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Christian Thankfulness: What It Is (and Isn’t) · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving Day. It's a national holiday for us in
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  Speaker 1: the States. I'm very grateful that you listen to the
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  Speaker 1: podcast and are along with us today, and no matter
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  Speaker 1: where you live in the world, we are praying that
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  Speaker 1: you have a day full of christ centered thankfulness for
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  Speaker 1: all the blessings that we enjoy in this life. Thanksgiving
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  Speaker 1: is an essential daily practice for all Christians and it's
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  Speaker 1: evidence of our soul's well being. As Charles Spurgeon said,
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  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is one of the best ways to keep yourselves
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  Speaker 1: in spiritual health. That's a great line. Thanksgiving is like
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  Speaker 1: spiritual cardio for us in the Christian life. If we
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  Speaker 1: lose gratitude, we lose spiritual vibrance. So when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to this Thanksgiving Day here in the States, it's no
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  Speaker 1: small holiday for the Christian. So Pastor John, I don't
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  Speaker 1: have a question for you today. Just use this day
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  Speaker 1: to invest a few minutes to help us refocus on
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  Speaker 1: what the Bible says here by leading us in a
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  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day meditation, if you would.
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  Speaker 2: Let's take a moment and ponder what the experience of
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  Speaker 2: thankfulness actually is. And here I'm going to limit myself
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  Speaker 2: to Christian thankfulness. So I'm not talking about Hitler's thankfulness
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  Speaker 2: that his liquidation techniques have become more efficient. That kind
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  Speaker 2: of thankfulness is wicked. There is wicked thankfulness. Nor am
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  Speaker 2: I talking about a kind of good thankfulness the way
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  Speaker 2: most people celebrate thanksgiving who don't have any relationship with
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  Speaker 2: God at all, but feel that they are the beneficiary
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  Speaker 2: of some kind of benevolence and usually attribute it to
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  Speaker 2: other people. I'm talking about Christian thankfulness, the kind that
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  Speaker 2: God is very pleased with. Now, what is it. It's
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  Speaker 2: a feeling and emotion and affection in the heart that
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  Speaker 2: rises spontaneously in response to receiving something that will increase
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  Speaker 2: our enjoyment of Christ. That's my definition of Christian thankfulness.
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  Speaker 2: A couple of comments about that definition a spontaneous emotion,
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  Speaker 2: So I'm distinguishing thankfulness from saying the words thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You can teach a child to say thank you to
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  Speaker 2: his Grandmamma for a gift he does not want. There's
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  Speaker 2: no spontaneous thankfulness welling up in this child's heart because
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  Speaker 2: he didn't want those black socks. So no spontaneous emotion
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  Speaker 2: rose up in the child's heart when he got this
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  Speaker 2: gift that he did and want. Saying thank you is
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  Speaker 2: not the same as being thankful. Being thankful is not
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  Speaker 2: a decision. Saying thank you is a decision. Being thankful
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  Speaker 2: is not a decision. It is a spontaneous heart response
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  Speaker 2: to the perception of someone giving you something that's good
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  Speaker 2: for you. And what makes the spontaneous response of the
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  Speaker 2: heart Christian is that it has the effect of increasing
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  Speaker 2: our enjoyment of Jesus. And this is partly owing to
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  Speaker 2: the fact that we see Jesus as the source ultimately
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  Speaker 2: behind the gift, and we fully anticipate that the goodness
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  Speaker 2: of the gift will cause us to know Him more,
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  Speaker 2: love Him better. The gift may be an ice cream cone,
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  Speaker 2: and the gift may be the salvation of your soul
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  Speaker 2: by the power of the Holy Spirit. In either case,
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  Speaker 2: what makes the heart response of thankfulness christian is that
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  Speaker 2: it comes from Christ and leads to the enjoyment of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: If ice cream cones don't make you know and love
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  Speaker 2: Christ better, they're wasted on you. All things are from
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  Speaker 2: Him and through Him, and to Him or for Him.
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  Speaker 2: Christians are Christians all the way down, from salvation to
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  Speaker 2: dairy queen, butterfinger blizzards and all the blessings above and below,
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  Speaker 2: which also implies that thankfulness, while it may have its tears,
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  Speaker 2: it regularly has its tears, is a happy emotion. When
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  Speaker 2: it comes, we're glad that it comes. It is a
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  Speaker 2: gratifying experience. In fact, the human soul, let this sink in.
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  Speaker 2: The human soul is deeply made for this experience. And
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  Speaker 2: therefore when it comes, we feel like we have become
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  Speaker 2: human as we ought, humbly receptive and sweetly thankful. And
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  Speaker 2: now to help us revel in this happy experience on Thanksgiving,
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  Speaker 2: think with me about these few observations. First, thankfulness is
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  Speaker 2: a sweetly humble experience. It is, in a sense the
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  Speaker 2: very opposite of pride on Corinthians four to seven. What
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  Speaker 2: do you have that you did not receive? If then
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  Speaker 2: you received it, why do you boast as if it
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  Speaker 2: were not a gift? In other words, thankfulness, by its
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  Speaker 2: very nature pushes boasting out of the human heart. You
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  Speaker 2: can't at the same time be a brash, swaggering, boastful, cool,
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  Speaker 2: self sufficient person and a thankful person. You can't not
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  Speaker 2: in the same heart. That's really important in our day,
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  Speaker 2: It seems to me because in video after video for
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  Speaker 2: all I can tell by the advertisements that slip in
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  Speaker 2: while I'm watching some documentary or something. Brash, swaggering, boastful, arrogant,
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  Speaker 2: self sufficient, sassy heroes and heroines are evidently quite popular. Well,
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  Speaker 2: they're not popular with God because God delights in thankfulness.
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  Speaker 2: Picture some sassy, swaggering heroine or he saying, with humility
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  Speaker 2: to God or to a friend, I am so thankful
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  Speaker 2: for your kindness to me. No, it won't work because
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  Speaker 2: thankfulness necessarily implies humility and dependence and the finding of
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  Speaker 2: our happiness in receiving some good that another did for us,
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  Speaker 2: that goes beyond what we deserve.
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  Speaker 1: It is the.
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  Speaker 2: Opposite of pride and swagger. Second, consider that this is
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  Speaker 2: why thankfulness is purifying, especially to our mouths. If Esians
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  Speaker 2: five verse four, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk,
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  Speaker 2: nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead
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  Speaker 2: let there be thankfulness. It's amazing. That's an amazing thing
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  Speaker 2: that Paul would contrast crude joking with thankfulness. It's because
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  Speaker 2: emotionally they just don't go together. I mean, try to
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  Speaker 2: imagine it. Why do people with crude, foul mouths that
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  Speaker 2: lace their talk with four letter words. Why do they
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  Speaker 2: do that? One of Paul's answers is their hearts are
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  Speaker 2: not brimming with humble, happy thankfulness, especially to God. Nobody
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  Speaker 2: uses four letter words or a crude phrase to express heartfelt,
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  Speaker 2: humble thankfulness. Third, consider how everything that we have is
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  Speaker 2: a gift, and if we know that we are sinners,
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  Speaker 2: then everything we have is an undeserved gift, not just
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  Speaker 2: a few things here and there, everything Acts seventeen twenty five.
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  Speaker 2: God gives life and breath and everything. What do you have?
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  Speaker 2: Paul asks that you did not receive, and he answers nothing,
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  Speaker 2: which means that thankfulness for the Christian who lives in
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  Speaker 2: the light of this truth is utterly pervasive in all
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  Speaker 2: of life. This is the beat of his emotional heart.
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  Speaker 2: This is the air we breathe. This is the flavor
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  Speaker 2: of every experience. God is sovereign, God is wise, God
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  Speaker 2: is good. God turns everything for the good of his children. Thankfulness,
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  Speaker 2: thankfulness for the Christian is part of every experience. That's
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  Speaker 2: what First Thessalonians five eighteen says give thanks in everything,
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  Speaker 2: and Ephesians five twenty takes it further, Give thanks for everything.
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  Speaker 2: When we are walking in the light of the truth.
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  Speaker 2: No emotion is more common in the Christian heart than
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  Speaker 2: happy thankfulness. Finally, consider the vastness of the benefits that
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  Speaker 2: Christians have Romans eight thirty two. He who did not
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  Speaker 2: spare his own son, but gave him up for us all,
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  Speaker 2: how will he not with him also graciously give us
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  Speaker 2: all things, all things Philippines, four nineteen. My God will
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  Speaker 2: supply every need of yours according to His riches in
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  Speaker 2: glory in Christ. For Corinthians three twenty one. All things
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  Speaker 2: are yours, whether Paul or a Paulus or Cephus, or
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  Speaker 2: the world, or life or death, or the present or
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  Speaker 2: the future, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and
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  Speaker 2: Christ is God's. It is only a matter of time, Christian,
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  Speaker 2: until you inherit the earth. Be patient, be faithful, and
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  Speaker 2: be thankful in everything all the time. We were made
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  Speaker 2: for this happy emotion.
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  Speaker 1: Amen. If ice cream cones don't make you know and
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  Speaker 1: love Christ better, they're wasted on you. Pointed christ centered
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  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is huge. A lot rides on it, and Thanksgiving's
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  Speaker 1: relationship to cussing and profanity. The power of thanksgiving to
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  Speaker 1: purify our mouths, to clean up our language that has
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  Speaker 1: always been a point to me, Pastor John, that I
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  Speaker 1: find especially fascinating. And if that interests you, if you
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  Speaker 1: want more, if you want to explore more on that
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  Speaker 1: connection of Thanksgiving and how our Thanksgiving cleans up our mouths,
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  Speaker 1: see the Ask Pester John Book. If you have a copy,
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  Speaker 1: handy on pages one thirty five to one thirty eight.
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  Speaker 1: I digest all the episodes that deal with that connection
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  Speaker 1: pages one thirty five to one thirty eight in the
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  Speaker 1: Aspestor John Book. Thank you for listening to the asp
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  Speaker 1: Petal John Podcast. I'm Tony Rank. You have a great
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  Speaker 1: holiday weekend, Pastor John, and I will see you back
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  Speaker 1: here on Monday.