Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Psalm 35:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Theme: Reasons why Christians need to be a thankful people.

King David wrote in the 35th Psalm: “I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.”

(Psalm 35:18, NIV84).

It’s a powerful verse written during a dark time in David’s life.

This is a psalm that David wrote during the days of his persecution by King Saul.

First Samuel 24 probably contains the background for this psalm.

David is hiding in the wilderness oasis of Engedi, and Saul leads a search party of 3,000 soldiers looking for him intent on finding him and killing him.

Most of the Psalm is David’s powerful appeal to a righteous God to execute judgment upon the enemies of God and the persecutors of His righteous people.

But even in the dark times of his life, David vows to give thanks to the Lord.

In the good days, as well as the bad days, God’s people are to be a thankful people.

In both Old and New Testaments God encourages and commands His people to give thanks to Him.

There is something about a grateful heart that brings pleasure and satisfaction to the heart of a holy and righteous God.

In the New Testament passage I read, it is clearly the will of God that His chosen people habitually give Him thanks for the blessings of life.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV84).

The temptation is for us to grumble, and groan and gripe about what we don’t have or what isn’t happening or how life has not turned out as we thought it would instead of thanking God for what He has already done for us and given to us.

ILLUS.

I’ve always wondered how God’s popularity index would stack up if Zogby polled about the Lord’s ‘likeability’ every month like they do for political candidates.

Rendering thanks to God is not to be an occasional act of God’s people, but it is to be a way of life.

How do I know?

The word "give" used in regard to give thanks in 1 Thess.5:18 is in the present tense meaning that thanksgiving is to be an ongoing and continual behavior in the lives of God’s people.

Why are we to give thanks unto the Lord?

I. IT PLEASES THE LORD

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

(Psalm 107:1, NIV84)

“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV84)

1. the practice of giving thanks to the Lord is clearly His divine will

a.

rest assured that God is pleased when we do what He desires us to do in regard to any matter

2.Christians need to learn how to count their blessings rather than listing their misfortunes

a. later this week, many of us will begin to peruse the Christmas catalogues looking at all the neat stuff we want

1) let me suggest that perhaps we ought spend more time looking at the neat stuff we already have and thanking God for it

b. in Psalm 103 we find Gods Catalogue of Blessings

1) it’s not a Christmas catalogue but a Thanksgiving Catalogue

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

(Psalm 103:1–5, NIV84)

c. there are 5 blessings we can Praise God for:

1) He forgives our sins

2) He heals us from our diseases

3) He redeems our life

4) He crowns us with love and compassion

5) He satisfies our desires with good things

A. MOST BLESSINGS ARE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

1. if you woke up this morning with more health than illness ...

a. you are more blessed than the one million people who will not survive this week

2. if you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ...

a. you are ahead of 500 million people in the world

3. if you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death ...

a. you are more blessed than three billion people in the world

4. if you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep ...

a. you are richer than 75% of this world

5. if you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...

a. you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy

B. BLESSINGS YOU NEED TO COUNT

1. according to the Psalm 103

a. God forgives our sin and then forgets about them — “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”

1) if this was all God ever did for us, that would be enough to give thanks for all eternity

b.

God heals our diseases

1) it may be a physical healing but that may not be God’s first priority

2) God is more concerned about our spiritual healing and our emotional healing

c.

God redeems our lives

1) redeem means to obtain by paying a price, to buy back

2) God the Son paid the ultimate price to redeem us — he shed his blood at a place called Calvary to purchase back for God what sin had stolen away from Him

d.

God crowns us with love and compassion

1) He has given us true honor by adopting us into His family

2) what greater blessing than to be brought into the love and favor of God?

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12, KJV 1900)

e. God satisfies our desires with good things

1) have you listed the good things you have?

2) God gave you those things for your pleasure

6.

When We Thank God, it Is Pleasing to Him

Why are we to give thanks unto the Lord?

...

II.

IT PROCLAIMS OUR GRATITUDE

1 one of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving is the 100th Psalm

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

(Psalm 100, NIV84)

a. the Psalm expresses the gratitude of the worshiper for the goodness, love and faithfulness of the Lord

ILLUS.

Psychologists today tell us that sincere gratitude, and thanksgiving, is the healthiest of all human emotions.

Hans Selye, who is considered the father of stress studies, has said that gratitude produces more positive emotional energy than any other attitude in life.

b. do you think that the God who created man, understands this?

1) do you think that maybe, just maybe, the Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle Paul to write 1 Thessalonians 5:18 with that in mind?

2. with all my heart I believe we are a people and a nation that has truly been blessed by God

ILLUS.

Our Pilgrim forefathers understood this.

In 1623 Governor William Bradfordissued the very first Thanksgiving proclamation in American history.

It expressed the colonist’s gratitude toward God for His blessings.

“Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.