The Marks of a Good Church: Fellowship with God

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  The Marks of a Good Church: Fellowship with God

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  You turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter five, we will revisit verse 16, but go from 16 to 18 this morning and see what Paul has to teach us about fellowship with God, as he is in this larger section in chapter five, verses 14 to 22, teaching us about fellowship in the church as a whole. But when you actually break it out between verses 14 and 15, and then 16 to 18 and then 19 to 22, you see a form that reflects our Triune God. When you think about fellowship with God at the level of the Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Spirit, we have fellowship with all three. And we can say something like that and not always understand how it works. What is it for me to have fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit to truly commune with my Triune God? And there is no passage in the Bible that breaks that down and defines it. But in looking at this over the last few weeks, you do see it described by Paul to this young church and in the history of the church in the book of Acts in early church, where, like we saw in verses 12 and 13 a few weeks ago, Paul didn't come out and talk about the office of elder, pastor or overseer, as he does later in other letters. But the description of what that preacher and pastor and leader in the church does was there in 12 and 13, and so from 14 to 22, which in those nine verses has 14 imperative commands. We could at first glance just look at those and see, oh, there's just a list of 14 things that I need to do to have fellowship in the church and in some ways short sell it, if it only has to do with these horizontal relationships in which we think those verses are fulfilled. But when you look at it through the lens of the Trinity. And think about verses 14 and 15 from a few weeks ago, when he talks about helping the unruly and the weak, and being patient with all and the faint hearted, and how we treat one another, we would talk about mutual ministry, and we do. But that mutual ministry is to a body greater than just the parts. Who's the body? The body of Christ is Christ's very body in a local church that the people comprise. So when we're dealing with one another in the church, when we're doing mutual ministry, when we are urging and admonishing and encouraging and helping and being patient and doing proactive, good and patient with people so that we're not doing them evil. In verses 14 and 15, who are we actually dealing with beyond that person? We're dealing with one of Christ's part of his body as he is the head. Now, Paul doesn't have to come out and say it, because that doctrine isn't meant to be taught right there, but it is seen in practice why it's so important in how we treat each other in the local church. Because when we are dealing with one another, we are part of the same body. So there would be talking about fellowship in the Son, you could call verse 14 and 15. Now I know last week we just took apart rejoice always because I'm a joy junkie and I just wanted to talk about rejoicing. And there were 29 uses of it in the New Testament, and some of you both on your individual basis and devotion and in your life group, got to really unpack the fullness of that, because joy is just such a wonderful theme. I know I've said that love is the birthmark of every true child of God. Well, I think joy is right up there with it. And you can have more than one birthmark, I think. 16 to 18, though, comes as a package deal. As rejoicing and praying and giving thanks all finds itself rooted in Christ Jesus at the end of verse 18. But doing God's will. God the Father. You're only able to do those things to the glory and praise of God the Father when you're doing them in Christ. But it is fellowship with God we're looking at this morning in those three verses. So I don't want us to just merely look at this as a sermon to help stimulate my joy and prayers and being thankful as if I'm just going to list off, okay, here's ten ways to be more joyful, ten ways to pray better, and ten ways to be more thankful. And bada bing, there's your doing sermon. Versus the goal of these three verses is Paul packages those words together. Those concepts goes back to fellowship with God. And you want to ask the question, what is it for me to really have fellowship with God? Well, it starts on the inside that you're in a spirit of joy all the time. In a spirit of prayer, communing with him all the time. And in that prayer, the the attitude of your heart is one of thankfulness to your Father. Not in gratitude. Which goes back to God's will for us. Wouldn't God as a good Father in heaven will for his children to be happy in him? To ask him for what they need and to be thankful. Just like we understand on a human level, what parent doesn't want the baseline of their relationship with their kid to be one of joy rather than one of sorrow, and they're eager and willing to come often to you as mom and dad to ask for help. To seek your wisdom, to know you and in what you give them and provide, even when they don't understand what you're doing. For a baseline of thankfulness to be there. Do you see that fellowship with God that is now permeating 16 to 18? And then you have when we'll see this next week in 19 to 22 in those last imperatives, again, these aren't just individual commands 19, 20, 21, 22. They actually relate to the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit. That when the Word of God is being taught amongst the people of God, whether that could be from a pulpit or in an individual situation one on one, or in a life group that we are to be testing. Is this God speaking? Is this his truth or is this man's opinion? And that will reframe, I think, even the way you look at 19 to 22 next week. So there you see just in as an intro today to how I'm working to show 16 to 18 or about fellowship with God, how 14 and 15 look through the lens of our relationship with one another. And the body of Christ is about fellowship with Jesus Christ the Son. This is about fellowship with God the Father. And next week we will see how we enjoy fellowship with the Holy Spirit as we carry out those expressions. Commanded in 19 to 22. Now today's the drivetrain behind it is doing God's will. Which is something I think that we all...our ears perk up, we all get excited. I mean, we should at least listen up and lean in when any passage in the Bible makes very explicit this is God's will for you. Not to say all of the commands in the Bible aren't God's will for us. But when the Spirit has moved Paul to put rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks as a specific directive of God's will for us. Now he doesn't say it's the will of God, as in, the only will of God for his children is that we be rejoicing, praying, and thanking him. There's other things we've even seen back at the beginning of chapter four that he says, God's will is that you abstain from sexual immorality. So there's more to God's will than just the commands here in 16 to 18, but certainly not less, which should make us really excited to lean in and learn about the will of God, because we talk about it often, don't we? Man, I just wish I knew God's will for my life. I wish he would just make it very clear. There's a story of a farmer who had been for years desiring to be a pastor. He was out working hard in his field one day when he decided to take a rest under a tree. He gazed into the sky and saw what he thought were clouds forming the letters P and C. He got excited. He hopped up. He sold everything he had. As this was a sign to him to preach Christ. Finally, after all the years of wondering, would he be a pastor? It was in the clouds. PC... Preach Christ. It turns out he was not a gifted preacher. And after yet another lousy sermon, a friend came down in front of the church and whispered in his ear, pastor, are you sure PC wasn't just God trying to tell you to plant corn? I think we can all identify with a desire to know God's will and do it. And in this section, if there's ever a time for us to be certain what God's will is for our lives, it's when he tells us explicitly. So let's look at this today. There's three aspects of our fellowship with God that we can be sure are accomplishing God's good pleasure, God's will that we are walking in a way. As for one said, pleasing to him, which is another wonderful way to think about doing the will of God, isn't it? God is not just indifferent to doing his will. It pleases him when we walk in his will, and we see those expressions of our fellowship with God today, that are the believer's joy to do his will.

  The first one in verse 16, as we looked at last week. But we'll see it again in a new light this week. We experience true fellowship with God according to his will for us in Christ, when we have consistent joy. You could be sure that you're walking in the will of God in Christ Jesus, when the roots of your joy are in Jesus Christ, not just looking around at the fruits in your life. What makes you happy, and if it makes you happy, then, ergo, I must be doing God's will. That's not how we figure out God's will for our lives. It's pragmatism. That's if it feels good, do it. If I like what the result is. Clearly it was God's will. If I don't like what the results are, then I guess it wasn't God's will. That would be a pretty. Back and forth. Tossed to and fro. Way to live, wouldn't it? But here, with all three of these ideas pointing towards doing God's will for us in Christ, clearly our Father wants us to have a consistent joy in him, and we know we can have that because we are in Christ Jesus. And we looked at that last week thoroughly. That seeking Christ and being saved by Christ, and serving Christ and sacrificing for Christ, and looking forward to the day where we will see Christ again. That's all rooted in the joy we have in Jesus Christ when we discover salvation in him. As we looked at in Matthew 1344, the man who in his joy sells all that he has to buy the treasure found in the field. That's finding Christ, finding your joy in him, that every other joy and satisfaction you have in your life is now a lesser joy. He's the greatest joy. That's what it means to be rooted in him and affection for Christ in our hearts that then does bear the fruit we saw last week in a number of joys horizontal. If our joy in Christ goes deep into our hearts and then it shoots up vertically, it's like a tree that then branches out. And that joy touches other Christians in the body of Christ, sympathetic joys, rejoicing with those who rejoice, suffering and sacrificial joys that we saw in Paul's language in the New Testament, 20 out of 29 times, referring to life in the body of Christ, suffering, joys, selfless joys, all of those expressions of the joy we have in Jesus. But these, as we look at this week in relation to fellowship with God, are joys that are connected to our prayer life. And in that prayer life, being able to give thanks for everything we have in Jesus Christ. And that's where I wanted to start here, going back to verse 16, just to set the table for the other two commands, praying and giving thanks, because the root of it has to always still be our joy in him. Joy at all times. So that when we get to praying without ceasing. That we have a thought life for other believers, that that's rooted in joy in Christ that we have. And when we have gratitude for all things, it's rooted in the joy we have in Jesus Christ. Paul links these ideas together in other letters of his. Just turn back a couple pages to Colossians chapter one. You'll see Paul commending joy at all times in prayer and all thoughts and gratitude in all things. By the way, he talks to these believers at the beginning of the letter to the Colossians. Now this is again just him describing the way he feels about them. He thinks about them, he talks about them. But listen for the connection between joy, prayer, and thanksgiving in this introduction to this letter. Colossians one verse nine. For this reason also since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you. Check. And to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Knowing God's will. Check. So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Which is another way to talk about doing the will of God to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father. Check. Right in that introduction of that wonderful epistle to the Colossians. You see Paul connecting these unceasing activities in his heart, giving thanks to God the Father for these people never ceasing to pray for them. But his prayer for them is that they would be able to join that with them. Where he says, at the end of verse 11 into verse 12, that I'm joyously giving thanks to the Father for you, because you also have come under his grace. You are in the inheritance of the saints in the light. Paul connects our joy with the grateful prayers for other people to have that same joy, consistent joy being the drivetrain behind it all. I was speaking at a YMCA event this past Thursday here in Hickory, and, it was on the day of prayer, and they wanted to come and talk about prayer. So it just so happened that I was also teaching in First Thessalonians this week about it. And, I was trying to help them to see those people that are supporting the YMCA here in Catawba County that, you could want to do all the kind of social good efforts in the world. But you can't sustain it without having a deeper joy than just, you know, putting a smile on a kid's face. There's got to be something in you that goes deeper than that. Many good social programs have come and gone in the last 150 years since the YMCA was started. And so I talked to them about a few of those. I said, do you think it's coincidence and I broadened it out... I said, The Salvation Army. Starting I think it was 1852. Over in England was started by William Booth. To meet the needs that were there right in that time period of England growing in their industrial revolution, when lots of orphans were out in the streets being worked literally to death, nobody caring for them, not educated, not being brought into homes and loved and and grown in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. And so William Booth takes action and starts the Salvation Army to minister there in the streets. And he flat out said, look, I am for the preserving of the body towards the greater end of the saving of the soul. So I asked them, do you think it's coincidence that a ministry that was rooted in bringing the joy of Jesus Christ to somebody is still around today? Now, it may not be operating with the same pure motive as it was back then, but its roots went to Jesus Christ. And then I asked them the YMCA. Going back to the same time period, the 1850s in England. Then it came a few years later in the United States, in Boston. The Young Mens Christian Association, I mean, perish the day when we can't talk about Jesus Christ at the YMCA. It's in the name. And so at this prayer breakfast, I said, even the roots of your own service and ministry, 150 years later, go back to be rooted in the joy of Jesus Christ, of why that ministry started for the same end. To give these kids in the street something to live for, by giving them someone who lived and died for them. I told the story of George Mueller, the great evangelist and orphanage operator, and the same time period it was so bad over in England, all these Christians were being led to take action to try to help these children. And so Mueller in his lifetime lived over 90 years. And around 1898, he was aged 92. He had given his life to helping these kids off the street. He started dozens of orphanages, cared for 10,000 kids, and even sent many of these kids hundreds of thousands to schools and raised over, at the time, $700,000 at that time, 17 million in today's standard. Every single penny of it raised, not by him soliciting money from anyone but praying for it. And gave every last penny of it away. And you. If you've read George Mueller's biography, it's a wonderful account of a man who was joyfully dependent upon God. Stories that are accounted for, where he would be in an orphanage. And even that morning they would come down for breakfast and there was no food. But in faith he would pray that God would provide, and by the end of the prayer they would hear. And a baker at the door saying, I have this extra bread. Could you guys use it today? What about something to drink? Same morning. The guy delivering the milk says I've broken down in front of your orphanage. It's going to go bad. Can you guys use it? He was certain that every need would be supplied in Christ Jesus, and he lived his entire life this way. And twice over as he married twice his wife died. Second wife died. Had seen sorrows in his life. How hard would it be to run an orphanage? I mean, multiple orphanages, tens of thousands caring for these kids. And yet he never lost his joy. And so somebody, towards the end of his life asked him, how did he do it? This was his response. He said, the first great and primary business to which I attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord. Is that how you wake up? I wish, I just wish that was tattooed across my eyeballs, you know, that I would just wake up and say, Adam, your first business today is not to rush in to all the all the things waiting for you. But rush into the presence of God through Jesus Christ and find your joy in him. That's where it has to start. That's where it's going to be for you to be sustained. So before we move into any talk of your prayer life and how's that doing? And how thankful are you? Is your joy in Christ today? We asked it last week. It's worth asking again. Did you forget that quickly from last Sunday to today? Did it last through Monday and Tuesday, but waned by Wednesday? Welcome to life.

  Seek your first joy in him. Make it your primary business is, Mueller said, to find yourself happy in the Lord each day. He went on to say, the secret of all effectual service for God is joy in God, having a close fellowship with God himself. So that's rejoicing always. It's a spirit of joy before there's the fruit of it outward, and then part of the fruit of it outward is going to be a spirit of prayer that is unending.

  Our next expression of fellowship with God this morning, fellowship with God the Father, rooted in our joy in Jesus Christ. Rooted in a heart that wants to be in constant communion with him. Sometimes we read that verse pray without ceasing, and we ask ourselves, is that actually possible? Can we walk around praying constantly? Well, Warren Wiersbe in his commentary writes, What Paul is saying here is that Paul is praying without ceasing is prayer that is constantly recurring, not continuously occurring. Which is a good way to differentiate. To pray without ceasing is to have a constantly recurring spirit of prayer in your life. It's always there, right at the quick verses saying, oh, it's a continuously occurring conversation that never ends. Um, for all my non multitaskers in the room, if the case were to be to pray without ceasing and that's the only thing I did, that's the only thing I would do. I wouldn't be able to do anything else. Just ask my wife. Wiersbe says. We are to keep the receiver off the hook. Which for you, Gen Z means you are to sleep next to your phone. Young people don't sleep next to your phones, but there was this phone that used to be on and off a hook. If it was off the hook all the time, you could always be calling. And he says, that's what this prayer life is to be. We are part of a long conversation that's never broken with God. It's consistent with his command in Ephesians 6:18 with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. Notice he adds that in the spirit in Ephesians that we don't get here, but it's there, which is just as joy is part of the Holy Spirit's fruit in our lives. Prayer is part of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. Pray at all times in the spirit, with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. It's just having fellowship with God, your Father, that just moves you to be ready at any moment to pray for whatever it is that crosses your mind. I think that's why you see so often in Paul in his opening letters, and you don't have to turn to these Romans 1:9, Ephesians 1:16, Colossians 1:3, Philippians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, and Philippians 1:4 all have some form in the greeting of the same expression. When I think of you often, I'm praying for you all the time. He may say it in slightly different ways. So other than that letter to those Galatians who were distorting the gospel, who don't get I'm thankful for you. We should have the same spirit in us. That we are just quick to pray because communion with God is always on our hearts. And so you hear of a need of a person, and you don't have to say like, I'll write that down and pray for that later. That when you're continually in this spirit of prayer, you pray for it right then and there, don't you? I mean, you probably do this all the time. You're driving down the street, you might see a car accident, and you just offer a quick prayer that God would, in his grace, minister in that situation. It's constant. It's ready. The phone's never off the hook. Or I should say, the phone is always off the hook. See, I haven't used one of those in so long, i forget how it works. One of my favorite Christian dead guys, Jonathan Edwards. Lived in the 1700s, part of the First Great Awakening pastor up in Massachusetts. Brilliant man. Wrote a note to a young lady that had seized his attention and affection and was called an apostrophe. I never knew before an apostrophe was a note, just a short digression, an apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont in 1723. He was 20 years old, and I believe this captures the language of beautiful communion. And if you are an aspiring Puritan in this room, a young, single guy, also listen to this prose. Don't be a weirdo, though, and just watch a girl from across the room just go talk to her. But the language here, I think, summarizes observing someone who is in communion with God often. Edwards wrote this. They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that almighty being who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great being, in some way or other, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything except to meditate on him. She will sometimes go from place to place, singing sweetly, and seems to be always of joy and pleasure, and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible, always conversing with her. Now, husbands, this is the moment that you go. I feel that way about you. To which your wife can say, well, then why don't you write me something so wonderful? But it is a sweet picture, particularly that last line arrested my attention seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her. That's a picture of communion with God. I think it's what the reformers had in mind when they coined the phrase Coram deo, Latin for before the face of God. That when you're in fellowship with God that you realize that all the time you're in his presence. You don't have to get into some special situation and just, you know, come on a Sunday morning and ask the spirit to fill the room. If you're in the room and you're in Christ, the Spirit's in the room. How full of the spirit the room is, is contingent on how full of the spirit you are. Are you full of love? Are you full of joy? Well, that's going to be a spirit-filled service. Are you frowning, complaining, arms crossed, indifferent? Not going to be a very spirit filled Sunday morning for you and maybe for others. I was talking with some people that visited our church for the first time. We got together on Friday and they were trying to explain what it was for them to come the first time. And they use that language if it just, you know, the Spirit was in this place. And I said, you know, I love to hear that. Help me understand what you mean by that. Well, they just then went on to explain what they experienced. How many people loved them? Greeted them from the time they walked in to where they sat. People turning in in their first visit wanted to get to know who are you? Oh, and they just felt so loved. I said, well, of course, that's a spirit-filled Sunday morning because the first fruit of the spirit, the first identifying mark of a true child of God, is love. So why do we need to ask him to fill this place if you're full of the love of God in your heart. Unless that affection of love and affection of joy has grown dim. And when it does in an individual, so it could happen in a church. But I don't need to stir up anything outside of you, rather than through the Word of God and Spirit of God stirr it up in you. And then you can't help but let it be known in singing and praying and hearing the Word of God and then in response to it. Fellowship with God in prayer is not merely then here in verse 17, a command to obey. It's the air that we breathe in our spiritual communion with Jesus Christ. It's life to us. Before the electric organ came along in the 1900s, pipe organs, using a system of bellows pumping air through them, were the standard. The organist would be on stage, but behind the scenes would have been a worker pumping air, nonstop with those bellows into the pipes to produce the sound. One preacher tells the story of how a renowned organist was playing sold out show after sold out show. On one night, after the show was over, the organist went backstage and the young man, who had been working hard that night, bumped into him and excitedly said, we had a great show tonight, didn't we? We did not have anything, the offended and arrogant maestro snapped. I had a great show tonight. The next night. The maestro strolled out to the organ to play. He struck the keys. Nothing. He waited for the moment for sound to fill the stage, but to no avail. And so frustrated he went backstage and screamed, what's going on back here? To which the young man replied, it looks like you are not having a great show tonight. Without the breath of prayer in our soul, our show will not go on. We must never have a one man show mentality in the absence of our dependence in prayer on God. HB Charles said this about prayer. It's an expression of my submission to God and dependence on him. For that matter. Prayer is arguably the clearest measurement of my dependence upon him. The things I pray about are the things I trust God to handle. The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own. I don't think we should test the theory of how much we can handle on our own by a lack of prayer. I've got my reasons.

  I don't pray as you probably have yours. So this isn't the time in the sermon for me to give you all the, you know, the question. Okay, here's ten diagnostic questions of why you don't pray. I think that the force of the text and the conviction of the spirit should be enough to ask yourself the question, why don't I pray? And receive a clear answer this morning. Why don't you pray? What are the things you think you can handle without God? Just run down the list of things you don't pray about. Donald Whitney, in his book on Spiritual disciplines, writes sometimes a failure to persist in prayer proves that we were not serious about our request in the first place. Ouch. He goes on to step on more of our toes. At other times, God wants us to persist in prayer in order to strengthen our faith in him. Faith would never grow if all our prayers were answered immediately. Persistent prayer tends to develop deeper gratitude, as well as the joy of a baby's birth is greater because of the months of anticipation. So is the joy of an answer to prayer after persistent praying. In as much as a generation that measures time in nanoseconds, hates to admit its need for it, God crafts Christ-like patience in us when he requires persistence in prayer. I imagine Whitney is drawing a lot of what he's writing there from the parable of the persistent widow who prayed in Luke 18:1. Now Jesus was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. And he tells the story in this parable, Jesus does, of a judge who probably shouldn't be a judge, because when it describes him, it shows that he doesn't fear God and doesn't respect man. So I don't know how that turns into a really fair judge. No fear of God, no respecter of men. I don't think you would be quick to want to bring your case to him. But Jesus, in his perfect ability to tell a story, to cut to the heart, to make his point, isn't saying God's like this judge who doesn't care about people. He's wanting to show the contrast. That in this story, if there is this persistent widow who can keep bothering this indifferent judge. And he eventually is worn out. He says in verse four, though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection. Otherwise, by continually coming, she will wear me out. Lesson. Jesus said hear what the unrighteous judge is saying, Will not God bring about justice for his elect, who cry to him day and night? And will he delay long over them? The lesson is about persistence. Keep praying you're not dealing with a judge who doesn't care. As Jesus tells Matthew 6 to keep asking and seeking and knocking because you have a Father in heaven who, when you ask for bread, won't give you what? A stone? He's not playing games. He wants to hear from his children. So keep praying. Don't quit. God is growing faith in you. He's growing faith in you. And if you keep wondering why he hasn't answered that prayer. I mean why questions are the hardest to find answers to. At least resolve it with. At the very least, I know he's growing faith in me. He wants me to ask that one more time. He wants me to knock one more time. And if I'm really persistent, this righteous judge, this good judge, this loving judge who just so happens to also be my Father will answer, I believe it. Continuing in prayer.

  And then finally, verse 18, the last expression of our fellowship with God is comprehensive gratitude. I use the term comprehensive to convey the message that we want to take into consideration everything around us. To have many reasons to thank God in prayer. Similar to what we saw with Paul commanding us to pray and commending it by his example. He does the same with gratitude. Ephesians 5:20 give thanks for all things in the name of Jesus Christ or Colossians 3:17 give thanks through the name of Jesus Christ and all we do. And then of course, here in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus and all those verses. The common link is in all things, as in in everything I can look around and consider take into consideration what's going on around me, the providence of God, all that's happening that I can look at everything and find reason to be thankful. If you need a Kickstarter for this. You know I can break down. Psalm 19 into seeing and thanking God for his providence in creation, and then also in his Word. First half of Psalm 19 says, the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies above proclaim his handiwork. And so even just if you feel like the wells of gratitude have run dry in your life, wake up to have your devotions tomorrow but in time to see the sun come up. And at least let that do something for you. God, you gave me another day. And the sun came up because you commanded it. To be able to see God's hand in creation is a blessing to the Christian when you're in Christ, because you see it's all by his perfect divine design. And then Psalm 19 moves on to talk about the not just the world that God's made, but the Word that he's given us. And in the first verse, commending that the the Word of God is perfect, restoring the soul. If your soul has felt out of sorts the last two weeks lack of joy, lack of love, lack of gratitude, the Word of God can restore that. How? Well the next verse says it enlightens your eyes? It brings light so you could see what the world is really looking like around you, what God is really doing around you. When the Word of God informs it, it takes it takes the the haze out of your vision so you could see things rightly. It enlightens the eyes. It makes wise the simple. If you feel like your decision-making lately has been simple, as in not at simple things, but you just keep running into the same roadblocks. Are you really looking to the Word of God to make you wise? Or just check the box. So we want our prayers to be thankful prayers. When we talk to God, when we walk with God, that our the expression of our heart is one of gratitude, not just. And this is the danger we could even have in a sermon like this, wanting just a list of things. Sacrifices we can make for God that would bring us into right standing with him, that he would be pleased with us. Versus what he really wants is our hearts to be thankful to him. And this didn't start with Paul in 1 Thessalonians 15, go back to Psalm 50. You could hear it in the writings of Asaph if you're still tracking. And we're a third of the way through that McShane Bible reading and McShane Bible readers this year. He should have been in Psalm 50 yesterday. Consider that your accountability check. So if you're like, whoa, I'm, uh, Psalm five still time on the clock. But Psalm 50 caught my attention yesterday just thinking about this sermon. It's a Psalm that has to do with this writer being amazed by, first, the grandeur of God, the Mighty One. Psalm 50, verse one. The Lord is spoken, and he summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting out of Zion. The perfection of beauty God has shown forth. May our God come and not keep silent. Fire devours before him. I mean, he is bringing praise to God just for who he is in his, in his glory. And then he speaks for God. Verse five. The Spirit's inspiration. God says to his people, gather my godly ones to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And so right there you see this language of sacrifice. My people are going to come to me and they feel like they have something to bring. What does he say to that? This is God speaking. Verse seven hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before me. So the first thing that God is saying to his people that when I'm summoning you to come to me, to be in my presence and bring your sacrifices, I don't have a problem with the action. I'm not reproving you that you know, you just keep getting the sacrifice wrong. There's a deeper problem than the sacrifice. You're looking for something outside of you. I'm about to address something inside of you. He goes on to say, I do not approve you for these sacrifices and your burnt offerings continually before me. Verse nine, I shall not take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds. I'm not asking for more. Why? For every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains. And everything that moves in the field is mine. It's all mine. What are you going to bring that isn't already mine? You think you're going to impress me with some sacrifice? You think that's really what moves my heart? I own it all. If I were hungry, then he moves in to really make it sound ridiculous. Oh, these, you know, these birds are bringing these goats. These bulls. You think I'm hungry? If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world is mine and all it contains. What a picture i,f God's hungry. He just picks up the whole world and goes. Just a grape. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Here's what I want. Verse 14. Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. With all the things you've been bringing me, Israel. Bulls and goats and birds and look at all the stuff we're willing to give to you, but you haven't given him the most important thing. You haven't given him your heart. You're not really thankful to him in all this giving. You're impressed with yourself. You think you raised that bull. You think you got that goat. You think it was your hard work that. Now, look, Lord, I'm bringing you this. Bringing you what? The things that I already gave you. When's the last time you've come with a sacrifice of thanksgiving? That's what he wants to know. Gratitude in the heart. Pay that vow to the Most High. And then he goes on to say in verse 15, what I want is your dependence. Once you recognize that there is no independence from me, nothing you have is actually yours. I gave it to you and I could take it back. Right down to your life. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I'll rescue you. And then you'll honor me. When you realize even your own life is in my hands. I'm your father. You're my child. Call on me. That's what I want from you. That's what I've been asking for this whole time. You've gotten caught up on all the outward stuff. Yeah. We're not bringing bulls and goats and birds into the room today. But what did you bring in here today that actually could impress God other than a heart of gratitude? A heart that walks through those doors and says, every spiritual blessing I have in the heavenlies is in Christ Jesus. What else are you bringing in here today? You brought your tithe? I think God would say if I were poor, I would not tell you because the whole world is mine and all it contains. We want you to give. Why do you think in the New Testament that the only instruction Paul gives for giving is to do it with what? With a joyful heart. A heart of gratitude. It's saying, you know what? I'm giving this back to you, God, because you gave it to me. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the ability to work. Thank you for giving me the ability to have that job. Thank you for giving me the ability to excel at my job, and to be able to give more back to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And that's what got lost with Israel. And that's what gets lost with us. We lose sight of. This is God wanting fellowship with us, praying, giving thanks, having joy. That's God's will for his children. He wants to enjoy you as you enjoy him. And you recognize that no matter how much or how little that you have, that you're content, as Paul would say in Philippians 4, in all circumstances. And so even for the littlest thing, you could still say, thank you. For the smallest thing. And for the things you think that are really big in your life, there's a story of a woman who goes up to a preacher after a sermon. And kept coming to him, asking about the same big thing in her life. And she asked, is this too big for God? And the preacher just wisely responds too big. Too small. It's all the same size. However small you think your need is. Assumes that there's something that's actually big in God's eyes. Whatever you're going through in your life right now. So there's no guilt of like, oh, that person over there, they're going through much harder things than me. I feel guilty for asking for this thing. Maybe you're in a life group, and the person that's sharing this prayer request in mutual ministry time, and they're devastated. And you think that's a real prayer request? Here's the small thing I have nothing is small because nothing is big to God. He sees it all as a loving father would meeting the children he has where they're at. The weakest and smallest among them. That may think they have this small thing. Well, in that little kids eyes, it's a big thing. And he says, that's wonderful. Tell me about it. In the most aged saint that's walked with him the longest. That 1 John says, you've known him who is from the beginning and brings this heavy burden. They know that their entire life has been a series of God's answers to their prayers, no matter what size that request has been. And so they keep coming persistently. He pulled this all together. As we transition now to a time of the Lord's Table. As we as we prepare our hearts to rejoice in Christ. As we prepare our hearts to thank God. For his will that put his Son on the cross. As we, even this whole service, have had a heart of prayer, continually seeing wonderful things in the Word of God that cause us to what? Cause us to say. Oh, I had forgotten that. That good thing you had for me. That promise you had for me. Thank you. God. I mean, what is communion other than a time of giving thanks? Even in the bringing of your sin to the table. Examining yourself to take it in a right manner. I mean, you examine yourself, but at the end of that examination. Certainly you're not giving thanks for your perfect month since the last time we took it. Are you? No, you're giving thanks to God for his sacrifice of His Son who paid for your sin. That's what it is. I mean, that's where even the word Eucharist came from. Eucharisto. It was it was a word for giving of thanks. In the New Testament where Jesus in Luke 22:19, it says, he broke the bread giving thanks. Crazy thing is, is he's going to he's giving thanks. For what? That he gets to go to the cross for the joy set before him. To accomplish salvation for you. But we're giving thanks. For what? The work he did for us. Not the work we do on our own. I mean, this is the height of Christ's joy in his life. Even before that, you go back to Luke ten. What brought Christ the most joy was remembering the work of salvation that God was going to do. I get that from Luke 10:17 to 24. The only time in the New Testament in the life of Christ you see, rejoicing, praying, and thanking God all in the same spot in Christ's example is here. We mentioned it last week. It's the 70 disciples returned with joy, saying, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And then Jesus says to them, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you. Here's what you're to rejoice in that your names are recorded in heaven. Their names were recorded in heaven before salvation was even accomplished. And then it says in verse 21, and remember Luke 10:21 today, and any time you need to remember what it looks like to put together joy, prayer, and thanksgiving following in the footsteps of Christ. Remember Luke 10:21. At that very time, in that very moment, just after Jesus has told those guys, the best thing you could have guys is to know you're found in me. It says at that very time Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you, O father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. Joy, gratitude, prayer, and the life of Christ over one thing. Not that they could go out and serve him in the strength that he sent them in. Not that all these rejecters of him were weighing him down. That would have caused him sorrow. If you read Luke ten:1 to 16. The whole thing is about the rejection of Christ, all these pronouncements of woe to these cities who have seen these miracles and it hasn't changed them. They've been rejecting him. And in that moment, in midst of that sorrow, where's Jesus' heart? It's enjoying fellowship with His Father through the Holy Spirit, rejoicing greatly. Everything's not going his way right then and there. And yet he could rejoice greatly because he sees in those disciples God's gift of salvation on its way in him. So what do we rejoice today? What do we have thanks for today as we come to communion, we could have 10,000 things to thank God for as we already sang. But don't leave off the very first one, the most important one, that your name is recorded in heaven. And if it's not? Communion's not for you. Because communion is a time to give thanks and rejoice in what Christ has accomplished for you, and that you believe it and you're betting on it. But he offers it to you today if you're not in Christ. He offers you his joy. He offers you his love, he offers you his mercy. He offers you his forgiveness. He offers you eternal life by believing that it's his righteousness, not yours, that makes you able to break the bread and take the cup and say. Thank you for your sacrifice for me. Not what I do for you. What you've done for me. That's what it's about. Taking communion isn't about that one time a month, you got to remember to clean yourself up again. It's saying, here I am again. Oh Lord. Filthy! Owning my sin. But coming to the covering that your blood provides to wash me white as snow. That's how we rejoice in taking communion today together. We rejoice in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's the good news of the gospel for you, the unbeliever that needs to call on him. And that's the good news of the gospel that never gets old for those of us found in him. Jerry Bridges wrote the same Christian activity can either be an expression of our own righteousness that we think earns favor with God, or it is an expression of joyful gratitude because we already have his favor through the righteousness of Christ. Which is it for you today?