Title: Grace is thanksgiving (Colossians 3:15-17)
Contents
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday and it is the fifth time in the Grace series to think about the main theme of 'grace over grace'. At this time, we will consider a sermon under the title "Grace is thanks."
No matter how good the conditions and circumstances are, there are people who do not have gratitude, and there are people who are grateful for even the smallest and smallest things. The difference between these two is that those who do not have gratitude always have complaints and resentment, and those who have gratitude have emotions, tears, and emotions. However, the presence or absence of gratitude depends on grace. When you receive grace, you become a grateful person. But without grace, gratitude disappears, and resentment and complaints overflow. The problem is that if you grumble, complain, and sigh, everything will be shaken. However, when you become grateful, the things that were shaken will be firmly established one by one and will not be shaken. No matter what you do, do not depend on yourself, but rely on God, pray, sing praises, and give thanks, and you will not be shaken. Gratitude is both the content of grace and the result of grace.
Gratitude is a barometer of grace. Gratitude is the evidence of receiving grace, and the size of gratitude tells the size of grace. The level of gratitude is the level of grace. Good grace leads to good gratitude. Isn't it natural for those who receive a lot of grace to give thanks a lot, and for those who receive a lot of grace to give thanks a lot? And thanksgiving is also the barometer of faith in God. When we see through the eyes of faith, we realize that everything is God's grace and care, and we become grateful. Don't be dominated by the environment, praise and give thanks in difficult times and think positively, your faith will never waver. Even if there is a shaking, it does not cause us to lose our faith.
If you say you have received grace, but there is no thanks, and you are caught up in complaints, dissatisfaction, resentment, worries, and worries, you have not received grace. They think that they have received grace, but it is not true that they have received grace. Because grace itself is gratitude.
In today's text, "Praise God with thanksgiving in your heart", the word 'thank you' is the Greek word for 'charis'. Have you ever heard of charis? What did the word charis mean? That's right. 'Charis' means 'grace' and 'thanks'. In Romans 6:17, 1 Corinthians 10:30, 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14, 8:16, the words of thanksgiving are all charismatic. It is equivalent to the word grace. And the word thanks appears twice in the text. In verse 15, thanksgiving is 'Eucaristo', and in verse 17, 'eucharistos' is the key root of charis. Therefore, grace is “thank you”.
Biblically, evangelistically, and spiritually, if we define grace,
To have a grateful heart and to live a life of gratitude with your whole body, this is what you have received.
To say that you have received grace means that you have realized your gratitude, and to be a person who has received grace means that you have become a person of gratitude. Grace and gratitude are always in a symbiotic relationship and do not exist separately. When there is grace, there is gratitude, and when there is gratitude, there must be grace.
One of Oscar Hammerstein's poems is:
A bell is not a bell until someone rings it.
A song is not a song until someone sings it.
The love in your heart should not be set aside.
Because love is not love until you give it.
So is grace. It is not grace until you give thanks. Grace begins by giving thanks for what you have received. Gratitude turns grace into grace. Gratitude makes grace more abundant. However, if you do not give thanks after receiving grace, your grace will soon be destroyed. It turns grace into vain. Therefore, it is a sin to receive grace and not give thanks. It is a criminal act that devastates the land and turns it into a desert. Grieving and complaining are acts of betrayal of grace.
From the day you receive grace and realize grace in your life, all circumstances will change. What was thought of as a barrier before receiving grace is rather turned into a condition of gratitude. The apostle Paul prayed earnestly three times and received grace. Previously, thorns in the body were always a problem. It was an obstacle. It was an issue that had to be moved. But now your grace has been changed to be sufficient for you. It has become a gift to take with you, not an obstacle.
I live by grace. You must be a person of grace to be thankful.
John Miller said, "How happy a man is depends on his gratitude." Colossians 2:6-7 "Therefore, since you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, standing firm in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
The power to overcome all situations and overcome all situations is grace and gratitude.
What does our Lord want of us? The saints will want to receive grace. The more we receive grace, the more gratitude rises within us. Since everything is grace, there is nothing but gratitude. So the words grace and gratitude have the same meaning.
Gratitude makes grace more abundant.
The Apostle Paul said that “grace abounded because of the thanksgiving of many” (2 Corinthians 4:15). That's right. Gratitude has the power to make grace more abundant.
Japanese theologian Uchimura Kanzo said, “Gratitude is a vessel for receiving grace.” The bigger the vessel of thanksgiving, the greater the grace, and the more the vessel of thanksgiving, the more grace will come.
That's right. "Gratitude is a vessel for God's grace."
No matter how much you value the rain that falls during a drought, you cannot put it in a large basket. Broken jars cannot contain water. Water cannot pool in a broken puddle. In the same way, no matter how much is poured into the soul and heart without gratitude, they do not realize that it is grace and receive grace in vain and forget it in vain.
Jesus Himself became poor for us. This is the grace that Jesus bestowed upon us. Why did you give me this grace? It is written that it is “to make us rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). When we give thanks for the grace we receive from the Lord, our lives are enriched. Gratitude has the power to enrich the lives of believers . When we sow gratitude, we will reap abundantly from it. Gratitude begets blessings. Everyone, give thanks no matter what you encounter. Please give thanks first.
There is nothing to throw away if you receive it with gratitude.
Gratitude makes all things work together for good. The apostle Paul says: “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4). There is nothing to throw away if you receive it with gratitude. If you receive grace and live with gratitude, there is nothing to give up on that life.
Gratitude brings glory to God.
Gratitude ultimately leads to the glorification of God. The Apostle Paul says, 'with the thanksgiving of many, that God may be glorified' (2 Corinthians 4:15). Paul's life was a series of hardships and persecutions. Still, he was grateful. Such gratitude was the strength that allowed him to survive and was an important factor in the glory of God. That's why he emphasizes, "give thanks in everything" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Those who have received such grace glorify God through thanksgiving.