11-23-08 Thank Who For What?

With Thanksgiving coming up this week

I decided to pull us out of our study of 2 Peter for just this morning

so that we could use the time

to remind ourselves of one of the most significant pillars

in our relationship with our God.

I want to take the next few minutes

to talk about the value of saying thank you to our God.

To say that we live in interesting times

is a huge understatement.

It is a time filled with turmoil and uncertainty

at a level that none of us in this room this morning

have ever experienced before.

We live with a sort of nation-wide,

in fact world-wide anxiety

from which we can find no relief.

Much of it, of course,

began with the mortgage crisis in our nation,

a crisis that has been building for a number of years,

but that none of us were really aware of

until a little over a year ago.

In a matter of months

a housing market filled with grossly over-inflated real estate

began to unravel in a way that affected greater and greater segments of our society.

And then, within the past two months,

what was at first just a real estate disaster

turned into a national and then international financial disaster

as banks failed,

insurance companies failed,

and investors lost literally billions of dollars,

and a terror and distrust entered into the financial world

at a level we’ve never seen before in the history of our nation.

There are lots of reasons, of course,

lots of unsound practices in place

that finally came home to roost,

and lots of fraud and deceit and greed that came to light.

But the end result, at least up to this point,

is that nobody has the insight, the resources, or the control to fix the mess.

And so now,

if we are still choosing to read the paper

or turn on the news each day,

we are repeatedly assaulted with a fresh onslaught of dismal news,

news that creates a level of anxiety and uncertainty

unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

Of course our newly elected President

solemnly promised us during the campaign

that he would fix all things broken if we would put him in office,

and though we certainly wish him the best,

most of us have been through enough campaigns

to be able to separate rhetoric from reality

and to understand that campaign promises have little to do with what can and cannot be done.

Now, I do apologize for bringing all of this up

on the one morning of the week when you’d hoped to hear some good news,

but I’m not done yet

and I needed to mention some of this

as a backdrop for where I want us to go during the next few minutes.

As unpleasant as our national situation may seem,

there are some strong benefits to it as well,

not the least of which

is that it helps us to separate our expression of gratitude to our God

from our circumstances.

And let me see if I can explain what I mean by that.

There is a definite pilgrimage

that each of us must go through

in this whole business of expressing gratefulness to God.

We all start out resisting it at all costs.

We resist it because we resist Him,

we resent anything that diminishes our sense of control over our own lives.

You see,

saying “thank you”

carries with it the whiff of dependence upon the One we thank

and dependance carries with it at least some level of submission,

and submission is just simply not an option.

We all enter this world

wanting to believe that we have both the right

and the ability to be the captain of our own fate,

that we have the right to do it our way,

the right to set our own course and determine our own future.

That independent spirit

is our great legacy from our first two parents - Adam and Eve.

It was a choice they made on our behalf,

and one that we cannot escape.

And unless some serious business takes place between us and our God

that default setting of independence and resistence

remains with us our entire life.

But there are a few of us

who take the next step,

a few of us

who are honest enough to recognize our inability to fix what’s broken in our lives,

a few of us

who realize that we need a Savior,

the Savior, Jesus Christ.

And if we’re willing to listen

we will hear Him offering us His death as full payment for our sins,

and His life lived out through us each day

as we learn to hear His voice and trust His lead.

And even more than that,

we will begin to hear His voice

telling us what we never even dared think -

we begin to hear Him saying, “My child, I love you. I always have, I always will, and my great joy is knowing that you and I are now united, together forever.”

Of course we never ever hear it with that kind of clarity,

but we do get glimpses of the truth now and then,

and many of us make significant progress

in at least recognizing that our God is not the enemy we once thought He was,

but that He is indeed GOOD,

and that His desire, His intention is to be good to us.

And when that happens,

for the first time in our lives

we will find within ourselves a desire to say “thank you” to our God.

Thank you for what You’ve done, Lord.

Thank you for calling me to Yourself.

Thank you for your lovingkindness and your grace poured out on me.

And if we take this second step in our pilgrimage,

if we choose to join our spirits to the Spirit of the One who created us,

we will begin to open ourselves up

to a true expression of gratitude to our God.

And at this point in our lives

mostly what we will do

is to thank Him for what He has done or is doing for us.

Surprisingly, at this phase of our walk with Him,

saying thank you is still not easy and certainly not automatic,

because when we come to Him

our minds are mostly still filled with lies

and our Enemy does his best to keep those lies in place.

Would you like a little test

to help you recognize where lies are still imbedded in your thinking?

What things trigger a fear response within you?

Most of the time

I believe those fear responses

are accurate indicators of the presence of the lies still present within our reasoning processes.

Does the news of a stock market plunging ten percent or more in a single day cause you fear?

If so, then it may indicate

that you see your security for the future

being based upon your physical possessions,

and the less you have, the less secure you feel.

Do you feel fear when the candidate you didn’t vote for wins the elections?

Then it may be because you believe you have a very small God,

a God who is severely limited in His ability

to accomplish His purposes through human political leaders,

a God whom you believe is only able to accomplish His purposes

through certain political leaders under certain conditions.

Just to keep this political thing in perspective,

it may help if I remind us of what God accomplished

through two of the absolute worst governmental structures in history.

One of them was the Pharaoh who governed Egypt during the time of Moses,

and the other was the religious and political leadership in place in Israel at the time of Christ.

Do you remember that Pharaoh?

If you want to read a fascinating account of his disastrous leadership over Egypt

just read the first 14 chapters of Exodus.

Not only did he not have a heart open to God,

but he did everything within his power

to destroy the people of God.

And yet, as a direct result of his actions

the Israelites literally walked out of their slavery in Egypt

and into the Promised Land.

And they didn’t leave empty handed.

Exodus 12:36 tells us that the Israelites plundered the nation when they left,

taking incredible wealth with them,

all because of what God accomplished

through a political leader who was openly hostile to God.

And look what God accomplished

through those political leaders who were in place at the time of Christ.

They openly expressed an intense desire and intention

to forever obliterate this man, this Jesus, from this earth.

And yet it was that very hatred,

that God used to accomplish

His perfect plan of redemption for the entire human race.

Had they not hated God so much,

and been corrupt in both character and action,

there would have been no crucifixion, no salvation, no redemption for the human race.

The truth is

that God seems to have done some of His finest work throughout history

through those political leaders who were the most openly hostile to Him and His values.

Are you a parent?

Do you frequently find yourself racked with fear for your children?

Love has a way of doing that to us sometimes.

Could it be that some of that fear

comes from the mistaken belief

that you alone have the ability and the responsibility

to fix what’s broken in their lives,

to protect and guard them from evil,

and to determine their success and the future course of their life?

If any such thoughts have ever crossed your mind,

let my remind you of the truth as gently as I can.

You are not God,

and you are certainly not called to be God in the lives of your children.

You cannot fix what’s broken in their lives,

you cannot protect and guard them from all evil,

and you certainly cannot determine the future course of their lives.

Only God can do that,

and only if they choose to take His hand

and follow His lead.

Your responsibility, your calling as a parent

is to live an honest, open life of faith before them,

and to do your best to create for them

an environment in which they can most easily discover the truth about their God.

And then you daily remind yourself of the truth -

you are not God in their life

and any attempt on your part to be God

will destroy both you and your relationship with your children in the process.

But let me get back on track here.

My point with this fear thing

is simply that when we encounter events

that trigger fear responses within us

we should look at what underlying piece of our belief system has been attacked,

and then ask ourselves honestly

if that part of our belief system is valid

because those lies are our greatest enemies

in our being able to express true gratitude to God.

They rob us of the ability to say, “Thank you!”.

And then, just to complete our overview

of this pilgrimage we are each called to,

let me share with you the third and final step in the process.

We begin resisting any true expressions of gratitude to God whatsoever.

Then, if we open ourselves up to Him,

we will find ourselves expressing to Him

thanks for what He’s done.

And that’s good,

that’s healthy,

that’s progress.

But there is a third step God seeks to bring us into as well,

one that Paul expresses perfectly in his letter to the Philippians.

Phil. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Rejoicing in the Lord

is not the same thing as rejoicing

in what the Lord has done.

It is right and good for us to rejoice

in the things God does for us,

and to express our gratitude to Him.

But that is not what Paul is talking about here.

This is not the same thing as saying,

‟Thank you, Lord, for meeting my needs,

thank you, Lord, for healing me,

thank you, Lord, for giving me my wife,

my daughter,

my son-n-law,

my grandchildren.

Thank you for feeding me,

and clothing me,

and giving me life this day.”

Paul is not calling us to express gratitude

for what God has done,

he is calling us to express gratitude

for God Himself,

for the who He is.

Rejoicing in the Lord can only be done in the present tense.

It is our choosing to live

with a minute by minute affirmation

that our God is good.

And right here is where most of us get into trouble,

because most of us attempt to evaluate

who God is

and what He is like

on the basis of how we think He is handling

the external circumstances of our lives.

We look at the stock market,

or listen to the news report,

or the doctor,

or the teacher at school

and attempt to evaluate the goodness of God

on the basis of what we see happening around us.

And all too often we simply can’t get there that way.

I saw a quotation on the internet some time ago

that powerfully states

the exact opposite of what Paul

is attempting to say to us here.

The quotation was from Woody Allen.

He said, ‟If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.”

You see what he’s saying, don’t you?

Woody Allen looks out over his world

and over his own life,

and he sees so many things

that need fixing,

things that need changing,

and then he sees God not fixing them,

not changing them,

not doing what Woody Allen thinks God should do.”

This is Woody Allen’s way of saying,

‟If God was really there,

and if He was really good,

how could He allow this or that to happen?”

If Paul would have taken that same technique

in evaluating who God is at the time he wrote this letter to the Philippians,

he would have looked at the chains on his wrists,

and the guard next to him,

and his fellow Christians being martyred,

and his own rapidly approaching execution,

and he, too, would say, “God! I have some real reservations about who you are,

and about the way you do business.”

But Paul understood the truth.

He saw two things most of us don’t.

First of all,

he knew this is not the world God created,

this is a world in rebellion against God,

the domain of Satan,

operating by his principles.

The great wonder of it all

is not that there is so much evil in the world,

but rather that even after so many thousands of years

of satanic domination

and human rebellion against God,

there are still so many incredible evidences

of God’s goodness shining through.

And second, Paul understood

that the only accurate way

to begin our understanding of the true nature of God

is for us to begin with the one point

and the one Person in human history

where we are able to see God with absolute clarity,

the point at which God clothed Himself in human flesh

and walked among us

so that we could see exactly

what He is like.

And what we see

is a God who feels our pain

more deeply than we feel it ourselves,

a God who loves us

even when we hate Him back,

a God who is willing to die in our place

for our sin

so that, (1 Pet. 1:6) ... even though now for a little while, if necessary, we are distressed by various trials,

we can and we will live forever

in the presence of His eternal goodness.

God’s commitment to us

is that we will find Him adequate

and He will make us adequate for whatever He allows into our lives.

But we have a part in this as well.

Our part is to choose not to let our minds and emotions go where our Lord has not yet taken us.

HUH?

That’s just my way of saying,

that we must aggressively fight against the “what if’s”

in our relationship with God.

What if this happens?

What if that happens?

The only faith,

the only strength God can ever give us

is the faith and the strength

to handle what He has already placed in our hands.

That’s what our Lord was saying

when He said,

Matt. 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

If evil touches you tomorrow

then tomorrow you will find your God

and His love,

and His strength

sufficient for that evil.

But don’t go there today.

Say it out loud if it helps.

When you find your mind running ahead

and then you find your emotions churning

over things that have not yet happened,

say it out loud.

“No! I’m not going there in my mind.

I will not expect my God

to give me the grace to handle

something that has not yet taken place.

He is adequate for what I must face today

and I will not go beyond that in my mind.”

There is nothing we can ever do

that will more powerfully

proclaim and affirm

the true nature of our God

than our choosing to rejoice in Him.

Some of you will listen to me teach for years,

some of you will hear me for only a few months,

and for some of you

today is the only time you will ever hear my voice.

If I could choose just one thing

I wanted to communicate

more than anything else in world

it would be this:

I want you to know

that the God who really is,

the God who does exist

and who has created us

and our physical world,

THAT God is eternally and absolutely GOOD,

and because He is absolutely GOOD,

anything we choose to place into His hands

He will turn to absolute good in our lives.

And just one final thought that may help.

Paul does not end his letter to the Philippians with this call to rejoice in the Lord.

Just two verses after he makes that statement

he gives us the practical how-to that we so desperately need.

He says,

PHI 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The thoughts are linked, of course.

When the anxiety hits

we have every right as His children

to let our requests be made known to our God.

Ask Him...

ask Him for whatever you think you need.

And then, having asked,

leave it in His hands,

and...the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.