THE PEARLS OF PAUL
AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
DR. JIM DIXON
PHILIPPIANS 4:4-8, 1 THESSALONIANS 5:18
NOVEMBER 28, 1999
The land of Goshen was located in Egypt in the East Nile Delta. Archeologists and historians tell us that it was located north of Heliopolis, north of Memphis, north of modern-day Cairo. Most archeologists and most historians believe that the land of Goshen was located somewhere near the villages of Pithom or Succoth. No one knows for sure, but it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is the land of Goshen was the place of captivity. The land of Goshen was the place where the children of Israel were held in bondage, and the Jewish people, the children of Israel, lived in the land of Goshen for over 400 years. But then, perhaps somewhere, sometime during the 13th century BD, perhaps during the reign the reign of Ramses II, the children of Israel, the Jewish people, made their escape. They crossed the Red Sea and made their way into the wilderness of Shur, and ultimately into the barren, parched landscape of the Sinai Peninsula.
It was there that the Jewish people began to grumble. It was there that the children of Israel began to complain. They said that life had been better when they were in bondage. Life had been better when they were in captivity, when they lived in Goshen, when they were in Egypt. The days were hot in the Sinai Peninsula. The nights were cold. There was very little food. There was very little water. The people grumbled and they complained.
The Bible tells us that God became angry with them because of their grumbling, because of their complaining, because it was God who had led them out of captivity, out of bondage. It was God who had led them across the Red Sea, as if upon dry land. It was God who had provided manna from heaven that they might have food to eat, and it was God who had provided water from the Rock of Meribah that they might have water to drink. It was God who had raised up Moses that they might have leadership, and Aaron and Miriam, and it was God who had given them the decalogue and the Ten Commandments that they might have spiritual guidance and moral instruction. And it was God who had given them the promises of a land flowing with milk and honey. It was God who had set before them the promise of the promised land, and God expected them to respond with faith and with gratitude and with an attitude of thanksgiving, but we’re told in the book of Numbers, the 11th chapter, the first verse that the people grumbled. The Hebrew word is “anon.”
We’re told in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 10, that the children of Israel had complained and grumbled. The Greek word is ” gongysmos.” We are warned as Christians in that same passage in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. We are warned that we are not to grumble as the children of Israel did. God was angry with them, and He swore in His wrath that that generation would never enter His rest, and they were left to wander in the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years. We are warned not to grumble as they did but to have an attitude of gratitude, to be people of thanksgiving and to give thanks in all circumstances.
This morning, on this Thanksgiving weekend, I want us to focus on the three New Testament words, the three Greek words for thanksgiving. As we focus on these three Greek words, God will speak to us regarding the lives He wants us to lead. The first Greek word is “charis.” This is the first Greek word in the New Testament for thanks or thanksgiving. This word is used more than one hundred times in the New Testament, and oftentimes it’s simply translated “thanks.” The word charis.
In Romans, when the Apostle Paul writes “Thanks be to God,” and he says this a number of times, the Greek is “charis de toe Theo,” thanks be to God. Charis, meaning thanks. In 1 Corinthians when Paul says, thanks be to God, the Greek is the same. In 2 Corinthians when Paul says thanks be to God, it’s “toe de Theo charis,” but again, the word charis is the word for thanks, charis.
In the Hellenistic period when the New Testament was written, philologists and linguists tell us that the primary meaning of charis was thanks. In the Greek world, that was the primary meaning of charis. The strange thing is that in the Bible the primary meaning of charis is grace. In the Greek world, the primary meaning of the word charis was thanks. In the Bible, the primary meaning of charis is grace. God wants us to understand that for the Christian, thanksgiving and grace are linked. The same Greek word, charis. That is because thanksgiving is a response to grace. Thanksgiving is the way that we respond to any act of grace. Grace refers to unmerited favor, and all of us have received, in some measure, unmerited favor.
A few years ago, I was driving my car down in Cherry Creek shopping area. I was in a hurry, and I must not have been driving particularly well because I soon looked in the rear-view mirror and I saw those blinking red lights. I pulled over to the side of the road, and the cop told me that I had run a stop sign. He also told me that I had been traveling ten miles an hour over the speed limit. These things were not good. He asked for my driver’s license, and I gave it to him. It had already expired. That was not good. So, then he began to write me up, began to fill out the ticket. He asked me what I did. I told him that I was a pastor. He looked at me for a little while. Then he said, “Well, listen. If you’re a minister, you’ve got enough trouble” and he took the ticket and he just tore the ticket in two. You see, that’s grace. That’s unmerited favor. The appropriate response is thank you. That’s the appropriate response. Thank you very much. If ever a police officer pulls you over for something you’ve done wrong and doesn’t ticket you, that’s grace, and the appropriate response is thank you.
Christmas is coming up and we’re all going to receive grace. We’re all going to receive gifts. Gifts are expressions of grace. By definition, they are unmerited favor. Gifts are unmerited favor, expressions of unmerited favor. Every gift you open at Christmastime, even if you don’t like the gift, the appropriate response is thank you because it is grace. The appropriate response is thank you. Now, Christians are to be people of thanksgiving which means that Christians are to focus on grace. We are always, in every circumstance, to be looking for expressions of God’s grace in our lives, expressions of His unmerited favor, so that we might always, in every circumstance, give gratitude to Him.
Most of you have heard of Robert Schuller. Robert Schuller is the pastor of the Garden Grove Community Church, part of the Reformed Church of America. His church is oftentimes called the Crystal Cathedral. Robert Schuller has a television program that is on TV each week. I think it’s called The Hour of Power. With regard to Robert Schuller, it seems that there are two groups of people. There are some people who just love him, and there’s another group of people who don’t perhaps like him so much, but I think all people would agree on this. Robert Schuller has an attitude of gratitude. Is that not true? He’s really into positive thinking, and he’s very much into thanksgiving, and he teaches his congregation to do the same. He teaches them to have an attitude of gratitude.
I’ve come to understand that Robert Schuller came to this view of life through the ministry of his father. I was recently reading a book by Schuller, and I want to quote a couple of little stories out of that book, stories about Robert Schuller’s father. Robert Schuller grew up in Iowa on the farm during the dust bowl when the winds just parched the landscape and the farmlands of middle America. He writes this. “When I was a child in the 30s, the drought swept into Iowa from the Dakotas. The winds became our enemy, peeling off the dry rich black soil and swirling it like drifting dunes into the gullies and canyons of our fields. We prayed for rain, but rain never came. We walked around our farm with white towels over our faces to keep from suffocating in the driving dust. The harvest season came, and my father would normally harvest a hundred wagons full of corn. I remember the harvest that year. My father harvested a meager one-half wagon load. You know what happened? I’ll never forget it. Seated at the dinner table with his callused hands holding ours, my father looked up and thanked God. He said, “I thank you, God, that I have lost nothing, for I have regained the seed I planted in the springtime.” He planted a half wagonload of seed and he harvested a half wagonload in the fall.
While the other farmers were saying they lost 90 or 100 loads, my father told me, ‘Never count up the ‘might have beens’ or you will be defeated. Never look at what you have lost. Look at what you have left.” And then this story about his father. “I was home from college for the summer when a tornado dropped out of the sky like a slithering snake and wormed its way across our farm. We had enough warning to jump into the car and escape with our lives, but that black serpentine cloud dropped its poisonous head and sucked up all nine buildings on our farm including our farmhouse. When we drove back after the tornado was gone, we found only white foundations remaining, lying on a clean patch of black ground. Everything my father and mother had worked for was gone. That night, our family gathered. We held hands and we prayed. My father prayed, “Oh, God, I thank you that not a life was lost. Not a human bone was broken. We have lost nothing that cannot be regained, and through the storm, we have kept everything that would be irreplaceable, especially our faith.’
My father’s attitude of thanksgiving gave him driving power, and he went into town and bought an old house that was to be demolished. We took it apart board by board, nail by nail, and rebuilt it over the empty hole in the ground that was the basement of our previous house.”
Isn’t that incredible? I mean, is it any wonder that Robert Schuller grew up to be this guy that was really into positive thinking? Is it any wonder that he grew up to be this guy that was really into thanksgiving and an attitude of gratitude? It had all been modeled for him by his father.
I think Christ would ask you this morning, “What kind of dad are you?” He would ask me, “What kind of dad am I?” “What kind of mom are you?” “What kind of person are you?” Are you a person who has an attitude of thanksgiving in all circumstances? Is your thanksgiving contagious and do you model gratitude for other people?
You know, it was August of 1620 when the Pilgrims, who were separatists, they were really puritans, left for Plymouth Rock. In England, they left aboard the Mayflower and the Speedwell. The Speedwell proved to be unseaworthy, and it began to leak. The people aboard the Speedwell had to be placed onto the Mayflower, 102 people on that little ship, a little ship less than 30 yards long. Crowded into that little ship, 102 people, 67 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean in incomprehensible discomfort. When they arrived at Cape Cod and later at Plymouth, there were no hotels waiting for them. No grocery stores. No restaurants. No hardware stores. Just hard work and faith. They labored and they worked. After that first winter, at the end of that first winter, half of them had died. Fifty one of the 102 had died, but William Bradford declared a 3-day Thanksgiving where they could gather as Christians and express thanksgiving to God. Ninety-one Indians joined them, bringing venison and fowl, and together they gave thanks in a 3-day celebration.
You see, it’s always been that way, or it should always be that way with the people of God who give thanks in all circumstances and who rejoice always. So, the first word for thanksgiving is the word charis, and it’s linked with grace. Thanksgiving is a response to grace, and Christians are always to look for expressions of God’s grace. Things to be grateful for.
The second word is the word “eucharistia.” Eucharistia is the second word in the New Testament for thanksgiving, a word often translated “thanksgiving.” In 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 24, eucharistia is the word used to describe the thanks that Jesus gave at the Last Supper when He broke the bread. He gave thanks. Eucharistia. And then in Matthew, chapter 14, verse 23; in Matthew, chapter 26, verse 27; and in Mark, chapter 14, verse 23, we’re told that Jesus used this word eucharistia. This is the word used to describe the thanksgiving that Christ gave when He poured the cup, the wine.
Then in Luke, chapter 22, verse 17, we’re told that this word eucharistia described the thanksgiving that Jesus gave in conjunction with the bread and the wine. So, this word eucharistia began to be associated with the Lord’s Supper and with communion. In the second century, this Greek word eucharistia became the name of the Lord’s Supper. It became the title for communion. It was called the Eucharist, and it is still called the Eucharist today. I’m sure all of you have heard communion called the Eucharist from this word eucharistia, thanksgiving.
When you think of the Eucharist, you should always think of the fact that, as Christians, our thanksgiving is focused primarily on the cross. It’s focused primarily on His body broken and His blood shed. That’s the primary focus of Christian thanks and Christian gratitude because that’s the primary expression of grace. It was there that He died for you. It was there that He died for me in substitutionary atonement, His body broken for me, His blood shed for me and for you. And so, when you think of the Eucharist, you realize that Christian thanksgiving is the focus on the cross.
It seems like every year at Thanksgiving time, ministers all over this country and perhaps all over the world, speak a little bit about Luke, chapter 17. Luke, chapter 17, tells us how Jesus was on a journey to Jerusalem coming from the north. As He journeyed from Galilee to Samaria, and as He was approaching a little village, ten men stood at a distance and called to Him. They were lepers. They called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Very difficult for us, living at the dawn of the 21st century, to imagine what leprosy meant in the first century. There is nothing that equates to it today. Even AIDS, even the HIV virus is not so stigmatized as leprosy was.
You see, in the first century, if you found yourself with leprosy, if those spots and blotches began to appear on your skin, it was all over. The first thing that happened was you immediately lost your job. You were immediately fired. It was automatic. There were no exceptions. People tried to hide. They tried to cover up the blotches, but as soon as it was known, you were fired. The next thing that happened was you lost your family. It didn’t matter whether you were the father or the mother or the child, you lost your family. You had to leave your mother and father and brothers and sisters. You had to leave your wife and kids. You had to leave your husband and kids. It was automatic. You were not allowed to live in your family if you were a leper and you were banished from your community and village, banished. You were made to live in dens and caves of the earth in exile in what amounted to leper colonies, accurately portrayed in the Academy Award winning movie, “Ben Hur” which was released so many years ago.
Food was brought and it was placed near a cave as an act of mercy, that the lepers might have something to eat, but they lived there and they died there. Tubercular and anesthetic leprosies were combined in the bodies of most people in Palestine. The nervous system began to degenerate, and the muscles began to atrophy. The body ulcerated and rotted. Sometimes the rot was so great that the person’s limb would just fall off. Eventually leprosy led to coma and death inevitably. Lepers were not allowed to come within one hundred yards of a normal human being. They were socially ostracized.
These ten lepers knew that so they stood at a distance. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me,” By the power that belonged to Christ, by the power of the Son of God, He healed them long distance in a moment in time. By the command of His voice, they were made clean. He told them to go and to show themselves to the temple priest, that they might be declared clean and thereby enter back into normal society. Only one of them came back to thank Him. Only one of the lepers came back to say thank you. The Bible tells us that Jesus responded, “Did I not heal ten? Where are the nine, as only one returned to give Me thanks.”
In Matthew’s gospel, the 8th chapter, we’re told of another leper who, in violation of Jewish law, came right up to Christ and fell at His feet and said, “Jesus, if You will, You can make me whole. Master, Rabbi, if You will, You can make me whole. You can make me clean.” Jesus reached down and touched his ulcerated body, and Jesus said, “I will. Be clean.”
If you’re a Christian, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, if you’ve received Him as Savior and Lord, there was a time when you came to Him and you fell at His feet and you said, “Master, if You will, You can make me clean” and He touched you and He said, “I will. Be clean.” If you’re a Christian, there was a time when you came to the foot of the cross and you fell down there and you asked for Jesus to forgive you of your sin, to remove the disease in your soul, to make you whole, to be your Savior and your Lord, and in that moment He forgave you and He removed your sin from you as far as the east is from the west. He made you whole, and your response needs to be “thank you.” It needs to be, every day, thank you, with an attitude of gratitude that is daily because thanksgiving first and foremost focuses on the cross, eucharistia, Eucharist.
There’s one more Greek word in the New Testament for thanksgiving, and it’s the word “exomologeo.” This word is rendered oftentimes by our English word “thanksgiving.” Exomologeo is only found 13 times in the New Testament. It’s sister word “homologeo” is found 27 times. Both words can to be rendered by “thanks” or “thanksgiving.” The word exomologeo is found 120 times in the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It’s always used to render the Hebrew word, “yadah” which is the Hebrew word for thanksgiving and praise. So, in the Psalms, wherever the Psalmist begins the song by saying, “I thank thee Lord,” the Hebrew word is “yadah” and the Greek word is “exomologeo, I thank thee Lord.” Exomologeo.
To fully understand this word, I want us to focus for a moment on a person, a woman, who lived a long time ago. Her name was Joan of Arc. She is, of course, the patron Saint of France. She was born in France in the year 1412. She was a peasant girl, and she grew up like most peasant girls did during the Hundred Years War, a pretty normal life except for her piety. Joan of Arc had a great devotion to God and a longing for intimacy with Christ.
At the age of 13, she began to experience visions. She claimed that the archangel Michael appeared to her and spoke to her in these visions. She claimed that Saint Kathryn appeared to her and spoke to her in these visions. She claimed that God told her to lead the armies of France against the tyranny of England. She came to the political and religious leaders of France. She passed certain tests unknown to us, by which they were convinced of her authenticity, and she led the armies of France in the Battle of Orleans, led them to a seemingly supernatural victory, and she stood by Charles VII as he was crowned King of France. She stood by his side. The year was 1430.
It was May 23, 1430 when Burgundian forces captured her, and they turned her over to the English who hated her. She was held captive in England for months. Then from February to May of 1431, she was tried. She was tried for heresy and witchcraft. Witchcraft and heresy because of her alleged visions. During the trial period, she responded with amazing wisdom and calmness and dignity. She answered well the questions put to her by the theologians of the church. But they hated her, and she was condemned. On May 30, 1431, she was burned at the stake. The records in England record her final words. “Jesus, Jesus.”
Twenty years later, the church in France declared her blameless. Of course, ultimately, Pope Pius X beatified her, and Pope Benedict XV canonized her and gave her sainthood in 1920, almost 500 years after her death.
A few weeks ago, Barb and I went and saw the movie “The Messenger,” which is the alleged story of Joan of Arc. I did not like the movie. I mean, I couldn’t fault the acting. Dustin Hoffman is obviously a very gifted actor, and John Malkovich is renowned for his acting. The woman who played Joan of Arc was filled with energy and passion. It wasn’t even the battle scenes, which I thought to be unnecessarily bloody or gory, it was just the revisionist history. I mean it just seems like Hollywood inevitably needs to tweak history. At the end of the movie, they actually try to psychoanalyze Joan of Arc, speculating as to her motives and inward thoughts.
They did have one thing right. They showed that she was obsessed with the confessional. Obsessed with the confessional. Historians know this to be true. When she was a little girl, she always wanted to go to confession. Through her teenage years, and of course she died at age 19, she always wanted to go to confession. Perhaps she was particularly guilt sensitive, or perhaps it was part of her longing for intimacy with Christ, maybe a combination of these things, but she was obsessed with the confessional.
Of course, in the Roman Catholic Church, the confessional is a physical place. The confessional is a physical booth into which the Christian goes and makes confession to a physical priest who is like you, a sinner I need of grace. In the Protestant Church, the confessional is spiritual, and you enter the confessional whenever you pray. This is reformation theology. You enter the confessional whenever you pray, and you pray directly to God. You confess directly to God through your High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Even as Protestants, we acknowledge there are times we need to make confession to one another, but we believe in the universal priesthood of believers. Now, on this Catholics and Protestants agree, Christians needs to enter the confessional frequently. We all need to be a little obsessed with the confessional. We all need to enter the confessional frequently. The word for confession in the Bible is this word, exomologeo. This is the word for the confessional in the Bible.
You might be thinking, “Well, how? How can a word that is oftentimes rendered thanksgiving be the word for the confessional?” But, you see, this word exomologeo literally means “to confess,” and it was used as any kind of confession. It was used of confession of sin. It was used of confession of faith, and it was used of confession of gratitude, confession of thanksgiving. The word exomologeo is most often, in the present continuous tense, meaning that we are to enter the confessional chronically, frequently. Again and again, we are to enter the confessional to confess sin, to confess faith, and to confess gratitude and thanksgiving.
So, we understand from charis that thanksgiving is linked with grace. We give thanks in response to grace, unmerited favor. We also learned from charis that, as Christians, we are constantly to focus on God’s grace, in all acts of grace, that we might be a thankful people. We learned from the word eucharistia that thanksgiving for the Christian focuses primarily on the cross, the Eucharist, His body broken, His blood shed, where He died in substitutionary atonement for you. We learned from exomologeos that thanksgiving is to be given every day. Constantly we are to enter the confessional.
I want to conclude with a story, a true story, about a man named Ike Sutton. Ike Sutton was born in Hawaii before Hawaii became a state. He was reared there. He had two brothers and a mother who was trying to rear her boys with very little money, but Mrs. Sutton raised enough money to take the boys on a trip across the continental U.S. by train. The family was awfully excited. They took the train from the west coast and began to move towards the east coast.
At one railroad station, they got off the train, and they had to wait to board another train. The three boys began to play. Ike Sutton just began to wander around. Just a little guy. As he wandered around, he came up to a man who was sitting on a bench there at the railroad station. The man introduced himself. Said his name was Herbert. The man was very friendly, and he began to talk to little Ike Sutton. He began to ask him questions. Ike liked this man.
Well, they talked for a while. After a while, Ike Sutton’s mother began to look for him. She came and she found Ike talking to Herbert. When she saw Herbert, she was stunned because Herbert was the President of the United States. Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover said to Mrs. Sutton, “You know, this little guy, you son Ike here, he’s a great little guy. I’ve been talking to him. He’s smart and he’s got a good heart. You know, when he grows up, he ought to go to Stanford University.” Of course, Herbert Hoover was in the first class at Stanford University and loved the college. He said, “This little guy ought to go to Stanford University. If you need help getting him there, you just call me or write me.”
Well, the Suttons went back to Hawaii after their trip across the U.S. and little Ike Sutton grew up. He graduated from high school with great grades. He wanted to go to Stanford University but his mother didn’t have the courage to write Herbert Hoover. She didn’t have the courage, but Ike Sutton did, so he wrote a letter to Herbert Hoover, saying “Remember the train station? And reminding him of the conversation and expressing to him his desire to go to Stanford University, and reminding him of his promise to help.” Incredibly, Herbert Hoover agreed to pay Ike Sutton’s way through Stanford University. He paid his way through college.
When Ike Sutton graduated from Stanford, he decided to take a trip. He wanted to thank Herbert Hoover face to face. He went to him and said, “How can I thank you? How can I express my gratitude?” Herbert Hoover said, “Serve your country. If you want to express your gratitude, just serve your country. Go back to Hawaii. Run for office. Serve your country.”
Ike Sutton went back to Hawaii, and he began a career in politics. He ran for office 11 times and was defeated 11 times. Herbert Hoover never saw Ike Sutton attain office. Herbert Hoover died in 1964 at the age of 90. But Ike Sutton ran a 12th time, and he won. In 1974, he became a Republican legislator. He never ceased to seek to serve his country out of gratitude.
If you’re a Christian, surely you have gratitude towards Christ. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you must have thanksgiving in your heart towards Him. Perhaps you would come to Him and say, “How can I express my gratitude? How can I express my thanksgiving?” And He would say to you, “Serve My kingdom. Serve your kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.” You see, thanksgiving isn’t just something we say with words. It’s something we express with our lives, and Christ wants us to devote our lives to the service of His kingdom in gratitude.
So today, He would remind us that if we’re really a thankful people, we need to give our lives in His service, and we need to serve Him with our time and serve Him with our talent and serve Him with our treasure because we are so grateful to Him. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.