Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This year, my sweetheart’s birthday is on Thanksgiving, so we will celebrate Thom Pratt along with Thom Turkey. I’ve got to tell you that last year was Thanksgiving gone wrong for the Pratts. We were in Nashville on vacation, and we thought we would be smart and order Thanksgiving Dinner from Bob Evans. It wouldn’t be the same as a home-cooked Thanksgiving, but it would do and would be so much easier, right? Wrong? Thom went to pick up the Thanksgiving meal and due to an obvious lack of administration and a whole lot of confusion and many other people thinking that ordering from Bob Evans was a smart idea, he had to wait forever. When he finally pulled in, we were starving. We were “hangry,” and we were ready to dive in. Well, the joke was on us because everything had to be baked. I don’t know how we missed the memo or got confused in the ordering process, but somehow, we ordered a frozen Thanksgiving dinner that was a kind of “do-it-yourself” kit. Well, a few hours later, we had Thanksgiving dinner. We did get full, and now we have a Thanksgiving memory to bring a smile to our face. I hope whatever you do this Thanksgiving that it brings a smile to your face as well!
Today I want to explore a passage from Philippians chapter one where Paul expressed thanksgiving and reasons to rejoice. I’ll begin in verse 3:
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
Verses 7-8 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul was a Holy Spirit dynamite preacher and leader of people, but he could never have done what he did on his own. He was great at starting churches, but there had to be people who were willing to come after him to fan the flame, to show up to the meetings, to lead the people. What would have come from Paul’s efforts to establish churches had there been no leadership to continue the effort? You see the word “partnership” in verse 5 and you see the phrase, “all of you share in God’s grace with me.” Paul had obviously been selected by God to preach the Gospel and to plant churches in several locations, but it was a team effort in order to see them grow.
Paul was on the move. Someone had to stay behind to do the work of ministry if those churches would make it. Paul was thankful for those who were willing to stay, for those who were willing to commit, for those who would schedule the nursery workers and make the coffee, for those who would teach Sunday School and work the security detail, for those who would make food and clean up after it was over, for those who would pray with new believers and help counsel those who were struggling. I sure know that I couldn’t do what I do without our amazing staff, and none of us could do what we do without all who serve in our various ministries. I’m thankful for everyone who serves in this ministry.
Beyond the church ministry, think with me about the people in your life who have believed in you, encouraged you, invested in you, supported you, taught you, assisted you, counseled you, provided for you, those who have given you opportunities and have spent time mentoring you.
I’m thankful for parents who saw some gifts in me early, who took me to violin and piano lessons and got me started in community theater as a child. I’m sure no one here could guess that I played the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz in fifth grade! My folks found opportunities for me to sing in churches, to take up additional musical instruments and to start voice lessons in high school. I know that there were financial sacrifices to do what they did for me. I’m thankful.
I remember a high school choir director who was so kind, who was so much fun to talk to, who let me hang out in the choir room during lunch, who made me feel like I could head to the Broadway stage had I wanted to. He spent time with me, time he wouldn’t have had to spend, without pay, to make sure I was as prepared for solo and ensemble contests as possible. He gave me opportunities to take center stage and to shine. I’m thankful.
I’ll never forget the sweet older lady at my home church, Bertha Strand, who wore the same blue dress that was decorated with a lovely marcasite pin every Sunday. One day, I told her how much I admired the pin. She tucked that comment away in her heart, and months later, when I opened my graduation gift from her, there was the pin, a treasure to me. As Bertha turned to leave my party, she gave me a second card. She said, “Open this one when everyone else is gone.” In it was a check for $1,000.00 to help me pay for college at Anderson University. Who knew the lady who wore the same blue dress every Sunday even had $1,000.00 to give? I was humbled. I was moved. Her sacrifice touched me deeply. I’m thankful.
The same happened when I began my doctoral work. A sweet lady named Margie Winters, on hearing that I was beginning my doctorate, called me to her home and said, “I want to invest in your education,” and she handed me a check for $1,000.00. Unexpected blessings from people that God had placed in my life to help me succeed. I’m thankful.
My mentor and friend, Pastor Mitchell Burch, hired me to serve on his staff in Cincinnati. He trained me in the workings of day-to-day ministry. He took me through leadership training. He gave me opportunities to serve beyond my role as the Worship Pastor, opportunities that led to my calling to preach. And when this church needed a pastor, he put my name in and repeatedly asked the committee to bring me over for an interview. I’m thankful.
There are treasured friends who pray for me on the regular. I’m thankful.
When my sweet mother-in-law was in decline in August, meals began coming to our home every Monday and every Thursday. Those meals not only kept me from having to take time to prepare the food, but they also freed me from having to go to the grocery store as often. I’m thankful. I cannot tell you how many times I hummed the tune to, “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”
I could recount countless times that Pastor David has been there to support me or to talk me up, moments when my husband’s wisdom has kept me from diving into all kinds of unnecessary drama, and cannot count the times I have received a text or card that gave me exactly what I needed to lead through a tough time or to make the right decision. I’m thankful.
Who is it in your life that has had a profound influence? Your parents? A teacher? A coach? A pastor? A neighbor, co-worker or friend? Who consistently shows up for you? The Apostle Paul teaches us that we need to: Be thankful for people who partner with us in positive ways. This week would be a great time to recognize those who have poured into your life and to thank them.
Paul helps us identify other reasons to be thankful. He says in verse six: 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Be thankful that God finishes what He starts.
What I love about being a Christ-follower is that it isn’t about a one-time event. It isn’t just about a salvation moment, but it is about a relationship with God whereby God is always working in me. Yes, I know a lot more about the Bible than I did when I started with Jesus and yes, I have had more supernatural spiritual experiences than I could count as I have witnessed miracles, and yes, I have seen dramatic answers to prayer and have had the Holy Spirit speak directly to me on multiple occasions where He has given me information I could never have otherwise known, but more than any of those awesome experiences is the fact that I have been changed. I have truly been transformed. I am a different person because of what Jesus has done in my life.
God knows how to smooth rough edges. He knows how to remove wrong thinking. He knows how to grow tenderness and compassion where there is only judgment and legalism. He knows how to bring revelation where we have blind spots. He knows how to prompt us to rearrange our priorities. He can transform someone who is uptight and angry into someone who is easy to live with, and He is still working on and in me. It is the highest high of life for me to have God’s grace and power be constantly alive on the inside of me!
You see, God doesn’t just rescue us from sin. He rescues us from ourselves.
Is anybody thankful this morning? You don’t have to just try harder to become a better person. You don’t have to empty Amazon’s shelves of all of the available self-help books and memorize ten steps to perform every day to realize change in your life. You just have to let God work in you, and He will finish what He starts.
Look at Paul’s prayer from the same chapter beginning in verse 9: Verses 9-119 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Life with Christ is never stagnant. There will be an increase. Paul says we can abound more and more in love. Don’t dismiss me as someone who is just going all Hallmark on you this morning. Everyone enjoys love. How many of you are already watching all of the Hallmark Christmas movies? Right? You can’t have too much love in your life. Love produces security and joy. It adds meaning and dimension to your life. It’s the difference between living life in black and white and color, and when you live an intentional life with Jesus you don’t have to live vicariously through a cheesy Hallmark movie; you can experience real love in abundance for yourself.
Paul says you can abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you can discern what is best. Discerning what is best will add quality to your life. Who wouldn’t want to be able to know what is best? How can you do what is best if you don’t know what is best? Part of God finishing what He starts in you means that He will give you the insight that will help you do what is best. That is the kind of life I want. I want the best, and I can have it because God is at work in my life.
Paul finished that thought in verse 11 by saying you can be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus. What he is describing is abundant life. For the sake of time, let me just say that the fruit of righteousness is far more desirable than the fruit of sin.
Verses 12-1412 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[b] that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard[c] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
This Pandemic with all of its shutdowns and limitations has reminded us how fragile the things are that man has produced. We know many businesses have been hurt. Employees have been laid off. School shutdowns have caused some students to get behind. Doctors and hospitals have limited necessary testing and procedures. These are real stressors. Paul points out here that the Gospel cannot be shut down. It can never be limited! Church, this Thanksgiving Be thankful that the Gospel can never be chained.
This is good news for people who have been tasked with the responsibility to share the Gospel and for those who will receive it! We don’t have to worry that our job to witness will be impossible because wherever we are, no matter the circumstances, the Gospel goes with us and nothing can prevent us from sharing it. Not only that, but nothing can prevent the power of the Gospel from doing what it does. The Gospel liberates people, even people inside a prison, as was the case with Paul and others who were imprisoned for their faith.
Most of us wouldn’t consider the inside of a prison as the place to rejoice, but it was for Paul because he was a firsthand witness of how the Gospel, even in the worst of situations, was spreading…almost as if God had ordained his imprisonment so that God could get the Gospel to people on the inside of the prison. Not only was news of Jesus’ resurrection spreading in the prison to people who otherwise wouldn’t have had a chance to hear the Good News, but also, Paul’s imprisonment stirred up the believers on the outside to get after their responsibility to be sharing the Gospel.
The Gospel will never be bound. No government can bind the Gospel. “The Romans tried, and it overtook their country. The Soviets tried and their government fell. The Chinese have tried and one day they are going to wake up and find more Christians than communists in their country. Governments cannot bind the Gospel.” The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation and nothing man can do can ever bind the power of God.
Philosophers cannot bind the Gospel. False religions cannot bind the Gospel. Pandemics cannot incarcerate the Gospel. More churches are now streaming online than ever. The Gospel is going out in power and in increasing ways. I am thankful that the Gospel can never be chained.
Finally, I would point out that we can be thankful because for Christ-followers, the best is yet to come!
Be thankful that the best is yet to come!
Verses 18b-21 Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[d] 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Paul was looking forward to following Jesus all the way into eternity in Heaven. He said that death was gain. Death was better than his best day on earth. That realization spurred him on. I officiated a Celebration of Life service for Sandra Rabel this past week. When I asked her husband, Steve, if there was a passage of Scripture he wanted me to include, he didn’t hesitate. He asked me to share John 2. Listen to the story:
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink;”
“But you have saved the best till now.”
Jesus’ first miracle was a miracle where He saved the best for last. Perhaps, in that very first miracle, Jesus was setting the stage for what all of us who have been saved could expect…He is saving the best for last. To die will be to gain Heaven and everything it is and everything it isn’t. No more pain. No more stress. No more drama. It will be the absence of anything bad and will be filled with all things lovely, perfect, joyful and fulfilling. I’m thankful. How about you?
Be thankful for people who partner with us in positive ways.
Be thankful that God finishes what He starts.
Be thankful that the Gospel can never be chained.
Be thankful that the best is yet to come.
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