Nov 24, 2016
The giving of thanks seems like such a simple matter. We teach our children to say, “Thank you,” when someone gives them something or does something for them. Yet giving thanks can be difficult for us at times in our lives. In this podcast, we’ll see the secret of giving thanks in all things and how giving thanks is a crucial part of our experience of Christ.
The Bible has a lot to say about giving thanks; the word “thank” appears in some form many times in the Bible. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote about giving thanks at least 46 times. Surely Paul was touching something particular in this matter of giving thanks.
Paul encouraged us to give thanks in many verses throughout his epistles. But perhaps the most challenging verse is his charge in 1 Thessalonians 5:18:
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
“In everything”—this is the challenge. We happily give thanks when we count our blessings, grateful for the things the Lord has done for us and supplied us with. That’s pretty easy to do. But we have a harder time thanking Him when we seem to have run out of blessings to count, and our situation doesn’t look very positive to us. Yet Paul says that giving thanks in everything is God’s will for us. Was Paul speaking in theory or by personal experience?
To see how Paul is a pattern of a person who gave thanks, let’s look at his life. We know from verses like Acts 16:24-25 and Acts 27:35 that Paul’s life was not a trouble-free life of ease. He was shipwrecked, imprisoned, persecuted, and beaten, yet he was full of thanks in all his circumstances.
So when Paul said “in everything give thanks,” he wasn’t speaking of something he himself didn’t experience, even in the most difficult of situations. His life shows us that to give genuine thanks to the Lord in the midst of trying conditions is possible. But how did he do it? And how do we experience this? What’s the secret?
Paul gives us the secret to a life of thanks in three little words in Ephesians 5:20:
“Giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father.”
The secret of giving thanks to God not only in good times but also at all times, not only for good things but also for all things is to give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What does it mean for us to give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”? Two notes from the Recovery Version help us to understand what this means. Note 2 on Ephesians 5:20 explains,
“The reality of the name of the Lord is His person. To be in the Lord’s name is to be in His person, in Himself. This implies that we should be one with the Lord in giving thanks to God.”
Note 1 on Colossians 3:17, a similar verse, says,
“The name denotes the person. The Lord’s person is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17). To do things in the name of the Lord is to act in the Spirit. This is to live Christ.”
Being able to give thanks in everything isn’t a matter of philosophy, discipline, or even a happy disposition. The secret, the key to living a life of thanks is for us to live the person of thanks—Jesus Christ—who is now the Spirit in our spirit.
Christ is the only person who ever lived a life of giving thanks in everything, and He now lives in us. In ourselves, we have no way to genuinely thank Him for everything, including the terrible, difficult, and unpleasant things. For us to thank God for these things, for all things, we have to live by a new person, by Christ in us.
In the gospels, we see many wonderful examples of Jesus giving thanks. We often see Him give thanks to the Father for the basic provision of food and for hearing His prayers.
But we also see Jesus offer thanks and praise in even the most difficult situations. In Matthew 11:25, the Lord Jesus had been rejected repeatedly in many cities He visited. In His being rejected, He suffered the slander of people He had come to save. At that very point, what did He do? Complain? Bemoan the terrible situation He was in? No, He prayed this prayer:
“I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
How wonderful Jesus is! Here we see Jesus actually extolling the Father, acknowledging His will in all things, including the rejection and slandering. He gave thanks to the Father in all situations and for all things.
Paul could give thanks in everything because he was one with this wonderful person living in him who lived a thanking life in all situations for all things. And because he knew all believers have Christ in them, Paul was confident in exhorting us to do the same thing. We too can give thanks in everything as we’re one with the Lord who lives in us, giving thanks in His name, in His person.
In ourselves, we may be unthankful, bemoan our situation, and complain to God and to everyone else. But as we contact the thankful One, the Lord Jesus Himself who lives in our spirit, we are joined to Him practically. We are in Him, not in our old, complaining person. We then experience His person being our person, and His thanking life being our life. We live and act in the person of Christ in our spirit and enjoy His life in us. And our prayers are spontaneously filled with praise and thanks to Him for all things.