SINGLE SERMON SERIES
CHRISTIANS ARE PEOPLE OF GRATITUDE
DR. JIM DIXON
1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18
DECEMBER 1, 1991
On the cartoon television sitcom Simpsons, Bart said a prayer before dinner. He said, “Dear God, we paid for all of this stuff ourselves. So thanks for nothing.” That is a blasphemous statement at the table of grace. Bart Simpson represents the condition of humanity as we approach the close of the 20th century, and particularly men and women in the western world. In the western world many people seem to feel like all of their blessings have come from their own hands. Many people seem to feel that the bad things in life are not deserved, and the good things in life are somehow earned and merited. Many people in this generation and all generations, seem to have little gratitude towards God. Christians are called to be a different sort of people. We’re called to be people of gratitude.
The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” There are many different circumstances represented in this sanctuary. Your circumstances may be very hard, difficult; but, even in the midst of those circumstances God wants you to have thanksgiving in your heart.
There are two realities we should be thankful for as Christians. The first reality is life. God wants us as Christians to be thankful for life. As Christians, we have a very special kind of life that has been given to us. Jesus Christ said, “I’ve come that you might have life.” There’s a life that Christ has given us that the world doesn’t have. Now, I think we would all agree that there are categories of life that the world recognizes. For instance, earlier this week, my son Drew told me that the hostess pastry Ding Dong has a shelf life of a hundred years. Now, I don’t know whether that’s true. I said, “Drew, where did you learn that?” He said he learned that at school. And of course it’s good to know the kids are learning, but he said a hostess Ding Dong has a shelf life of one hundred years. I think we would all agree that’s not life. I mean, shelf life is not really life.
Scientists speak of plant and animal life, but all would agree, the highest category of life in this world is human life. Human beings are capable of logic and reason. They have consciousness, self-awareness, and they’re able to contemplate the meaning of their own existence. Human beings are capable of great depths in both love and hate. We are very complex beings, the highest order of creation. And yet the Bible says there is a higher category of life, higher than human life, this is what the Bible calls ‘zoe’ life. Zoe life is the life of God. The life of humanity is called bios, but the life of God is called zoe. When you asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord, and Savior, in that moment, the Lord came into you and gave you zoe life. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t deserve it. He just gave it to you. He gave it to me. God expects us to be grateful.
Zoe is life with purpose. The world doesn’t have a purpose. “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die.” People in the world are looking for purpose. They’re looking for causes that give their life substance and meaning. The only true purpose comes when we enter into zoe life and communion with God and we begin to serve the kingdom of God. Zoe life is eternal. It’s a life that never ends. It’s an everlasting life. If you really believe that your life is eternal, that it’s everlasting, that it will never end, that you have zoe life, you have the very life of God, you’re going to have gratitude that the world can’t take away.
In both 2 Chronicles chapter one and 1 Kings chapter three, God came to Solomon and basically said, “Make a wish.” Solomon’s father David had passed away and he rose to the throne of Israel. God said to Solomon, “Make a wish. Ask for one thing and I’ll give it to you.” Wouldn’t you love it if you went home today and God showed up in some theophany and said, “Make a wish, I will give you anything you want.” Solomon asked God for wisdom. It was the one thing he asked for above all else, that God would give him wisdom to govern God’s people. God was pleased. He said, “You could have asked for wealth. You could have asked for power. You could have asked for a long life. But you’ve chosen well in that you have asked for wisdom. I’m not only going to give you wisdom, but wealth, power and a long life.” If God were to come to you today and say, make one wish and I’ll give it to you and you were to ask for a long life you would waste that wish. If you’re a Christian, it would be an absolute waste because you already have zoe life. Eternal and everlasting life is an incredible gift, an incomprehensible gift, that we should have thanksgiving in our hearts for no matter our circumstances.
Oftentimes, when people think of the first Thanksgiving celebrated in America, they think of the harvest feast that took place in 1621, in Plymouth, New England, by the decree of Governor William Bradford. Certainly, that was one of the earliest Thanksgivings here in America. Historians, history books, and encyclopedias acknowledge that the first Thanksgiving in America actually took place on December 4th, 1619, on the shore of the James River in Virginia. There were thirty-eight English settlers. These thirty-eight men and women declared it a day of Thanksgiving. They were also Christians that didn’t live very long. In 1622, Opechancanough, the Indian chief who led the Confederate tribes on the East coast, attacked all the English settlements along the Virginia Coast, and James River near what is known today as the Barclay Plantation. The English settlers celebrated Thanksgiving on December 4th, 1619, December 4th, 1620, December 4th, 1621, but they didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving on December 4th, 1622 because they were dead. Yet, I believe with all my heart, that those thirty-eight Christians, had they foreknown that they were going to die in 1622, would have celebrated Thanksgiving in 1619 anyway. They would have thanked God because their life had purpose, they had zoe life and eternal life.
Hopefully, you know today you have eternal life; that after ten thousand, to a million, to a trillion years you will still be alive because of Jesus Christ. If you have a zoe, everlasting life no one is going to be able to take your gratitude away. Remember when Peter was walking with Jesus by the Sea of Galilee after Jesus had died and risen from the dead? Jesus appeared to Peter by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. As Jesus was walking with Peter he told Peter how he would die. He said, “When you’re old, you’ll stretch forth your arms and you’ll be carried where you do not wish to go.” He told Peter that he would die a death of crucifixion. Peter understood this, and he turned around and saw John walking a way behind them. Peter said to Jesus, “What about John? What’s going to happen to him? How’s he going to die? How long is he going to live?” Jesus said, “Why does that matter to you? What difference does it make if it is my will that he lives until I come again? Follow me.”
The word of Christ for each and every one of us here today is, “Follow me.” Some of you are going to live sixty more years on this earth. Some of you may only live one more year, but the mission, the charge given to us is the same. Follow him with thanksgiving. You have been given zoe life, everlasting, eternal life. And there’s another great gift, another reality that we thank God for this morning and in the midst of all circumstances. And that’s love. Thank God for life and thank God for love.
This past Friday night, Barbara, Heather, and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera at the new Temple Blue Theater. I think when God passed out a taste for the arts, he skipped me. I’m not really into plays and I don’t like operas. I like music, but somehow when one person sings dialogue to another person, that’s a gap I just can’t bridge. I got to tell you; the Phantom of the Opera taking place in that theater was amazingly beautiful. The costumes and set pieces were incredible and the special effects magnificent. And yet, I barely stayed awake. Barb’s sister said, “You guys aren’t going to believe it. You’re going to be sitting on the edge of your seat the whole way through.” After two hours, I was sitting there thinking the only way I could be on the edge of my seat is if I wanted to be the first one out.
For Barb and Heather, the Phantom of the Opera was like a rapture experience. They loved it and my assumption is most people would love it, as it is an incredible love story. It’s about the Phantom of the Opera who lives down in the basement of an opera house. He is horribly, tragically disfigured but he hears this beautiful melodious voice of a female opera star and he falls in love with her voice; and yet there is no hope, no hope that she’s ever going to love him because he is tragically disfigured. He is hideous in appearance, ugly, and unlovable. He is not only disfigured on the outside but also is disfigured on the inside. Everybody needs love. We all desperately need love.
Earlier this week, I took Drew to see The Beauty and the Beast. One thing I loved when the kids were young was the fun we had going to those animated, Disney, G-rated movies. The truth was, I had just as much fun watching as the kids. Now that the kids have gotten older, we don’t go to those anymore, and I’ve kind of missed it. Drew and I thought, let’s go see Beauty in the Beast. When we got there and went into the theater the whole place was filled with moms and little kids, but Drew and I had a blast. The animation was unbelievable. It’s a love story about this prince who is incredibly handsome with thick hair and a rock jaw. He’s just so good looking, but a jerk. He doesn’t have any love in him and does not love anybody. As a result, He is turned into a beast and told that he would remain a beast until he can love someone and have someone love him. The message of the movie seems to be you really can’t have people love you until you’ve learned to love people. You can’t have people show compassion towards you until you’ve learned to show compassion towards other people. I suppose, in terms of the realities of life in this world that seems true and yet, I must say biblically, that’s not true.
Biblically, we don’t have to love someone before we can be loved. Biblically it’s the other way around. The Bible says we have to be loved before we can love. In fact, the Bible says God loves us before we could ever love him. And the Bible says, it’s only as God loves us, that we learn to love, truly love. The Bible says we love because he first loved us. The Bible says, “This is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the expedition for our sins.” The message the Bible has for every single person in this room, and in the world is God loves you. It doesn’t matter how you look; it doesn’t matter what you do. God loves you and He gave his Son to die for you. God loves you. God doesn’t expect us to ever be able to pay him back. It’s not that we deserved it, it’s not that we merited it. God knows we can’t pay him back, but God does expect thanksgiving for his love. As Christians, we’ve begun to experience the love of God through faith in Jesus Christ. As you experience that love, you can’t help but well up with thanksgiving and gratitude.
In Luke chapter 17, Jesus is traveling from Galilee down to Jerusalem, and he passes through Samaria. As he was passing through Samaria, there were lepers desperate calling out to Jesus. They said, “Jesus, son of David Messianic King, have mercy on us, have compassion on us.” It is hard for us to imagine what leprosy was like. There’s nothing in our society that’s as tragic as leprosy. I suppose the closest analogy would be AIDS and yet we treat people with the AIDS virus far better than the ancient world treated people with leprosy. Those 10 lepers standing on the hill were in tragic condition. Nodules began to form on their skin, and ulcerated. They had begun to degenerate in their nervous system. They lost their capacity for the sensation to feel, to touch. They began to degenerate in terms of their musculature. These men and women were dying. Ultimately they would slip into coma, die and some of their limbs would actually fall off in the advanced stages of the disease, their fingers and sometimes a whole hand or a foot.
Lepers were banished from society. If it was discovered you had leprosy, you had to leave your wife, husband, children, parents, and community. You had to live in the wilderness, in the desert. They dwelled in dens and caves of the earth. It was a tragic life that sometimes lasted as long as twenty years. Lepers could not come within a hundred yards of a person without leprosy. If they came close they had to shout, “Unclean, unclean!” When the ten lepers stood on the hill and shouted “Jesus son of David had mercy on us.” The Bible says Jesus was moved with compassion. He was moved with love for them and he healed them. Only one came to Jesus and said, “Thank you.” The other nine in their joy and excitement of their dreams now ahead of them ran off. When that one came and said, thank you, Jesus said, “Did I not heal ten? Where are the other nine?”
If you’re a Christian today and you’ve asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior, there is often a moment when we realize the reality of our sin and Christ’s love. Spiritually, our souls are all diseased with sin. Spiritually we were lepers. There was a moment in our life when we realized that reality and came to Christ saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. Lord have mercy.” In that moment he was moved with compassion and his love poured out upon us. He healed us, forgave us, and he washed us, making us as white as snow. He expects not that we pay him back, but only that we be thankful for his love. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. You are my friends.” He laid down his life for you and for me. The Bible says, the steadfast love of the Lord is greater than life. Life without love wouldn’t have a whole lot of meaning. We thank God not only for the life he has given us, but for the love, the unconditional love that he has poured out upon us. Let’s close with a word of prayer.