Next Sunday officially kicks off the Advent season and we will transition at that time to some Advent themed messages to go along with the music. This week, however, I thought it was appropriate and important to talk about the giving of thanks. Most of us just got done celebrating the holiday known as Thanksgiving. And we need reminders to give thanks. This is why the bible repeats the command often. Give thanks to the Lord. Children are taught at a young age to give thanks. We tell our children, “Say thank you” for dinner, dessert, help, birthday gifts, and a thousand other things. This is right and good. 

We live in a world full of malcontents, always complaining - bitter with envy and frustration. In fact, Paul proclaims a devastating indictment upon man in his rebellion against God when he describes him this way:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

Isn’t that what we see all around us? What is underneath all the rage in our world right now? And not just in the world, but also here. Is it not a lack of contentment in how God has made (male and female, gifted in certain ways, etc). Is it not a lack of gratitude for what he has given us? In such a world, giving thanks may be the most revolutionary thing we could do. How often do your conversations around the dinner table or at bible study or just hanging out with friends turn to the giving of thanks?

Thanksgiving (the holiday) is quintessentially a Christian holiday. I am talking about the idea of thanksgiving… it is built on Christian assumptions. A secular world doesn’t have the foundation for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving assumes there is Someone to give thanks to. This is why I often make the distinction between merely having gratitude (which is good) and giving thanks. The feeling of gratitude is good. To say thanks means you are addressing Someone you believe has blessed you. Thanksgiving is the act of turning to your Maker, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Lord. 

When was the last time you woke up and said, “thank you Lord for another day”. About 150,000 people worldwide who woke up today won’t tomorrow. You do know, don’t you, that you are breathing now because He sustains you?  Or when was the last time you thanked God for getting to a destination safely? Or when was the last time you simply thanked God that your sins were forgiven and because you are in Christ, they would never be counted against you? 

And so Thanksgiving Day comes around every year and we are reminded that we ought to give thanks. And hopefully we do on that day. But as Christians we understand that it is to be more than a day in which we give thanks. It really is to be a lifestyle. Not something we do one day a year or even every day, but all throughout the day. We are to live with an attitude of gratitude and turn and give thanks to God from Whom all blessings flow. We are in a battle though. 

Everything in our consumer-oriented culture is aimed against this. We are constantly barraged on social media or television with reminders of things we don’t have, haven’t been able to do, or people that appear to have a better life than us. 

And so thanksgiving we must fight for. It is something that must be cultivated - like a garden. The fruit of thanksgiving are other virtues like: Contentment. Joy. Generosity. If we want to be salt and light in this world; if we want to be the aroma of Christ, being people who overflow in the giving of thanks in all circumstances is a good place to start. I hope this morning will help you and me both grow in this. That was a rather long introduction… let’s look at our text. 

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This passage answers the vital questions regarding thanksgiving. 

1. When and for what do we give thanks?
2. How do we give thanks?
3. Why do we give thanks?

When and For What?

… giving thanks always and for everything… (v. 20)

There it is. Always and for everything. So when should we give thanks? One day a year? No. Always. The holiday of Thanksgiving is great, but we must not see it as the day we break out all the things we are thankful for and the rest of the year we are basically ingrates. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said, 

The constant tenor and spirit of our lives should be adoring gratitude, love, reverence, and thanksgiving to the Most High.

The act of giving thanks is like a tire pressure gauge measuring how full your heart is of thoughts of God and his goodness.  You show me someone whose attention is turned to God in genuine thankfulness, and I’ll show you someone whose soul is healthy. Show me someone who scarcely ever turns to God to say thank you, and there you will find a small, rigid, and fragile soul. Giving thanks always. 

For what? Everything. These two parts of this clause cannot be separated. In the original Greek it says, “always giving thanks for all things”.  This would include the obvious blessings God has given you. Life, health (if you have it), wealth (if you have it - we all do relatively), spouse, children, church family. The many spiritual blessings we have in Christ (forgiveness, justification, future glory, the gift of the Spirit, etc). The times God delivered you from harm, sickness, or even death. There is an old song called “Count Your Blessings” and the refrain after each verse is:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done;

This is a good thing to do. To stir our souls up by way of reminder of the countless blessings God has given us. But our text goes beyond just stirring up our minds to remember the obvious blessings God has given us. This says always and for everything… which means we are to give thanks not just for the obvious gifts from God, but also for the blessings that are disguised and often hidden in trials and pain. 

This assumes something. If we are to give thanks not only for the bright and sunny days, but also for the cloudy and stormy times of life, it assumes that God is the ultimate Governor of both. It assumes that our lives and all the details of our lives - individual, families, our church, the times in which we live - all of it - are a part of a beautiful tapestry that God is weaving together. The Christian has a solid foundation upon which to give thanks in all circumstances, at all times, for everything… because God is sovereign in all circumstances, at all times, and over everything. We don’t serve a God who is doing the best he can, always responding and reaching and trying to take bad things and turn them into good. We serve a God who can be thanked at all times for all things because he has a plan being worked out through blessings and trials, in the sunny days and cloudy days, in the pleasant parts of life as well as the painful. William Cowper, wrote a hymn entitled God Works In a Mysterious Way (1774) where he said:

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

but trust Him for His grace;

behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

The giving of thanks trusts that in all things God is working for our good and his glory. Ten Booms → the flees. Is God in the details like the fleas? Does God care about the details of our lives? Yes! A thousand times yes! Listen to the way Jesus put it.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

Not a flee infests the barracks, nor a sparrow falls to the ground, nor a hair fall off your head  apart from your heavenly Father. Don’t be afraid, little children. You are so much more valuable than the sparrows. And so we give thanks not just for the blessings that are obvious; we thank God for the fleas… for the trials that God has ordained we walk through; and we do so believing that he is conforming us to the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ through it all. 

Give thanks always and for everything. 

How do we give thanks?

Be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love this. Do you see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit involved here? 

First, we are told to be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything. The giving of thanks is empowered by the Spirit. This filling of the Spirit is a continuous thing. Be filled and keep being filled is what it means. Don’t just say, “Well I received the Spirit when I was born again” or “I remember a time when I really felt a strong filling of the Spirit”. Today, even right now, be filled with the Spirit. Seek the Spirit’s filling. And what for? To give thanks always and for everything. And rest assured, whether you feel a surge of power or not, when your attention is turned to God to give thanks, the Spirit is working. 

Our thanksgiving is to be directed to the Father. “Giving thanks to God the Father”. God a Judge and Creator and Sustainer. But He is also our Father. He is our Father who gives us every good and precious gift. He gives us every good thing that we need. He will withhold no good thing from us. He is our Father! Every promise from the Father finds its yes in Christ. We may not receive every promise just when we think we should. But the promise is “how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” He certainly will. If His eyes are on the sparrow, we can rest assured that he also watches over us. And so we can turn to our good and wise and strong and gracious and loving Father and say thank you always and for everything. 

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a pattern in the bible in prayer; and we see it here as well. I heard it described this way. Prayer is like traveling to the Father, on the path which is Christ, in the vehicle which is the Spirit. This is what we see here. We come to the Father with thanksgiving, empowered by the Spirit. But we travel to the Father on the only path available to us that is “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” or through Jesus Christ. And when we travel by way of this path, where does it lead? Right into the holy of holies. Listen to Psalm 100:4-5:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

We approach God the Father with our thanks. We do so in the strength of and with the help of the Spirit. And we approach the Father the only way we can, which is through the Lord Jesus Christ. This leads to the final issue in our text. Why is thanksgiving so important? Well, hopefully you see that it’s worship. 

Why?

Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks… (v. 19b-20a)

Why do we give thanks to God always and for everything? Because it is worship 0 which is what we were made for! In fact, it may be the highest form of worship. The bible’s song book, the Psalms show us the way. Ten Psalms begin with “Give thanks” or “I will give thanks” or “We will give thanks…” Then you have dozens of times the psalter exhorts us to “give thanks to the Lord”. 

This is worship because we bring it to the Father with the assistance of the Spirit, through Jesus Christ. 

Revelation 7:11-12 - 

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”