O give thanks to God, for God is good. God’s steadfast love endures forever. For God satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Amen.

 

 

As most of you know, as interesting as they are, the Christian view of Thanksgiving has really very little to do with the Pilgrims’ survival story on the east coast some 400 years ago. It doesn’t have a great deal to do with “Black Friday.” Why do they call it that? I don’t know. It has really quite little to do with turkey, or travel, or with families, or holidays, or conspicuous consumption. No. 

 

Where Christians really get interested in Thanksgiving is at the point of MU football. Did you have a good time last night? That’s what I want to know.

It was about time that the Mid-West was in the spotlight for a change. How wonderful. 

 

Now where Christians really get interested in Thanksgiving is at the point of gratitude. Most Christians, as you know, not only believe, but they actually practice an attitude of gratitude. 

 

It’s one of the wonderful things about being around our Christian brothers and sisters. An attitude of gratitude becomes sort of a way of life for us. In the midst of a culture that, quite frankly, has a number of people in it who are unhappy, who are unmotivated, who are unfulfilled, who are unsatisfied for a variety of reasons. They are living a way of life where they see all the things they can’t have, all the things they don’t have, and, quite frankly, all of the things that they will never have.   People – many people – unhappy.  

 

So, what I want to talk with you today is something that I like to call The Secret of a Grateful Life.” A Christian view. The secret is the one word I want us to focus on today: contentment. Isn’t that interesting?

 

Paul says, as recorded in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in every and any situation.” 

 

The key word today is contentment. 

 

First of all, what is it? Let’s talk first of all about what it’s not. Contentment sometimes has a little baggage connected to it. What I want you to make sure you hear is that when we talk about contentment, in the Christian faith, we’re not talking about apathy. We’re not talking about not caring. 

 

It’s not a lack of interest, or enthusiasm, or concern. The contentment we talk about is not laziness. It’s not an excuse to not show effort, to work, to be active. Contentment, for us, is not complacency. It’s not self-satisfaction with where we’ve been, or what we’ve achieved. That is not what we are talking about here. That’s not contentment. 

 

Christian contentment, I want to suggest to you today, has the key idea of “independence.” Independence from circumstances. Independence, in the sense, that you don’t base the meaning and, therefore, the joy, the purpose, the happiness, and the gratitude in your life around the things that are going on around you. Those are the things that come from within. 

 

So, how do we get Christian contentment, satisfaction, a sense of gratitude in our life? Paul says it is learned. Isn’t that interesting? Gratitude, thankfulness, is learned. The Christian life is a school of contentment. 

 

Unfortunately, Christianity being a school of contentment, many never go there. They never enroll. They never learn. Thus, you and I know people who live their lives and, indeed, come to the end of their days, and, quite frankly, they are bitter. They are sad. They are discontented. They are unsatisfied. They are disgruntled. In short, they are miserable. Do you know whom I’m talking about?

 

Paul says it doesn’t have to be that way. I suggest Paul gives us four lessons – things we can learn – on how to experience Christian contentment. 

 

Number One: Learn to avoid comparisons. Comparing ourselves almost always leads to discontent. Have you noticed that? 

 

Philippians 4:11 says, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” 

 

There are always going to be people, folks, who make more money, who have greater opportunities, who enjoy the blessing of more talent and abilities than you do. There will always be people who have fewer problems and challenges than you do. So what? 

 

Paul says, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). 

 

In other words, Paul says, “I don’t look around. I look up. I look for what God has in store for me in every set of circumstances.” 

 

Now, there are three misconceptions about a satisfying, meaningful life that I want to lift up to you today. You know these, but let’s just say them.

 

1. I must have what others have. Now that leads to discontent. That is the myth, isn’t it, behind all fads, and fashions, and most advertisings. It’s simply not true. 

 

2. I must be liked by everybody in order to have and live a good life. Not so. Guess what? If you do anything – anything at all – somebody is not going to like it. Have you noticed that? Even Jesus couldn’t please everybody, folks. Only a fool would try to do what Jesus himself couldn’t do. 

 

This is an established, researched fact. Did you know that there is at least three percent of a congregation that is unhappy with their minister on any given Sunday? That’s 15 people out of 500. That’s 30+ out of 1,000. You know what?   So what? You don’t need everybody’s approval to have a good, satisfying, and grateful life.

 

3. Having more will make my life more meaningful. It was old John D. Rockefeller, of Standard Oil fame a few generations back, who was asked that great question, “How much money does it take to make a person happy?” 

 

Do you remember the answer he gave? “Just a little bit more.” And he had just about all of it. 

 

Paul says another thing. He puts it another way. He told Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we’re not going to take anything out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

 

Folks, as you know, all possessions are temporary. They’re on loan to us. We call that stewardship. They’re there for us to receive, to enjoy, to use, hopefully for the glory of God and for the building of the kingdom. They’re not going to last forever. Don’t get obsessed with what you possess. Better yet, learn to avoid comparing yourself to others.

 

Number Two: Learn to adjust to change. Paul says contentment is learned. 

 

There is nothing certain in this life but change. Change is certain. Like it or not, it is going to happen. 

 

Question: How well do you think you can handle change? Are you adaptable? Are you flexible? Can you adjust? Can you roll with it? Can you roll with it when things get shaken up a little bit? Can you roll with it when, as Paul Tillich said, “You might be shaken to your very foundations”? How do you handle change?

 

Paul says in Verse 12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”

 

Paul, like you and me, has seen good times and not so good times. What did it teach him? One translator says, “I have learned to be independent of circumstances.” That’s a great one. I want you to put that one on your refrigerator this week. “I have learned to be independent of circumstances.”

 

The secret to a grateful, satisfying life is to realize that things come and things go – pleasures, profits, popularity, our health, even our freedom. They come, and they go. Even important people in our lives come and go. 

 

Paul says he has learned to be independent of circumstances. Remember, he is under house arrest in the city of Rome when he wrote these words. He was an older man. He’s been around the block several times. He was very lonely. He was away from his friends. His health was “iffy.” He found himself confined, restricted with few of any physical comforts. Yet he continuously said, “I can handle this. I can cope. I’m flexible. The reason I’m flexible is because my circumstances are not.”

 

I get the feeling when reading Paul that no matter what happens to him, he refuses to be the victim. Have you noticed that? No matter what the difficulty, no matter what the hurt, no matter whatever he has to go through, he will not play the victim. “I am independent of circumstances,” he says. That is real freedom. That’s real contentment. That’s what leads to the attitude of gratitude.

 

People say, “How are you?”

 

We respond, “I’m doing fine. Well, I’m doing OK under the circumstances.”

 

Folks, circumstances were not meant to be lived under. OK? When we are at our best, we live on top of the circumstances.

 

As you know, there are three kinds of circumstances in life:

1.      Those I can control, and I do.

2.      Those I can control, and I don’t. Why don’t I? That’s where apathy, laziness, and complacency kick in. If you can change a situation, you don’t need contentment. You need to get up and do something about it.

3.      There are circumstances that I cannot control. There are many in your life and mine. It happens to people we know, and care about, and love. This is where we need contentment. It is in circumstances beyond our control. We’ve done our best. We’ve done what we know to do, but it is still out of our hands. That’s when we need contentment. That’s when we need to relax. That’s when we need to trust God and adjust. When you have to adjust, I’m going to ask you to remember another thing Paul wrote in Romans 12:18. It’s one of the great pieces. He said, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone.”

 

Number Three: Learn to draw on Christ’s power. You can learn it. 

 

Instead of just depending on your own power to handle circumstances, Paul says, “Draw on Christ’s power.” One of the most-quoted verses in all of Scripture is Philippians 4:13. In it Paul says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

 

So what is it? Grief, loss, finances, relationships, what’s going on where we work, with our families, with our health? What is it? Stress, or the kids? What is it? Paul says you can handle it, and the reason is because you have access to an external power source. You can call upon, you can draw upon, not only your power, but also the power of the Creator of the universe that is available to you in the Spirit of the Living Christ. With that power, Paul says, “There is nothing I cannot master. I am ready for anything. The Spirit of the Living Christ is the dynamo, the strength, the energy-giver in my life.” 

 

Paul knew what he was talking about, because Paul had some challenges. Paul had some problems. Paul had some weaknesses, like we all do. In one of them, he called it “a thorn in the flesh.” Do you member that? Paul said that he prayed a number of times that the thorn, that problem, that weakness of his would be removed. But it wasn’t removed. It didn’t get removed. God did not remove Paul’s problem, his weakness, his concern. Instead, Paul said that God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

 

It’s very interesting, folks, that the word “sufficient,” used in this passage in Corinthians, is exactly the same word that is used for “contentment” in the text we have for today. It is the exact same word. Sufficiency is contentment. Contentment is independent from circumstances.

 

Number Four: Learn to trust God to meet your needs.

 

This is a hard lesson for those of us in our culture. This is the secret, nevertheless, I suggest, to a satisfying and meaningful and grateful life.

 

In Philippians 4:19, Paul says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to God’s glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

 

He didn’t say, “Some.” He didn’t say, “Most.” He didn’t say, “Your religious or your spiritual needs.” He said, “All your needs.”

 

Jesus said it this way, “Seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness – God’s right way of doing things – and everything else will take care of itself” (Matthew 6).

 

Folks, I believe, this is the real reason so many that you and I know, so many in the culture in which we live, not to mention the world, are so unhappy. So unsatisfied. So, consequently, ungrateful. It is because the Spirit of the Living Christ is simply not the center of their lives. They’re looking for meaning. They’re looking for purpose. They’re looking in all the wrong places. They are running from this to that, from this relationship to that relationship, from this school to that school, from this job to that job, from this hobby to that hobby, from this store to another store, from this city to another city. They’re looking at sports, and recreation, and various forms of spirituality, and fads, and therapies, and books, and seminars. They are looking for a key.

 

The Creator, in the Bible, has made it fairly clear. You and I, and every other human being were made with a God-sized vacuum in our souls. You and I were made with a God-sized hole in our hearts. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever fill that void except the Spirit of the Living God.

 

I had a guy at the 8:30 service who said he had three women in his life that were probably trying to fill that void with jewelry. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Some of the rest of you know what he’s talking about. Don’t you?

 

Max Lucado, a great Christian from San Antonio, Texas, loves to say it this way. “The heart of the human problem is the human heart.”

 

Discontent just means that the Spirit of the Living Christ is, in fact, not the center of one’s life. So, we look wherever we can, in all kinds of ways, to fill that void.

 

Jesus said it this way: “I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it in all of its abundance.”

 

That’s what the Creator, Sustainer, the Judge, and the Redeemer wants, not just for you and for me, but for all of God’s creation. The way we receive it is to learn, like Paul said, to learn the lessons of contentment.

·        Avoid comparisons.

·        Adjust to change.

·        Draw on Christ’s power.

·        Trust God to meet our needs.

 

And all the people say… “Amen.”

 

 

Giver of all, we join with all your creation to lift our voices in praise! For every good thing, we say, “thank you.” Amen.