The One Thing Every Christian Should Be Most Thankful For

I usually enjoy any day that I can go to church, hang out with other like-minded believers, and worship the God who saved our sin-sick souls.

Don’t you?

Thankfully it is a very rare day, indeed, that ever I walk out of a church service being practically unaffected (insert a “yawn” here) by all that took place.  But it’s also a rarity that I walk out of a service saying, “Wow! That was awesome!”

Do you know what I mean.  And why does that happen, anyway?

Yesterday, I had the privilege of preaching at Faith Baptist Church in Strathmore, California.  Theirs is an interesting church with a unique dynamic, to be sure.  They are unique in that they have an English-speaking congregation as well as a Spanish-speaking congregation.  Yet while most churches may separate these two congregations into two completely separate church entities, Faith Baptist has both congregations under the same church umbrella.

In other words, they are one church…not two.

The two groups meet separately for their churches services (due only to the language barriers), but they are one church.  Things like funds, voting, and everything in between is all under one church banner.

Last night they had a celebration dinner before the evening service, and that was a lot of fun as I had a chance to meet and greet the Spanish-speaking brethren for the first time.

But it only got better after that!

For the evening service, both congregations came to together for worship.  Each congregation sang the hymns/songs at the same time, with the same tune, but in their own language.  It was fantastic.  There were translators for announcements and the dialogue in between songs, etc., but it really was an amazing time.

I had the privilege to preach the evening message last night and my message was about what we ought to be thankful for.  But rather than focusing on ourselves I chose to focus on what Jesus Christ was thankful for.  My text was Matthew 11:25-30.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.  Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.  All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus said He was thankful (“I praise You”) that God the Father chose to HIDE biblical truth from the wise and product and, instead, revealed that truth to babes?

What should we be most thankful for?  Answer: That God revealed His truth to us.  That He removed the supposed wisdom and hard-heartedness from us and made us altogether like babes.

How awesome is that?

Immediately before this text, Jesus pronounced “Woe!” to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.  It was at that time that He lifted up His eyes toward the heavens and thanked His Father for both hiding and revealing.

And the reason Jesus was thankful?  “…for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.”

We should be thankful for salvation, first and foremost!  Everything else comes in a very distant last place.  Christ’s yoke and burden is light.  How awesome is our God!

What I appreciated so much from last night’s service is that when I said something, which was then translated into Spanish, there would be shouts of “Amen!” from the Spanish-speaking Christians in the crowd.

I was subtly reminded that I am shallow in my thinking and that God is far greater than I am.  Of course I already knew this, but every once in a while God reminds us of this just so we never forget.

He does as He pleases…because it is good in His sight.  And regardless of what language we read the Bible in, whatever language we preach in, the response should always be, “Amen!”

QUESTIONS FOR COMMENTING BELOW:  What thing(s) should we as Christians be thankful for?  And how can we go about displaying our gratitude more often?

[Photo credit: woodleywonderworks via Flickr]