SERMON OUTLINE

Thanksgiving    Romans 1.21; 1 Thessalonians 5.18

Introduction

Calvary Church Seniors Thanksgiving lunch in 2008

Purpose to Always Give Thanks

-Not just to be polite and grateful

-A reflection of the Sovereign rule of God over my life

-An expression of trust and faith in God

-Like Philippians 4.4 and James 1.2

-Struggles can be the result of refusing to submit to God

-Initial submission in salvation, then growth in submission

Romans 1.18-23

-Wrath of God is revealed against ungodly / unrighteous

as seen in the Old Testament. Nations, Flood, Sodom

-Beware of God’s wrath. Romans 2.5. Repent and Confess

-Ungodliness: no worship or reverence for God. Attitude

of the heart against God.

-Unrighteous: wrong behavior, wickedness, Romans 1.24-32

-No reverence leads to no morality. 10 Commandments.

-God as Great Creator can be known. Without excuse.

-v21, Not honored or given thanks. No submission to God

-Refusal to submit leads to idolatry and immorality.

-The command to give thanks in all circumstances leads to

submission and conformity to Christ.

Conclusion

God’s wrath is highlighted to point us to God’s saving Grace in Jesus Christ for which we give much thanks.

SERMON NOTES

Thanksgiving               Romans 1.21; 1 Thessalonians 5.18

-In 2008, I was asked to come and speak to the Calvary Church Seniors for their October Thanksgiving lunch. According to my records I spoke there on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 22^nd. I chose as my verse 1 Thessalonians 5.18, “Give thanks in all circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. I chose that verse because I needed a verse that focused on thanksgiving. My preparation for that meeting and the meeting itself have become very special to me. My preparation and my talk began an ongoing interest and growing understanding in God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances.

-I discovered that God’s purpose in this command for me to give thanks in all circumstances is not just to make me a nice kind, polite, well behaved Christian that practices good etiquette by saying thank you in all circumstances. It is not even God’s ultimate purpose to make me a grateful person. I think that as Christians we should be kind and grateful people because of who we are in Christ and how God has blessed us with salvation and a relationship with Himself. But God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances involves so much more than gratitude and thanksgiving.

-This command to give thanks to God in all my circumstances cuts to the very core of my being by asking me if I am truly trusting in the God who Sovereignly rules over my life. This command calls me to show a deep trust in God’s Sovereignty and Goodness and Love in my life. God calls me to give thanks in all circumstances, and to rejoice always in my trials as an expression of faith in Him, as a sign of a surrendered will and a willingness to accept the will of God with joy. Giving thanks to God in all my circumstances shows my willingness to live for God’s purposes under His Sovereign rule.

-I find the same principle at work in God’s command to “rejoice in the Lord always”, and “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (Philippians 4.4; James 1.2). All of these commands are asking me to express a deep trust in God in all my circumstances.

-I believe that one of the biggest causes of discouragements, lack of joy and peace, and bitterness in Christians is our refusal to submit to God’s total rule over our lives and circumstances. Many a counseling session would come to an end if we chose to fully submit to God’s plan for our life and surrendered to God’s rule over us, giving up our rights and all our dreams and possessions to His direction and control. When I understand what God is asking me to do in giving thanks in all my circumstances I become more like Jesus in attitude and heart and deepen in my relationship with God.

-Our initial submission to God is when we accept that we are sinners and that we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to be saved from God’s wrath. When we submit to God in repentance and confession He saves us from sin. From this initial submission in salvation, God desires to bring us to the submission and obedience that is seen in Jesus to his Father in giving himself even to death on the cross. The will of the Father was the will of Jesus, so that in all circumstances Jesus could give thanks to God in willing submission to God’s Sovereign rule over his life and circumstances.

-I hope you understanding what I am saying this morning. If you do not get it, let me encourage you to go to the church website later this week and read this message over a couple of times and ask God to help you to understand more fully what I am trying to say about the connection of giving thanks to God in all circumstances and the full submission of our will to God’s Sovereign rule.

-Please turn to Romans 1 and I would like to show you how being unthankful is an expression of sinful rebellion against God and leads to idolatry and immorality. [Read Romans 1.18-23; Keep Bibles open]

–Verse 18 tells us that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. If you want to understand the wrath of God against sin read the OT and notice how God destroyed wicked nations because of their idolatry, how God destroyed mankind by a flood in the days of Noah because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”, how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because he could not find even 10 righteous people there. God’s wrath will always be against ungodliness and unrighteousness.

-The one thing you do not want is to be face to face with the wrath of God on Judgment Day. Look at Romans 2.5, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Flee from the wrath to come. Ask God to lead you to repentance and salvation. Ask God to change you hard and impenitent heart to a heart that loves Jesus. One of the reasons why Christians are filled with thanksgiving is because they know they are no longer under the wrath of God.

-We are told that God’s wrath is revealed against two things, ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Both the meaning and the order of these two words is important.

–Ungodliness translates a Greek word made from a negative prefix and the word for worship and reverence. So it literally means no worship or no reverence for God. This irreverence can range from ignoring God to outrage against God. This word describes an attitude of the heart toward God. Ungodliness describes a complete disregard for God and even anger against God. Today most people want nothing to do with God and become angry when presented with the Holy God of the Bible.

–Unrighteousness translates a Greek word made from a negative prefix before the word for doing what is right. This word points to wrong behavior towards God and towards men. This word points to wrong action, immorality, and broken relationships. It could be translated as wickedness as it is in the NIV. Romans 1.24-32 describes this wicked behavior as it is presently being lived out before our eyes.

-The order of these two words shows that a lack of reverence for God leads to wrong behavior in our lives and toward others. Our attitude toward God determines our behavior. Ignoring and rebelling against God leads to the sin that we find in the world today. When we worship God and fully submit to Him right behavior follows.

-God’s wrath is revealed first toward a heart that does not honor Him and then toward the wicked behavior that results from a hard and impenitent heart. In God’s first four commandments He calls us to reverence Him as God, and in the last six commandments He calls us to behave rightly towards others. Because of sin both our heart attitude to God and our behavior toward others is deserving of God’s wrath.

-In the last part of verse 18 and verses 19-23, we are given a description of how fallen man wickedly suppresses (holds down) the truth and moves toward idolatry and immorality. We will see that part of that process in not being thankful to God.

-The invisible attributes of God, namely his eternal power and divine nature, can be plainly seen in creation, in the world that God has made. Man can see the regular movements of the Sun and Moon and stars, the power of wind and rain and snow, the abundance of fruit in the yearly cycle of seed time and harvest, the amazing dexterity of the human hand and the creativity of the human mind, and so much more. In viewing creation, including man himself, mankind must conclude that there is a Great Designer, a powerful Creator, and that this Creator is God.

-Creation cannot reveal mankind’s origin, mankind’s fall into sin, or God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, but creation can reveal that God exists and that He must be powerful. So because of creation, man is without excuse with regard to His knowledge of a Greater Divine Being.

-It is in verse 21 that we see man’s sinful nature and his hard heart in response to God. Man “knew God” the powerful creator but “did not honor Him as God”. Literally “did not glorify him as God”. As we learned in verse 18, mankind does not revere and honor God as God for reverence is to submit to God and sinful man refuses to submit to God.

-We are also told that mankind does “not give thanks to God”. To thank God would acknowledge that God is God who created, provided and sustained, and would again be submission to God. Being unthankful here is not just a lack of gratitude. It is not just forgetting to say thank you for receiving something good. Here unthankful is a refusal to submit to God and a refusal to acknowledge the majesty and supremacy of God. That is again an expression of the lack of worship mentioned in v18, the heart attitude that does not reverence God or submit to God. When we truly, from the heart, thank God for the circumstances He has engineered for us, we are bowing down to Him and submitting to Him as God.

-As a result of not honoring God or giving thanks to Him, a further futility in the mind and hardness of the heart takes place and this leads to idolatry, an “exchange of the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” and also to depraved immorality. Creation provided enough knowledge for humanity to know that God was not a man or a creature. In not honoring God or giving thanks to Him for all His power and provision, man refused to submit to God and was overtaken by his sinful nature and made foolish and blind, and led to worship idols and sensuality and to believe deceptive lies (man is the product of evolution; I am good enough to get to God). That is the history of humankind in relation to God. God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances is a reversal of man’s rebellion and stubborn refusal to submit to God.

-I have spoken a great deal about the wrath of God on sinful man this morning. The wrath of God is real and certain for those who do not know Jesus Christ. But I also want to remind you that the purpose of the book of Romans in showing us the certainty God’s wrath is to introduce us to the forgiving mercy God offers to the sinner in Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is hanging over everyone here who does not belong to Jesus Christ but you don’t have to face God’s wrath if you come to Christ for salvation. How thankful you are to God for His Grace shows if you are truly saved. Those who are not saved and are still under God’s wrath are not thankful for God’s Grace and hate God for saying that He will judge them in wrath. If you are not thankful to God this morning for His Grace and hate God because He will punish you as a sinner, you need to be saved.

-For those of us who are believers, how we genuinely give thanks in all our circumstances shows how much our hearts are submitted to God and how much more they need to be submitted to God.

-Do not just obey the command to give thanks in all circumstances because that is what the Bible says you are to do. Rather know that God is asking you to submit your life fully to His control and to His plan for you and that in honestly giving thanks in all circumstances you are expressing a heart submitted to God.