Summary of Sermon
At Thanksgiving, our gratitude is often limited to the things that we can see or touch (the food or family at the table). It can be hard to stay grateful when life becomes difficult. These things don’t seem like enough to balance out life’s challenges.
The New Testament shows us the way to broaden our vision of thanksgiving. We see three basic categories of thanksgiving in the New Testament. Two of them come from Jesus, and the third comes from reflecting on Jesus. By looking at our Lord in this way we can learn to see the most lasting gifts of God.
1. Give thanks for the gifts of creation.
The everyday blessings of life (food, home, family, the beauty of the changing seasons, etc.) come from God, and he deserves thanks for them. Each time we thank God for his gifts we are making a commitment to receive God’s daily gifts well, remembering the great Giver and letting him direct us in how to use these gifts properly. Yet Jesus also encourages us to move beyond thanking God only for these kinds of gifts.
2. Give thanks for the gift of revelation.
In Matthew 11:25-28, Jesus gives praise to his Father for his revelation: the fact that he wants to speak to any who will humbly open themselves up to listen. God is not far away but near. Even if we are experiencing the many kinds of brokenness that life brings us, we can remember that God still wants to communicate with us. He is a friend who wants to spend time with us.
3. Give thanks for the gift of salvation.
Just like the New Testament believers, we are called to thank and praise God for what he has done in our lives through Jesus. Our sins have been forgiven. We have been welcomed into God’s family. We have been set free from the tyranny of death. The meaning and destiny of our lives has been transformed completely. These gifts of salvation are real and of vital importance, even if they are invisible to the human eye. As we learn to give thanks for the great gift of salvation, we reach the pinnacle of the New Testament picture of thanksgiving, since here we thank God for blessings that can never be undone (Romans 8:35-39).
Discussion Questions
1. Which of the three categories of thanksgiving do you tend to remember when you are reflecting on gratitude? Do you find any of them more difficult? Why?
2. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. Here Paul is thankful for the gift of God’s comfort. When have you experienced the gift of this comfort? Has God used other people to share that comfort, or has he used you to give comfort to others? Discuss.
3. Ephesians 1:3-14 gives us a glorious prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings that have come to us in Christ. Look closely at the passage and consider the following:
a. What are these blessings?
b. What do each of these blessings mean?
c. How important are they?
d. Which are hardest to understand?
4. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14. What does Paul say he “ought to” give thanks for in this passage? Discuss the relationship between the gospel, belief, the work of the Spirit, and salvation.
5. 2 Timothy 1:3-5 also includes a “thanksgiving” passage. What does Paul thank God for in relation to Timothy’s life? Reflect on the role of your family or other influential people in leading you to faith in Jesus or to growth in your relationship with him.
6. Read 1 Peter 1:3-9. What are the steps along the way between the life we live now in a broken and often suffering world and the final salvation that is awaiting us? In what ways or situations do you find it difficult to remember this “living hope”?
Additional activity (perhaps to do at home):
Read Psalm 107. In this Psalm of thanksgiving, “the redeemed of the Lord” are encouraged to “tell their story.” Throughout the Psalm, we are given a few examples of times when life brings trouble and God responds with help and salvation. Each of these accounts ends with a call to “give thanks to the Lord for his great love and his wonderful deeds for humankind.” Do you see the pattern in which each of these stories is told? What are the various parts?
Since we are encouraged to tell our story, think of a situation in your own history in which you turned to God for help. Write your story according to the pattern of Psalm 107.
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