Living a Life of Thanksgiving
A sermon based on Philippians 4:4-7 and preached at Queen Street Baptist Church.
Introduction
Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays. I will confess that a big part of that is the thanksgiving meal. It is both the delicious food but also the gathering of family and the reflection of the things that we are thankful for.
I’m sure that Thanksgiving can be very difficult for some people. What if you don’t have anything to be thankful for? I would argue that everyone has something to be thankful for, but I understand that there are times that those things are hard to remember.
The truth is that life can be difficult. Things do not always work out the way we had hoped. For example, we are having our family over for Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to that. But we are separating the visits with our extended family from that of our children with autism. It would just be too much for Logan and Abby to try and be included with everyone. In a perfect world, not only would all our children be involved in the Thanksgiving dinner, but all our children would be living with us. But this is not a perfect world.
I sometimes hear Christians speak with shock when difficulties come our way. If we are worshipping and serving God, shouldn’t God be giving us an easy and comfortable life? Some have a crisis of faith when facing difficult circumstances.
I would never want to minimize the pain people feel. But I would also say that suffering does not contradict the Christian faith. Read through the Psalms and see how often the Psalmist complains about how hard life is. We have a book of the Bible called Lamentations, which is a reflection on the sadness of Jerusalem’s destruction. Jesus promised that those who followed him would suffer and Paul never avoided talking about his difficulties. In fact, Paul was in prison when he wrote the passage that we are looking at today.
The Bible never pretends that life is easy. The Bible affirms the reality of suffering. But the Bible is not a book without hope. In fact it is a book full of hope. In the passage we are looking at today, and in many other passages as well, there is a call to rejoice.
How do we do that and what does that look like? That is what we are going to look at.
What is Joy?
How does Paul start this passage? He tells us to rejoice. And then in case we missed it the first time, he tells us again. Rejoice. Be filled with joy. What does that even mean?
There is a Bible translation out there made a decision to remove all theological words so that everyone could understand it. That may be fine for words like sanctification and propitiation. But one of the decisions that they made was to remove all references to joy and replace it with being happy or glad. For example, it says “Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad.” (Phil 4:4, CEV) In the passage on the fruit of the Spirit, it says “God’s Spirit makes us … happy.” (Gal 5:22, CEV) What is the matter with this?
I will agree that joy is a theological word but I disagree that it is the same as gladness or happiness.
When I go into a used bookstore and find a book that I have wanted for a long time and it is really cheap, I feel glad. When Amanda bakes a special dessert, I am happy. All of those feelings are good. But they are not joy. Happiness and gladness are dependent on the circumstances. Take away my favourite book or that special dessert and all the good feelings are gone.
Paul means something completely different when he talks about joy. For Paul, joy is rooted in our relationship with God and not in the things we have or don’t have. To paraphrase the wedding service, joy is there for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.
As Paul is writing this letter, he is in prison. Not only that, there are troublemakers within the church who are using this as an opportunity to make Paul’s life even more difficult. And yet this one of the most joyful letters of Paul and perhaps one of the most joyful books of the Bible.
This is possible because Paul understood the nature of true joy and lived out of that strength.
How Do We Get Joy?
It is one thing to acknowledge that joy is important, it is another thing to know how to get it. Thankfully, Paul spells it out for us. It all comes down to prayer.
What is the role of prayer for the Christian? Is prayer just about saying something to God before a meal? Or is it perhaps a spiritual discipline for the most pious of Christians? The Bible speaks of prayer as being essential to the life of the believer. We would never try to have a healthy relationship with a person we cared for with out communication.
Our two children with autism are considered nonverbal. But that does not mean that we do not communicate. We just have to be a bit more creative and sensitive when it comes to communication. There is plenty of back and forth between us and there is no doubts about our love for them or their love for us.
Being a Christian is so much more than just being a member of a religion. Being a Christian is about being adopted as a son or daughter of God. We are in relationship with God and it is in that relationship that we will find joy. This means that we have to pray.
Paul includes two parts to prayer, both equally valuable. Paul speaks of prayer as petition. We are allowed to bring our needs, and yes even our wants, to God. I have heard people suggest that asking God for things is being selfish. And yet the Bible is full of examples of godly people who ask God for things. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he told them to ask for their daily bread. Read the Gospels and you will find that Jesus, the Son of God, asks the Father for things in his prayer. Why would he do that? Because that is what sons do. If Jesus as the unique Son of God could do that, how much more should we as the human adopted sons and daughters pray this way? Of course prayer of petition can get out of hand and become simply a list of tasks that we want God to get to as soon as possible. But we should not let the abuse of petition prayer scare us from using it in a healthy way.
Paul also tells us to pray with thanksgiving. The Greek for thanksgiving is eucharist, the same word that many use for communion. Why is it important to give thanks? How we speak to God reflects our relationship with him. If all we do is ask for things, we may see God as our heavenly servant. But if we value who God is and what he does for us, we should give thanks. I love it when our children thank us for a gift or a meal or for quality time. It is not because we do it for the words but the offering of thanks speaks to the health of the relationship.
But there is another reason why we should give thanks. When we make thanksgiving (the attitude not the meal) a regular part of our life, it is good for us. Having a thankful attitude is good for our mental health. However, this does not come easy. Being thankful takes work and discipline. I have built two practices in my life to help me be thankful. I try to say a quick breath prayer of “Thank you God” every time something good happens, no matter how small it may be. The second is that I do a “Good News” post every week on my blog as a way of reminding me of my blessings. I started this during a dark time in my life and I continue to do it as a way of keeping emotionally healthy.
What is Peace?
What is the result of these prayer? Is the promise that you will get everything you ask for? Is the promise that your life will be easy and comfortable? The promise is that we will have the peace of God.
But what is peace? We think of peace as the absence of conflict. We think of peace as everything being calm and quiet. However, biblical peace is shalom, which means wholeness. Biblical peace is not the absence of conflict but a greater peace that can exist within conflict. Like joy, shalom is not dependent on our circumstances.
Jesus gave this promise, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
This is a kind of peace that can give us strength no matter what is around us. It comes from prayer because there is something that happens when we give our troubles over to God. Even before our circumstances change, praying with petition and thanksgiving assures us that we are not going through this alone. God is with us.
Notice what Paul says this peace will do. The purpose of God’s peace is not to make us happy but to guard our hearts and minds. Living a life of thanksgiving is not something that comes easy. It is a constant struggle. Every message from the world tells us that we should not be thankful. “We should not be content with what we have.” “We should do whatever we have to do to get more and more.” “We should resent God for all the troubles in our lives.”
But when we live a life of prayer of petition and thanksgiving, we get the peace of God that guards our hearts and minds. The peace of God stands on guard against the messages that would rob us of our thanksgiving. It is only then we can find our true rest.
Conclusion
This weekend, there will be those who will find it easy to celebrate and those who find it difficult. The good news is that we do not have to be controlled by our circumstances. There is a joy and peace that is far stronger than the things that are happening to us. It is something not just for the most holy of us or the most righteous. It is something that we can access through prayer. Take time to pray about the concerns that are on your heart. Take time to pray about the many blessings you have received. From this will emerge both the joy and peace of God and there will be our life of thanksgiving.
