PRACTICE GRATITUDE | 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 | Pastor John Anderson | 8.16.26

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Gerlock and Pastor John Anderson.

Welcome to the Resurrection Church Podcast.

Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin.

So whether you're listening on a walk, driving to work, or just folding some laundry, or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happened.

It's something God is still doing.

Enjoy this week's message.

Good morning, everyone.

This is the first time I've read in 40 plus years that it's this short.

So thank you, Cheryl.

A reading from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 16 through 18.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The word of the Lord.

Thank you, dear.

Well done.

Pastor Ryan said, Oh, a nice short verse, unlike your sermon.

My name's John.

I'm one of the pastors here at Resurrection.

I'm so happy to have you here with us.

I just want to mention at our first service, we celebrated one of our members' 100th birthday.

Um, and so yeah, let's clap if he's Roy Roy fellow.

Um Mr.

Roy, member of this congregation since it became a congregation.

Um, as I as I told him uh this morning, um he was close, his birth was closer to the end of the civil war than his life at 100 is.

Um and so we celebrated him.

We gave thanks to God for his life of faith.

We are in a sermon series called Back to the Basics.

And the heart, the hope, the heart behind this is as we are in a new season here at Resurrection, we wanted everyone to be reminded that the way of Christ is actually quite simple.

And we often mistake it uh for for things that we create as humans.

And so we're hoping to remind you of some of these practices.

Today we're gonna talk about gratitude.

And there's so much to be thankful for here at Resurrection.

And Pastor Ryan will tell you, one of the rhythms that I have is I will I like to stick around at the end of Sundays.

Uh, I'm not going to today though.

Uh, but I like to wait until everybody's gone and just kind of enter the sanctuary and take a deep breath and just reflect on how thankful I am to be in this place with all of you.

Um it's not lost to me that I get to work next door to my best friend.

Um and I'm thankful today because Pastor Ryan's wife was here before worship started.

And so we are um I'm I was given permission to say that.

I'm not gonna look at her.

Um but uh she has she, for the record, she always has to clean up Ryan's mess in the morning.

That's why she's running.

So friends, when I was uh at St.

Mary's Lutheran Church in uh Kenosha, the only Lutheran church in the world named St.

Mary's Lutheran Church, um, I worked with youth.

I was doing youth ministry, and each week I would prepare a talk and I would share it with these kids on Monday nights and Wednesday nights, and then we would break out into discussion.

Our pastor, one of the pastors at the time, asked if I would ever want to preach on a Sunday.

And I initially said no, I didn't feel, I mean, I hadn't gone to seminary.

That's a holy thing, that's a lot of pressure.

The vocation is very uh very important.

And so I said no.

And he asked me to pray about it, so I did, and eventually I said, Yes, as long as you'll help me.

And so he he pointed me to some incredible books.

Uh, books are they look like this for those that don't know anymore, and um and I I learned all about how to exegete, how to how to read scripture and learn from historians and commentators about what these original texts meant.

And it was beautiful, it was great.

I got all these great wins, these resources.

And then he gave me the text, it was out of Samuel, it was David and Bathsheba, and I thought, what a bait and switch, you know.

But then I learned about what took place in this story and the gross corruption of power and what this did to the kingdom, and it was beautiful.

I and I my wife can attest, it was a holy moment for me.

It was the first time I'd ever approached the pulpit like that, and I and I and I I arrived at three services, pastors, plurals sitting in the front row, and I preached this sermon, and at the end of it, they stood up and applauded.

And that, by the way, is weird and not the appropriate response to sermons.

I think part of it was I had been raised in that church, and so there was some there was some holy excitement about perhaps where I was headed.

Pastor Ryan had already gone to seminary, I was maybe next.

We didn't know then.

At the same time, though, one of the pastors who I I knew was in opposition to me preaching because I wasn't a pastor, he got up during the middle of my sermon and left.

I received a few letters after that sermon from people that told me that the words that I had spoken about power structures being corrupt and especially the way that women were treated back in the day helped them.

I received this affirmation.

It was beautiful, it was holy.

What do you think I thought about for the whole week and the whole month and today?

Is that guy that got up and walked away?

And I think we we do that all of us, don't we?

We can lose sight of what's good.

Like 10 out of 11 things went right, but all we think about is that one thing that went wrong.

We fixate on it.

And this is human.

I mean, we just we can't allow ourselves to get rid of it.

I do it.

My wife will talk about like if I'm having a day where I can't let something go, my whole energy will invade the home.

And we're called to something different.

We're called to gratitude.

We have all these prayers answered, but then one isn't answered, and we get upset.

We find ourselves fixated on what we wish was different instead of acknowledging all the great gifts we have in front of us, like the very breath that we're breathing.

And I don't say this to make us feel guilty.

I just want us to remember that gratitude is supposed to be practiced.

It can be difficult sometimes, which is why we're supposed to practice gratitude.

Not always feel it, but practice it.

Not wait until life gives you everything you need, but to practice gratitude daily.

And so let's pray as we enter scripture and learn from the Apostle Paul why we're called to gratitude.

Let us pray.

God, you're so good, and we have so much to be thankful for.

I think about the the the multiple the multitude of servants this morning that opened the building up before Pastor Ryan and I even got here that made sure the coffee was hot, the Kringle was out, the microphones worked, the building was clean, the bulletins were printed.

I could go on and on.

God, there is so much to be thankful for just on a Sunday morning here at Resurrection.

Help us to be aware of the people sitting next to us, family, friend, or stranger, and how thankful that we're not in here alone.

As always, I pray the meditations of my heart and the words that pass through my lips are yours, O God.

It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

If you have a Bible, uh, you can turn to Thessalonians.

It is right after Colossians in your Bible, General Electric Power Company, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians 5.

Right after Colossians and uh Thessalonians, we think, Thessalonians, we think was the first letter that Paul ever wrote, the earliest letter, which means we should pay attention to it.

We learned in Acts 17 that Paul had gone to Thessalonica, this old uh Greek community with a man named Silas, and they had preached the gospel.

And if you go to Acts 17, you learn that many believed.

Jewish people and Greek alike, it was a big deal.

So many believed, in fact, that after Paul left, their faith was getting them in trouble.

Because they wouldn't worship the emperor, they would only worship God.

Because they weren't argumentative people, they believed in grace and patience, and all of this was seen as a sign of weakness and opposition, and so they were persecuted.

So Paul finds out about this and he writes them a letter, and he begins the letter by encouraging them and reminding them of the strength that they find in Christ.

They were also worried about the end times.

Would they be ready for when Christ returns?

And Paul says, You're making it too complicated, follow the way of Jesus.

And then he ends with these three incredibly short commands rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.

And I read this, and I and I still today I think, come on, Paul.

Always, without ceasing, all circumstances, and there are definitely circumstances where gratitude comes easily.

I we could all agree on this, I think.

When a child is born, when a test comes back clear, when when you get the job, when that relationship that you never thought would be restored is restored, when that kid who never calls home finally calls home and someone you love says, Let's try this again.

When that prayer gets answered exactly like you told God it was supposed to get answered.

But what about when it doesn't happen?

Every single one of us has prayed a prayer that in the moment was most likely not answered the way that you thought or wanted it to.

When you get that diagnosis that you hoped you wouldn't, when the marriage is struggling, when your kid is hurting and you can't fix it, when you're grieving, someone should still be here, when you're lonely and you pray and you pray.

Maybe you get down on your knees and you pray and you pray and you wonder, why am I even praying?

What is the point of any of this stuff?

And you say, Paul, really?

All circumstances?

And Paul patiently and lovingly says, Yes.

And then Paul reminds us, he's not saying give thanks for all of your circumstances.

But he says, in them, in the best moments, in the moments that are terrifying and horrible, you can give thanks because you are not alone if you believe that Christ is with you, if you believe that Christ is for you.

And that's a that's a huge difference, it's a fundamental difference in the shape of world religion.

Christians defied everybody for centuries.

We've we've kind of moved away from what made us beautiful, I think.

But we defied everybody because, in the face of persecution, in the face of an empire wanting to wipe us out, we gave thanks to God for Christ.

And they didn't understand.

Christian gratitude doesn't require us to call something good that isn't good.

Don't mistake that.

We don't thank God for cancer, we don't thank God for death or for betrayal or for suffering.

That wasn't the created order.

Go to Genesis.

There was a beautiful created order, and God said the only way to corrupt it is to choose to be God of your own life and God of others.

We don't look at all evil and pain and just slap a Christian bumper sticker on it and it says, everything happens for a reason.

That's not what the Bible says.

All things are gathered together.

And in all things, in all things, we give thanks to God who doesn't leave us alone.

And the Bible is full of stories of lament.

I think sometimes, and I hope you all, I know you all are great students of your scriptures.

And you should be, because the Bible is not full of pious people who have it all figured out.

From the very beginning, it's full of humans who struggle and question and get angry.

And we should be thankful, by the way, praise God.

We have over a hundred churches in Racine, so if you don't like that message, there's other options.

The Bible tells us, lament talking to God in honest and raw ways is holy.

It in fact strengthens your faith.

There was this prophet uh Habakkuk.

Has anybody heard of Habakkuk?

Anybody ever name a child Habakkuk?

Habakkuk lived during the seventh century in the southern kingdom.

If you remember, Israel at one point in time under King Solomon, the child of King David, the child of David and Bathsheba.

He ruled this mighty kingdom, but then it was split.

Remember, the northern kingdom was Israel, the southern was Judah.

And if you know the story, we did a series on this.

The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians.

Habakkuk is writing from the southern kingdom, and he writes this letter.

And if you've ever read it, by the way, it's really just one long argument with God.

He tells God exactly how he feels in a way that might make some of you uncomfortable.

In a way that might cause you to go, Pastor, you should go talk to that person.

They can't talk to God that way.

Habakkuk knew about the incoming doom.

The Assyrians were weak, they were dying, but there was this other power, the Babylonians.

And if you know the story, it would only be a hundred or so years before the Babylonians began to wipe out all of Judah.

And so Habakkuk laments to God over and over again.

He says, God, what's happening?

There's violence and there's corruption and fear and uncertainty.

I'm praying, God, I'm praying.

He's literally watching his world fall apart.

And then at the end, there is this beautiful moment.

He's given all this lament to God.

We've all done this.

He's laid it all bare.

God, here's where I'm at.

And here's how he ends it.

He says, Though, though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines, though the produce of the olive fails and the field yields no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, though your people are far from you and reject your ways, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, yet I will exalt in the God of my salvation.

How many of us have prayed?

God, I don't know what to do.

Though all these things are happening, I still trust you.

That's a hard prayer.

Not everything worked out, therefore I will rejoice.

Not God finally gave me everything I ever needed, so I'm going to rejoice.

Not God finally answered every prayer exactly as I told God how to answer it, so I will rejoice.

No.

No.

We learn from Habakkuk, we learn from Paul that we are called to trust.

God, I don't understand this, but I'm going to trust you.

God, this hurts so much, so I'm going to worship you.

And if you don't have a song at the ready, I would encourage you to find a song at the ready.

For me, it's amazing, grace, but sometimes you need to center yourself with a song before you go into a hard conversation or a difficult meeting.

God, this isn't what I wanted, but I'm going to keep praying.

God, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but God, I believe, I trust that you hold me right now.

And Paul's so smart.

Look at the connection he gives between these three commands.

Rejoice, always pray, continually, give thanks in all circumstances.

They're connected.

Because prayer changes things.

A few weeks ago, Pastor Ryan gave this beautiful sermon on the power of prayer, the power of God's name, the power of who God is.

He reminded us also that we have to be careful.

Prayer is not some sort of a transaction.

It's not, I prayed, God does what I asked, prayer worked.

Because what happens when God doesn't do what we ask?

Did our prayer fail?

Did we not pray hard enough?

No, Paul says that's not it.

You're missing it.

Prayer is so much bigger.

And don't misunderstand.

I believe that prayer changes things.

I believe that prayer can heal people.

I believe prayer can help with reconciliation.

I believe it can provide provision.

I even believe that prayer can produce miracles.

Jesus tells us this.

But the power of prayer is never limited to whether or not God gives us the outcome we wanted.

And that's the great lie.

Because sometimes prayer changes the situation.

But more often than not, for me, prayer changes me in that situation.

Sometimes prayer calms the storm.

But oftentimes I'm reminded that God is with me in the midst of the storm and the storm is not bigger than God.

Sometimes God opens that door and sometimes God gives us the strength to remain in that room, in that space, even though the door is closed, because God is with us.

And sometimes God removes those things that we're afraid of.

But other times God says, You have enough strength within you because of me to fight this battle.

So Paul tells us to pray.

And he says without ceasing, which is crazy, by the way.

What do you mean, Paul?

I don't believe you for a second.

You prayed every second of every minute of every day.

I was asked a question, how's your prayer life?

And I've begun to reject that question only because I think our whole lives should be an embodied prayer.

That we would be honest with people and with God.

God, today sucks.

Are you allowed to say sucks from the pop up?

I don't know, Pastor.

No, we're not.

God today stinks.

That's a prayer.

God today was hard.

That's a prayer.

Acknowledging that you're not alone in it.

Paul is describing a posture toward life.

And prayer doesn't have to begin with dear heavenly father and end with in Christ's name.

Amen.

Prayer can be forgive me.

Give me wisdom.

I'm so sorry.

God, this hurts.

God, I'm scared.

God, I'm hungry.

I think God doesn't know what's going on in your life.

And that's why gratitude is so powerful because gratitude, I think, redirects our attention like prayer.

It doesn't necessarily change what's in front of us, but it changes what we notice in front of us.

Think about how easy it is to train ourselves in the opposite direction.

We wake up irritated.

And it's almost as if we seek out those people in situations that we know are going to irritate us because we're almost craving it.

We want that irritation, just so we can blame how we're feeling on the world and everybody around us.

But gratitude trains us to notice grace.

Where is God in this difficult situation?

What can possibly be good from this?

Or maybe where did someone show you kindness when you didn't expect it or deserve it?

Where did you experience love?

Where did you see beauty?

Oh, how often we walk out the doors of this church and we don't see the beautiful flowers that are planted right outside the doors, this beautiful property.

How often we miss beautiful moments in our lives.

And gratitude, the best part of Christian gratitude is it doesn't deny darkness, it acknowledges it.

At our men's ministry this past Thursday, one of our members, Scott, talked about the lens through which we see the world.

I can see it through my very human lens, which is fun sometimes because in it, everybody wants to know me.

And everybody must want to spend time with me.

And my wife must think I'm the greatest thing in the world.

And my kids go to bed every night counting their blessings that I'm their father.

No, but Scott reminded us, Jesus reminds us that the gospel of Christ forces us to see the world in a different way.

It means we see the people who are hard to love as worth loving because God loves them.

And it reminds us that we're probably hard to love too.

Prayer is so good.

I think prayer changes us way more than it changes God.

And I think that was actually the purpose of prayer as a gift for creation.

Rejoice, pray, give thanks.

Prayer opens our eyes.

Gratitude helps us recognize what God has been doing all along.

This is the gospel.

Not some self-help Christian improvement plan where I'm telling you just to be more grateful and stop complaining.

Look on the bright side.

That's not the gospel.

The center of our faith isn't our ability to maintain a positive attitude.

It is Christ.

It is seeing the world through Christ's eyes.

It is seeing all people worth redeeming, not just people that look like us.

All people.

God comes to us, God loves us, God forgives us, God goes to a cross for us, God conquers death for us, God comes back, God meets us in the water, God meets us in the table each and every day.

Every breath is a reminder that we are God's creation.

There is nowhere we can go where God will stop loving us.

But we forget.

And so Paul says, Here, here is the here is the plan.

All of us, I'm sure, at one point I'll say, God, what is your what is your will for my life?

I actually think it's this simple.

You want to know God's will for your life?

Rejoice in what Christ has done.

Pray and give thanks.

Because I don't believe God's will is figuring out all the plans for tomorrow and beyond.

I think it's recognizing God's presence today.

And so I wonder, church, where have you been overlooking God's grace in your life?

Because you've been so focused on what's missing.

Where have you missed moments where you could easily thank God for what's right in front of you, but you're so concerned about everything around you?

What can you thank God for today?

I we started a practice in our home.

You can ask my wife and my kids, I'm far from a perfect father.

But there are some things that we take very seriously.

We pray together a lot.

The kids pray with us.

We started about a year ago doing thankfuls, and if you've been with us for dinners, we do these, and they're sometimes goofy and they're sometimes more serious.

What fascinates me every single night when we sit down and the kids go in a circle, mom and dad go, and we share gratefuls is how deep they've become.

How much my kids notice things that I hadn't even thought to notice.

They remind me of how many things we all miss in a day.

I'm gonna challenge you this week, church, as a new practice to wake up if you if you don't already, and just thank God for three things.

If you can't get through three, two, or start with one.

And every chance you get, thank God, even in the midst of hardship, find a reason to thank God.

I'm I'm I promise you it will change the way you see the world: a sunrise, a cup of coffee, a meal, a phone call, all of it.

So many opportunities to thank God and live a life of gratitude.

I'm gonna invite the band up.

We're gonna sing I Know a Name here in a minute.

And it's a great reminder that there is a king, a savior, who we can name and who allows us to talk to him.

I think about uh my mom, and when I was growing up, and even until her last breath, really, she would give me hugs.

And I mean, she would big bear hugs, and I remember she would pull me in and she would smell me, which I thought was you know weird.

And I have teenage boys, and so it's not just weird, it's kind of a coin flip on what you're smelling.

No offense, dudes.

But you know, uh, but she would do this, and I and it wasn't just at home in the morning or at night, it was at school, it was at band and choir concerts, it was at sports events.

It was as I got older, she would hug me, she would smell me, she would tell me, and I and it used to just kind of, you know, sometimes, all right, that's enough, mom.

I didn't really get it.

A few weeks ago, um, I was overwhelmed.

It was a day where life was just crazy and busy, and and I was focusing on the wrong things, and I was anxious and frustrated.

I I think I was even short with my wife.

I think I've apologized, but if I haven't, I'll use this as a public apology for that.

And I knew that everyone was going to bed, and I was just gonna take a few minutes to just have some time to myself before I put my mind back to work on all those things that I had to do.

And my youngest son came down, and my first response was, You gotta go to bed now.

I was annoyed, I was frustrated.

Up to bed, you're you're interrupting my really important time.

But I gave him a hug before he went up, and there was something in that moment that brought me back to being a little boy, and I hugged his slight frame in my arms, and I smelled him.

And all the things that I thought were important faded away, and I understood my mom in a whole new way.

Because for my mom, that was her way of giving gratitude to the greatest gift that was ever entrusted to her.

Oh, how often we miss the opportunities to hug the ones that we love, to sit with the ones that we love, to give thanks to God that we have someone that loves us.

This world wants us divided and angry and upset and busy, and it's all alive.

We should look different from the world.

I should look different from the world.

We should practice gratitude in a way that causes people to lean in and say, How can you respond that way?

And then you tell them all about Jesus.

So this week, church, I'm gonna encourage you to notice, to pray, to give thanks.

And when life gives you a whole lot of those, as Habakkuk mentioned, remember yet God is with you, and God will never abandon.

Amen.