Welcome to Fife's Pulpit, coming to you from Scotland. My name is Pastor John and I would warmly welcome you to join us here on Sunday. Philippians chapter 4, verse 4. I just want to single out a verse and talk to you on a theme. In fact, my sermons, some of my sermons anyway, in the next few weeks may be on the thematic line rather than the expository line. So I make no apologies for that, however. Rejoice in the Lord always, says the Apostle in chapter 4, verse 4. And again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I want to speak to you, maybe over these next few weeks, about the Christian characteristics, Christian character. It's something that's really been on my heart for some time and I've been afraid to tackle it. And I want to try and tackle it. this morning with you, so bear with me. And I want to deal with the subject of being thankful, being thankful. Now, it's my intention to bring this over the next few weeks, and I think that is something that is needed today. Many a Christian witness has been made void by the conduct of the Christian. This is especially true in families. Today, what is needed is for the Christian to demonstrate their faith, not only in words of witness, but by their character. It's easy to shout at people, isn't it? It's easy to condemn people. It's easy to accuse them or appear judgmental and harsh. But after all, we are the servants of God, not of man. So our conduct should be like our God's, like our Lord Jesus Christ. We should be careful not to be seen as witnessing in our flesh, thinking that flesh will understand us better if we speak in those terms. We are spiritual and serve God, not man. So our witness is not only in words, but in a life also that is like him. And that's why I want this. This theme is kind of burning on my heart. As I said, I want to begin by the theme of being thankful as a Christian characteristic. We'll come on to that in a moment, though. But a word of warning first. If some of you think that only speaking about God will bring the roof down upon your heads, remember that not only did Christ's words upset, but also his pure life and example upset. It confronted people, especially the religious, who couldn't take it. John 8, 45, Jesus says, but because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. That's the words. Which of you then can prove me guilty of sin, he says? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? You see, here our Lord is saying that it's not only his words that upset them, but also his life. They couldn't point at anything in his life that were sinful. He was pure before them. His words were backed by his conduct, and that combination upset them deeply. So my point is this. Although we are to speak God's word, and one would never, never deny that, we are also to live as Christ's ambassadors in the world and to demonstrate a Christian character We have learned previously that we should walk with God in our previous studies and what that means. Now I want to show you some aspects of our Christian character that a true Christian should exhibit and rejoice in. As someone once said, you are the only gospel that people will read. They won't read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John necessarily, but they'll read the gospel of your life. Now, here again, I am not saying that we should never speak. Oh, God forbid that. But that we should live our lives also to back it up. Now, once again, I am drawing upon one of my favourite Puritans, a man called Thomas Watson. He lived between 1620 and 1686. He was an English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author. He wrote an excellent commentary on the Shorter Catechism, which I've used considerably, called The Body of Divinity. Very easy to read and very devotional. And Watson has a kind of, I don't know how would I describe it, a kind of happiness and a wonderfully easy spirit. Spurgeon says of him, a happy union of this book, that is of the body of divinity, a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom. He wrote a very challenging book also, a little book called The Godly Man's Picture. And I want to bring some of that to you, of what he said, just to dip into it, to sweeten what I have to say. This week I want us to begin on a very positive note and bring a particular aspect of our Christian life to the fore. You maybe haven't heard many sermons on this, but I want to suggest that this is a characteristic that is much neglected and especially in the light of the pressures around the Christian today. There are several questions that it throws up, which I will answer one in particular towards the end of what I have to say. But the Christian is to be a thankful, praising person. Thanking God is what happens in heaven. So being thankful here, we are only doing on earth what we should do in heaven. So enjoy your miserable moans on earth because you won't be doing it in heaven. I can assure you of that. You will be praising and thankful. The Jews have a saying that the world subsists by three things. law, that is the word of God, worship of God and thankfulness. Laws which give order to the world, worship which acknowledges the creator and the faith, the fullness of our response to all he gives is thankfulness. If thankfulness is missing, then the pillar would fall over and the stool, like it's a three legged stool, it would fall over. It would mean to say that you acknowledge the rules in the world and worship the one who gave them, but then refuse to be thankful for all he's given to you. It doesn't make sense, does it? David was the sweet psalmist of Israel who praised God and thanked God continuously. even the rebellious prophet Jonah, who, although the sea was even more in turmoil than the sea, yet he cried out from the belly of the fish, I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving. 2 verse 9. The realisation of God being there, even in the fish, caused him to be thankful. When you can praise God with thanksgiving, when you're running from him and in the belly of the fish, that is real thankfulness. Now, we're not thanking God for being in the belly of the fish, we're thanking God for being God and being there to deliver us. Firstly then, it brings me to state the obvious, that thankfulness and praise is only a Christian thing. Isaiah 61 verse 3 speaks of a garment of praise. As Watson says, this garment fits handsomely only on the saint's back. It's true, isn't it? Psalm 33 verse 1, it is fitting and for the pure to praise and thank him. As Watson again says, a profound man trying to praise or thank God is like flowers stuck in a dunghill. When you think of how it can an unconverted person thank and praise God, when in truth they live a life that dishonours him, they are his enemy, and the only thing God wants to hear from his enemies is, just as he heard from us, it's a cry of mercy and capitulation. When God looms up against his enemies, what does he want them to say? But mercy, I give in. That's what he wants to hear from his enemies. Of course, the non-believer may often cry out to God when in a desperate situation and cry for help. And God, in his marvellous, marvellous mercy, may grant his enemy help. But any thankfulness addressed to God will be because of their temporal deliverance. But the praise and thanks of God's child is to thank him for being God. Thank him for his love. Thank him for his salvation from sin. It's not just for a temporal deliverance. Secondly, therefore, thanksgiving exalts God. Psalm 50, verse 23. Whoso offer of praise glorifies me, he says. Of course we cannot add to his glory, but thankful praise exalts God in the eyes of others. By a thankful heart we honour him, setting out his honour, lifting up his name, showing off the benefits of his goodness in all that we have, thanking him for his excellence in creation and redemption. Watson says, it is breaking open the box of ointment. whereby the sweet saviour and perfume of God's name is sent abroad into the world. And that's what we're doing when we're thanking God, when people see us living a life of thanks before Almighty God. As Watson said, it's like breaking that ointment so that the aroma of what we're doing spreads all the way around the world. When we thank God, we exalt him high in our thoughts before others. Sadly, sadly, when we are grumpy and moaning, we bring dishonour to him and our witness before others. God is happy when we thank him for all that he is and he has given us. Would we take a gift from someone, then not thank them for it? It's a basic Christian good manners to thank God. Coming up to Christmas, aren't we? And we'll get certain gifts and we'll thank people for them. Even the endless pairs of socks that Auntie Ada insists on giving us every Christmas. Oh, we're thankful. We're thankful she's still alive and we can still wear the socks. Thirdly, thankfulness and praise is a clear distinguishing mark of being God's child. This is linked to the bit about being a non-Christian, not being able to praise. But think of it like this. That thankful praise is again exclusively a Christian thing and is a distinguishing mark of the Christian. For instance, Do you talk to God? So can the devil. Do you quote scripture? So does the devil. Do you say you are a believer and profess religion? So does the devil. As a wolf in sheep's clothing, as an angel of light. Do you fast? Then there is no record of the devil eating at all. Do you believe? So do the devils, and they even tremble. Is your theology right? So is the devil's because he knows the truth. And just as Moses did miracles then that none of the Egyptian magicians could do, we can do what Satan cannot do. He can duplicate all of these other things. He can do those other things. But what he cannot do is be thankful and praise God. Watson says, the devil's blaspheme, but do not bless. Satan has his fiery darts, but God's children have their harps. You see, that's what makes us different, isn't it? Satan can duplicate many things. The world can duplicate many, many things. But they cannot, in the depths of their soul, praise and thank God for what he has given to them. No, you can never do that. And every time you are thankful to God and praise, realise you are doing something that marks you out as special in this world. You do as the hymn says, join with all nature in mannerful witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. So you become as beautiful as God's creation. You sing out his praises as the morning stars sing together, as Job 38 7, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. What we should also remember is that the text that is often used by Christians, that we should not pollute our bodies. Paul says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So we should always remember, by the way, that the temple is the first place where the thankful praises of God should be heard. If a temple is silent, it is eerie, like a great cathedral that is empty and strange. Voices echo, almost a sad place. It's like us when its construction is for the glory of God, but it is now ghostly silent. But when it is filled with praise, it is so wonderful. When the organ strikes up and the choirs begins to sing and voices are raised in praise and thanks for God. You see, the temple of God, of which we are, is the very first place and the only place where worship and praise and thanksgiving is to be issued. If you cannot be thankful in the temple of God, then where can you be thankful? Out amongst the heathen? No. Fourthly, also this thankful praise should never stop. Just as the priests kept prayers and praise and thanksgiving going all night in the temple, how much more should we never stop thanking Him? When we wake, we thank him for the new day, for our home, for our health, for the chance to pray for others, to think of our friends who are Christians and thank him for them. To tire of thanking God is ungratefulness. David said in Psalm 34, his praise or his thanksgiving, the words often used between the two of them, but shall continually, he says, continually be in my mouth. We should never grow weary of having thankful, praise-filled hearts. As long as we breathe we should be thankful to God. David said again in Psalm 46 too, I will sing praises or be thankful to God while I have any being. Paul's letters were coloured by doxiologies or gloriologies of thankfulness and praise. He spoke of a practical matter. Then he would take us up to heaven to praise and thank God for that. Then he'd bring us down to earth again to apply the truth. Then he'd take us up to heaven again to thank and praise God. Then he'd come down to earth again to scoop up some more practical things. This action is being described as sewing. To bring the garment together, he goes to earth, then dips his teaching in heaven and prays. And back to earth, up to heaven, back to earth. That is our life of thankfulness. Whatever happens to us on earth, we go up to heaven and we look to God and we thank him for everything he has given us. Fifthly, a true Christian will give thanks in all things. Oh dear, here we go. Paul says in Philippians 4, 6, our text that we read, in everything, by prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God. In prayer, we make known to God our wants and necessities. With thanksgiving, we declare God's excellences. Thanksgiving in prayer is tuning our harps. And as the prayer goes up, as incense, as it says in Revelation before God, so thanksgiving and praise are its perfume. They mingle together in the presence of God and please Him. He loves to hear us ask what we want, but to ask with thanksgiving. When you read those Puritan prayers in Valley of Vision produced by Banner of Truth, that's not a commercial, I've mentioned this before, but you will see how they mingle intense prayer and perfume. They plead for strength, forgiveness and grace. Then they mingle them with praise, thanksgiving and worship to ensure that they wing their way to heaven. You'll read them and they're crying out to God about their sinful wickedness and how they have offended against grace. And yet throughout all of that, it comes Thanksgiving. Oh, thank you, God, that you have saved me throughout. This is the paradox of the Christian life. I hope you understand it. 1 Thessalonians 5 18. in everything, give thanks. Not only does a Christian express thankfulness in everything, but they do in every condition they find themselves in. Now this may seem hard, it may seem impossible. Again, Watson says, a gracious soul is thankful and rejoices that they are drawn nearer to God, albeit through the cords of affliction. When it goes well with him, he praises God's mercy. When it goes badly, he magnifies God's justice. Then he concludes with a beautiful statement, which I'll try to explain a little bit later on, as to exactly what this means. He says, when God has a rod in his hand, a godly man will have a psalm in his mouth. When Job had everything taken from him and the devil attacked him, he was able to say, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. And even though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Again, Watson's beautiful picture is this. He says, the devil smiting of Job was like striking a musical instrument that sounded forth in praise. Although Scripture, the word thanks and thanksgiving is used over 170 times, showing to me that throughout the whole experience of the people of God in the Bible, thanksgiving weaves its way throughout all of their maladies and all of their problems and all of their discouragements and all of their pain. There is this weaving of thanksgiving throughout of it. So it is good and right to give thanks to the Lord. I used to love the Church of England prayer book when I was trained at Trinity Theological College. We used to read this in the services. But there is a beautiful part in there that always used to thrill me. It went like this. And the minister said, lift up your hearts. The congregation says, we lift them up unto the Lord. The minister says, let us give thanks to the Lord our God. And then the congregation say, it is meet, right, and so to do. The minister replies, it is very meet, right, and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God. Therefore, with angels and dark angels, with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Glory to be to thee, O Lord Most High. You see what it says there? Did you catch that? In all times and in all places we are to give thanks unto thee, O Lord. It used to just touch my heart. So it is a good thing to thank God, as it says in Psalm 147. It is a bad thing when we use our tongue that is meant to praise God and thank God for grumbling, murmuring against Him and murmuring against His people. As in the prayer book, it is good to motivate each other to thank and praise God. And that's the beauty of it. Did you get that as well? Where the minister says to the people that it's right so to do. And he replies, it is very right and our bounden duty. So they all join together in thanksgiving unto God for his salvation. It is, as the old Puritans say, the rent of heaven. The rent we have to pay for heaven is to praise and thank God. for him being God. Seventhly, an attitude of thanksgiving for all that God is and all that he has given us is passed to our children. Aye, to our wee children. This is such an important point, dear ones. Joshua built a memorial to all that God had done, so that when the children asked, what are these stones, they would be told of the amazing deliverance of thankfulness and praise for crossing the river. Psalm 44 verse 1. says our fathers have told us what work thou didst do in the past. On the day of Pentecost Peter told the converts that this promise of salvation is unto them and to their children. But you see many poor children of Christians live in an atmosphere of criticism, moaning, strictness, unnecessary strictness that they don't understand, instead of thankfulness and praise, to thank God and praise. I remember once when I was in the beach at Port Dickson at a Baptist holiday home that's in Malaysia and there was a missionary couple, Johnny Norwood, I remember him and his wife and two little children. There was one little girl and I had been stung by a jellyfish quite badly and so had she. She got caught by the jellyfish as well and we went to prayer in the mornings and I used to lead them in a little devotion and Johnny would lead us the next day and the children would pray and this child must have been five or six I don't know I'm not very good at the ages of children But she prayed and said, Oh God, something to this effect. Oh God, please don't let me get stung by a jellyfish again. But I thank you for helping me and keeping me throughout these things. Amen. In other words, she had learnt through a difficult time that God was still there and God was there to be praised because Johnny had brought them up in an atmosphere of thanksgiving and praise. And I believe, you see, this is of paramount importance. If you train the child in the way they should go, they will not depart from it, says Proverbs. And I think an attitude of gratitude in a family will impress and teach the children. But when parents are then silent in the grave, their thanksgiving and praise goes on in their children. Being dead yet they speak. So do not underestimate how your spirit affects those in your care. How will you be remembered by them? As a grumpy old duffer who sat in their room and just read a dusty old Bible and condemned and shouted at them continuously. Or as a humble, joyful, thankful example of this wonderful grace. I think that that means so much to children to see their Christian parents thanking God and teaching them to thank God for everything, every small blessing, every flower, every raindrop, to thank God for and learn this attitude of thankfulness. Eighthly, I will say a couple more things about this grace of thankfulness and then I'm done. Firstly, our thankfulness, and you have to understand this, is to God. When the rod strikes and we turn to God and see his beauty, His purpose, His fatherly care, our salvation, the wonder of heaven that awaits us. It is then we can take our harps and praise and thank Him. In so doing, we are lifted out of our pain and our difficult providence. Now, this is what happened to Asaph in Psalm 73. He was eyeing up his problems. He was eyeing up his afflictions that he was having to go through. And if we eye up our problems and the world around us and we keep looking there, then we will not thank God. But when Asaf came in that pivotal verse into the presence of God, then he took his eyes off the world and all of his problems and he looked up, began to understand and thank and praise God. Whom have I in heaven but you? And having you in heaven, whom have I on earth but you? He says, I get it now. Now I get it. He says, I am thankful to God, irrespective of what I am going through. And one of our objections to thank God continuously is this, and I said I would touch on this, is how can we be thankful in the midst of pain and hardship? Surely that, John, you're being rather weird to suggest that. Well, my answer to this is simple. We do not thank God for the pain or hardship. We don't say, oh, give me more pain, my arthritis in my knees playing, oh, I could do with some more of that, Lord. No, no, we don't say that. But we turn from that and our pain to thank God that he is in charge and he knows what he's doing. We don't. And in so doing we raise above our problems and pain and look upwards and thank God that He is our God and we are His children and that His faithfulness is great. His mercies are new every morning if you look around. Seek the little things of joy. Someone in our fellowship keeps telling me that. Seek the little things of joy. turn them to thank God that he is in charge and in so doing we rise above our problems and pain, we look upwards and we thank God that he is our God, we are his children and that he is good to us and all things are working for our good. If we learn to do this then like the psalmist we turn from our afflictions and we thank God that he is in them and has a purpose. As my old friend Humphrey Mildred from Edinburgh said there are no bad providences only difficult ones. So please, please do not think that I'm being glib or that I don't understand what you're going through But I know that if we look beyond... we can see God. And if you think again of the Psalms, the Jewish hymn book, which is an expression of our faith and what goes on in our faith, you will find throughout the afflictions of the Psalms, woven through it like a golden thread, is praise and thanksgiving, praise and thanksgiving, even through difficult times, even through our own sin and wickedness. We come out and we begin to learn again. to praise and be thankful to God. One of the most godly people I know is my wife. And she has two sayings, she has many others, but two in the main. Once when confronted with a moaner in a local church who moaned continuously, my wife said to her, you should have an attitude of gratitude. And I thought that was lovely. Attitude of gratitude. And she also often says to me, when I'm in perplexity and pain, and I do get perplexed quite a bit, she'll say to me, well, it doesn't affect your salvation, does it? It doesn't affect your salvation. And you see, she's exactly right with that. That's getting the perspective. That's getting things in the right order. We are thankful, even though there is pain. because we're thinking beyond the pain into the blue horizon. Develop an attitude of gratitude. Horatio Spafford in 1873 lost his children in a tragedy at sea and they were drowned. And I read this. On Thursday last, this is Spafford speaking, we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean. the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there, for they are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there before very long shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise him for his love and mercy to us and ours I will praise him while I have my being. May each one arise, leave all and follow him. You see Spafford, throughout of his misery, said, I'm able to thank God that my loved ones are with him and I shall join them. And then he wrote that famous hymn, which I will read to you right now, which is so moving. When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever, my lot, thou hast taught me to know, It is well, it is well with my soul. Oh, what thanksgiving in that. Though Satan should buff it, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, O the bless of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. He went beyond his pain and looked up and thanked God. Another hymn says, we trace the rainbow through the pain. Watson says when God uses the rod, his people reach for the harps. Sometimes with a bloodied and trembling hand that is afraid and pale and pallid, we reach eventually for the harp to thank him for everything he is. Secondly, the final thing to mention in this vast subject, and it's so vast, there are many other things I could mention. But it's this, that it is a horrid and terrible thing to live as a Christian without gratitude. Says Thomas Watson, an unthankful person is a monster in nature, a paradox in Christianity. He is the scorn of heaven and the plague of earth. Of course he is because he affects everybody around about him if he's miserable and unthankful, grumping all the time. Everybody else will get grumpy around about him. It's bound to rub off. It's like the plague. You're bound to catch it sooner or later if you're no careful. But look at the sadness of the faithless generation in the wilderness. They died in their unbelief and were miserable. Jeremiah 5 verse 7 says an interesting verse. How can I pardon you, says God? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods when I fed them to the full. They committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. In other words, what God was saying was, look, I looked after you, I fed you and what did you do? You went whoring to other gods. You turned away and instead of thanking me for what you've got, you turned away from me. You spat in my face as those that spat at Jesus upon the cross. Think, dear ones, think, think just about what you have in Christ. And if you can't be thankful with that, then you're probably unconverted. You have his forgiveness. You have his love, his comfort, his strength, his assurance. He is your refuge and strength. He is your hope. Your life is in his hands. He has passed by millions of fallen angels and millions of people to come to you. He has opened your eyes to your sin and gently driven you to the cross to find complete salvation. He has promised you a home that he is keeping for you and he's guarding for you. And in turn, says Peter, he will keep you for it. Even though you run away in other directions so often, he'll keep you. He gives you His Spirit of holiness and of joy, of joy unspeakable, touched with heavenly glory. He gives you prayer. He gives you each other. He gives you Christians, friends to strengthen you, to rebuke you, to encourage you, to love you. Your mind is open to understand the falsehood of the world and to be wise to the enemy's attacks. He has given you a shield of faith, a helmet, a breastplate, shoes, a belt to hold it all up. He has placed a palm in your hand and given a song in your heart and you are singing a new song unto Him who is on the throne unto the Lamb. You are marching to Zion to see Him. to a sinless, blissful future that I have not seen and ear have not heard. And there is much, much, much, much more. Learn to be thankful. Thankful. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord turn his face towards you. May the Lord be very gracious towards you. And may the Lord make you thankful, even though you're in pain and suffering and fear at the moment. Look up and thank God for what he has done in your life. And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you, both now and forevermore. Amen.