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Be thankful in all circumstances





There was a pastor who always started his Sunday service with thanksgiving to God. The people were always amazed for no matter what the circumstances were, the preacher could always find something to give thanks for. One December morning, he was late in getting to worship because of excessive snow and ice. As he began the service with prayer, the parishioners were eager to see what the old preacher could come up with to be thankful for on a dismal and frigid morning. He started his prayer like this: "Gracious Lord, we thank you that all days are not like today.” The Bible teaches that we need to be thankful in everything. "Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus". (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Not all circumstances that happen to us may be good, but God can use everything that happens to us to work for our good.

We generally thank for the favors received or good things we enjoyed. We consider the holiday season as a season of thanksgiving. It is a good tradition because it gives us a chance to stop and reflect and be thankful. In our Gospel according to Luke 17:11-19, we read about 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus. Only one, a foreigner, came back to thank God. It was a Samaritan. We don't know about the other nine. This message is not to judge or convict the nine. We don’t know if anyone ever came back later. The healed lepers probably wanted to run back to their families first. They have been isolated for a long time and wanted to go to their family and children. I am not the one to judge or convict the nine because I can relate to those nine. I get caught up in the gift more than the giver. Some gifts are so overwhelming that we forget to thank the giver.

The Samaritan remembered that he received a gift that was unthinkable. He was a gentile, a despised foreigner, and a leper, shut out from society. Being healed by a Jewish teacher was unimaginable at that time. The Samaritan was an outcast by birth, and also by his condition. We are all sinners and outcasts by nature. We have also committed sins that make separated from a Holy God. God in his grace reached out to us and healed us from our sin and made us one with Christ. Even when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Samaritan also realized what he had gained was more than just healing. He was restored in society and now he could go to places he could not go before. He can have a relationship now. The situation was hopeless, until the day Jesus came by. I don’t know how, but the men in that colony had heard about Jesus and the healings that He had brought. So when they saw Jesus, they called out to Him. Their lives were changed for the better for ever.

When Jesus came into our lives, we received forgiveness, a clean slate, a home in heaven, the presence of God’s Spirit. Above all, we received a peace that exceeds all understanding, and an assurance that everything is going to work out for good in the end. Because of that we can give thanks in all things. We have gained more than we ever could imagine. We have gained so many things in our lives that we did not ask for. My life is a gift that I did not ask for. God gave each of us the chance to be here at this time in history. Whatever is given to us in this life are gifts from God.

Jesus cherishes the thanksgiving offer of the Samaritan. Jesus appreciated the Samaritan for coming back thank him. God cherishes the thanksgiving we offer, how small or great they are. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name." (Psalm 92).  There is a common prayer that says: “it is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” Gratitude can be a type of recognition in the form of a prayer, smile, listening, a hug, a phone call, a handwritten note, a card, a treat, a flower,  or a warm meaningful thank you.

There is a popular thanksgiving song titled, “Now thank we all our God”. When Martin Rinkhart wrote this song, it was the worst of times in Europe as the 'Thirty Years War' (1618 -1648) was taking place . About 20 percent of the total population of Germany died during the conflict. Rinkhart and his congregation suffered the full force. Their little village in Germany was invaded and ransacked three times with almost everything of value destroyed. One day he went to pray seeking God's strength in his deep agony. When he rose, the burdened minister felt a calm in his heart and wrote this song. Nothing had really changed. He sings about a "Bounteous God who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love,and still is ours today." His words express profoundly the feelings of gratitude in the midst of hopelessness and destruction.

Blessings

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Fulll sermon audio: Mathew Philip 

YouTube:      Mathew Philip

Piedmont United Methodist Church Channel (Live Streaming Sundays 11AM Eastern Time USA)








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