Embracing Uncertainty, Part 2

To me, that last line is probably
one of my favorite lines in all of hymn writing. Could we with
ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor
could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from
sky to sky. I picked this hymn for a reason
this morning, because it is that very love, the love of God that
we so often forget and that ultimately so often leads to worry. I want to take you again to this
passage that we have begun last Lord’s Day in Philippians, chapter
four. The passage is there in its entirety
in your bulletin with a little bit of place for notes there
this morning. By way of a brief review, we
began last week by considering just that first line, be anxious
for nothing. We perhaps entered into it thinking
that would be just part of the morning message, but as I suggested,
there was a lot there. I hope that you would agree.
We’ll come back and review just a bit of that this morning. There
is a in the world currently a ridiculous little song that has caught on
and become almost the theme song of our culture. It kind of echoes a song in a
Disney movie from a couple of years ago. But it is a song that
you’ll hear frequently playing in area restaurants. And the song just goes almost
like a mantra. Don’t worry, be happy. Don’t
worry, be happy. And I say it’s a ridiculous little
song. You would say, well, doesn’t
this echo to a degree what we talked about last week? Be anxious
for nothing. No, it doesn’t. Because really,
it’s impossible. And the songwriter of that little
popular song knows that it’s impossible. If this verse contained
the opening clause only, be anxious for nothing, it would have to
be one of the most cruel commands ever issued. As if we can just
flip the switch of anxiety to off. If Scripture gave us no
insight or instruction as to how to move from anxiousness
to trust, it would be cruel to the extreme. But the passage
doesn’t just stop there. Scripture doesn’t just callously
issue a cold command, don’t worry. But it goes on to simply and
clearly issue the only cure for the anxious heart. Regarding
such cruelty, one pastor exclaimed, the noblest system of heathen
philosophy regarded equability of mind imperturbable alike by
troubles and the allurements of the world. In other words,
he says that the world has always looked at a cool character with
a fond eye, somebody with the ability to be calm and collected. to seem unworried, to seem unanxious. They have always viewed it, as
he goes on to say, as the highest state of the soul. It’s always
been a noble goal to not worry, to not be anxious. But philosophy,
he goes on to say, could furnish no adequate motive No adequate
motive power for attaining this equability. It could only state
the theory and exhibit its importance. And human nature had its own
way against philosophy. In other words, our own hearts
would tell us that don’t worry, be happy is a ridiculous and
even a cruel command. We are prone to worry. We are
prone to anxiety. So the author, the pastor closes
and says, Jesus Christ alone can supply what’s missing. He
doesn’t merely tell us to be tranquil, but he shows us how
the tranquility is to be attained and maintained. That’s why I
say it is just plain cruel to say, don’t worry. Scripture doesn’t
stop there. God, in His compassion for us,
provides us clear instructions on the matter. And there must
indeed not only be a resolve not to worry, but we must add
to that. We begin with reminding ourselves
of the nature of God, of His faithfulness to us, of His promises
to us, and then we go to Him. We go to this God and meet with
him in prayer. As another pastor urged, people
become worried and anxious and fretful because they do not trust
God’s wisdom, power or goodness. They fear that God is not wise
enough or strong enough or good enough to prevent disaster. It may be that this sinful doubt
is because their knowledge of him is faulty. or that sin in
their lives has crippled their faith. Thankful prayer brings
release from fear and worry because it affirms God’s sovereign control
over every circumstance and that this, His purpose, is the believer’s
good. If you would, Philippians 4,
verse 6. where Paul urged, be anxious
for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. The peace
of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. As we saw last week, we are to
embrace uncertainty. That’s the great cause that a
believer undertakes is to embrace in faith uncertainty, to trust
God, to trust God enough to walk with Him into the unknown. And as such, we saw that there
are paces, little baby steps that we take as believers, paces
of progress, as I suggested last week in the walk of faith. And as such, the child of God,
as we saw, will first and foremost make a resolution of faith. Before
you fall on your knees, there must be a resolution not to worry,
even if it’s just instantaneous, that I’m going to do this as
opposed to that. But once there is a resolution
not to worry, there must be something else, and we’ll get there in
a moment. I want to go back and just review this little command.
Be anxious for nothing. Depending, as I said, on what
translation you read, you can come away quite confused because
one of the older translations says, be careful for nothing.
Well, we know that we’re supposed to care. We know that we’re supposed
to plan. We know that we’re supposed to
care not only for our own families, but others. So we know that that
can’t be the literal meaning of that passage. What Paul is concerned about
there is that we be not over anxious, that we be not over
careful, that we are not distracted in mind and focused only on earthly
things, distrustful of God. We saw that it can be a positive
command, this word that is used for care here. And in that sense,
we are called, even commanded to care on various occasions. But unfortunately, it can also
be a negative. There can be too much care. That
degenerates essentially into worry and anxiety. And even worse. It was spoken of in the parable
of the soils where ultimately the worry, the care of the world
chokes out the word and it becomes unfruitful in our lives. That’s
the care that Paul is referring to here. That’s the worry. It
is an anxious thought. It is being overly careful. It is a worry that begins to
believe that God can’t handle our affairs, and so we must handle
them for him. As one said, it is the anxiety,
the anxiety rather guarded against is that state of mind in which
one worries himself to know more than he is able. Or reach something
too far beyond him or is anxious to make provision for every contingency. to guard against suspected evils,
to protect himself against feared failures and disasters.” We spent
no little time looking at what this anxiety looks like. And
ultimately, we ended up in Matthew’s Gospel. I want to have you just
turn there just briefly once again. Matthew’s Gospel. We find
ourselves in chapter 6. which passage echoes and really
expands upon, and I even suggested last week, it wouldn’t surprise
me if this was the very passage in Paul’s mind. This instruction
of the Lord that Paul carried, Paul just alluded to, be anxious
for nothing, that he knew the Lord had expounded upon with
great clarity. Matthew chapter 6, beginning
in verse 25, where Jesus said, for this reason, I say to you,
do not be worried about your life. As to what you will eat
or what you will drink, nor for your body is to what you will
put on is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing.
Look at the birds of the air that they do not sow nor reap,
nor do they gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father
feeds them. Are you not worth much more than
they? And who of you, by being worried,
could add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried
about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the
field grow. They do not toil, nor do they
spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory
clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass
of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown
into the furnace, will he not much more clothes you? You of
little faith. Do not worry then. saying, what
shall we eat? Or what will we drink? Or what
will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek
all these things. For your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and
His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will care for itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own. suggested last week
that with regards to this passage, there were a number of things
that Jesus pointed out as truths, principles for us to take away
from this passage. Jesus tells us and graciously
provides reasons for living an anxiety free life. And I think
this is what Paul was alluding to when he said, be anxious for
nothing. Do not be anxious about your
life in the here and now, first and foremost. Don’t be anxious
about physical things, about food and clothing, because they
are not the important elements of life. There are more important
elements in our life. Jesus goes on to give arguments
and illustration about sustenance. that God provides, and just as
God provides for soulless creatures in their basic needs, birds and
the like, He will do likewise for His children. There was a
second principle that Jesus pointed to. In our anxiousness, so often
we forget that a life of worry and anxiety is indicative of
those who do not know God. Verse 32 says all these things
the Gentiles eagerly seek. Worry is Gentile business. Worry is the business of the
godless. Anxiety is the job description
of those who do not have a God to trust. The third principle
that Jesus pointed out here is that our loving father already
knows our needs. God knows things that we need
that we don’t even yet realize. In fact, he’s busy providing
them, as I suggested last week, pointing you not just suggesting,
but pointing you to the book of Genesis. God provided food
before he even made man. Our loving Father already knows
our needs. Fourthly, our sovereign provider
has already ordained our future care. I suggested that there
were basically two extremes here. That we’re not only to be not
to be anxious about the here and now, we’re not to be anxious
about the future. And our sovereign provider has
already provided and ordained for our future care. Do not be
anxious for tomorrow, Jesus says. And so we take this back into
the epistle to the Philippians, where Paul merely alludes to
that great lesson on worry. Paul alludes to all of that when
he says, be anxious for nothing. So God doesn’t coldly just say,
don’t worry. Don’t fear. Jesus provided a
lengthy lesson on the matter, and neither does Paul stop with
that Little exhortation here. The remedy that Paul points to
is not inactivity. A lot of Christians would say,
that’s fine, I’ll just let God provide and I’m just going to
sit back. He doesn’t say to us, go sit on the couch and let me
take care of this one. We are called to action, there
should be effort. We are not prevented from planning.
We are not restricted from working and from preparation. God doesn’t
callously chide us for our desires. Instead, he commands us here
to bring our desires to him, to tell him, to pray, to open
up and pour out our hearts to a loving heavenly father. And
no other philosophy, no other religion offers any such cure
for anxiety. From this pulpit, we had preached
not long ago a very similar exhortation, Proverbs three, five and six.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own
understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him and he will make
your path straight. And so as we have begun, we see
that God calls us to embrace uncertainty. And in this passage
that we are considering, We have paces, if you will, in the progress
of faith. And as such, we see that a child
of God will not only make a resolution of faith, but he or she will
also implement a replacement for worry. They will implement
a replacement for worry, a child of God is not going to just not
worry. They’re going to fill that void
with something else. And Paul tells us that it’s prayer. The first thing that you have
to consider. As you begin to look at this passage a little
further is the contrast that is here, the simple contrast
that is here in verse six, it is flagged by that little word,
but the contrast is this be anxious for nothing, but let your request
be made known to God. And you cannot do both. You cannot
be anxious and pray. And you cannot pray while you’re
anxious, you must do one or the other. It is a very distinct
contrast. It’s an interesting use of words
here, particularly the preparation, preparation, pardon me, the preposition,
the preposition for those of you Greek students is pros. It points out this word points
out destination or direction. Paul literally says, let your
request be made known toward God. If you’re familiar with
this preposition, some of you men, it literally means before
God’s face. In John chapter one, verse one,
it says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. And one of the most beautiful
Greek lessons that you ever do, you go to the Greek and it says, Prostantheon. The Word was face
to face with God. Jesus was there with God. He
was face to face. That’s why I say it’s an interesting
preposition to use in this context. Because what Paul tells us to
do is to literally bring our heart desires before the face
of God. and to bring them there and to
leave them there. The whole passage, that’s what
this whole section is about. Telling God what we want. That’s
the bottom line. The bottom line of this whole
sentence, in fact, this whole section is telling God what we
want. Telling God about our needs.
Informing God, if you will. Keeping God in the loop. Letting
God in on our such situation and you say, oh, he’s given himself
over to the openness of God. No, I haven’t. But there is a
little bit of a problem here. Because the word here, ignore
it, ignore it, though, means to be declared or to be made
known. Now, it is true, I haven’t fallen
off the cliff. It is true that all of our circumstances,
all of our life, everything that we do and say and think, our
thoughts, our feelings, everything is already known to God. I love Psalm 139. Oh, Lord, You
have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and
when I rise up. You understand my thought from
afar. You scrutinize my path and my
lying down. You are intimately acquainted
with all my ways. Even before there is a word on
my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all. And still. With regards to blessing,
he loves to be asked. He loves to be informed of our
heart’s desire, and it is exactly as if God needed information. God knows us. God knows our hearts.
God knows our needs before we even utter them. And yet it is
as if God is saying, tell me, child, what is it you want? It’s God that has to recognize
and pardon me, reconcile all that. As one said, true faith will
rest and act upon such a precept with little anxiety about the
rationale Scripture is full of illustrations and encouragements
from the prayers of the saints. You take your average prayer
of the child of God and it will read as if God had no idea their
predicament, their situation. I love the simple prayer. Of
a child that I read one time, dear God, this is Jimmy. As if God doesn’t know. God knows. God knows before we even open
our mouths. But we are to come before him
and to bring our request to him and to lay them before the face
of God as if he didn’t know. You say, OK, well, that’s good,
that’s a good general rule, we should pray. I get that, but
how far, Pastor, do you take that? How much should we pray
about? How many things should we bring
up before God? He’s very busy anyway. Does God
really care about all the little things, about all of my little
worries? After all, I’ve got broad shoulders
and I can carry some of these things. What does the passage
say? The passage says, be anxious for nothing, which
takes a whole lot off our plate, doesn’t it? Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything. Let your request be made known
to God. This is the parallel. This is
the flip side of what Paul already addressed in verse six at the
beginning. In everything. Is the answer
to what Paul brought up at the opening when he said for nothing,
it is a dramatic, emphatic contrast Comparing to the nothing of the
outset, Paul says in everything it is limitless. It is absolutely
limitless. There is nothing that we should
be worried about and we should bring everything to God in prayer. As one said, the emphasis here
is on all such circumstances which might otherwise cause one
to worry. Well, we began a list last week My brother added to my list. He thought my list was a little
bit inadequate. Even though it filled a page
with small writing, he said, I forgot about the anxiety about
flying. That is true. That is true. As I suggested last week, what
do we worry about and what could we pray about? We worry, but
we could pray about yesterday. about our past and about its
failures. We worry, but we could pray and should pray about tomorrow,
about its uncertainty. When we worry, we could pray
about bills. Deaths. We worry when we could be praying
about time and war and economy and all these things that we
began to focus on last week. Our duties, our obligations,
the things that we see, the things that we don’t see. Things about
others, our friendships, our family. About the weather, about the
environment, about our own hearts and the waywardness that we sense
of them. We worry about our pets when
we could be praying. We worry about trends that affect
our teenagers when we could be coming before the Lord in prayer. Does God care about all of these
things? And the answer is an absolute
yes. Otherwise, this passage means
nothing. If we can worry about anything
justly before God, then we don’t have to bring that before God,
in which case this passage becomes moot. There isn’t anything that
we can justify worrying about when we could be praying our
health, stresses in our lives, difficulties that we face, our
safety in others, There isn’t anything. As one pastor pointed out, he
said that there’s a distinct feature. About Christianity compared
with everything else in the world. And that is the completeness
that it embraces every element of our nature. He goes on to
say that a thoughtful heathen could rise to a wistful and vague
idea that perhaps his soul might live forever. But the scriptures
point out our mortality and it points out our daily needs. He goes on to point out. The
gospel recognizes the body is essential to complete man, not
as the sages of old would have it, an accidental companion whose
society downgrades the soul. But at the right hand of the
father, Jesus sits in fashion as a man. And by and by, the
bodies of his people should be made like his glorious body. Surely, then, when the father
watches over the sleeping dust of his saints, we may feel well
assured that he will watch over the outward interests while they
live and while they hear and honor their prayers regarding
their troubles and difficulties connected with the affairs of
this world. A.W. Tozer, years ago, in a somewhat
parallel thought, said that we have this tendency to segment
out our entire lives into the sacred and the secular. When
in reality, everything should be to the glory of God, and there
isn’t anything. There isn’t anything that we
can’t justly bring up before God. There isn’t anything that’s
too mundane or too small. There’s nothing certainly too
difficult for God, so there isn’t anything in this life that God
is unconcerned about. Johnstone goes on to say the
truth is indeed that just. Because the body holds such an
important and influential place in our nature, we cannot draw
a sharp line of distinction between our spiritual and our outward
interests. We can’t take anything off the
plate thinking that we’re burdening God or overburdening God. We
can’t say, Lord, I’ll pray to you about the big stuff. I will
entrust to you my salvation as for my finances, however. As
for my job, as for my relationships. It’s a silly thought. Paul tells
us quite plainly the extent Of this truth, we are to pray for
everything we are to let our request be made known to God
in everything. And how do we do it? We’ve already hinted at it, it’s
prayer. It is communion with God. Go to the passage once again,
be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving. The words prayer and supplication
are often glued together by Paul. I’ll tell you the reason for
it in a moment or what I suspect is the reason for it. Paul glues
it together in Ephesians 6, 18, with all prayer and petition,
pray at all times in the spirit. First Timothy 2, 1, I urge that
in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on
behalf of all men. First Timothy 5, 5, speaking
of widows. If they have fixed their hope
on God and continue in entreaties and prayers night and day, Prayer
is commonly used for prayer in general. We get that. It’s a
more general term, it includes all the elements, all the rest
of the particular elements of prayer. Adoration and thanksgiving
and the rest, we’ll talk more about that in a moment. In other
words, it was the common, the typical word for prayer dozens
of times in the New Testament. One called it the fruit of devotion
and a token of homage. This is how you approach God.
You go and you commune with God. As I suggested, it is the more
general term in every form of address. directed to the deity
is sewn up in this term confession, intercession, supplication, said
one adoration, thanksgiving. It refers to request for the
fulfillment of needs that are always present. The need for
more wisdom, greater consecration, progress in the administration
of justice. Everything is sewn up under that
general word prayer. A lot of times we’ll break it
out with ACTS, right? Adoration. And how can you not
naturally come before God and before you even say anything
else? How can you not adore God for who he is and for what he’s
done and thank him for it? It is a simple approach to God
and for ages, this little acrostic has been presented up. Not only adoration, but confession
having seen and having mulled over the great thoughts of the
perfections of the deity, particularly his holiness and his justice. How can we not immediately go
then to confession? And to bow on knees and to cry
out and to agree with God about our sin. And having done so, how could
we not thank God? How can we not thank God for
the Savior that He has provided, for the fact that we don’t carry
our own sins anymore, we don’t bear the consequences of them,
that God has sent a Savior, that we do not need to carry them
in guilt any longer. We thank God for Him. And then,
and only then, do we come before Him with our needs Do we lift
up the supplications as we’ll get to in a moment? It is devotion
to God that is this general word for prayer. And it was by this
that the saints were urged to tell God, to inform God, if you
will, of their needs. Paul knew the value of prayer.
And he frequently enjoined his churches to make it a characteristic
of their lives, this prayer in general, this communion with
God. First Thessalonians three nine. Paul, first of all, modeled it.
And first Thessalonians three nine, he says, what thanks can
we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we
rejoice before our God on your account as we night and day keep
praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete
what is lacking in your faith. In other words, he says, I pray. Night and day, I pray. And having
modeled that for them, he exhorts them just two chapters later
in first Thessalonians five, he says, pray without ceasing. It should be a natural part of
the Christians lives to the pardon me to the Colossians. Paul likewise
urged that they were to devote themselves to prayer. Paul said,
devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude
of thanksgiving. We don’t devote ourselves to
very much. We are called to be devoted to
our God, we’re called to be devoted men to our wives and wives to
our husbands. We sometimes will speak of devotion. But rarely are we truly devoted
to prayer. Paul says it’s a key element
in the life of the believer. It is the very lifeline. As for the second word, the word
translated supplication. It has no particular limitation
to only religious uses, in other words, you can make supplications
of lots of people. It just merely expresses the
idea of a request. A request for a particular desired
benefit. And what it points to here is
a petition that you bring toward God, the request of a particular
want or need. As one described it, the humble
cry for the fulfillment of needs that are keenly felt by the child
of God. As such, it was a special, requests
made for divine help. And this, Paul points to making
our requests directly known to God himself. This word was often used, and
it’s fascinating that Paul used it, it was used. Of one who had
audience with the king. And you know that in In some
kingdoms to go before the king was to risk your life and to
have a request like this, to go before the king and to bring
it before the you didn’t know by the time you stood up whether
you were going to lose your head or have your request granted.
But the God that we go to is not like an earthly sovereign,
the God that we go to asks us to come. Bids us to come. And asks us to ask him. And as such, this word was used
as a formal petition. The Puritans. Used to use this
terminology, they used to use the courtroom terminology and
they used to suggest that we should go and sue God. Sue God, lay a petition before
him. And particularly ask him. So
we’re not only told here to cultivate a life of prayer and we are. Coming before God, communing
with him in private spiritual conversation, that’s what prayer
is, but we’re explicitly told here to make particular requests
of him. To come with particular, specific,
precise requests. And that we don’t do enough,
do we? We might tell God generally what we want. God, keep me happy,
bless me, bless my family. But we won’t tell him specifically
what that means, what we’re looking for. Our tendency is the tendency
of a child when they pray. Bless all the missionaries in
the whole wide world, right? When Jesus says, ask, tell me
exactly what you want. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter seven. I’m not going to exposit all
of these particular passages, some of them issue a command
that seems almost impossible. And yet these are the words of
Christ himself on the matter of supplication. Look at Matthew
chapter seven, verse seven, ask. And it will be given you seek
and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone
who asks, receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks
it will be opened. Or what man among you, when his
son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone or if he has a fit
asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If
you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is
good to those who ask? We need to ask and we need to
ask particular things. And a lot of times in that process,
God will purify our heart and purify our request. He will sanctify
it in the process and clean it up and make us to come out the
other side Even asking for something new and different. Turn, if you
would, to Luke, the gospel of Luke and chapter 11. Which passage echoes some of
what was recorded there in Matthew. And goes even beyond it. Matthew
11, chapter verse five. Then he said to them, suppose
one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to
him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come
to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And
from inside, he hears he answers and says, do not bother me. The
door has already been shut. My children and I are in bed.
I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though
He will not get up and give Him anything because He is His friend,
yet because of His persistence, He will get up and give Him as
much as He needs. So I say to you, ask and it will
be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock
and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives.
And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will
be opened. Jesus tells us that we are to
ask We are to come before a loving Father who already knows our
real needs and has the perfect capability to separate harmful
wants. If you would turn to John chapter
14. As I said, these are these are
huge passages. In John, chapter fourteen, verse
twelve. Jesus, once again, speaking, says, truly, truly, I say to
you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also
and greater works than these he will do because I go to the
father, whatever you ask in my name that I will do. So that
the father may be glorified in the son, if you ask me anything
in my name, I will do it. It’s quite obvious that God can
characterize his own words. God can straighten those out.
The point that I’m simply making here is that God wants us to
come to him not only with general prayer, not only a relationship
that communes with him, but he wants us to come to him with
specific requests, particular requests. He wants us to ask. And finally, he wants us to do
so with thanksgiving. Turn back, if you would, to Philippians.
He wants us to do so with thanksgiving. This is just an appropriate accompaniment to prayer, as I
suggested already, before you even lay your supplications before
him, you begin to recount all that God has already done. all
the ways that God has already provided for you and cared for
you. If nothing else, your salvation. And that you begin to think life
and breath and all things, the very fact that we live in a free
country and that we can breathe the air and that we can come
before God. That we have a relationship with
Him. As one said, such thankfulness will
include gratitude for past kindnesses. Those or those for whom we pray
or for God’s past mercies to those, but more widely for what
they are for God’s creatures, the object of his love whom he
wishes to be saved. The very fact that we can come
in communion with God and say anything. Is a cause of great
thanksgiving. As another warned, this is a
cause of so much failure in our prayer. We do not couple our
prayers with Thanksgiving. We don’t even include Thanksgiving
as a regular part of our prayer. In many people’s minds, that’s
for once a year, right? Quick prayer before you eat the
turkey. But in the theology of Paul,
In the living theology of Paul, Thanksgiving wasn’t just a feast
day, but it was an everyday core reality, the very element of
prayer itself. Paul said in Romans 121 that
a lack of prayer is a mark of the heathen. He goes on to say
in the book of Romans, That it frames the believers life and
his use or non use of liberty that either way the individual
is called to thankfulness. Romans 14, six. In 2nd Corinthians, Paul said
that thankfulness comprised the end of all ministry. Go with
me on this thought, just listen, because we don’t have time to
turn in 2nd Corinthians 111. He mentions that the Corinthians
joining in helping us through your prayers so that thanks may
be given by many persons on our behalf. Paul believed that thankfulness
to God was the ultimate result, the desired result of all activity. Second Corinthians 415, if you
think I’m. Embellishing that passage. For
all things are for your sake, so that the grace which is spreading
to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound
to the glory of God. God wants to act. God wants to
move. God wants to be glorified, but
he wants to be thanked. Second Corinthians, verse nine,
you are enriched with everything for all liberality, which through
us is producing thanksgiving to God for the ministry of this
service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but
is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. It is the
core of preservation of the walk of the Christian. Ephesians 5,
17 through 20. It is the companion of peace.
Colossians 3, 15. It is a core element of prayer
itself. Colossians 4, verses 1 and 2. One said it this way. He said no true prayer lacks
this element. The renewed heart cannot but
pour out its utterances of gratitude to him who crowns us with loving
kindness and his tender mercies and the thanksgiving we obtain
of encouragement for further supplication. Do you hear what
he’s saying? That as you go to him and you
begin to recount all the things that he has done, it gives you
heart. It gives you momentum to pray
for more, to ask for more. We must be thankful. And finally, in closing, one
pastor said it this way. Not only are there many reasons
for thanksgiving to God, who has already conferred upon us
so much, but thankfulness is also due him for the very privilege
of making known our requests. For the promises that he has
given, for the confidence that he has created in us, that our
prayers are not in vain. And for the hope that he is able
to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
he is on a throne of grace that is ever accessible. He is never
weary with our asking. His gifts are never exhausted.
What a glorious privilege. And now we see that the exhortation
be anxious for nothing. It’s not a hard, cold exhortation
devoid of any further instruction because God tells us how. God tells us we don’t have to
live anxious lives because we can go and commune with Him.
We can lay our request before the very face of God. Let’s do
that. Let’s do that. Gracious God, we come before
You We thank you and praise you. That you are a God who calls
us to yourself and you have paved the way. A relationship with
you through Christ our Savior. Father, we come before you asking.
That you would make us to be prayerful people. Who bring our
requests and make them known to a loving Heavenly Father.
And not people who are characterized like the heathen. of anxious worry. Grant us that
grace, Father. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. You.