Colossians 3:17

Amen. Our scripture, again, is taken from the third chapter of the book of Colossians. And we'll look at verse 17. That's Colossians chapter 3, verse 17, and it reads as follows. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of His holy word. Now, this particular verse, verse 17, is really the centerpiece or the climactic conclusion of a series of exhortations by the Apostle Paul for the Colossian believers to give thanks. And so, what I want to do is just sort of, there are actually six times in this brief letter that Paul strategically, in a very significant manner, admonishes his readers to give thanks unto God. And so, since we are in the Thanksgiving season, what I want to do is consider, I want to work our way to this one. This is the fifth of six. So what I want to do is just kind of walk through the other five to lead us up to what I think is really the summary of all of these exhortations to give thanks to God. So let's look at the six exhortations that Paul gives for the Colossian believers to give thanks. And as I've indicated, that each time that he does so, this isn't just a filler, but rather it's used in a rather strategic way. A lot of times we use God's speak and it's just kind of a filler, you know, praise God. And I'm not saying that people are not serious when they say it, but sometimes we need to just kind of let the words, let them roll around in our mouths, let our thoughts be engaged in what it means to give praise to God. And that's what Paul does with these exhortations to give thanks to God. So let's look at the six. And then we will, and looking at the first five, we will work our way to this one, which is actually the fifth of six. So I'm going to go in out of order in order in first four out of order on the fifth one so that we can deal with the text specifically. So here's the first one. The first one is given, it comes in chapter 1, verses 11 and 12. And I mentioned those verses together because in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 1, Paul expresses his desire that the Colossian Christians are strengthened with all power. And he gives it for a particular reason. He prays for his, and it's really probably a prayer petition on the part of the apostle, but his desire is that the Colossians would be strengthened with all power for endurance and patience with joy and giving all thanks to the Father. So look at the way, verses 11 and 12 read in chapter 1, and what Paul is basically doing is at monitoring and encouraging these believers that when they, that they would be strengthened with the power of the Lord to such a degree that as they endure whatever trial, whatever struggles that they are contending with, that they would be able to endure it with patience. And so basically what Paul is saying in his exhortation for them to give all thanks to the Father, it's a reminder that thanksgiving is a key ingredient in maintaining one's joy in the midst of trials. This giving of thanks to the Lord, this mindset, in fact, it's really a lifestyle of gratitude. And Paul's use of that exhortation here is that he is not denying, he's not saying that giving thanks to God will make all of the troubles go away. But he does express a desire that they would be strengthened to such a degree that as they go through the various trials that they would be able to endure with joy. And boy, that's a key, it's with joy. Now of course in the scriptures, joy is not superficial happiness. It's not, as I've often said, it's not having that cool age smile where we, well, oh, nothing hurts me. I'm okay. I'm not struggling. I'm not, I'm not going anything, you know, but we just hurt that some difficult thing. Oh, no, I'm just praising God. No, joy is not necessarily inconsistent with tears. That's happiness. That's, you know, happy is like, oh, I'm happy. And the smile is perpetual. It's on your face because we're happy, but joy is a mindset, as Jesus says. And this is why our joy, our delight, that speaking of delight. And here's the point that I think Paul is making is that as these collotions are strengthened, that they would be strengthened as they endure trials so that in the midst of those trials, they will not be made to think that somehow they've lost something so that they would maintain joy in the midst of their trials. So really, the idea is maintaining joy in the midst of trials. And one of the ways in which Paul is convinced that this can happen is if they are giving thanks unto God. Now, boy, that's, that's a lot to flesh out, but that's exactly what he exhorts in chapter one. So that's the first reference to giving thanks that, and it's strategic because it deals with Christians and trials. The idea being that not giving thanks not, and by the way, and I've said this before, that thanksgiving is more than saying thank you. And certainly that's what Paul is indicating here of being truly genuinely grateful for all that God has given us in Christ Jesus. That's easy to say and easy to do when things are well. And you can hear sometimes even when Christians testify of how, you know, how much they love the Lord. And it's, it's amazing. And I think of the words of Jesus. But it's, it's amazing how often people say, you know, I thank God because, you know, I was unemployed and he gave me a job and we should be grateful for that. And I thank him because I have a clothes on my back and I have a roof over my head and I thank him for that. And we should thank him for all of that. But as Jesus tells his disciples and his sermon on the Mount, he says, when you pray, don't ask God for all of, you know, food and clothing and shelter and all of that. Don't take that to him. He says, listen, believe unbelievers get that. When you pray, you, you, you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things, he already knows those things that we stand in need of. And so sometimes we are quick to say, well, I just thank God because you know, I have, and we should don't, don't get me wrong. But that's, that's really a fruit when we are, are grateful for God giving us tangible and physical things, especially as we have, as we have overcome other obstacles, that's a fruit of gratitude. Here's where gratitude remains. And this is why Paul is linking this with struggles and with enduring various trials. Here's what the heart of gratitude is. It is to lose any or everything and be grateful for what God has given in Jesus Christ. So that if, if I lose it all, then here's what I haven't lost. I haven't lost what God has purchased for me in the blood of Christ. And so Paul says, here's the first, here's the first call in his first challenge or exhortation for the believers, the collusion believers to give thanks unto God that they would be strengthened in this, in all power so that they can endure trials with joy and for that they need the main ingredient of thanksgiving. The second exhortation is found in chapter two verses six and seven. And in that passage, Paul is encouraging these Christians that as they have received Christ, that they should be rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. And then notice what follows, abounding in thanksgiving. Now in that instance, especially when you look at the addition of the adverb abounding, and so he says not just giving thanks to the Father, all thanks to the Father, as he mentions in chapter one, but he speaks of abounding in thanksgiving. In this instance, what the point that Paul seems to be making is that abounding in thanksgiving is a way of not becoming complacent in one's knowledge of Christ, not becoming complacent in one's knowledge of Christ. So in other words, how do we, because notice again, the connection, he's not just saying be thankful, but he says this in conjunction with him exhorting believers to be rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. And when he says in the faith, there he is, he's meaning the Christian faith in whole. In other words, being rooted in this, being grounded in this, in this and being built up in this. Now what that indicates is that being rooted and built up in the truth or built up and established in the faith, you know what that requires? That requires a lot of time in God's Word. It requires not just personal time in God's Word, but it requires also making ourselves available when his Word is open and expounded for us for this reason. Here's the aim so that we can be rooted and built up. And as Paul says later in or elsewhere in Ephesians, for instance in Ephesians chapter 4 and he talks about being built up in the knowledge of Christ, he says, for this reason, so that we no longer are children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. So in other words, if we are going to be built up in the scriptures, you know what that means? Taking time to avail ourselves to the scriptures. Now we are busy Americans, right? We are busy Americans. We've got schedules. We've got family. We've got time. We're supposed to, this is our problem. Listen, we've got access to so many things. So by the time you take your job, by the time, you know, family time and then all of the activities for children, it's very difficult sometimes for us to crack God's Word and open it and read it. Let alone come out to study together God's Word because we, you know, life gets in the way. And so here's what one of the things I think Paul is admonishing is that what will keep you? What will enable you? One of the things that will enable you to not be complacent. One of the things that will enable you to not grow laxodasical when it comes to availing oneself to the opening of God's Word is to be abound in thanksgiving. My wife gave me last year for Christmas. She gave me, I'm not ashamed to say, a PlayStation 4. And that PlayStation 4 is it's my escape. You know, when I sometimes you get bogged down with stuff and so my PlayStation 4 gets played just about every night, usually about, you know, one, two o'clock in the morning, that's a good time to just sit down, not crack open the book and not worry about not answer phone calls, not write anything out but just sit there and play baseball all night long. And my wife sometimes she'll see me playing and she says that's the gift that keeps on giving. And so I don't have to tell her thank you every time I play, every time I play is an expression of my gratitude for that gift. You see, I play for a long time on the old PS2 and those things they have the disc and it, you know, and the thing spins and the disc scratches and it's hard to save. You need memory cards and all of that. Well, with the PS4, it automatically saves and it's a computer and so much that's attached to it. And so my appreciation is my use of that game. And so gratitude is manifest in our use of what God has given. So here's what Paul is admonishing Christians to do is don't grow weary in availing yourselves to the study of your word. He says as you have received Christ, he has been given to you and you have received him and now the rest of our lives we are enrolled in discipleship school. And when you are enrolled in discipleship school, everything's going to get in the way. But here's his, I think his admonishment is that the more we appreciate the gift of Christ, the more we will avail ourselves to study him and to open up his word. And so his use of thanksgiving here is in conjunction with availing ourselves to the means that God has provided for us to be rooted and built up in the knowledge of him and established in our faith. And so if you, and you don't want to put anyone to the test, but here's what sometimes we have to do is demonstrate our gratitude for the gift of the gospel. And if we really appreciate it, then we avail ourselves to it. Here's the third usage that or the third exhortation that's found in chapter 3 in verse 15. And in verse 15, Paul is again, he is, this is part of another admonishment. None of these exhortations to give thanks just stand alone. All of them, all six of them are in conjunction with something else. In chapter 1, it's in conjunction with being able to endure, to maintain joy in the midst of trials. In chapter 2, it's in conjunction with availing ourselves to being rooted in the faith that we have received. In chapter 3, it's in conjunction with what Paul says, he says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let the peace of Christ, he says, rule in your hearts. And here, this is in conjunction with his call from verses 11 and 12, or really 11 through 14, but specifically verses 13 and 14 of chapter 3, where Paul calls on the believers to bear with one another, to forgive one another, even as they have been forgiven. Now, such a mindset, because that's a mouthful right there, forgive as we have been forgiven. Now, we always have qualifiers of why we can't forgive. And so Paul says that as you have, and not only does he say forgive one another, as you have been forgiven by Christ, but also he says, bear with one another. Now again, that's a tall order. And this is what he's talking about here, is to have a particular mindset towards those who have offended us in some way, and those who have sinned against us in a particular way. And the idea is that there is a battle within each of us to always fully forgive as we have been forgiven. There is a battle within us because when we are offended, when we have been sinned against, it is difficult for us to subdue our fleshly passions that rise. And they do rise, don't they? Have you ever said, well, I had to hold my tongue. And that's holding our tongue is a good place to start. But Paul says, no, there's something else because this whole list of things that he admonishes is in light of him saying put to death the flesh. So instead of just holding one's tongue, that means there's something else that needs to be put to death. Now, you're not going to put it to death until you recognize it's need to be put to death. And here's what he is suggesting that when our minds are ruled by our flesh, then it will be difficult for us to forgive, it will be difficult for us to bear with anyone who has offended us or crossed us in any way. So if we are not careful, then we will be ruled by the passion that is native to our fallen soul. And so Paul says, no, on the contrary, instead of being ruled by unhealthy and ungodly passions, Paul says, let the peace of Christ rule, and instead, and he says, and be thankful. Now again, the implication is that the peace that will yield itself, that will, the peace that we have in Christ Jesus will give us a different perspective. And what he's addressing here is not just, don't just say, well, thank you for Jesus. No, he's basically saying that when the flesh would attempt to rule how you deal with others and especially if others have offended you or sinned against you in some sort of way, and ungodly passions would rule, instead let the peace that is in Christ Jesus let that rule. And here's what he's really talking about is contemplate, give serious and deep thought to what God has done in forgiving you. And he says, and be thankful. So let here's how here's how the peace that we have from Christ can rule us is when we really contemplate the depths of that peace and let that, and then we look at it and say, wow, and then we are thankful. And that's what enables us to a greater degree to forgive as we have been forgiven. Jesus gives the story or gives the the parable of a steward who owed his master some money. And he owed him a large deal of money, and the master said, well, he brought a man, he says, you know what, I forgive the debt. That's okay, go ahead. And let's just start anew. And the man who was forgiven, he said, cool, you know, I'm good, so he leaves and he goes and he goes and finds the person, a person that owed him, not even a quarter of what he owed his master. And the man says, well, I don't have it. And he started to beat on him and get him thrown in jail. And when the master who forgave him thought about, he heard about it, he says, wait a minute. And he called the guy in his presence. He said, what is this? I have forgiven you and a way greater depth than what someone has owed you. And you don't have it in yourself to forgive someone else. He says, throw this man in jail. Throw this man in jail. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray and he includes that petition, forgive us our debts, even as we forgive those who are indebted to us. So what he's basically saying is think about what you've been given in Christ, let that rule you and be thankful for it. So thanksgiving again includes this contemplation of the depths of what we have been given in the peace that we have with Christ Jesus. And if we contemplate that and then demonstrate genuine gratitude for that, that is what enables us to let the peace of Christ rule our minds and our hearts. And it's the peace of God that we have in Christ that rules our minds and our hearts that enables us to do something that we were not genuinely created to do. And that's forgive. You see, we were created without sin and Adam was created without sin. So forgiveness is only something that we discover after the fall. And so now forgiveness does not come natural to us. That's why we have to look not to the person that offended us, but we have to look to the person that has forgiven us if we are able to be able to forgive others and contemplate that, meditate on the fact that he's forgiven me. He has forgiven me. Look at how gross and our sins are before God. And to know now that the holy, the thrice holy God of the universe has fellowship with you as if you had not sined even though you sined egregiously against him. Now that's peace. And brothers and sisters, do you know that in Christ Jesus, that we have access to something that in the liturgical structure of Old Testament Israel, that the high priest didn't even have access to or only the high priest had access to. And that was only once a year and that was entrance behind the veil into the holy of holies. The veil itself in the temple that that shut off the the inner sanctuary and the holy of holies, it was indicative of the distance between God and man. And when Jesus was crucified, Matthew tells us that that the veil in the temple was torn from the top down. And Matt or Hebrew, the writer of Hebrews goes on to tell us that we can now boldly come into the throne room of grace because our great high priest, our forerunner, has passed beyond the veil. Now here's what generates gratitude. It's thinking on that. Thinking on what we were without Christ and thinking on the fellowship and the access that we have because of Christ. And so what Paul is is admonishing the colossians to do here is when you have an issue with forgiving, then rather than looking at what they did and keeping their tally, look at what God has done for you and Christ Jesus and then be thankful. And as you are thankful, then the peace of Christ will rule your mind and your heart. Here's the fourth one. The fourth one is also in chapter three in verse 16. In verse 16, this one is in conjunction with worship. And again, it's interesting now how he lumps all of these together, but in conjunction with worship and in verse 16, he says, and it's a great passage on worship, a single verse, but it tells us what really is the essence of our worship. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart to God. What's interesting about that in terms of the language of it is throughout the first part of that verse, he says that you are singing to one another, he admonishing one another, teaching one another with spiritual songs and songs, you are doing all of this, but he says you are doing it with the ought to do it, I should say, with thankfulness in your heart to God. Brothers and sisters, you know, I think of this every time I come into worship and sing hymns and sometimes you feel like it and sometimes you don't, but here's the reality. I know one day that we will sing in that angelic choir and we'll join in with the angel singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord, but the reality is one of these days it will be our last time to sing. And God forbid that we should go through any worship with our hearts burdened down or our hearts distracted to the point that we are just going through the motion and that our worship is not driven by gratitude to God. And again, what he is saying is you're worshiping, you're singing so that you can teach the word to others, you are ministering to your brothers and sisters, but as you lift your voice to God, it ought to be with thanksgiving. If I can again draw from an experience that I had years ago I was involved in a very serious car accident and it was strange one night, I was at home and it was an off day so my son didn't go to school and my sister caused me up and asked me if I would come and pick her up from work, pick her and her husband up from work and so it was about 10 o'clock at night and I said sure, so I'm on my way to go pick her up and my son gets ready, he wants to go with me. And I said no, my wife says no, you know you got school in the morning I think he was and he was just getting out the bathtub so he didn't go. Well, after I picked up my sister I get on the freeway, the interstate five in Los Angeles and it's one of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles at all times, I get on the freeway and the struts on my car go out just as I'm about to accelerate getting on the freeway, which means I have absolutely no control over the steering wheel. All of a sudden instead of going straight I'm spinning around and I'm turning going against traffic on the five freeway and I have no control. I can't stop it and I hit the embankment, flip the car over on the side, skid down the freeway, pass the on ramp that I got on, upside down and about three or four times I thought I was dead and you know and and just thought that was it and when I got out of it I was and you know I left the house and okay well I'll be right back it'll be about half an hour I'll be right back and and so I mean God providentially kept us safe so that not one of us were seriously harmed and but it took about two three hours, I mean we stopped traffic on the five freeway and it was kind of scary because as they finally were able to pull us out of the car the the paramedics were there with the the the the stretcher and they said they were prepared to bring out dead bodies. So we are not dead, we are here you know we're good but when I got home and I was able to keep myself together and when I walked in the house I lost it because it dawned on me that when I left I just I just knew I was coming back and it it was within an eyelash it was it was really due to the providence of God that I walked back in that house and I thought about I hugged my wife and Kister and I thought about it wow that could have been the last time brothers and sisters and and you just leave all well see you know it's you know every moment is a precious moment that it should not be taken for granted and so it is when God calls us into the sanctuary to worship I know times are hard and I know life is hard and I know we get burned out and sometimes we come here tired but God forbid everything out there that anything out there would hinder my attitude when I come in here when I come in here I'm in the presence of a God who sent His only begotten son God forbid I should be so worn down from stuff that I forget to be thankful and I am indeed thankful thankful grateful and that's what Paul says when you sing don't just go through the motion oh okay oh what's the so no we are singing praises to our great God and so therefore Paul says when you do it you're doing it to your brothers and you're admonishing and encouraging and teaching one another but what you're doing he says do it with thanks giving in your heart to God and he's very specific not just being thankful but being thankful unto God and why are we thankful to him because as Paul says when we were yet enemies God sent forth his son to die and you know what else God also sent someone in your life to give you that good news and God forbid I should ever open my mouth calling myself singing unto God and it's not full and overflowing with thanksgiving that's why some songs it's just hard for me to sing all the way through because it's like wow Jesus what a friend for sinners wow even when our heart is breaking you know he is he is not he is there we're grateful and so Paul says that thanksgiving ought to be used as the main ingredient in our being strengthen as we endure trials so that we can maintain joy in the midst of trials Paul also says that thanksgiving ought to be included in our discipleship so that when we look at the task the difficult task because you don't learn by osmosis you learn by sacrifice you learn by effort and sometimes when our effort seems like it's futile or we don't feel like putting forth that effort just pause for a moment and think of what God has given you in Christ and he says abounding in thanksgiving that's what enables you to be rooted and built up and and avail yourself to those things that will feed you fully in the word of God brothers and sisters if you have a problem with lingering resentment and you're not looking at your brothers and sisters the right way then Paul says then let the peace of of Jesus rule in your heart and your mind in other words think on the peace that God has given you through Christ and be thankful then when you come into a sanctuary and you offer praise and thanks and unto God then when you lift your voice that's why there's nothing more beautiful than sanctuary or congregational singing you say yeah but I can't sing yes you can you really can you you can no you can don't go cutting a record or anything I don't quit your day job no but you can sing and here's why I know you can sing there is no heart that is born and sin and saved by grace that cannot sing because we can say truly he is Lord he is good he is gracious we can sing and we should sing with thanksgiving and if somebody else looks then then shame on them because if if your heart is overflowing in thanksgiving you don't have time to pay attention to somebody missing a note or whatever you're too busy saying thank you to God here's the fifth one or it's actually the sixth one we'll look at fifthly and that's in chapter 4 verse 2 in chapter 4 verse 2 this is in conjunction with prayer and Paul says to the Colossians to continue stead fastly in prayer and be watchful in it and now the implication is that and because he says and here it's where he also includes thanksgiving he says in in verse 2 he says continues to stead fastly in prayer being watchful in it notice this with thanksgiving I think part of the reason here is what what Paul is doing or the implication is that a heart of thanksgiving is excited to pray it's it's the heart that's that's that's that's filled with gratitude for God's gift of grace in Christ that is happy to sit down and talk to the Father now when I say this I don't I'm not saying that's that we fill all of our prayers with thanksgiving even though thanksgiving is one of the petitions that we offer to the Lord we thank him for our daily bread but it's really more than that because notice what Paul does he says and also pray for me pray also pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the world here's what I think what he's he's saying is that as we again are driven by thanksgiving it makes prayer less a duty and more of a delight and so that we can't help but talk to the Father it's funny you know our son is still in southern California and you know thousands of miles away thank God for new telephone technology because a day probably does not pass when he doesn't talk to one of us and sometimes it's three four times a day and if he's not talking then it's it's texting and and sending strange messages and all that sort of stuff because there's a delight in being able to talk what what Paul is admonishing the current the Colossians to do is listen forgiveness can be a task worship sometimes can be draining and certainly going through suffering can be draining and sometimes even your prayer life can be it can be way down and he say well I got to do it I got to do it because I've read all the books that says how much we need to pray and I've and I've I've got my prayer closet and I used to be such I used to be able to pray but now I have a hard time and so Paul says listen here's what you do continue step fastly and prayer and be watchful in it but be thankful and being thankful as we approach the Lord in prayer we find ourselves talking about the strangest things sometimes my wife is a well you know how's Kenny doing what you guys talk about everything you know and and that's what we should talk about when we go to our heavenly Father and Paul says throw me in there when you pray when you're when you are grateful for this ability to converse with your heavenly Father then throw me in there too pray for me pray for me that that that a door would be open for me that I would be able to declare the mystery of Christ well that brings us to the the fifth of these six exhortations which is our point of focus here and I think this this fifth one which is actually we're covering six this fifth one is it really seems to be the home base for all of the other exhortations and it's it's real simple and and we only want to look at two things that Paul addresses here in the passage in the first place Paul reminds us in this passage that the aim of all of our doing ought to be the glory and the honor of the name of Jesus Christ notice what he says whatever you do now what is it that that we what does he mean here he means exactly what he says he says whatever you do in word or indeed so in other words all of your conversations and all of your actions understand that that you here's what our aim in all of our doing ought to be and that is to bring glory to the name of Jesus Paul says in first Corinthians that whether you eat or drink whatever you do do it to the glory of the Lord brothers and sisters this is a reminder to us that our lives are not our own and when we live we live bearing the name of someone else and he reminds us that what ought to be the aim and all of our doing and all of our conversations and all of our interactions with all of our discourses when all of our exchanges whether we're on our jobs whether we're in our homes what ought to be our aim is to bring glory to the honor of the name of Jesus Christ Tommy Lasorta who was the manager long time manager for Los Angeles Dodger baseball team when he was just a fireball just full of energy and excitement but when he first took over as manager one of the things that he made at a point of saying is that you know what you need to play for the name that's on the front of the jersey rather than the name that's on the back of it because on the front is the name of the team and on the back is the name of the player and brothers and sisters we need to live life for the purpose of bringing honor to the name that has been written on our hearts not for the name that's on the back not on us and that's what we often do and so Paul says in the first place that here's what the aim of all of our endeavors the aim of all of our endeavors whether we wherever it is that we go whatever it is that we do whatever conversation that we are in it doesn't mean that every conversation is a Jesus conversation but every conversation ought to bring honor to Jesus every deed that we perform ought to be done with the intent of honoring Christ now here's the motive and that's the second and final thing here's the motive the the aim of all of our living and all of our doing is to bring honor to the name of Jesus Christ but the motive for which we are to do it and notice the wording that Paul uses here he says whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him if the aim of our living and doing is to bring honor and glory to the name of Christ then the motive for our doing it is not fear that we won't get in it's not it's not fear that anything's going to be taken from us but the motive for our bringing honor to the name of Christ is because we are thankful that God the Father gave him to us that's what Paul says here he says he says giving thanks to God the Father through him and again how do we show the Father our our appreciation for the Son by learning him by trusting him by letting his peace rule in our hearts and by saying thank you so that we honor his name in all of our doing in all of our words in all of our interactions wherever it is that we go and I say this often in our prayers that wherever it is that we go let our conversation let our conduct show that we have been in the presence of the most high God so brothers and sisters here's what I'm saying as we head into this day of thanksgiving that thanksgiving for Christians is not a day on the calendar thanksgiving for Christians is a mindset and it's a mindset that has to be consciously nurtured and consciously pursued and the reason we are thankful is not so that we can get anything there are many ungrateful Christians and or I'll put it this way that our our gratitude to God for grace in Christ is always gradual and it varies but but but here's the point there's no such thing as an ungrateful completely ungrateful Christian because we believe the gift behind in the gift is Christ and so God has given us Christ and at some point we are grateful and our responsibility is remove the baggage remove the stuff that hinders us from being grateful I think sometimes we are not in all enough for the grace that we have received in Christ let us exhaust our thoughts so that as we head into this thanksgiving you'll be with family members some our believers and some won't be believers and and it's interesting when non-believers all of a sudden want to get grateful and and show gratitude which is sometimes more than we can say for Christians what they do and they will start thanking God and so don't don't don't change stuff you know if they start thanking God for the the new clothes and the new house and the new job thank them thank them but in your mind thank God that he's given you a savior and that savior is only the God and son and what God has done in the gift of his son he's given you the righteousness that he has required and he's given you pardon for the for the penalty that you deserve let everything be done in thanksgiving so whatever you do and word or deed do it in the name of Christ in other words an honor of Christ and then if you need the motive for it the motive is that you are grateful that the father sent his son into the world and you're grateful that the father has given you the gift of his only beloved son for the pardon of your sins let's pray gracious God we thank you we do thank you we thank you that when we were without strength we thank you that when we were yet enemies and not only enemies but we were rebellious that you sent your son and father you didn't wait for us to get ourselves together to get our acts together you you looked at our hearts of stone and you removed it and you gave us a heart of flesh none of which we could have asked for you have indeed given us more exceedingly more than we are able to a think or even imagine you've given us Jesus you've given us pardon for our sins you've given us righteousness that we have not ourselves accomplished and so we just say thank you and we pray that our gratitude would go deeper than words we pray that our gratitude would manifest itself in how we look at life and how we look at others so that at the end of the day whether we are going through trials whether we are having struggles and applying ourselves to learn you word whether it's in corporate and public worship father whatever it is that we do even in our prayers we pray that you would give us a heart of thanksgiving and therefore bring honor to the name of our Savior we do thank you for Jesus and it is in his name that we pray amen