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Gratitude for God's Grace & Goodness
25 Plays15 days ago
Psalm 118
Recommended
Transcript
Exploring Gratitude and Tipping Culture
00:00:00
Speaker
Imagine for a moment a very common experience that that we all share. We show up at a restaurant these days, the waiter comes to your table, he takes your order, he places that order in the back, the cook prepares your meal, they bring it to the table, you have a great time with your company and you eat up.
00:00:23
Speaker
At the very end of the meal, he shows up with this long slip of paper And he throws it on the table. And immediately you start scanning that bill.
00:00:34
Speaker
What was charged to me, right? We all do it. What was the total of this meal? And at the very bottom there's a space, an intentional blank line that says, gratuity, tip, right?
00:00:53
Speaker
It's something when that bill arrives, you and I automatically look down to. How do we calculate that? Is it a percentage? 10%?
00:01:03
Speaker
twenty percent 20%? 25%? Starbucks would have you think it's 28%?
00:01:15
Speaker
It's influenced, or should be, by the service you receive. Amen?
00:01:23
Speaker
Oftentimes we just scribble a number in there without any thought. Gratuity.
00:01:30
Speaker
The waiter performed a service to you. If it was great service, you you tip. You give him gratuity or her gratuity based upon that service.
00:01:43
Speaker
What I'm unaware of these days is when you're at a coffee shop and they flip over the screen and they make you pick a gratuity right there, right on the screen, right when everybody else is standing right behind you in line, guilting you into tipping for coffee that they're simply passing over the counter to you.
Root of Gratuity: Gratitude or Transaction?
00:02:06
Speaker
um Perhaps I'm, you Lone man on an island here. Not really sure the service that's being done to me as they pass the coffee across the table.
00:02:19
Speaker
Gratuity, brothers and sisters, is
00:02:25
Speaker
optional. Maybe I should start with that today. It's optional. That word gratuity comes from the same root word as gratitude that we're learning about today.
00:02:36
Speaker
I want you know it was never meant to be transactional. I get the coffee, I give the tip. It was never meant to be that way. It was always meant to be in response to a service or something given to you.
00:02:51
Speaker
It's a tangible way of saying, I've received something from you that matters. But somewhere along the line, gratitude has become expected, pre-calculated,
00:03:04
Speaker
and occasionally, if I'm transparent, resent it. Instead of it being freely given, you should be excited to give a gratuity for service well done.
00:03:16
Speaker
It's a response, not an obligation. So I put a question to myself this year as we step into 2026. If gratitude is meant to be a lived out response,
00:03:29
Speaker
not a forced obligation, what does that genuine gratitude look like in 2026?
Understanding Psalm 118's Message
00:03:36
Speaker
What does gratitude toward God look like in 2026? What is gratitude to your brothers and sisters in Christ in 2026? This is what we're going look at Psalm 118 today. i love Psalm 118 because it is...
00:03:52
Speaker
It's beautiful in its structure. I provided you a a structure in your notes. You'll see that. When I when i come across in in my study something that I think is important to see, I try to put that for for your viewing pleasure down there.
00:04:06
Speaker
um It's well structured. It's the very last of these praise psalms. This is a the halal psalms. This is that Hebrew word that that we get hallelujah from.
00:04:19
Speaker
Halle means to praise. Yah means God. So when we say hallelujah, that really means y'all. Y'all praise God. Or as the people up north would say, you all.
00:04:31
Speaker
You guys. You guys praise God. That's what hallelujah really means. This song, this psalm was sung during Passover. It was a communal testimony of God's saving faithfulness and it was lightly sung after some national danger that Israel faced.
00:04:53
Speaker
it's It's a song sung by you guys, the church, the community of people, but it's also very personal. It's intimate.
00:05:04
Speaker
It's personal. And it moves from this corporate praise, what we just all did. we just We're all corporately praising together, singing, holy, holy, holy.
00:05:15
Speaker
It's what we did when Brother West got up here and and read the scripture. we're We're communally responding in praise. And he moves from this corporate praise to an individual praise to this triumphant confidence in God.
00:05:30
Speaker
And this is where we're going to go as you see Psalm 118. look Look in your notes there in the structure. You'll see verse 1 is the introduction. Verse 29 is the the conclusion. Right in the middle we have four calls, four moves. The call, the confidence, the confession, the celebration.
00:05:46
Speaker
And I know you're thinking yourself, surely we're not going to go through four of those today. Don't worry, I'm going to combine the last two into one.
00:05:55
Speaker
Look with me here at the introduction here in this first move or the call. Psalm 118 verses 1 through 4 as I read and you look along in your Bible.
00:06:07
Speaker
Give thanks the Lord for he good. His faithful love endures forever. Let all Israel repeat. His faithful love endures forever. Let Aaron's descendants, the priests, repeat. His faithful love endures forever.
00:06:22
Speaker
Let all who fear the Lord repeat, his faithful love endures forever.
00:06:29
Speaker
Anytime we talk about repetition, remember we've often said this in the Old Testament, you know the author's doing something, he's repeating on purpose. it's not As you read through this, you go, oh that's interesting, there's repetition there. no It's there for a reason, it's there to draw your attention And he says, not only let Israel repeat this, but let the priests repeat this. Not only the priests, but all who fear the Lord repeat this.
00:06:54
Speaker
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
00:07:00
Speaker
His faithful love endures forever. He doesn't start with the circumstance or the situation. He doesn't say your situation is good. Matter of fact, their situation wasn't good.
00:07:11
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We'll see that their enemies were all around them. Instead of saying your situation is good, no, he's like, look, God is the one who is good. It's who he is.
00:07:22
Speaker
God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. He's not situationally good. He's essentially good. It's his attribute.
00:07:35
Speaker
Aren't you thankful now that I gave you the attributes of God handout a couple weeks ago? That wasn't on purpose. Well, it was on purpose. I want you to study those attributes. You'll know as you look through those, good good is one of those attributes.
00:07:50
Speaker
He's not trying to be good. Brothers and sisters, he is good. That's who he is. It's not what he does.
00:08:03
Speaker
John Piper says this, he says, God's goodness is not dependent upon his mood. God doesn't wake up one day in a good mood and decide in a good mood and decide to be good. He's always good.
00:08:17
Speaker
It's not seasonal, meaning God's good during Christmas. He's good all the time.
00:08:25
Speaker
And I want you to hear this this morning. It's not dependent upon your obedience. God is not good as long as you're obedient. He's good all the time.
00:08:37
Speaker
It's not based on your circumstance. It's not based on your understanding of him and what he's doing. Many times in my past, I thought myself, God is good to me because I'm understanding what he's doing. I'm understanding his program. Brothers sisters, it makes no difference if you understand what God is doing in your life. He's still good.
00:09:00
Speaker
His essence, His nature is goodness. In Psalm 145, 9 says, The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made.
Living Out Genuine Gratitude
00:09:16
Speaker
means God does not become good when things go well in your life. It means He's good even when life is confusing or painful or uncertain. He's still good.
00:09:29
Speaker
Alright, second, the psalmist tells us that his hesed, or his steadfast love, or his loving kindness, depending upon how your translation says it here, his loving kindness, his covenantal love, never expires.
00:09:44
Speaker
It's not like that milk that's in your refrigerator. Like you open the door and you scan down and go, oh, yeah, can't use that. It's bad. Brothers and sisters, his loving kindness is forever.
00:09:58
Speaker
never expires, never fluctuates. It's not a little low on Mondays and really high on Sundays. It's always high.
00:10:10
Speaker
It endures, and all God's people say, forever. means it never ends. It's worthy to notice this repetition, Israel, the house of Aaron, all those who fear the Lord, all these people repeat the same truth.
00:10:28
Speaker
that his faithful love endures forever. We praise God for who he is, not what he does.
00:10:38
Speaker
Biblical gratitude is not reactionary. We don't respond thinking God's going to be good.
00:10:46
Speaker
God's goodness doesn't wait to see how your life or my life turns out. He's he's good all the time.
00:10:55
Speaker
And we can declare that goodness because it's been revealed to us.
00:11:01
Speaker
I thought to myself this week, what's a good illustration for this? What's a good example for you and I to grasp this concept of God's goodness? And I simply put to myself, if I look back to 2025, when was the last time your gratitude faded, if I can put it that way?
00:11:22
Speaker
last time you weren't feeling quite so gracious?
00:11:28
Speaker
I bet you it's when you moved God's goodness down on the list and you moved your circumstance up and you focused on that. Brothers sisters, that's our fallen nature. That's what we want to do. We we get in a situation in life that seems insurmountable.
00:11:45
Speaker
Our marriage isn't going well. We lose our job. You name it, that issue, that circumstance, that situation takes priority in our lives and we focus on that instead of focusing on the goodness of God.
00:11:59
Speaker
And when we do that, our our gratitude drops with it. It's somehow like our gratitude is contingent upon our situation. And I want to tell you, it's not meant to be that way.
00:12:15
Speaker
What does this look like in real world? Well, I'll tell you, when you're got a great job and the money's coming in, and you go to that restaurant, woo, 20%, 25%, you bet, I'm signing that gratuity like it's nothing.
00:12:29
Speaker
You lose that job and money gets tight, are you still tipping that same way? Or are you sitting there going, eh, I might wanna be a little more reserved now, not feeling quite so gracious.
00:12:43
Speaker
See, when we do that, brothers and sisters, it becomes transactional.
00:12:48
Speaker
was never meant to be transactional. was always supposed to be in response.
00:12:55
Speaker
When we put God's goodness and His grace in our lives at the top of the list and everything else below it, oh, how easy it is to celebrate His goodness.
00:13:07
Speaker
We praise Him in all the ways that we live. We sing songs, we serve, we give, we participate in all parts of our lives. All of that showing gratitude to God for who He is, not for what He does.
00:13:20
Speaker
Alright, let's move on. So let's look at the confidence that we have here starting in verse 5. Verse 5 says this and following. It says, In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me, and He set me free.
00:13:35
Speaker
The Lord is for me. So I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? Yes, the Lord is for me. He will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me.
00:13:49
Speaker
It is better to take refuge in the Lord and then trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord and then trust in princes. Though hostile nations surround me, destroy them with all the authority of the Lord.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yes, they surrounded me and attacked me, but I destroyed them with all the authority of the Lord. they swarmed around They swarmed around me like bees. They blazed against me like a crackling fire, but I destroyed them with all the authority of the Lord.
00:14:17
Speaker
My enemies did their best to kill me, but the Lord rescued me. Well, your translation may say, He's my salvation. interesting, brothers and sisters, this picture that's painted here. He starts off the psalmist in verse 5, saying, Out of my distress, out of my situation, the Lord has answered me and he set me free.
00:14:40
Speaker
He's not hiding the struggle. He's not saying life as a Christian is going to be all rosy. He speaks of distress and fear and opposition. The enemies, verse 10, all surrounded me. The hostile nations, it says, surround me. 11, they're surrounded and they attack me.
00:14:57
Speaker
They're like bees that swarm me. Have you ever seen bees that have swarmed somebody? You can't get rid of them. You're you're running and waving and flailing all around. He's like, this is how the enemies were. You don't just hear them, right? Because that's what happens when you get into a swarm of bees, right?
00:15:14
Speaker
You don't get the sting first, you start hearing the, the humming, right? You hear it, you see it, you feel it. The psalmist letting you know it's a real world situation. israel Israel's in the middle, the enemies are all around.
00:15:32
Speaker
And in the middle of this battle, Israel picks up its phone and it calls its girlfriend and says, what should I do?
00:15:41
Speaker
Israel picks up its phone and texts its best friend. Hey, guy, what do I do? This is the situation I'm in. No, that's not what he does. Look at what it says.
00:15:52
Speaker
Verse 5, Out of my distress, I called on the Lord.
00:15:59
Speaker
It's a shift. Distress leads to prayer, not to bitterness. In my distress, I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord is the one who answered me, and he sent me free. Opposition leads to confidence and not despair. The Lord is for me, so who can be against me?
00:16:14
Speaker
I'll have no fear. Yes, the Lord is for me. He will help me or assist me is a better word. Or I'll even go one step further. that it really means he's going to carry me. It says, don't trust people.
00:16:29
Speaker
Trust the Lord. Don't take refuge in people. Take refuge in the Lord. Matter of fact, don't take refuge in the princes. Take refuge in the Lord. right He's taking it one step higher. He said, not just mankind, but even those in leadership. Don't take trust in them, only trust in the Lord.
00:16:46
Speaker
If I were to take that same statement and I were to reword it for today,
00:16:53
Speaker
i would tell you, be real careful putting your trust in Donald Trump. Uh-oh, he's going political. No, I'm not. But brothers and sisters, this exactly what Psalm 118 is saying.
00:17:06
Speaker
Watch who you put your trust in. Watch who you put your refuge in. That person will let you down. That person is not able to save you. There's only one person who's able to save you, and that's the Lord.
00:17:20
Speaker
It's not a denial of pain. He's not saying we're not going to be in the mix. The enemies aren't going to be around us. He's saying, no, trust that the enemies will be there, but in the middle of that, God will be there with you.
00:17:33
Speaker
And he'll prove himself faithful in the middle of that trial. So I put a note to myself thinking back to 2025. Think about those situations that you struggled with in 2025.
00:17:45
Speaker
When you thought your enemies were around you. And you were knee deep in prayer. And God was walking alongside you the entire way. Even if you didn't know it.
00:17:58
Speaker
How much sweeter is it today as we step into 2026 knowing that you survived that stuff in 2025? That it was by him and his power that he got you through that.
00:18:09
Speaker
Do you see how much easier it is to be gracious in that?
God's Role in Trials and Salvation
00:18:12
Speaker
We look back at 2025 and go, thank you, Lord, for getting me through that.
00:18:20
Speaker
His presence, his faithfulness, his power enable us to beat the enemy. You'll notice that's what he says in verse 10 at the end. I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. Not by my own authority, but the authority of the Lord. And he repeats it again in 12. It's with the authority of the Lord. It's with the authority of the Lord.
00:18:47
Speaker
How much easier is it to celebrate God when you know things are going well in your life? Isn't it great when things are going? Man, we had some our good friends from Houston. They called us the other day and and their son who's been off the reservation for a long time, he said, hey, ah this gentleman said, you'll never believe the best I received the best Christmas gift this year.
00:19:07
Speaker
I said, yeah, what did you get? He said, my son and his wife have gone back to church.
00:19:14
Speaker
Brothers sisters, in full transparency, we've been praying for this kid for 20 some odd years. Kim and I have. He's back in church. Now, it's a church where the pastor has tattoos and he wears jeans and a t-shirt. Let's not judge.
00:19:29
Speaker
But he's there.
00:19:34
Speaker
What a great time that we can celebrate the goodness of God when his son gets back in church. And I thought to myself after I hung up the phone with him, I thought, shouldn't we have been praising God and being gracious to God well before his son ever went back to church?
00:19:54
Speaker
Because when we're praising God when things are going well, we're basing our situation upon his goodness, and that's not the case. He's good all the time, even when your kids aren't in church.
00:20:06
Speaker
By the way, I saw some of your your kids in church here during Christmas, and that made my heart feel good.
00:20:13
Speaker
Will you have your kids call one of my kids and get them to church, please?
00:20:19
Speaker
He goes on here in verse 14. Look at me. says, The Lord is my strength and my song. The whole reason why we can praise is because of who God is. And he's become my, the the New Living Translation doesn't do such a great job here, right? It kind of says, oh, he he's my victory or he he offers me victory. This is really the word for salvation, right?
00:20:44
Speaker
I just want you to know that whatever you went through in 2025, and you might still be going through it as we step into this new year, we often have this wrong picture of of Christ.
00:20:55
Speaker
And I don't know if it was a if it was a a placard or a poster somewhere, but we often envision Jesus like our buddy, our pal, and he's got his arm around us and he's walking with us through that trial, that suffering.
00:21:15
Speaker
And while I tell you that has great sentiment and that makes my heart feel great, this is not the picture the psalmist is painting here. He's saying, brothers sisters, the Lord is carrying you through that picture.
00:21:27
Speaker
you you have There's no cooperation by you whatsoever. He's the one picking you up and in carrying you through and delivering you. It's him and his power that saves And when we make it through the other side, we can sing this praise and we can exalt him because of who he is and because he's the only one who saves.
00:21:53
Speaker
Verse 15, look at the end. it says, the strong arm of the Lord has done glorious things. The strong arm the Lord has raised his hand in triumph. It's the Lord who's done this.
00:22:06
Speaker
Because of what he's done, we can live this life of praise to him.
00:22:12
Speaker
This why i say be very careful app praising man or praising people in powerful positions or praising pastors, which is a horrible, horrible thing to do.
00:22:25
Speaker
Please, please, please do not elevate us at all. Do not do that because the moment you do that, we have a tendency to fall.
00:22:35
Speaker
Don't praise man, praise the Lord. He is the one. Seek refuge in Him. He's the only one who can save.
00:22:45
Speaker
Why do we put our trust in God and not in man? Well, jump down to verse 22. Look what mankind does in verse 22. It says, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
00:22:56
Speaker
Mankind rejected that stone.
00:23:01
Speaker
But now, look, the Lord is in this business of reversals. it's now become the cornerstone. What was dismissed by mankind has now become central in God's plan.
00:23:13
Speaker
right it's It's pointing to this future fulfillment of Jesus, rejected by man, exalted by God. Verse 23, this is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.
00:23:26
Speaker
God specializes in taking that which is broken and in fixing it. His job is to take a... that which is broken and redeem it.
00:23:37
Speaker
It's a reversal. He turns rejection into redemption. He turns failure failure into foundation. I just put a note to myself, probably more so to you.
00:23:49
Speaker
In 2025, did you feel rejected? Did you feel broken? Maybe 2026, God's doing some type of reversal in your life.
00:24:04
Speaker
He's the only one who can. And he gets great joy in doing that. The psalmist concludes the same way he starts. Look in verse 29. He says, Give thanks to the Lord for he is. Everybody say it He's good.
Practicing Gratitude in 2026
00:24:19
Speaker
and his steadfast love endures forever. Gratitude comes from the heart out to the lips. Out to the congregation who hears that, who reflects on it, and who responds in like manner.
00:24:36
Speaker
Gratitude is never meant to be transactional. We're not gracious when God's gracious to us. It's always meant to be a response. God is who he is and he is good and therefore he deserves our gratitude.
00:24:49
Speaker
So what do we do with this today? well I walked back and forth with two or three different ways I think we could apply this. Matter of fact, I changed some of it this morning. I hope it's up there on the screen whenever we get to this section.
00:25:04
Speaker
How do we in this new year in 2026 begin to give gratitude to God? And when we give rightly our gratitude to God, then how does that play out to others?
00:25:16
Speaker
And I put imagine a believer in 2026 who has every reason to be cynical. There's pressure at work. Maybe he's lost his job. Maybe he's overwhelmed by bad news.
00:25:28
Speaker
Maybe his marriage is on the rocks. Maybe he's been disappointed by family members. Instead of responding with with withdrawal withdrawal or a complaint, that believer, which is you, which is me, has an um opportunity to respond differently this year than we did in years past.
00:25:46
Speaker
The first way we can respond is this way, and I'm going to give complete credit to Dr. Young in our last church. When he taught Psalm 118, this was his first point. And I always thought it was so simple, and I wrote it down to my notes, and I thought, well, I'm not even gonna try to improve on that. I'm just gonna take what this man who's had 80 some odd years of ministry.
00:26:11
Speaker
He said in the morning when he when the alarm clock goes off, he takes the sheets off of him. He rolls out of bed onto his knees.
00:26:23
Speaker
It's the first thing. And he begins to thank God for that day.
00:26:32
Speaker
Let us put, what if we were to do that beginning today? but Beginning tomorrow morning when you wake up Monday morning. What if we were to wake up and the first thing we do is reach for the phone or reach for our glasses, those of you who need the glasses or the hearing aids.
00:26:49
Speaker
What if we were to simply get on our knees and start thanking God for one specific thing that he's been faithful for? Maybe it's just something he did yesterday. Maybe it's something he's done two weeks ago.
00:27:02
Speaker
How would that change how we live out the rest of that day if the very first thing we do is we show gratitude to God?
00:27:12
Speaker
And I just put a note even before checking your phone, which is the go-to response for many people. Oh, I've been asleep. What's been happening in the world? Let me grab my phone and check.
00:27:24
Speaker
Wait, Trump's taking over Venezuela. How did that happen? What if that was the secondary thing? What if we were on our knees first praising God for who he is right off the bat? How would that change our entire day?
00:27:36
Speaker
That's the first thing. Thank you, Dr. Young, for that one. What if that gratitude that we show God somehow changes our hearts so then we vocalize that to our coworkers, our family, our friends?
00:27:51
Speaker
What if we began to express gratitude just one time a day to somebody? This is my challenge to you today as you step out. Maybe it's a phone call to your brother or your sister. Hey, thanks for fill the blank.
00:28:05
Speaker
Maybe it's a coworker that you've been struggling with. Maybe you just think yourself, what one thing, positive thing can I speak encouragement to this coworker today that would show them my gratitude for them?
00:28:18
Speaker
Maybe it's a server at the restaurant. Maybe before you write that tip, you just say, hey, you know, I want to share something. Thank you for paying such close attention to us and getting our order right.
00:28:32
Speaker
The food was hot. The food was delicious, which, by the way, the server has nothing to do with. It's all the cook. They do all that. But how would that change that person's day instead of you just simply writing in a tip?
00:28:45
Speaker
I still suggest you write in a tip. They don't get paid a whole lot of money, those those servers, I know, They rely on that tip. But what if you were to tip them based upon how good God was and is and who he is instead of on the service you received?
00:29:03
Speaker
That's food for thought. All right, third.
00:29:09
Speaker
If we first get on our knees and we thank God and then that gratitude somehow works itself out throughout the day as we express gratitude to others, what if we simply served without a spotlight?
00:29:21
Speaker
And I'm gonna explain what that means. That means serving behind the scenes. That means giving your time, your resources, maybe your encouragement to somebody, not to earn favor, but as a response to the grace that God has already shown you in your life.
00:29:41
Speaker
It's the service that says, I'm here to serve, don't look at me. Some of you guys are really, by the way, really good at that. And I'm so i'm so thankful for that. To me, the first signs of spiritual maturity is serving in humility.
00:29:58
Speaker
it's It's the person that says, that gets up and says, hey, hey look at me or look what I did yesterday. You know, and I'm not saying that's any of you. But I'm just saying sometimes this is what our our our fallen nature is is, we want to get up and ah Yeah, I was here at 9 o'clock and I spent, you know, five hours yesterday up here at the church because there was a funeral and, you know, we did this and we did that.
00:30:20
Speaker
Oh, all the glory to God. Well, you're also doing a lot of this. You're also pointing a lot back to me. Look what look what I did. Look at me. I was up here. Which, by the way, I was not up here five hours yesterday.
00:30:32
Speaker
Thank you, Lord. Serve without the spotlight because that gives God the glory. He's the one who's looking. What ah what a better way to show gratitude to God. Here, I'm here to serve you.
00:30:43
Speaker
I don't need the credit. You get all the glory. That kind of gratitude is noticeable. That kind of gratitude is costly. It's the kind of gratitude that points beyond ourselves to a good God whose steadfast love endures forever.
00:31:03
Speaker
Friends, may we be a people whose gratitude is not shaped by the year we live in, but by the God we serve. May this song that is sung in our hearts, that begins there, that comes out of our lips, says, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his steadfast love endures forever. And all God's people said,