Part 1 Gratitude is for Gifts
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Introduction
Introduction
What is gratitude?
Bottom Line: Gratitude is recognizing and acknowledging gifts.
Bottom Line: Gratitude is recognizing and acknowledging gifts.
Gratitude is recognizing and acknowledging that someone gave us something that enriched our life.What does gratitude recognize and acknowledge?
1 O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
2 O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5 He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
This Psalm ends with gratitude. Verse 6 says, I will give thanks to your name, O Lord.
It begins with a need.
1 O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
2 O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah
Gratitude recognizes we are needy.
Gratitude recognizes we are needy.
Gratitude begins with recognizing we have an area of weakness.
Is it easy to say, “I am weak.”? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
At various times in our lives, in fact on any given day, we have
Physical needs
Physical needs
Helping to lift or move something.
Explaining something that we don’t understand. How to get a train into the city instead of driving, how to connect to the internet, how to disconnect from the internet!
Help to fix something. A computer, washing machine or leaky pipe.
Help when we can’t be two places at the same time. Car breaks down on our way to an appointment.
Emotional needs
Emotional needs
Cheering us up.
Comfort
Encouragement
Loneliness - friendship
Financial needs
Financial needs
Money
Job
Food
In Psalm 54 the problem was people were actually trying to kill David! We don’t have that need, but we have plenty of needs.
David wouldn’t have been thankful if he thought he could fix the problem himself. He knew he couldn’t.
4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5 He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.
Obstacles to recognizing we are needy.
Obstacles to recognizing we are needy.
There are two mental attitudes that are obstacles to recognizing we are needy.
Pride
Pride
We don’t like to see ourselves as needy. We think too highly of ourselves. We don’t need help.
Poor self image
Poor self image
We don’t want to impose ourselves on others. We think too little of ourselves. We don’t think we deserve people’s help, not even God’s. This is wrong.
David was a powerful man. He was a great leader. He was a mighty warrior. He needed God to help him.
6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.
7 You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.
He understood it wasn’t by his power David lived. It was a gift from God.
Gratitude recognizes a gift.
Gratitude recognizes a gift.
What makes a gift a gift? When someone gives us something we don’t have and want or need.
A gift isn’t given for merit.
A gift isn’t given for merit.
Gifts are undeserved. It isn’t a gift if we earn it.
We work for paycheck. We work for grades. We work for acknowledgment of improvement.
Your paycheck isn’t a gift, you earned it.
An “A” grade on a test isn’t a gift.
Martial artists aren’t given black belts, they earn them
A gift is undeserved.
A gift is undeserved.
Birthday gifts, are they deserved or not? No.
A hostess gift at a party, is it something you deserve? No.
Being taken to lunch by someone you took to lunch last week, is it deserved?
A gift is given freely.
A gift is given freely.
The key to a gift is it is something someone else has that they give freely to another.
The person didn’t have to give it. He made a choice.
The gift is given without any expectation of compensation. The receiver of the gift doesn’t owe the giver anything! The receiver understands that.
Did you notice how David acknowledged God’s gift to him of delivering him from the hand of those who wanted to kill him?
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
He freely gave an offering, a sacrifice. Something that cost him.
Gratitude acknowledges a gift.
Gratitude acknowledges a gift.
We acknowledge the undeserved benefit.
We acknowledge the undeserved benefit.
This is hard because it requires humility.
This is internal. We intentionally think about the gift and acknowledge it as a gift.
We acknowledge the gracious giver.
We acknowledge the gracious giver.
This is hard because it requires humility.
We do it by what we say, a genuine thank you in word.
We do it by what we do, a gift of appreciation. Prayers or even bestowing an undeserved kindness upon someone else for the gift we received.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
What is a gift you were given this week?
What is something else you were given this week?
What is something else you were given this week?