GOD APPRECIATES PEOPLE WHO HAVE THANKFUL ATTITUDES. PEOPLE WHO FEEL ENTITLED CAN NEVER BE THANKFUL.

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1 HOW THANKFUL ARE WE? ORDINARY 14 GOD APPRECIATES PEOPLE WHO HAVE THANKFUL ATTITUDES. PEOPLE WHO FEEL ENTITLED CAN NEVER BE THANKFUL. I. COMPLAINING AND GRUMBLING INSULT GOD (EXODUS 16:2-15) If we feel as if we are entitled to the things we have, we will never be thankful to God and resentful towards God for the things we don t have. A. NEVER SATISFIED (2-3) B. GOD DOESN T DO WELL WITH COMPLAINERS (4-9) C. NO OPPORTUNITY FOR THANKFULNESS (10-15) II. COMPARING OURSELVES WITH OTHERS INSULTS GOD (MATT 20:1-16) Comparing what we have to what others have will cause us to accuse God of not being fair. A. AN OPPORTUNITY (1-7) B. A COMPLAINT (8-12) C. A REBUKE (13-16) III. DEVELOPING ATTITUDES OF THANKFULNESS (PHILIPPIANS 1:21-30) Thankfulness comes from knowing God and sharing in His love. A. LIVING WITH CHRIST (21-26) B. LIVING FOR CHRIST (27-28) C. LIVING IN CHRIST (29-30)

2 How Thankful Are We? Ordinary 14 In last week s Scripture, we looked on as God led the Hebrews through the Red Sea on dry land. When the Egyptians entered the sea, God closed it up and drowned the entire army. As the Hebrews witnessed all this, they sung out in thanksgiving. God freed them from their brutal enslavement in Egypt and made them into a chosen people. In this morning s text, less than 40 days later, these same Hebrews start to complain to Moses and grumble against God. They were unhappy because they didn t feel they had enough to eat. It should have been enough that God freed them from slavery. They should have been grateful to die as free men and free women. It should have been enough that God punished their oppressors with a mighty and brutal hand. But if we were to carefully read the history of Israel s trip to the Promised Land we can see that they continually grumbled and complained. They were never happy. In my opinion, one of the saddest statements comes in the very first verse of Deuteronomy: 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them (Deuteronomy 1:2-3 / TNIV). Did you catch that? What should have been no more than a 4 week journey ended up taking more than 40 years. It seems as if the nation never developed a true sense of gratitude. In fact, by the way they treat God, it seems as if they felt entitled to all of God s blessings. Two friends met in the street. One looked sad and almost on the verge of tears. The other man said, Hey my friend, how come you look like the whole world has caved in? The sad fellow said, Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me 50-thousand dollars. That s not bad at all! Hold on, I m just getting started. Two weeks ago, a cousin I never knew kicked-the-bucket and left me 95-thousand, tax-free to boot. Well, that s great! I d like that. Last week, my grandfather passed away. I inherited almost a million. So why are you so glum? This week nothing! Page 2

3 I know at times that there are great Bible heroes that complain to God bitterly and God seems to put up with it. However, I also think the Bible is equally clear that God is not so happy to hear grumbling and complaining. When we grumble and complain, it seems to me that we are ultimately saying that we are not content with the situation God has either placed us in or has allowed us to be in. Grumbling and complaining seem to question the goodness of God and His provision for us. I believe, and I think the Bible confirms this, that if indeed we are saved and have become children of God, the primary attitude in us should be thankfulness. The main idea of this morning s texts is this. GOD APPRECIATES PEOPLE WHO HAVE THANKFUL ATTITUDES. PEOPLE WHO FEEL ENTITLED CAN NEVER BE THANKFUL. Let me explain that a little bit. If I think I am entitled to the things I have, then I can never really be thankful to God because in the end I think I deserve what I have. In other words, God has rewarded me for my holy behavior. It sounds kind of crass when I say it like that, but there is a sinister theology that says if I obey God s rules, if I go to church, if I serve at church, if I read my Bible, pray, and don t harm anyone, then I will enjoy good health, prosper in money, and not be exposed to suffering. Crassly put, health, wealth, and comfort are my rewards for being holy. If I am sick, suffering, or poor, it is a direct result of some sin in my life. Worse yet, if I can t find a particular sin, then my thoughts end up going to questioning the goodness or justice of God. COMPLAINING AND GRUMBLING INSULT GOD (EXODUS 16:2-15) People who feel they have what they have because they have worked hard and made wise choices can never be thankful because what they have they deserve. When they receive more blessings, they believe they are entitled to these as well. I think that this morning s passages direct our thinking away from this false theology. We can see clearly in Exodus 16:2-15 that complaining and grumbling insult God. As I have said, IF WE FEEL AS IF WE ARE ENTITLED TO THE THINGS WE HAVE, WE WILL NEVER BE THANKFUL TO GOD AND RESENTFUL TOWARDS GOD FOR THE THINGS WE DON T HAVE. NEVER SATISFIED (2-3) As we put this into perspective, let s remember this. In verses 2-3, people who have this attitude of entitlement are never satisfied. Six months before this incident, the Israelites were hopelessly and helplessly enslaved in Egypt. Their lives were miserable. They had no hope of ever being free. They cried out to God. God sent them Moses. And then just less than 6 weeks before this incident, through a series of 10 miraculous plagues, the Egyptians agreed to set the Hebrews free. Not only did they leave Egypt free men and women; the Egyptians gave them gold, silver, livestock, and all sorts of other treasure. God set Israel free. The Egyptian army then decided to pursue and recapture the Hebrews. God parted the Red Sea; the Israelites crossed on dry ground; but closed up the sea when the Egyptians chased them and killed all the Egyptian soldiers. Every Hebrew was safe and sound on the east side of the sea; the bodies of the Egyptian soldiers lie on the opposite beach. Just 6 weeks earlier, the Israelites were singing and dancing and celebrating the love and power of God. Page 3

4 And here is where we pick up the story this morning. It seems as if the Hebrews aren t quite satisfied with the portion and quality of food they were getting. We know they even threatened Moses life more than once. It seems to me that each one of them should have been content to die in the wilderness free men and free women. If you look at the wording carefully, they are complaining and grumbling to Moses and Aaron, but their complaints are lodged against God. In other words they said that it would have been better had God just let them die in Egypt as slaves rather than dying out in the wilderness by starvation, which is also God s fault. They are in essence saying that God is not good. God s intent was to deliver them from the Egyptians, bring them out in the wilderness, and kill them Himself. If you were to read through the book of Exodus, you could easily see the nation commit this sin over and over again. If only we were free, we would be happy. If only we had more water, we would be happy. If only we had food to eat, we would be happy. If only we had better food, we would be happy. They ended up this ungrateful attitude by refusing to go in and conquer the Promised Land. God then sent them back into the wilderness for 40 years; until the last complaining, grumbling, ungrateful, faithless adult died off from that generation. Let s never fall into that trap. Let s start from this thought. You and I were helplessly and hopelessly headed for hell. It was our destiny to suffer, burn, and be tormented in hell for all eternity. That is what we deserve and that was where we were headed. God; in love, in grace, in mercy; through the death and resurrection of Jesus; rescued us from the destiny of eternal damnation; and provided us with salvation. You do not deserve to go to heaven. I certainly do not deserve to go to heaven. But if we have surrendered to Jesus in faith, then we are going to go to heaven. Let me hammer this home in the most graphic way. You and I do not deserve to go to heaven. We deserve to spend an eternity being tortured in hell. God gifted you and gifted me with salvation. He changed our eternal destinies from hell to heaven; from eternal suffering to eternal celebration; changed our despair to hope and our death to life. In even more dramatic fashion than setting the Hebrews free from their slavery in Egypt through the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, God set us free through the incarnation, suffering, humiliation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Do we really get that? Do we really believe that? If that is true, and if we really believe that, is there any other reason we need to be eternally thankful to God? The answer ought to be a resounding NO! But alas, when we face trials, suffering, setbacks, don t get things we want or think we are entitled to, we become just like the Israelites and start to complain and grumble. I am ashamed to say that even though I am extremely grateful for everything in my life, there have been times that I have complained. There are legitimate times to be sad in life, but the thought of our salvation ought to be able to trump all the sadness in our lives. We must learn to say thank you to God often. I have often heard people facing difficulties in life say, Why me? I am a pastor so I don t say things like this, but if I wanted to be really truthful and blunt, I should say, Why not you? Why not me? Jesus suffered unjustly so we could be saved. Why shouldn t bad things happen to us? I think that if we carefully examined what we believe we would find this thought that if I m good, God should reward me. Page 4

5 GOD DOESN T DO WELL WITH COMPLAINERS (4-9) Let s try to get this bad theology out of our heads because as verses 4-9 illustrate, God doesn t do well with complainers. I have always wondered about what the Israelites thought about God. Because God was some distance from them in the pillar of cloud and fire, that He couldn t hear what they were saying? When people look at pornography on the computer, do they think God doesn t see them? When teenagers are having sex in the back seat of a car, do they think God doesn t see them? When people cheat on their spouses, do they think God doesn t see them? When people gossip or say unkind things, do they think God doesn t hear them? Have you ever seen cartoons where the person is thinking about taking something? He will carefully look to the right, then carefully to the right, then quickly to the left and quickly to the right; make sure no one is looking, and then snatch the item. The problem with the scenario is that this person somehow thinks that no one has seen him. However, since God is God; God sees everything and God hears everything. In fact, God even knows what we are thinking. That would be good for us to think about the next time we sin. God heard the grumbling and complaining; and took it personally. Moses made it clear to the Israelites that their complaining was directed at God. Moses reminded them that God brought them out of the land of Egypt. He didn t have to rescue them but He did. God had a plan for them. God was leading them to the Promised Land; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land that God had prepared for them. Would God just let them die right there? Instead of complaining, shouldn t they have been worshiping? Instead of focusing on bread, shouldn t they have been focusing on freedom? The next time we are tempted to complain, wouldn t it be a good time to count our blessings? NO OPPORTUNITY FOR THANKFULNESS (10-15) In verses we can see that once complaining and grumbling take place, there is no opportunity for thankfulness. Look at verse 10. While Aaron and Moses were lecturing the Israelites about their attitude, their attention is drawn to the cloud. The cloud becomes ominous. The glory of the Lord starts to manifest itself; perhaps the cloud starts to glow eerily or starts to blaze. And then God said, I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Let s put ourselves in the community and let s say we had been complaining. When God said, I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites, how would you feel? I think I would be frightened and ashamed. God went ahead and promised to feed them, but there would be no joy in this meal. By grace, God fed them but there was no room for thankfulness. If they were proud, they would have felt it was God s duty through Aaron and Moses to feed them. If they were broken and ashamed, they could only eat in shame and humility because even though God deserved to kill them right there on the spot, He chose instead to feed them. Let me say this yet one more time. If God were to give us what we deserve, we would be in hell for eternity. That s exactly what you and I are entitled to; an eternity in hell. However, because of God s love, grace, and mercy, we will spend eternity in heaven with Him. He has made us part of His family. All this is by grace. We did not earn the minutest portion of it. How important is understanding, believing, and accepting this truth? IF WE FEEL AS IF WE ARE ENTITLED TO THE THINGS WE HAVE, WE WILL NEVER BE THANKFUL TO GOD AND RESENTFUL TOWARDS GOD FOR THE THINGS WE DON T HAVE. Page 5

6 Israel was God s chosen people. When they grumbled, God showed up and said in essence, What was that you just said? I don t want God to show up and say, What was that you just said John? What was that you just did John? If we learn to live with attitudes of thankfulness, we will be less prone to do things that offend God. COMPARING OURSELVES WITH OTHERS INSULTS GOD (MATT 20:1-16) The next kind of situation that causes us to become ungrateful to God is found in Matthew 20:1-16; comparing ourselves with others insults God. In other words, COMPARING WHAT WE HAVE TO WHAT OTHERS HAVE WILL CAUSE US TO ACCUSE GOD OF NOT BEING FAIR. As we study through this section, try to find a place in your life where you are guilty of this. I am a fairly content and calm guy. There is not much that rattles me. But I can see where this principle takes over in my life. If I am in a traffic jam, I m pretty okay. I don t get nervous or crazy. In fact, for the most part I m content with the situation until I see some guy pulling over on the shoulder and then speed down the road. At this point, I lose my peace and contentment. Now I find myself a bit angry and annoyed. My thoughts even go to condemning the police. Why isn t there a policeman present to stop this guy, punish him, and give him a ticket? As long as I was stuck in traffic with all the other cars, I was content. But as soon as one person steps out of line and avoids the fate the rest of us suffer, I am no longer content. This happens in church when righteous people expect everyone to believe what they believe and everyone s behavior conforms to their behavioral expectations. They then go around criticizing and condemning those who don t conform. In fact, in Jesus day, these righteous people even condemned Jesus. AN OPPORTUNITY (1-7) The problem starts when we look sideways to compare ourselves with the journey of others when we ought to be looking up to see Jesus and the journey He is leading us on. Let s watch this play out in the parable before us. Verses 1-7 describes different people receiving an opportunity. The setting of this parable is meant to be during the harvest season. The grapes are ripe and they have to be harvested rapidly so they don t rot on the vine or rain and mud prevent the harvesters from getting in to do their job. Harvest time is a time of hectic activity. The owner of the vineyard goes to the marketplace and negotiates with some day workers to come and work the harvest. This is probably about 6 o clock in the morning. They agreed to work for the going rate, which was a denarius. It wasn t exceptionally generous but it also wasn t exploitive. It seems as if the owner got the workers working, and then went back for coffee. He noticed that there were more day laborers in the market who had not yet been hired. It s about 9 o clock so he told them if they wanted work, they were welcome to work in his vineyard; and so they did. At lunchtime the owner noticed there were still other day laborers who had not yet been hired so he offered them an opportunity to go work as well; and they took him up on it. Page 6

7 Later in the afternoon about 5 o clock, the owner saw a few more day laborers and offered them the opportunity to work for the last hour or so. They also took him up on the offer. I want to point out that the owner never talked salary with everyone except the group he hired at the very beginning. We all come from different backgrounds. We are from different countries, races, ethnicities, ages, educational backgrounds, and both male and female. Jesus has invited each one of us on a spiritual journey through life that will ultimately bring us to heaven. If you are a believer, then you are on a journey with Jesus. This is not germane to the parable, but that journey will include good times as well as bad times. A COMPLAINT (8-12) In verses 8-12 a complaint arises. It is quitting time, perhaps around 6 or 7 in the evening. It was customary to pay each laborer at the end of each day since his family may need this money to eat the next day. The owner distributed the wages but he settled up in a strange way. He had all the workers line up; those being hired later being first in line. In other words, those hired at 5 pm were first in line, those hired at noon were next, those hired at 9 am were next in line, and those hired at 6 am were last in line. I think that would seem odd to me if I were one of the workers. That order would confuse me, but if the line wasn t all that long, it wouldn t unsettle me. It would just seem strange. Then the owner started giving out the money. He paid everyone in line a denarius; the price he agreed to pay the workers he hired in the morning. Now think about this. Let s say we were in the first group hired. We have worked from 6 am to 6 pm. As we see the owner paying guys that worked only 1, 6, or 9 hours receive a denarius, we are starting to think we will receive 4 or 5 denarii. But to our surprise, he hands each one of us a denarius. Let s be honest, how do we feel? We have been out laboring in the hot sun for 12 hours. We got a denarius. Guys who worked for one hour, and it wasn t even in the midday sun, got a denarius. How is that fair? What s wrong with this owner? When the first-hired workers saw this, they started to grumble and complain to the owner. They accused him of being unfair, unjust, and cruel. Do some people have more than you? Perhaps your girlfriends all have boyfriends and you don t. Perhaps your friends are married and you re not. Perhaps some people have more money than you do. Perhaps someone got the promotion at work and you didn t. Someone has a better car or a better house. Let s even complicate it a bit more. I m a nice guy. I deserve a girlfriend. That guy s wife treats him like a king. He s a jerk. I m a nice guy and my wife doesn t treat me that well. I am a better worker and yet the boss gave the promotion to that other guy who doesn t work half as hard. That guy is dishonest and he seems to have more things in life than I do. In other words, all those assessments could be true and I may legitimately deserve what those other people have. The only way this discontent takes hold is when we compare ourselves to other people. That isn t the way God designed the Christian journey to be. When we look at what others have, we start to accuse God of not being just or fair. Or at the very least, if we are not calling Him evil, we are calling Him stupid. Page 7

8 A REBUKE (13-16) But look how the owner addresses the complaints. In verses he answers these charges with a rebuke. The owner argues his point like this. When I hired you this morning, we agreed on a denarius. You thought it was fair and I agreed to it. Had there been no others who came later to work, you would have taken the denarius and been happy. The contract we made was carried out both on your part and on mine. You worked the whole day and I paid you the denarius. Secondly, it s my vineyard and my money. Can t I spend my money the way I want to? If these are all true, which they are, then what exactly are you accusing me of? I paid you what I agreed to. The vineyard is mine and the money is mine. I chose to pay each worker one denarius for their work; even though they didn t deserve a denarius. So what you are really accusing me of is being generous with my money. The landowner put the rebuke like this, You are envious because I am generous. How do we feel now? Is the landowner right? Yes he is. Technically, do we have any right to complain or grumble? No we don t. And yet, if you are like me, this still is a little unsettling, but why? Again, I think this goes to the heart of the parable. Your walk with Jesus is exactly that; it s your walk with Jesus. My walk with Jesus is exactly that; it s my walk with Jesus. We get into trouble when we look at what others have and how we perceive their lives. I m fairly confident that Jesus and the New Testament writers invite us only to look at those less fortunate than we are with a loving attitude to help them. We are never invited to look at others who appear to be more fortunate than us so that we may become envious or jealous. It s funny, but I never hear anyone comparing themselves to those who have given up more than they have, have suffered more than they have, or have less than they have. In other words, I don t hear complainers compare their lives to Mother Teresa, Father Damian, Christians living in Iran or other Muslim countries, or starving families in Africa and Asia. We always compare ourselves to people who have more than we have. The Apostle Paul never complained or grumbled that he had to suffer so much while other Christians he served seemed to be able to live quite lives. This is a fact. On our journeys through life with Jesus; there will times to just celebrate and enjoy the ride; and there will times we will suffer because of setbacks, loss, illness, or harm from other people. The main task is to keep our attention focused on Jesus and where He is leading. We are to continually be thankful that He rescued us and chooses to journey with us; bringing us safely home to our eternal homes in heaven where we will live with Him forever and ever. What could we possibly be lacking that compares with that? This is so important because COMPARING WHAT WE HAVE TO WHAT OTHERS HAVE WILL CAUSE US TO ACCUSE GOD OF NOT BEING FAIR. DEVELOPING ATTITUDES OF THANKFULNESS (PHILIPPIANS 1:21-30) The Apostle Paul suffered a great deal for the cause of Christ. Paul often writes about being thankful, joyful, and prayerful. In Philippians 1:21-30 we see that developing attitudes of thankfulness can help us to journey through life connected to Christ. THANKFULNESS Page 8

9 COMES FROM KNOWING GOD AND SHARING IN HIS LOVE. We show our love for God by being thankful; even in the most difficult situations. LIVING WITH CHRIST (21-26) We can develop an attitude of thanksgiving by living with Christ in verses For the Apostle Paul, being with Christ was what drove his life. He says, to live is Christ. In other words, journeying through this life with Christ makes living worthwhile. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul said that we only see as if we were looking through a faded mirror. However, when we die, we will see Christ face to face. For Paul, seeing Christ face to face is even better. So for Paul, death is even better for him because he will live with Christ physically. In heaven, Paul can talk with Jesus and touch him. We live in a culture where death is the ultimate enemy. We fear death and try to avoid it at all cost. What seems strange to me is that Christians fear death and try to avoid it at all cost just like unbelievers. We sing This world is not my home, I m just a passing through. However, most Christians seem to be very comfortable in this world and not so anxious to get to our eternal home. Jesus said this, Where a person s treasure is, there lies their heart as well. If our treasure is to live with Jesus, then our treasure is laid up in heaven and we ought to desire to go there. The goal is to desire to walk with Jesus. If that s here on earth, so be it. If it s in heaven, better yet. I ve said this before but if we are walking with Jesus, we won t get overly excited about the good times nor will we get discouraged by our setbacks. It s all about Who you re with and where you re going; not what you re doing. Here is the bottom line of living with Christ. We are on a journey with Christ. The final destination is heaven. Schooling, diplomas, marriage, family, career, ministry, etc, are all stops along the way. The destination is heaven; no place here on earth. LIVING FOR CHRIST (27-28) In addition to living in Christ, Paul makes it clear that living for Christ makes us thankful in verses I think the best example of this is honor cultures. In many cultures, children and adults are expected to act in ways that bring honor to their family names. Almost the worst thing a person could do is to bring dishonor and disgrace to his or her family name by doing something stupid. In growing up, my father may say to me and I may say to my children, Don t engage in this type of behavior because Carlini people don t act that way. For Paul, he never wants to bring dishonor to the Name of Jesus. Christians don t live according to the flesh. Things like gossip, division, sexual immorality, thievery, drunkenness, wild living, all bring dishonor to the Name of Christ. Christians don t live like that. Living according to the Spirit brings honor to the Name of Jesus. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control bring honor to the Name of Jesus. When we give generously, when we forgive those who have wronged us, and when we bring Christ s offer of salvation to the lost; we bring honor to the Name of Jesus. Paul makes it clear that we live in a hostile world. Even though many people claim to be Christians in the world; the world is basically anti-christ. Many people pay lip service to Jesus but not many live with a desire to bring honor to Jesus. If you and I are genuinely Christian, then we are related to one another through the blood and Spirit of Christ. We are brothers and sisters. Living for Christ can summed up like this; love God, love one another, and love the lost. We Page 9

10 should not be discouraged or dismayed to see how evil people and the world are becoming. We should not be surprised to see how evil, greedy, and self-serving world leaders and world politicians are. Our task in living for Christ is to be strong and courageous, to be strong in faith, and bring glory to the Name of Jesus. Let me just give you a throw away comment here. Even in the church, many people who appear to be passionate Christians are more concerned about bringing honor and attention to themselves. The goal is to bring honor and attention to Jesus. LIVING IN CHRIST (29-30) So if we want to develop attitudes of thankfulness, we need to live with Christ and for Christ. But as verses demonstrate, living in Christ is a wonderful gift given to us by God. When you and I became Christians, God gave us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit joined us to the Body of Christ and keeps us connected. Further, the Holy Spirit connects us with Jesus in a mysterious way. The Bible is clear on this point but we often forget it or don t give much thought to it. God connects the death and resurrection of Jesus to each one of our lives. Baptism symbolizes the fact that we died with Christ and we were resurrected to new life with Christ. At this very moment, Christ lives on earth through you and me. In other words, Jesus inhabits earth right now through us. But even more miraculous is that right now you and I inhabit heaven through Jesus. The Bible says that you and I already live in heaven. It s almost as if the boundaries for heaven and earth and time and eternity have been blurred and opened for believers in Christ Jesus. The Bible says that we already have eternal life. It is not something we will receive in the future. We are so joined to Jesus that nothing in this world or the next can ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus. So when we suffer in this life, Jesus identifies with us and us with Him. When we realize that our final destination is heaven and Jesus is personally escorting us there; and when along the journey, He points out ministry for us that He has already prepared for us; and when we realize we are intimately connected to Jesus with an unbreakable bond; thanksgiving ought to well up in us. This thanksgiving ought to supersede anything that is going on in our lives; good or bad. THANKFULNESS COMES FROM KNOWING GOD AND SHARING IN HIS LOVE. If we continue to live with Christ, for Christ, and in Christ, we can avoid complaining and grumbling and we can refrain from comparing what we have with others. Thanksgiving really does please God. GOD APPRECIATES PEOPLE WHO HAVE THANKFUL ATTITUDES. PEOPLE WHO FEEL ENTITLED CAN NEVER BE THANKFUL. Unfortunately we are a people who believe we deserve all the good things we have in life. In his commentary Be Complete, Warren Wiersbe tells this story: Years ago, Northwestern University had a life-saving team that assisted passengers on Lake Michigan boats. On September 8, 1860, the Lady Elgin floundered near the campus, and a ministerial student named Edward Spencer personally rescued seventeen people. The exposure from that episode permanently damaged his health and he was unable to continue preparation for the ministry. Some years later when he died, it was noted that not one of seventeen people he had saved ever came back to thank him. Page 10

11 Too many of us Christians have been saved by the horrible death Jesus suffered on the cross and live lives that are not very demonstrative of our thankfulness. We like to think of Jesus as Savior but not so interested in thinking about Jesus as Lord. If people were to watch us live our daily lives, how thankful would they say we are for our salvation in Christ? How thankful are we? Page 11