Thanksgiving
Text: Philippians 4:6
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Explain the linguistic connection between "thank" and "think" and state what this connection reveals about the nature of gratitude.
- Identify two reasons why thankfulness toward other people is not merely a social nicety but a spiritual discipline.
- State at least two examples from Scripture of servants who approached authority with a cheerful and grateful spirit, and explain the principle they illustrate.
- Recite at least four items from the spiritual blessings for which Christians should be thankful (Section III) and identify the Scripture that anchors each.
- Identify at least four temporal blessings from Section IV and explain why the person who takes them for granted has allowed familiarity to produce ingratitude.
Thesis
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). Thanksgiving is not a season or a ceremony — it is the ongoing posture of the person who has understood what they have received. Ingratitude is one of the base conditions of the human heart; gratitude is one of its most beautiful adornments. The Christian who cultivates thankfulness in every direction — toward people, toward God, for spiritual gifts, for temporal mercies — is the person who has learned to see accurately.
Burden
"Thank" and "think" come from the same root. Gratitude is a form of thought: the active recognition of what has been received and from whom. The burden is to expand the hearer's field of vision — to name the specific things for which gratitude is owed and to press the practice of naming them outward and upward until it becomes the habit of the heart that Phil. 4:6 describes.
Introduction
Ingratitude is one of the base conditions of the heart. It is specifically named in Paul's catalog of the characteristics of the last days: "ungrateful" appears in the list of II Tim. 3:2 between "disobedient to parents" and "irreconcilable." It is not a social failure; it is a spiritual one. The person who does not give thanks has failed to recognize what they have received, and the failure to recognize it is its own kind of blindness.
Thankfulness is one of the beautifully adorning traits of character. It is not merely polite; it is beautiful. The person who is genuinely grateful — who notices what they have been given, names it, and expresses that recognition — is a person whose character has been shaped by accurate sight.
I. Thankfulness Toward Others
Before ascending to the grander scale of thanksgiving toward God, the discipline of gratitude must be practiced at the ordinary level of human relationship.
Thankfulness must be cultivated. It does not arrive naturally in most people; it is grown. The person who is not in the habit of noticing and naming what others do for them does not suddenly become grateful when the gift is large enough to demand acknowledgment. The habit is built from small noticing. The person who says thank you for small things becomes the person who can receive large gifts without the ungrateful silence that cancels the joy of giving.
Thankfulness is a form of politeness — but it is more than politeness. The polite person says thank you because convention requires it; the grateful person says thank you because they have seen what was done and who did it. The difference is not in the words but in whether the recognition is genuine.
It makes friends. The person who expresses genuine gratitude for what others do creates the conditions for continued relationship. People do not tire of being thanked for what they did; they do tire of giving without acknowledgment.
It retains friends. Long-term relationships are sustained by the continued practice of noticing — of recognizing, after years of receiving, that the giving has not stopped and the gratitude must not either. The long marriage, the enduring friendship, the faithful ministry partnership — all of them require the ongoing practice of thanksgiving for what the other person keeps on doing.
II. Thankful to God
The thanksgiving that begins with other people must ultimately ascend to the one from whom all good gifts come.
The law of Moses required all to appear before the Lord with offerings (Deut. 16:16). The three annual feasts — Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles — were not only festivals of commemoration; they were formal occasions of thanksgiving. Empty hands were not acceptable; the person who appeared before Jehovah brought something to express that what had been received was recognized and that the giver was honored.
Servants before a king must be cheerful. Two illustrations: Joseph, brought suddenly from prison to stand before Pharaoh (Gen. 41:14) — the man who had been wronged, imprisoned, and forgotten came before the most powerful person in his world without bitterness or depression. Nehemiah, standing before King Artaxerxes with sadness on his face, recognized that his countenance itself required explanation — and when asked, spoke with gratitude for the king's kindness before making his request (Neh. 2:1-3). In both cases, the servant who came to authority came with a spirit that did not presume on the relationship or demand what had not been offered.
Prayers should include thanks. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). The prayer that is all request and no thanksgiving has reduced prayer to the transaction of a person who wants something. The prayer that includes thanksgiving has acknowledged the relationship with the one being addressed: I know who you are, I know what you have done, I am grateful before I ask for more.
Song and praise are thanksgiving (Ps. 147:7; Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16). "Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praises to our God on the lyre" (Ps. 147:7). The singing of the assembly is not merely the rehearsal of doctrine; it is the expression of a grateful people. The congregation that sings with understanding sings with gratitude — the knowledge of what God has done rising in the melody of people who have not forgotten.
III. Should Be Thankful for These
The specific spiritual gifts for which the Christian owes gratitude.
That God is our Father. The person who can address the creator of the universe as Father — who has been brought into that relationship through the new birth — has received a standing that no human arrangement, achievement, or credential could confer. The access to God that "our Father" implies is the most extraordinary privilege in the universe, and it was not earned.
That Christ is our Savior. The specific reason Christ can be named as Savior — not merely teacher, not merely example, not merely prophet — is that he did what a Savior does: he saved. He bore sin, satisfied justice, opened the door that death had closed. The person who names Christ as their Savior owes thanks for the thing that defines his saving work: the cross.
The Holy Spirit our Comforter and guide (Rom. 8:9, 14). "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Rom. 8:9). "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). The presence of the Spirit in the life of the believer is the guarantee of what has been received and the guide toward what is still to come. Gratitude for the Spirit's presence is gratitude for the most immediate of the Trinity's gifts: the one who dwells within.
God's people, our brothers and sisters. The community of the church — the people whom God has placed together in the body of Christ — is itself a gift. The fellowship, the mutual care, the shared labor, the company in suffering and in celebration: none of this was available before the new birth brought the person into the community where it is found.
The Bible to teach us. The revelation of God's will — preserved, transmitted, translated, and placed in the hands of every believer — is a gift whose value is measured by what the world looks like without it. The person who has the Scriptures and does not read them has received a gift and left it unopened.
The church with all its blessings. Not the building, not the institution, but the assembly: the gathering of the people who belong to Christ, doing together what cannot be done alone, holding each other to the pattern, encouraging and instructing and bearing each other's burdens.
IV. Thankful for Temporal Blessings
The spiritual blessings do not exhaust the list. The temporal mercies are also gifts, and the familiarity that breeds ingratitude is most insidious here.
Our loved ones — family. The people who are present at the table, in the house, in the daily round of life — their presence is not guaranteed. The person who has never lost a family member is not yet in a position to know what they have; the person who has lost one knows exactly what they had. Gratitude for family is most alive in the person who has been shown how it feels to be without.
Our friends and neighbors. The network of relationship that surrounds ordinary life — the neighbor who is reliable, the friend who remembers, the community that holds together — is a mercy that most people notice only when it is gone.
Our homes and their comforts. Shelter, warmth, food, safety — the conditions of ordinary domestic life that are not ordinary when measured against the lives of the majority of people in the world and across human history. The comfort that is taken for granted is still a gift.
Our food and raiment. "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content" (I Tim. 6:8). Paul's standard for contentment is met by the majority of people in any ordinary Christian congregation in any prosperous country. The question is whether the standard is recognized as a mercy or simply assumed as an entitlement.
Our physical health. The body that functions — that rises in the morning, carries the person through the day, and rests at night without significant complaint — is a gift whose value becomes clear the moment it is taken away. Health is not the normal condition that is occasionally disrupted; it is the mercy that is always given and occasionally withdrawn.
Application
The four sections together constitute a comprehensive inventory of what the grateful person sees. The practical application is the exercise of actually seeing it — naming specifically, today, what falls into each category.
The antidote to anxiety that Phil. 4:6 offers — "be anxious for nothing" — is not the suppression of concern but its transformation into prayer with thanksgiving. The person who, when anxiety begins to rise, turns their attention to the specific gifts in each of these four categories and names them before God in prayer, has done exactly what the verse requires. The peace that follows is described in the next verse: "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7).
Conclusion
"Thank" and "think" come from the same root. The person who thinks accurately about their life — who sees what they have been given and from whom — becomes the person who thanks. Gratitude is the fruit of clear sight. The Christian who cultivates it in every direction — toward people, toward God, for spiritual gifts, for temporal mercies — is the person whose inner life most resembles the person Paul describes: "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (I Thess. 5:18).
Invitation
The greatest reason for thanksgiving is the one that this lesson has named but not yet pressed home personally: that Christ is Savior. His saving work is available to everyone in this room who has not yet received it. Believe. Repent. Confess. Be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). And receive the standing that makes "our Father" the first two words of prayer.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | eucharistia | Good grace — eu (well, good) + charis (grace, gift). The recognition of and response to a gift received. | Used in Phil. 4:6 for the element that must accompany prayer and supplication. | The word is not merely "thanks" as politeness but the recognition of charis — grace, gift — received. The person who gives eucharistia has understood that what they have was given, not earned. This is why Paul can say "in everything give thanks": everything the Christian has was given. | Phil. 4:6; I Thess. 5:18 |
| Ingratitude | acharistos | Without grace/gift — the negation of charis: failing to recognize the gift, failing to acknowledge the giver. | Used in II Tim. 3:2 in the catalog of last-days characteristics: "ungrateful." | The word literally means "grace-less" — the person who does not acknowledge the gift is the person in whom grace has found no response. Its appearance in II Tim. 3:2 alongside "disobedient to parents" and "irreconcilable" establishes its seriousness: ingratitude is not a minor social failure but a spiritual condition. | II Tim. 3:2 |
| Anxiety / Be anxious | merimnaō | To be divided in mind — to have one's attention pulled in multiple directions by competing concerns. | Used in Phil. 4:6 for the condition that thanksgiving and prayer address: "be anxious for nothing." | The word describes the divided mind, the fractured attention, the person whose inner life is in multiple pieces because they are worried about multiple things. The antidote Paul prescribes is not suppression of the concerns but their redirection: "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." | Phil. 4:6-7 |
| Content | autarkēs | Self-sufficient, self-contained — from autos (self) + arkeō (to be enough). | Used in Phil. 4:11 for the state Paul has learned: contentment in all circumstances. | Contentment, in this word's sense, is not passive resignation but an internal sufficiency that is not dependent on external conditions. Paul "learned" it — it is not a personality trait but a spiritual discipline. The grateful person practices the same discipline: they have found internal sufficiency in what they have been given, without requiring more before they can give thanks. | Phil. 4:11; I Tim. 6:8 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "In everything by prayer with thanksgiving" — the governing text | Intro./II | Phil. 4:6 |
| Appearing before God with offerings — thanksgiving required | II | Deut. 16:16 |
| Joseph before Pharaoh — cheerful spirit before authority | II | Gen. 41:14 |
| Nehemiah before Artaxerxes — gratitude before request | II | Neh. 2:1-3 |
| "Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving" | II | Ps. 147:7 |
| "Speaking to one another in psalms" — singing as thanksgiving | II | Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16 |
| "Led by the Spirit" — Spirit as guide | III | Rom. 8:9, 14 |
| "In everything give thanks — God's will" | Concl. | I Thess. 5:18 |
| Baptism for remission — the gift that makes thanksgiving complete | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 177. Primary text: Phil. 4:6 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "beautiful ly adorning" → "beautifully adorning"; "Eph. 5; 19, 20" → "Eph. 5:19, 20"; "lV." → "IV." Doctrinal audit: thanksgiving developed as a genuine spiritual discipline, not merely a social virtue; ingratitude named as a spiritual failure from II Tim. 3:2 rather than merely a personality flaw; Phil. 4:6 developed in its immediate context (the anxiety antidote); Phil. 4:7 quoted as the promised result; I Thess. 5:18 used in conclusion to state the governing principle; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
