November 21, 2012
Do you need something good to happen to you in order to be thankful?
The answer is no. How about this question: do you need to be given something in
order to be thankful? The answer to that is yes. The difference makes the
difference between being a truly thankful person and a truly ungrateful one.
If you are depending on good things to happen in order to be thankful
you will end up a very ungrateful person. If you realize that the source of
your thanksgiving is having received good things from God you will be a truly
grateful person. If the difference doesn’t sound like much it’s because we are
so conditional. We operate circumstantially. If good things happen, we’re
grateful. If bad things happen, we’re ungrateful.
But we have received abundant blessings from God. We ought simply to be
grateful, no matter our circumstances. We shouldn’t place conditions on God but
rather rejoice in what He has given us.
Have you ever thought about why Jesus Christ gave thanks before He
broke the bread of His Holy Supper and gave thanks before He gave His disciples
the cup? These are the words of Luke and Matthew as they describe the scene:
And he
took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them,
saying, “This is my body, which is given for you”… And he took a cup, and when
he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for
this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.”
He gave thanks because He had received something. It’s not that good
things were happening to Him or things were going well for Him. In looking at
the circumstances, things actually weren’t going all that well for Him. He
would be betrayed shortly, and He knew this. He would be placed on trial and
mocked and tortured, and He knew this. He would be nailed to a cross shortly
after that, and He knew this.
You don’t give thanks unless you have received something. What was it
that Jesus had received? He was the Lord of the universe, having all things in
His possession, what could He possibly have received? Well, with you and me,
when we receive things we think of things that make things better for us. When
Jesus receives things they are things that entail loving and serving us. What
He had received was the commission of being sent to serve. He came not to be
served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
It pleased the Father to give His Son to us for our salvation. Our Lord
and Savior was grateful for the will of His Heavenly Father to become man, to
suffer and die for the sin of the world. This is how we are taught to be
thankful. Instead of looking at our circumstances, we learn to be thankful for
the greatest gift we have ever received, our Lord Himself. Instead of looking
for good things to happen to us, we learn that they already have! Our Lord was
given to us and He is given to us often in the Gospel and the Sacraments.
When we sit at the table to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast we give thanks
for that blessing. Think about what Jesus did when He hosted His disciples at
the Passover Meal. He gave thanks at a meal in which He was giving to them.
They were receiving, yet He was the one giving thanks. When we partake of the
Lord’s Supper we receive what our Lord gives to us. We give thanks for what our
Lord has done, which is what He was given to do by His Heavenly Father.
That’s why in the Epistle reading Paul talks about “in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God.” He doesn’t say in the good things. He doesn’t urge gratitude for those
times when things are going well. He doesn’t use simple logic and tell them to
look around at their circumstances and if they’re amenable that they had better
be grateful.
In everything, thanksgiving. It just so happens that what we see anyway
isn’t always what really is. God looks at things differently than we do. God
sees how truly good things come about through things that we simply view as not
good. So while it was tragic that Jesus suffered as He did, died as He did, and
lay in the tomb as He did, God brought about the greatest thing there is
through that: peace with Him. Atonement of our sins. A restoration of
relationship with Him through the willing sacrifice of His Son laying down His
life for all sinners.
Paul says that this “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Think not about your
circumstances. Think not about what your reason or your logic tell you. Think
not about how you would like for things to be different. Simply rest for a
moment in gratitude as you consider this peace that surpasses all of your understanding.
Consider for a moment how, no matter your circumstances, God’s peace guards
your heart and your mind. This is why, and also how, you can be thankful—in
everything. The peace of God which bypasses your capacity for understanding,
guards you in all circumstances. You aren’t subject to how things are going,
you have in everything the opportunity to give thanks because of what you have
received from your Lord.
So how do you do this? When you’re naturally inclined to wish your
circumstances were better, how do you give thanks in everything? Paul goes on
to say, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Is this what
you do? Do you think about these things? When you think about these things you
are taking your focus off yourself and your circumstances and onto the things
of God. In the midst of or despite your circumstances you see more and more how
in everything you can give thanks because you see more and more all the many
blessings He gives you.
Paul speaks directly to the Philippians: “What you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace
will be with you.” The kind of language he uses is receiving language. Language
that focuses on what is given, not on how things are going. He exhorts them to
consider what they learned in him and what they received in him and what they
heard in him and what they saw in him. These are all things that were given to
them. That is why they could be thankful, because God gave them blessings through
His servant Paul.
Interestingly, Paul then actually goes on to talk about his
circumstances. But it’s not for the purpose of saying, when things were going
this way, I was this way. And when things were going that way, I was that way.
Rather, he says, in all things I was content. Whether he was in need or had
plenty he gave thanks. He knew God was taking care of him in all circumstances.
His gratitude toward God was not based on circumstances but rather what he had
received from God. These blessings received by the Philippians flowed freely
back to Paul as he describes how they helped him in his needs. When you give
thanks in everything you see how much opportunity there is to help others.
And if we still have trouble with this business of giving thanks in
everything, the clincher argument Paul makes is this: “my God will supply every
need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” It’s not
really an argument so much as a statement of fact. Every need. God will supply everything
you need. And why is this? Because of the riches of the glory of Christ.
When you look at your circumstances you are being very close-minded.
You are looking at only part of the picture and basing your status on that.
When you look beyond your circumstances and see everything that God has given
you in Christ, the glory of the riches of His suffering, death, and
resurrection, you see that in everything there is nothing else but to give
thanks. Another way of saying this is how he closes with this doxology: “To our
God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
SDG
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