Songs of Gratitude: A Call to Give Thanks

Whine Or Worship

Well, welcome back ladies. I hope you had a good break.

Now a story is told of two old friends who bumped into each other at a store after not seeing each other for a long time. One of the men was obviously in a foul and depressed mood, because he couldn’t even smile at his old friend, even though he hadn’t seen him in a long time. so his friend asked him, “Oh what’s the matter, old friend?

And the guy said, “Let me tell you my troubles: my uncle died 3 weeks ago and he left me

$40,000.”

“Really?” The friend asked.

And the guy continued to say, “Yeah and then a week after that, a cousin I hardly knew also died, and he left me $85,000 dollars. Then last week, one of my great aunts passed away and she left me a quarter of a million dollars.”

So the friend, looking a bit confused, said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Then why the long face?”

And the guy responded, “This week? Nothing!”

Now obviously that story is made up, but even though it’s made up and it’s ridiculous, it speaks of how easy it is for us to be ungrateful, how easy it is for us to miss God’s blessings in situations. You see, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, we are always presented with two… we are always presented with a choice. And the choice is this: we can whine or worship.

Now choosing to worship is not always easy but hopefully as we go through this session and we are encouraged together, I hope we will learn to choose it nonetheless.

Now in the last session, we looked at Psalm 100, a beautiful call to gratitude. And in this session, as I said, we’re going to be digging a little bit deeper applying those truths to our daily lives.

So here’s the road map for our session: we’re going to be looking at why gratitude matters, and secondly, we’ll look at killers of gratitude. We will then look at how to cultivate a grateful heart and we will look at what transforming gratitude looks like.

Grace And Gratitude

Now as we start, would you bear with me for a little Greek lesson. See, in the New Testament, the word for giving thanks is the word “eucharista” The root word for “eucharista” is the word “charis” which also means grace. And this is also the root word that’s found in the word “charisma” which means gift. So what does this all mean?

This means that in the original language of the Bible; grace, gift and gratitude are inseparable. So this shows us that wherever you find grace, you should expect gratitude. Where grace has been poured out, gratitude should flow out.

And this is where Christian gratitude is different from any other form of gratitude that you can find. Christian gratitude doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We are not thankful just for the sake of being thankful. Christian gratitude has an object and, as we saw in Psalm 100, the object is the Lord. It is the Lord that we are to shout joyful songs to and to give thanks to and it’s him, it’s his courts that we are called to enter.

So what does this mean? This means that true gratitude is God-ward and Christ centered gratitude. Thankfulness requires a You to say thank you to.

Even as we count our blessings, like I was doing in my run, Christian gratitude goes beyond or should at least go beyond being thankful for just the blessings. Christian gratitude recognizes that there’s a blesser behind the blessings. It recognizes that there is a giver behind the gift. Grace, gifts and gratitude go hand in hand in the life of a believer.

As a believer, being humbly, being humbly thankful to God for our salvation – the most undeserved transaction in our personal history – is the starting point for the purest form of gratitude.

So let me ask us this: is gratitude flowing out of our lives as abundantly as the grace that has flowed into our lives? That’s a challenging question, isn’t it? But it’s one worth thinking on. I like how Nancy Demoss says it. This is how she puts it. “Undeniable guilt plus undeserved grace should equal unbridled gratitude.”

So let’s dig in a little bit and look at why gratitude matters. And we’re going to look at six reasons why gratitude matters. And this is not an exhaustive list, but this is what we’re going to cover in our session.

Why Gratitude Matters

Firstly, gratitude matters because gratitude is a matter of obedience. You see, God doesn’t just suggest we be grateful, he commands it. Throughout Scripture, you see this repeated. Just look at those two Scriptures:

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.” Psalm 50:14 tells us, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the people.” Psalm 105:1.

These are just two of many Scriptures in the Old Testament where God commands that we be thankful. We saw our invites as well – it wasn’t a suggestion, it’s a call that we come with thanksgiving.

In the New Testament, Paul also emphasizes this in Colossians. He exhorts the believers to  “always be thankful,” (Colossians 1:3) “…abounding in thankfulness or in thanksgiving.” (Chapter 2:7) “And to do everything, giving thanks to God the Father.” (Chapter 3:17)

So God commands that we be a grateful people.

Not only does God deserve our gratitude for all he is and what he’s done, but he knows that the lack of gratitude – what the of gratitude does to us and where it leads – so as a loving parent instructing a child to say thank you, our Heavenly Father knows that gratitude is essential for our spiritual health and growth.

Secondly, gratitude matters because gratitude is a sure path to peace. And you can see this in Philippians. Look at how Paul puts it: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.” (Philippians 4:6)

Did you notice it? Prayer plus thanksgiving equals peace. So when we combine our requests with gratitude, God meets us with indescribable peace. And this peace is not dependent on our circumstances changing, it’s a supernatural peace that comes from recognizing God’s goodness and faithfulness even in the midst of struggle. So gratitude matters.

Thirdly, gratitude matters because gratitude is a gauge of the heart. Again, listen to what Psalm 40 says. Psalm 40:3 says, “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name.” This verse is telling us it is the righteous that are able to give thanks to his name. You see, our level of gratitude is often an indicator of our spiritual health.

Think about it: when you’re walking closely with the Lord, aware of his grace and his goodness and his love and his mercies, gratitude naturally flows out. But when we are distant from him, focused on our problems, our self-sufficiency, we tend to grumble more than we give thanks.

So gratitude, or the lack of it, reveals where our hearts truly are. It shows whether we trust in God or in ourselves. It shows whether we’re trusting in God or focusing on ourselves, whether we’re focusing on his blessings or our, what we see as, lack.

And number four: gratitude matters because gratitude is the will of God. Look at what 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

For you now most of us, if not all of us, at some point or the other would have grappled with this idea; “What does God want me to do?” You know, what is his will for me in this situation? Should I take this job? Should I quit the job? Should I move to the city? Should I stay put? Should I be in paid ministry? Should I volunteer? Should I have baby number three? Can I possibly give away baby number one and two?

Wherever you land with those, here’s something that we can always be sure of: God’s will for us is to be thankful. So when we choose gratitude, especially in the difficult times, we’re aligning ourselves with God’s will. Gratitude matters.

Number five, gratitude matters because gratitude is an evidence of being filled with the Spirit. I don’t know about you, I kind of like the idea of being filled with the Spirit. See what Ephesians 5 says, “Be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus.” (Ephesians 5:18 and 20)

You see, here Paul connects being filled with the Spirit directly with giving thanks. Just as love, joy and peace are fruits of the Spirit, so is gratitude. When we’re walking in step with the Spirit, thankfulness naturally flows out of us. Now this doesn’t mean that we never struggle or we never feel down, but it does mean that even in those times, the Spirit will prompt us towards gratitude. Gratitude matters.

Again, gratitude matters because gratitude gets us ready for Heaven. Revelation gives us a glimpse of heaven and what do we see? Constant praise and thanksgiving to God. The four living creatures never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” And the 24 Elders fall down on their faces before him saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty; who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and began to reign.” (Revelation 4:8)

Even now, as we sit here in this conference, right at this minute, gratitude is being poured out. It is an unending anthem of Heaven. So every time we express gratitude here on earth, we are joining with the eternal beings with the song of Heaven. Every time we practice gratitude, we are practicing for eternity.

And on the subject of eternity more, gratitude helps us to keep an eternal, expective perspective. It reminds us that our current circumstances, good or bad, are temporary. Our ultimate hope is in eternity with God, and that’s something we can always be thankful for.

So you see, gratitude isn’t just a nice add on to a Christian life  – it’s fundamental. It shapes our relationship with God, it influences our peace of mind, it reveals the condition of our hearts, it aligns us with God’s will, it’s evidence of the Spirit at work in us, making us more like Jesus, and it prepares us for eternity. And that’s why gratitude matters so much.

Gratitude Killers

And because gratitude matters that much, you can be sure that the enemy will do all he can to turn us into ungrateful people, failing to recognize God’s grace in our lives. So let us look at some of the things that are killers of gratitude. Again, this list is not exhaustive, but it’s just what we will cover in our limited time.

So gratitude killer number one is unrealistic expectations.

I don’t know about you, but you don’t have to work hard to convince me that I have unrealistic expectations from time to time. So in my life, I expect my husband to be always happy. And he must always think that I am fashioned straight out of Heaven. He must anticipate my every need, perfectly knowing when in the month to be close to me and when to leave me alone and also when does that change from hour to hour. That’s my expectation.

And I expect my son to get straight A’s and I expect him to make it to the Olympics and bring home gold for his swimming. I expect him to be entrepreneurial and also to be a missionary with the testimony of how God has used him in the world of sports and how his businesses are kingdom-minded, transforming lives.

Of course, I have expectations for myself as well. So I expect myself to be a perfectly well put together, home-schooling Mom. An amazing wife who bakes and makes everything from scratch, using nothing but organic ingredients that I’ve grown myself. Of course, I also expect to be an amazing and humble servant of the Lord, with ample time to serve in ministry, as well as running a business at the same time.

Now I don’t know about your expectations, but research has shown – this research was done by a team of psychologists – that showed that people living in our century have higher expectations of life than any other generation. And along with this high expectation, it shows that people living in our generation, in our century, are the most unhappy generation, more than any other generation.

Whereas previous generations would have found joy in having a job and that job providing for their families and they were thankful for that provision, we expect to have a job that not only provides but makes us personally happy, aligns with our personal vision and the boss does what we want.

And we have the same high expectations for people, don’t we? The expectations in relationships and of people – expecting others really to take the place of God in our lives. Expecting them, that we depend on them and they guide us for our decisions expecting people to love us continuously unconditionally and to provide for us emotionally, physically, socially and totally. And when people disappoint, we are resentful rather than thankful and grateful to God for his unchanging love and faithfulness.

When expectations are too high, no blessing seems quite enough. So killer number one of gratitude: High expectation.

Gratitude killer number two: forgetfulness. Now this isn’t just me forgetting where I put my keys or I can never quite remember my password, this is when we forget God’s goodness and that is the heart of the problem. Now in the Bible, God repeatedly warns Israel not to forget His blessings and his deliverance, doesn’t he? Look at these Scriptures,

“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand…” (Deuteronomy 5:15)

“Remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:18)

“Remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you this 40 years in the wilderness.” (Deuteronomy 8:2)

“Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and my might, and the might of my hand, have gotten me this wealth.” You shall remember the Lord your God; for it is he who gives the power to get wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

But what happened? They forgot. And this is even pre-empted in Deuteronomy.

“Your hearts will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 8:14)

“You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” (Deuteronomy 32:18)

“They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.” (Psalm 78:11)

“They forgot God, their saviour, who had done great things in Egypt.” (Psalm 106:21)

Forgetfulness and ingratitude go hand in hand. When we forget God’s goodness, his salvation and his deliverance, ingratitude soon follows.

Gratitude killer number three: entitlement. This is a painful one, isn’t it? This is perhaps another big one for our generation – a sense of entitlement. When we start to think that our life circumstances are beneath what we deserve, and we take simple blessings for granted, as if they were owed to us, ingratitude finds all the oxygen it needs to survive. When we start to think that our house, our car, our wardrobe is beneath what we deserve, gratitude is sure to flee and ingratitude settles.

Again, I want to read Nancy’ quotes on this point. This is what she says: “One of the unseemingly side effects of all the efforts and the energy our society has invested in building our individual and collective self-esteem is that our culture is now rife with this super high level of deservedness. The more affluent we are, the higher our standards of living, it seems the more demanding and discontented we become. Be careful where you place that bar for what you can and can’t live with or without. The height of that baseline affects just about everything.”

Simply put, our level of entitlement blinds us to God’s goodness and the blessing upon our lives.

Okay, gratitude killer number four: comparison. We all know this one. I’m hearing the “eish” right. We know what it’s like to be keeping score of who has what, and social media gives us plenty to keep score on. But comparison is not only when we keep score, comparison is also when we focus on our sacrifices, our hard work, our commitment and compare them to others.

When we look around the office and compare how hard we work, how early we come, and how late we go home, when we look around at home and count how many times we’ve done the dishes, how many times we’ve picked up the socks, how much times we’ve driven the kids to school this week, and how many times we’ve sat with whining humans through homework.

Or when we look around with those we serve with in ministry teams and we start counting how much we’ve sacrificed compared to them.

Anytime our focus is on ourselves, even on the good things we’re doing, it keeps us from being grateful for what others are contributing. We lose our appreciation for our spouse, for our children, for our friends, for our co-workers, when we constantly view them through our own shadow and gratitude goes.

Last one. Gratitude killer number five: blindness to God’s grace. Blindness to God’s grace is the root of all the other killers. This is when we forget that we are debtors, owing everything to God’s mercy. And when we do that, we miss out on the vision of his loveliness and his sustaining power through life’s battle. So, to ignore God’s unmerited favour or to consider his or to consider it his obligation to us is to miss the very heart of gratitude.

So these are gratitude killers – quite painful to hear. I felt it. You see, ingratitude is no small matter and the Apostle Paul listed right along things like abuse and treachery. Look at 2 Timothy 3, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Did you see how ungratefulness is listed among those? You kind of just want it to be put aside, to be not part of that list. But in fact, it goes deeper when you look at Romans 1:21 Paul points out that ingratitude is the starting point for turning away from God. So if you go back and you read that, you will see that Paul is talking about why God’s wrath is being poured out to the people and he counts ingratitude. Though they knew God they never gave him thanks. (Romans 1:21)

But there’s good news: when we displace ingratitude with gratitude, we often find that multitude of other sins are dislodged right along with it. Ephesians 5:4 tells us to replace things like crude joking with thanksgiving. Just by being thankful, things like that fall away. So when gratefulness returns, it brings with it the attending blessings and the beauties of holiness.

Cultivating Gratitude

So how do we cultivate gratitude? How do we live lives that practice gratitude? The first one is that we speak out.

This one might seem obvious but how many times do we forget to do this? How many times something happens that you truly appreciate, or someone does something or says something and that you think to yourself, “Yoh, I’m so grateful for that,” or “I really needed to hear that from that person. I’m so grateful they did this,” but you never actually verbalize it.

Gratitude is not a quiet game.

When my son was young, I liked playing a quiet game. If you have, if you’re a parent, you know this game. And the game goes like this: when we’re driving, whoever keeps quite the longest wins the game. If you fall asleep – even better!

Gratitude is not like that. Gratitude is not the quiet game. It begs to be expressed; both to God and to others. Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. And we saw this in Psalm 100,didn’t we? It was calling us to express our gratitude to God and to do it so loudly and so openly. So how do we cultivate gratitude? We speak it out.

Just think if a cashier has been unusually pleasant, why not stop and tell the manager what a delight the cashier has been and how thankful you are for their attitude? Most of the time when we ask for the manager, we’re asking because we’re complaining. Imagine you ask for the manager and you’re just thankful. They’ll be glad to hear it and to pass on the compliment and sure enough, that cashier will probably be encouraged at their work.

If your pastor’s message encourages you and it deepens your walk with God, don’t assume that he just automatically knows this or he gets tired of hearing how his ministry is impacting people. Thank him for his faithfulness in bringing God’s word. You get the point. Speak it out. Thankful thoughts need to be translated to thankful words.

How do we cultivate gratitude? We cultivate gratitude by singing it out. Now again, we saw this exhortation from Psalm 100, didn’t we? The Psalmist is calling us to come and sing. Now your voice does not have to be beautiful for it to be pleasing to the Lord, okay. Music is such a powerful vehicle for gratitude.

I want you to see the slide there. What I have there is a picture of two brain and heart scans of the same person. So it’s two scans; one person. On the top, it’s the scan of a person under immense stress, pressure, stress and frustration and you can see that the brain and the hearts are all over the place.

Below, same person after being given some time – I think this was over a course of a week, and they were asked to express gratitude, to express it by counting their blessings and to express it by singing songs that foster gratitude. Can you see that scan? The brain and the hearts aligned.

Music is a powerful blessing given to us by God. Singing out loud songs of gratitude, whether we are in the shower or we in the car or doing the dishes – has a way of embedding gratitude even deeper into our souls.

Now here’s another interesting fact like this. In my spare time I like reading things like this. Another interesting fact about singing is that when we sing out loud, our hearts sync to the music. And now here’s the beautiful thing: when we sing collectively out loud, our hearts sync to the same music. So if you were to put a heart monitor to every one of us while we were singing like we sang this morning, you would find that our heart is beating as one. It is the same heartbeat. How beautiful is that?

Singing connects us to God and it connects us to each other. So, how do we cultivate gratitude? Sing! Even if your friend tells you you can’t sing! I’m not going to mention names. This was discussed during the tea break.

Okay, another way we cultivate gratitude is by kneeling down. We are to make gratitude a key part of our prayer life. Even when we’re asking God for things, we should be mindful to thank God for things.

And one of the practical ways of doing this is keeping what is called a “God is good” journal, right. Most of us are familiar with a gratitude journal, but it’d be nice to keep a journal that just counts God’s goodness. Every day you look at it and you just count – this is how God has been good to you. So we cultivate gratitude by kneeling and incorporating thankfulness in our prayers.

And last one: we cultivate gratitude by practicing it in private and in public. For gratitude to become a true joy maker in our hearts, it must be expressed everywhere at every opportunity, both privately before God and publicly before others. If you read the Psalms, you hear that the Psalms often talk about giving thanks among the people and in the great congregation. Our gratitude should be expressed at every opportunity and this is how we cultivate it. This is how we cultivate gratitude.

Now this list is just a start. If you really want much more in depth of what I’m talking about, you can get yourself a copy of a book called Choosing Gratitude by Nancy DeMoos. Much of what I’ve said really comes from what she’s written. And the book is amazing because it also has a devotional at the end, so it’s a great investment.

When Gratitude Is A Sacrifice

Now I know that you might be sitting here, like some of us might be sitting here, going through unimaginable hardship, struggles and pain. And I remember a time when, deep in grief, a call to Joy would have been painful and almost cruel. There were times where I walked into church, cried, and walked straight back out because songs were just too painful and the sermon just felt like an arrow on an already wounded soul. And I just did not know how I could ever be joyful again.

And that might be your season right now. You might have been sitting here thinking, “Dear lady, you have no clue what I’m going through right now.” And the truth is: I don’t. A child gone astray, a difficult marriage, a divorce with its stigma, a life threatening illness, a death of a loved one, a chronic illness that will just never go away, a difficult work situation, a time when you do not know how you’re going to pay the rent, or a season where the fridge is perpetually empty.

All begs the question: how can I be grateful? so before we close this morning, I just want to encourage us with these words and this thought: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Now firstly, this part of Scripture is comforting. It is a comfort to know that when our hearts are struggling to kneel, when we’re asking how can I possibly give thanks in this situation, we have a saviour who was able to give thanks to the Father as he laid down his life for us. His perfect sacrifice covers our knees when they struggle to bend and strengthen our hearts as we cry out “How do I give thanks?”

So if this is a struggle for you, hang on to him. Hang on to the one who was perfectly thankful.

But secondly, this part of Scripture is also a reminder that even in the darkest moments, our thanksgiving can be a sacrifice of praise to our Father. So you see Jesus on the nights he was betrayed, the nights he knew what was coming, he knew that that was coming, he gave thanks to the Father. This is a night when, humanly speaking, in our human perspective, he had every reason to be self-absorbed.

I mean, seriously, if it were me, it would have been a different story! He had every reason for self-pity, for resentment and for murmuring, yet he spoke words of thanks to his Heavenly Father, words that flowed out of a thankful heart. Jesus gave himself to God and to the world not under coercion but with gratitude. It was a sacrifice of praise. And with that sacrifice, and with his help, we too can give a sacrifice of praise – even in difficult times.

So let me pray for us.

Heavenly Father, we come before you with hearts that long to truly be grateful. Lord, forgive us for the times we’ve taken your blessings for granted or we’ve taken you for granted and we focused more on what we lack than your abundant provision for us.

Help us, Father, to see life through gratitude-coloured glasses. Would you open our eyes to recognize your grace in both the big things and the small things of our lives. May we be quick to say thank you for the sunset and for the toothpaste, for your nearness to us and your holiness, for your mercy and your salvation.

Lord God, guard our hearts against the things that kill gratitude. Guard our hearts against unrealistic expectations, forgetfulness, entitlement, comparison, blindness to your grace. Instead Lord, would you cultivate a humble, God-centered and contented heart that overflows with thanksgiving.

Teach us to give thanks in all circumstances, knowing that this is your will for us in Christ Jesus. May our gratitude draw us closer to you and you lead us into perfect peace. Like Jesus, may we be known for our spirit of thankfulness. And as we practice gratitude here on earth, prepare our hearts for an eternity of praise in your presence. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.