Gratitude

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Father, we pray as we look into Your Word that You would open the eyes of our understanding, that You would open our hearts, and that we would receive from You Your Word. Jesus, You promised that You would give the Spirit of Truth who would guide us in all truth and teach us all things. And so we pray that You would do just that now. Lord, that we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds, not conformed to this world. And God, that Your joy would be evident in us, that our joy would be full, and that it would overflow in such a way that people who don't know You would see in us Your joy and desire that. So God, teach us, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

Amen. Well, Thanksgiving 2011 has come and gone, and the turkey carcass may still be in your trash can. Perhaps some leftovers remain, but good judgment says that it's probably time to let them go the way of the turkey and get rid of those. The Black Friday deals are history, and the fine retail establishments of our nation are depositing their take and adding up their profits.

We will be told tomorrow whether or not it's been a good start to the retail season, as we are now just 28 days from Christmas. Twenty-seven shopping days remain until that great day. Tomorrow, we will see in the news whether or not it's been a good start to the opening of the retail season, and therefore we can be thankful or not that the economy is doing better or not. A lot of people are watching that because this day that we recognize annually for giving of thanks is set apart in our nation for giving of thanks.

Has in many ways become a consumer benchmark, the opportunity to get a good deal on those things that we're convinced will bring us happiness. We believe that if we just acquire those things, happiness will come. However, the problem is that, as we have been examining over the last several weeks while considering the topic of joy, we know that these things—the things we can absorb, get, and obtain in this life—do not ultimately bring happiness.

Especially when the new year arrives and we look over the credit card statements from the Christmas season, we realize that the happy trinkets we bought were purchased with money we don't have. Consequently, our joy turns to grief, and we spend the next eleven months paying it down just to do it all over again. Thanksgiving has now become not so much a day to give thanks but rather a day to get things, to prepare for acquiring more. The giving of thanks has been exchanged for getting things at a really good deal. Sadly, the dominant religion in America today is materialism. If you look around our nation, that is observably clear. Materialism dominates.

In many ways, we as a people here in the United States in the year 2011 have been convinced that happiness will come through possessing things. Otherwise, we wouldn't so wholeheartedly pursue those things. Our pursuit indicates that we gauge or believe, in some way, that we will find happiness in them. Yet, if we know from experience that such things do not ultimately bring happiness and joy, why do we continue in that cycle? This proves the words of Jesus true in Luke chapter 12, verse 15: "A man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses."

Once again, we are confronted with a truth of God that stands in stark contrast to our culture, creating tension with what society tells us. Life is not measured by the abundance of what we have or the things we possess. The joy of life does not increase merely by the increase of goods.

Then my joy is going to get bigger because we recognize that when we acquire more things, there might be some pleasure in that. However, ultimately, there's just a dropping of that joy when whatever it is that we bought is replaced by something better. They tell us, "Now you need this," because that big screen TV is now small in comparison to the bigger screen TV that we have for half the price that you got it for just two days ago. As a result, joy goes down.

The joy of this life does not increase by the mere increase of goods. If it did, then we should be the utmost of happy people in America. Yet, there's a recognition that this is just not the case. Furthermore, I believe that having an increase of goods, when coupled with a decrease of gratitude, also results in a loss of joy. If you get more stuff and you're not grateful for what you have—because you say, "Well, I expected I was going to get it," or "I worked so hard to get it"—then your joy decreases.

Now, the inverse is true. If you have a decrease of goods and an increase of gratitude, your joy will go up. We know this to be true because when we visit other nations on mission trips, particularly poverty-stricken nations, we see people who have so little in comparison to what we have. When we get back on a plane and fly to America, many times returning missionaries, whether short-term or long-term, are confronted with culture shock. They say, "What is wrong? They have so little, and yet they have joy, while we have so much and we don't."

So, the increase of goods does not equal the increase of joy, but the increase of gratitude does. Joy is proportional to the increase of gratitude. Given this, Thanksgiving—not just the holiday, but Thanksgiving as a way of life—becomes incredibly important because gratitude increases joy. Therefore, gratitude and thanksgiving potentially become very important elements in achieving greater joy in our lives.

This is what we are talking about. We are looking for the key to unlocking joy. We want to be a joyful people. All men, as Blaise Pascal said, desire happiness, and that desire does not go away when you become a follower of Jesus. There is still that desire, and we have been looking at this.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been considering the realities of the desire for happiness, and we will continue this exploration until the end of the year. As I mentioned even in the very first week, Jesus is the key to unlocking happiness. He has made the way open; He has unlocked the door to the path. Psalm 16:11 tells us, "He will show you the path of life; in His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore." Jesus opens the way for us to experience a joy that is full and enduring.

Well-known talk radio host Dennis Prager wrote a book several years ago called "Happiness is a Serious Problem." On page 59, he writes, "Yes, there is a secret to happiness, and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy." We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads people to become unhappy. He emphasizes, "Become grateful, and you will become a much happier person."

In our nation, we have one day a year dedicated to gratitude and giving thanks. It would seem that such a holiday would be beneficial, especially if we are pursuing happiness. The more we are grateful, the happier we will be, according to Dennis Prager. Therefore, it is a good thing to focus on thanksgiving and gratitude. However, it is regrettable that such thanksgiving is emphasized only one day a year. In many ways, it is devastating that this holiday has been hijacked by commercial capitalism and consumerism. Now, we are not focused on the giving of thanks but rather on the getting of things.

This change affects everything because we are bombarded with the message from our culture that if we just acquire those things, we will be happy. Yet, we find that we are not truly happy or filled with enduring joy. Now, don't get me wrong; I am just as much of a penny pincher as the next person. I love a good deal.

It is almost the American way to get more for your money, right? Amen? That is the mindset. That is how we live: more for your money. You see that from Denny's all the way through to Nordstrom's. Get more for your money.

So, when we have one day a year that has become the longest day of the year, it now starts at 9 p.m. on Thursday, making it a 27-hour day of just getting more for your money. Are there any retailers here? Any people who work in retail who were there on Thursday and Friday? We have one here. God bless you. May the Lord be with you. You probably have post-traumatic stress disorder now. We will have grief counselors for you after the service today.

Who wouldn't want to get a 42-inch LCD TV for $199? I mean, that's just incredible! Or a ping-pong table for $88? I don't know where to put it, and I don't need it, but $88? You can't beat that. I didn't buy a ping-pong table, just so you know. I was tempted, but I didn't buy it.

Sure, we want a good deal. This makes sense to us. I'm just being a good steward, right? That's how we phrase it as Christians. I'm getting up at four in the morning because I'm being a good steward of my money. I'm going to go get more for my money.

The problem is that we won't find ultimate joy in those things, and we shouldn't only be happy for getting a good deal on Black Friday. This consumer commercialism has also permeated the gospel. It has come into the way that we share Christ with people. You will hear Jesus shared in our culture as if He is the best, the greatest Black Friday deal.

We say things like, "Come to Jesus, and you'll get health, you'll get wealth, and He'll throw in prosperity too." So, you just come to Him, and you're going to get things from Him. That's what life is all about. That's what the Christian life is all about. There are some people who teach that in our nation.

Where did that come from? It comes from that cultural bent towards consumer commercialism in our nation. A person takes the offer of Christ and anticipates an increase of goods. If I get Jesus, I get more things. This mindset is devoid of gratitude. When you get more things devoid of gratitude, your joy decreases.

And so what happens? They walk away and say, "I didn't get what you told me I'd get from Jesus." We meet people who say things like, "I tried that Jesus thing. It didn't work for me." What is that? It's a sign of this culture infecting the way that we share Christ. Such a person does not experience the promise of full joy, and so they depart unhappily, defaming Jesus and the gospel.

Have you ever met a gospel slanderer? I'm sure you have. I have. It's just defaming to the name of Christ. It's not because He is not a good God; it's because we have the wrong view of Him or we shared Him in the wrong way. Dennis Prager says that happiness is a serious problem, and happiness is connected to gratitude. In fact, he goes on to say in just a couple of paragraphs later in his book that gratitude is the key to happiness.

Now, I'll give him grace because Dennis Prager is Jewish. He doesn't recognize yet that Jesus is the key to joy. So he says gratitude is the key to happiness, and in many ways, there is truth in what he is saying. A good friend of mine oversees a Christian ministry up in Santa Barbara, and he is good friends with Dennis Prager. He has the opportunity to share Christ with him often, and I'm hoping that Dennis will come to the faith.

The more you give thanks, the more you will experience joy. The less you give thanks, the more unhappy you will be. Why is that? Webster's online dictionary defines joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.

I have gone a step further in our series on joy so far and said that the joy we're seeking is full and enduring. We want happiness and joy that is not dependent upon our circumstances. It's not circumstantial, and it's not fleeting. We desire lasting joy, which ultimately produces contentment. Jesus is the way, God is the source, but many Christians do not possess that joy.

Are shown true. Again, we've looked at this verse the last couple of weeks in John chapter 15, verse 11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. But there's an uncertainty to it; your joy might be full. Many Christians in churches are saying, "Well, I haven't apprehended that joy." Jesus said it might be full, but mine is not full.

The desire of Christ is that His joy would be in us, and the result of His joy being in us is that our joy would overflow, expand, and be full. But why is it that many Christians do not possess full and enduring joy? We have looked at two reasons over the last couple of weeks. One is that many Christians are seeking happiness in things other than God. The Bible says, "In His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand, pleasures forevermore." The Christian reads that and says, "Okay, I see that truth, but I'm not sure if I actually believe it." So, they think they will find joy in other things. The world caters to that, providing opportunities to pursue various things that are believed to bring happiness. However, there is a recognition that no true happiness is found in those pursuits.

Many people in churches all over our nation have come to a place where they say, "Okay, the Bible says that, but I think happiness is found in this." They have exchanged the glory of God for created things, as Romans chapter 1 says. They have committed two evils, just as the people in Jeremiah's day did. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13 states, "My people have committed two evils: they have rejected the well, the source of living waters, and they have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water." They exchanged what God had for what they thought would bring them happiness, and many people live in this state.

Another reason that many Christians do not apprehend or experience fullness of joy in Christ is that they have believed the lie that the desire for happiness is wrong. They think the end goal, the focus of Christianity, is self-denial and death. To be a follower of Jesus, they believe, means you can never experience happiness because you are to die to yourself. Many people in the church think the focus, the goal of Christianity, is self-denial. In that regard, Christianity bears many similarities to Hinduism or Buddhism.

Buddhism is all about self-denial and getting rid of desire. Many Christians think that the focus of my Christian faith is just self-denial. However, the reality, as revealed in the Bible, is that self-denial is a part of the Christian faith, but not the goal. It is a process to lay hold of something greater. I might apprehend Him; I may lay hold of Christ, because in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Self-denial involves letting go of things that do not bring ultimate happiness. It is an experience of loss that allows one to lay hold of what does bring ultimate happiness. This is what Jesus speaks of when He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a man walking through a field who stumbles upon a treasure. For the joy of what he has found, he goes and willfully and joyfully loses everything he has to gain that treasure, which is far greater.

Some Christians believe that happiness is not found in God but in things. Others fall into the lie that the desire for happiness is wrong and that they must simply die to that desire. However, after a couple of weeks, hopefully, you come to a place where you recognize that the Bible teaches God desires for us to come into a place of joy. He has given us the desire for joy. All men seek happiness, and God has planted that desire within us. I have come to the realization that God is the source of joy.

But how do I apprehend it? Many Christians believe these truths, yet their joy has not been realized because they are not developing in their lives the things that promote the increase of joy. They believe that God is the source and that He has given them the desire to lay hold of happiness, but they have not experienced it because they are not practically cultivating the elements that foster joy.

Dennis Prager said, "Become grateful, and you will become a much happier person." I believe he is right. The problem is that gratitude is not something we will into our lives. If I just think happy thoughts...

I can soar with gratitude. I can will myself to be happy. I wake up and look in the mirror and choose to be happy. Dennis Prager said that people who are grateful are happier, so I am grateful. However, we can't will ourselves to feel gratitude; it is a responsive emotion.

Let me illustrate this. Imagine that you are driving down the 15 Freeway south, going 65 to 85 miles per hour. About 30 to 40 feet in front of you, a pickup truck hits a bump, and a spare tire comes out of the bed of the truck and starts bouncing toward you. In that moment, do you have to consciously ask yourself if you should now be filled with anxiety? You don’t. You don’t consciously will it to happen; it’s immediate. There is an emotive response that wells up from within you, and you experience fear and anxiety right in that moment when that troubling circumstance arises.

Have you ever tried to will yourself to be calm in the midst of one of those troubling situations? You might say to yourself, "I will now be calm, and everything is perfect." Have you ever tried that? Does it work? It doesn’t work, right? Why? Because there is an emotive response taking place. Just saying, "I will now stop feeling fearful," doesn’t work very well.

Now, there are things we can do to aid in bringing calmness. If someone is going through a difficult situation, we can pull them away from what is happening, sit them down, give them a drink of water, and help them do some breathing exercises. For example, when someone is giving birth and hasn’t given birth yet, what does that do? It helps to promote calmness. There are things we can do to aid in promoting calmness in the midst of a situation, but our will is incredibly ineffective. Just saying to myself, "I will now be calm," doesn’t work.

The Apostle Paul observes that this also plays out in the...

Sinful longings and the sinful desires of our flesh are addressed in the Book of Romans, chapter 7. Let me read a few points from this chapter. In verse 15, Paul writes, "For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." Can anyone identify with this today? Absolutely. My will is ineffective when it comes to those sinful longings.

He continues in verse 18, "For the will is present within me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, the good that I want to do, I do not do; but the evil which I do not want to do, that I practice." Every Christian reads this and says, "Yes, I identify with that."

In verse 20, Paul states, "Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." What is he saying here? He is expressing that he is not at fault because it is just this flesh. Paul is revealing a reality that all Christians face: there is something deep within us that is completely unresponsive to our will. We say, "I will not do that any longer," and then we keep doing it. We say, "I will not think that any longer," and yet we continue to think it.

This struggle also extends to the area of gratitude. We declare, "I will now be grateful," yet there is a lack of gratitude. You can will yourself to stop sinning, but you still sin. You can will yourself to be calm in an anxiety-inducing situation, and yet you still experience anxiety and fear. You can will yourself to be grateful, but you may not be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving, even though you know that such gratitude will heighten your joy.

I want to be grateful because I know it will increase my joy, but gratitude is an emotive response. I don't just will it; it is completely unaffected by my sheer will. So, when Dennis Prager commends us to become grateful and suggests that it will make us happier, is he asking us to do something completely unattainable? Is he giving us vain counsel? I don't think that he is, because just as there are things we can do to aid in someone becoming calm in the midst of anxiety...

In any situation, there are also things that can be done to promote or encourage gratitude, which will result in joy in our lives. Before we look at exactly what those things are, I want us to consider an important truth that will help us apprehend this and lay hold of it. If you're taking notes, you may want to write this down: we must recognize that all the commands of the Bible are ultimately promises for our joy. Let me say that again: all the commands of the Bible are ultimately promises for our joy.

Now, let me try to explain what I mean by this. If it is true that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, and if it is true that God's chief goal is His glorification, which the Bible makes very clear, then it would follow that God desires that we be satisfied in Him. For in being satisfied in Him, He receives the greatest joy. Does that make sense?

So, God is seeking His glory; He ought to be glorified, and He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Therefore, it would follow that God is seeking for us to be satisfied in Him, and in doing so, He would be glorified. We can conclude that God will give us commands that are in line with the things that bring Him glory. He will command us to do things or not to do things so that He would get the greatest glory, which means that His commands would also be those things that would bring us the most joy.

So, God's commands are promises to us for our greatest joy. Anytime we come to a command in the Bible—and there are lots of them—we must recognize that those commands, when obeyed, result in God's glory and the increase of our joy. When He commands us to do something, it ultimately brings forth our joy.

Now, the enemy, our adversary, the devil, the Bible...

In the book of John, chapter 8, the enemy is referred to as the father of lies. He has seduced humanity into believing that God in heaven is like a cosmic killjoy who wants us to be miserable. This is essentially what the enemy says: God is in heaven, holding you back.

In Genesis chapter 3, the first lie that he speaks to Adam and Eve in the garden is about God messing with them. He tells them that God is saying not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The enemy claims that if they eat from it, God knows they will be like Him, knowing good and evil. This has been the constant lie of the enemy: he is holding you back; he is the cosmic killjoy in heaven.

Since he is the cosmic killjoy, the enemy promotes ideas like not coveting, not lusting, not fornicating, not committing adultery, and not indulging in gluttony. He suggests that these things will bring you happiness, implying that God is just trying to take away our joy when He says, "Thou shalt not."

We can see this dynamic in our children. When we tell them not to do something, they often believe we are trying to keep them from something that will make them happy. The reality is that, yes, we are trying to keep them from certain actions, but we are doing so to keep them happy.

The truth is that God is not a killjoy at all; rather, He is opposed to all things that kill joy. He stands against anything that will rob us of our joy. Therefore, God's commands to us throughout the Bible are ultimately promises for our joy.

I want us to look at ten commands in the book of Psalms. When we think of commands, we often think of the Ten Commandments, but here we will examine ten different ones. Turn to Psalm 30, verse 4. Consider this command of God: "Sing."

Unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. We are commanded to give thanks, as stated in Psalm 50:14. This verse says, "Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High."

In Psalm 95:2, we are encouraged to come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms or songs. A couple of psalms later, in Psalm 97:12, it says, "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness."

Psalm 100:4 is another beautiful reminder: "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name."

Psalm 105:1 emphasizes this further: "Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people."

Psalm 106:1 proclaims, "Praise ye the Lord! Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever." This sentiment is echoed in Psalm 107:1, which states, "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever."

In Psalm 108:1, we are reminded once more to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good because His mercy endures forever.

Finally, in Psalm 147:7, we are encouraged to "Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God."

Every one of these verses is a call to worship. The psalmist is saying, "Come, worship the Lord," but it's also a command: "Sing to the Lord, give thanks to His name, praise Him." There are dozens of other psalms like this, dozens of other verses throughout the Bible. We are called and commanded to give thanks and praise to God. He tells us to give Him thanks; we are commanded to have gratitude.

However, there's a problem. Gratitude is an emotive response; it's something that is not willed, not manufactured, and not generated. I can't just say, "Be grateful," and all of a sudden, you will be. Sure, you can go and tell someone "thanks," and you can express gratitude, but consider this: imagine a young boy, a little child, on his birthday. He opens his package from Grandma to find socks and underwear. He looks at it, and he's not happy. Mom says, "Billy, what do we say to Grandma?" With a long face, Billy replies, "Thank you, Grandma." There's no joy, no genuine gratitude, and therefore Grandma is not honored by his response.

Such dutiful gratitude is akin to honoring God with our lips while our hearts are far from Him. God judged the children of Israel for this in Isaiah, saying, "You honor Me with your lips, but your hearts are far from Me." John Piper points out that we call a person an ingrate when words of gratitude are dutifully forced instead of coming spontaneously from the heart.

We recognize that such forced gratitude is not gratitude at all. God wants the praise of our hearts. When the praise of our hearts is present, it overflows from our lips because, as Scripture says, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Worship is the response of what is happening within the heart. When we are truly thankful, that gratitude cannot be willed; we can't simply say, "Okay, I will now be thankful."

It is a response; it is an emotion that wells up within us. God says to be thankful, to praise Him, and to sing praises to Him. The psalmist says, "Come, let us worship the Lord; come, let us go give thanks to God." We are being called into this, and there is a way in which we can look at the Psalms and those commands of God and ask, what is with God? Does He just need a whole bunch of strokes? Does He need constant affirmation, like "You're good, you're lovely, you're wonderful"? Is that what God is? Does He just want us to come to Him every single Sunday and say, "Oh, you're so good, oh, you're so great, oh, we love You so much," when it's not really coming from our hearts? Does He need us to constantly affirm Him?

This was the thought of C.S. Lewis before he became a follower of God. He writes this in his book, "Reflections on the Psalms": "When I first began to draw near to belief in God, and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should praise God still more. The suggestion that God Himself demanded it—we all despise the man who demands continual assurance of his virtue, intelligence, and the surrounding of a dictator or every millionaire or every celebrity who gratifies that demand. Thus, a picture at once ludicrous and horrible, both of God and of His worshippers, threatened to appear in my mind."

He started to look at God as being someone who constantly tells us to praise Him, like some dictator, or as if He constantly wants us to be around Him, giving Him praise like some horde of people around a celebrity. This led to the phrase, "Praise ye the Lord! Oh, praise the Lord with me! Praise Him!" Why, incidentally, did praising God so often consist of telling other people to praise Him? Even telling whales and snowstorms, etc., to go on doing what they would certainly do whether we told them or not. Worse still was the statement put in God's own mouth in Psalm 50, verse 23: "Whoso offers me praise glorifies me." It was hideously like saying, "What I want most is to be told I am good, I am great."

Lewis goes on to say that before he was a believer, he began to...

Seeing God as an old, vain woman sitting in heaven, constantly needing affirmation— is that what these commands in the Psalms are? Is it the vanity of God saying, "I have this need; I need you to come in here and constantly affirm me and admire me"? Or are these calls to worship also a call to our joy?

Let me read again from Lewis: "The most obvious fact about praise, whether of God or anything, strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or of giving honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment in our lives spontaneously overflows into praise unless shyness or fear of boring others is deliberately brought in check." The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistress, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game. Praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even politicians sometimes, and scholars.

I had not noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced and capacious minds praised the most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, they also spontaneously urge others to join them in praising. "Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?" The psalmist, in telling everyone to praise God, is doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about; they are calling people into praise.

He finishes by saying, "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise does not merely express but completes the enjoyment of it. It is its appointed consummation." It's not out of compliment that lovers keep telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete until it is expressed. So, he's saying it's not just us expressing, but our joy is heightened in that expression. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author.

We often find ourselves unable to express how good God is, especially when we come suddenly upon a mountain valley of unexpected grandeur. It can be disheartening to keep silent because the people with us care not for it more than a tin can in a ditch. Similarly, it is painful to hear a joke and find no one to share it with. Our joy is increased and overflowing with worship, and we are called to invite others into that glory. Consummate joy is found in delightful gratitude and praise; worship completes our joy. Amen. It completes our enjoyment of God.

His command to worship Him is a promise for our joy. When He says to enter into His courts with thanksgiving, we must ask ourselves why He commands this. It is because He deserves glory and desires our joy. When He says to come before His presence with thanksgiving, it is to promote His glory and our joy. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

The challenge arises in generating gratitude when it is merely an emotive response. How do we cultivate thankfulness when we cannot will ourselves to feel it? Let’s consider little Billy for a moment. Imagine that when Billy opens his present, it is not socks and underwear, but a remote-controlled airplane that he has been hoping for and thinking about for months.

When he opens that gift and sees it, does his mom have to turn to him and say, "Now Billy, what do we say to Grandma?" Not for a second does she think that thought, because immediately upon seeing the airplane, Billy's heart of gratitude overflows into pure joy. He repeatedly says, "Thank you, Grandma! Thank you! This is what I wanted! This is what I was seeking!"

For weeks afterward, every time he plays with that airplane or sees it, what does he think? "Thank you, Grandma!" So, how do we aid in the generation of gratitude? By opening the gift and delighting in it.

All that we have and hold in Christ is significant. You may ask, what do we have and hold in Christ? First Timothy 6:17 says He has given us all things richly to enjoy. Second Peter 1:3 states that God has granted unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has given us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. James 1:17 reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

When one fails to recognize the greatness of the gifts, which point back to the awesomeness of the giver, they are far less likely to be filled with gratitude and, therefore, they lack joy. So, how do we promote gratitude in our lives? We consider Him, all that He is, and all that He has done, because it promotes our gratitude and lifts our joy.

In the story of Jesus at Simon the Pharisee's house, a woman came in who was a sinful woman. With tears streaming down her face, she took the most costly thing she had, an alabaster box of oil, and poured it out on Jesus. She washed His feet with her hair in a display of pure worship. No doubt, she was the most joyful person in that room at that moment.

Simon stood back and said, "If this Jesus were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman this is and would not allow her to touch Him because she is sinful." Jesus replied, "Simon, I have something to say to you." Simon responded, "What do you have to say?" Jesus continued, "Suppose there were two debtors; which one do you suppose would love him more?" Simon answered rightly, "I suppose the one who was forgiven more." Jesus said to him, "You have well said, for he who is forgiven little loves little."

This implies that the one who recognizes the greatness of the gift received will bring greater gratitude, and in so doing, their joy will be consummate; their joy will be great. Was Simon the Pharisee less of a sinner than the sinful woman in his presence? No, but...

He sure thought himself to be righteous because of his religious offerings. He would say, "I give thanks, I give offerings, I do all these things," but it was all lip service to God. His heart was not engaged in it. Jesus, in His words, is pleading with Simon to come to the place of recognition that all he has, he does not deserve.

The secret to gratitude is to constantly behold the greatness of the glory of God as manifested through the beauty of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:2 says, "Consider Him." Let me read a few Psalms in closing.

Psalm 77:11 states, "I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. I will meditate also on Thy work and talk of Thy doings." Why does the psalmist do that? He needs to remember God's works and wonders. He needs to meditate upon them and talk about all the good things that God does. In doing so, he brings to mind how great God is. When he reflects on God's greatness, his gratitude wells up within him and releases into worship in spirit and in truth, and his joy excels.

Psalm 105:1 says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people. Sing to Him, sing psalms unto Him; talk of His wondrous works. Glory in His holy name; let the heart of them that rejoice seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore."

Remember His marvelous works that He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth. The psalmist encourages us to sing to the Lord and give thanks to Him. How do we do that? We remember and call to mind how awesome He is.

1 Samuel 12:24 advises us to "consider what great things He has done for you." Psalm 143:5 states, "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works, God. I muse; I think upon the work of Your hands."

I do gratitude is released, and it comes out; it's manifested through the lips in worship. In worship, joy is increased, and God is glorified. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

One more Psalm, Psalm 103, a Psalm of David: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." What benefits? Verse 3: "Who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles."

The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards those that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Like a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those that fear Him. He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass; as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. The wind passes over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children, to such as keep His covenant and to those that remember His commandments to do them.

The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, ye His angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

How do I do that? How do I worship God? How do I bring forth gratitude to Him? By remembering His...

Wonderful works, forget not all His benefits. The key to unlocking joy is Jesus. He has shown us the path by which we can have full and enduring joy. Many people in this world have rejected the source of full and enduring joy to find broken cisterns that can hold no water. These cisterns may bring a little bit of joy or pleasure for a time, but they do not fulfill or satisfy.

Many Christians come to a place where they think the whole goal of their Christian faith is just constant self-denial. In fact, that is the path to maximal joy in Christ, because it involves losing the rubbish, the trash, the dung, as mentioned in Philippians chapter 3, that we might gain Christ, in whom is maximal joy. Yet, there are many Christians who believe these things to be true, and yet they do not experience increasing joy that will never fade away into eternity. This is often because we do not practically engage in those things that promote joy.

Gratitude promotes joy, and we cannot just manufacture it or will it into our lives. We cannot say, "I will now be thankful." We come to church and sing songs, even though we may not like the music or the lyrics. We might sing because we think it will make God happy, but we are not happy about it. When the offering plate comes around, we put in our contribution, but we do so without joy. Yet, God says He loves a cheerful giver. Why? Because He wants us to be happy.

We should meditate upon His faithfulness, His goodness, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, and His love. We need to remember His wondrous works and think upon them all day long. We should talk about them, even to non-believers. When we share how good God is, they may look at us and wonder what we are talking about. But let us tell them what He has done for us. They might think we are crazy, but they may also come to seek joy, which is not found in this world or apart from Christ. May it be that joy is found in us. Amen.

Let's stand and pray.

Father, work these things into our lives that we would know in You this joy that we're studying. Work this into our lives so that this joy would radiate from us, and people who don't know You would want to know You because they see Your ways and they see Your goodness.

Lord, teach us what it means to find in You full and enduring joy. God, would You remind us today and this week? Help us to meditate upon the good things, the great things that You have done, so that our hearts would overflow with gratitude and our lips would pour forth with worship, and our joy would increase.

God, be merciful unto us and bless us. Cause Your face to shine upon us that Your way may be known in all the earth, Your saving health among all nations. Let the people praise You, God. Let all the people praise You.

Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations of the earth. Let the people praise You, O God. Let all the people praise You, for then shall the earth yield her increase.

And God, even our God, You shall bless us. You shall bless us, and all the nations shall fear You. God, do this in us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.