Thanksgiving
In everything Give Thanks
There’s a car dealership around Salem Oregon that’s come up with this
funny new commercial campaign called the trunk monkey. It has to hit
you right, but I think they are pure comedy. That’s NOT why I want you
to see them.
Watch them and then let’s talk about it.
When I saw that I thought this is how we treat the Lord. Like a trunk
monkey. Notice when we need him. When we are threatened. When
we are in trouble. When we need him to pay back someone or protect
us. One other area. The monkey was reading a book how to win at
casino gambling. When we want the monkey to make us prosperous.
That’s how we tend to treat the lord. When we do we’ll push the button.
Stay in the trunk until we need you.
I want to be clear. I believe that when you walk with the Lord he will help
you when you are threatened. He does rescue you from trouble. And he
is our vengeance and vindication for our enemies. I even believe that the
relationship with Christ is what gives us prosperity and blessings, though
they aren’t always monetary.
It is the blessings of the lord that makes rich. But . . . having said all of
that. God is NOT your trunk monkey. And he doesn’t always jump out of
the trunk to do what you want Him to do.
Here’s the problem. If that’s what you think God is all about then you are
going to be hugely disappointed and you will always have an immature
understanding of the Lord.
What happens when you punch the button and the monkey doesn’t come
out? How do you feel about the God then?
Here’s what I’m getting at. This is the Sunday after thanksgiving. We’ve
spent the weekend thanking God for all the blessings he’s given. And
they are really too numerous to count.
We are blessed. We have so much. Wealth. Health. Life. Friends.
Faith. Freedom.
But what about all the things you don’t have. Can you be thankful for
those too? What about when you get into trouble and God doesn’t
respond the way you expect? Stay with me for a minute. You are in a
difficult situation and you need God. So you punch the trunk monkey
button and he doesn’t show up. And the big bully takes advantage of
you. Or the cop hauls you in. Or the thief gets your car. Or you don’t
win the lottery.
What do you do? How do you feel about God when he doesn’t act like a
trunk monkey?
Let’s explore a verse this morning.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
God’s will for you is a thankful heart. The verb, “Give thanks” is in a
command form. And I will confess, when I’m sitting over a huge feast of
turkey and dressing and surrounded by the people that I love, well, that’s
not a struggle. But there are other times when it is hard to be thankful.
According to this verse we aren’t just to be thankful for the good things.
We are to be thankful in everything. I looked up that word “everything” in
the original Greek. Do you know what it means? “Everything.”
Wait a minute. Does that mean . . . that I have to be thankful to the Lord
when things aren’t going well? Do I have to be thankful when the big
bully scares me or takes advantage of me? Do I have to be thankful
when I’m hurt and lonely and tired? What about when I feel
disappointed or angry because God let me down. I pushed my trunk
monkey prayer button and nothing happened. How can He expect me to
be thankful then?
Get a grip on this. It says “In” not “for.”
Thankful “IN” not “FOR”
He says “in” everything give thanks.
I don’t think you have to be thankful for the painful events that come into
your life. I once did a funeral for a 45 year old man that committed
suicide. His six year old daughter found him. It would be ridiculous to
expect her to thank God for that experience.
I wept with a father over his dying 17 year old son as doctors tried to
save his life. The car wreck had created such massive internal bleeding
that his blood wouldn’t clot. I don’t think that dad has to thank God for
the loss of his son.
Hurricane Katrina wiped out the city of New Orleans. In addition to the
destruction of property there has been a destruction of the way of life for
thousands. Students at ULM that can’t finish school. Mom and dad back
home don’t have the funds. They aren’t working. Their jobs are gone.
Churches that are closing there doors. I heard that FBC New Orleans
laid off the entire staff. Everyone except the pastor. They can’t meet.
They can’t take an offereing.
Do those people have to be thankful for that devastation?
You don’t have to be thankful FOR everything that happens in your life.
That would be outrageous. Sometimes we go through very difficult
circumstances. Our hearts are broken. Our hopes are crushed. It’s
absurd to say, “Thank you Jesus!” Some people try to live like that, but
they don’t seem very real to me.
I can be thankful that even IN my circumstances. And this is where God
is no longer my trunk monkey.
I push the prayer button and God doesn’t respond the way I expect. So I
push it again. Still nothing. I push it again. God, I need you to get me
out of this problem.
But heaven is silent. And I am in agony. What then? Am I frustrated?
Am I angry? Or do I give thanks?
Here’s where faith kicks in. God, these things I am going through are
very painful. But I trust you to know what’s best. So I will choose to
thank you IN my circumstances knowing that they are temporary but you
aren’t’. I will wait to see your glory. Please show me your glory.”
When you do that a variety of things happen.
The benefits of this kind of thanksgiving
I don’t believe that God ever asks us to do something unless it’s actually
best for us. And so when we are told to give thanks IN everything I
believe that there are blessings in this. Real tangible blessings.
Thankfulness puts my relationship with God in order
My tendency is to turn my understanding of god upside down. I want him
to serve me. Instead of the other way around.
When I turn him into a trunk monkey and say, “God, stay in the trunk
until I push your button” then He is my servant.
Let’s go back and dig up something from one of the dusty corners of the
Old Testament. I want you to see the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:1-11
1 ¶ Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I,
the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the
third and the fourth generations of those who hate
me,
6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to
those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your
God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him
unpunished who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD
your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or
your son or your daughter, your male or your
female servant or your cattle or your sojourner
who stays with you.
11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens
and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
He lists four commandments related to God. Here they are:
You shall have no other god’s before me.
So much for a pluralistic idea that everyone is right. Worship Allah,
Buddha, Vishnu, Krishna, yourself. It doesn’t matter as long as you
worship something. Wrong.
You shall not make for yourself a graven image.
No statues of God in any way shape or form. And don’t make
statues of other saints and virgins either.
You shall not take my name in vain.
This isn’t’ a mandate against cussing. It’s a mandate against the
profane or vain use of God’s name. In other words when you use the
name of God it had better be in a way that glorifies that name. The
other day I saw a coffee company called Yahweh coffee. I’m
troubled by that. I often hear people say, “Oh my God.” IN a cavalier
way. Or Jesus. Or Jeez.
Honor the Sabbath.
Of course for the church we celebrate the Sabbath as Sunday
because it honors the resurrection. And that has always been
approved by God. The point is to set aside a day, a full day to
worship and rest and recharge and reflect.
I read this list and I’m convicted because I’m confronted with the
Holiness and majesty of God. He’s not some trick monkey to keep
locked in the trunk. If anyone’s the monkey it ought to be me. When he
pushes my button I should be the one responding. We’ve somehow got
it all backwards.
Thankfulness corrects that. God isn’t my servant. So if He doesn’t jump
when I push the button then he must be doing something vital in my life.
And I can thank him for that.
Thankfulness puts my relationship with people in
order
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and
hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who
does not love his brother whom he has seen,
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Did you think it ironic that the trunk monkey is to meet out justice to
those who threaten us or hurt our stuff? But when the lady was in the
wrong, the trunk monkey was supposed to get her out of trouble. In
other words, we want off the hook when it’s our fault. But we want
justice when it’s theirs.
“Oh God, don’t let that Highway patrolman pull me over for speeding.
God, get that guy, he’s driving reckless!”
People threaten us. We create trouble for ourselves by doing things we
wish we didn’t do. People hurt us and break our stuff. It would be nice
to have a monkey fix all of that. But the other side of this is what it does
to us.
Turn it around. If you are thankful IN all things then when someone
disturbs your comfortable world your antennae goes up and you start
asking God to open your eyes on how to respond. God how can I love
this person the way Jesus does.
Think about the way Christ calls you to respond to the guy in
the first video.
He’s screaming at you.
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Think about the second video.
· Use it to help you understand Justice.
· Use it to help you appreciate grace.
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I have a friend named Harold that says whenever he gets pulled over he
never gets mad or upset. It reminds him of grace. How so? He said, “I
think of all the times that I broke the speed limit but didn’t get stopped.”
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If my focus is on how God can make my life more comfortable. Easier.
Safer. Then how does that make me feel about other people? These
other people are just messing up my life. Get rid of them God. Make
them stop threatening me. Make that guy quit writing me a ticket. Throw
that car-jacker off the bridge.
Don’t be surprised by it.
Don’t rage back.
If he hits you turn the other cheek.
Identify with Christ.
Ask yourself what you could do differently next time.
Use this as an opportunity to show him the nature of Jesus!
Use it to learn the lesson of speeding.
Maybe God isn’t fixing your problem right now because he wants to use
this as an opportunity to shape your character.
How about the third video.
Someone stole your car. Broke the window.
· Use it as an opportunity to give grace.
· Use it as an opportunity to put your stuff into perspective.
Jesus said, “Thieves break in and steal.”
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God. Not FOR everything.
I don’t have to thank God for those terribly painful days. I don’t have to
be thankful for the hurt itself. But I can thank God IN it.
He is using it to make me more like Jesus.
Thankfulness reminds me why I’m here
1 Peter 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian,
let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him
glorify God.
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with
a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
My job, the only reason I’m still here, is to glorify God. That’s my
purpose. And I do that by showing other people jesus and telling them
about his plan for their lives.
I forget that. I get consumed with comfort and convenience. But when
life is tough and I’m forced to be thankful it reminds me again why I’m
here. Its not about me. Its about him.
God brings people into our lives for us to reach. Listen, people are
annoying. They don’t do what they say they will do. They don’t treat us
the way we deserve to be treated. They lie. They cheat. They steal.
And sometimes we do too.
But God loves us. And he loves them.
We realize that when we are thankful. So in everything GIVE THANKS
for this is the will of God concerning you!