”  

A Christian who wants to reflect the heart of Jesus to the world will learn to be grateful – to God, to others – consistently. It takes practice, discipline, and prayer! Self (ego) will devour as much attention as we give to it. If we believe that gratitude is a reaction, something we ‘feel’ rather than an intentional choice, we will only find thanks on those days when the kids are mysteriously wonderful and kind to each other, when our spouse is especially attentive to our needs, when our coffee is served ‘just right,’ and everyone on the road is courteous.  If we wait for some emotion to find us, we will not be thankful very often. It’s a simple command, but true - choose thanks as a way of life. (See the opening line today.)

Henri Nouwen discovered the importance of intentional thanks. “In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”

If we allow our mind to wander in the maze of ‘if only’ and ‘could be’ we will not find the joy of gratitude to God for this day and the unique opportunities it presents. Every moment that I spend daydreaming about different circumstances is a moment where I am not present right where I am. That does not mean that I cannot work to change things, or that I cannot acknowledge pain or disappointment.  Gratitude is not escapism, nor is it denial. Gratitude finds God in the now and accepts His grace.

Here are a few practical suggestions for making Thanksgiving a richer day.   They are not novel, not profound, but true. 

Begin the day with thanks to God.

Be thoughtful, getting beyond “Thank you, Lord, for all You have done.” Make it personal.
 

Make your first words to someone else be thankful.
                If you start with God, this will flow more naturally.

Should irritation stir in you, (and if you’re with large family groups, it surely may) meet it with a choice to be thankful  and replace it with a positive thought about that person who is getting under your skin.

You might even want to attempt to write your own “Psalm.”
(Model it after Psalm 103)
"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and
crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s." (Psalm 103:2-5, NIV)

Thankfulness is contagious. A person who is genuinely filling up life with gratitude will inspire others to be grateful.

Here is the word from the Word. Let’s live it, honoring the Lord with an attitude of gratitude!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies." (Psalm 107:1-2, NLT)  

"Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
Let them exalt him publicly before the
congregation and before the leaders of the nation." (Psalm 107:31-32, NLT)

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I pray a most rich and blessed Thanksgiving for you! 
There will be a service of thanksgiving at Faith Discovery, Weds., 11/27, at 7 PM.

CoffeeBreak will be back next Monday, 12/2. 

You’re invited to be a part of our Advent observance starting Sunday.
Our theme is the “Cast of Christmas,” encouragement to participate in the preparation for the Coming of the Savior and King.

Owned

Yesterday I went to see “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood,” a story from the life of Fred Rogers.  What a movie, an emotional roller coaster, to be sure.  Some tried to dub him, “A living saint” given his gentle demeanor, his love for people. In truth, he was a man committed to Someone else.  He was a Christian, who read Scripture everyday, kept a prayer list, and lived his faith. You may not know that he was also an ordained Presbyterian minister. The movie makes no specific mention of Christianity, though it does refer to his prayer life. Yet, it is clear that Mr. Rogers regarded himself as a servant of Christ and that his faith went far beyond mere sentimentality.

Paul in his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, mentions that he thought of those converts often, hoping that they were keeping the faith. He gets word of their commitment, writing that “Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.”  He tells them of his joy.  "For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. … It is God’s will that you should be sanctified." (1 Thessalonians 4:3, NIV)

Those who are “in Christ” are a people possessed. Whoa! Yes, that’s a scary thought, at first. “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) When we receive the love of Jesus by faith, when He gives us life and peace, He makes us His very own possession, not to exploit us, but rather to prepare us for a life that is rich with goodness. Peter teaches us about the place prepared for us. "You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you— from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted." (1 Peter 2:9-10, The Message)

In the story of Mr. Rogers we discover a man who knows he belongs to another, who chooses to work out the implications of his faith in the down to earth situations of life. It is interesting to hear him admit to having a temper, but choosing not to indulge that temper. He is transparent about his own humanity, but makes no excuse to live in ways that would cause pain to others. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus asks of all us to claim to be His disciples?

Jesus’ invitation to ‘come, follow Me,’ requires a parallel willingness to ‘take up our cross.’ We can only know all He has prepared for us if we are daily dying to Self, praying to live in the Spirit, being sanctified. That is not a terrible word though some read it that way.  When we let Him sanctify us, we are being made holy.  Holy means that we are owned, prepared to serve His purposes, wherever they are found, whenever He asks.  There is a separation from the world’s values that is both worked in us by the Spirit and worked out by us in our choices. Have you heard Him invite you to ‘come out … and be separate?’ He follows that invitation by saying ‘I will welcome you and I will be your Father.’   The price of true intimacy is be submitted to Him, willing to be owned, willing to say ‘no’ to sin and Self in order to be able to say an unqualified ‘yes’ to Him.

It is said that everything of value comes at a cost. It is true. A cheap grace, a kind of ‘Christianity’ without true discipleship, is commonly preached and practiced. The depth of discipleship, which brings beautiful character and let’s the beauty of Jesus shine through, comes at a cost. A treasure is found, beyond estimated worth.

The word from the Word is a parable of Jesus. Will you hear the call? “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!" (Matthew 13:45-46, NLT)

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Refiner's Fire

Purify my heart

Let me be as gold

And precious silver

Purify my heart

Let me be as gold

Pure gold

Refiner's fire

My heart's one desire

Is to be holy

Set apart for You Lord

I choose to be holy

Set apart for You my Master

Ready to do Your will

Purify my heart

Cleanse me from within

And make me holy

Purify my heart

Cleanse me from my sin

Deep within

Brian Doerksen

© 1990 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)

Vineyard Songs Canada (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)

CCLI License # 810055

Word!

So much information bombards us it is next to impossible to sort out truth from lies, what is worthy of our trust from what we should just discard. There is a torrent of advice about how to live. We are counseled about what it means to be a man, a woman.  There are multiple advisors about parenting – strict, permissive – what is the best way?  Financial advisors will offer you many ideas about how to invest your resources. What does a healthy diet look like?  In my lifetime the accepted wisdom for all of those things, and more, have been radically rewritten.

There is one thing that is unchanging, a solid foundation for life. The Gospel, God’s Message of hope and life in Christ Jesus, is one thing not subject to revision.  Paul writes of his joy in the believers who accept that Word by faith.  "And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13, NIV)  Peter joins Paul in affirming the truth of the Gospel. "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16, NIV)

There is no better hope than the anchor of the love of God, shown us through Christ Jesus. Regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, social status – there is one message. It is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us, to restore us to our Creator Father, and to assure us, by His own Resurrection, that we can live beyond this brief existence on this earth. This is Truth. Do you believe it, receive it, and hold to it?

Many other roads to God may be suggested, but there is but One Way. We cannot reach God with a bridge built of our own goodness. We need a Savior. We cannot reach God by study and discovery. We need Someone to reveal the truth.  When we respond to His invitation, in faith, a whole new kind of existence begins to emerge for us.  We learn to love. There is hope and joy. Peace is possible, with other people and with God Himself.

Jesus describes the settling of the Truth as being like the planting of a seed.  His parable used 4 soil types to represent the human mind and heart and our response to the Word of the Gospel. "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” (Mark 4:3-8, NIV)  Some hear and are just hard, the seed unable to germinate. Others hear eagerly, perhaps in a desperate time, but fail to grow roots to sustain their faith. Some let life get too full of other things and the Word Seed’s growth is stunted. Some are fertile rich soil where God’s Gospel produces a rich quality of life.

Who are YOU, friend?  Are you receiving the Gospel, acting on it, loving Christ?  In one way, we could speak of this as a ‘once and done’ moment, for we are born into the kingdom by faith, given new life at a moment of conversion. Yet, it is also true that the Gospel is received anew each day so that the life of the Spirit can flourish making us fruitful in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5: 22)

This Monday morning, the first day of Thanksgiving week, thank God for showing you His love in Christ Jesus. Receive the Word as the word of God, not as some bit of advice from a counselor.

Here is a word from the Word. “When God wanted to guarantee his promises, He gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because His word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God.”  (Heb 6:17-19, The Message)
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Anchor
(listen and know peace)

I have this hope

As an anchor for my soul

Through ev'ry storm

I will hold to You

With endless love

All my fear is swept away

In ev'rything

I will trust in You

There is hope in the promise of the cross

You gave ev'rything to save the world You love

And this hope is an anchor for my soul

Our God will stand unshakable

Unchanging One

Who was and is to come

Your promise sure

You will not let go

Your Name is higher

Your Name is greater

All my hope is in You

Your word unfailing

Your promise unshaken

All my hope is in You

Ben Fielding | Dean Ussher

© 2012 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055