Thanksliving - Thanking God through Worship and Prayer

As we approach Thanksgiving, it would seem natural for us to think about all the reasons we have to be thankful. Now this is both right and appropriate. I believe it's impossible to be grateful to God if we're not willing to recognize that we've been blessed. But having said that, I don't think we should stop at just listing our blessings. At some point, it's necessary for us to consider how we might express our thanks. In other words, after we offer God our gratitude, how are we going to respond to the blessings that we now have? Put another words, how can we move from thanksgiving to thanksliving? 

Last year, through the month of November, we worked to answer that question. I'm republishing these messages. During these four days before Thanksgiving Day, we'll consider four simple ways to express our thanks to God.

During this second message, we considered how we might express our thanks to God by returning some of our blessings to him.

Now I have a question for y’all. Have any of y’all noticed that’s it’s gotten much colder over the last few days? Good night nurse, it seems as though when we turned our clocks back last week, God did the same thing with his thermostat. Not that I’m complaining, though. I really like cold weather. But remember, I lived on the border of Montana and North Dakota, a place where we took pride in our ability to survive temperatures colder than a meat locker. In fact, I remember we used to say that it’s the cold that keeps out the riff-raff. And by the way, who else here lived in Montana and/or North Dakota? Interesting. Anyway, it just seems as though things have gotten a lot colder around here lately.

And although I recognize that because of that you might not be feeling it right now, we’re at the second week in our series on how we can live our thanks to God, something that seems appropriate, especially considering that November is all about Thanksgiving. Of course, if the sudden cold has gotten in the way of having a thankful spirit, just remember, you could have been in Morgantown yesterday, watching WVU do whatever it was it did with Texas Tech. Man, it was ugly, especially the first half.

But be-that-as-it-may, this morning we’re going consider another way we can offer God our thanks, something that we might want to do along with returning to God some of his blessings to us, and I’m talking about some of our stuff and our talents and our time. Now that was last week. And today, we’ll look at how we might thank God through our worship and our prayers, probably the most obvious way of integrating a little more thanks into our daily living. And even though worship and prayer kind of go together, you like Martin and Lewis or Rick and Morty or Cain and Abel, there are also some important differences. And I’ll tell you, I think we’ll see them as we talk about how giving thanks through both worship and prayer is all about action and ability and attitude. Now that’s the framework we’re going to use.

And like I said just a second ago, I think all this begins with us taking some kind of action, in other words, us making the right decision. You see, before we’re able to do anything else, we need to decide that we’re going to do it. I mean, dah. For example, we need to make a conscious and intentional decision that we’re going to worship God before worship happens. And I’ll tell you, this was exactly what Joshua, the guy who led the Hebrews into the Promised Land challenged his people to do. Just listen. “Then Joshua told the people: ‘Worship the Lord, obey him, and always be faithful. Get rid of the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. But if you don’t want to worship the Lord, then choose right now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you’re living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you’ll worship their gods. I won’t. My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord!’” [Joshua 24:14-15, CEV] You see, they had to decide intentionally who they were going to worship. And you know, Jesus said the same sort of thing during his encounter with the devil. According to the Evangelist Matthew, “Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. The devil said to him, ‘I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus answered, ‘Go away Satan! The Scriptures say: “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”’ Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came to help him.” [Matthew 4:8-11, CEV] I’m telling you, worship is always a decision.

And I’ll tell you something else, so is our willingness to pray. I mean, prayer doesn’t just happen; we need to decide that we’re going to take the time and do it. And I think that’s why Jesus said this to his disciples, “You should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, help us to honor your name. Come and set up your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven. Give us our food for today. Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others. Keep us from being tempted and protect us from evil.” [Matthew 6:9-13, CEV] And frankly, I’m not sure Paul could have been clearer than when he gave this command to the Thessalonians: “Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.” [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, CEV] And so, just like it is with worship, we can give thanks to God through prayer. But it’s not going to happen unless we decide to do it. It’s all about the action we choose to take. That’s one.

And second, I think it’s also about our ability to do it, and now I’m talking about us putting ourselves in the right context, you know, the right place to worship and to pray. And although I believe we can do both anywhere, let’s get real, some places are a whole lot better than others. Take worship for example. I’ve known plenty of people who’ll say in a heart beat that they can worship God better on a golf course or in a boat fishing or sitting in front a television set than they can in church. And even though I’ve got to admit, I’ve been to plenty of churches where the atmosphere doesn’t exactly encourage anything close to worship, the Bible is pretty consistent in saying that worship isn’t a solo act. In other words, like so many other things, it really needs to be done with others. I mean, I think that’s why Jesus said, “Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.” [Matthew 18:20, CEV] And I believe this was what the writer of Hebrews had in mind when he said, “Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.” [Hebrews 10:25, CEV] You see, according to the Bible, worship is a corporate act, and if we’re serious about using it as a way to offer our thanks to God, we probably need to go to a place where people are worshiping. You see, that’s the right context.

But I’ll tell you, that may not be the best place for us to pray. You see, although pray is certainly an important part of our worship, we might find other places where we’re better able to focus our attention on God. For example, just listen to where Jesus went. “About that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night there. The next morning he called his disciples together and chose twelve of them to be his apostles.” [Luke 6:12-13, CEV]  And remember, right before his arrest, when he went to Gethsemane to pray, Jesus separated himself from his disciples. And so, for Jesus, solitude was important, even though, at other times, he prayed with his followers. I know for me, I do my best praying when I’m driving in the car, although I’ve learned from painful experience not to bow my head or close my eyes. And so, if we’re serious about offering thanks to God through prayer, the best context may be different from one person to another, just so long as, wherever we are, we’re able to focus on the one we’re thanking. But I also think it’s important for us to remember that, even if we should lose a little focus and our mind should drift a little bit, the message will still get through. It’s like Paul wrote to the Romans, “In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don’t know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. All of our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God’s people.” [Romans 8:26-27, CEV] And so, where we are and whom we’re with affects how we worship and pray. And for that reason, we need to be careful about choosing our context, because when you get right down to it, the effectiveness of our worship and prayer is about our ability to do it. And that’s two.

But I’ll tell you, as important as action and ability are, I really believe our attitude is actually most important. In other words, if we’re serious about expressing our thanks to God in worship and prayer, we better approach him with the right mind-set. Let me show you what I mean. I’m going to read two passages from the Old Testament that deal with people using worship to praise and to thank God, and I want you to tell me what they have in common. From the first book of the Chronicles, and this is King David talking: “Everyone on this earth, sing praises to the Lord. Day after day announce, ‘The Lord has saved us!’ Tell every nation on earth, ‘The Lord is wonderful and does marvelous things! The Lord is great and deserves our greatest praise! He is the only God worthy of our worship. Other nations worship idols, but the Lord created the heavens. Give honor and praise to the Lord, whose power and beauty fill his holy temple.’ Tell everyone of every nation, ‘Praise the glorious power of the Lord. He is wonderful! Praise him and bring an offering into his temple. Worship the Lord, majestic and holy. Everyone on earth, now tremble!’ The world stands firm, never to be shaken. Tell the heavens and the earth to be glad and celebrate! And announce to the nations, ‘The Lord is King!’” [1 Chronicles 16:23-31, CEV] That’s one. And then listen to this from the Psalms: “Shout praises to the Lord, everyone on this earth. Be joyful and sing as you come in to worship the Lord! You know the Lord is God! He created us, and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep in his pasture. Be thankful and praise the Lord as you enter his temple. The Lord is good! His love and faithfulness will last forever.” [Psalm 100, CEV] Now, what do they have in common? They both describe people who are exciting to be worshiping God. They both focus on the wonderful things that God has done. In both, you can just feel the delight they have in offering praise and thanks. And even though I know a lot of us, including myself, grew up believing that worship is serious business, we’ve got to be careful that this attitude doesn’t squeeze out the energy and pure joy we see in Old Testament worship. I’ll tell you, that’s the kind of attitude we can carry into our worship.

And when it comes to prayer, it seems to be a little different. I mean, while worship is enthusiastic, prayer seems more focused and humble. For example, this is what Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.” [Philippians 4:6-7, CEV] Now that’s focus. And as it relates to humility, listen to what the Lord said to King Solomon right before he dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem: “If my own people will humbly pray and turn back to me and stop sinning, then I will answer them from heaven. I will forgive them and make their land fertile once again. I will hear the prayers made in this temple, because it belongs to me, and this is where I will be worshiped forever. I will never stop watching over it.”  [2 Chronicles 7:14-16, CEV] I’m telling you, if our worship is full of energy and joy and our prayers are focused and humble, I think we’ve got the right mind-set, because thanking God in worship and prayer is also about our attitude and that’s number three.

OK I understand that, with the exception of me and Dar, most of us don’t like the cold weather. Still the fact that it’s getting colder really isn’t a surprise. I mean, that’s what happens as we move through November. And for that reason, it probably shouldn’t interfere with the thanks we feel toward God. And if we’re serious about expressing our thanks through worship and prayer, I think it’s important to remember that it’s all about action, our making the decision to do it, and about ability, putting ourselves in the right context where it might be done, and about attitude, having the right mind-set as we approach the Lord. You see, that’s thanksliving. And next week, we’ll consider another way we can live our thanks, namely to thank the people God has used in our lives.