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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 37
8 February 2009
Giving Thanks Always
(Message
delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Feb 8, 09)
Text: Eph 5:20
We are usually thankful to those who have
been kind to us or have helped us, but sometimes we fail to do this to
our parents, who have lovingly cared for us and willingly given us what
they have, both spiritual and physical blessings. Sadly, sometimes we
also take our heavenly Father’s grace and love for granted and fail to
give thanks to Him all the time as He expects and commands us to do!
Thankfulness or gratitude to our God the
Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ from the heart is the fruit of a
born-again Christian, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks
to his name” (Heb 13:15). The unbelievers who deny God only see
themselves and think that what they have or what they have achieved is
by their own strength, efforts, ability, or cleverness. They fail to see
that if God does not give them breath of life, good health, skills and
good opportunities, they cannot do anything. The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
because they did not glorify God, “neither were thankful” to Him,
neither worshipped Him the Creator (Rom 1:18-21, 25) although He is kind
to them (Luke 6:35), making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sending rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt 5:45). The
professing Christians who are not born again may give thanks to God but
with their boastful lips, trusting in their good works and despising
others like the Pharisee who stood praying, “God, I thank thee, that
I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican (tax-collector). I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11-12). His proud prayer
was rejected while the tax-collector’s accepted because it was humble,
sincere, and repentant before God, pleading for His mercy. How about you
and me? Do we always give thanks to God the Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ in all things and for all things? And Why?
God Commands Us to Give Thanks to Him
Always
Our Lord Jesus healed the ten lepers by the
word from His mouth when they cried unto Him, “Jesus, Master, have
mercy on us” (Luke 17: 12-19), and our Lord was disappointed when
only one of them, a Samaritan, came back, and “fell down on his face
at his feet, giving him (Jesus) thanks” (Luke 17:16). Jesus
asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There
are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”
Then, giving thanks to God is giving glory to Him. When others
praise us, we shall give all glory to our God by our thanks to Him, “I
really thank God for His grace and mercy.”
God is our Creator and Giver
of life and all the blessings, so it is our proper duty to give thanks
and praise to Him. Moreover, it is God’s will and commandment for us to
give thanks to Him always in everything and for all things in our Lord
Jesus’ name, “In every thing give thanks (keep on giving thanks):
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess
5:18), and “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:20), and
“thank we God without ceasing” (1 Thess 2:13), and “O LORD my
God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever” (Ps 30:12). It is not
easy for you and me to give thanks to God in our failures, illness,
difficulties, or trials of life. If you and I still give thanks to God
without any complaint or murmur when we fall sick, lose our jobs, miss a
good opportunity, have an accident, or suffer opposition and
persecutions for our faith in God and in His Word, we do please God and
glorify Him because it is God’s will and commandment for us to do so.
Then how can you and I do that? It is by God’s grace and strength.
Thank God for His Grace and
Mercy and His Salvation in Christ
The more we acknowledge our
spiritual blindness, helplessness, and hopelessness under the bondage of
sin and Satan as well as our eternal punishment in Hell, the more we
give thanks to God for His grace, love and mercy, delivering us from the
power of darkness of Satan and giving us His salvation in Christ,
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12), and “To
open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me”
(Acts 26:18). God has even given us faith to believe in Him and our Lord
Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8)! Truly, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he
is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Ps 136:1).
Thank God for His Gifts and
Spiritual Blessings
We must give thanks to God for
having created us, chosen us, drawn us to Himself, revealed Himself and
His Son Jesus Christ to us, saved us and blessed us “with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). When
someone kindly gives us a gift, we usually thank that person for his or
her kindness. How about our heavenly Father? God has given us His only
begotten Son, who humbly died for our sins and gloriously rose again for
our salvation (John 3:16; Rom 4:25). God has given us the Holy Spirit,
who convicts us of our sins, regenerates us, sanctifies us, guides us,
reveals the truth to us, comforts us, teaches us, strengthens us, helps
us, and calls us to His service (John 3:5; 16:8-11,13-14; Rom 8:14, 26;
15:16; Acts 13:2,4). God has even given us grace and faith to enjoy His
salvation in Christ, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). And God
has given us His perfectly inspired and perfectly preserved Word so that
our knowledge of God and our faith in Him are built on a sure and firm
foundation (2 Tim 3:16-17; Ps 12:6-7). Truly, “Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”
(James 1:17). Shall you and I not give thanks to our heavenly Father for
all His perfect gifts?
It is always good for you and
me to meditate on God’s spiritual blessings in Ephesians chapter 1 so
that we may be always thankful to the Lord our God: God “hath chosen
us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before him in love” (v 4), and
“predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself… made us accepted in the beloved” (vv 5-6), and
redeemed us through Jesus’ blood, the forgiveness of sins (v 7), and
“abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (v 8), and “made
known unto us the mystery of his will” (v 9), and given us His
inheritance (v 11), and sealed us with the Holy Spirit (v 13-14), and so
forth. Thanks and praise be to the Lord our God for ever!
Thank God for His
Sovereignty, Guidance and Loving Care
How can we always give thanks
to God in everything for all things? It is because our God the Father is
the almighty and most high God, who is always in control and who truly
loves us, cares for us and is able to make all things work together for
good unto us (Rom 8:28). Nothing happening to us is by accident without
our loving Father’s permission (Matt 10:29-31). A brother who had missed
an express coach later gave thanks to God for preserving him from a
fatal accident to those who were on that coach. When you and I recall
what God has done in our lives, we then shall give thanks to God for His
sovereignty, guidance and loving care. I must give thanks to God for
bringing me back to Himself from my backsliding through my failure in
the entrance examination to a junior high school when I was eleven years
old. I must give thanks to God for helping me see my frail and brief
life on earth through my serious illness when I was seventeen years old
and thus moving me to dedicate my life to live for Him. I must give
thanks to God for His gracious work of regeneration and sanctification
in my life, making me thirst for Him and His Word when I was nineteen
years old. I must give thanks to God for taking care of me and
preserving me over the years and for seeing me through all the
temptations, difficulties, trials, and challenges. I must thank God for
guiding me from the Trinity Theological College to the Far Eastern Bible
College to enjoy a sound teaching and training based on His perfectly
inspired and perfectly preserved Word. I must thank God for blessing my
humble ministry here in Brisbane with the kind prayers and support from
True Life BPC in Singapore and for bringing faithful brethren like you
to our midst. I must thank God for providing our family a better place
to stay after suffering from the harassment from a harsh neighbour at
our previous place, and so forth. I believe that you will also give
thanks to God the Father when you recall what He has done in your lives,
your studies, your careers and your families. Our God the Father and our
Saviour Jesus Christ are still the same yesterday, today and for ever.
He is still in control. He still loves you and me and is still taking
good care of us. Then, we should not be worried about and frightened at
what may happen to us tomorrow in the current economic recession, but
let us seek our God first and trust in His loving care, “for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt 6:32-33) and “My
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to
pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29).
Conclusion
Dear friends, many Christians
may still live in worries, fears, misery or even murmurs without peace
and joy in their troubles, difficulties and trials of life. Our God the
Father still loves and cares for His dear children, and He is still in
control. God and His Word are still the same, and He expects and
commands you and me to give thanks to Him in all things for all things
in our Lord Jesus’ name. May God help you and me always remember His
grace, mercy, His perfect gifts, His gracious work of regeneration and
sanctification, His guidance, protection, and loving care in our lives
so that we may keep on trusting in Him and giving thanks to Him in all
situations. Our life on earth is short, the testing or trial is only for
a while, and our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back soon. Let us honour
our almighty, merciful, gracious and faithful God by making use of time
and opportunities to give thanks to Him. In doing so, we are giving God
the glory. Amen.
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