Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship - Part 2

When we say, what are we going to get out of giving thanks to God three times a day? You'll get what Daniel got. I'll tell you, he got a lot more than most of us. There is so much we're missing. But apart from that, do we give thanks only because we want to get something? When are we going to get out of this selfishness where our whole life revolves around, what will I get if I start giving thanks? Well, I'm going to tell you, supposing you get nothing, will you still give thanks? I want to give thanks because it's godly to give thanks. We don't give thanks because we want to get something. Well, we do get something, but that's a byproduct. But it's a very, very good habit to develop. Think of it like a debt. I think most of us, I hope all of us will develop that habit of clearing our debts. The Bible says, owe no man anything. Supposing a person has done something for you, and you have not thanked him, you're in debt. It's like you borrowed a thousand rupees from somebody, and you never returned it. You taught your little child to say thank you for some five rupee gift. And we don't give thanks to people for what they do for us, much more to God. It's a debt. And until you see it as a debt, you're not going to take it seriously that this is something I have to do. I mean, think if you were in debt, and every day you're getting into debt, more debt, more debt. You know that that's not a Christian habit. When we don't give thanks to God, we are in debt. Please remember that. When we don't give thanks to men, where we need to, we are in debt. So if we look at it as a debt, we'll say, yeah, I need to give thanks. And Daniel just, he was under the old covenant. It wasn't a law. There was no law in the Old Testament saying, you must give thanks to God three times a day. He just did it. He was a spiritual man. It's one mark of a spiritual man. He learns to give thanks to God. I want to show you Romans chapter 1. It's a passage we have often referred to. In Romans chapter 1, when it speaks about the decline of man into the depths of sin. And some of those depths of sin are described in the last two or three verses. Verse 30, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, and so on and on and on and on. They, all types of sins. And do you know where it all begins? It all begins in verse 21. Where it says, even though they knew God, they did not give thanks. That's the first step. When you think of this downward progression to evil, what was the first step downward? They knew God. They did not honor Him as God or give thanks. They did not worship. They did not praise Him. They did not give thanks to Him. You may not sink to the depths of verse 31, but when you missed out the first step, when you've gone down that first step of not giving thanks or praise and worship, you're already going downwards. Even if you don't go all the way down to the bottom, you'll go down somewhat. You wonder why you're going down in your Christian life? Here's the answer. You're not giving thanks. You're in debt. You need to clear your debt. Now, you know, you can hear a message like this and do something today and forget all about it tomorrow. You've got a better memory. Maybe you'll forget it only next week. Some things which we have not developed as a habit, we have to practice till it becomes a habit. It's like teaching your children to brush their teeth. It becomes a habit after a while. Many of you need to be reminded to brush your teeth in the morning? Hope not. But when you were small, and all of us were small, somebody had to teach us that. There are many good habits that you may have. You were taught it. If you had good parents, they taught you those good habits. To keep yourself clean, to wear clean clothes and things like that. Why is it the people and children in the slums don't do it? Probably because they don't have clean clothes. That may be, but even if they do, some people are just filthy and they have no interest in cleanliness because their parents never taught them to keep things clean. Well, that's not so serious. I mean, physical uncleanness is not as serious as spiritual uncleanness. So don't get discouraged if you don't develop this habit overnight. Work at it, work at it, and say, Lord, like David said, I will. It's an exercise of your will. I will give thanks. I will praise. I will worship. So, I want you to turn now to Psalm 118. You know, many times in the Psalms, you read this phrase, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. And very often, it's coupled with a reason. It's not meaningless. It's not, you know, a ritual. Okay, I'm supposed to give thanks. Okay. Thank you, Lord. What for? Supposing you say, thank you, Lord, and the Lord asks you, what for? Oh, I didn't think of that. I was just told on Sunday morning to just say thank you. That's a ritual. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Okay, let's turn to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, we read, first of all, thank God. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. That's a very good reason to give thanks. Because God is a good God. We have understanding that lots of people don't have, that our God is a good God. He never, never, never, never does anything evil to us. Never. Even if you're evil, he will not do evil to you. He may punish you in eternity. That's another thing. But he won't do evil to you. He makes the sun to rise on good and evil people. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He does not do evil, because that's not his nature. He's not even tempted to evil, the Bible says in James 1. God is a good God. Every single thing that he does, even when he disciplines you, it is for your good. It's your own lack of humility and your arrogance and your pride, which prevents you from seeing it. But everything God does is good. No doubt about it. I'll give thanks to the Lord, first of all, because he's good. And then it says in verse 21, I'll give thanks to you, because you have answered me. That's another reason to give thanks. The Lord has answered our prayers. Think of the thousands and thousands of prayers that you prayed in your life, which God answered. You thought it was a coincidence. No, it was not a coincidence. It was something wonderful that God did, but he didn't manifest himself. It's like an anonymous gift. You thought, well, who was that? That was God. There are no coincidences. God answered a prayer. Learn to give thanks to him for it. Don't say, oh, that new antibiotic healed me. No. There are many other people who take that new antibiotic who die. How did you get healed? Oh, it was that specialist doctor who treated me. There are patients under that same specialist doctor who died. Give thanks to God. God was the one who healed you. You prayed. There's nothing wrong in taking the antibiotic and going to the doctor or hospital, but give thanks to God. It's humility. When we eat our food, Jesus had the habit of always giving thanks before he ate food, because he recognized this is a gift from my father. It's humility. The arrogant person, oh, no, I worked and I went into the shop and bought it with my own money. Okay. I'd like to see how long he continues like that. Learn to give thanks to God for everything. I mean, giving thanks for food is such a small little thing. Do it everywhere. Do it publicly in restaurants and everywhere. Don't be ashamed.