[Announcer] (0:00 - 0:17) Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio, videos, and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com.
Our topic is, "Can We Really Be Thankful In Everything?" Here's Rick and Jonathan.
[Rick] (0:18 - 0:26) Welcome, everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over twenty-five years.
Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
[Jonathan] (0:26 - 0:34) 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
[Rick] (0:35 - 1:16) One of the hallmark attitudes of a focused Christian life is being thankful. The very foundation of our Christian beliefs is the fact that being redeemed from sin and death by the love and sacrifice of Jesus is a gift that is, in every case, beyond our ability to earn or to deserve. We are freely given life in Christ, and therefore, we have great motivation to live in a state of gratefulness.
That being said, how far should this grateful attitude go? Is it really supposed to encompass each and every experience we have? Does being thankful in everything mean we should never be sad or anxious?
[Jonathan] (1:17 - 2:17) This episode is the fifth in our Christian Conduct Series, where we carefully examine God's instructions to us given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24. We will examine the third of six briefly stated and yet powerfully connected "inside out" Christian Conduct lessons in 1 Thessalonians 5. We call these "staccato texts"—short, impactful phrases that stand out from the Apostle Paul's usual longer sentences.
Let's do a quick recap. Our first lesson was 1 Thessalonians 5:16: "Rejoice always." This rejoicing is not emotional euphoria.
It is a state of being that is calmly happy or thriving. It exemplifies working through any and all challenges with God's power and providence nourishing and driving us.
[Rick] (2:17 - 2:33) Calmly happy or thriving... "Rejoice always." Those two little words are a foundation upon which the other five Christian Conduct lessons are built, of these six that are connected.
Let's move on to the next one, Jonathan. Go ahead.
[Jonathan] (2:33 - 2:46) Next we looked at 1 Thessalonians 5:17: "Pray without ceasing." The more we calmly rejoice and thrive in God's will, the wider the door to "pray without ceasing" opens.
[Rick] (2:46 - 3:29) That's a beautiful thing. Calmly rejoicing and thriving in God's will literally opens the door to be able to "pray without ceasing." So what's the message here?
The message for this piece is, be regularly in a prayerful state of mind without omitting any part of our experience or opportunity. This continuously prayerful mentality includes prayers of praise, prayers of worship, prayers of supplication, prayers of thanksgiving, includes all kinds of prayers given in all different kinds of ways. We've got these first two.
With the concept of rejoicing always and praying without ceasing, the Apostle Paul now brings us to our next Christian Conduct lesson.
[Jonathan] (3:29 - 3:44) Third, we have 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This word for "thanks" simply means "to be grateful;" actively "to express gratitude."
[Rick] (3:45 - 4:14) Okay, it's a simple word. There's no drama trying to figure it out. It's very straightforward; to be thankful.
Gratitude toward God through Christ should drive the perception and processing of our life experiences. I'm going to say that again. Gratitude toward God through Christ should drive the perception, the way we see, and the processing, the way we handle our life experiences.
Paul says that this is God's will for us.
[Jonathan] (4:14 - 4:24) Why does he say that here? Could he perhaps be linking these first three Christian Conduct lessons together as a collective process?
[Rick] (4:25 - 4:40) That's a good question, because he says it here after this third one. Why not after "rejoice always"? Why not after "pray without ceasing"?
Are all three of these Christian Conduct admonitions teaching us not how to feel, but what our state of being draws its strength from?
[Jonathan] (4:41 - 4:48) That's a good question. A rejoicing or thriving state of being creates a solid environment for growth.
[Rick] (4:48 - 5:03) You've got that basis, the solid environment in that rejoicing, thriving, that first "rejoice always." Next, a prayerful state of mind--so you have the state of being--prayerful state of mind keeps us tapped into our truest source of strength.
[Jonathan] (5:03 - 5:11) A thankful state of perception opens and reopens our ability to receive and apply God's direction.
[Rick] (5:12 - 5:59) Now all of this is God's will for us. Having that thriving state of being, that prayerful state of mind, and that thankful state of being able to perceive and to process. They fit together. This all is God's will for us.
Now let's look at how it works in Scripture, one example of the connection between rejoicing always and being thankful in everything. While the Apostle Paul--in this next verse we're going to go to 2 Corinthians--while the Apostle Paul doesn't use the word "rejoice," we have to look at and observe the thriving that he expresses.
Now this verse is after he had prayed seriously to have that thorn in the flesh removed from him. Here's his response, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
[Jonathan] (5:59 - 6:41) "And he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content (or think well of) with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong." Rick, this text combines grateful and rejoicing, even though suffering is involved. Paul is saying, thank you for NOT healing me so I can rely on the strength of Christ.
[Rick] (6:42 - 8:58) Wait, wait, wait. Thank You for saying NO. Thank You for taking what I believed was a rock-solid argument, brought it before You for all of the right reasons, and telling me, nope, that's not what We're going to do. That's a really powerful example of being able to have what this sense of thanksgiving is all about, this gratitude.
Yes, Lord, thank You for taking my best laid plans and saying, nope, they're not My plans; therefore, We're not going to do them. We're going to completely ignore them, as a matter of fact.
Paul is not only thankful, he's like, okay, I'm glad, therefore, that I have these weaknesses, because it's through them that what I was hoping for actually comes. It was that realization that what I was hoping for God gives me, through Jesus, He gives me the end result in a way that I could not have even imagined it could have come. That is what this prayerful attitude and this being thankful in everything actually truly brings us.
With that in mind, if we are truly thriving in the sufficiency of God through Christ in us--and that's what the Apostle Paul was showing us--then perceiving our weaknesses with true thankfulness is absolutely in order. What we saw there was the Apostle Paul having that thankful state of perception. He was able to perceive really hard things,
thankfully embracing them. That thankful perception helped him make those hard things powerful tools of growth, powerful tools of witnessing, powerful tools of praise and honor. It's a beautiful, beautiful paradigm shift for him. Our last episode's theme of "pray without ceasing" integrally connected all three of these Christian Conduct lessons.
Paul--again, we're going to go to Philippians now--shows us this connection when he writes to the Philippians. When we read the book of Philippians, oftentimes we think about it as this incredibly rejoicing book, and it is. It is just very, very positive.
Listen to how he makes the connections here. Philippians 4:6-7:
[Jonathan] (8:58 - 9:16) "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (or a grateful language) let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
[Rick] (9:17 - 10:34) This is a scripture that many Christians read regularly. Let's think about it, though. "Be anxious for nothing."
To "be anxious for nothing" means to thrive, because being anxious is the opposite of thriving. Paul encourages us to let go of our anxiousness and thrive, and then he encourages us to pray and to be thankful. You put the three together.
It's this three-part approach to a solid basis for Christian being, and he says at the end of this, this will bring you the peace of God. It says the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will come to you if you do this. Jonathan, that's a huge promise! You think about it;
he likely understood that because he did it himself. He prayed, he put things in order.
He was grateful and thankful, and that's where this all comes into play. This all connects together. It's like a mathematical equation.
A thriving state of being + a prayerful state of mind + a thankful state of perception = the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension! That's a math equation that even if you don't like math, you want to memorize, because it helps us put things in order.
[Jonathan] (10:34 - 10:49) It's a decision, but Rick, I have to admit, this is hard. What happens if you're in the middle of grieving the loss of a loved one? What happens when you can't find a job?
What about if you're having marriage problems?
[Rick] (10:49 - 13:25) Those are really, really big, hard, hard examples! When it talks about having this state of thankfulness, this state of gratitude, this state of perceiving things through thankful eyes, what it's saying is in the midst of my deepest troubles, I want to be able to look up knowing that the heavenly Father has got this in His hand, and I can't see the answer. I can't even fathom where the answer is, but I can be grateful because He has got it. To be able to transfer our anxiety and lift it up to Him and have that thankfulness begin to make an effect on our lives, that's how we can cope with those very difficult things, and you know what? That doesn't mean the answer comes fast.
What it means is we can cope more readily and have endurance as we go along the way. Jonathan, you gave some really big examples. I'm going to give a much smaller example in my own experience.
About five years ago...we live in Connecticut. Connecticut's not known for tornadoes, but sometimes, occasionally, we get them, and sometimes, occasionally, when we get them, they like to visit me. I don't know,
it's just a thing, okay? But five years ago, the last tornado to come through Connecticut actually came to my office, okay? Now, I had seen the weather thing, and so I went home because we had dogs that freak out when it's all bad, so I figured I better get home and take care of the dogs, and then I get this phone call fifteen minutes later, and somebody says from the office building, you better get back here.
I'm like, why? He said, just get here, and I drive back. It took me forty minutes to make a seven-minute drive because trees are down and all this stuff.
I'm going, what happened over here? When I got into the office, what happened is this thing came through, and half of the roof--the aluminum roof--it got ripped in half, rolled up, and thrown into the street. Now, I'm on the top floor, on the third floor, and two offices got completely destroyed by the water.
Mine was one. When I go up the stairs, and I walk into the office, I'm walking across the carpet, it's splashing. That's how much water is there. My gut reaction, looking at that, it was like AHH! I looked up and I said out loud, "I am still the most blessed person I know."
I had no idea-- no idea--how to handle the mess, but that came with time, and the blessing proved itself. It wasn't easy. It took eight months for the place to get rebuilt and all that stuff, but that is what we want to do.
We want to try to be thankful when things are really, really, really, really difficult.
[Jonathan] (13:25 - 13:39) What a powerful lesson, Rick. Hey, I have a question. Is our thankfulness in all things only to be expressed to God through prayer?
I ask this question because there's so many scriptures about thanking God in prayer.
[Rick] (13:39 - 14:24) You're right. Interestingly, the words for "thanks" and "thanksgiving" are almost always related to prayer, but that doesn't mean we only focus our expressions of thanks towards God. Let's look at an example. The Apostle Paul, he had a concern, a cause for concern, over the Thessalonian church as they received the gospel under hard conditions. We talked about that in the first episode of this whole series on Christian Conduct.
Remember, he had to be taken out of Thessalonica because they were after him. He had to be taken away, fear for his life, and so he wasn't able to spend a lot of time there. He had this great cause for concern for their spiritual welfare, because they had so little time with him.
He sends Timothy to them, and that's why he writes 1 Thessalonians, because Timothy comes back and reports. Here's what happened. 1 Thessalonians 3:6:
[Jonathan] (14:25 - 14:40) "But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you."
[Rick] (14:40 - 15:08) Timothy comes back and he brings this concern of Paul's. He brings relief because Timothy reestablishes the connection. He's able to be there. Now Timothy, remember, can't text Paul from Thessalonica, hey, the brethren here are awesome.
He had to travel there, see it, be with them, experience it, and then travel back. This reestablishment of connection was a very, very, very big step for the Apostle Paul.
[Jonathan] (15:09 - 15:13) The results of Timothy's trip must have brought vital comfort to Paul.
[Rick] (15:14 - 15:37) And that's important. Vital comfort. It wasn't like, oh, okay, well, that's good.
This was comfort that for him was life-invigorating. How do we know that? Because in the next verses, listen to what he says is his response to what Timothy reported.
Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 3:7-8:
[Jonathan] (15:38 - 15:51) "For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord."
[Rick] (15:51 - 17:00) "For now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord." This is a connection, Jonathan. This is a powerful connection that changes the way that Paul is able to handle his own experiences.
It lifts him up. That's what their connectivity did for him. That cause for concern--he needed the reestablished connection, and now this vital comfort comes into play.
Their spiritually strong state of being gave Paul deep inspiration and profound determination. This vital comfort also provided for the Apostle Paul a deeper conviction to attain and maintain his own state of rejoicing, prayer, and thankfulness. Those three things. This provoked those things in a very positive way.
This was not a state of euphoria. This was a state of being, a state of perception that said, you're in God's hands, I see your strength in His strength, and I am just going to move forward with everything that I have. Let's go to now the next verses, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10:
[Jonathan] (17:00 - 17:37) "For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying (a petition) most earnestly that we might see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?" Rick, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to express his deep thanksgiving for them. This helps us understand that our thankfulness, which is most often expressed to God in prayer, is also necessary to express to one another.
Rick, this is a tough one.
[Rick] (17:38 - 17:39) There's a lot of tough ones here, aren't there?
[Jonathan] (17:39 - 17:49) Yeah. Well, in our brotherhood, we struggle with this because we're so worried about not puffing one another up with pride. Where's the balance?
[Rick] (17:50 - 18:22) That can be tough, because you think about it, well, I don't want so-and-so to be all full of themselves. But the scriptures are very, very evident in showing us that we should show thankfulness and gratefulness. Jonathan, here's the thing.
Let's just check ourselves in that, because when I say Jonathan just was so, so instrumental in this or that, I really don't want to tell him because I don't want to puff him up. Who might have the pride issue there? Maybe it's me.
Maybe it's me because I'm determining that Jonathan's character is too weak to handle that.
[Jonathan] (18:23 - 18:24) Ooh, that's tough.
[Rick] (18:24 - 19:23) Yeah, well, we have to be careful. We have to be careful about why we would withhold, and maybe we should trust in the Lord and put the encouragement out in a way that says, I appreciate you, keep up the good work, let's work together. We've got to be careful, but it's important because the Apostle showed us this as a template for our activity, for our way to communicate with one another.
Let's go a little further. We need to have this thankful state of perception. Again, it's a state of seeing things through the eyes of gratefulness, not seeing things through how I feel, but through the eyes of gratefulness, because you know that God has got them all in control.
It's God's will for us to have this state of perception. Let's look at another example of the Apostle Paul having that thankfulness for others. This is another beautiful, beautiful verse.
Romans 16:3-4:
[Jonathan] (19:23 - 19:37) "Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles."
[Rick] (19:37 - 20:21) They risked their necks for me. I thank them. That's a powerful connection, and Jonathan, it's simple, but we want to make sure that we don't overlook the simplicity and just treat it as a sort of a side note. This is the way the Apostle Paul is telling us to have thankfulness in all things, to really be able to express it. To be thankful in all things is a result of intentional actions.
Again, it's not just a feeling, result of intentional actions. Our causes for concern should provoke stronger connectedness, which in turn can provide vital comfort, which results in deeper conviction, and that's the expression of thankfulness that is so appropriate.
[Jonathan] (20:22 - 20:31) In other words, it's not just about thinking thankfully. It's about living thankfulness and making it an outward expression of who we truly are.
[Rick] (20:32 - 21:05) That is the bottom line. That is absolutely, positively the bottom line thing. It's not just the feeling. Oftentimes, we feel thankful, and it's a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling.
That's great. That's appropriate. But what does that do for the way that I live?
That's the big question. Let's look at some basic things among many, many, many things, let's always be thankful for. We're just going to look at three very simple examples that we're going to mention.
You're going to say, well, of course, but it's a place for us to start. First, let's be thankful for our call. Colossians 2:6-7:
[Jonathan] (21:05 - 21:08) "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude." Being called is all about God's grace, which means undeserved favor. We received this privilege to walk in Christ. How can we not live with gratitude?
[Rick] (21:37 - 22:27) That's an important question. How could we not live in gratitude? Because this call is so far beyond anything you or I or any other imperfect human being could ever do in our entire lifetime to even deserve one-tenth of one percent of it, and yet here we are.
This is a cause for enormous gratitude. Jonathan, that's why in our difficulties—remember you asked that question about what happens if you're grieving or you can't find a job or all those things—those are the times where this kind of thankfulness, this kind of gratitude, this kind of reasoning comes in to help us say, it's in hands that are bigger than mine, that are stronger than mine, that see the future in ways that I can't. Let me have gratitude for that.
Let's be thankful for our call. Let's also be thankful for our Lord Jesus.
[Jonathan] (22:28 - 22:29) Thanks be to God!
[Rick] (22:29 - 22:30) Yeah, yeah. 2 Corinthians 9:15:
[Jonathan] (22:30 - 22:44) "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" Jesus is everything to us and the whole human race because there is no future hope without his ransom sacrifice.
[Rick] (22:45 - 23:29) Period. End of statement. Story's over.
Nothing needs to be added. It is all because of Jesus. Our call wouldn't exist had it not been for Jesus, and of course his ransom sacrifice paid the price for all men.
We should daily, regularly be able to lean on that as a motivation for living with gratitude. Sometimes, Jonathan, you have something that's so big and so powerful, you can review it ten thousand times and it doesn't lose one ounce of its potency. That's what being thankful for Jesus really truly is.
We've got being thankful for our call, being thankful for Jesus... notice how we're moving up the ladder here. Next is to be thankful for our God. Psalm 92:1-4:
[Jonathan] (23:29 - 23:31) "It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre. For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands." This reminds us of a verse from the hymn “Endless Song: How can I keep from singing?"
[Rick] (24:02 - 27:16) I love the way this is written. That was from the New American Standard, but in verse 3 it says "with resounding music;" this sense of greatness and wonder and the awesomeness of God.
Gratitude can be expressed anytime, day or night. Now, let's be careful. We have to do it appropriately, but it's there to be expressed anytime.
Its appropriate expression can come through the creativity of music as well as singing it out loud. The bottom line, Jonathan, is gratitude is meant not just to be felt and be all warm and fuzzy. Gratitude is meant to be expressed!
Be thankful in everything. Be thankful in all things. That means live thankfully in all things.
Don't just merely feel it. If we feel it, that's just the introduction to this novel of glorious beauty. We need to open that novel up and let the chapters flow as we live the gratitude.
Let's wrap this up with what our "Thankful Thinking" needs to be looking like. True, life-changing thankfulness is part of an internally constructed Christian Conduct foundation. That's what it's part of.
Here's how it's built. First, we have a thriving state of being-- "rejoice always!"
Then you add a prayerful state of mind-- "pray without ceasing." Then you add a thankful state of perception--
"in everything, give thanks." These three things create a foundationally strong Christian life that has the capability to truly deal with and overcome all of those things that may come our way. That's why the Apostle Paul says "this is the will of God concerning you," because he's putting these together and saying, this is a formula for being able to step forward and to deal with and to overcome things.
This is God's will for us. When we read these scriptures--"rejoice always," "pray without ceasing," and "in everything, give thanks"-- we read them quickly, and then we move on.
We say, yeah, I've got to remember that. Folks, we've got to remember this! We have got to see this for the depth of what it's showing us, for the depth, for the providence, for the overruling, for the grace, for the strength, for God's spirit shining out for us.
That's what we need to see. With these things in place, we'll be well-equipped to further accomplish what Paul had in mind. We're going to go to the next verses in 1 Thessalonians in our upcoming episodes:
"Don't quench the spirit," "Don't despise prophetic sayings" and so forth and so on. There's so much more to cover.
This builds what our Christian Conduct is truly made of. Let's think about this. "Rejoice always," "pray without ceasing," and "in everything, give thanks."
Together, that's the foundation for our lives. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners.
We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up on our next episode: "What Does It Mean If I Quench the Spirit?"
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