November 24, 2019

BEING GRATEFUL WHEN THINGS MAY NOT BE GREAT
November 24, 2019
Pastor Jonathan Falwell

How do you cope when life starts handing you one crisis after another? Are you a person who shuts down, engages in rigorous activity, or something you’ve devised for yourself?

Open:
Thanksgiving—the week set aside for us to express our gratefulness to God and each other for the good things that have happened this year. But there are also hard times, and for some, it is hard to express thanks in the middle of trials. As we go through those times, we often forget that God is faithful, that He is good (all the time), and that He has not left our side even for a moment this year. Today, let’s focus on lifting up our spirits by lifting up His Name!

Key Verse: Ephesians 5:20: “…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Focal Passage: Ephesians 5:17-21

Don’t be drunk with wine

  • Read Eph. 5:17. Paul is about to lay out ways we should react when life gets tough. First, however, he admonishes us to take seriously what he is about to write. Will someone put verse 17 in today’s language? What are we if we ignore what he writes?
  • Read verse 18a. Why does Paul warn believers not to escape their problems in ways that don’t achieve lasting results? What do these false remedies do?
  • Have the self-medicating (alcohol, drugs, shopping, etc.) attempts fixed or compounded the initial problems? Explain your answer.

Be filled with the Spirit

  • Read verse 18b. What does the word of God mean when it tells us to be “filled with the Spirit”? How can we do this?
  • Read Galatians 5:22-23. How can this passage illustrate what Paul means in the Ephesian passage?

Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord

  • Read verse 19. What is the difference between a “psalm,” a “hymn” and a “spiritual song”? Where do we find psalms? What was their purpose? What was the purpose of hymns in the early churches? What about spiritual songs?
  • When you are singing (or humming, whistling, or playing an instrument) do you consider yourself to be worshiping the Lord? Is this what Paul means?
  • Read Eph. 5:18-23. The heathen of Paul’s day were described in these verses. Why did Paul want the believers to develop new habits and new thought life?
  • Which style of living (heathen or believers) made for lasting happiness?

Giving thanks always in all things

  • Read verse 20. What does an attitude of gratitude do for the one who has it, and the one who is benefited by it?
  • What is special about a grateful spirit?
  • Have you developed a habit of giving God thanks when situations—both bad or good—come into your life? If so, can you share how it has impacted both you and your relationship with God? If not, can anyone share their thoughts as to why God would have told us to develop this quality?

Take Aways:

  • Make a list of the things that God has done for you that show He is good;
  • Listen to calming music;
  • Spend time in prayer and in reading the Bible;
  • Actively look for ways to be a blessing;
  • Remember—focus on what God has done for you!

Close:

Have you ever considered a spilled cup of hot coffee? The accident may be an irritant or a disaster, depending on where the spill occurs. It can be blistering hot, burning wherever it lands; it can leave a dreadful stain if it spills on white fabric; at the least it wasted a drink that was anticipated. But the bottom line was, coffee was spilled because that was what the cup held!

What comes out of you if an accident occurs—whether catastrophic or mildly irritating? Do words pour out that scorch those around you? Does anger come out that burns feelings? Does what come out of your mouth stain those around you? Or do you find something “good” that resulted? What comes out of the cup is what is inside and the evidence is there for all to see.

Paul was instructing believers who lived in a heathen area where sexual immorality abounded, where drunkenness and unhealthy lifestyles were the norm. Now the new converts needed to come out from among those people, and Paul was instructing them to renew their “vessels” (their bodies) with those fruits of the Spirit that would erupt with praises to God when something jostled them! They were to be singing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts” to the Lord (Paul must have recognized that not everyone has the gift of beautiful voices!) He knew that what would come out in times of crisis was what was inside.

Is that like you? What comes out when you are bounced against the wall? Do you erupt with those things which should have been cast out of your life, or are you so filled with the Spirit that you thank God for some part of the situation?

Thanksgiving comes once a year to remind us to strive for active gratefulness for another year. Let’s allow our lights to shine among those we know so brightly that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven!

 

 

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