Prayer with Thanksgiving

Review: The Hand of Prayer and the Nature of Worship

0:04 Then last week I suggested that the various dimensions of biblical prayer, one convenient way to collate them, to gather them together under workable heads, is to think of the hand.

0:18 There is a sense in which, in certain dimensions of prayer, the hand is full, bringing something to God. This takes in worship, thanksgiving, adoration, praise. Then there is a sense in which the hand is defiled and seeks to be cleansed. This brings in confession.

0:38 And then there is the sense in which the hand is empty, seeking gifts from God. This would be petition, supplication, intercession, entreaty. And so last week we dealt with the first aspect of hands full. And that was the aspect of worship in our prayer.

0:58 And as we discussed the matter, together we came to the conclusion that this is a very helpful or very practical working definition of worship. It is pure adoration, the lifting up of the redeemed spirit toward God in contemplation of His holy perfections. We looked at those passages in the book of the Revelation in particular, in which worshiping creatures are described. And in that description of their worship, we see that they are engaged in pure adoration.

1:30 The lifting up of their spirits toward God in contemplation of His holy perfections. Now that takes care of our review. And as we begin our study this morning, I wish to do so by asking a question. And the question is this.

The Pervasiveness of Worship in Prayer and Life

1:49 Should our deliberate acts of worship be confined to one specific point or period in our prayer? In other words, should we come to God conscious of who He is and our relationship to Him and say, Well, I will now get myself to a period of worship. And having done so, worship is then put behind me. Is this the proper way to think of worship in the sense that we're describing it here?

2:20 Or should worship, the lifting up of our redeemed spirits towards God in contemplation of His holy perfections, should worship in a very real sense, characterize all of our prayer experience? That's the question. And it's in your hands for response. Paul? All right, so you're saying the answer is yes and no. Well, that's a good diplomatic answer.

3:20 But as we've seen with regard to setting up any rules for prayer and study of the Word, often the answer to these questions is yes and no because the Bible does not give to us what little devotional manuals give to us. Or what little follow-up books give to us. A neat little packaged way of how you do it. You see, six lessons for your spiritual growth.

3:40 Bing, bing, bing, bing. Well, the Bible just doesn't come to us with that kind of a categorical list of these things. So the point that Paul is making is a valid one. That according to the directive of our Lord, after this manner pray ye, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that there ought to be some conscious, that according to the directive of our Lord, after this manner pray ye, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that there ought to be some conscious, that according to the directive of our Lord, after this manner pray ye, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that there ought to be some conscious, that according to the directive of our Lord, after this manner pray ye, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that according to the directive of our Lord, after this manner pray ye, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, engagement in worship as a part of the total involvement of prayer.

4:09 However, there is the example in the recorded prayers of Scripture, and I'm just rephrasing what Paul has shared with us, particularly in the Psalms where worship and adoration permeate and are found as strands woven through prayers that may be marked predominantly by entreaty, by petition, by supplication. All right, did someone else have his hand raised? Would you want to disagree with Mr. Emmerich?

4:39 In Psalm 51, David begins with the word, and in the beginning he talks about the heaviness of his hands, but we see the compulsion. All right, there's an example. Psalm 51 begins with what? Have mercy upon me, O God.

4:53 He comes with a hand stretched out to get something. And what he's pleading for is mercy, and then he says, Lord, the hand needs to be cleansed. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

5:06 Then he goes on to say, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I will teach transgressors thy ways. Then he entreats God for the building up of his cause. And in a sense, I don't think you find any pure expressions of worship at all.

5:21 There's some indirect or implied worship, so this is a valid point. All right, someone else? Solomon? .

5:33 Well, we're going to see, because that's the next question. That brings us into the whole area of thanksgiving. So can you hold off for an answer, Solomon? With your consent, we'll table the matter for a few more minutes, all right?

5:44 Very good. All right, someone else? All right, I think the point that Paul has made is the one that is most essential, and I'd like to make a second one, and it is this. If worship is the lifting up of the redeemed spirit toward God in contemplation of his holy perfections, do you not see how acts of worship will not only permeate specific acts of worship, will not only permeate our praying, but ought to permeate our reading of the Scriptures?

6:17 Because the character of God is mirrored to us in the Scriptures. And how can you help, as you're reading through the Scriptures, if there is some new insight to some dimension of God's perfections, but then and there, lifting up your spirit to God in adoration and praise and worship, and you may worship him? You may worship him in some of the strangest places. That's one of the blessings of these little mechanical devices called tape recorders.

6:46 And one of the most wonderful times of worship I've had, I think, in weeks or months, was a week ago Friday, driving down to Atlantic City early in the morning, listening to some of the expositions of Donald MacLeod on the person of Christ, and seeing the sun rise over to my left. One of the few times I've driven on the Jersey Turnpike when I could enjoy the scenery, because I had to leave the house at 5.30 in the morning, so there wasn't much traffic as I got further down. And to see the sun coming up and to have the Word opened up in such a way, well, those are some of those times that you just cherish as secrets with you and the Lord, when you just find yourself utterly abandoned and pouring out worship and praise to God, driving along at 55 or 60 miles an hour on a highway in the midst of all of the mess and sin of the area in which we live, to know that God is there upon His throne, God is revealed in His Son, and He's worthy of the worship of His people. So, we must never think of worship as something confined to a specific place, a specific time, though we ought to seek in our praying to have worship as an integral part of that prayer experience. We must never confine worship to a certain time and place in our devotional exercises.

8:07 Let every new insight to God's character as revealed in the Scriptures, as revealed in His deeds and works, as revealed in His Son, let every new revelation of His character elicit a response of loving adoration and worship from your heart. All right, let's move on then to the second major category of hands full. The first aspect was worship, which would include, of course, adoration. I don't know how we could really separate the two, though, again, these things are not so much like this, as they are zigzag lines, and they overlap and interpenetrate and interlock with one another.

Thanksgiving as an Evangelical Duty

8:51 But I do think there is warrant to make a second major distinction in the broad area, hands full when we come to pray, and that is the matter of thanksgiving. And the first thing we want to do is to establish the fact that thanksgiving is a duty laid upon us by our God, and therefore, coming back to the first principle we established way at the beginning, our praying ought self-consciously to be regulated by the Word of God. That is to say, our praying ought self-consciously to include thanksgiving. Now, if you will, open your Bibles and we'll make a quick trip through four or five passages in the Book of Luke, four passages in the Book of the Psalms, and then about five or six key texts in the New Testament. And all we are doing now is establishing the evangelical duty of thanksgiving. And I use the word evangelical, and by that I mean it is a duty incumbent upon those who come within the orbit of the power and influence of the gospel. The thanksgiving is to be prompted by the gratitude of a redeemed heart.

10:03 It is to reflect the privileges of the redeemed community. Psalm 92, will someone read for us, please? Verses 1 through 3. Psalm 92, verses 1 through 3.

Old Testament Foundations for Thanksgiving

10:22 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, with an instrument of tenderness, and of strength, and of desolation, with a solemn sound upon thy heart. All right, here, thanks is said to be something that is intrinsically good, and it is thanks expressed in the singing of praises to God. And what in particular is the subject of the psalmist's praise and thanksgiving in these verses? Paul?

11:04 The lovingkindness of God and the faithfulness of God. So what do we call them? All these two things. All right, there are two attributes of God.

11:20 Two things that are characteristic of God. His lovingkindness and His faithfulness. So here is one of the things that is the legitimate subject of the activity of praise and thanksgiving to God, namely, His lovingkindness and His faithfulness, and in particular, the ways in which His lovingkindness and faithfulness have manifested themselves in our own peculiar circumstances. For God is not full of lovingkindness and faithfulness in abstraction, but He is full of lovingkindness and faithfulness in His dealings with His creatures, and in particular, with His redeemed people. And if you read on through the psalm, you will see some of the areas in which the lovingkindness and faithfulness of God are presently within the mind of the psalmist. All right, over to Psalm 95. Psalm 95.

12:25 Someone read again, if you will, the first three verses of this psalm. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence for thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with song. For the Lord is a great God and the great King above all gods.

12:48 All right. Here we are exhorted again to express our thanksgiving to God with the joyful noise of praise and to acknowledge in that praise and thanksgiving the greatness of God, the supremacy of God. He is a great God. That's what He is in Himself.

13:08 Then compared with everything else that is called God, He is a great King above all that are called gods. And so here again, the duty of thanksgiving is laid upon us, coming into His presence, that is, coming for specific formal acts of worship. We are to do so in the midst of thanksgiving and of praise. All right.

13:34 Then the very familiar psalm that has already perhaps come to your mind as we've read these verses, Psalm 100. Psalm 100. Perhaps someone will just read that entire psalm for us. It's only five verses.

14:05 It says, The Lord, He is God. It is He that has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people in the shape of His pastors. Enter into His gates for thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

14:14 Be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good and His mercy is everlasting. All right. Here we have essentially the same thought that was before us in the ninety-fifth psalm that coming into the presence of God is unthinkable. That the Lord is good and His mercy is everlasting.

14:28 All right. Here we have essentially the same thought that was before us in the ninety-fifth psalm that coming into the presence of God is unthinkable. That the people of God should come in any other manner other than that of abounding in thanksgiving and praise unto God. The duty is laid upon the coming people of God to enter the presence of their God in this way.

14:51 And now just very quickly I shall read a couple of other texts because we don't want to weary you with one upon another because they're just scattered throughout many portions. I've just selected a few almost arbitrarily from the Psalms. Psalm 105 and verse 1. Let's read.

15:05 O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known among the peoples His doings. Sing unto Him, sing praises unto Him, talk ye of all His marvelous works. And here the people of God are commanded to praise God particularly with reference to His works. Psalm 107 and verse 22.

15:29 Psalm 107, 22. The psalmist has recounted the dealings of God with His people, how the Lord has brought them low and then delivered them in their affliction and in their necessities. And now he says in verse 21, O that men would praise the Lord for His lovingkindness and for His wonderful works to the children of men and let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with singing. And you see how the emphasis again is upon praise that has particular reference to the works of God and the works of God particularly in terms of His dealings with His people in grace and in mercy drawing near to them in their distress. Now turning to the New Testament. We shall find the same pervasive emphasis upon the duty of praise when we look to the New Testament. Now that very familiar passage dealing with prayer, Philippians chapter 4.

New Testament Directives for Thanksgiving

16:31 Philippians chapter 4. And verse 6. In nothing be anxious but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Now it's obvious that the Apostle is making a distinction between general prayer and supplication which he calls requests.

17:02 We make our requests by means of supplication, supplications, prayer, the more general word, but he said whenever we do this such exercises of supplicating and praying to God are constantly to be mingled with thanksgiving as a specific definite element in our prayers to the Lord. Over to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and builded up in Him, and established in your faith even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Where he places this matter of abounding in thanksgiving as an attendant of true spiritual growth and development. As you are rooted in Christ, he says, let your life be characterized by this overflow of thanksgiving as a specific exercise as well as an inward disposition. And then Ephesians chapter 5.

18:17 Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18. Be not drunk with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ. And here again is the explicit directive that we are in all of these things to give thanks for everything. And then 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18. Another of these broad sweeping commandments. Pray without ceasing, verse 17, verse 18. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you.

19:18 Now what could be plain? In everything give thanks for this is the will of God. Then the familiar passage, 1 Timothy 2.1.

19:27 I will first of all that prayers, supplications, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men. And then he goes on to expound what that means. But he does not say that supplications, prayers and intercessions are to be made unless they also include thanksgiving. And then the text that is sort of a capstone over all of these.

19:50 Hebrews 13 and verse 15. He says to a suffering people whose eyes he has sought to fix upon their great privilege of identification with Christ in his reproach. Verse 15. Through him let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of lips which make confession to his name.

20:21 So it is not just the cultivation of a thankful spirit as the general inward spiritual disposition. It is to be the conscious offering up of thanksgiving which is as deliberate as the man who offers up that sacrifice under the old economy. Our praise is thus deliberately to be brought to God as a gracious requirement that he lays upon his people. And may I remind you that one of the crowning sins of the unregenerate as recorded in Romans 1.21 is this. Neither were they thankful. Amidst all of those sins listed in Romans chapter 1 knowing God they glorified him not as God neither were they thankful. The absence of thanksgiving is one of the crowning marks of a pagan heart and a pagan life.

21:20 And so often I am afraid we show the roots of our own innate paganism by our inability to give thanks. And then you have that classic story in Luke 17.11 of those ten lepers who were cleansed and only one returned to give thanks to the one who had cleansed him. Alright, having established the duty and privilege of thanksgiving from these many passages having already asserted and we could see this in passages such as Revelation 11.16 and 17 and 4.9 that worship and thanksgiving overlap. These are not hard fast categories and we don't want to bind you into some kind of a new legalism by asserting that they are for they are not. It's that they worship saying we give thee thanks indicating that thanksgiving in a sense is part of worship. But there is a difference a very definite difference in the general definition of description of thanksgiving.

Defining Thanksgiving: Gratitude for Gracious Gifts

22:21 In worship as we said last week what is the particular focus of the mind in worship? When a redeemed sinner will have him kneeling in the presence of God when he is bringing worship to God what is the focus of that act of worship? Alright, the character the attributes of God or that which God is in himself. Now it may be that which he is in himself as revealed in his works his ways, his doings but the primary focus of worship and adoration is that which God is in himself.

23:04 Now what is the primary focus or concern of thanksgiving? His deeds and works. His deeds and works what? The works that he does among us.

23:18 Alright, any other suggestions? Alright, his gifts to us. The fact that he is my father. His relationship to me.

23:33 Alright, what else? Alright, his work within us. His goodness in general towards us. Thanksgiving for who he is.

23:54 Well that is more in the realm of worship. Though again there is this overlapping and one may be flowing into the other. I think it would be accurate to say if we went back through all of these passages and I tried to emphasize this a little bit I emphasize it a little bit in going through without anticipating it too much and this is the little working description of thanksgiving that I have tried to conjure up anyway. Thanksgiving is the conscious acknowledgement of gratitude to God for the gifts he has graciously bestowed.

24:26 Conscious acknowledgement of gratitude to God for the gifts he has graciously bestowed. And if you read through all of the passages on thanksgiving and praise in no sense do you get or in no way do you get the feeling that the person who is either giving thanks to God or who is exhorting others to give thanks to God has the mentality well God owed it to us anyway but you know polite people say thank you. And even when you collect your paycheck after putting in your forty hours you say thank you to somebody who hands it to you though you know you deserve it. This is not sort of religious politeness.

25:06 Well God you owed us these things and now we're just being religiously polite and we're saying thank you. No. It is conscious acknowledgement of gratitude to God for gifts he has graciously bestowed. For remember it is the praise and the thanksgiving not of angels not of seraphim nor cherubim but it is the thanksgiving it is the gratitude of sinful creatures who forfeited all claims upon God.

25:37 And how we need to be reminded of that in every single area of our Christian experience that we can call him Father is not a matter of creation right it's a matter of grace because by nature we are of our Father the devil. And so you may want to alter this but I found it helpful to me I looked up in the Bible dictionaries and the concordances and lexicons trying to find somebody who had given us a little work of the Bible a little definition of thanksgiving and it's there somewhere I'm sure but I couldn't find it so I throw out my own effort and that's all it is I claim no special inspiration there was no flutter of angels wings nor divine whisperings in my ear when I wrote this down but I give it to you for what it's worth. What is thanksgiving? Well if worship is the lifting up of the redeemed spirit to God in contemplation of his holy perfections then thanksgiving is the conscious acknowledgement of gratitude to God for the gifts this perfect being has so graciously bestowed upon us. Now would you like to alternate?

26:54 Yes, Mr. Clark. In some languages the word for thanks and the word for grace is the same word. In Spanish the word for grace is gracias when you say thank you you say gracias.

27:06 I think it's the same with the Italian the word for thanksgiving it's not action it's not action of grace or action of thanks. So it just underscores the very point we're making here that it's response for those things graciously bestowed. Now if that begins to get hold of us then you see we begin to thank God for things that we take for granted. Do I have a right to breathe God's air for another day?

27:48 No. I don't have a right to breathe God's air for another day. The scripture says that in this God we live and move and have our being he giveth present tense to all life and breath and all things and he gives them graciously. I think many of us will have to acknowledge to our shame that a day or days can pass and we do not consciously thank God for the breath we breathe.

28:13 We don't thank him for the ability to see until we see someone tapping his way along the street with a cane or being led with his seeing eye dog. We don't thank God for the ability to plant two feet on the floor in the morning till we see someone hobbling along who's unable to plant two feet on the floor in the morning. This spirit of ingratitude is so native to us as sinners not as creatures as sinners and that will be one of the most wonderful delights of that state in which we are totally purged from the last vestiges of sin. Thanksgiving to God will no longer be the great problem that it is to us now at times because of this reality of remaining sin. Alright, having asked the question precisely what is Thanksgiving and I hope having now a practical description if not at least a usable formal definition now the next question is what are the primary functions of Thanksgiving? Why does God lay this duty gracious duty upon us a reasonable duty but nonetheless a duty? Now why?

The Primary Functions of Thanksgiving: Glorifying God

29:26 God is not capricious in his requirements. God does not and I don't mean to be irreverent in saying this but God does not as it were sit around saying well I got to keep my children busy what kind of task can I find for oh yes I'll find a task tell them they ought to give a little Thanksgiving. Now there are wise and good reasons for God requiring Thanksgiving of his people and I think those reasons are to be found if we examine the particular or peculiar functions of Thanksgiving. Now what are the primary functions of Thanksgiving?

29:58 Why should God require it of us? Why should he say in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving? Why should he say prayers, intercessions, supplications giving of thanks be made for all men? What is there in this matter of consciously expressing gratitude to God for the gifts he has bestowed?

30:17 What is there about that thing in itself that causes God to require it of his people? That's the question. Henry, would you want to explain that? How does Thanksgiving remind us of God's sovereignty and his mercy?

30:35 Alright, so the very fact that we are consciously acknowledging God to be the giver of these things we're saying Lord you are in control of everything and out of that whole complexity of the interaction of men and things and nations and the weather and things material and non-material out of all of that have come certain things to me and in Thanksgiving I am consciously acknowledging they do not come to me by chance they do not come to me as the result of brute force or fate but they come to me as expressions of the wise loving dispositions of my sovereign heavenly Father. Alright? What else happens when we give thanks to God? I think Priscilla and then this way.

31:37 Alright? Yes. Alright, how does it do that? Alright, so what we're saying then is that Thanksgiving is just good soul therapy, isn't it?

32:17 Isn't it? It keeps the heart in a contented frame. Alright? And now Ralph?

32:23 Alright, so you're saying just God knowing what we're made of has commanded us to send it praise if for no other reason than to put a check upon our innate tendency not to praise Him. Is that what you're saying? Okay, alright. I don't want to put words in your mouth.

33:03 I want to articulate what you are saying. Alright? Who had his hand raised here? Yes, Greg.

33:08 I would say that in general it has a sanctifying effect upon us. Do you want me to enumerate some of the particulars? That would be fine. You saved me asking you to do that.

33:23 Very good. I can think of some of them already mentioned, but some of the different ways that would cause our hearts to be inflamed with love to God for who He is and realizing the things that He's given to us and those attributes of His that are expressed in the giving of those gifts would also cause us to recognize our dependence upon God. It would also cause us to be humble. It would cause us to trust in God and probably many other sanctifying effects that we have.

34:01 Alright. All of this is true. There are sanctifying effects upon us. Greg has made a very vital point that often Thanksgiving then leads back to worship because as we praise God for the specific gifts He has given, we see the character that lies behind those gifts and we are led to worship Him for what He is, having begun with Thanksgiving for what He has done or what He has given.

34:27 But now you've omitted the primary function of worship. Now I know you haven't done it willingly, but you've done it nonetheless. Jane and then Paul. Alright.

34:53 So then you would say that it even has an indirect evangelistic effect upon us. It will inflame us with desire to share with others the greatness of this God. Alright. Paul.

35:28 Alright. Bob.

35:44 Alright. Louise.

36:04 Alright. Cynthia. Alright. May I without any disrespect to the others of you, that's the thing I was fishing for and having got the hook in the fish, let's get him on board now and then we'll move to some of these others.

36:31 Alright. The great reason for which God has enjoined Thanksgiving upon His people is that in the Thanksgiving of His people, God Himself is glorified. Let's look at some passages that tie together in a very intimate way the glory of God and the thanksgiving of His creatures. First of all, there is that passage in Romans to which I referred earlier.

36:55 Romans chapter 1 in which the apostle is describing the heathen world, the world that has not been the recipient of what we would call special revelation, the revelation of God in the written scriptures, but they have, what is commonly called, general revelation. Psalm 19, the heavens that declare God's glory, the firmament that shows His handiwork, that created order which speaks of God, that has stamped upon it the name of God and through which is revealed certain fundamental aspects of the character and the being of God. Now what had the heathen done with that revelation? Romans 1, beginning with verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hinder, who suppress, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known of God is manifest in them for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity that they may be without excuse because that knowing God they glorified Him not as God neither gave thanks. Now you see how the two things

38:24 are wedded together? They did not glorify God neither did they give thanks. Now turn over to the Gospel of Luke and see again how these two strands of thought are brought into close proximity to each other. Luke chapter 17 the record of the healing of the ten lepers.

38:48 Verse 15 And one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back with a loud voice glorifying God and he fell upon his face and his feet giving Him thanks and he was a Samaritan and Jesus answering said were not the ten cleansed but where are the nine? Were there none found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger? Now you see the two things that are almost used synonymously giving glory to God and giving thanks. Verse 16 and he fell upon his feet at his face at his feet giving Him thanks were there none that returned to give glory to God? So that the essential function of praise and thanksgiving is that it is rendering the glory to God that is His due. If of Him and through Him are all things then it is only right that unto Him should be all things and one of the ways in which God receives that return of His own sovereign plan and His own powerful execution of all things is to draw to Himself the praises of His people. A couple of other texts quickly

40:16 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 15 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 15 For all things are for your sakes that the grace being multiplied through the many may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God. So the apostle has the end in view through his own ministry as God deals with him and he's been talking about this great tension realizing the treasure of the gospel is in an earthen vessel and how again and again he's conscious of his own weakness and inadequacy and yet God wonderfully undertakes and makes his strength perfect in the weakness of his servant and he says the ultimate end of all of this true gospel ministry is that thanksgiving should abound to the glory of God and you have the same essential function as the great trust in chapter 9 when he's dealing with the ultimate effect of the liberality of the saints in their giving for the poor saints in Judea. He says in verse 11 and following 2 Corinthians 9 Ye being enriched in everything unto all liberality which worketh through us thanksgiving to God for the ministration of this service not only filleth up the measure of the wants of the saints but abounds through many thanksgivings

41:45 unto God. Seeing that through the proving of you by this ministration they glorify God for the obedience of your confession unto the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution unto them and unto all. So here again we see this connection between thanksgiving and glory being rendered unto God. And we must never forget that the chief end of man is to glorify God even in his praying.

42:17 You see this concept of the God centeredness of every dimension of life it should not be. I was going to say is not but tragic to say it is so much of the time. But it ought not to be a theological abstraction. It ought to be a life principle that touches that reaches its holy tentacles into every single area of life.

42:41 So that even in my praying as one has already mentioned my preoccupation is not within upon me. I'm coming with full hands to bring to God the worship that is his due. I come to glorify God by acknowledging him to be the controller of all things. To be the loving dispenser of all gifts.

43:02 To be the loving disposer of all the circumstances of my life. The sweet and the bitter. To be the one who in wisdom and love has ordered everything according to the counsel of God. The counsel of his own will.

43:15 You see thanksgiving then is rendering glory to this God acknowledging him to be what he has revealed himself to be in the scriptures. And then of course all of these other wonderful effects that come to us and they are all legitimate things. The strengthening of our own faith the savoring of our own spirits so that we don't have the grumbling pity me spirit and turn our prayers into nothing but a subjective kind of a pity party in which we call upon God to commiserate with us. And we never rise above that.

Thanksgiving's Sanctifying Effects and Explicit Glory to God

43:50 No, our faith is strengthened our spirits are kept sweet in the acknowledgement that he does all things well. And then these many other blessed and holy effects which you've mentioned. Anyone else have anything that's just sort of leaping out on this matter you wanted to share? Greg.

44:08 There's one passage in the Old Testament that I think is helpful for me. Good. Give us the passage and then read it loudly if you will please. Psalm 50 and verse 22 and 23.

44:24 Psalm 50, 22 and 23. All right. Okay, if you'll read it for us now Greg. Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you.

44:44 Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his way aright will I show the salvation of God. All right. There's an explicit statement. Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me.

45:00 And you see how now. You see how it glorifies God. We are consciously acknowledging him to be what he has revealed himself to be. The giver of every good and perfect gift.

45:11 The controller and disposer of all things and all men and all circumstances. All right. Now let me throw out another question. It will occupy us for the remaining six minutes or so and then maybe even lead us into our next session together.

45:27 Having asked the question precisely what is thanksgiving and our answer to that at least I hope I'm speaking for all of us was the conclusion that thanksgiving is the conscious acknowledgment of gratitude to God for the gifts he has graciously bestowed. Second question that we've been wrestling with is what is the primary or what are the primary functions of thanksgiving. The essential one God is glorified and then all of these secondary ones our faith is strengthened etc. Now the third question is this what things should be the specific subjects of our thanksgiving.

Specific Subjects for Thanksgiving: God's Benefits

46:05 When we render thanks to God we've got these general statements in everything give thanks but just like everybody's job is nobody's job when you read a passage like that if you just leave it hanging there undefined with specifics it's amazing how we just missed the thrust of it. Now taking the scriptures as our guide what things ought to be the specific subject matter of our thanksgiving. Can you think of some things off the top of your heads and hearts. Solomon.

46:36 Alright can you give me a passage in which you find someone thanking God for salvation in Jesus Christ. While you're looking for it Cynthia what were you going to say? Okay alright very good. Gene.

46:52 Alright would you read that for us? Alright so here then are some specific items for which the psalmist is giving thanks to God and he's conscious in this psalm that his natural tendency is to do what? And he's stirring himself up to non-forgetfulness. He's talking to his soul. He's saying now soul you're in a bad shape.

47:47 You're in bad shape. Left to yourself. You'll sit there with a pout and a long face as though nobody ever had it as bad as you did. But soul you sit under a canopy of divine favor and soul you need to remember that.

48:02 He's talking to himself. He's not talking to some other guy but he's talking to himself. But it's as though he sits his soul down over there and says now you've got to get with it. And start acknowledging all that you have from the hand of your God.

48:15 Now let me ask a very simple question. You don't need to answer verbally but answer in your own conscience. Do you ever take this psalm as a guide for your exercises of thanksgiving? Do you ever take a psalm like this and say to your soul forget not all his benefits and they say alright what is his first benefit?

48:34 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. And then you just pause and think of all the iniquities that you know about. Not meditating upon the carnal delights they brought for that would be to turn your meditation into the occasion of sin. But thinking upon the various ways in which you have turned aside from God's law that you know about.

48:56 Then think of all the things all the areas where you don't know because you don't see with a perfectly clear eye what God sees. And I think it was Calvin who said no man knows the one hundredth part of his own sin. And then when you start thinking this God forgives all those iniquities. In Jesus Christ they are all pardoned.

49:20 Well it's pretty hard to see souls sitting over there with a long face isn't it? Now a soul may not be in the best of circumstances but if he's forgiven a soul if he is a soul whose iniquities are forgiven he has much for which to give thanks to God. Who healeth all thy diseases and you think of all the times from your infancy when you were sick and God has wonderfully restored you and right at the very moment you may be sick you may not be physically well but remember all the other times when you were not well. And God graciously with or without means in a short period of time by an unusual application of his power or by unusual blessing upon means brought you to health and you thank God because remember every single sickness has in it in an unusual way the seeds of death. The seeds of death are in our body in general and sickness is simply the blossoming in a little fuller measure of one of those seeds and unless God arrested it it would blossom out and snatch our lives away. That's why infants die and two year olds die and six and ten and twelve and fourteen year olds die and we need to thank God and then he redeems thy life from destruction. Think of all of the times when you would have destroyed yourself when you were yet in a state of sin.

50:38 All the times when as a believer you've gotten some stupid notion in your head and you ran off half-cocked saying this was the Lord's will and you would have ruined yourself but God wonderfully intervened. Now do you use a song like this to guide your thanksgiving? If you don't may I encourage you to do so. You'll find it a great help to give you fuel to praise God and you'll feel safe when you're praising God within the framework of his own revealed word.

Thanksgiving for Personal Creation and Uniqueness

51:05 Alright, these are some of the things then for which we can give thanks to God. Uh, Louise. Alright, in the 139th Psalm the Psalmist is praising God for what the Lord did in his prenatal state. He said this wasn't random selection of the genes and the rest that made me what I am.

51:49 He's looking back to the time when he says God knit me together in my mother's womb. Isn't that a beautiful picture? God didn't drop a stitch. He had his plan right there.

52:01 That's right. He said now this is what I want to make. There's my plan. Knit two, purl two, drop two.

52:08 That's right. Right across. And God said alright now that's what I'm going to knit together. That creature that shall be constituted you and there's only one you and there only ever shall be one you.

52:20 Of the four billions on the face of the earth today there's only one you. And of all the millions previously existed God only knit together one you. Isn't that great? And you say well I wish he...

52:34 Oh no, you weren't there. No, no. He knit you together in such a way that he could receive from you an aspect, a dimension of praise and worship that he would not receive from any other creature. Well our time's gone we're just going to have to right here.

52:53 Alright?