Fellowship in the Word

Bil Gebhardt: Do you know what the test of faith is all through the Bible? If you want to test your faith: waiting. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall walk and not grow weary. Great is the faithfulness of God. Waiting. How long will you wait?

Impatience makes me unthankful. Those are the things that really hinder what I do. We are commanded to give thanks for everything, and we are commanded to give thanks in everything. When we do that, Paul says you now experience a peace beyond all comprehension.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: Mankind is really smart. And they're very good at seeing what's wrong in the world. And they're very good at seeing what's wrong in us. They are excellent at diagnosis. But they come up woefully short when it comes to prognosis. Let me illustrate that with modern psychology. They are very good at diagnosis. But there are 250 different schools of modern psychology, which tells you they're not very good at prognosis.

John Brockman is a literary agent and scientific writer who specializes in bringing together the planet's best minds to contribute to his website and online magazine. He is renowned for his access to Nobel Prize winners, brilliant thinkers, and world-class scientists. Every year, he invites these brilliant thinkers to answer a simple question. About 10 years ago, he asked a very simple question: "What should we worry about?"

One professor said he's worried because global cooperation is failing, and we don't know why. How about the sinfulness of man? That is just a thought. Another is anxious because he said we're living in a world of cascading crisis. How about the curse on the planet? Another said that he's concerned because, for all the most important questions, he's concerned with the unknown of unknowns. In other words, he doesn't see any meaning to life. I think God has revealed himself.

There was one eminent professor who titled his essay, his biggest worry, "Armageddon." It turned out he didn't mean Biblical Armageddon at all, but he had a very pessimistic view of what's going to happen. There's a lot to worry about in our world, no doubt about that. There's more to worry about now than there was 20 years ago. The thing that bothers me is, sadly, the believers are not exempt from this prevailing anxiety. I see it over and over again, but we should be.

You want to be able to overcome an awful lot in your life and this world by living with prevailing gratitude. Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15. So he says in verse 15, "Therefore," which means he's concluding a thought, "be careful how you walk." The word "walk" written by Paul always means "live." Be careful how you live, not as unwise men, but as wise.

So he says there's a wise way to live your life as a Christian and there's an unwise way. He said make the most of your time, and then he understands our world because the days are evil. He said, "So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." So now he's going to help us with the idea. What is the will of the Lord, corporately and individually?

Do not get drunk with wine, that's just foolishness, dissipation, but be filled or controlled by the Spirit of God. That's his general statement. You need to be controlled by the Spirit of God. Then he says, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. In other words, you have personal and corporate worship as part of your life if the Spirit of God is controlling you.

And then he says this: "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father." Always giving thanks for all things. Does that seem right to you? Is that how you live? You thank God for all things. It's an interesting thing, isn't it? It seems almost impossible to us. But what Paul's already told us in this letter: God is completely sovereign over all things.

Everything that happens in your life, everything that happens in the world, he says, "I'm still sovereign." So he said, "I want you then to be thankful for all things." In fact, to be thankless is to be one who disregards God. I'm not thankful for that, God. God says you should be. That's the way this works. In fact, we're not only not thankful at times, we're thankless because we don't really believe God's in control.

But I think something else happens to us too, and that is that we start thinking and questioning. Is God wise or good? Like, if God was wise and good, the world wouldn't be the way it is. Here's my statement to that: oh, yes it would. It would be exactly the way it is because God is wise and is good. Now, I didn't say, please, that everything in the world is good, because it's not. That's pretty clear.

The sinfulness of man and the curse on the planet make that abundantly clear. But he says, "Look, Romans 8:28, I work out all things for the good." Not some things, all things. He's in the redeeming business. I take everything that's terrible and I make it good. Question is, do you believe that? I'm not so sure we do. And how do I do it for all things? How does that happen, especially when my life's not going well?

I want to illustrate that. I want you to go to the book of Acts chapter 5, verse 17. Luke writes this: he said the high priest rose up along with his always associates, that is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy. So they laid their hands on the apostles and they put them in jail. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out, he said, "Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of life."

So they're in jail, and in prison, he comes, gets them out, and says go to the temple and speak to the people. Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and they just began to teach. Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the council together, even all the senate of the sons of Israel, and they sent orders to the prison that housed them to bring the prisoners to us.

So the officers who came did not find them in prison, and they returned and they reported back. And they said, "We found the prison house locked quite securely, and the guards standing at the doors, but when we had opened it up, we didn't find anyone inside." Bear with me here. If you were doing that, would you pause for a moment and think about that? Let's see, the guards are at the door, it's locked, and they're not there.

Now, would that make you think about anything? It surely should. Not these guys. They don't even care about that. It says, "Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them and what would come of it. But someone came and reported to them, 'The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people.'"

And then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back, but he did it without violence because they were afraid of the people, they thought they might stone them. The people are listening. They said we've got to take these guys because they'll stone us. And when they brought them, they stood them before the council, that's the Sanhedrin, and the high priest questioned them and said, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us."

How ironic that would be, considering they crucified Christ. Peter said, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

Well, the council didn't like that. When they heard this, they were cut to the quick; they intended to kill them. That's the solution. We killed their master, let's just kill them. Gamaliel says, "I don't think we should do that. Remember in the past there's been guys who had a nice little following and then it vanished and never came to anything." And he used two examples of guys who had a following of a small group of people and then it didn't do anything.

He said, "That's what could happen here. On the other hand, if these guys are speaking for God, you can't stop it. There's no way you're going to stop it if they're speaking for God." So, verse 40, they took his advice, and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus Christ, and they released them. Now, would you call that a good day so far? Been arrested, been put in prison, and now you're flogged.

Well, after they got flogged, it says, "And they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name." What? They're grateful. Thank you, Jesus. They were rejoicing after being flogged and imprisoned. They're thanking him for all things. I'm happy with this. Just imagine what that'd be like. Imagine yourself in that scenario. Would you be full of joy at that moment?

Now, go with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we'll start in verse 16. Paul again, he's summing up the whole letter, and he gives some very short, wonderful commands. The first one in 16 is "rejoice always." That's the word, right? Always. How many of you have ever had a joyful moment? A joyful hour? A joyful day? A joyful week? A joyful month? Now you know you're not telling me the truth. No, we're not.

He said, "Rejoice always." Paul was in prison writing epistles, and the whole point of the Philippian epistle is it's full of joy, and he's in prison. He thought he was going to be condemned to death. And he talks about his joy. He said, "Rejoice always." Then he says, "Pray without ceasing." We talked about that last week. Prayer is not just us giving our petitions to God. God uses prayer in us to prepare us and help us grow, so that we can experience the presence of God in our lives.

And then this: "In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." First, he said for everything give thanks, now he says in everything give thanks. The "for" thing sort of gives us an out, doesn't it? And here's what I mean by that. Have you ever gone through a terrible experience, and it was terrible, and then you get on the other side of it, maybe a month later, and then you say, "God, you know, I know you used that thing, thank you"? That's looking back.

"For" allows me to look back. "In" doesn't allow me to look back. It means in the middle of it. While I'm going through it. "In everything give thanks." Oh, and by the way, since you're not clear enough, this is God's will for you. And people do this all the time. I can't tell you how many times over the years someone will come to me, and it's never about something like this: "Pastor, I need to know what God's will is for me."

What do you mean? "Well, should I marry him or her? Is this the right spouse? Should I take the job in Topeka?" And I said, well, God doesn't say that. But the Bible does say this: "In everything give thanks, it's God's will for you." We're not interested in God's will that way. God is. He says in everything, you need to give thanks.

The mark of being an unbeliever, according to Romans 1, when God is condemning humanity that rejects God, the one thing that he says is—you know what really bothers God the most? They would not thank him. We're not thanking God. No matter what, we're not going to thank him. And so that's God's point of view. Thanklessness in that sense is again a rejection of God. God is in all things. Giving thanks glorifies God.

Now, for the first time, let me say it this way. Even secular people are picking up on this for the first time. Foremost researcher in the field's Dr. Robert Emmons. He's at the University of California, Davis. He wrote his book *Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier*. And he explained—now this is important—how everyone is born with certain preset elements to their personality.

In fact, he said, current psychological dogma—this is what all psychology believes, he said—current psychological dogma states that one's capacity for joy is biologically set in your DNA. Each person appears to have a set point for happiness. Each person has a chronic or characteristic level of happiness to which they inevitably return following disruptive lives and their events.

I want you to think about that. You're as happy as your genes, and you're as miserable as your genes. And it's set. There's nothing you can do to change any of it. Now notice what that does from a psychological point of view in our culture, though. Like everything else, that means what? I'm not responsible for my misery. I have no responsibility for it. I'm just preset that way. There's nothing I can do about it.

We've done this with everything. I mean we do it with almost everything in life. You're an addict, it's not your fault; that's a disease you have. You have nothing you can do about it. If that's true, then let's take it to its logical end: why do we condemn a serial killer? He's genetically predisposed to kill people. That's not his fault. You see that's illogical, isn't it? Of course, it is.

So Dr. Emmons, he decided then, he became sort of preoccupied with saying I'm going to do some research on this subject. So he did. And here's his conclusion: "We discovered scientific proof that when people regularly engage in systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits: psychological, physical, and interpersonal. The evidence on gratitude contradicts the widely held view that all people have a set point of happiness that cannot be reset by any known means. In some cases, people have reported that gratitude led to a transformation in their lives." And that stunned them.

He goes on: "Our groundbreaking research has shown that grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, optimism, and peace, and that the practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness." Wow. That's what research—I wonder how much that cost, just the research. Gratitude actually worked in people. It was stunning. None of us expected it.

Now there's something he didn't say, most important question. If you're experiencing gratitude, who are you thanking? Like, who's he talking about? Are they thanking the cosmos? Fate? Luck? Who do you thank? If you're full of gratitude, it has to be towards something. He never mentions that. He just says gratitude in and of itself is enough. Well, it's not.

The great Bible teacher Harry Ironside said, "We would worry less if we thanked God more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction." Boy, he's exactly right. You see, that's the case. That's the way this whole thing works. Now, I'd like you to go with me to Philippians 4, where we've been before, and back again at verse 6.

Here comes the commandment again: "Be anxious for nothing." I say this over and over, just like the words of the Lord. You and I have no wiggle room with God for worry and anxiety. You can never say to God, "but." "Yeah, I know that's true, but you have to understand my circumstances. They're really tough." Yeah, I bet they are.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication." Remember last time we talked about this. In prayer and supplication, God changes me. David strengthened himself through prayer. Hannah strengthened herself through prayer. Paul strengthened himself with a thorn in the flesh through prayer. Now he says, "In everything and by prayer and supplication with," and there it is, "thanksgiving. With thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God."

Gratitude is one of the greatest virtues of any believer. Notice again "with thanksgiving." And he's not saying when I'm praying what we do: if God gives me what I want, I'll thank him later. No, it's while I'm praying, I'm thanking God. Why? He's sovereign, he's wise, he's good, he loves me. So why wouldn't I thank him now? Why do I have to wait for my result before I thank God?

You see, that's the whole point. So he says if you do that, notice, that's a wonderful thing. And it's more than what the doctor in California said. It's not that I just lose my envy or I have a higher self-esteem. There's something else I have here: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Wow. The peace of God. Jesus said in John, he said, "My peace I give to you." He says not as the world gives peace. The world gives peace based on what? Circumstances. If you have great circumstances, you have peace. You know that; you know it in your own family. Man, it's been a peaceful week. Why? The kids, this week they've been great. I don't know whose kids they are, but it's been wonderful. They haven't done anything.

If it's circumstantial, everybody has peace. But he said the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. It's the peace that the apostles had in Acts 5. Somebody would have said to them, "Look, you guys just got your flesh ripped off by the flogging. What are you so thankful for?" You see, it's God. That's what he is saying, of Jesus Christ our Lord. That's our gratitude.

Can death take our joy? No, Jesus is greater than death. Can failure then take our joy? No, Jesus is greater than our sin. Can betrayal take our joy? No, Jesus said I'll never leave you. Can sickness take our joy? No, God has promised that whether on this side of the grave or the other, I will heal you. What you and I have in Jesus Christ is greater than anything we don't have in life. That's his point.

It's a wonderful thing. There's only one problem with it. Gratitude is not natural to your flesh. In our flesh, we are not people of gratitude. But we can be. You remember the whole story of Joseph. It's a great story. Grows up in a completely dysfunctional family. His brothers, except for Benjamin, ten of them hate his guts. They decide let's kill him.

And then one of them said, "I don't think we should kill him. It'd really break Dad's heart. So let's sell him as a slave." So they throw him in a hole and then he gets sold as a slave. And he gets sold as a slave and they send him obviously to Egypt. And you know what happened there. He's abandoned by his family, he's hated, then he's enslaved, he's betrayed, he's imprisoned. It's about as bad as your life could go.

And then according to good fortune, he's got a chance to get even. There's a famine in the land, and his brothers come down to Egypt for food. And he's the Prime Minister. And they don't know it. Now you could be thinking all this stuff you did to me, now's my chance. That's not what Joseph said at all.

In fact, in Genesis 50, Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? Why? Because this is where I am. God is sovereign; all things work together for good. I'm where God has me. I'm in God's place." He said, "As for you, you meant evil against me. God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. So therefore, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones."

And so he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. That's what I'm talking about. What's he experiencing? The presence of God in his life. How does he do that? He's grateful. And he's grateful in circumstances that most of us would say you can't be grateful for this. You've been abandoned by your family, sold as a slave, thrown into prison. You can't be grateful. He said I am. God has me here.

The question is: what hinders our gratitude? What is the barrier that we face? I think the first one we face is doubt. We doubt God's wisdom and God's goodness. I've heard people say it: "If I were God, it would be different." Do you have any concept of how stupid that sounds? "If I were God, I'd be better than God." Really, you would. You would doubt his goodness. We doubt his love. We doubt his word. If you're a doubting person, you're not going to have much gratitude.

Secondly, innate to all of us: selfishness. I simply want what I want when I want it, and if I don't get what I want when I want it, I'm upset. Well, then you'll never be filled with gratitude because I hate to shock you, you won't always get what you wanted when you wanted it. That's just called life.

Thirdly, you've done this for so long you've developed a critical spirit. I've seen it all the time. I really believe this. People who have innate critical spirits are never thankful, or very rarely. I understand one thing about having a critical spirit: it's almost always justified. But not by you. What do you mean by that? If I wanted to criticize all of you that I know, I know enough to be critical of you. You see what I mean? I know enough.

And I don't know everything. Your spouse would be a lot better at criticizing you than I would. They know you better. But if you're saying I want to be critical of the way the world is, I want to be critical of the way these people act, well then you're going to be critical your whole life because it's people. Totally depraved sinful human beings are easy to be critical of. But if you champion a critical spirit throughout your life, all you end up with is a bitter person. They're bitter. Bitter people are not full of gratitude.

And then the last one is, and it applies to almost all of us: impatience. Impatience will make you ungrateful. Come on, I've been praying about this an hour and a half. Come on, I want it now. You know what the test of faith is all through the Bible? Want to test your faith? Waiting. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall walk and not grow weary. Great is the faithfulness of God. Waiting. How long will you wait?

You see, impatience makes me unthankful. Those are the things that really hinder what I do. We are commanded to give thanks for everything and we are commanded to give thanks in everything. And when we do that, Paul says you now experience a peace beyond all comprehension.

And in the next verse I love what he says here: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." You see, if you're full of gratitude, guess what happens? You have a tendency to think positive thoughts instead of the tendency to think negative thoughts.

And now even the researchers have come up and realized what has been in the Bible for a couple thousand years. Grateful people experience a higher quality life than people who are filled with ingratitude. Cultivating gratitude in your life is an extremely important thing if you're ever going to experience the presence of God in your life, no matter what's going on on the outside.

Jason Gebhardt: You've been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you'd just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well.

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If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bil delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnoia.org. That's fbcnoia.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bil's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title.

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