The Gatekeeper

November 8, 2015  NOTES NOT EDITED

The Gatekeeper

John 10:1-21

SIS— We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who stand guard at the gates of our freedom modeling the character of the Lord Jesus Christ Who stands guard at the gate of our soul.

War is an ugly thing.  I’m not talking about the sanitized version of war that crosses your screen for a few seconds of “nightly news.”  For most people, the only contact we have had with Iraq or Afghanistan are in political debates.  Modern wars come and go without even the least disruption of American life. 

World War II played out much differently.  Our entire nation sprang to action from Rosie the Riveter to the rationing of food, metal, tires, clothing and nearly everything else.  The whole country mustered to fight that war.  Some of you may remember the “ration books.”  Every American felt the bitter bite of World War II, not just those in combat.

We have become accustomed to having our wars without any attending inconvenience.  We did not go to bed last night worried that a mortar may tear through our tents and end our lives.  Yet, many Americans did go to bed last night in that very situation. We slept peacefully in our beds because the “gatekeepers” in our military stood watch, some in very hostile environments.  In a quote often attributed to George Orwell we read this reminder of the “gatekeepers” who provide the peace we enjoy, and often take for granted.  That quote reminds us why we can go to sleep at night without fear:   “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

That’s the essence of our military.  They are the gatekeepers.  They lay their lives on the line at the gates to our freedom to assure that our freedom will never be taken away.  In ancient Israel, as we will see, the shepherd was a gatekeeper.  He literally placed his body across the gateway into the sheep fold-there was only one--so that no wolf or predator could attack the sheep.  This is the essence of the verse that says, “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).  Over six thousand members of our military have given their lives lying across the gate in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Hundreds of thousands have served as gatekeepers in these wars, and other wars before.  Our plague in the back honors those related to our congregation who have served or are serving.  One of those named—Marine Lance Corporal, Anthony C. Melia—gave his life in Iraq.  President Reagan once said that a service member who dies in action gives two lives.  He gives up the life he was living, and the life he would have lived had he or she come home.  Being a gatekeeper poses tremendous risks to life and limb. 

The very foundation of our faith turns on the identity of Jesus Christ as THE “gatekeeper.”  He not only is the gatekeeper, but He is the gateway, the door.  Jesus is the model for the gatekeepers in our armed services.  Let’s read together what the Bible says about Jesus as the Gatekeeper.  John 10:1-18.

This metaphor, parable or allegory depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd had an enormous impact upon those to whom the Lord first spoke.  Time and differences in culture have robbed modern readers of much of the meaning of this teaching.  Few of us have seen sheep outside of a petting zoo.  Ancient Israel’s economy hinged on raising sheep to provide wool.  Sheep and shepherds played a very important role in the life of Israel.  The life of a shepherd in Israel was not only extremely hard, it was very dangerous.  The land was rocky and pasture lands were sparse.  Sheep would wander looking for fresh patches to graze on.  The shepherd had to be extremely vigilante. Deep ravines also crisscrossed the landscape and sheep could easily wander over a clift.  Wild animals, especially wolves, constantly threatened the flock.  There were also thieves and robbers willing to kill the shepherd to steal the sheep.  A shepherd’s job was hard and dangerous.  Years ago, a bible scholar visiting Israel described the shepherd of Israel, “On some high moor, across which at night the hyenas howl, when you meet the shepherd, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep . . . you understand why the shepherd of Judea sprang to the front in people’s minds.  Contant vigilance, fearless courage, and patient love for his flock, were the necessary characteristics of the shepherd.” (Barclay, 53).

Constant vigilance, fearless courage, and love for others also describe a soldier, our modern day gatekeepers.  These qualities and more, such as faithfulness, sacrifice, and selflessness are shared by shepherds of old and the modern soldier.  All the virtues that make a great shepherd or a great soldier flow from the virtuous character of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the quintessential “gatekeeper.”  He is the Eternal Gatekeeper.  He “laid down His life as a sacrifice so that you and I could have eternal life—if we turn from our sins and accept the gift the Good Shepherd provides.

Jesus is not only the “Gatekeeper” protecting the flock by laying His life between His flock and the Evil One that would come to “steal and kill” (v 10), but Jesus is the very “gate” of life itself.  Look again in verse 7:   I am  the door of the sheep.  The NIV says, I am the gate for the sheep.  As the “gate, gatekeeper, or door” for the sheep Jesus exhibits three primary qualities.

1.  A STRONG Gate (14-18)

Before I read the verse that speaks of the “absolute power” of Jesus Christ as the Gate, or Gatekeeper, let me remind you of what we have already spoken about the life of a shepherd.  Being a shepherd was a hard, dangerous life with many significant challenges.  As such, the faint of heart need not apply for this position.  In this story the “helplessness and total dependence” of the sheep is contrasted by the “absolute power” of the shepherd.  It takes a “strong, courageous man to risk his life for others.”  As I said earlier, both soldiers and shepherds were positions requiring great courage and strength.

Verses 14 through 18, especially verse 18, describe the “absolute power and strength” of Jesus Christ:

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, ¹⁵ as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father.  I lay down My life  for the sheep. ¹⁶ But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.  ¹⁷ This is why the Father loves Me,  because I am laying down My life  so I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.”

This passage alone could easily occupy a whole sermon, or even a series of sermons.  You will quickly note the numerous references to God, the Father.  Jesus asserts His special relationship with the Father.  In short, Jesus is asserting His deity.  The pious Jews in the crowd got the message and reacted negatively as we see in v19:

¹⁹ Again a division  took place among the Jews
because of these words. 

Numerous times Jesus had clashed with the Jews over the words He spoke, particularly when He spoke directly about His identity as God, the Son.  Notice chapter 8, verses 57-59:

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t 50 years old yet, and You’ve seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”  ⁵⁹ At that, they picked up stones to throw at Him.

Those words of Jesus, “I am,” [ἐγώ (I) εἰμί (I am)] stung the hearts of the Jewish leaders like a bee.  Jesus spoke the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name for God, “Yaweh” – and used an emphatic form for, well, emphasis.  So, they were going to stone Him for blasphemy.

The Gospel of John is different from the other three.  It has a much narrower purpose:  to declare that Jesus is completely human and at the same time completely divine.  Jesus gets into conflict with the Jews over His assertion of deity.  Keep that in mind and go back to verse 18:   No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again.

Bible translators are faced with a difficult task as to how to translate the word, translated in the HCSB, as “right.”  Most modern translations render the word as “right” or “authority.”  The KJV renders the word, exousia (ἐξουσία), as “power.” Both translations are technically correct, and both are technically incomplete.  The more commonly expected word if the translation were to be “power,” would be dunamis, which refers to an “innate ability” to accomplish a task.  For example, a weight lifter would have the “power” to lift several hundreds of pounds and a canary would have the “power” to fly.  Exousia more technically refers to the “right or authority” to perform an action—like the right of a king to declare a new law.  However, most scholars understand that one who possesses the authority to do something, also possesses the power to carry out the action.  Exousia  can be viewed as “absolute power,” or “divine power.”  One scholarly authority describes it as, Jesus’ “divinely given power and authority to act” (TDNT).

Jesus is a STRONG gate.  His power extends even to the power of life and death—that’s the key principle to understanding this entire allegory.

2.  He is an OPEN Gate (vv 9-11)

One always has to be careful not to read into a text more than the text will support.  In an allegorical passage like this one--or perhaps better to call it an “extended parable” (paroimia, παροιμία)—there is always a greater danger to “over-spiritualize” the story.  In this case, I think the idea that as the “Gate to the Sheepfold,” Jesus is an OPEN gate.  That is, as the Good Shepherd (this story mixes the metaphors of Jesus being the Gate, the Good Shepherd, and the Gatekeeper), Jesus cares meticulously for the needs of the sheep He loves.  Verses 9-11 say,

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal  and to kill and to destroy.  I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus contrasts Himself as the Good Shepherd with those of a “hired hand” who only cares about what he can get out of sheep, and thieves (steal without violence) and robbers (steal with violence) who want to misuse and abuse the sheep.  As with most of the passages in John, I will leave out sufficient information for a series of sermons. 

The point I want to make is the loving, abundant care that Jesus provides for us as His sheep.  We have free access to God the Father through Jesus the Son and everything that belongs to the Son is shared by those who follow the Son.  Romans 8:14-17:

All those led by God’s Spirit  are God’s sons.  ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption,  by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”  ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, ¹⁷ and if children, also heirs —heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that  we suffer with Him  so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Jesus provides full and unrestricted access to all that God, the Father, has to give.  We are not slaves consigned to simply till the soil outside the palace to provide for the care and comfort of the king.  We are “joint-heirs, sons and daughters” of God Almighty that have OPEN access to the Father through the Son.  I love what Hebrews 4:16 teaches:  Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

Jesus, as the Gatekeeper and Shepherd, leads us out into rich pastures to gorge ourselves on the goodness of God.  The Shepherd’s Psalm declares:  ¹ The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. ² He lets me lie down in green pastures;  He leads me beside quiet waters.

After leading us “out” into green pastures, as the Good Shepherd, Jesus leads us back into the safety of the fold; and then, as the Gatekeeper, He lies across the only entry into the fold and protects us with His might and power.

Jesus is an OPEN gate to God’s blessings.  He gives us free, unrestricted access to the Father.  I don’t think most Christians really comprehend what it means that Jesus is an “open door to the Father.”  Life is hard, but without access to God Jesus, it is downright impossible.  Makes me think of an ad in a paper for a lost dog:

      “Lost—One dog.  Brown hair with several bald spots.  Right leg
        broken in car accident.  Left hip injured.  Right eye missing.  Left
        ear bitten off in a dog fight.  Answers to the name, “Lucky.”

Life is hard and “being lucky” isn’t enough to provide you with the “abundant life.”  Jesus said, “I am the door . . . I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance” (verse 10).

Jesus is a STRONG gate with both the authority and power to protect you and to give you the assurance that if you accept Him as the Lord, you WILL have eternal life.  Jesus is and OPEN gate.  He loves you and He wants to give you complete and unrestricted access to the very “treasure chest of heaven.”  Jesus is also the

3.  ONLY Gate (v 1)

I assure you: Anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

Linger a moment on those words, “Some other way.”  . . . . . . . . . .

This is the same Apostle John who would record the words of Jesus Christ just a few chapters later saying,  “I am THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. No one comes to the Father except through me!” (14:6).  

Luke would declare:  ^{Acts 4:12} There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.

Perhaps no doctrine in the Bible gets more maligned by critics, or mismanaged by well-meaning but errant Christian teachers than the fact that Jesus Christ is the Only Way of Salvation and Christianity is, indeed, an “exclusive” religion.

Many Muslims are “good” people (as we use that term colloquially in our common language); but, Muslims who do not “exclusively” declare allegiance to Jesus Christ as the Only Way, will go straight to hell when they die.  Islam is “some other way.”  I’ve know more than a few Hindus who were “good” people; but if a Hindu does not forsake the esoteric ways of the gurus and embrace Jesus Christ as the Only Way to salvation, they will go straight to hell when they die.  The same can be said for Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, and yes, even some Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and Pentacostals.   Anyone who does not forsake in hope in “religion” or “some other way” other than complete and exclusive trust in Jesus Christ, that person will go straight to hell when they die.

People in our pluralistic, everything-is-relative, universalistic culture recoil at strong preaching that declares Jesus is the Only Way to salvation.  The truth remains, however, being good won’t save you (in fact, being good is impossible without being saved), and being religious, not matter how sincere one might be, WILL NOT SAVE YOU!  Jesus is the ONLY gate through which one can pass into eternal life.

Few people listening to Frank Sinatra imagined that the philosophy in one of his songs almost four decades ago would become the prevailing religion of our culture today.  That song, adapted from a French song and written by Paul Anka became Sinatra’s signature song, “My Way.”  This has become the theme of American religion, everybody is pursuing salvation or fulfillment their “own way.”  People are nearly as “anti-religious” as they are “overly religious,” seeking to “cover all the bases” so to speak.

A decade or so, maybe a little more, a woman by the name of Ema Drouillard in San Francisco began over “baptism-style ceremonies” in which God is never mentioned.  The intent is to “initiate” one’s children into a world of “all faiths.”  She has expanded into weddings offering several special packages such as, “The I Love You Package,” or the “Loves Sonnet Package,” or the “Simple Happiness Package.”  One couple using her “baptism services” remarked, “We just wanted a larger spirit to guide our daughter, but we didn’t want to get specific.  I wanted all her bases covered . . . for our baby who believes in angels, and fairies, leprechauns and Santa Claus.”

I admit that is a little funny to me, but I restrain myself from poking fun or laughing because the consequences of “some other way” are devastating—eternally devastating.  There is not “some other way, or ways,” but there is only One Way, that is through Jesus Christ, the Door or the Gate.

Perhaps it seems a little contrived to weave a message on Jesus Christ as the Gate, the Door, or the Good Shepherd with the idea of a person serving in the military.  The common denominator is that both the soldier and Our Savior stand guard at the door of our lives protecting and preserving our freedom.  The soldier does it for our physical freedom and physical way of life.  The Savior serves as the Gatekeeper over our spiritual freedom and eternal life.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who stand guard at the gates of our freedom modeling the character of the Lord Jesus Christ Who stands guard at the gate of our soul. 

This is a lesson we would do well to think deeply about.

The Key to Gratitude

November 1, 2015       NOTES NOT EDITED

The Key to Gratitude

Psalm 100

SIS—The key to a heart of gratitude is in our relationship to a Person, not our possessions.

God has spoken to me of late on the matter of "gratitude," or being truly thankful for all that I have. Many people have much more than I have by way of earthly possessions. Many more have far less--even to the point of not having even the basic necessities of life.  I am in the category of rich when compared with most of the people of the world—in fact, unbelievably rich. Why do I have so much and so many have so little? I did not choose to be born into the affluence of America. I was there when it happened, but contributed nothing to the event. I have had a little success in life I suppose. I did well in the Navy.  I managed to get a Bachelor’s Degree, and then finish a Master’s degree.  I’ve pastored some great churches.  I think I pastor a great church, now.  Has my success been due to my vast reservoir of skills and talent?  I don’t think so.  Any success or riches I’ve enjoyed have come more by accident than by design—if I were to be truly honest.  Just like the day of my birth I’ve been more of an effect, than a cause in most of what I’ve enjoyed in this life.

So, why am I so very rich? When one answers this question, one has grasped the key to what gratitude is really all about. It is not about "stuff" at all. It is not about health, wealth, or happiness. The Key to Gratitude is a "Person," not any possession." The Key to Gratitude is God, and especially what He has done for us through His Son.

I am not likely to get rich in this life. I am plumb out of "rich uncles" who can leave me a vast fortune when they die. Yet, I sit here feeling very rich. Very blessed. I have five springs that keep the arteries in my heart clear for circulation. I have diabetes. I'm loosing my hair (thought the Dr. says that rarely leads to death). I'm over the hill and on the downside of life.  In actuality, death is no closer to me at this juncture in life than when I was a teen--and thinking of my foolishness as a teen, perhaps death was even closer then. Thankfully, the statute of limitations has expired on my teen activities. However, the “thought of death” is much closer now than when I was younger. I contemplate that the book of my life is quickly approaching the Appendix.

Here's where gratitude really steps in: regardless of how many days I have left on this planet--and I plan to be here for every one--my total days of existence remain the same. I have eternal life.

As with the day and accidents of my birth, I contributed nothing to the day of my "re-birth," nor do I contribute anything to my eternal existence. Being born-again and living for eternity all comes down to Who God is, and What God did (and does) for me. Jesus Christ is the "Key to Gratitude." In fact, He's the "Key" to everything (Col. 1:17).

This Sunday inaugurates a month of Thanksgiving in our church. True gratitude deserves more than a day. This week we will follow that admonishment of the Psalmist who said, "Enter HIs gates with thanksgiving!" (100:4).  Let’s read that Psalm together.

Why should I be eternally grateful?  Three reasons come to mind:

1.  Because of WHO Jesus is (v3)

Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His — His people, the sheep of His pasture.

What does it mean to “acknowledge that Yahweh is God?”  The word translated “acknowledge” is the same word used in Genesis 4:1:

Adam was intimate with (KJV, knew) his wife Eve,

and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.

The sexual union between a man and his wife is the “closest” relationship that a person can experience this side of heaven.  Literally, this makes two people as “one.”  There is nothing “casual” about sex, and there is nothing “casual” about our relationship with God.  Too often marriage partners take their relationship for granted, and that relationship suffers—sometimes, it even dies.  When a believer does not fully “acknowledge” Who God is in Christ, the relationship suffers, and it will die spiritually.  Far too many Christians have a “casual” relationship with God which actually is nothing more than a “cold” relationship.  Most Christians are either spiritually sick, or actually dead in regard to their relationship with God.  Hence, far too many Christians lack the kind of gratitude expressed in this psalm as reflected by a joyful, glad-hearted, meaningful and consistent worship to God.

What exactly are we to base this deep and meaningful relationship with God upon?  In one word, “utter and total dependence.”  OK, that’s four words but you get the idea.  Not only is God our Creator but He is our Sustainer.  Two different words meaning, “God,” are used in this verse.  It would be linguistically valid to translate this verse as:  “Maintain a deep and abiding relationship with the God who loves you and provides for you (Yahweh), and the God Who created you by His power (Elohim).”  One cannot truly “acknowledge” Who God is without feeling a deep sense of gratitude every moment of every day.  The writer of Revelation reminds us of Who God is and the praise He deserves as a consequence (Rev. 3:11):

Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.

Notice that this verse almost perfectly parallels the verse in Psalm 100, even to the degree of using two different words referring to God as the Creator and Sustainer of life.  We owe God our gratitude and exuberant praise because of Who He is.  He is God.  We owe God everything.  The experience of a college student illustrates the sublime impression upon a person that comes when a person “acknowledges Who God really is.”

A college student found himself overwhelmed, deeply troubled, and depressed.  He was doing well in school.  He had all the money he needed. Everything, on the surface, seemed as grand as it could be.  But, he was deeply troubled, even fearful of life.  In the course of his college education he learned something he had not anticipated learning—his life had no meaning or purpose.  He felt like an empty container, though his life was filled with all kinds of stuff.  Then, something remarkable happened.  He read a book on biblical prophecy.  A light clicked on in his heart.  He realized that the meaning of life was in the message of the Bible.  He discovered that God had not only created him, but God had died on the cross for him.  He realized that Yahweh loved him and that Yahweh sustained him.  He came to acknowledge that the very essence of life was to know God through Jesus Christ.  There in his dorm room he confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 

Isaiah paints a very poignant portrait of Christ in chapter 53, verse 3:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

Isaiah, like a master painter describes the plight of the Lord Jesus when he fell into the hands of men.  “Despised, rejected, suffering, and sick” describes the Lord has He took upon Himself the sins of mankind.  But, the most telling stroke of Isaiah’s pen highlights the very basic problem of man:  “we don’t value Who Jesus is.” 

The words “didn’t value Him” (or esteemed Him not, NIV) are very interesting.  This word is used over 124 times in the O.T.  It speaks of deep thought or planning, imagining, and cunning to name a few of the various translations.  At the root of this verb family is the meaning to “fabricate, weave, or braid” (both figuratively and literally).  Isaiah uses this vivid word to describe man’s basic problem:  “we do not weave God into the fabric of our lives.”

True gratitude bubble up into exuberant praise to God when we weave God into the very fabric of our daily lives by acknowledging that we “are” nothing and we “have” nothing apart from God’s love and providence.  True gratitude acknowledges “Who” God is in Christ.

2.  Because we OWE it to Him for WHAT He’s Done (3b, 5a)

^3b we are His — His people, the sheep of His pasture
………………………………………. 
^5a For Yahweh is good,

Because God is “good” His goodness drives His Providence.  Put another way, because God is good, His care for His possessions is exceedingly good. Let give a personal spin on what it means to belong to God—to be one of His possessions, or a sheep in His fold.  When I was a boy I was particularly fastidious, that is, extremely meticulous, precise and fussy in regard to my space and my stuff.  I liked everything to have its place and be in good order. This created a great deal of anxiety on my part because I shared a bedroom with my two brothers who were not particularly fastidious.  Everything I owned was highly prized.  So much so, that Mom liked to tell people how I would often wash and carefully dry my toys.  They were my possessions and I felt a great sense of responsibility to lovingly care for them.  I was so meticulous about the care of my possessions that the three guns I owned to hunt rabbit, squirrel and deer looked brand new when I finally sold them years later.  I’ve never completely grown out of this almost obsessive/compulsive fastidiousness, as my wife will tell you, but I’ve made some improvements.  The point I want to make is this:  “God is good and His care for us, His prized possessions, is exceedingly good.”  For all that we receive from God on a daily basis, we should be exceedingly grateful.

If God never gave us anything, we would still owe Him everything, as I just mentioned, simply for WHO He is. The fact of the matter is, God HAS given us so much we OWE it to Him to give Him our deepest and most sincere gratitude.  By God’s grace, and only by His grace, can we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  Beyond that, every “good and perfect gift” (Jam. 1:17) that comes into our lives flows from the fountain of God’s grace.  How is it possible NOT TO GIVE GOD PRAISE when we receive so much on a daily basis as a result of God’s grace? 

I was talking to someone this week about money—specifically giving God a tenth (or a tithe) of all that comes into our possession.  Many false teachers speak against tithing as “an O.T. practice.”  This is a false and dangerous teaching on many levels.  For one, Jesus, Himself, sanctioned the discipline of “tithing” (Mat 23:23).  But, simple logic would show that a “non-tithing” Christian is an oxymoron—a godless absurdity.  Under the Law, the Ancients of the Faith gave at least three tithes plus free-will offerings.  Depending on how one interprets various passages, the pious lover of God under that Law gave between 23¹/₃ percent of their income to 30 percent, plus free-will offerings above that. 

We who have experienced God’s saving mercy have been freed from the Law and we live under grace.  Here is where an understanding of WHAT God has done enters the equation of how a Christian should express our gratitude:  “grace is a HIGHER standard, not a lower standard than the Law.”  Whereas God required a “tenth” of everything under the Law, under Grace Jesus requires “everything!” (Lk. 14:33).

We should be driven by love and devotion to pour out all that we have and all that we are in service to God because we have received the grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Beyond this, we should be driven by an eternal sense of gratitude to vivaciously express our praise to God.  We OWE it to God to thank Him, not only for Who He is, but for what He DOES. 

The roof over our head comes from God. // The food in our belly comes from God. // The clothes on our back come from God. // Even the very breath in our lungs and the beating or our heart is a gift from God.

James tells us as I’ve mentioned a couple of times, but it bears repeating:  Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning” (1:17).l

A poet once declared:

Without God’s Sunshine and His Rain;

We could not have the golden grain.

Without His love we’d not be fed;

We must thank Him for our daily bread.

When I was a little boy my Mom and Dad insisted that I demonstrate good manners.  This included saying, “Thank You,” to people who bestowed a kindness upon me in any way.  I think that our society has gotten a bit out of practice in regard to a basic attitude of gratitude.  I believe the problem is as bad, or worse, in regard to the Household of Faith.  Years ago I read a story about a little boy being raised by his grandmother (as many have been and are today).  She was a godly lady who took great care to instill proper values in her grandson.  She schooled him in proper etiquette in regard to how to act in public, how to speak to adults, and many other matters of civility and manners.  One day the little boy rushed into the kitchen where Grandma was preparing pies for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner.  The little boy entered a conversation with his Grandma.  “Grandma,” the little boy said, “It is very important to show good manners in public, isn’t it?”  Grandma smiled and replied, “Why, yes dear, it is very good to show good manners in private or public.”  The little boy’s face lit up like a lamp and he asked, “Well, if I am invited out to dinner, is it good manners to eat pie with a fork?”  The Grandma was so pleased to see her grandchild learning to appreciate good manners.  She answered, “Yes, son, eating pie with a fork is perfectly acceptable in public.”  The little boy was not finished with the conversation just yet.  He continued, “Well, Grandma, do you have a little piece of pie that I could practice on?”

I think we all could use a little bit of “practice” in regard to showing gratitude for all that we receive on a daily basis from God.  We OWE it to God to thank Him for all that He gives us on a daily basis.  

3.  Because of WHAT He has promised to do (5b)

Thankfulness to God covers the whole spectrum of human existence.  It covers our past.  What greater gift could we thank God for than that he has saved us (past tense) from our sin?  We just looked at how we need to be thankful for all that God is doing for us on a daily basis (the present).  He not only “has” saved us, but “is” saving us.  Perhaps our greatest reason for being grateful to God comes not from looking back, but by looking forward to what “God is yet to do.”  Look at v5 again, the last part:

His love is eternal; His faithfulness

endures through all generations.

God’s love and care for us is “eternal” and stretching out for “all” generations to come, which is another way of describing eternity.  God’s love comes with an “Eternal Lifetime Guarantee.”

I am sure that many of you have seen a product being advertised that promises a “Lifetime Guarantee.”  What exactly does that mean?  Certainly if a die I will no longer need the product or service, so there is no problem if the “Lifetime” is my life. Then there’s the matter of no guarantee without a receipt.  In this case, the “lifetime” is the life span of a piece of paper.  But, what about the “lifetime of the company?”   As my Mom often said, “You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.”  A guarantee is no better than the guarantor. 

With God, we don’t have to worry about the “Guarantor.”  God is eternal.  His faithfulness is eternal.  We can count on God ALWAYS and FOREVER delivering on every one of His promises.  For this, we should be eternally grateful.  By eternal I mean not simply the length of our gratitude, but the depth.

Paul declared, (2Cor. 1:20-21)  ²⁰ For every one of God’s promises  is “Yes” in Him. Therefore, the “Amen”  is also spoken through Him by us for God’s glory.  ²¹ Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed  us. ²² He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment  in our hearts.

Reminds me of that Stevie Wonder song, “Signed, sealed, delivered I’m yours!”  As God’s children we are “strengthened by God, anointed by Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.”  Just like a down payment on a house “seals” or “secures” the right to purchase that house, God’s Holy Spirit is God’s “down payment” securing our eternal home! 

The Psalmist gives us three reasons our lives should overflow with gratitude to God through service and devotion:  because of Who He is, because we Owe it to Him for What He does, and because of What He has promised.  Eternal gratitude will never flow from a relationship centered on our possessions, no matter how much we can acquire.  Eternal gratitude focuses on an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ—eternal in both quality and quantity.  Jesus Christ is the “Key to Gratitude.”  God is the key to everything.

To a world of bombs and bursting shells,

Sorrow, want and woe no tongue can tell,

Darkness, hunger, death, a living hell,

God still holds the key.

To an age of greed and bitter hate,

To the hearts that bleed, hope, and wait,

While the hour of time is growing late,

God still holds the key.

To the restless heart that knows no peace,

To the darkened life that nothing sees,
To the slaves of sin that need release,

God still holds the key.

To the boundless wealth within His word,

Where the trusting soul shall find reward,

To the shores of grace yet unexplored,

God still holds the key.

The key to a heart of gratitude is in our relationship to a Person, not our possessions.