We've been a series called the Bible. Does the Bible say that? So many series, this is the third week, and then next week we'll be starting on our Advent Christmas series. But I think it's been a pretty interesting cool time.
We've asked some questions. First week we asked the question, can we say everything happens for a reason? Is that something that the Bible says? And then we asked the question the second week, which was does the Bible say God just wants me to be happy?
So these are like cultural cliches, I call them cultural theology, that kind of become a part of our normal rhythm that people say everything happens for a reason. God just wants me to be happy. And we've tried to analyze that to clear up exactly what the Bible teaches related to that. And so today we're wrapping that little series up.
And so we're asking the question, does the Bible say that we should be thankful? And I think we shouldn't take that for granted, does it say that? Well, yes, yes it does, but with some nuance. Yes, the Bible says that we should be thankful, but there's a context to that, which I think is very important for us to understand and very helpful to us.
So I think everyone knows just intuitively that it's good to be thankful, right? And that we're supposed to be thankful. After all, we have a national holiday that reminds us of it every year, Thanksgiving. We know that in gratitude is ugly.
And I think we understand that complaining is toxic and that grumbling is just straight annoying. And she agrees with me, right? Okay, so amen, that's right. Now, does that the Bible command that we should be thankful?
Well, good question. And let's read that. In the book of Ephesians chapter five, in fact it does say in verse 20, and give thanks for everything to God, the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there it is, right?
The command to be thankful and give thanks for everything. But if you look in the context of this chapter, we see something that we need to be very careful of. And that is to make sure we read things in context. Okay, so if you look at Ephesians chapter five as a whole, what is Ephesians chapter five about?
Well, it starts out in verse one, saying be like God. And so the entire chapter really is about being like God in our character. And then in verse 15 is actually the beginning of a paragraph. And verse 20 is the last sentence in that paragraph.
And it's always dangerous to pluck something out without really understanding the context in which it was said. And that's what we're gonna do this morning is we're going to start with verse 15 because verse 15, 17, 18, and 19 are all important in leading up to what Paul says. You're in verse 20. This command to be thankful.
In fact, we could think of it as what comes before, thanksgiving. And it's a road that Paul is on that's building towards this final climactic statement and give thanks for everything. So as we think about preparing for Thursday, which is a beautiful day of celebration in our country and usually in our families, let's think about how to get on the road to Thanksgiving. And we're gonna see four things here that Paul shares with us about how to get on the road towards Thanksgiving.
So let's get started. We're gonna think of it in terms of movement. What's movement number one in moving towards Thanksgiving? Movement number one is to get direction.
So this is what we see in verse 15 and 16. So here's how Paul starts this paragraph. He says, so, and the so is about this bigger context of chapter five, which is be like God in all things. And here's what he says.
So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. He says, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Now let's pause first here on this word live.
So be careful how you live. Now I like to talk about some Greek words from time to time, right? I thought I'd show you one so you can see it today because this word live is pronounced peripatayo. Peripatayo.
And it's actually a compound word of two Greek words, peri meaning around and petayo meaning to walk. And so if we just look at literally what the Greek says, it says be careful how you walk around. And it's an important word in Ephesians because for Paul it's kind of a theme. He uses this word peripatayo seven times in this one little letter to the church at Ephesus.
And he says things like walk in love, which is how he actually begins chapter five here. He says to walk in light. He says to walk in a way that's worthy of your calling as a follower of Jesus. And here he says be careful how you walk around.
And this is Paul's way of really pointing us towards how the direction and the trajectory of our entire life should be formed. Now we translate it live because it really is a metaphor, right? He's not literally talking about, you know, watching where we walk so that we don't trip over something. He's talking about how we live, but I think it's helpful for us to think this way because the literal idea, be careful of how you walk around.
It's about being intentional with our life and not just drifting. Now that's a huge temptation for us. Here's the problem. We live in a time in history where we are all busy.
I don't talk to anyone who's not busy. I talk to retired people who tell me, gosh, I'm more, I'm busier now than I ever have been in my life even though I don't have a job. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. We're busy, we're active, we're doing things.
But the problem comes when life begins to feel more like a storm than a carefully planned trip. When life begins to feel like a storm for us and we're just about being busy, this is what Paul is warning us against. You know, if we wake up and we react to whatever is in front of us every day, then there's some danger there. If it's about, you know, we put out fires, we're checking boxes where then at the end of the day collapsing into bed and tomorrow it's repeat the process.
Paul says there's some real danger there. Specifically as he's building towards verse 20, he's saying the danger here is that it is hard to be thankful by our very nature when life feels like a storm, when life is a drudgery, when we're going through the motions every day, keeping the wheels turning, keeping the plates spinning. When this is life, it's difficult for us to feel grateful because we're not meant to live life that way. Now, when we look here then at this word evil, towards the end of these verses, he says, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
Now, that's interesting, Paul would talk about these evil days. Now, there's a lot of things that go into, Paul's saying these days are evil, and there's a lot of things for us that go into that. But I think in the context, one of the things that Paul's talking about here in making things evil is that these days conspire to make us directionless. Now, I think that's super important because for us today this is dramatically even more intensified than during Paul's day.
So the Bible says there is a character, a person in the devil who conspires against us having a life that has a direction that's moving towards God's purpose. And that is Satan's entire purpose for confronting us. He wants to make our life directionless. He wants to have us feel like life is about putting out fires and checking boxes and then collapsing into bed.
Endless demands that keep us reacting to life instead of directing our life is a part of what keeps us distracted from those things that are most important. So Paul says it like this here, make the most of every opportunity. Now, literally what Paul says there in the Greek is redeem the time. And some translations even translate it that way.
So redeem the time. Or in other words, buy back the time. And Paul's doubling down here on this idea that we should be intentional about how we live. We should never be slaves to our schedule.
Our schedule should be slaves to us because we can guide our schedules by purpose and intention. When our schedules are in control, then we feel out of control. Because we feel intuitively that our life is out of control. And it is super easy for that to happen in today's world.
And why is that so important? Well, Paul's saying that the days can steal our direction from us and we need to reclaim them. So practically, what might that look like this week? Well, I think this is a great opportunity for us this week.
Thanksgiving week when if this week is not slowed down, it at least is for most of us different. And there's an opportunity for us to reflect. And to take at least a couple of moments to ask ourselves, where am I headed with my life? Am I in charge of my schedule?
Or is my schedule in charge of me? Is God pleased with my schedule? And is my schedule pointing me towards living in a way that's pleasing to God? So this is step one on the road to Thanksgiving.
And that is to get direction and make certain that we know where we're headed. Now, here's the second thing that Paul points us to here. A movement two is to get wisdom, to get wisdom. So let's read in verse 17.
There are Paul says, don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don't act thoughtlessly. Now, this is such an important little statement Paul makes. Understand what the Lord wants you to do.
There's two different mindsets among Christians about how to understand God's will for our lives, how to know what God wants me to do. So for a lot of people, they see God's will for their life as some mystery. That God has, up in heaven, a book that has our direction laid out in it. And my job is somehow to decode what is in that book.
And should I take this job? Should I marry this person? Should I move across town to this house? So this is the way lots of people see God's will, as trying to figure out what it is that God wants me to do.
That's not really at all what Paul's describing right here. Just a second mindset, which I think is a much better way for us to think in terms of what does God want me to do with my life. And a part of what changed my thinking about this was a man by name of Henry Blackaby, who wrote a program called Experienced in God. And there, he talked about the objective of the Christian is to simply look around and say, God, what are you blessing?
And how can I become a part of it? And then I'm not asking, God, what's your will for my life? Now I'm just looking around in my world. And I'm saying, God, where are you blessing?
And how can I get involved in that? Now mindset one, God, what's your will for my life? What that does is it puts me at the center of that. God, what's your will for me?
But the second mindset flips the script. It puts God at the center. God, what are you doing? And how can I get involved in that?
And it's the kind of a shift in our mindset that I think changes everything, rather than now worrying about what does God want for me to do in this situation. I say, where's God moving? And how can I be involved in that? So I had a friend in California.
He was a super successful businessman. And he was famous for saying, some people spend their whole lives making things happen. And other people spend their whole lives saying, what happened? And he was talking, of course, about making money and not missing out on opportunities that are going on around.
And I think, though, that this mindset can apply to understanding God's will for our life. So some people spend their life trying to make things happen. And God's will is centered around them. And most people, I think, end up saying, what happens?
And things are going on around them, and they don't really understand it at all. And the third option, I think, is what Paul was talking about here. It's looking to see what God is doing and getting ourselves involved and invested in that, joining him in it. Now, here's why this matters for Thanksgiving.
And here, I think, is the point, because remember, Paul's moving in this conversation towards verse 20. When you start seeing God at work around you, I mean, really seeing it, then gratitude becomes something that's really natural for us. Why? Because every day, I'm getting filled with evidence of God's movement in my life.
And coincidences now aren't coincidences. And conversations aren't just random. I'm seeing God at work in conversations, and I'm attuned to what he's doing. And provision for my life is not just good fortune or luck anymore.
I'm seeing God's movement in everything around me. God is working around us. That's the first thing that we need to be aware of. This is seen through the eyes of faith.
God is at work in the world. Lots of people just miss it. They're so focused on their lives and keeping up with their schedule and looking at their own interests that they just miss, that God is at work, because they're asking the wrong questions. The right question is where is God at work?
And how can I get involved in that? And when we do that, then Thanksgiving becomes very natural. It becomes an outgrowth of my daily walk. This is step two, Paul says on the road to Thanksgiving, get wisdom, because this is wisdom.
This is the core. This is what Solomon describes in the book of Proverbs that wisdom is, seeing the world through God's eyes, being able to make God lead decisions, seeing God at work, and getting involved in what he's doing. So step two on the road to Thanksgiving is get wisdom, ask God to help me see what he's doing. Here's movement number three, get filled.
Now, this is so interesting that this verse is right here. So this is the verse lots of Christians are familiar with. But again, to understand the context, the context here is how to act like God. That we should be imitators of God.
And here, we're moving towards this statement, which is give, thanks, and everything. And now look at this verse 18. He says, don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the spirit.
Isn't that interesting in a whole passage, chapter five, about being like God, that Paul uses this metaphor? In other words, he's comparing being filled with the Holy Spirit to being drunk. So he says, be drunk with the Holy Spirit. That's his metaphor.
And it's such a fascinating little thing here. Now, the point is that we should be people as followers of Jesus. We should be people who are living by the spirit of God in our life. In other words, the Holy Spirit is our source of guidance.
The Holy Spirit is our source of happiness. The Holy Spirit is the source of that music in our soul. This is practically what it means to be filled with the spirit. It's about our lives being centered around our relationship with Jesus.
This is what it means to be filled with the spirit. Sometimes we see this as something mysterious, being filled with the spirit. It's not an act, something that happens. We're filled with the spirit when we become a Christian.
We're filled with Holy Spirit. He lives in us. What Paul's talking about here is centering our life around that, a practical way. The spirit is the source of our guidance, our happiness, everything in our life.
Now, this verb, be filled. It's very important. It's passive in the Greek. Now, what that means is that Paul is not saying, fill yourself.
Paul is saying be filled so that be makes it passive and it's super important because he's saying that being filled is something that happens to you and not something you're manufacturing through your will or your efforts. Your position, in my position, is that we need to put ourselves in the right place. Then, when we are thirsty, then God fills us. That's what Paul is describing here.
When we're filled with the spirit, when we're actually spending time with God, when we are letting him pour into me, when we're not running on fumes, but we are living with direction, then thanksgiving becomes a natural thing for me. It really does. It just rises up in me. It overflows out of me because I'm living my life filled with the spirit.
Then, thanksgiving is not like a day that I practice once a year. Thanksgiving is a lifestyle of living in the Holy Spirit. That's what isn't the intention for the Christian. This is step three on the road to thanksgiving, get filled.
Then, number four, the fourth movement is to get together. Again, it's so interesting when we look at verse 19 because we think of thanksgiving as a solo thing. Look at verse 19. Paul goes on and says singing hymns, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Look at that phrase among yourselves. Here's the piece we normally skip, but Paul doesn't skip it here. He's describing worship. We tend to think of worship as this, a vertical thing, worshiping God here, but Paul also describes as a horizontal thing here, singing amongst yourselves.
That's super important for us because this is why we gather on Sunday morning. This is why we don't skip church. Even when we're tired, we don't skip church because we've had a busy weekend because we need this. It's not only you need this, it's the other people need this.
They need to see you. Your presence encourages all of us. This is a part of moving towards thanksgiving, is getting together. That's why we need friendships of other people who are like-minded followers of Jesus because those friendships in our life keep us moving in the right direction.
Ultimately, this is how we stay grateful because here's a basic fact of life. When we are alone, we tend to move to dark places. Why? We're just reflecting on internal and we start moving in places of not being grateful.
When we are together with people of like-minded faith, then we are naturally learning to be grateful. This is why Paul's talking about it right here. This is not just a random verse. This is a part of a paragraph where he is moving towards right now as we arrive to verse 20.
Let's read it again because now we can understand the full context of it. Paul says, give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see the importance of that verse being at the end of the paragraph here? So when you have direction, you're living intentionally instead of drifting through life.
When you have wisdom, you can see God at work and around your life and get involved in what God is doing. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're running on God's power instead of your own fumes. And when you're together with God's people reminding each other instead of forgetting alone, thanksgiving becomes something that you don't manufacture. Thanksgiving becomes something that overflows from your life.
And that's the beauty of this passage. Now note here as we close something really important. So it says, give thanks for everything. Now that's super important.
It's important enough that we talk about it here for a moment. Paul's not asking you to pretend that hard things aren't hard. Paul's not asking you to fake happiness when you're hurting. We should be aware enough to know that for some Thanksgiving is difficult and painful.
Maybe you've had a hard year and you've lost someone important to you. Or maybe you are just separated in relationship from someone for all sorts of different reasons. Then that can be very painful and difficult to hear a command be thankful for everything. Now what's Paul saying here?
Is he saying we should pretend to be thankful even when we don't feel thankful? No, no, here's what he's saying. He says when you're walking this road that we're talking about here, that you start to see God even in the hard things. That you start to find reasons for gratitude even if you're in the valley.
And that it's not because you're faking it that you can be thankful, but because you're seeing clearly that God's presence is with you even in the difficult times of your life. And that's the beauty of this verse that it's the end of a road. Be thankful and not the beginning of a road. Let's pray.
A fun thank you for the opportunity that we have to walk with you and God I pray for every person today here or listen to my voice online that we would be reminded that when we have your direction and we're not being controlled by our schedule and when we have wisdom, wisdom to see you at work in our world. And when we're filled with your spirit and running on the power of your Holy Spirit in us and when we're together with our church family that we can find the ability to be thankful even if things are difficult and challenging and we're struggling in our life. So I pray for those who might be struggling today. I pray for those who are going through a difficult period.
That they would find encouragement in these words when you say and gift thanks in everything. And that's not simply lying about how we feel or what's happening in our life but it's acknowledging that you are a God and we can find hope and help through you even in difficult moments. So bless us today as we remember these words in Jesus name we pray. Amen.