Unlimited Grace

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from Psalm 107. Dr. Chapell investigates how the wondrous redemptive power and love of God gives much for which our hearts cry out to him in thanksgiving.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis. This compelling book asks the question of the church, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other? Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the lesson, O Give Thanks to the Lord.

Bryan Chapell: As you think about the subject of thanksgiving, one of my favorite accounts of being thankful in all things is by Matthew Henry. Some of you may like that devotional study that Matthew Henry does of the Bible, but he actually has an account of giving thanks after he was robbed one day. He was robbed and wondered how he could meet that obligation of the Bible of giving thanks in all things. And so he said, "Well, I'm thankful that the robber took my money and not my life. I'm thankful that what he took wasn't very much. I'm thankful that I have not been robbed before, and finally, I am thankful that I was robbed and was not the robber."

They're all pretty much the same thing, thankfulness that though things could have been worse, they weren't. The psalmist has a different perspective. Not thanking God because things could have been worse, but thanking God because he could not be more faithful. Ann Voskamp, in the book One Thousand Gifts, explains the origin of her book by saying she was asked to meet a dare. She was dared to see if she could list a thousand things she loved and was thankful for. She accepted the dare thinking, this is going to be easy.

But about the time you get to number 567, your imagination starts to run a little dry, until she recognized what the thousand gifts were. She later wrote that as she was identifying a thousand things that she loved having been provided by God, she recognized ultimately that the thousand things that she loved were evidences of God's love for her. And the more she recognized that, the more her reasons for thanks multiplied.

She says, "The more I realized I was writing down a thousand ways God loves me, it awakened in me to embrace everything about me, recognizing I didn't deserve them, I didn't warrant them, and yet they were mine. I get to breathe today. The sun came up. My heart is beating. Jesus died for me. Seeing all of these gifts," she wrote, "I really saw the truth of scripture, that no one receives anything unless it is given to him from heaven." She now has four thousand reasons to thank God that she has written down. All the reasons that God loves me, it multiplies her praise.

I think that's what the psalmist is doing as well. As the psalmist lists in verse one what we are supposed to be doing, the words are, "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." And I actually think the most critical word in that sentence is the very first one, "O." Because you recognize with that word, this is more than just a command from a surly psalmist, the way your mother might talk to you when you're supposed to appreciate your vegetables. "Now you eat your vegetables, and you be thankful for them."

Once you put the "O" at the beginning of that phrase, you recognize this is kind of a gasp of goodness. The psalmist says, "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." That's this note of exclamation and ecstasy of something wondrous being recognized. It's not just a command to a duty. And you begin to sense the wonder that causes the gasp of grace when you see the words that follow in verse two. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble."

Awful things have happened from which God has rescued his people. And when they recognize that, it's not just "okay, I'll thank him." It is, "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." You're the redeemed of the Lord. What did the Lord just say to you to do? Say so. Let's do it. O give thanks unto the Lord. Say it. "O give thanks unto the Lord." For he is good. "For he is good." Now let's put the "O" on the beginning. "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good."

Now I want you to recognize how hard it must have been for the Israelites to say that. For he has redeemed us from trouble. In the footnotes of a lot of your Bibles, you will see that that word trouble means the hand of the enemy. And what has that enemy done? We're unsure of the exact time of the writing of this psalm, if it's after the conquest from Assyria or the conquest from Babylon, but we know what has happened. The people of Israel have been conquered and dispersed.

They have gone to the east and to the west, to the north and the south, and now God, we are told, begins to redeem them. He takes what is distant and brings it back near again. I know that just sounds like some ancient account, but if there's ever a people who could say we at least know something of what this means, it should be us. After all, what is in the news right now but Christians by the tens of thousands being driven out not of Assyria, but Syria?

Christians already because of war and because of persecution over the last decade by the hundreds of thousands driven out of modern Babylon, which is Iraq. And to recognize what God is saying to the people of that ancient time is what we should recognize in some way in this time. Our God is such a redeemer, he can take those who were far and bring them near again. And for us, that's not something that should just be national news or international news, but something highly personal if you think what it would mean when God says, "I can take my children who are far away and I can bring them near again."

I think about a couple that's very dear to Kathy and me who took a child discarded by his family, adopted that child and raised him. And now in his adult young adult years, attracted, captivated, enslaved by a love of gambling, he has gone far away to the shores of Alabama where the casinos are. And he spends his days trying to get rich. Loses his money over and over again, and to ante up, sells everything he has and he sells everything he is, and he's so far away.

What would it mean to believe that we believe in a great redeemer, and he makes clear that he can take those who are far away and bring them near again? Should that happen in this life, should it happen in your life, should God redeem in such a way, I know how you would respond. You would say, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. He has done this wondrous thing, we give him thanks, let the redeemed of the Lord say so." It would just flood from you.

Guest (Male): It may seem hard for younger Christians to believe, but people over 50 were raised during an era when 90% of Americans identified as Christian. These older believers were once part of a majority group that understood the mission of the church was to take control of our culture to halt its evils. At the same time, Christians under 50 have lived their entire lives perceiving themselves as a minority that needs to make credible their faith to a secular pluralistic culture. These distinct experiences and perceptions have a profound impact on the priorities different generations have for church ministry.

It's no wonder that younger and older believers don't always see eye to eye. In his new book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis, Dr. Bryan Chapell asks the question, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other? This practical and hopeful book is backed by thorough research revealing how to open the lines of communication, appreciate the experiences that shaped each generation in your church, and unite in one mission to impact your community and the world. You can request your copy of The Multi-Generational Church Crisis when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-4-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: God shows us not only that he is a great redeemer because he brings people from a distance, but he brings them out of distress. If you move into the song, it says in verse four, "Some wandered in desert ways finding no way to a city to dwell in. They were hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them." These are not those who are just distant, they are now refugees. Again, if you think of it in the ancient times, you think of those who were so scattered from their homeland in ancient Israel that they lost their livelihood, lost food, lost shelter.

And that is not just an ancient story either. Just in our own local newspaper yesterday, you may remember we were told that there are now 50 million refugees in our world today because of the wars that are happening right this very minute. I went to a website where there are people who keep track of those who are refugees in our world right now, and it simply described their situation. Some of you may know this website, Million Souls Aware. To try and make us feel what it would be like to be a refugee.

Imagine life as you know it disappears in the blink of an eye. War, disaster, famine. For whatever reason, you have to walk for miles, days or weeks. No McDonald's, no Holiday Inn, no rest stops. You find shelter with thousands in a squalid tent camp. You depend upon charities to provide occasional food, clean water or basic healthcare. You begin to watch the stomachs of your children distend in semi-starvation and malnutrition. You clothe them in rags as beasts of prey, both animal and human, prowl the camp seeking your children.

But what will claim most of them is cholera and dysentery and hepatitis and malaria and infection. Some of you in this congregation have been there. I have been there. To think of those camps, to be in them even for a few days makes you so revolted you can hardly imagine being there, much less your family being there. And yet there are 50 million people in our world today for whom that is their daily existence and their only future hope as far as they know. Nine million just from the fighting in Syria. Five million, mostly Christians, in Sudan. Our brothers and sisters, that is their daily existence.

And should God rescue them, should he take them out of that existence, what do you think would be their response? What would be your response? You would say, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. He has redeemed us from this distress." And that is what God is saying he can do because he is such a great redeemer. And that is not the end of the story. For those who have experienced this in ancient Israel, other things have happened.

Verse 10, "Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons." There are those who are imprisoned as well in this awful world with all its fallenness and wickedness that can come upon the people of God. It's not just the ancient story, it's not just Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel in the lion's den. I've related to you my former student, Kenneth Bae, who even now is in a prison camp in North Korea. At our General Assembly in Houston this last week, his pastor, a PCA pastor, spoke to the assembly, urging us, do not forget to pray for Kenneth.

That the God who redeems would give him encouragement and strength and redeem him from imprisonment which he experiences now simply because he was seeking to share his faith in North Korea. Or some of you know the story of Mariam Ibrahim, a young mother with a 20-month-old child, expecting again, who is in prison under a death sentence in Sudan right now. What was her crime? She was a Muslim who became a Christian. Now under a death sentence with a 20-month-old child and expecting because she became a Christian.

Should God rescue them, what would we say? "O thanks be to God, for he is good." There is a significant difference, though, between Kenneth and Mariam and those who are described in this passage. I read to you about their imprisonment in verse 10, but I did not read verse 11. Verse 11 says why are these people in prison? "For they rebelled against the words of God." Why are these people in Israel in prison? Because they had turned to idolatry. They had rejected the word of God. They had turned to their own ways.

In some ways, God could simply turn his back and say, you deserve it. Instead, this great God, our redeemer, says this. What happened? Verse 13, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good." For what he did to people who had turned away from him in idolatry, rebellion and sin. When they called out to him, he delivered them. He did not say, make your bed, now lie in it.

It was the grace of God of the Old Testament, it is the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ, that for those who are experiencing the consequences of their sin, when they call out to him, he hears and redeems because he is the great redeemer. The dimensions of that begin to unfold more in the psalm if you'll look at verse 17. It says of these who were in Israel experiencing such awfulness, "Some were fools through their sinful ways and because of their iniquities suffered affliction." Verse 18, "They loathed any kind of food and they drew near to the gates of death."

I am not saying that all sickness is a consequence of sin. I am saying that God can discipline. And one of the things that are being shown here is that people who are going through affliction are needing to examine, Lord, is there something in me? God says here there are people who are simply suffering the consequences of their foolishness. Have you ever wondered about that? Is what you or your family going through a consequence of your foolishness?

In the first four years of our youngest daughter's life, she spent three Christmases in the hospital. Every Christmas that came around, it seemed like she would get terribly sick and have to be in the hospital. So frequently was she in the hospital at Christmas time that at one point when she was four years old, she was asked what was her favorite Christmas song and she said, "I love the song about the Holly and the IV." She knew about the IV because she had a blood poisoning so intense that we had to do an antibiotic drip into her heart cavity to try to save her. Scary times for us as a family.

Our family doctor at some point during that fourth Christmas went to a seminar somewhere and discovered something. He discovered that the doctors were discovering that in natural Christmas trees, in their shipping and storage, often accumulate a mold that some children are intensely allergic to, like our daughter. And we recognized why was she getting sick every Christmas? We were doing it to her. We were bringing in the Christmas tree into the house and exposing her to the mold to which she was terribly allergic, and it was putting her in the hospital every Christmas.

We are smart people. We got college degrees. We should have figured this out. And we looked back and we say, how foolish we were. But folks, you and I know things we look back at times at our families and our distress and we wonder, we put God on the periphery of our lives, we did not make him part of our homes and our devotions and our family life. We put God on the extreme and then somewhere things happen to us and we say to ourselves, what was I thinking when I put God on the periphery when there inevitably is going to come into every family the time that we need him so desperately?

And sometimes we think I can't go back to God, I've put him on the corner for so long, it would be just wrong and foolish to ask God to help now. But the wonder of the psalm is he repeats again, verse 19, these very people who are on the edge of death because of their own foolishness, verse 19, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress." The same God in his great mercy and grace who would have every reason to walk away is saying, no, you call on me again, and I will hear you. And this is the God who redeems, and if you've been a family in those dire straits and God has delivered you, what do you say? "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good."

Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit inspired those who wrote these scriptures so that we would know your divine nature and your heart of compassion. You wanted people like us in every situation and generation to know your heart and your power to help us. So we pray for that power and that love right now. Assure us of grace that is greater than all our sin and of Christ's power to rescue us from circumstances we can't figure out or control.

We ask you to forgive us so that we can live for you. And we ask you to change our hearts so that fear and anger, anxiety and resentment fade into the distance because we are so close to you. Assure us that whatever is troubling us is no surprise to you. We know you now, and we know you've got this, and you've got us in the palm of your hand. We are loved and secure forever. So now we rest our hearts in your heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've been blessed by this message and would like to hear more from Dr. Chapell, I would encourage you to visit unlimitedgrace.com. In addition to messages from Pastor Bryan, you can explore the many sermons, podcasts, seminars, and more available to you. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.