TEXT: I Corinthians 14:15

SUBJECT: Method of Prayer #4: Thanksgiving

Tonight, with the Lord’s blessing, we’ll continue our study of Matthew Henry’s little book, A Method of Prayer. The Puritan wrote his book in 1710 to help his readers pray better.

Prayer—he says—is made up of five parts: (1) adoration, (2) confession, (3) petition, (4) thanksgiving, and (5) intercession. Thus far, we’ve studied the first three. Good prayer begins with adoring the Lord and offering God the worship and glory that are His due. After we’ve hallowed His Name, we tell Him how unworthy we are to worship Him or to ask Him for anything at all. Then, despite our unworthiness, we ask Him for things, we "make our requests known to God" as the Bible puts it. We’ve looked at these things over the last three weeks.

Now we move on to the fourth part of prayer, which is thanksgiving. We ought to feel thankful to the Lord and we ought to tell Him how thankful we are.

That’s the topic for tonight. May God give us understanding of His Word, and make us doers of it, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

As for the duty, I don’t need to spend much time on it, do I? The Bible plainly commands us to give thanks,

The saints have always given thanks. Think of David, Paul, and especially, our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, the wicked have never done it—"neither were they thankful" says Romans 1. Their ingratitude comes out in murmuring against the Lord, in envying other people, in feeling sorry for themselves, and other bad things as well.

Thanksgiving must occupy an important place in your prayers.

But what do we give thanks for? The verse I cited a few minutes ago is pretty broad, I Thessalonians 5:18,

Hebrews 13:15 says pretty much the same thing,

When it comes to giving thanks to God, you can thank Him for anything and everything!

But that’s not easy to do in one prayer—thank Him for everything! So Matthew Henry narrows down the list a bit and names three things you should thank God for. (Although, in good Puritan style, he has many sub-points under each head)! Here’s some of what he says,

He uses a lot of old-fashioned words here, but what he’s getting at is this: Thank the Lord for particular material blessings which He has given you out of His own overflowing goodness.

Underline the word, "material". Some people think material things don’t matter, but only spiritual things do. But the Bible emphatically denies this way of looking at things! It tells us—in the first place—that God is the creator of all things, both invisible and visible. It also teaches that God saves the whole man—and not just the spiritual part. But most of all, it teaches us that

Material things are good and we ought to thank the Lord for them.

The second word to underline is "particular". When we thank the Lord for everything, He knows what we mean. But do we know what we mean? "Everything" is not much different than "nothing". We need to name the things we’re thankful for. Henry offers a list,

He says enough here for a dozen sermons, but let me pick out a few items that spoke to me:

1. Life itself. Not everyone who went to bed last night woke up this morning. And some of them were younger and healthier than you are.
2. The preservation of your mind. I know people who became demented, people who had accidents, people who suffered strokes, and other things took away their minds or altered them for the worse. But that hasn’t happened to you.
3. Your home. Millions of people have no idea where they’re going to spend the night. Some are nothing but lazy bums—and it serves them right! But not all of them are. Hard working people lose their jobs and become homeless; refugees are driven out of their homes; houses burn down. But you’ve got somewhere to put your head tonight, don’t you? It may not be a palace, but it’s warm and quiet and safe.
5. Social benefits. This is not worded very well, but I couldn’t think of any other way to put it. What I mean is this: America is an affluent and fairly safe place to live. You’ve contributed very little to its good life, but you share in it. Do you think everyone in Haiti is lazy or stupid? Of course not! Yet they go to be hungry every night and are in constant danger of being attacked on the street or in their own beds.
6. Friendship. Millions of people are dreadfully lonely! They haven’t got a friend in the world, a wife, a husband, a parent, or anyone else who loves them. They live alone and they’ll die alone. But you have friends and family. Someone in the world cares for you.

These are some material things you ought to appreciate and give thanks for! When it comes to material things, we have to say with the Psalmist,

THANK THE LORD FOR SPIRITUAL THINGS

This takes up most of the chapter. Henry divides it into two parts. First, he has Spiritual Things in General (i.e., for all of God’s People), and then Spiritual Things in Particular (i.e., the blessings you have personally received).

Under the first point, he has 24 sub-points! I wouldn’t ordinarily read this much, but what would you leave out?

The Triune God had done a powerful lot to save His People from theirs sins and misery! Every part of that work—whether it’s the Father choosing, the Son redeeming, the Spirit converting—deserves our loudest thanksgiving!

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Had God left anything undone—or badly done—we would be lost forever!

What if Jesus Christ had called the Twelve Legions of Angels? What if the Spirit had not been poured out? What if the Bible had been destroyed? What if you were born into a world where there were no Christians? What if nobody had ever prayed for you? You’d be

But you have God and hope because the Lord has done all things well. You’d thank a barber for cutting your hair just right. So why don’t you thank for the Lord for planning, accomplishing, and applying the salvation of sinner so beautifully?

Secondly, Henry wants you to thank God for the special blessings that you’ve received from Him. They are:

Think of what you would do if you never felt convicted! Guilt is the most misunderstood and underrated thing in the world! Everyone hates it, but we ought to love it! Guilt brings the Christian back to where He belongs—The Mercy Seat. Thank God for feeling rotten about yourself when you sin!

Your conversion is something you ought to appreciate more than you do! Some have made the moment into everything. That’s not right, but neither is it right to make it into nothing! If we celebrate birthdays, maybe we ought to celebrate newbirthdays! Think about your conversion and thank God for it.

I don’t need to say much here, do I? What if God marked our iniquities against us? We’d all be dead men.

How is it you resist temptation? Where do you find the discipline to read the Bible and pray and do the right thing—even when it’s hard and no one’s looking? Only in God’s grace! Thank Him for it.

How could we live without knowing God loves us? And without spending some quality time with Him?

Has the Lord answered your prayers in the past? He has, far more often than you think He has. How many times has He gotten you out of terrible jams? Even saved your life? He’s done all these things because you asked Him to. Thank Him for it.

The Lord has not always bailed you out of your problems. But He has always supported you in them—and turned them to your good. Thank Him for that.

The Lord has made promises to every believer—big ones and hard to perform. Some of them He has already kept; others He will in His own good time. How blessed we are to have a Promising-Keeping God! I feel sorry for idolaters (whether they worship visible images or invisible things). They have faith—make no mistake about it. They’re sincere and committed and fervent. But their god is a liar and won’t come through for them! But our God cannot lie and will keep His every word. If we can’t thank Him for that, well, I don’t know what’s wrong with us!

Let me give you some homework tonight. Please remember it—and do it. Thank the Lord for His special favors of body and soul. Name them "one by one" (you sure won’t get them all, but call out a dozen or two).

But don’t stop there. Start thinking hard on what He’s done for you. If you do that, all kinds of things will come to mind. And give thanks for them. Tonight. And every night till Jesus comes.

The Love of God be with you all. Amen.