Gratitude Goes Both Ways

The thing I find most difficult and challenging about preaching is frequently there are themes

that I have to speak on and there are themes that I find so personally difficult and challenging

myself. And I often find myself, who am I to stand up and talk about this particular subject

when it's something that I find myself caught up with and wrestling so deeply and so personally.

And I want to start this morning by saying if ever there was a time when I actually feel like that, it's right now.

Because I'm going to ask a question in just a moment and I almost didn't put this bit in but I decided to do so.

And the reason why I found it's a difficult question to ask is because it's so deeply challenging.

It's quite personal and quite confrontational to the extent that it could even cause offence.

But I'm going to include it anyway.

I'm not going to ask you to talk to anyone else about it.

This is just for your heart and mind only to take away.

But if it helps, both the question and everything else that follows is targeted at myself as much as it is anybody else.

Here's the question.

If you were asked what stands between you and happiness and joy, what would it be?

Look, let me phrase it a different way.

If you had to fill in the gap in this following sentence, I will be happy when...

What would you put in that gap?

Now just think about that for a moment.

That's not actually the difficult question.

The sting is in the next one.

I will be happy when...

I'm going to give you a few moments to think about that.

It might be something to do with relationships.

It might be to do with health, either your own or somebody else's.

Perhaps it might be to do with financial security.

Promotion at work.

I'll be happy when...

What would it be?

Now here's the sting.

I want to ask you this question.

If that thing that you've just thought about, that thing you're thinking about right now,

if that never happens,

if that ship never comes in,

could you ever be happy?

I want to suggest that

if our answer to that question is

no or we're not sure,

then to some extent we're living in the jaws

of discontentment.

And it's to that place

that these words of Paul

are addressed.

Paul says,

I have learned to be content

whatever the circumstances.

Now if what I've just said

sounds quite harsh,

let's just break down

what Paul says.

Firstly, he says

that he's learned to be content

in all circumstances.

He's talking out of that own experience

in all circumstances,

including those where disappointment

would seem to have the upper hand.

That's the context.

That's the place

that he's talking about.

But secondly,

notice that he said

that he's had to learn

to be content.

It's not something

that has just come easily.

It's something that

in fact,

very often,

most of the time,

is counterintuitive.

Sometimes we've got to dig

really deep

to find out

what it is

to be content.

It's something

that we have to wrestle with

and we have to work on

to learn

to be content.

That was certainly

Paul's reality

and I suggest

it's probably ours too.

Certainly,

it was the reality

for somebody

called Doug McKnight.

Doug was 32 years old

when he was diagnosed

with a degenerative disease.

Over the next 16 years,

that condition

cost him

his career,

his mobility

and eventually

his life.

And in that time,

he gradually weakened

to the extent

that he could neither walk

nor feed himself.

He battled

with depression

profoundly.

Towards the end

of his life,

he was asked

by some friends

from church,

could you compile

a list

of prayer points

for us?

He thought about it

and he then gave them

a list

of 24 points.

On that list,

18 of them

were blessings

that he wanted

others to join

with him

in giving thanks

for.

Six were concerns.

The first thing

that came to his mind

were those

three times

as many things

that he knew

he had to be thankful

for.

He was learning

to be content.

Learning to be content

was also the experience

that was described

by a missionary

in Tobago

many years ago

or rather after

they came back

from that experience

of working in Tobago

among a community

of people

with leprosy.

And they were describing

how one day

they were leading

an act of worship

at a church.

Most of the people

in the congregation

had leprosy.

And a part in the service

they said,

would anybody

like to choose

a song

what we're going

to sing next?

Somebody put up

their hand.

They were so

deformed from leprosy

they had no ears

no nose

and no lips.

The arm

that they raised

had a hand

but it had no

fingers on it.

They said,

can we sing

count your blessings?

As the missionary

was telling this story

years later

to a friend

the friend said

I suppose you'll never

be able to sing

that song again.

The missionary said

oh, I'll sing it

again and again

but just never

in quite the same way.

Learning

ever so hard

though it can be

learning to be content

whatever the

circumstances

is the challenge

that we face.

It's not something

that is readily

encouraged in

western culture.

How often

do you buy a

product?

And maybe

let's say it's

something that's

a fairly expensive

thing and so

you do your

research.

You want to make

sure that you're

making the right

decision.

You kind of

go online maybe

and you work out

or maybe it's based

on recommendation

or whatever

but you're pretty

satisfied that the

thing that you're

about to buy

is going to

service every single

requirement that

you need it to.

And everything

you read about it

certainly the person

trying to sell it

to you, the company

trying to sell it

to you, reassures

you that this is

the very best of

the best of the

best.

So you buy it.

What pops up as

soon as you click

on that purchase?

To complement your

purchase, you might

also like

sometimes the email

comes a week later

and says that

others who bought

this also bought

that.

Hang on, a

moment ago you

were telling me

that this item

would meet every

single need.

You see it's not

helped perhaps by

the way in which

when we look around

and we compare

ourselves with

others and we

see what they

have and we see

what we don't

have.

There's a really

old story about

a boy who all

he wanted for his

birthday was this

Swiss army knife.

It was the latest

one.

It had all the

get every single

blade attachment

you could possibly

imagine on this

Swiss army knife.

He desperately

wanted it and his

parents knew it and

they got it for him.

He loved it.

He just took it

with him everywhere.

He was never to be

seen without this

tool.

He was always

bringing it out and

any excuse to use

one of the

attachments, he was

there with it.

He just loved this

thing.

Several months

later his mum

found him and he

was in floods of

tears.

She couldn't get

out of him what

was wrong.

He said, something

happened at school?

No.

Something happened

at home?

No.

She said, what is

it?

Then she noticed

he didn't seem to

have his knife

right by his

side.

She said, has

something happened

to your pen

knife?

Is it something

to do with that?

He said, well,

yes.

She said, well,

have you lost it?

He said, no.

Have you broken

it?

No.

Eventually the

truth came out.

He'd been with

his friend who'd

also just had a

birthday, who'd

also just been

given what was

almost exactly the

same Swiss army

knife.

Say almost, because

it had one extra

attachment.

And that Swiss army

knife principle, if I

may refer to it, is

something that

actually subconsciously

can stay with us

throughout our whole

lives.

We look to see not

so much what we

have, but what

others have, or

rather what we

don't have.

And we draw those

comparisons.

And rather than

reflecting and

focusing on the

things that we do

have that make us

feel good and

positive about life,

actually we see

that gap.

Comparisons never,

ever help.

So what does

contentment look like

practically?

Well, two things

come to mind.

First, I think

contentment has to

have something to

do with knowing

and loving what

we've already got.

Again, there's a

story that goes

back quite a few

years ago.

There was a man

who was thinking

about moving

house, putting his

house on the

market.

He had a number

of different

reasons, but this

was the days before

right move.

So he walked

into his estate

agent, explained

to him that he

wanted to move,

and they said,

oh, that's great,

we can help you

there.

We'd like you to

do two things.

Firstly, we'll

arrange for

someone to

come around,

take some

photos of the

house, and we'll

take details and

everything.

That happened.

He said, secondly,

we'd like you to

go home and

actually fill out

this form and

make a list of

everything that

would go to

make up a

perfect house

where you want

to live.

Location,

number of

rooms, garden,

everything.

Just try and be

as detailed as

you possibly can.

So the man

went home and

did this.

He got quite

excited as he

wrote an

extensive list.

He more than

filled out the

form.

He needed extra

bits of paper

to write down

everything that he

was looking for

that would make

the perfect

home.

Put it in an

envelope, took it

into the estate

agent.

When he went to

the estate agent,

it was a different

person serving him

this time.

He handed over

his envelope and

the estate agent

took the envelope

out, had a quick

look at it and

said, actually,

I've got something

that I think you

might be interested

in.

He went to get a

file.

He said it matches

the description

pretty well.

He said, I'll tell

you what, take

this home with

you.

I was really

quite excited to

have found what

possibly might be

the answer to

everything he was

looking for.

He got home, he

opened up the

envelope, read the

description of this

place that was just

about to come onto

the market.

There were no

photos yet.

Didn't even say the

address, but he

thought, this is

absolutely amazing.

Gone on the phone,

phoned, you can see

what's coming,

can't you?

Phoned the estate

agent and yes,

they said, it's

your house.

Perhaps the

most important

things to us are

things that are

already there, and

yet we just don't

see it.

Perhaps learning to

be content involves

seeing the obvious,

which perhaps is not

always obvious.

But the other

thing, and I think

this is at the

core of the

challenge facing

us as followers

of Jesus, is

that the daily

challenge of

learning to be

content means

knowing, really

knowing that

Jesus is enough.

The late John

Stott, that great

evangelical Anglican

theologian, wrote

this, contentment

is the secret of

inward peace.

It remembers the

stark truth that

we brought nothing

into the world, and

we can take nothing

out of it.

Life, in fact, is a

pilgrimage from one

moment of nakedness

to another.

So we should travel

light and live

simply.

Our battle cry is

not nothing, but

enough.

Paul wrote, I

can do everything

through Christ who

strengthens me.

Now when

Paul said that,

that you can do

anything through

Christ, he's not

talking about some

kind of mystical,

magical powers that

when you become a

believer you suddenly

have.

It's not like you

believe in Jesus and

suddenly you can

teach cows how to

milk themselves or

make things explode by

wiggling your

eyebrows.

It doesn't work

like that.

simply means that

Jesus is enough.

Jesus is enough.

Contentment has

learned and is

about learning that

Jesus is enough.

if you know Jesus,

you have a God who

hears you.

You have the power of

love behind you.

You have the Holy

Spirit within you and

you have all of heaven

ahead of you.

If you have Jesus,

you have grace for

every sin.

You have direction for

every turn.

You have a candle for

every corner and an

anchor for everything

you need.

Let's learn to be

content.

Let's pray.

In our prayers, let's

just revisit that

question that started

with.

Where we were each

invited to just bring

to our minds and to

our hearts.

that thing that we

feel would bring us

happiness.

Lord, you know

those things that

we pursue, those

things that mean so

much to us.

And those things

that would stand,

we think, stand

between us and

happiness.

Lord, reality may

tell a different

story.

help us, whether we

have much or whether

we have little.

Whether we reach

those things and

receive those things

that we've thought

of.

Help us, regardless

or not, to know

that with you that

is enough.

Help us in that

daily challenge to

learn to be

content.

and so to respond

with lives of

gratitude.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.