A Theology of Gratitude - Bible Baptist Church

A Theology of Gratitude

Say thank you to several people in the congregation you’re grateful for.

God’s will is gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:18 …for this is the will of God…
I thought about calling this something exciting like A Theology of Gratitude.
Part of understanding God as a good God is that His intentions and determinations for his creatures are good.
But this is hard to understand sometimes, so I’m glad it’s directly said.
- God’s presence is hard enough to recognize, much less his heart’s desires. (Paul tells the Corinthian church that this is one of the works of the Spirit of God to make known the heart of God.)
- But God is spiritual and we are so bound and limited by our physical nature that it makes it very difficult to find God in places we could easily see Him and understand Him.
Gratitude is the will of God. He wants His people to be able to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

If you can be grateful you’ll feel better. Gratitude points your thoughts in the direction of what’s good.
Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Gratitude is an indication of morality. Published by the American Psychological Association in Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant:
it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person’s moral actions
it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people
when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future. By McCullough, Michael E.,Kilpatrick, Shelley D.,Emmons, Robert A.,Larson, David B. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 127(2), Mar 2001, 249-266

The Lord Jesus Christ gives thanks and then distributes the loaves and the fishes until everyone was satisfied. Thanksgiving turned 5 loaves and 2 fishes into thousands of loaves and thousands of fishes.
Gratitude will take one redeemed soul and turn them into many redeemed souls.
2 Corinthians 9:12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
Thankfulness is the open hand that God can fill
- Notice the timing is when he had given thanks in John 6:11. Look at it again in John 6:23 they did eat bread after that the Lord had given thanks
- Not that they ate bread after Jesus performed a miracle. The miracle is the product of gratitude. Not that they ate bread after the disciples distributed it … they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks… (6:23)

Thanksgiving brings God’s approval in 1 Timothy 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Invitation to be thankful to God the Father and our LORD Jesus Christ!