First Message of the Year

Tonight was my first opportunity to speak at Thursday Night Worship. It was great to be back. I thought the 4 of you who are checking my blog might like to read what I shared:

Be grateful (Phil 1:3-11)

Christmastime is amazing. It’s a time a transformation. Brown and dreary trees are now brilliant with thousands of lights. Dead grass is covered up by white snow. Plain doors are adorned with wreathes and bows. Sad song are replaced by the happy festive tunes of the season.

And then there are the presents… Wow do I love presents! I remember when I was about ten years old I couldn’t wait for Christmas morning to find out everything I got. So my brothers and I tiptoed down the basement steps and inspected the gifts. But we didn’t stop there! We carefully unwrapped each one, making sure we didn’t tear the paper so we could find out what was inside. I needed to know if this Christmas was going to be a good one.

How do we usually judge what a good Christmas is? By what we receive. Even this week, I found myself scheming how I would be able to encourage Jen to get me the “right” gift. We all do it! Amazon.com and many sites like that have wish lists. We can fill them out prioritize them and send them to all our loved ones. I have to admit, I’ve got a wish list! Some people don’t even play the hinting game. I was talking to a friend recently who told me he was tired of the gift-giving thing. He said, “Just give me the money and let me buy what I really want!”

Is that what Christmas is all about? Is the season all about getting what we want? Something inside me says it’s not. There have been too many of these holidays when I walked away disappointed. I thought, “I shared enough hints, but they didn’t get me anything I wanted!” It’s like the movie A Christmas Story. Life is good when I get the “Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.” Really?

Someone once said that it is better to give than receive. I don’t think I understood that until I started giving gifts to my son. Now this wasn’t true the first year of his life. Sam would have liked a rock as much as the majority of the toys Jen and I gave him. But then Sam turned two. We had watched him carefully over the few months before his birthday to try to find out what he would really want. It was a “Stomp Rocket.” This is one of the coolest toys I’ve ever seen. It’s basically a Nerf rocket that you attach to a hose with a big balloon on one end. You then “stomp …let me just show it to you

We actually saw it in the store and got one for his cousin Micah’s birthday. When Micah opened it up Sam exclaimed, “present” and couldn’t stop playing with it. I became the rocket loader for the rest of the time we spent with the family.

As soon as we got home, we bought one for Sam’s birthday. Jen wrapped it up along with all of his other gifts and we waited for the big day. On July 10th, we celebrated with cake and ice cream and then Sam dove into the gifts. He tore open some great ones—a full percussion set, a remote control car, a new DVD, but when he opened up the last one, the “Stomp Rocket,” his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “present” as if it was what he was waiting for.

I’ve received some pretty great gifts over my 31 years, but I’ve never felt such joy as watching Sam receive this one. In our desire to please our son, to show how grateful we are to have him in our lives, we took time to learn what would give him joy and as the joy overtook him we were swept up in it. I learned it truly is better to give than receive.

But I have a tendency to forget this and slip back into my me-centered thoughts. How can we live this way, a way of thankfulness, of grace, of gratitude? How can we truly be grateful instead of greedy? I think this is the attitude Paul is reflecting as he writes in Philippians chapter 1

3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of
you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart;
for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you
share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with
the affection of Christ Jesus. 9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of
Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

I thank my God…It’s pretty obvious to see that God is the center of Paul’s life. In this small passage alone he mentions God or Jesus 9 times. What’s the deal with all this Jesus talk? Well Paul was utterly transformed by Him. An experience with Jesus changed him from a self-righteous, letter of the law following, murderer to an apostle. Paul had been wandering in spiritual blindness. Jesus removed the scales from his eyes so he could see.

This is what we celebrate at Christmas. We, like Paul, were wandering in the darkness of our sin, our willful disobedience of God. But then Christ came to earth as a baby to show us how to live a life submitted to God and then He died so the penalty for our disobedience could be paid. He made it so we can participate in blessings of a relationship with our creator now and eternally! Is there any gift that could be better? When we remember what Jesus has done…when we focus on God…the One who began the good work in us and will carry it to completion, the One who gives us abounding love, knowledge and depth of insight, the One who can show us what is best and keep us pure and blameless, the One who can give us the fruit of righteousness… When we focus on Him, we can truly be grateful.

Gratitude is dripping from this letter. If I was one of the original readers I think I would be a bit embarrassed by the things written. What’s even more amazing about the tone of this letter is the circumstance Paul was in as he wrote these words down. He was in prison!!! It’s easy to be grateful when everything is going right, but I think most people would give you a pass if they knew you were incarcerated!

This semester was tough for Jen and me. Our passion is here. We wanted more than anything to be with you. We wanted to be here as tried to follow after Jesus and worked to make Him know to everyone here @ AU. Needless to say, I was disappointed when at the end of August when it was certain that we would have to spend the rest of the semester away from here raising money for our own personal salary and ministry expenses. There were plenty of times when I became frustrated, and even angry. If this is what God has called me to do, why doesn’t He provide for me to do it? But my attitude changed when I looked to the things I could be thankful for. I could be thankful for a change of pace. I had been doing the same thing for 7 years. God was giving me a chance to rest, recharge, and re-envision my work on campus. I could be thankful for a chance to share our ministry with thousands of people who would pray for us, support us, and maybe even become personally involved. I could be thankful for God taking you, our student leaders to the next level in both discipleship and ministry skill as you worked to fill the gap left by the absence of staff. I could be thankful for a more regular work schedule so I could be with Jen and Sam for dinner and enjoy their company as I often worked from home. Man, this support-raising thing’s not too bad!

Paul says in v7

for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you
share in God's grace with me.

What does this mean? It means that circumstances mean little when it comes to the blessing of God. When we look for the reasons to be thankful in all situations, when we foster the right perspective we can truly be grateful.

So Paul is thanking God in the midst of difficult circumstances, but what is he thanking God for? The Philippians!

Look at the way he builds them up: partners in the gospel, I have you in my heart, I long for you! I would say that Paul is gushing over the Philippians. Have you ever had anyone gush over you? At first it’s a bit weird. The person is looking into your eyes and saying the things that he or she appreciates about you. The attention makes you want to crawl under a rock. But then it seeps into your soul. It cracks your surface of cynicism and poor self-image and lets your true self shine. I love being affirmed!

But do you know what’s even better? Being the affirmer. It is amazing to watch the gratitude work its way in to the heart of a friend and put a smile on their face or a tear of joy in their eye.

Competition is everywhere. It’s inherent in GPAs and honor rolls. You see it when you apply for a job and search for a promotion. It’s even present when you’re searching for a love relationship. Paul knew that life is too difficult to see everyone as an adversary. When we see others as friends, when we forge partnerships we can truly be grateful.

How do we make this practical? Let me suggest a few ways.

1. Spend some time in the next few days thanking God. The best way to do this is write it down. Dust off that old journal, open up that computer file and write the reasons you have to thank Him.
   
2. Find reasons to give thanks in your present circumstances. This may be harder for some than others. I know at the end of the semester you’re crushed under a load of assignments coming due and finals looming on the horizon, but remember this: There are millions of people who would love to trade places with you right now. So many are without the access to the things we take for granted. Think about that for awhile and you’ll be thankful for every paper, group assignment, and essay test.
   
3. Do something about it! Who are you thankful for? Tell them. Buy them a gift. Do is specifically do it as soon as you can. It will make both of you feel great! Oh and by the way do you want to find out how you can know what the gifts under the tree are? Be the one giving most of them!
   
4. Plan to live a life of gratitude. If you’ve been set free from sin you have a responsibility to show others the same freedom. Who can you pray for, who can you talk to, who can you share the love of Christ with this Christmas. At the end of this month we’re going to the World Missions Summit. A lot of us talk about surrendering our lives to Jesus, but when it comes to planning the future we follow the advice of our guidance counselor. This will be a time when you can truly seek God and in a spirit of gratitude say, “How do you want to use me?” If you’re thinking about going. Do it. If you need money to get there. See me.