Thanking God for More Than Just Stuff | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is from Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1:3–11

verses 3 to 11. I thank my God every time I remember

you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always

pray with joy because of your partnership in

the gospel from the first day until now. Being

confident of this, that he who began a good work

in you will carry it on to completion until the

day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel

this way about all of you since I have you in

my heart whether I am in chains or defending

and confirming the gospel. All of you share in

God's grace with me. God can testify how I long

for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer. that your love may abound

more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

so that you may be able to discern what is best

and may be pure and blameless for the day of

Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory

and praise of God. The word of the Lord. Hey,

if I were to ask you to write a little note,

a Thanksgiving note, if you will, and if I were

to say, hey, write down five or ten things on

this little note card I've got for you about

things that you are thankful for, what would

you write down? Now, before you answer that,

I dare say I can guess what you might write down.

Some of you would write down, I'm thankful for

family or for friends. I'm thankful for my home.

I'm thankful for my health. People would definitely

put health on there. They would say, I'm thankful

for food on the table, for a job. Maybe there

was something special that happened this year.

Like maybe you have a new grandchild. I'm thankful

for that. Maybe you went on a vacation. You could

say, I'm thankful for that. And those are all

really, really good things to put on your thank

you note. But what if I handed that same thank

you note to the Apostle Paul? And I said, Paul,

I want you to write down on this piece of paper

all the things that you are thankful for. You

know, I wonder what he might write down. And

you might be wondering, what a strange question.

Why is he wanting to know what the apostle Paul

would write on a thank you note? Well, the reason

is that we have been actually studying Paul's

life over the last few weeks. If you don't know

anything about Paul, I'll just give you a little

quick rundown. About 2 ,000 years ago, Paul was

a great persecutor of early Christianity. He

wanted to stamp it out. But then he had an encounter

with the risen Jesus and his life changed completely.

And so we have been trying to study like, what

did that life change look like? And what was

Paul's personality like? What was his attitude

like? What were his travels like? And today I'm

asking, what was his heart like? What kind of

things would Paul write down in his little thank

you card? Well, the funny thing is, we don't

actually have to wonder about that. Because Paul

already wrote not just one, not just two, but

13 thank you notes that we can look at. And of

course, I'm talking about the 13 letters of Paul

that we have in our New Testament. You see, sometimes

we forget that most of the New Testament is male.

And most of it is Paul's mail. It's letters that

he sent to churches. He sent letters to churches

like the church in Rome. He sent it to the church

in Corinth, Galatia, the church in Ephesus, in

Philippi, which we just read a letter that he

wrote to Philippi, and Colossae, and Thessalonica.

He sent a couple of letters to them, but he also

sent letters to friends and coworkers. He sent

a couple of letters to this guy named Tim. He

sent one to a guy named Titus and somebody else

named Philemon. And so, yeah, it turns out that,

you know, Paul wrote a lot, a lot of letters

that fills up our New Testament. And here is

the thing. If you read Paul's letters, there

is a word in Greek that comes up again and again

and again. And that word is Eucharistio. Eucharistio.

And in English, that translates into, I give.

Thanks. I give thanks. And in some form, that

word shows up 25 times in the 13 letters that

Paul wrote to people, which actually means that

Paul was exactly the type of person who loved

to write thank you notes to people. In fact,

it was so important to Paul to write these thank

you notes that he often would put his thank you

right at the very beginning of his letter. So,

for example, in Paul's letter to the Roman church,

he writes this right off the top. He says, first.

I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of

you. Or in his letter to Corinth, right off the

bat, I always thank my God for you. Or even in

today's letter, the letter to the Philippians,

right out of the gate in Philippians 1, 3, Paul

is like, I thank my God every time that I remember

you. So basically, The common format of Paul's

letters is to say, dear church or dear friend,

and then say, I thank my God for you. I thank

God for you. Now, there is one notable exception,

and that is the letter that he wrote to the church

in Galatia. In that letter, he doesn't write,

you know, dear church, you know, I thank my God

for you. In that one, he writes, dang it, church.

What's wrong with you? And he's got some beef

with Galatia. You go home and you can read it

and you can see what that was all about. But

actually, the thing is, even that proves the

point. Because whenever Paul doesn't start with

thanksgiving, we're like, something's wrong.

We notice it by its absence. But here's what

caught my attention this week as I was thinking

about today. And that is not the amount of times

that Paul goes around giving thanks, but it's

the type of thing that Paul thanks God for. In

fact, I would say if I was to take Paul's thank

you note and put it alongside your thank you

note or my thank you note, they would be very,

very different thank you notes. And you would

say, well, what do you mean? Explain. Well, that's

exactly what we're going to do this morning.

This morning, we're going to open up and take

a look at some of Paul's thank you notes. And

we're going to see the kind of things that Paul

was thankful for. As always, I gave you some

little teaching notes here that you can kind

of use to follow along and see what we can get

out of this. All right, let's start with this.

One of the things that Paul almost always seems

to... thank people for is he was always thankful

for signs of growing faith signs of growing faith

in people just read through his letters and you

will see it again and again and again okay let's

take for example that letter to the romans i

thank my god through jesus christ for all of

you because you're say it with me Faith is being

reported all over the world. Or how about this

one to Ephesus? Ever since I heard about your

faith in the Lord Jesus, I have not stopped giving

thanks for you. Or this letter that he wrote

to Colossae. We always thank God because we have

heard of your, say it with me, faith in Christ

Jesus. Or how about this one to the Thessalonians?

We ought always to thank God for you because

your faith Faith is growing more and more. Or

he wrote this one letter to his buddy Philemon.

He says, I always thank God as I remember you

in my prayers because I hear about your love.

What? Ah, no, he's there. And your faith in the

Lord Jesus. Faith, faith, faith, faith, faith.

When Paul sees faith. growing in people when

he notices that people are changing when he sees

that they're learning to trust jesus or that

their faith is starting to affect the way they

live he says that is cause for celebration that

is cause for thanksgiving and that is interesting

because i'll just speak for myself that is not

usually the kind of thing that i'm including

in my thank you notes to people We usually thank

God that someone got a job, right? Paul thanks

God that someone is learning to trust Jesus.

We thank God that someone got better. They were

sick and now they're better. Paul thanks God

that somebody's becoming more patient. You know,

we thank God that our kids are doing well in

school. Paul would thank God that our kids are

learning to pray. We thank God that, oh, great,

you got your first home. Paul would thank God

that somebody is becoming more generous, right?

Paul gives thanks when he sees that lives are

being changed because of the gospel. For him,

that's... what he gives thanks for that's what

he celebrates a person's becoming more loving

they're becoming more forgiving they're becoming

more prayerful they're becoming more generous

they're becoming more rooted in christ his thank

you notes are just chock full of this stuff you

cannot miss it but this is actually really important

to note paul is not giving thanks for perfect

faith or flawless faith in people no no no just

reads Say his letter to the Corinthians. The

Corinthian church was a complete mess. They were

divided. They were arguing. They were mishandling

things like sex and money and leadership. And

yet, and yet, before he corrects them about all

their misdeeds, again, how does he start? He

says, every time I think of you, I thank God

for your lives. There's no end to what has happened

in you. Dot, dot, dot. Yet. Yet I have a serious

concern that I need to bring up with you. And

this is remarkable, right? Paul can see everything

that's still wrong there. But notice, he says,

but I see God is at work here. And he doesn't

thank God for perfect faith. What he's thanking

God for is a growing faith. A sign that lives

are... being changed. So if Paul was filling

out a little thank you card, a little Thanksgiving

card today, he would probably give thanks to,

oh, there's that person who is struggling, but

they're praying. Or there's that marriage that

is really, really hard, but it's healing. Or

there's that teenager who's got a lot of questions,

but they're leaning into Jesus. Or there's someone

with that old habit that keeps coming back, but

you know what? This time, they're getting help.

Or there's someone who was always afraid to serve,

but you know what? They finally said yes. Or

he may even say this. There's someone who came

to church for the very first time this morning.

There's someone who prayed for the very first

time this week. Or there's somebody who opened

their Bible for the first time in years. It doesn't

look dramatic necessarily, but Paul would say,

write that down, write that down and give thanks

for that because any movement toward Jesus is

a cause for gratitude. So I just want to say

this Thanksgiving, don't just think of the good

things that have happened in your life, but think,

where have I seen God changing someone's life

for the better, even in a little way? Where have

I seen? faith growing and have i stopped to thank

god for that that's what paul's thank you cards

look like so paul gave thanks for growing faith

signs of growing faith but there's something

else that keeps showing up in paul's thank you

list again and again not just signs of growing

faith but people who join People who join in.

So yeah, Paul writes, thank you, God, that their

faith is growing. But he also says, thank you,

God, that I am not in this alone. I'm not in

this alone. People have joined in. And Paul had

a word for that. And his word for that was partnership.

Partnership. Listen again now to the opening

of the letter to the Philippians. I thank my

God every time I remember you because of your,

say it with me. partnership in the gospel from

the first day until now. Now that word partnership

is another Greek word, obviously. And that word

is koinonia, koinonia. And it means, it means

participation. It means sharing. It means being

in it together. And I think we understand this

concept because whether it's raising a family

or taking on a big project, Maybe you've taken

on a big project in life or you're just trying

to get through a tough time. You know how important

it is to have people in your corner, to have

people who are in it with you. And for Paul,

that big project was the gospel, spreading the

gospel of Jesus. And Paul... doesn't therefore

just say, thank God that the Philippians are

really, really nice people. No, he says, thank

God that you have joined me. You've partnered

with me in the work of the gospel. You have shared

the burden. You have shared the cost. You're

sharing the mission with me. And that partnership,

by the way, it wasn't just a nice feeling. They

prayed. but they also gave and they also sent

help. Look, he says more than once, you know,

you sent aid to me when I was in need. Same kind

of thing shows up in other letters Paul wrote.

So for example, when he's writing to Philemon,

he says, I always thank God when I remember you.

I pray that your partnership with us in the faith

may be effective. Thank God for partnership.

Thank God. for shared work. You know, you read

Paul's letters and you keep coming across this

word fellow, right? My fellow workers, my fellow

soldiers in the faith, my fellow prisoners for

the faith. Paul's ministry was never a solo act.

People opened their homes to him. They gave money.

They traveled with him. They sent help to him.

They prayed for him. And so Paul gives thanks.

For people who share the work. Paul's thanksgiving

lists are not just things. They are people. He's

thanking people for the way they share. Thank

you, God, for Timothy who shared the work. Thank

you, God, for Epaphroditus who shared the work.

Thank you, God, for Philemon or for Priscilla

or for Aquila or for all these people who join

in. And I gotta tell you, I can relate to Paul

on this. I feel the same way because I look around

this church and I get to see all the people.

who are partnering with us in ministry. People

who lead, people who pray, people who give, people

who cook, people who welcome, people who set

up chairs, people who take down chairs, people

who are downstairs, even right now, you know,

working with our children, teaching our children,

people who visit the sick, hungry people, people

who feed hungry people, right? There's people

who show up all the time here at Trinity Streetsville.

That means a lot to me, but I know for you personally,

you probably can think of people who have partnered

with you. Who partnered with you in your faith?

Who was the first person to invite you to church?

Who taught you to pray? Who's teaching your kids

to pray? Who encouraged you? Who sat with you

when your life started to fall apart? Who answered

your questions? None of us. None of us. Follow

Jesus alone. So if your Thanksgiving notes are

going to look anything like Paul's, then you'd

be thanking God for the people who've said, you

know what? I'm in this with you, right? You're

not alone. Let's do this together. So Paul gives

thanks for the signs of growth. He sees in people.

That's number one. Secondly, he gives thanks

for people who join in. But there's one more

thing I want to talk about this morning. And

that is that Paul. also gives thanks for the

wider impact of the gospel. You see, Paul looks

beyond the people and he looks beyond the churches

and he sees the effect that it's having on the

world and he gives thanks for that. Paul calls

this impact fruit. Fruit, right? The gospel gets

planted somewhere. It starts to grow. Love starts

to increase. Communities form. And pretty soon

there are ripples and the world now is being

changed. The world is being impacted. And Paul

says, thank God for that. You can hear it in

his letter to the Romans. First, I thank my God

through Jesus Christ for all of you because your

faith is being reported all over. The world.

The world? Yes, the world. You can hear it in

Colossians where he says, he says that you're,

no, where's my Colossians one? I thought I, no,

I guess I didn't put it up there. Sorry. And

in Philippians, the one we read this morning,

Philippians, Paul says that he prays that their

love will keep growing so that they will be filled

with, again, there's that word, fruit, the fruit

of righteousness that comes. from Jesus Christ.

Fruit, right? So Paul gives thanks whenever faith

ripples outward and whenever it starts to make

a difference in the world. So again, if Paul

were writing the thank you note this morning,

he wouldn't just talk about the things that he's

thankful for. And he wouldn't just talk about

the people that he's thankful for, but he would

be thankful for the impact. that the gospel and

you and the church are making in the world. Thank

God, Paul would say, when lonely people are finding

community here. Or thank God when hungry people

are getting food and a warm meal here. Or thank

God when young people are finding a purpose.

And notice Paul, he never says... You know, look

at what we did, everybody. Look at the impact

Trinity Streetsville is making. Nobody says,

look what God did. Thank God for the impact.

He's not proud of this. He is thankful for this.

And we are so used to giving thanks when something

good happens to us. But Paul, he gives thanks

when something good happens through us. We give

thanks when our circumstances change for the

better, but Paul gives thanks when the world

is changed for the better. Do you see how different

it is? Do you see how different Paul's thank

you lists are? His thank you cards don't look

a lot like mine and probably don't look a lot

like yours. He gives thanks when he sees signs

of growing faith in people's lives. He gives

thanks for people who share in the work of ministry.

And he gives thanks whenever the gospel bears

fruit in the world. In other words, you could

put it this way. He gives thanks for personal

maturation. He gives thanks for community participation.

And he gives thanks for world peace. transformation.

Now, as I come to an end, I want to say something.

And it occurs to me that Paul was a pastor. And

as a pastor, he was writing these thank you notes

to his churches. And so I am also a pastor. And

I thought, you know what, I should put my money

where my mouth is. And I should write a little

letter of gratitude to you. This morning, this

is a little outside my comfort level. I'm not

usually the touchy -feely kind of guy. But anyways,

I wrote you a little note. And I, you know, Paul

gave me a bit of a template. So here goes. Here

goes. To all God's holy people in Christ Jesus

at Trinity Streetsville, grace and peace to you

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank God every time I remember you. I thank

God. for the signs of growing faith among you,

for people asking questions, for people taking

their first steps, for people coming back to

prayer after not praying for a while, opening

their Bibles, coming to Alpha, for people who

are being baptized. I give thanks for every big

and little way that you are growing. I thank

God for your partnership in the gospel. For the

countless ways that you give and serve and pray

and welcome and teach and encourage and lead

and care and simply show up for one another.

For the people who said, sure, I can help before

realizing exactly what they had agreed to. I

give thanks that we are all in this together.

And I thank God for the impact being made through

you. For children. and young people who are finding

a place to belong, for newcomers who are finding

community here, for people being fed and cared

for and prayed for and encouraged from here to

Honduras, for the ways the love of Jesus is reaching

beyond these walls. I give thanks for that. We

are not a perfect church. I don't think that's

news to anyone. There are places we still need

to grow. And things we still need to learn, but

Thanksgiving's a good time to be grateful. And

for all that God is already doing, I give thanks.

So Trinity, for the faith growing in us, for

the partnership shared between us, and the impact

being made through us, I thank my God every time

I remember you. Signed, Robbie Herkmans. Now,

all right. Now don't laugh, actually, because

guess what? Now it's your turn. Now it's your

turn. You see, when you leave this morning, you're

going to get something at the door. You are going

to get an envelope and a blank card. And I would

like you to do what Paul did, what I did to write

a thank you note. But I want you to do it in

a different kind of way this year. Okay, more

like Paul. I want you to write a note to someone

to say thank you for a sign in their life, or

not thank you, hold on, to thank God for a growing

sense of faith that you see in their life. Someone

who you've noticed is becoming more loving or

more patient, forgiving, whatever. Maybe it's

someone that you've noticed who is just like

taking those first steps toward Jesus. Just write

to them. Write to them. Say, I thank God for

the signs of growing faith that I see in you.

And then, yeah, go on from there. Or, like Paul,

you could write one like this. Think of someone

who's been there for you. Someone who showed

up for you, especially in your faith journey.

Someone who prayed for you. Someone who carried.

part of the load for you. Maybe it was someone

who serves with you on a team here at Trinity

or another organization. You know, someone who

just showed up for you when you couldn't do it

alone. And write them a note. And it could start

with these words. I thank God for all the ways

you joined in when I needed you. And then go

from there. Or think of someone whose life is

making an impact. right? Someone who's bringing

hope, someone who is serving and who's giving,

and they're making a difference. It's making

a difference. They may not know it's making a

difference, but it's making a difference in their

family or their workplace or their community

or their neighborhood or whatever. And write

them and say, I thank God for the difference

you are making. And then go from there, right?

These are the kind of things Paul thanked God

for. And these are the kind of things we can

thank God for. And a few suggestions. I just

want to remind you as you take one of these home

and write it. First, thank God, right? Thank

God. Adopt Paul's language to actually thank

God for these people rather than just thanking

these people. It's one thing to say, thank you

for this thing you did to me versus saying, I

thank God that he put you in my life. So you

could support me, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. It's

actually a significant theological shift because

what it does is it acknowledges that God is the

one who is ultimately behind it all. So thank

God. Thank God. Secondly, you can just keep it

short, right? I mean, Paul wrote the whole letter

to Romans. You do not need to write Romans, okay?

Three sentences might be enough, but write it.

down. Put their name on it. You know, you don't

even have to lick the envelope. You just have

to tear the thing and it sticks down. It's so

easy for you. And then the third thing, this

is the third thing, send it or give it to them.

Don't just take it home and put it beside your

Thanksgiving leftovers only to discover when

Ash Wednesday rolls around, right? No, gratitude

needs to be expressed. Right? Someone may have

no idea that you see the growth that's happening

in their life. Someone may have no idea how important

their presence was to you. And someone may have

no idea that the small thing that they are doing

is actually bearing fruit. So tell them. Tell

them. And send it. That's what Paul did. So this

Thanksgiving, by all means, yeah, give thanks

for your family, for food, for your friends,

for your job, for the vacation you took. It's

all good. But maybe also, Look for a little room

on the page to give thanks for some things we

might overlook. Who is growing? Who is joining

in? And who is making an impact? Write it down.

Tell someone. And give all the thanks to God.

Amen.