Thankful I Don't Need Jesus! (Thanksgiving Sermon)

This thanksgiving I'm truly thankful in all things because I believe I don't need Jesus...because I HAVE Jesus.  It has changed my prayer life and how I engage in spiritual warfare.  I no longer ask God for help; I thank him for the help that he has already provided in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.  ALL the promises of God are YES and AMEN and I choose to live in light of victory instead of uncertainty and wishful thinking.  Realizing that I possess the living God has changed my perspective and my life.  Join the revolution.  We HAVE Jesus.

Exegesis

Give thanks (2168)(eucharisteo [word study] from eucháristos = thankful, grateful, well-pleasing - Indicates the obligation of being thankful to someone for a favor done <> in turn from eú = well + charizomai = to grant, give.; English - Eucharist - root of these words is charis = grace) means to show that one is under obligation by being thankful. To show oneself as grateful (most often to God in the NT).

NOTE: Don't miss the fact that give thanks is in the present imperative which calls for this to be our habitual attitude and action! The active voice means that his is a personal choice (enabled by grace and the Spirit) we each must make continually.

Here's the "power pack" of verses that keep me thankful in all things!

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:4 ESV

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Colossians 3:4 ESV

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Just imagine what our communities, our families, and our congregations would look like if we all believed that we have been crucified in Christ and we no longer live but Christ lives in us.  Wouldn’t we then be thankful in ALL circumstances?  Thankful when disrespected.  Thankful when betrayed.  Thankful when our boss puts us down.  Thankful when a kid spills milk and throws a tantrum.  Thankful when we don’t get our way.  Thankful when we get cut off in traffic by the person texting.  Thankful when our spouse doesn’t see something the way we see it.  

We CAN be thankful in all circumstances because we now know WHO WE ARE and who we were always meant to be.  FULLY HUMAN as God intended us to be.  Naked and unashamed.  FULLY HUMAN as Christ was; always responding to adversity without anger and in the spirit of not-my-will-but-yours-be-done.  YES AND AMEN!

Thanksgiving.  It's impossible!  But it is… Him-possible!

In closing, consider these four points...

One, Now, I wonder if you’re thinking, "man, that sounds good, it preaches, well, but its impossible and I'm just not there..." What if I told you that you ARE there!?  What if I told you that, whether or not you feel delivered, that in you, in reality, in Christ have been completely set free!  Over and out!  Period!  Done! Ad Infanitum!  FOR-EV-VURRR!  And what if the only reason you and I weren’t experiencing the Joy of TRUE THANKSGIVING was because we were believing a lie!?  Something that was never true about us.  What then????  What if I confessed that lie as a sham and renounced that lie then went immediately into thanksgiving and repentance.  Wouldn’t it then loses its power and push me right back into freedom – freedom that Christ created me to walk in?  yes and amen!

Two, We were never meant to be THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS on our own strength!   From the beginning we were created by and for God.  So, if you feel like you can’t “do it” praise God!  Say this, “Lord I can’t GIVE THANKS right now!  But thank you that you do it for me and through me and that I no longer need to draw on my own strength to be thankful.  Thank you that apart from you I can do nothing! (John 15:15).  Thank you that I was never meant to do anything apart from you.  Thank you that it is NOT my life goal to not need you as much today as I did yesterday!  Thank you Jesus!!!!

I wonder how this might change the way we live - if we admit that we can’t do anything apart from him, nor were we ever meant to! - and that everything righteous we do is because the Holy Spirit is empowering us to do so.  

Three, Jesus lived the perfect life.  He showed us what it looks like to be thankful in all circumstances.  Jesus showed us what it looks like and what it means to be fully human as we were intended to be. We can do whatever he did because we have the same power source.

Four, We can be thankful in ALL circumstances because he lives in us.  We can do this because he empowers us.  We can do this because we died to ourselves.  We can do this because HE has not left us alone.  Just look around you…

Notes

http://www.preceptaustin.org/index.php/1_thessalonians_518_commentary