The Art of Thankfulness - Colossians 3: 15-17

This passage speaks of two kinds of thankfulness—thankfulness to each other and thankfulness to God. 

The art of thankfulness was practiced in ancient times better than we know it today. The Vikings believed not to be grateful was the greatest sin a person could commit. 

Why don’t people today say it more? One reason is because we live in an informal age.  Common manners,  such as “please” and “thank you” have gone out of fashion. Another reason is because  we’re too busy. Who has time for “thank-you” cards when there’s so much to do? We get preoccupied, and we forget to be thankful.  

But giving thanks is a duty and a necessity for all Christians everywhere. Look at Colossians 3: 1-3  “ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

The word “Christian” doesn’t mean a follower of Christ, but someone who lives in Christ. Like a citizen of the Carolinas is a Carolinian, and a citizen of Georgia is a Georgian,  a person living in Christ is a Christian. To God we are hidden in Christ. like a Russian nesting doll. But in the world, Christ lives in us. The outside face the world sees is ours.   When God sees us, He sees Christ. When the world see Christ, it sees us. Whatever we do reveals the Christ within. When we are judgmental and legalistic, the world concludes that Christ must be the same.  When we love others, then the world sees that Christ loves them, too. We are showing them the nature of Christ.  

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another."  The word “admonish” is an unfortunate translation of the Greek word nouthetos, which means an appeal to the mind or reason. It means a revelation of the will of God. It is not just a revelation of what we do wrong, but also what we are doing right. Criticism reveals what we have done wrong.  Praise and thanksgiving reveals what we have done right. If we criticize, we must first praise. Thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of the favor and good deed we have done to God. We must recognize the good deeds of others, and we must proclaim those good deeds to the world, whether or not the person wants them revealed. 

Jesus doesn’t tell us not to praise the good deeds of people. He tells us not to boast or praise ourselves, but instead to praise others. When we praise others, we are acknowledging that what they have done is a good example to the world. When we refuse praise, we are being ungracious, and are stifling the witness or our own good deeds. 

The same is true of our thanks to God. We must not take God for granted, either, but we should praise all things that come from Him. 

When we give thanks to God, we must do it in a language people understand. Let me suggest three ways we can express thanks to an individual who has blessed us.

The first way of expressing thanks is the most obvious. Just say it!  Put your appreciation into words. There is no substitute for a verbal acknowledgement of a job well done.

In Florida, we bought a house which had few plants in the yard. A friend from the church owned a nursery, and asked me to come look at his shrubbery.   He spent an hour walking with me among the plants, explaining what was best for my yard, and loading them on his truck for delivery. It was hundreds of dollars of plants, I tried to pay him, but he would not let me. “No charge”  he said.

I was stunned. “I don’t know what to say. “

“Two words” he replied “THANK YOU!”  That was all the payment he wanted.

But what if, when you do something good, you don’t want to be thanked? Some people have trouble receiving thanks.  

We may not seek praise, but we need to receive it, for two reasons. First, because the people who thank us need to say it. They need to make visible in their lives the attitude of Christ, who is thankful for all we do for Him. Second, other people need to hear us praised when we do something right.  Those who praise us publicly hold our good deeds up before the world as examples of faithfulness. This is not for your sake but for theirs. You are a living example of Christ’s behavior before the world.

The second kind of thanks is also important. Tell others!  Let others know. Practice “good gossip” on every occasion. He bragged on the churches all the time.  If he could find anything to praise, he gossiped about it all over the place. Let mistakes and evil deeds go unmentioned, but shout the good that people do from every housetop.

One reason we hesitate to talk about people’s good deeds is because we are afraid of leaving someone out. If we praise one person, what about the others that don’t get mentioned? Praise is not a limited commodity. We never run out of praise. If we fail to mention one, we can always mention them later. The reason people get jealous over praise is not because someone got what they should, but because we haven’t yet praised them. Praise and thank everyone everywhere to everybody, and never stop doing it.

The third way is even more simple yet-- Show your thankfulness!  Express your appreciation in a tangible way. If someone does a good turn for you, do one back, if you possibly can. 

Some people don’t read “thank-you”notes.  Some are hard of hearing and don’t hear you when you say it. But you can’t ignore a favor or a good turn done as an expression of thanks.  

 Just as we give thanks to others, so we should give thanks to God. Colossians 3: 17 says “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Imagine the scene at a thanksgiving, gathered around the family table. Mamma has cooked the meal, and it’s wonderful. Yet no one says thank you, not one child thought to say it! If you were Mamma, would you be happy?

Yet when we sit at God’s table, we receive God’s blessings,  how can we not give thanks?

Gerald Manly Hopkins wrote that the world is ablaze with the grace and blessings of God. The world is like Moses’ burning bush. The fire of God’s grace sets everything ablaze, but it is not consumed. It shows us in every place the light of God’s glory. Yet we do not acknowledge that fire, and are not moved by it, until we acknowledge it, and give thanks.

In some parts of Mexico, hot springs and cold springs are found side by side. The women will boil their clothes in the hot springs, and rinse them in the cold springs. A tourist said to his friend, "They must see God as being very generous. "No Senor, they complain, because He does not give them any soap!"

How do we show God our love?  Thankfulness is the same whether it is practiced to God or other people.  (We might even write God a"thank you " note!)

First, we tell God!  Worship is coming into God’s presence with praise and thanksgiving to God.   

 Tell others!  When we tell one another what we have to be thankful for, we help build that attitude of gratitude. When we rehearse with others the things God has done, we become more thankful ourselves.

Third, show your thankfulness! Whatever we do, we do in the name of Jesus. It is not what we say in church, but how we act throughout the week that really shows the depth of our determination to be thankful. When we live in Christ, everything we do is done with the realization that He is looking over our shoulder. 

Tony Compolo tells the story of a man who boarded an Amtrak train to New York, who sat across from two young men. Something was seriously wrong with one of them--his head kept bobbing up and down, and he could not feed himself. He was constantly being attended to by his friend.

 "Please excuse him mister," the other one said,  "He wasn't always this way. We were buddies in Vietnam. He saved my life. I got shrapnel in leg, and this man pulled me through the jungle when I couldn’t walk. Then a piece of shrapnel got him, and pierced his brain. He hasn’t been right ever since. I have to take care of him.”

"That's very generous," the traveler said.

"Generous?  No way!" The man said. "What he did was generous!  I have to do this--he's my brother" 

Gratitude to God makes debtors of us all. A gratitude debt is the greatest debt of all. If we owe a legal debt, we may lose our possessions,  but if we fail to repay a debt of gratitude, we lose a part of our soul.

We are under a debt of gratitude to Jesus.  Live as one under a debt. It is only by God's grace that you live. Give thanks always in word and actions to the One who died for you.