Foundations of Truth

Thanksgiving: More Than Just a Holiday

• Dr Timothy Mann

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Startling thought: what if gratitude is the most countercultural act of faith you can practice today? We open Ephesians 5:20 and walk through a clear, practical path to give thanks always, for all things, to the Father in the name of Jesus. Along the way, we expose hollow habits of “thanks” that center ourselves, contrast them with genuine, Godward gratitude, and explore why thanksgiving is the natural language of a Spirit-filled life.

We map three common attitudes—unnecessary, hypocritical, and true—and then climb through three levels of thankfulness. First comes the easy part: thanking God after blessing. Then the harder step: thanking him before the victory arrives, like Jehoshaphat sending singers ahead of soldiers. Finally, the deepest practice: thanking God in the thick of trial, as Daniel prayed with an open window and the apostles rejoiced after suffering for the Name. These biblical portraits show that gratitude is not denial of pain; it is confidence in God’s providence.

Anchoring everything is the “how”: giving thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We reflect on how Jesus modeled thanksgiving before miracles and at the Last Supper, and why union with Christ allows us to trust that God works all things for good. We confront pride as the root of ingratitude and highlight humility as the path to seeing every good gift—and even hard gifts—as coming from a gracious hand. If you’ve ever wondered how to cultivate resilient, everyday gratitude that glorifies God, this conversation offers clear steps, vivid stories, and a hopeful vision for your next act of thanks.

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What’s one hard thing you can thank God for today?

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Timothy Mann in Providence Church, Ormond Beach, Florida. Providence Church is a local assembly of followers of Jesus Christ dedicated to helping people become committed and mature followers of Jesus Christ. Now, here's Pastor Tim teaching the word.

SPEAKER_01:

Take your Bibles this morning, if you would, please, and turn with me to the New Testament book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 5. It's going to be verse 20. I want to give you the context here of this, though, because it is a statement in the middle of a sentence. And I don't want you to be confused. I'm not taking it out of context at all, but to help you see that, what's happening here is the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is writing to the church at Ephesus, writing them a letter. And he is, for the first half of the book, talked about great truths, doctrine, all the blessings we have in Christ, and all about our salvation. The second half of the book is very practical. It's about living out that truth. And then in chapter 5, he comes to this section where in verse 17 he says, Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And then he begins to talk about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. The Bible says, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 20, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all. We're going to stop there. This is God's word that we've read this morning. Thanksgiving is more than just a holiday in November. It's not just a holiday in November. Now, the good thing, though, about Thanksgiving is it does seem like it's the one time of year where it's okay for all of us to be a glutton, at least for a day. But, you know, take it easy, don't overdo. But we enjoy that day and we're grateful for that. But Thanksgiving is so much more than just a holiday in Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is an attitude. It is. Thanksgiving is an attitude. Now, people may have one of three possible attitudes about Thanksgiving. Not about the day, but about giving thanks. One of three possible attitudes about giving thanks. The first is that it is unnecessary. Just not necessary. Some people are not thankful simply because they think they deserve every good thing they have. And more. And then after that, the Bible says that he would say to his soul, and I quote Luke 12, 19, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Now, he did not take God into consideration. And because he gave God no credit for his blessings, he saw no reason to give him thanks. And because of his thankless presumption, God said to him, and I quote verse 20 of Luke 12, God said to him, You fool, this very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared? And so within that judgment that God brought lay the very truth that the farmer could no more protect his possessions by his own power than he had produced them by his own power. The Lord gave and the Lord took away. So this not feeling the need to thank God is really worse than ingratitude. It is rank unbelief. The second attitude, and of course, that first attitude is sort of a form of practical atheism that fails to acknowledge God. But a second attitude about thanksgiving, of course, one is it's unnecessary. A second attitude about thanksgiving is that that of the hypocrite. That of the hypocrite. What do I mean? Well, again, I'm reminded of another parable in which Jesus told of a very self-righteous religionist, this Pharisee, this leader in the Jewish religion, who stood in the temple. The Bible says he was praying thus to himself. And he said, Lord, God, I thank thee that I'm not like other people. That always kind of makes me chuckle a little bit. I thank thee that I'm not like other people. Swindlers, unjust, adulterers, and even like this tax collector that's right here. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get. And as Jesus made clear in the words of praying thus to himself, although the man used God's name, his thankfulness was to himself and for himself. The Pharisee used God's name only to call further attention to his very false piety, his false holiness. And because God had no part in that prayer, it was totally worthless. But that humble penitent tax collector, the Bible says, went down to his house justified that day. Whereas the proud, self-righteous Pharisee did not. Very much like the rest of his life, the Pharisee's prayer of thanksgiving was a hypocritical sham and pretense. So that's an attitude some people have about thankfulness, thanksgiving. A third attitude, though, about thanksgiving is that of a truly thankful person. Of the ten lepers that Jesus healed on his way to Jerusalem, the only one who returned to thank him was a Samaritan. Interestingly enough. But his thankfulness was genuine. And Jesus said to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. The other nine lepers had sought Jesus' healing only for their benefit, and they weren't even thankful. The Samaritan sought it for God's glory, and his thankfulness was an expression of his trust in Jesus, his recognition that he was helpless in himself, and that his healing was undeserved and entirely by God's grace. And as a result, he received salvation. And folks, that is the thankfulness, the only thankfulness that pleases God. And it is that kind of thankfulness that the spirit-filled believer will offer. A medieval legend tells of two angels sent to earth by the Lord to gather the prayers of the saints. One was to gather the petitions, the requests, and the other was to gather the thanksgivings. The angel responsible for the petitions was not able to carry them back to heaven in one load, while the angel responsible for the thanksgivings carried his back in one hand. And so that legend developed from the sad fact, and it is true, that God's children are more prone to ask than they are to think. The Psalms, if you read the Psalms, they're very instructive in this regard. In the very fact that they contain more praise than they do petition. See, believers are to come into their father's presence through thanksgiving. The Bible says in Psalm 100, verse 4, that we enter his gates with thanksgiving. We enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. William Hendrickson very picturesquely commented that, and I quote him, when a person prays without thanksgiving, he has clipped the wings of prayer so that it cannot rise. I think there's something to that. Well, Ephesians 5, verse 20 is very straightforward. It really is a very easy verse to outline and talk through. So let's do that. Because Ephesians 5, verse 20, the Holy Spirit of God is teaching us here through the Apostle Paul's writing when, for what, and how, and to whom we as believers are to be thankful. So let's look at this. First of all, when are we to be thankful? You're very good Bible students this morning. That's good. Of course, it does say that very plainly there. But that's right. That's right. Always. And so to be thankful always is to recognize God's control of our lives in every detail as he seeks to conform us to the image of his son. See, to be thankless is to disregard God's control. To be thankless is to disregard Christ's lordship. To be thankless is to disregard the Holy Spirit's filling. I think nothing surely must grieve the Holy Spirit so much as the believer who does not give thanks to him. And so when God brings trials and when God brings difficulties into our lives and we complain and we grumble, we question his wisdom and we question his love as well as his sovereignty. But just as there are three levels or three attitudes toward thanksgiving, I think there's also three levels of thankfulness. Three levels of thankfulness. The first is to be thankful when we're blessed, right? I mean, that's the first one to be thankful when we are blessed, when things are going well, or when God grants an especially welcome benefit in our lives. We are happy and we are grateful when we're getting a job or when we're being delivered from a sickness or we're being reconciled to our spouse, or maybe this week when I'm going hunting, I get a 10-pointer, or whatever the case might be, right? What other experience you're experiencing other pleasant things that are good in your life, and that's happening. Boy, it's easy to be grateful to the Lord then, isn't it? Am I right? It's easy to be when you get that bonus or whatever. You know, your kids are healthy, everybody's happy in the family, everybody's getting along. It's always easy to be grateful to the Lord then. And it's right, listen, it's right to be thankful for blessings, as the Bible continually commands us to be. But thankfulness for blessing is easy. And let's be honest, it requires very little maturity. The second level, though, of thankfulness is that of being grateful for the hope of blessing and for the victory that is yet to come. See, the first level is after the fact. The second is in anticipation of the fact. Thanking God before a blessing is more difficult than thanking him afterward. And it in truth, it requires more faith and it requires some spiritual maturity. See, the second level is where faith and hope begin. Why? Because it involves the unseen and it involves the yet unexperienced. Right? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. And so, as he stood, for example, as he stood over the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed and said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me. I know that you hear me always, but because of the people standing around, I said it, that they may believe that you did send me. And because he knew his heavenly father always heard and answered his prayers in total confidence, he thanked him in advance for what he knew he would do. And so the believer at this level of thankfulness looks forward to what God is going to do in their lives, looks forward to the victory, prayerfully, that's coming before it's even achieved, knowing that you will overwhelmingly, as the Bible says, conquer through him who loved us. Romans 8:37. You look forward to what God is going to do in your life. You look forward to the things that he's going to bring into your life, and you thank him for them. You are waiting in hope and knowing in advance. A good example of this is as Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel at that time, as Judah was about to be attacked by the more powerful Moabites and Ammonites, King Jehosaphat proclaimed a fast and prayed before all the people, earnestly proclaiming the Lord's power and goodness. And he acknowledged Judah's weakness and their sure defeat if the Lord did not help them. You can read about it, verses 1 through 12. This is what he prayed. He said, Oh our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you. That's a good place to be. And then the king, the Bible says, then the king led his people out of the wilderness, out into the wilderness of Tokoah, and instructed them to put their trust in the Lord and in his prophets. And at that point, he commanded the Levitical singers, David, he commanded the choir to go out before the army, and the Bible says, this is what he told them to do: give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness is everlasting. And it says, and when they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, so they were routed. Judah thanked God for victory before the battle was even begun. That's the second level of thankfulness. Third one is this. Third level of thankfulness is thanking God in the middle, in the midst of trial, in the midst of battle, while we are still undergoing trouble and testing. And even when it looks like we are failing and being overwhelmed. When David heard that King Darius had signed the decree forbidding the worship of any God or man but the king himself, he immediately, the Bible says, he entered his house, now in his roof chamber, had windows open toward Jerusalem, and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously. Though his life was at risk, Daniel thanked God because God deserved his thanks, regardless of his threatening circumstances. I mean, even the very prejudiced and disobedient prophet Jonah ended his prayer from the stomach of the fish with these words. Jonah 2 9, he said, But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, that which I vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord. And you can read that whole prayer in Jonah there. You can read that whole prayer that Jonah prayed while he was in the belly of the fish, and nowhere in the prayer does the prophet ask for deliverance. Instead, he praises God for past deliverance. He acknowledges his own sinfulness and unfaithfulness and closes with that declaration of thanks for the Lord's goodness. After Peter and some of the other apostles in Jerusalem had been flogged and ordered not to speak again in the name of Jesus. The Bible says they went on their way from the presence of the council, thanking God that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. In the prison cell, probably in Rome, the apostle Paul awaited trial and possible execution. While there, he wrote this letter to the Philippian church, in which he gave thanks for their faithfulness and for the work that God was continuing to do in them. And so, folks, if if we can only thank God when things are going well, then our thankfulness is on the bottom rung in our faithfulness. If that's the only time we can thank God. If we can thank him in anticipation of what he will do in the future, we show more spiritual maturity. But to thank God while we're in the midst of pain, to thank God while we're in the midst of trials and persecution shows a level of maturity that I think few Christians seem to know, but that our Heavenly Father wants all of his children to have. See, being thankful is not a Christian option. It's not some sort of high order of living that we are free to choose or to disregard. No, as Johnny Erickson Tata, if you know her story, you can appreciate this quote. As Johnny Erickson, she's a quadriplegic author. She has observed, and I quote her, she says, giving thanks is not a matter of feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience. So when are we to give thanks? Yeah. Now, secondly, here's what this scripture teaches us. For what are we to give thanks? For all things. Yeah. For all things. That's what the scripture says. I think the greatest gift we can give to God is a thankful heart. Because all we can give him, all that we can give to him really is simply grateful recognition that all we have is from him. Everything we do in this life really ought to be in response to what he's done for us. That's called worship, by the way. It's gratitude, it's thanks. We give him thanks for all things because he has given us all things. And because giving thanks in everything, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, is God's will in Christ Jesus. And so understanding what the will of the Lord is, as it said back up in verse 17, that includes understanding that he wants his children to be thankful. The spirit-filled heart sees God's gracious hand in every circumstance. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him who are the called according to his purpose. And so the spiritual believer, if you and I are going to be a spiritual believer, we're going to see God's wise and loving care in the difficulties and the trials, as well as in the blessing and in prosperity. See, that kind of believer thanks God for a job, even if it's demanding and unfulfilling. We thank him for it. We thank God for our health, even if it's far from what we would like it to be. We thank God for our house that we live in, although it might not be our dream house. We thank him for these things. Why? Because we can say with Job and we know what he dealt with. We can say with him, the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We know it comes from him, whatever comes into our life. And the ultimate goal is the glory of God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4.15 that in Christ all things are for our sakes, in order that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. And so the ultimate goal is the glory of God, and the means of giving him glory is thanksgiving, and the reasons for thanksgiving are all the things that he has done in our lives. And so, if you want to think about what it means to glorify God in your own life, you think, I really want to glorify God. How do I do that? Well, to glorify God is to thank him, no matter how much we may hurt. To glorify God is to thank him, no matter how much we may be disappointed or how much we fail to understand. This spirit-filled Christian is overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. And as the Bible says, we continually give thanks to him for his indescribable gift, who is Jesus, by the way. And as God's children, we're to be thankful, first of all, for the Lord Himself, for His goodness, for His love, His grace, His salvation, and every other blessing that He gives. We're to be thankful for all the people that He brings into our lives. We're to be thankful for the blessings and the difficulties, for the victories and defeats. Now, the reality is the only person who can genuinely give thanks for all things is the humble person. The person who knows he or she deserves nothing. And who therefore gives thanks even for the smallest things. See, the lack of thankfulness comes from pride. The lack of thankfulness comes from the conviction that we deserve something better than we have. See, pride tries to convince us that our job, that our health, that our spouse or whatever, most of what we have is not as good as we deserve. So pride tries to convince us. And see, pride is at the root of the very first sin and remains the root of all sin. Satan's pride, the Bible teaches us, Satan's pride led him to rebel against God and try to usurp God's throne. The pride of Adam and Eve led them to believe Satan's lie that they deserved more than they had and that they even had a right to be like God. And you know this, you and I, even as believers, are still subject to the temptations of pride. And the only cure is humility, which comes with being filled with the Spirit. Since being filled with the Spirit is to die to self. And when we cease from selfishness, the consequence is to put Christ and His will above all else. See, humility dethrones self and enthrones Christ. And in doing that, it thankfully acknowledges that every good thing, but also including many things that do not seem at that time to be good, are from his gracious hand. And so, when are we to give thanks? Always. For what are we to give thanks? You got it. Thirdly, though, how are we to be thankful? In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's what it says, right? Give me thanks always for all things too, God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, to give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is to give thanks consistent with who He is and what He has done. We can give thanks always and for all things, because no matter what happens to us, it will turn out not only for our ultimate blessing, but more importantly, for His ultimate glory. When we sing, it's Christ singing through us. When we give thanks, it's Christ giving thanks to the Father through us. Now, were it not for Christ, it would be foolish to be thankful for everything, because apart from him, all things do not turn out for good. But because, if you're a Christian, but because we are in Christ, the good things and the bad things all have a part in God's conforming us to the image of his son. See, a person who is not a Christian, and if you're in this room this morning and you are not truly a Christian, you need to hear this very clearly. A person who is not a Christian does not have Christ interceding on your behalf at the right hand of God or indwelling your life. If you're not a Christian, you do not have the promise of heirship in God's family and citizenship in God's kingdom or any of the other of the wonderful promises we have in Christ. You do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and you cannot have his filling until you've had conversion. You cannot be thankful for everything because for you, everything does not give a reason for thanks. You see only the present, not eternal glory. And sadly, some professing Christians act that way too. But the child of God, the person who is truly saved, the person who is born again, is indwelt by Christ. And you are a joint heir with Him. And you do have the Son interceding for you at the Father's right hand. And you have all of Christ's promises made certain through the Holy Spirit who indwells you. And as the Spirit fills you, you are cleansed from sin, and you are made more and more into the conformity of Christ. The mature Christian, the Christian who is filled with the Spirit, becomes thankful just as Christ Himself was thankful. You do know Christ lived a life of thanksgiving, don't you? Read the Gospels. You see it over and over. Jesus was continually saying thanks to the Father. All the way through. Before he multiplied the loaves and the fish to feed the thousands, the Bible says he gave thanks and broke them and started giving them to his disciples to serve them. He gave thanks before he called Lazarus from the grave. Even as he instituted the Lord's Supper, which we will observe next week, even as he instituted the Lord's Supper in anticipation of his soon-coming crucifixion, he thanked his father for the bread that would become a memorial of his sacrifice body. Jesus was ridiculed, Jesus was despised, he was scorned, he was rejected, he was spat upon, he was blasphemed, he was beaten, and he was finally crucified. You think you've got it tough? You think you've got a hard life? And yet, because of his great humility, he always gave thanks in all things. Listen, he deserved glory, but he received humiliation. He deserved love, but he received hate. He deserved honor, but he received dishonor. He deserved praise, but he received scorn. He deserved riches, but he received poverty. He deserved holiness, but he was made sin on our behalf. And yet he never lost his thankfulness to his heavenly Father. Because, as the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, verses 7 through 8, he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being found in the likeness of a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And because Jesus emptied himself to the point of giving his own life, he is able to fill us with everything of which he emptied himself, including life. Listen, we deserve humiliation, but in Christ we receive glory. We deserve to be hated, but instead we are loved. We deserve dishonor, but we receive honor. We deserve scorn, but we've been given praise. We deserve poverty, but we're given riches. We deserve sin's curse of death, and instead we are given righteousness and eternal life. Ladies and gentlemen, for what can we not give thanks? What can we not thank him in this place today? What can we not give thanks for? We give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, consistent with who he is to us and what he has done in our lives.

SPEAKER_00:

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever. That's Isaiah 48. Thanks for tuning in to the Foundations of Truth podcast with Pastor Timothy Mann from Providence Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. Join us next time. And until then, keep building your life on God's eternal truth, the Bible.

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Dr Timothy Mann

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