Gratitude – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL DISCIPLINE

I want to push pause on our Revelation study. Originally, on the teaching schedule, this was my wife’s Sunday to teach, and she said something akin to, “It’s Mother’s Day, why do I have to teach?” I said, “Well, you don’t have to. Maybe we could teach together.” She went along with that for a while, and then she was like, “Okay, here’s what I think we should talk about. I think you should do it.” So here I am. She played a very Jedi-mind-trick card. If it’s Mother’s Day, she shouldn’t have to do this, and I just went along with it. She’s been paying attention, learning from me.

I want to take us into a conversation. I think there’s times we miss, ignore, or maybe we’re not even aware that our external world is directly influenced by our internal disciplines. Jesus had an incredible ability to impact His world, we won’t argue that. What I think we don’t pay attention to is that one of the most unique things about Him was His incredible ability to manage His internal nature.

For instance, just consider a couple of things that are in Scripture. Do you ever see Jesus communicate from a place of insecurity? How many of you have ever dealt with insecurity at least once in your life? How many of you have had insecurity drive your communication? Where do you ever see Jesus communicate from insecurity? Nowhere.

Here’s another one. Where do you ever witness Jesus complaining about His circumstances? Now, one of the places you’re going to pull up is in the garden, where He said, not my will, but Yours be done. He didn’t complain. He literally asked a question. Hey, is it possible that I don’t have to do this? He didn’t get an answer. He understood this: when the Lord gives you a direction, and He gives you no answer to move it, He’s still giving you a direction.

Now, that’s worth pondering. If the Lord told you to do something, but you don’t want to do it, you may go to the Lord and ask, hey, do I have to do this? Well, I didn’t hear a yes, so I’m not going to do it. That’s actually sin—just a thought.

What do you ever see Jesus crack under pressure? Where do you ever see His circumstances bring Him to failure? These are the little things that we don’t always call out and pay attention to. I would offer the observation that Jesus was in complete control of His internal world. I would offer that He, because of that control in His internal world, affected His circumstances instead of allowing His circumstances to affect Him.

Consider Luke chapter four. If you go to most Bibles, Luke 4 will be listed as “The Temptation of Jesus” or something like that. He’s in the wilderness. He’s tempted by the enemy. In this temptation, in this entire process, we don’t see a single sign of angst, nervousness, or panic—nothing. He’s super calm. In this temptation, He’s presented with desperate hunger for 40 days with no food. Most scholars believe He spent 40 days without food and water because of where He was and the inability to have had enough water even to drink. 

The reality is that we know that the human body is scientifically not supposed to be able to survive 40 days without water. So we see Him face hunger, thirst, fear of loss, ambition for position, and abandonment. All the things the enemy throws at Him are very familiar to us. He never gets rattled. In every situation, we see Him do the same thing; He responds very calmly and with assurance.

If we go to 1st Corinthians chapter eleven, I think we find His source. It says, “On the night He was betrayed, He broke bread and gave thanks.” Now we glaze past that because any of us who have been in church for not very long have, during Communion, once or twice heard that verse quoted. On the night He was betrayed, He broke bread and gave thanks. But in context, this reveals something incredible. He’s in the midst of being betrayed, and He is aware that this betrayal is going to lead Him to death. In the midst of that moment, He makes a calculated choice, and He gives thanks.

I would love to offer an idea that in this revelation lies the secret to how Jesus controlled His internal world. He chose to live through the lens of gratitude.

EXPLORING GRATITUDE IN THE WORLD

So, let’s define “gratitude” in the natural world for a moment so that we’re all on the same page. On Dictionary.com, the definition of gratitude is the quality of being thankful, a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness to another. Okay, great definition.

If we study culture, what does humanity, the world around us, have to say about gratitude? There are a couple of articles I want to pull up. Psychology Today, in 2015, released an article that outlined the physiological benefits of gratitude. The Mayo Clinic released very similar findings in 2022. It would appear that the natural world—again, not spiritual people necessarily, just medical people who are observing the physiological realities of gratitude—it would appear that they’re starting to see similar effects of gratitude. Let me give you a few of them.

The first one that is on their list is that gratitude invites others into your world because it brings a strengthening to self control and an increase of patience. In other words, people want to be around people who are self-controlled and patient. How many have ever woken up and said, You know what I need to do today? I need to find some really out-of-control people who are really impatient. I want to be around them today. Some of you are like, Yeah, well, I got that, and I didn’t want it. Gratitude creates an invitation for others to step into our life.

According to these studies, gratitude improves your physical health. These are interesting. Gratitude improves and can create clearer skin. It can deal with acne. It improves diastolic blood pressure. Your attitude affects your physical body. Did you know this: gratitude creates, this is clinical, less congestion. Next time you see somebody with a sinus infection, say, “You need to get thankful.” Gratitude bridges a gap with chronic pain and risk of disease, it lessens them.

One of their other findings is that gratitude improves mood and immunity. You fight off infection and disease better when you’re grateful. It enhances empathy, and, get this guys, it reduces aggression. Are there any dudes out there who just feel angry every once in a while? Yeah. Gratitude reduces aggression. Grateful people sleep better. Maybe we should count our blessings instead of sheep. It increases self-esteem. You actually feel better about who you are when you’re grateful. Finally, it increases mental strength. Specifically, it decreases depression and anxiety. 

EXPLORING GRATITUDE IN THE BIBLE

This is not what the Bible teaches about it, this is just what the medical world knows about gratitude. Okay, so let’s talk about what the Bible teaches because the Scriptures give us a fifteen-word schedule for living in the discipline of gratitude. Fifteen words to teach us how and why to live in gratitude. 1st Thessalonians five, verse 18—we will look at it.

“In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Jesus for you.”

Let’s take a look at these words. The word “in” is a positional word in Greek. It means to be placed in something; it describes where you are. We understand this easily. I’m in a tough spot. We understand what it means to be placed into something.

“Everything” is the word “pas” in the Greek, and it means everything. It represents the whole. It is the idea in Greek culture of being at a center point and looking around you in a 360-degree turn, and that is everything. It’s not rocket science. “Give thanks”. The word here is to express gratitude, to be grateful, and it deals specifically with what is released out of a person and the content of their thoughts. It’s anything spoken or communicated.

The next phrase is “for this.” Now, Paul does something in 1st Thessalonians. He makes a statement, “In everything, give thanks,” and then he stops and says, “For this.” For what? Give thanks for this action of gratitude, which “is the will of God.” This phrase, “will of God,” is important because it means what one wishes or has determined is to happen.

He goes on and adds the phrase “in Jesus for you.” He doesn’t have to offer that qualifier, but there’s a reason he does. Number one, what God wants is for us to give thanks. But the second thing is, when he says it in Jesus or in Christ, it helps us understand that this is actually God’s expectation for people who are in Jesus. Gratitude is the posture of thankfulness prescribed as the proper expression or language of the believer. It’s your natural language in the Kingdom.

Gratitude aligns us with God’s desire for us.

THREE TRUTHS FROM 1ST THESSALONIANS 5:18

I want to give you three truths from this verse. Number one: according to what Paul teaches, your gratitude is not linked to your circumstance. Your gratitude is not conditional on your circumstance. The invitation here is to choose gratitude. In every situation, regardless of the situation. Let me say it differently. Your circumstances hold no authority over your gratitude. Your marriage holds no authority over your gratitude. Your job holds no authority over your gratitude. Your neighbors hold no authority over your gratitude. Based on Paul’s teaching, there is nothing that holds authority over your gratitude.

Second truth: in this way, your gratitude will always be an intentional choice. Gratitude is a choice, not a response. Do you know who chooses gratitude? Grateful people. Therefore, a lack of gratitude is actually rooted in an unwillingness to step into the discipline of gratitude.

Third truth: you will live as grateful as you are thankful. The words are connected in the Greek. It’s almost like they’re inextricably linked. Thankfulness creates gratitude. Gratitude is the response of thankfulness, and thankfulness is an intentional choice and an intentional reaction.

Based on what I see in this verse, thankfulness is the choice we make on how we respond to life. What does it look like for us to make the choice to respond in every situation with thankfulness? Gratitude is the byproduct of living thankful. I think that’s why worship aligns our hearts so well with gratitude because it causes us to begin to be thankful.

If you’re struggling with gratitude, the first thing I would tell you is to learn to worship. It’s really hard to sing to the One who’s seated on the throne—to sing To the One who reigns forever and ever, be all the glory, be all the honor—it’s really hard to sing that and not become grateful.

HOW TO LIVE THANKFUL

How do we learn to live in a way where we give thanks for everything?

I want to share four simple ideas. Number one: search for and celebrate what is good instead of what is not. You will begin to notice that if you’re looking for what is good, you’ll find it. And if you’re looking for what is wrong, you’ll find it. John Maxwell makes a statement that I love: your attitude affects your altitude. In other words, what you set your attitude on is where you’ll end up.

Number two: after you’ve decided to search for what is good instead of what is bad, or what is right instead of what is wrong, determine to eliminate toxic thought. I would love to submit a simple reality, that what you dwell upon controls you. If that doesn’t sound like the Bible, let me prove it with the Bible.

2nd Corinthians ten, verse five: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought, to make it obedient to Christ”.

Colossians three, verse two: “Set your mind on the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” 

The word “set” in Greek is just as easily rendered as “think.” It is the idea of controlling what we’re focusing on. I believe that Jesus controlled what He thought about and that an incredible part of managing His internal world was controlling what He thought about.

What Paul teaches is that when thoughts are in our head, when they’re bubbling about, we are to grab onto them and look at them and ask the question, Is this obedient to Jesus? Can I obey Jesus if I follow this thought? Just because I thought it doesn’t mean I have to do it. Also, because you thought it doesn’t mean you have to say it. That idea keeps you out of a lot of trouble or gets you into a lot of trouble if you reverse it.

We’re actually to be cognizant of what we’re thinking about, to be mindful of what’s going on inside our head, and ask, Does this obey Him? Because our brain is capable of thinking a lot of things up, but not a lot of those things are Christ-centered. If we live in a mentality that says, Because I thought it because I feel it, it’s true, and I should live it, we’re going to end up destroying our lives. Paul’s answer is, so set your mind on the things of Heaven. Think on those things instead, not the things of the earth. What does that mean? Don’t waste your time thinking about all the dumb stuff around you.

Number three: After you’ve determined to eliminate toxic thoughts, decide to control your words. Ephesians four says, “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” There it is again. All of a sudden, there’s this expectation that what comes out of us is beneficial to everyone.

Maybe you’re like me, and as you think about this, I’m going to have to not say a lot of stuff that’s going on in my head. I’m going to have to tell myself, “It doesn’t matter,” to a whole list of things. I don’t think I like that. I feel like I’m shutting myself down. It’s not me saying it, it’s the Bible that said it. It is Kingdom-legal to tell yourself you don’t get to think that way. It is actually right in the Kingdom to say to yourself, I’m sorry, that thought pattern is sin. You are not allowed to go there. To take it even further, it is Kingdom-required.

Number four: understand that, ultimately, gratitude and thankfulness are rooted in our understanding of His character. You see when you’ve made it your agenda to know Him, you can’t help but become grateful and thankful. Psalm 89 provides a character statement about the Lord, and I love it. It says, “You are entirely faithful.” In other words, there’s not a single aspect of You that’s not faithful. Therefore, I can follow everything You have given me to do.

I can live the way You told me to live. Even when I don’t want to, I can force myself to become obedient to Scripture. Even when I don’t want to, I can demand of myself that I don’t think those thoughts. I’m going to set them aside because they don’t align with You. I can actually corral all of my being into Your nature and Your character because You’re entirely faithful, and if I do what You said, it works.

CHOOSING TO LIVE LIKE JESUS

If we believe He’s entirely faithful, then we live in thanksgiving and joy, letting gratitude control our worldview. Some of us might ask the question, Why would I do this? I don’t really want to. I’m going to have to change a lot of my communication. That seems like a lot of work. I have one answer. 1st Thessalonians chapter five says it’s what God wants. It says it’s what He expects. When we align with His heart for our lives, we draw favor from heaven into our situations. But more importantly, if we’re followers of Jesus, we choose to live like Jesus.

If we can hear this and say, I don’t really want to have to align to the Scriptures, I don’t really have to want to have to align to this place, I would challenge the question of whether or not we’re following Jesus. In everything He did, He gave thanks. In the midst of the hardest season of His life, we see Him give thanks.

Here’s my request. We take bread and cup a lot. The word for this act, eucharisto, means to give thanks. It’s rooted in gratitude. Maybe instead of taking bread and cup, we should become bread and cup. Every time we walk into a room, we decide, I am eucharisto. I am the bread and cup. I am going to be the gratitude of Heaven in this room. I’m going to be grateful and thankful. I’m going to change the atmosphere I’m in instead of letting it change me. I’m going to take this Kingdom dynamic of thankfulness, and I’m going to apply it so I can infect every room I’m in with gratitude because my King said, “In everything you do, give thanks.”

Just remember, gratitude invites people into your world. 

Jesus, we love you. It is in these micro-moments when we start to really assess Your day-to-day character and how You live that You become so mind-blowing to me. Would You lead us and teach us how to model and do what You did? You’re the guide, You are the teacher. Holy Spirit, we give You carte blanche authority to edit and convict, to laugh at us, to whisper, whatever it takes, when we let go of gratitude.

Jesus, we want to be a people that affect our world instead of it affecting us. We want to be people that the world around us could say, What is wrong with them? They’re just so grateful. So be with us today. Be in every conversation and in all of our travels, may Your mercy be upon us. We love You. We honor You, In Jesus’s name, amen.