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Nov 24, 2024

In All Things

In All Things

Passage: Romans 1:18-23

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: General Topic

With due respect to our first Presidents who established days of thanksgiving–and then Lincoln who made it a regular annual national observance–there is a sadly ironic analogy to be drawn. If one day in three-hundred-sixty-five is set aside to reflect upon and express our reasons for gratitude, the commitment to gratitude as a communal and personal habit is likely even less prominent. Our parents and teachers have told us why gratitude is good, but we need to know more than its benefit. We need a principle to hold us to it, and something practical to keep us applying it. A word from Paul to two different churches has just that for us.

 

CENTRAL TEXT:  Romans 1:18-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18

Rom. 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

1Th. 5:14   And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH:  Luke 17:11-19

LEADER: Luke 17:11   On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

The Word of the LORD

ALL: Thanks be to God

 

CONFESSION OF SIN

LEADER: Beloved, let us confess our sin to God.

ALL: When the sun is shining, and all seems well, we are tempted to forget it’s all a gift. When the night has fallen, and the good has appeared to drain away, we become lost in ourselves and our circumstances.  Forgive us for failing to see the generosity in all we might enjoy. Forgive us for letting our sorrows become a justification for judging You. Help us to see the mercies of Your Son, and give thanks. Help us to grieve as those with hope and, even then with the help of Your Spirit, to rejoice.

 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Philippians 2:5-9

LEADER: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

ALL: Thanks be to God – Amen.

 

BENEDICTION: Colossians 3:17

LEADER: 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.

DISMISSAL: Amen

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Job 1:21 
  • 1 Corinthians 4:7

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. Who is the most thankful person you know? What’s their story? What accounts do you think for their consistent inclination toward gratitude?
  2. Why is the honor of God and thanks to God so fundamental to the knowledge of God? Why then is ingratitude considered to be at the center of all sin?
  3. What are the conventional reasons we land on when we make a case for an outlook of gratitude? How does this understanding from Paul in Romans 1 make the place of gratitude in us even more significant?
  4. Why is it hard to give thanks in all circumstances? What are the thoughts–not just the feelings–associated with that struggle?
  5. Do we give thanks for the sorrow itself or what may follow from the sorrow? 
  6. How is the gospel furnished to help us see our sorrows in context? 
  7. What do you make of the sermon’s notion that joy, prayer, and thanks are distinct but inseparable elements–in prayer, we struggle and with help succeed to give thanks, and as a consequence might find a footing in joy again–even through tears?

 

ILLUSTRATIONS  

 

QUOTES  

  • You never enjoy the world aright; till you so love the beauty of enjoying it, that you are covetous and earnest to persuade others to enjoy it. And so perfectly hate the abominable corruption of men in despising it, that you had rather suffer the flames of Hell than willingly be guilty of their error. There is so much blindness and ingratitude and damned folly in it.
    - Thomas Traherne, Centuries

  • It was His wisdom made you need the Sun. It was His goodness made you need the sea. Be sensible of what you need, or enjoy neither. Consider how much you need them, for thence they derive their value. Suppose the sun were extinguished: or the sea were dry. There would be no light, no beauty, no warmth, no fruits, no flowers, no pleasant gardens, feasts, or prospects, no wine, no oil, no bread, no life, no motion. Would you not give all the gold and silver in the Indies for such a treasure? Prize it now you have it, at that rate, and you shall be a grateful creature: Nay, you shall be a Divine and Heavenly person. For they in Heaven do prize blessings when they have them. They in Earth when they have them prize them not, they in Hell prize them when they have them not.  
    - Thomas Traherne,     Centuries

  • When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness, incapacity to live; how little I appreciated it, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul – then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute can be an eternity of happiness! I am neither downhearted nor discouraged. Life is everywhere, life is in ourselves, not in the exterior. I shall have human beings around me, and to be a man among men and to remain one always, not to lose heart and not to give in no matter what occurs – that is what life is, that is its task, I have become aware of this. This idea has entered into my life and blood.
    - Fyödor Dostoevsky, from a journal entry shortly after his abortive execution

 

  • You know, while I’ve been ill I have managed to discover something new about irises–I never knew they were beautiful.
    - “Elizabeth,” in Martin Laird's Into the Silent Land

  • Grateful people experience more joy. And joyful people experience more gratitude. The two emotions carry you up and up. . . .study after study have shown gratitude to be one of the biggest predictors of psychological well-being. 
    - Richard Beck, The Shape of Joy

 

 

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