The Model Life: Adoration, Part 5

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You know, the model life is a life that's built around thankfulness. Not just joyfulness and not just prayerfulness, but thankfulness. The Trilogy of Commands in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 16, 17, and 18 exemplify the life of adoration, the life that truly adores God and worships God.

And it's always marked by joyfulness, prayerfulness, and thankfulness. Over the last several weeks, we have spent time looking at what it means to rejoice always, verse 16. What it means to pray without ceasing, verse number 17.

Today, what it means to give thanks in everything, for this is God's will in Christ Jesus concerning you. The will of God is not just to be thankful. The will of God encompasses the Trilogy of Commands.

God's design and God's desire for you is that you be joyful, you be prayerful, and that you be thankful. If you want to understand the will of God for your life, that's where it begins. If you're looking for God to guide you into a new job, or guide you into the person you are to marry, or to guide you in making the right decision, and yet you have a bad attitude and are ungrateful, and you don't pray always, and you have a sad heart and not a joyful heart, guess what? You're not going to have any direction whatsoever.

Because God's will for you is that you be joyful, you be prayerful, and you be thankful all the time in everything. This is what God's designed for us. This is what he wants for his children.

So incredibly important. Every year at Thanksgiving, which is about 12 weeks away, just in case you didn't know. It's right around the corner.

I always tell you that Thanksgiving is not a holiday vacation. It's a holy vocation. We look at Thanksgiving as a time to get away, a vacation time, a holiday.

You look at it for the wrong reason. It's a holy vocation. We've been called by God to give thanks.

Listen to what the psalmist says in Psalm 100. A very familiar psalm to most of us. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth.

In other words, be joyful. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

We've been formed by God. We've been made by God. We are his people.

Therefore, enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name, for the Lord is good.

His lovingkindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations. Come into his presence with thanksgiving. Enter his courts with praise.

When you come to worship the Lord, you come with a thankful heart, a heart filled with joy and praise to God. Did you come to church today grumpy? Did you come to church today with a bad attitude? Did you come to church today because things weren't going your way in the car on the way over? So many times we get off-kilter by looking at all the negative circumstances instead of realizing all the things that God has done. I love what the psalmist says over in Psalm 116.

He says in verse number 12, what shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? So if someone was to ask you a question and say, okay, what will you render to the Lord? What will you give to the Lord for all the benefits that he's bestowed upon you? What would you say? The psalmist answers. He says, I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord because of all the things the Lord has done for me. I will be number one, prayerful.

Number two, I shall pay my vows to the Lord. Oh, may it be in the presence of his people. I will pay my vows. I will be responsible. Not only will I be prayerful, but I will be dutiful to respond, to fulfill my responsibility. And then he says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.

I will be hopeful for 16. Oh Lord, surely I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid.

You have loosed my bonds because I'm your servant. I will not just be prayerful, not just be dutiful, not just be hopeful, but I will be useful because I am your servant and I will be used by you for your glory. And then he says this to you, I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord.

I will be thankful. I will be thankful. Let me ask you a question.

Does that characterize you today? William Law, an 18th century writer and preacher, wrote a book entitled A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. In that book, he says this, would you know who is the greatest saint in all the world? It is not he who prays more most. It is not he who fasts most.

It is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice. But it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. The greatest saint in all the world is a saint that gives thanks unceasingly to God.

I wonder if you do that. Paul says we're to give thanks in everything. In everything.

In Ephesians 5, he says we're to give thanks for everything. So when you think about that and you think, okay, I'm going to give thanks for everything. Yes, that's what it says.

And in everything, absolutely. But the question comes, do we do that? And for the most part, we don't. But you have to realize that thankfulness is what sets the Christian apart from everyone else in the world.

In fact, listen to what it says over in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Verse number 1 says, but realize this, that in the last days, difficult times or perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful.

The characteristic of perilous times, and the word for perilous or difficult times is the same word used in Mark's gospel to talk about a man who was demon possessed. So he's talking about demonic times, the times that are characterized by demons in times. What is mostly characteristic is that people will be not just disobedient to parents, but they're going to be ungrateful.

In fact, Romans 1 says it this way. Romans 1, verse number 21, for even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to God. The characteristic of the unbeliever is that he will not give thanks to God.

Not that he can't, but he won't. He just won't give thanks to God. And yet the believer is characterized by a heart filled with thanksgiving, filled with gratitude, filled with gratefulness to their God.

So important. Turn in your Bible, if you would, to Luke's gospel, the 17th chapter. Luke's gospel, the 17th chapter.

You know the story. It's a very familiar story. It says in verse number 11, when he was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee.

As he entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a distance met him, and they raised their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Now, here are these 10 lepers. They're in this, on the outskirts of this village, and they see Jesus coming.

And the reputation of Jesus by this time is all throughout the land of Israel. Everybody knows who Jesus is. He's the miracle worker.

He takes the blind and causes them to see, takes the lame and lets them walk, takes the dead and raises them up. So here comes Jesus. And so these men who are filled with leprosy see this as an opportunity to ask Jesus, to plead with Jesus, to have mercy upon them and heal them.

I mean, if it was you, would you not do that? Of course you would. Here's the miracle worker. Here's the all-powerful one.

Here's the one that can do what no one else has ever done. We need to ask him to have mercy upon us. Look what happens next.

When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourself to the priests. In Luke 5, he touched the man with leprosy. He doesn't touch these men.

He doesn't say, be healed. Doesn't do that either. He wants to test the meagerness of their faith.

You see, they already believe that Jesus is a miracle worker. So they already believe in the power of Jesus. They already believe in the reputation of Jesus.

So that's their faith. They believe in who he is based on what he has done already. And so he says to them, go and show yourself to the priest.

Why would he say that? Because Christ came to fulfill all the law, and the law of Leviticus 17 and 18 would mean that the priest who are the inspectors of those who are leprous would determine whether or not they were healed or not. And he wants them to go to the priest because 10 men who are filled with leprosy, who are healed, is an overwhelming example of the power of God to the priest of Israel that they would not be able to deny. And so he says, go and show yourself to the priests.

And so they all get up and they make their way toward the temple in Jerusalem. So he says, and as they were going, they were cleansed. So uneventful, so low key, no balloons, no whistles, no lights, no hoopla, nothing like that.

Just as they were going, they were cleansed. This is a remarkable understatement in the Scriptures. But that's what the Lord wanted to say.

And then it says this. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back. Turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice and fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks.

He was a Samaritan. See, this man wanted physical cleansing, but he knew he needed spiritual cleansing. And so he knew that, so he went back to the one who cleansed him and glorified his name with a loud voice.

No shame. Praising his name, then falling down before him because worship is known by a thankful heart. Not only am I joyful and prayerful, but I am thankful.

It's the model life of adoration. So here he adores his God. He falls before him and gives thanks to him.

He recognizes his deity. He understands his iniquity, and he cries out for mercy. And Christ responds with three simple questions.

Were there not 10 cleansed? That he says, but the nine. Where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner, this Samaritan? Was no one willing to exalt God? Was no one willing to adore God, to worship God except this one person? You see, they're indicative of Israel. They want Jesus to do for them.

When Jesus feeds them, they're great. They love him. When Jesus heals them, they're ecstatic.

But when Jesus preaches to them, they can't stand him. They just love what Jesus does for them. They were consumers.

A lot of people today in the church, they go to church for what the church can do for them. They're called consumer Christians. Can the church do this for me? Can the church do that for me? Can the church meet this need? Can the church meet that need? That's the way that Israel was with Jesus.

Do this for me, Jesus. He did, because he's a God of grace, mercy, compassion, and love. Were there not 10 that were cleansed? Where are the other nine? Where'd they go? How come they're not with you? Do they not want to recognize God and give glory to his name? He said to him, stand up and go.

Your faith has made you well. The word for well is sozo. The most common word for salvation in the testament.

Your faith has saved you. See, the unbeliever doesn't care to give thanks. He doesn't want to give thanks.

The believer cannot help but give thanks. That's the difference. And that's why the model life is filled with adoration.

And yet, we find it's such a hard thing to be thankful in everything. Turn with me in your Bible to another passage. Again, another familiar one, but always good to be reminded.

And that's the passage in the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. So we are to give thanks in everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. We're to give thanks for everything or for all things. Ephesians 5:20. So Paul is going to turn that around and say these words in Philippians 2:14. Do all things, all things, all things. Without what? Grumbling and disputing. So in all things, give thanks.

Give thanks for all things. So that in all things, you do not grumble or complain. The word for dispute is a word to question.

Do all things without questioning. That's very hard for us, isn't it? We always want to know the answer why. Why? Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to obey that command? Why do I have to forgive that person? Why? And God just gives commands.

He doesn't give suggestions and He doesn't offer up an opinion. He just gives you commands. And the word for grumbling is a word for complaining.

Complaining. Now, maybe that's not you today, but people have all kinds of things to complain about. They complain because we have bagels and not donuts in between services.

Figure that. They complain because there's not air conditioning in the foyer.

But there's a method to our madness. It gets you into the auditorium quicker where it is air conditioned. But we complain there's no air conditioning in the foyer.

We complain about how long it takes to sign in our children to take in the class. We complain about where we have to park. In the middle of someone, on the outskirts of someone, on the other side of the auditorium.

There are so many things that we complain about and we don't even think about it. And Paul says, I want you to do all things without complaining. As a mother, I want you to care for your children without complaining, without grumbling.

Right? You ask the Lord for children, the Lord gives you a gift, and then you complain about how much time it takes to take care of the children. Why would you do that? They're a gift from God. And we find ways to complain and grumble.

We complain because I no longer can do the things I used to do when I didn't have children. But now that I have children, I can't do those things anymore. So I complain about not having time to do those things.

And I begin to grumble and mumble. You see, we find so many things to complain and moan and groan about. And Paul says, just the reverse of Ephesians 5:20 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18. And everything that you do, don't complain and do not grumble, do not question.

So that, what? You will prove yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world. In order to prove that you are different than the world, in order to prove that you are light in the world, in order to prove that you're a child of God, it comes because you do not complain and you do not question. I love the words of Thomas Watson, that great Puritan preacher and writer, when he said this, by praise a Christian excels all the infernal spirits.

Do you talk of God? So does the devil. He brought scripture to Christ. Do you profess religion? So can the devil.

He transforms himself into an angel of light. Do you fast? The devil never eats. Do you believe? The devils have a faith of ascent.

They believe, and yet they tremble. But as Moses worked such a miracle as none of the magicians could reproduce, so here is a work Christians may be doing, which no or none of the devils can do. And that is the work of thanksgiving.

Devils can't do that. Only the Christian can. The world grumbles and mumbles and moans and groans and disputes, right? But the Christian, no, he proves himself different than the world.

He's completely the opposite. He's given thanks in all things and for all things. I love the story that Spurgeon tells.

He says, I once heard a touching story about a poor woman with two children who had no bed for them to sleep in, and scarcely any clothes to cover them. In the depth of winter, they were nearly frozen, and the mother took the door of a cellar off the hinges and set it up before the corner where they crouched to sleep, that some of the draft and cold might be kept from them. One of the children whispered to her when the mother complained, mother, what do those dear little children do who have no cellar door to put up in front of them? Spurgeon says, even there you see the little heart found cause for thankfulness. Thankful for a cellar door that just blocks some of the cold, not all the cold, but just some of the cold. And what do those children do who have no cellar door to block the cold for them? A heart of thankfulness.

Now I know that most of us hear this and think little of it. It's not that big a deal. Oh, it's a big deal. Let me show you.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And let me show you how big a deal this is.

First one, for I do not want you to be uninformed brethren. I don't want you to, the King James version says, I don't want you to be ignorant brethren. That our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they were drinking from a spiritual rock, which followed them. And the rock was Christ. He talks about Israel's privileges and all that they had as a unit, as a nation that came from God.

Verse five, nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased for they were laid low in the wilderness. That's just a nice way of saying they died in the wilderness. Here was this nation who received all these blessings from God and they received them all at once as a nation of 2 million Jews.

But nevertheless, for a lot of them, God was not even pleased with them. So he killed them in the wilderness. Verse 6, now these things happen as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also crave.

This is an example. This is an illustration. Paul was telling the church at Corinth, look, these are examples of what not to do.

He says, verse seven, do not be idolatrous as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. Nor, verse 8, let us act immorally as some of them did and 23,000 fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents, nor grumble, question as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

We understand where God would kill those who committed idolatry. We understand that God would kill those who committed immorality. But why would God kill somebody who grumbles? I mean, compare the two, grumbling, idolatry, complaining, immorality.

In our minds, they're like, whoa, there's such a difference between the two sins. But in God's mind, sin is still sin. And of course, the reference is Numbers chapter 16, where there in Numbers 16, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

And God opened up the ground and swallowed them and their families all alive, and then closed the ground over them. And then 250 other men thought that he could act like priests, and God sent fire down from heaven and incinerated those men. And the people complained.

They grumbled. They questioned Moses. And in questioning Moses, they were questioning God.

Why would God do this? Why would God lead us out here and then kill us? And God was incensed. So he set a plague and killed 14,700 of them. And if it wasn't for Moses and Aaron interceding on Israel's behalf, he probably would have killed every single one of them.

Grumbling questions and doubts God's sovereignty, his goodness, his mercy, his providence. When you begin to grumble and complain, you are saying, God, you didn't do it good enough, or you didn't do it right, or you didn't do it my way, because my way is better than God's way. You gave me this when I asked for that.

You did this when I wanted that. And you begin to complain. Husbands do it all the time.

Following in the footsteps of Adam, when Adam said, it's the woman you gave me, Lord. He blamed the Lord. He grumbled to complain because of sin, because of the woman that God gave him.

See? And see, isn't it a miracle that God doesn't kill us when we grumble? Think about that. Think about your day. Think about your week.

How many times you complained about what was taking place in your life, your family, your work, your school, because things didn't go the way you thought they should go. So you criticize, you moan, you complain, you groan over and over and over again. And God, in His grace, allows you to continue living.

That is a walking miracle of God that you're still alive today, even though you disobey the commands of God. So Paul says, do not grumble. Do not complain about anything.

Just don't do it. Instead, in everything and for everything, just give thanks to God. Can you do that? If you're an unbeliever, you cannot do that.

You don't even want to do that. If you're a believer, your heart's cry is, Lord, I want to cry out to you in thankfulness for what you've done. Am I to thank the Lord for a bad marriage? Absolutely. Because why is the marriage bad? Is it just all on him or all on her? Or do you play a part in it as well? And bad is relative, is it not? To you, your bad marriage might be good to somebody else's marriage. I don't know.

But do you rejoice with the wife of your youth? That's what Solomon says. Rejoice with the wife of your youth. But we want to complain about the wife of our youth because she doesn't do what she used to do.

Well, that's no good. Who's that help? We are to give thanks for everything, in everything. And I know that some of you right now, your wheels are spinning in your mind, and you're looking for an excuse that says, you know, God, I know that God does not expect me to give thanks in this situation or for this situation.

I know you're thinking that. And you're going to ask the question, well, do you mean that in this situation or in this circumstance or in this way? I know you're asking that question in your own mind. We all do.

But can't we just rest in what God has said? Because thankfulness reveals so much about our lives. It reveals, number one, this is my outline. This is all introduction up to now.

It reveals our conversion to Christ. That's what Philippians 2 says. It reveals our conversion to Christ.

That's what Luke 17 said when we read about the 10 lepers. But listen to what Paul says in Colossians 2. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. How did you receive him? By faith or by grace through faith, right? So you walk by faith, by the grace of God.

Having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. What a statement. Overflowing with gratitude.

Because what thankfulness does is reveal my conversion to Christ. There's been a transformation. I'm not like the pagan world. I'm not ungrateful. I'm not unthankful. I am not the person who just tries to consume from God.

I really want to obey God and thank him for what he's done and give praise to his glorious name. So it reveals my conversion to Christ. Second Corinthians 9:15, thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift.

I'm not so sure we understand the indescribable nature of the gift of God. Because if we did, we'd be given thanks all the time. In fact, you got to get used to it because the book of Revelation says this.

And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders, which is the church, will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created.

The four living creatures stand around the throne of God always saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Worship him. Praise him. Honor him with thanksgiving.

And they haven't been redeemed. The four living creatures have not been redeemed. They're spirit beings. They're angels.

But us, we've been redeemed. And so a thankful heart reveals, number one, my conversion to Christ.

Number two, it reveals my commitment to the will of God. My commitment to the will of God. In other words, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

What? That you give thanks in all things. So now I'm going to reveal my commitment to God. Lord, not only am I converted by you, I am committed to you.

So much so that I will purpose in my heart to give thanks to you in everything. Remember Jonah? The will of God was for Jonah to go to Nineveh to give thanks in everything. Jonah wasn't about to give thanks, nor go to Nineveh.

He went the opposite way. And you know the story. So overboard, swallowed by a great fish.

He's in the belly of the fish. And listen to what he says in the belly of the fish. While I was fainting away, verse 7 of Jonah chapter 2, I remembered the Lord.

It's always good to remember the Lord, especially when you're in the belly of a fish. I remember the Lord. And my prayer came to you and to your holy temple.

Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness. He did. He forsook his faithfulness.

He forsook his commitment. Because he regarded vain idols, which in this case was him, the worship of himself, that he would not go and preach the gospel to the Ninevites because they were an ungodly nation. And those who regard their idols always forsake their faithfulness, their commitment.

Why do we forsake our commitment to giving thanks to God? Because we have another idol, something more important to us than the true and living God. So he says, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I avowed, I will pay.

Salvation is from the Lord. Then the Lord commended the fish and vomited Jonah up on dry land. Maybe, just maybe, God is patiently waiting for your situation, your attitude, to say, Lord, I have forsaken my commitment.

I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will thank you that I am single and not married. I will thank you that I am married but can't have children.

I will thank you that even though I want to be physically better, I know that your grace is sufficient for me and I thank you. And maybe it's that time that God throws you up out of your situation onto solid ground. I don't know, but I do know this, thanksgiving reveals my conversion to Christ.

It reveals my commitment to the will of God. What else does it reveal? Well, you're going to have to come back next week, figure that one out. Let's pray.

Lord, we are grateful for today. Truly, Lord, you are a great God. Forgive us for our ingratitude.

Pray that all of our lives will be challenged today to live for the glory and honor of your name. That we might give praise and thanksgiving to you. In Jesus' name, amen.