A healthy heart is a thankful heart

the seats and now just for a few moments perhaps we can turn in our bibles to that sam to sam 9

and we're just going to think about those first couple of verses the words are also on our screen

so we've been thinking about habits of a healthy church together for the last few weeks but

just for this evening i will change our theme somewhat and recognize here in these verses that

a healthy christian is a thankful christian so let me read these words for us again i will give

thanks to you lord with all my heart i will tell of all your wonderful deeds i will be glad and rejoice

in you i will sing the praises of your name oh most high so in these couple of verses we have

a help towards spiritual health because a healthy heart for us as christians is to be a thankful heart

thankfulness of course is an important value for us it's something we teach our children we value the

respect that is shown the appreciation that is there but this is a particular kind of thankfulness

in these verses it's christian thankfulness it's thankfulness that's devoted to the lord and notice

too in verse one it's wholehearted thankfulness i will give thanks with all my heart it's not just

going through the motions it's not just playing a part rather it's hearts full of appreciation for who

god is and what god has done because what we see in these two verses are the reality that there are two

main springs of christian thankfulness two main sources for our thankfulness in verse one we see

the wonderful deeds of god and in verse two our psalmist simply rejoices in his wonderful god

and shouldn't that be the case for us as well for us to be thankful especially in the time that we live

to be thankful for the wonderful deeds of god in the lord jesus to be thankful for him as our wonderful

god and savior so very briefly consider these verses to seek for good spiritual health for real thankfulness

and joy that comes both from god and is found in god so a couple of questions first question am i thankful

for god's wonderful deeds and because you see the connection in verse one between these wonderful

deeds that lead to thankfulness in david that leads to his joy and that leads him to want to tell others

about the wonderful things that god has done in the same way as when we find something we particularly

value it's our instinct to want to share that with others it's our instinct to want to share that with

others david has discovered these wonderful things that god has been doing and it leads him to joyful praise

in sam 9 these wonderful deeds are are focused on redemption

in verses 3 and 4 we have his his testimony his great hope

in god in god that my enemies will turn back they stumble and perish before you for you have upheld

my right and my cause sitting enthroned as a righteous judge

verses 13 and 14 we see his ongoing hope is the salvation that god brings

so verse 13 begins lord see how my enemies persecute you have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death

that i may declare your praises in the gates of daughter zion and they rejoice in your salvation

so the redemptive works the redemptive character of god gives him joy and praise the fact that god judges

his enemies that god will act against evil as we thought about this morning that god saves his own people

by his power and for his glory that leads him to thankfulness

and by extension then for us as christians our thankfulness where does it begin it begins doesn't

it with christ crucified and risen christ is our means of salvation

we are thankful that god in his grace and kindness has sent jesus to be our mediator

that left to ourselves we could never know god we could never have peace with god we could never

have sins forgiven from god but god sent jesus to bring peace to break down the barrier of sin

to remove the curse that we are under to defeat the powers of sin that held us in chains

that in the work of jesus a righteousness that is not ours is credited to us

so that god the father can love us as he loves his son that in this great work of salvation a new life

has been provided for us that's where our thankfulness begins these wonderful deeds of god and salvation

and so for us to have healthy hearts to have thankful hearts we we need to be close to christ and the cross

stay by day now we can never afford to move away from that great demonstration of the love of god

but it's not just in those great acts of redemption

in psalm 71 there's another reflection on god's that wonderful works

in in psalm 71 verse 17

Psalms 71:17

the psalmist there says since my youth god you have taught me and to this day i declare your marvelous deeds

the fact that god has had this ongoing commitment to teach and instruct

this believer is a cause of thankfulness

god's active involvement in our everyday life is cause for thankfulness

that might show up in it the right friend who comes and brings just the word that we need

it might be that we that we pull a book off the shelf and it happens to speak to our hearts and bring

transformation it might be that we pick up our bibles at the beginning of the day

and that devotion is just exactly what we need all of these two

are god's wonderful deeds in and for his people

and so psalm 9 i guess to go back to the the old hymn writer would encourage us to count our blessings

to consider for our own spiritual health so the sake of being a worshiping people

those reasons we have to be thankful

so in verse one he's thankful for for those wonderful deeds our second question am i thankful

for a wonderful god because look at what he moves to in verse two i will be glad

and rejoice in you i will sing the praises of your name almost high

now we would consider it rude i think um if we saw somebody perhaps a child or somebody else

enjoying a gift but not giving any thanks to the giver we encourage a younger generation to say

thank you to write notes of appreciation we're here in psalm 9 our psalmist moves to the second spring

the second foundation of thankfulness and it's god himself not just what god does but who god is

his person his character he is rejoicing in god and that parallels with it singing the praise of your name

oh most high because he recognizes there is no one greater than our god

that's his true source of joy

god's name is revealed god's character is revealed in and through his deeds and that causes him to praise

that's where christian thankfulness finds its foundation again

in the character of our god revealed to us in the person of the lord jesus christ

notice in verse one that he's giving thanks to the lord covenant name of god he's thankful that god by his

grace has committed himself to his people he did not have to but he chose to have mercy and grace

a wonderful reality of the covenant that moves all the way through the bible and in

the new testament with the coming of jesus we have this new covenant that's established

in his blood that blood that forgives us of our sin that blood that makes atonement

that sacrifice of the lord jesus that replaces our hearts of stone that is cold and hard towards

god and gives us a heart of flesh that covenant that promises eternal life in relationship with our god

there's a reason to be thankful that the god in heaven the holy god has entered into covenant with

his people with his church and we can be thankful that this wonderful god has revealed himself as the

most high to us in his son the lord jesus

and so when we apply the realities of sam 9 to our day we recognize that it's the lord jesus

who brings judgment and who brings salvation

he is the messiah king he is the one in verse 8 who rules the world in righteousness

jesus is in verse 9 the lord who is a refuge for the oppressed

jesus is the lord who never forgets those who seek him

jesus is the lord god who will never forget the needy the hope of the afflicted will never perish

we are thankful we are called to be thankful for a wonderful god who has revealed himself

in his son the lord jesus

so i guess it's easy and i'm sure we all recognize the importance of thankfulness but i suppose the

question is how do we develop if we recognize that spiritual health is tied up with thankfulness how do

we develop these thankful hearts how do we find that wholehearted joy in god's actions and in god

himself well there's one final psalm where wonderful deeds marvelous deeds are reflected upon

psalm 119 verse 18 that is that prayer perhaps it's a prayer that we often use before reading the bible

Psalms 119:18

perhaps in a church service maybe you use this at home it's a great prayer to use before reading the bible

there we have open my eyes that i may see wonderful things in your law

that's where we discover the wonderful acts of god that's where we discover the wonderful character of god

in his word and so if we are to grow in our thankfulness we need to grow in our appreciation of god

as he has revealed himself in his word

that this prayer from psalm 119 should be our daily prayer our longing every time we pick up the bible

show me more of your goodness show me more of your great work show me more of the lord jesus

because that's where spiritual health comes from that's where thankful hearts come from

so what we're going to do just now is we're going to spend a little bit of time

in small groups they're just giving thanks together for our wonderful god and for his wonderful deeds

whether that's in our own lives whether that's in the context of our church whether that's as we look

around the world um so we'll divide into i guess three groups and we can maybe have a group that's at

the front and and one in each corner and we'll maybe spend a 10 minutes or so praying together and

then we'll come back together and we'll sing a hymn of praise so let's break into little groups

so that we can give thanks to our god for what he has done and for who he is