Giving Thanks - Pt 2

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:1-4 ESV).

The second truth in regard to our thanksgiving is applying gratitude as a replacement to our sin. When Paul commands believers to stop sinning, he also commands believers to put thanksgiving in its place. In our reading today, the apostle says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (v. 4). Paul knows that we are always acting. We either act with sinful, thankless hearts which leads to foolish talk or crude jokes, or we act with thankful hearts and thereby please God with our speech. John Piper explains: “The key to unlocking a heart of gratitude and overcoming bitterness and ugliness and disrespect and violence is a strong belief in God, the Creator and Sustainer and Provider and Hope-giver. If we do not believe we are deeply indebted to God for all we have or hope to have, then the very spring of gratitude has gone dry.” I have found this principle to be true in every difficulty of life. It is not a matter of settling for less. It is a matter of recognizing everything is much more than we deserve. The Apostle Paul understood this principle clearly. He tells the Roman Christians the very wage, that which we have earned, through our sin is death (cf. Romans 6:23). When I begin to think of what I have been given I am also able to understand what I have to be thankful about. It must not ever become an exercise demanding justice. Justice gives no hope to anyone. It is the mercy of God that draws us to hope. Tim Keller said, “Because of the Cross, God can be both just towards sin and yet mercifully justifying to sinners.” I cannot count on my ability to live even one part of one day without knowing the guilt of failure and sin. However, through the mercy of God I can know the freedom from that guilt in the work of Christ. Fear is no longer a part of my future. Anxiety over the past is no longer a barrier to be overcome. Being thankful helps me replace all of that in a way that prompts me to extend the same kind of mercy and love to others as has been extended to me.