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Introduction
An atheist was walking through the woods, admiring
all the "accidental evolutions" that Mother Nature had created.
"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!"
he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard
a rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning to look, he saw a
7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.
He ran away as fast
as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw the
grizzly was closing. He ran even faster, so scared that tears came
to his eyes. He looked again, and the bear was even closer. His
heart was pounding, and he tried to run faster. He tripped and fell
to the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but the bear was
right over him, reaching for him.
At that instant the
atheist cried, "Oh my God!" Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest
was silent. Even the river stopped moving. As a bright light shone
upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence
for all these years, tell others that I don't exist, and credit my
creation to a cosmic accident. And you expect me to help you out of
this predicament? Am I now to count you as a believer?"
The
atheist looked into the light and said, "I would feel like a
hypocrite to become a Christian after all these years, but perhaps
you could make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
The light went out. The river ran. The sounds of the forest
resumed. Then the bear knelt before the man, brought both paws
together, bowed his head, and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am
about to receive, I am truly thankful."
So many reasons to give thanks! It seems to me that
the placement of our unique American celebration of Thanksgiving at the
end of November is somewhat providential-more than perhaps William
Bradford knew when he established the first Thanksgiving in 1623, and
more than George Washington understood when he made it a national
celebration in 1779. Now that the influence of our materialism has
caused the Christmas shopping season to inch its way back the calendar
to the first of November, we need an inspiring break from the
advertising and consumerism about this time!
With the
much-publicized drop in consumer spending, retailers are concerned.
Halloween has become big business these days, and, of course, Christmas
has always been lucrative. So what we have between two spend-crazy
seasons is this wonderful little holiday when we can remind ourselves
that we already have more than enough for which we can be thankful. We
really don’t need more candy in our plastic pumpkins, nor do we need any
more gifts, not under our tree, nor on our credit cards.
So into
the heart of this flourishing season of consumerism comes this brief
respite for all of us. And we ought to be grateful for it—this momentary
sanity when we are reminded to think and thank. Our text this morning is
the second sentence in, and the last three words in
Colossians 3:15.
Let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called
to peace.
And be thankful.
In a sense those three
words are a bit of an afterthought. It wasn’t until after Paul shared
the exhortation about the peace of Christ that he added, and… oh, yeah,
be thankful. Just how close is the connection between peace and
thankfulness. We are certainly thankful for the peace He provides, but
there may be a causality running the other way, too. That is, that to
the degree we are thankful, we may know His peace, in us and among us.
That’s not far off the mark. In
Philippians 4 the Christians are urged to not be anxious,
but in everything, by prayer and petition,
present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Oops, did you catch my mistake? I left out and important operative
element.
Philippians 4:6 actually says, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. Then comes the promise of His unfathomable
peace.
Think
Very simply, what is the apostle calling us to do
when he exhorts us to be thankful? I think it is first and foremost a
challenge for us to THINK. It really is an effort to be thankful. It
requires of us a mind-readiness that says be on the lookout for
things to be thankful for. We practiced that a little this morning,
didn’t we? The pastor asked us to consider sharing a word of
thanksgiving to the Lord, and many of you thought, Oh, quick, THINK,
what am I thankful for? Others didn’t get that far. Their first
reaction was not thanksgiving but a prayer request, O God, please, don’t
let him call on me! Whatever you thought . . . you thought!
And
thinking is a very good exercise for the Christian. G. K. Chesterton
called gratitude “the mother of all virtues.” To think is to realize all
that God has done for us. I find that when I am consciously and
intentionally thinking about be grateful, lots of reasons for gratitude
come to my mind. I think about creation, I marvel at the wisdom and the
creativity and design of God’s handiwork, and I am instantly moved to
not only praise Him, but also to give Him thanks. Why? Because I am
thinking.
In fact, we really need to train our minds for
gratitude. Who hasn’t witnessed a parent teaching their child the
mannerly response to a favor by chiding them, “Now, what do we say?”
Children are naturally concerned only for themselves, and for many of us
that doesn’t change, even well into adulthood. We still need reminders
to be thankful, especially to God.
So, work at thinking and
cultivating an attitude of gratitude. And, by the way, here’s an
edifying twist. Let’s stretch our boundaries just a bit and give God
praise and thanks not just for what He gives us and for what He does for
us (when you think of it, that’s a little childish, isn’t it?). How
about thanking Him for who He is. Aren’t you grateful He is almighty,
righteous, merciful, just, forgiving, wise, omnipresent? Tell Him so.
The psalmist tells us it is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.
Think about it!
Another habit not unrelated is the habit of
remembering. I had the pleasure of meeting up with an old friend a
couple weeks ago, one I’ve actually known for half a century. We had
lunch together and so enjoyed spending time reminiscing about boyhood
days. Charlotte and I make it a habit on special days like anniversaries
to sit and talk of memories. It’s very healthy for the believer to do
that, you know, and it’s good for relationships, too.
Over the
past few weeks especially it has been rewarding to visit with Chris &
Ron & others from Chris’ family as her mother Marian spent her last days
on this earth. Remembering brings a deep joy, and an opportunity of
re-engaging times and events in our pasts. Jesus knew well how important
to our spiritual health remembering is. “Do this in remembrance of me,”
He said.
You know, when you think about it, the only real
alternative to living in an ongoing state of gratitude, is living in an
ongoing state of ingratitude! That just doesn’t sound pleasant, does it?
There’s a place in Mexico where hot springs and cold springs geyser up
through the rock formations. The regularity of this phenomenon has led
women to bring their laundry. They boil their clothes in the hot springs
and then rinse them in the cold.
One day a tourist watched the
women and commented to his Mexican friend, “I imagine they think old
Mother Nature is pretty generous to supply hot and cold water side by
side for their free use.” His friend replied, “No senor, there is
actually much grumbling because she supplies no soap.” Don’t be an
ingrate. Develop some new habits: think, remember and be ye thankful.
Thank
I want to remind us that if we think, we will be
able to thank. Even when it looks bad all around, we can do as we are
exhorted in the scriptures—to give thanks in all circumstances. You’ve
heard me share this one before, I know, but I just love reflecting on
the story of Matthew Henry, the author of that great classic Bible
commentary. He was once mugged on the street. The thieves took
everything of value he had on him.
Later that day he wrote in
his journal: I am thankful that during all these years I have never
been robbed until now. Also, even though they took my money, they did
not take my life. And although they took all I had, it wasn’t much.
Finally, I am grateful that it was I who was robbed, and not I who
robbed.
It was seven years ago that I had an inspiring
conversation with Tim Buchanan. If I recall correctly, it was about two
weeks after his father died from a massive stroke. On the way to the
funeral services in Arkansas, Tim’s niece—his father’s granddaughter—was
killed when a semi hit their family’s vehicle and literally ran over it.
Some of you will remember our season of heartfelt prayer for the family.
Tim reported when he returned that the family found reason to be
thankful in the midst of their grief.
First his dad had just
months before, at 80 years of age, had finally given his life to Christ.
You know that radically changed the nature of the grieving at that
funeral service! Then he shared some of the miracle that happened in the
accident. All four members of his stepbrother’s family had been in the
truck. Their vehicle was smashed beyond recognition, and three of the
family had to be painstakingly cut out of the wreckage.
They
miraculously escaped with only bruises and testified to God’s grace at
grandpa’s funeral, even though they had to leave the next day to go bury
their daughter in Texas. That daughter, by the way, had just committed
her life to Christ in summer camp earlier that year.
The family
were able to see God’s hand and be thankful in spite of their horrible
loss. If we will try to find them, there are blessings in all of life’s
circumstances. We are called to realize them and remember them for at
least this reason, that we might be thankful. I want to close with three
“forget-me nots”
- His promises. Peter wrote that through our knowledge of Christ’s glory and
goodness …he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through
them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the
world… By His promises, we can handle pain and grief, stress and sorrow,
sickness and death. And, by His promises, we are going to an eternal home where
there is no such thing as pain or grief, stress or sorrow, sickness or death.
- His power. Brothers and sisters, if we are going to be thankful in all
things, we know we are going to need his strength. I was blessed as I visited
with a brother from our congregation this past week who gave a quick run down of
some of the issues he was facing currently—a slate of some pretty challenging
uphill battles. But he said, for the first time in my life, I am able to
realize, while I am going through it, that God is working it all out for the
good. We usually get around to claiming
Romans 8:28 well after the crisis is
over and we see how God worked it all out for good. But thank God, by His power,
we can see even in the middle of our storms, with the eyes of faith, that God is
at work.
- His purchase. Never forget, dear Christian, He saved you from
your sins, from alienation from Father God, from Hell, from yourself, from all
the consequences of your sins. Never forget He forgave you all your sins,
because He bought you out of slavery to sin and death through His own sacrifice.
Once you were in darkness, but God has called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light! Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God!
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy! Once you were
like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer
of your souls! Brethren, THINK and THANK.
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