You Are Better Off Than You Think

WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:06.839 If you would please turn with me now to First Corinthians, Chapter One, 2 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:40.850 verses fourth through nine. First Corinthians one, versus fourth through nine. All 3 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:46.850 right, let's hear God's word together this morning. I give thanks to my 4 00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:51.880 God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you 5 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:56.320 in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him, in 6 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:02.240 all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among 7 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:06.829 you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for 8 00:01:06.909 --> 00:01:11.269 the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, 9 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:15.069 guiltless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, 10 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:21.060 by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ. 11 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:32.379 Our Lord. Amen. We'll sometimes as Christians, we forget how blessed we 12 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:38.810 are, we forget how much God has given us His grace, so many 13 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:44.010 gifts, so many things, and we forget these things. But in this 14 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:49.480 passage Jesus reminds us through his apostles words, through Paul's words, that we 15 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:55.920 really are better off then we think we are, and there's a lot of 16 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:00.079 payoff for remembering that truth, for remembering God's gifts and his graces to us. 17 00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:06.629 It increases our gratitude, it decreases our worry and it helps us to 18 00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:13.150 stay strong as we wait for Christ's return. It may not seem like a 19 00:02:13.270 --> 00:02:16.539 big deal to forget about the gifts that you've been given. You have the 20 00:02:16.620 --> 00:02:20.939 gifts, after all. Why do we need to remember that we have them 21 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:25.939 if we have them? But there is a real danger in forgetting and there's 22 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:31.009 a danger in forgetting the gifts God has given to us. One danger is 23 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:37.210 that when we forget about the gifts, we forget about the giver. Moses 24 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:42.849 says to the people of Israel and Deuteronomy six twelve. Then Take Care Lest 25 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:46.800 you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out 26 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:52.120 of the House of slavery. Take Care, don't forget the Lord who did 27 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.639 these things for you. God had blessed his people with a kind of freedom. 28 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.069 They were no longer under the yoke of a foreign king. They no 29 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:04.909 longer had the harsh slavery that they were under in Egypt. They were a 30 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:07.990 free people. Now they were free to worship, free to work, free 31 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:12.270 to play, free to live, free to enjoy all these things. That 32 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:16.539 God had given them. But when they forgot about these things, when they 33 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:22.740 grumbled about those things, they lost sight of the one who gave them to 34 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:25.860 them, gave the gifts to them. What example of this, and there 35 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:30.849 are many, is in found in Nea Maia and nine, Ne Amiah Nine, 36 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:38.610 verse nine. We read this speak a recounting of Israel's history. And 37 00:03:38.849 --> 00:03:44.080 you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the 38 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:49.800 Red Sea and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all 39 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.919 the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our 40 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:58.830 fathers, and you made a name for yourself, as it is to this 41 00:03:58.949 --> 00:04:02.069 day. And you divided the sea before them so that they went through the 42 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:06.069 midst of the sea on the dry land, and you cast their pursuers into 43 00:04:06.110 --> 00:04:11.860 the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of cloud, 44 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:14.300 you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire, 45 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:18.459 you of night, or by a pillar of fire in the night to light 46 00:04:18.699 --> 00:04:23.259 for them the way in which they should go. You came down on Mount 47 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:28.209 Sinai and spoke from them from heaven and of them right rules and true laws 48 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:32.009 and good statutes and Commandments. You made known to them your holy Sabbath and 49 00:04:32.129 --> 00:04:38.410 commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses, your servant. You 50 00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:42.759 gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water from them out of 51 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.720 a rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in and possess 52 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:50.439 the land that you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers 53 00:04:50.560 --> 00:05:00.110 acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey Your Commandments. They refuse 54 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:05.509 to obey and were not mindful. They were not mindful of the wonders that 55 00:05:05.589 --> 00:05:10.899 you had performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader 56 00:05:11.019 --> 00:05:18.259 to return to their slavery in Egypt. God had here, and Neamia recounts 57 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:21.930 all of these things that God had done for them, one after another, 58 00:05:21.970 --> 00:05:29.410 after another after another. But the people, instead of remembering to obey and 59 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:34.490 remembering being mindful of the things he had done, they stiffened their necks and 60 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:40.480 tried to return to slavery in Egypt. This is forgetting, not being mindful 61 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:45.639 is a dangerous thing, and sometimes people in the church do the same thing. 62 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.949 Today, we forget and are not mindful about the wonders of mercy that 63 00:05:50.069 --> 00:05:55.670 we have received through Christ. We forget about our Baptisms, we forget about 64 00:05:55.670 --> 00:06:00.230 the blessing of the Lord's Supper of preaching we've we neglect the spiritual food in 65 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:04.620 our lives. We don't thank the Lord for the redemption that we see in 66 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:08.980 others, the many ways in which he is blessing us from day to day. 67 00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:15.620 And when that happens, when we forget about the gifts, we tend 68 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:19.050 to forget about the giver, we depart from the Lord, we start acting 69 00:06:19.170 --> 00:06:25.089 and relying on our own strength, and then we start wandering back into bondage. 70 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:30.730 Forgiving how blessed we are and the one who blesses us is a real 71 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:34.560 danger. It's important, in other words, to remember. We must not 72 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:42.519 forget the gifts we are given. We must remember them well. The good 73 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.870 news here is that God helps us to remember all the time. He is 74 00:06:47.149 --> 00:06:54.670 reminding us and, I might add, forgetting our sins. Praise be to 75 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:59.149 his name, and that's partly what he's doing here in this passage. He 76 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:02.220 is reminding us of His grace through the apostle, the Lord Jesus, is 77 00:07:02.379 --> 00:07:06.019 reminding us that we are better off than we think we are. He helps 78 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:13.259 us to remember his blessings. Let's look and First Corinthians one, starting in 79 00:07:13.339 --> 00:07:17.170 verse four, and Meditate on some of these things. We start with First 80 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:20.889 Board. We see that Paul is giving thanks to God because of the Grace 81 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:28.209 God gave to the Corinthians in Christ Jesus. This verse simply recognizes the fact 82 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:32.560 that these are people who have received gifts from God, and this is no 83 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.480 small thing. It's easy to start of pass over this and say, well, 84 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:40.759 of course they're Christians, but just pause for a moment and think about 85 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:46.230 what that means. Last Sunday evening my friend Paul Johnson preach to us and 86 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:50.069 he told us the story about how he and his dad would sometimes write letters 87 00:07:50.110 --> 00:07:54.910 to famous people and just wait and see what they'd get back, kind of 88 00:07:54.949 --> 00:07:58.350 as a hobby, and sometimes they would. People would send them little things, 89 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:01.660 letters, autographs of perhaps you've done something similar. You felt the excitement 90 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:07.579 of opening a package and seeing what you get and you'd be amazed right that 91 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:11.740 you got something from this person. Well, what if I told you that 92 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:16.970 you've been given gifts, not from a famous basketball player or a musician, 93 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:26.360 but from God? Gifts from God it's almost unbelievable, really right, but 94 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.200 that's exactly what he says here, and it's God himself who says it. 95 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.240 Now, follow me here. If it weren't enough to get gifts from God, 96 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.789 remember that they are also gifts of grace. That's what Paul says here, 97 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:46.909 gifts, in other words, that we don't deserve. It's one thing 98 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:50.950 to get something from a strange, famous person that we don't know. It's 99 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:56.460 another thing to get a gift from someone that you've sinned against over and over 100 00:08:56.620 --> 00:09:03.259 again, somebody you've offended time and time again who then pours out his favor 101 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:09.779 on you. That's an amazing thing. We not only receive gifts from God, 102 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:16.210 but we've received gifts of grace from God. And that's just verse for 103 00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:20.370 if we continue on, as we must, to verse five, we read 104 00:09:20.490 --> 00:09:24.519 this where we begin to hear of some of these specific gifts. Paul says 105 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.840 in every way, you were enriched in him, in all speech and all 106 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:35.399 knowledge. First, notice the sort of superabundance of this language, every way, 107 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:43.429 enriched all speech, all knowledge, and notice also how these two things 108 00:09:43.509 --> 00:09:48.509 are so important. Speech and knowledge. The Corinthians is we will see as 109 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:54.299 we go on through this book, doubted this. They were chasing after wisdom 110 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:58.940 all the time, the wisdom of this world. They were constantly out listening 111 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:05.419 for the sweet talk of their day. Not Necessary, says Paul. You 112 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.009 don't need to chase after those things. You don't need to be constantly turning 113 00:10:09.090 --> 00:10:13.570 the channel and buying another book to to try to get something that you think 114 00:10:13.610 --> 00:10:20.169 you need. You have everything already. God has enriched in every way with 115 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:24.360 all speech and all knowledge. You have all you need in coming to Christ. 116 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.919 You don't need to come go clamoring after other teachers or other ways. 117 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.470 You are not lacking, but you are wealthy in having the wisdom of God 118 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:41.389 and the word of God. And if that's true for the Corinthians, it's 119 00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:45.590 even more true for us today because we have more of the New Testament. 120 00:10:46.389 --> 00:10:50.100 We have easy access to the Bible really anytime we want it. What a 121 00:10:50.179 --> 00:10:56.100 blessing. We don't have to go search around for wisdom, constantly hunting, 122 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:00.100 never finding, always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. 123 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.490 No, in Christ, and it is word that he has revealed, we 124 00:11:03.649 --> 00:11:11.850 have everything we need for life, for godliness, and in particular, it 125 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:16.490 is this word about Christ that Paul Mentions in verse six, this word about 126 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:22.559 Christ and his work on the cross, his forgiveness of our sins, his 127 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.559 pouring out gifts on us. That word is the foundation for all wisdom knowledge. 128 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:35.309 It gives us a perspective on everything. This is what God has given 129 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:39.629 to us. These are some of the gracious things and the gifts that we 130 00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:43.629 have. As we continue on, next and verse seven, Paul Says Explicitly 131 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:48.740 that you are not lacking in any gift. What a statement, to not 132 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:52.860 be lacking in any gift. Let me ask you this. How much of 133 00:11:54.019 --> 00:12:00.100 your life goes in trying to find things that you think you lack? What 134 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:05.850 if you spent that energy simply believing that God has given you already exactly what 135 00:12:05.009 --> 00:12:11.649 you need? What if, every day you told yourself, I'm not lacking 136 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:16.919 in any gift? What if you simply said that? I'm not paraphrasing here, 137 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.000 I'm just reading the scripture right. What if you simply said every day 138 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.039 I'm not lacking in any gift? What difference do you think that might make 139 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:30.070 for your life? To really believe what Paul is saying here? How might 140 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:35.629 that change your relationship with God? How might that change your relationship with others. 141 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.110 Maybe instead of jealousy and strife and selfish ambition trying to get what other 142 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:45.700 people have, you can just love them because you already have everything you need. 143 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:50.419 As we finish the section, notice how Paul Finishes this reminder of got 144 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:54.500 with this reminder of God's grace. He tells us that God is the one 145 00:12:54.700 --> 00:13:01.529 who will sustain you to the end. He is faithful, the word says. 146 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:07.049 This reminds us that the enriching that God does in our lives, it's 147 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:13.519 like a bank account that can never be drawn down ever. Right. So 148 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:18.840 it's not. It reminds us that God doesn't just give us these gifts which 149 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:24.120 we then use and depend on and then deplete over time, though. He 150 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.590 gives us these gifts of which the supply is limitless. You are not lacking 151 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:33.149 now, nor in the next moment, nor in the next moment or ever. 152 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:39.590 Why? Because God will sustain you. As he says, he loves 153 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:43.659 you and he has called you in his son. He has loved you so 154 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:50.379 much that he has given his own son to die for you so that you 155 00:13:50.500 --> 00:14:01.570 might have his life, eternal life. So we have these gifts from God. 156 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:07.850 We have all speech, we have all wisdom. We have his supply 157 00:14:07.090 --> 00:14:11.399 and every moment, in every way, you're not lacking in God is faithful. 158 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:16.559 He'll sustain you to the very end. So, though we may be 159 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.519 forgetful from time to time about God's gifts, we can be thankful that he 160 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:24.429 helps us to remember, and that's what he's doing for us this morning. 161 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:28.950 He's helping us to remember. He's telling us these things because we tend to 162 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:37.029 forget. Though we forget, God is, as Nehemiah will go on to 163 00:14:37.110 --> 00:14:41.620 say, ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and 164 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:46.899 abounding and Sadfast love. And he did not forsake them. It's true, 165 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:50.980 we may forsake God, but he does not forsake us. We do not 166 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:58.929 lack and we never will. God even helps us to remember this thing as 167 00:15:00.090 --> 00:15:05.009 we go to the Lord now in our hearts and we confess our forgetfulness, 168 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:09.519 as we confess our complaining, as we confess our jealousy and all these other 169 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:15.480 things, and as we remember how much we receive through Christ. Let's reflect 170 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.720 for a moment, a few moments, on what this kind of remembering does, 171 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.629 the advantages it gives to us in our lives. I want to mention 172 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:31.830 three things. The first thing is that remembering increases our gratitude are remembering increases 173 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:39.299 this joy in our lives. Great as gratitude increases, joy increases closeness to 174 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:43.259 God and a whole bunch of other things. Remembering how you are blessed makes 175 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:48.340 you happier person. I'm sure at some point you've all been around somebody who's 176 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:54.129 forgotten their blessings. I know because we've all been that person. So I 177 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:58.769 know you've been around them too, and we all hate being that person, 178 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:03.490 right. You hate being the whiner and the complainer, that that kind of 179 00:16:03.610 --> 00:16:07.759 things, but we all do get there sometimes. We complain about the temperature 180 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:11.720 of the room, we complain about the speed of the traffic, our friends, 181 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:14.399 our jobs, our families, our health, and it goes on and 182 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.990 on and we never run out of possible things to be complaining about. And 183 00:16:19.110 --> 00:16:22.990 we're constantly thinking that if we just had this thing or just had that thing, 184 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:26.549 then we'd be fine. But of course that's not true. If we 185 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:30.389 noticed how much we complain, we'd know, we'd see how not true that 186 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:34.500 is. We could be sitting on a mountain of gold and we would say 187 00:16:34.659 --> 00:16:41.179 this is really uncomfortable right. We never run out of things to complain for. 188 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:45.500 But listen to what God's word says in First Thessalonians five sixteen through eighteen, 189 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:51.769 says rejoice, always, pray without ceasing, give thanks and all circumstances, 190 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:56.570 for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. For you now, 191 00:16:56.769 --> 00:17:02.879 perhaps you've been around a person who does exactly that. First Thessalonians five 192 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:07.039 sixteen through eighteen. Perhaps you've been around people are you know, people who 193 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:15.029 just treasure their friends, who don't cake conveniences like cell phones or air conditioning 194 00:17:15.150 --> 00:17:21.230 for granted. People who know in the deepest parts of their souls that they 195 00:17:21.269 --> 00:17:26.230 don't deserve anything that they have and everything that they have is from God's grace. 196 00:17:26.829 --> 00:17:30.299 People who know, no, no, no, that they are loved 197 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:38.099 by God and aren't dependent on anything, whether it's their immediate circumstances, a 198 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:45.130 particular party, political party that's in power, a relationship that's not quite right. 199 00:17:45.210 --> 00:17:49.450 They're not dependent on anything but God, who loves them to be happy. 200 00:17:51.809 --> 00:17:55.289 They know in the bottom of their hearts that all good things come from 201 00:17:55.329 --> 00:18:00.200 God and that he only gives good things to his children. Dietrich bondhoffer one 202 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:06.440 said. In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more 203 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.720 than we give, and then it's only with gratitude that life becomes rich. 204 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:19.390 That's true. With gratitude life becomes very rich. Perhaps you remember the story 205 00:18:19.430 --> 00:18:23.710 of the ten lepers from Luke Seventeen. It's short. Let me read it 206 00:18:23.789 --> 00:18:30.180 to you. Says when Jesus, Jesus healed these men, ten lepers, 207 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:33.579 and when he saw them he said to them, go and show yourselves to 208 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:38.380 the priest, and they went and they were cleansed. Then one of them, 209 00:18:38.660 --> 00:18:44.089 when he saw that he was healed, turned back praising God with a 210 00:18:44.210 --> 00:18:48.289 loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus feet, giving him 211 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:55.880 thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, we're not ten 212 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:00.119 cleansed. Where are the nine? Was No one found to return and give 213 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.559 praise to God, except this foreigner, and he said to him, rise 214 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.349 and go your way. Your faith has made you well. When the leper 215 00:19:11.470 --> 00:19:19.269 returned, he was a happier man, and not just because his he had 216 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:25.740 been healed of his disease, but by faith he had trusted in the Lord, 217 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:29.740 and now he is a man whose heart is full of praise, of 218 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:34.220 Thanksgiving, and he was closer to God, in this case, physically closer 219 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:40.009 to God, while the other nine were who knows where he is with Jesus, 220 00:19:40.769 --> 00:19:45.289 the Lord of Heaven and Earth, praising and and worshiping him, his 221 00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:48.970 heart and his mouth filled with praise. It's a great thing. He was 222 00:19:49.250 --> 00:19:56.319 made well by his faith and that gratitude that springs from faith is was expressed 223 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.559 there. So ask yourself, what do you have to praise and thank God 224 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:07.430 for as Christians? There is so much. Here are some things that you 225 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:11.869 can be happy about this morning. You can be happy about other saints. 226 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:15.910 First, Corinthians one, for remember Paul, says, I thank my God 227 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:21.579 for you right. That's one thing we can be thankful for for the people 228 00:20:21.660 --> 00:20:26.339 sitting all around you right now. Romans fourteen six says we can be thankful 229 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:30.420 for food. Hebrews twelve twenty eight says we can be thankful for receiving a 230 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:36.490 kingdom that cannot be shaken. Philippians three twenty points us to our citizenship in 231 00:20:36.730 --> 00:20:41.250 heaven. Philippians for ten tells us that we have or four seven says that 232 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:48.450 we have peace with God that transcends understanding Romans Twenty eight says that God is 233 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:55.359 making all things work together for our good. First John Ten says we have 234 00:20:55.559 --> 00:21:02.839 the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Matthew Henry said Thanksgiving 235 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:07.390 is good, but thanks living is better. I really like that. That's 236 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:14.470 God's plan for us, an eternal life of praise and enjoyment of God. 237 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:21.819 Consider what God has done for you. Every day we can be like that 238 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:26.700 grateful leper. We can know how much we've been forgiven, how well we 239 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:30.380 have been made. We can put our faith in Jesus, remember his blessings 240 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:37.970 to us and instead of being blessed but ungrateful, sad sacks, we can 241 00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:44.450 become happier people, thankful people, joyful people, people who are close to 242 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:49.400 Jesus and praising him, and as we do that is God does that in 243 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:55.319 us. We become eat we grow closer and closer to fulfilling our chief end, 244 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:03.390 which is glorifying God and enjoying him forever. So that's the first thing. 245 00:22:03.630 --> 00:22:07.230 Remembering our gifts does, is it? It increases our gratitude. It 246 00:22:07.269 --> 00:22:14.950 also decreases our worry. Remembering how we are blessed decreases our anxious worrying. 247 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:22.220 Discontentment and worry are often tied very close together. When we think we lack 248 00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:26.539 something we need, we tend to worry. But go back to verse seven, 249 00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:32.690 and let's meditate on that. It says you are not lacking in any 250 00:22:32.809 --> 00:22:37.130 gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord. Now the scriptures are 251 00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:44.359 very plain that waiting for the revealing of our Lord will not be easy. 252 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:49.200 They're very clear about this point. We're told all the time that in this 253 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:53.720 age, as citizens of Heaven but people who are still in the world, 254 00:22:53.839 --> 00:23:00.789 we will face fiery trials, persecution, say, shame, darkness, the 255 00:23:00.869 --> 00:23:04.309 temptations of the evil one. We will have to have a we will have 256 00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:11.509 to be in spiritual battle with the powers of darkness and struggles with all kinds. 257 00:23:11.549 --> 00:23:17.819 And for Paul this was not hypothetical. When Paul Talks about Thanksgiving, 258 00:23:17.859 --> 00:23:22.220 when he talks about not lacking anything, he talks about a talks about it 259 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:30.089 as a person who knows what it means to suffer. In Second Corinthians Eleven, 260 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:37.130 twenty three and a few verses following, Paul says of these false serve 261 00:23:37.250 --> 00:23:40.130 events of Christ. He says, ARE THEY SERVANTS OF CHRIST? I'm a 262 00:23:40.210 --> 00:23:44.920 better one. I am any thing he says. I'm talking like a madman 263 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:49.880 with far greater laters, far more imprisonments, far with countless beatings and often 264 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.480 near death. So here what Paul saying? He's saying. You want to 265 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:59.269 talk about suffering, fine, let's talk about suffering. You want to know 266 00:23:59.390 --> 00:24:00.990 what a light but it's like to be a servant of the Lord and to 267 00:24:02.069 --> 00:24:04.589 suffer her is try to sake. I beat you all, if that's how 268 00:24:04.670 --> 00:24:08.910 you want to play that game. Five Times received at the hands of the 269 00:24:08.990 --> 00:24:14.539 Jews, forty lashes, last one. Three times I was beaten with rods. 270 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:18.940 Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and 271 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:25.450 a day I was adrift at Sea on Frequent Journeys, in danger from rivers, 272 00:24:25.490 --> 00:24:30.289 danger from robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from the gentiles, 273 00:24:30.329 --> 00:24:33.609 danger in the city, danger in the Wilderness, danger at sea, 274 00:24:33.009 --> 00:24:40.519 danger from false brothers, in toil and hardshift, through many a sleepless night, 275 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:45.559 in hunger and thirst, off and without food and cold and exposure. 276 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:49.440 And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my 277 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:56.029 anxiety for all the churches. Paul knows what it means to have needs. 278 00:24:56.750 --> 00:25:00.309 Paul knows what it means to lack, or not lack things, but to 279 00:25:00.750 --> 00:25:06.869 but to feel the pressures of the world around him. I don't think any 280 00:25:06.910 --> 00:25:10.339 of us here in this room have had to suffer like that, but we 281 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:15.539 do still suffer. Paul says we suffer, we will suffer. Jesus says 282 00:25:15.579 --> 00:25:21.140 it too, and so we ask ourselves, like no doubt Paul asked himself 283 00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:25.289 from time to time, am I going to make it through this? Am 284 00:25:25.369 --> 00:25:29.809 I going to be okay? And what Jesus is telling us to day, 285 00:25:30.009 --> 00:25:36.119 through Paul, who knows about these things and speaks in the power of the 286 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:41.799 Holy Spirit. He tells us you are not lacking in any gift as you 287 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:47.839 wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus. There's nothing, in other words, 288 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:52.390 there's nothing that you don't have, that you need in order to wait 289 00:25:53.109 --> 00:25:57.670 and to make it unto the end. Nothing, there's not one more doll 290 00:25:57.750 --> 00:26:03.869 or one more relationship, one more spiritual gift than what you have right now 291 00:26:04.660 --> 00:26:10.700 to wait right now. Now. Perhaps you're only more later, perhaps you'll 292 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:15.059 need less later, but that's nothing to worry about because why, as he 293 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:22.049 says, God is faithful and God will sustain you. He will sustain you 294 00:26:22.809 --> 00:26:26.329 to the end. And so, brothers, the sister is based on this 295 00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:30.490 passage. We can banish worry from our minds and our hearts. We can 296 00:26:30.569 --> 00:26:34.359 consider the blessings and the one who has blessed us and know that we will 297 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:41.839 be just fine. As Paul says in Romans Eleven, if the spirit of 298 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:45.759 him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ 299 00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:52.029 Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit 300 00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:56.509 who dwells in you. He continues in Romans eight thirty five. WHO shall 301 00:26:56.509 --> 00:27:03.579 separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution 302 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:10.900 or famine or nakedness or the sword? Paul goes on and says, for 303 00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:15.210 I am sure that neither life nor death, death nor life, nor angels, 304 00:27:15.250 --> 00:27:19.089 nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 305 00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:26.130 nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able 306 00:27:26.210 --> 00:27:30.839 to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. 307 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.039 Through faith in Him, remembering his gifts and remembering the the giver, we 308 00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:48.390 truly can let our worries go because he's solid and stable. And that leads 309 00:27:48.430 --> 00:27:52.869 to this last point. Is Our joy increases as our anxiety and worried decreases. 310 00:27:55.349 --> 00:27:59.740 The Lord helps us, by remembering these gifts, to stay strong as 311 00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:03.740 we wait for the Lord's return. As our worry slips, a lay bravery 312 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:11.180 shows up. Remembering the gifts God has given us gives us courage, and 313 00:28:11.299 --> 00:28:14.529 there are many, many passages of scripture that come to mind here. The 314 00:28:14.609 --> 00:28:19.650 first one I thought of was of David Facing Goliath, unafraid of this giant, 315 00:28:21.089 --> 00:28:26.160 trained warrior. We hear David first asking, as fellow Israelites, what 316 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.680 shall be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach 317 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:37.119 from Israel? For who is this uncircumspised, uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy 318 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:42.990 the armies of the Living God? David's looking at the situation and saying, 319 00:28:44.430 --> 00:28:49.349 what is going on here? Why are you all afraid? Well, where 320 00:28:49.390 --> 00:28:55.549 is David's courage come from? Saul will try to give him courage. He'll 321 00:28:55.589 --> 00:28:57.779 put his armor on him. Saul will take his armor and put it on 322 00:28:57.819 --> 00:29:03.500 David. It doesn't work, it doesn't fit. David tells us where his 323 00:29:03.660 --> 00:29:10.250 courage comes from. He remembers his gifts, he is mindful of the wonders 324 00:29:10.329 --> 00:29:12.529 God has done for him, and he says in for Samuels seven hundred and 325 00:29:12.529 --> 00:29:17.849 thirty seven, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and 326 00:29:18.410 --> 00:29:21.650 the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. 327 00:29:21.690 --> 00:29:26.720 And Saul said to David, go when the Lord be with you. God 328 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:33.599 equips us with his many graces so that we would lack nothing and to give 329 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:38.029 us courage. Paul says to Timothy, and Second Timothy, one verses six 330 00:29:38.109 --> 00:29:44.190 through seven, to hold fast to his calling and to remember what he has 331 00:29:44.230 --> 00:29:48.309 been given as he goes forward. Here the exact words Paul says to Timothy. 332 00:29:48.910 --> 00:29:53.539 For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of 333 00:29:53.700 --> 00:29:57.420 God which is in you through the laying on of hands, of my hands, 334 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:03.619 for God gave us not a spirit not of fear, but of power 335 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:10.650 and love and self control. Paul is reminding Timothy, just as he reminds 336 00:30:10.690 --> 00:30:15.930 the Corinthians here, of what Timothy has, and God is doing the same 337 00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:18.609 for you today. He is reminding you of what you have in Christ. 338 00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:23.000 So fan it into flame. Put some oxygen on that thing. Let it 339 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.920 grow, let it build, because God did not give us a spirit of 340 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:33.480 fear, but of bravery, of courage, of self control and love, 341 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:37.950 so that we can face the trials that we will face in this life. 342 00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:42.950 David says in Psalm Twenty seven, the one the Lord is my light. 343 00:30:44.549 --> 00:30:51.859 Whom shall I fear to be the equivalent of bring it, let's go. 344 00:30:52.740 --> 00:30:56.859 I'm okay, I'm going to be fine, because the Lord is on my 345 00:30:56.059 --> 00:31:03.180 side, and we likewise have been given spiritual resources in Christ to stand strong, 346 00:31:04.329 --> 00:31:07.769 to know, to act, to love, to hold fast, to 347 00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:15.009 fight against the world. We do not need to shrink back as we wait, 348 00:31:15.130 --> 00:31:19.200 but instead we need to remain strong, and we will remain strong with 349 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:26.480 eager expectation, full of hope and courage, because we do not wear the 350 00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:32.319 armor of Man, we wear the armor of God. As Paul says an 351 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:37.029 Ephesian six, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 352 00:31:38.150 --> 00:31:41.309 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand 353 00:31:41.349 --> 00:31:45.750 against the schemes of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, 354 00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:51.259 but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over 355 00:31:51.380 --> 00:31:56.339 this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 356 00:31:56.859 --> 00:32:00.450 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. And then he goes on 357 00:32:00.529 --> 00:32:06.529 to describe that. First he says that you may be able to withstand evil, 358 00:32:06.849 --> 00:32:10.089 withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm. But 359 00:32:10.170 --> 00:32:15.210 then he begins to describe those graces that God has given to us, those 360 00:32:15.250 --> 00:32:21.880 ways in which God has made us sufficient through Christ. He's a stand. 361 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:28.240 Therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate 362 00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:31.390 of righteousness and his shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given 363 00:32:31.430 --> 00:32:37.630 by the Gospel of peace in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, 364 00:32:37.029 --> 00:32:40.470 with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, 365 00:32:40.549 --> 00:32:45.140 and take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is 366 00:32:45.220 --> 00:32:47.900 the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit, with all 367 00:32:49.019 --> 00:32:57.779 prayer and supplication. This is the armor of God, this is the grace 368 00:32:57.819 --> 00:33:00.450 you have been given. You see why we can stand strong? Do you 369 00:33:00.529 --> 00:33:04.970 see why we can stand firm? Do you see why we can be grateful 370 00:33:05.009 --> 00:33:08.410 people, even in the midst of much darkness? Because we don't stand in 371 00:33:08.529 --> 00:33:13.359 our own strength. We don't fight in our own strength, we stand in 372 00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:15.920 the strength of God. We fight in the strength of God. We draw 373 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:22.920 our resources from Christ himself, who is at work within US and will sustain 374 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:31.269 us to the end. This passage calls us to have courage in any trial 375 00:33:31.309 --> 00:33:36.269 or challenge that we might face. If we remember our gifts, if we 376 00:33:36.430 --> 00:33:39.950 remember our armor, we can be bold and fight in the strength of his 377 00:33:40.069 --> 00:33:45.220 might. So, in conclusion, as you think of all these things that 378 00:33:45.339 --> 00:33:50.500 we've considered this morning, I hope that you have been encouraged and that you 379 00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:55.490 have been reminded to survey the wonderful gifts that come to us through Christ and 380 00:33:55.730 --> 00:34:00.250 his work for us on the Cross. And if you don't know Jesus, 381 00:34:01.130 --> 00:34:05.450 if you've not put your faith in him, then I hope you have been 382 00:34:05.450 --> 00:34:13.199 duly enticed by the graciousness of the love of God to his children. If 383 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:15.480 you hear of a grant that you can get at school, or a sale 384 00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:20.840 at the grocery store or free money available some benefit at work, you take 385 00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:25.829 advantage of these things. Right. So why would you wait and not trust 386 00:34:25.909 --> 00:34:30.750 in Jesus when he is freely pouring these things out on those who put their 387 00:34:30.829 --> 00:34:37.550 faith in him. Why would you wait to trust Christ to receive the free 388 00:34:37.630 --> 00:34:42.500 gift of eternal life, which is a blessing to every Christian now and in 389 00:34:42.619 --> 00:34:50.139 the age to come? Don't wait. Instead, let us together, be 390 00:34:50.300 --> 00:34:54.409 a people who know our savior and His grace to us. Let us be 391 00:34:54.489 --> 00:35:02.130 a people that remember, that are filled with gratitude, find our worries slipping 392 00:35:02.130 --> 00:35:07.360 away, have greater and greater boldness for the fight and for the weight as 393 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:15.679 we eagerly wait for the revealing of the Lord. Let us be a people 394 00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:21.510 of thanks, living by trusting in God who sustains us to the end. 395 00:35:22.590 --> 00:35:24.429 Amen, let's pray.