The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: The Sovereignty of God in Our Provision

Episode Date: July 23, 2017

Are you grateful or entitled? You cannot simultaneously look up at what Christ did for you on the cross and look down on your current situation.

Amen. How are doing church? Doing all right? That's looking good. If you got your Bible, I hope you do. Grab it, go to Ruth Chapter 2. That is where we are going to be. Part of the reason we wanted to show you Kelly Ray's story is this, man, do you believe that God could use a single girl from a foreign land to change the world? Well, that's what the story of Ruth is. She was born in the wrong country. She had the wrong religion. She's from the wrong side of the track.

She's got a really tattered past. She's not exactly on the who's who list of most. influential people in the world and yet somehow in God's sovereign redemptive plan that thing bottlenecks down to the obedience of one girl from Moab and really what we've been talking about through this whole series is the sovereignty of God we've talked about the sovereignty of God in our pain the sovereignty God in our perseverance that's what Pastor Adam led us through last week and today we're going to talk about the sovereignty of God in provision and so just to recap it really quick there was a girl named Naomi her name means sweetness or sweetheart

and she was married to a dude named Alimelech, and his name means God is king, and there was a famine in Bethlehem, which means the city of bread. And so they decided to go to Moab because there was food there. It's probably 50 miles away or so. And the problem with that is that God said you shouldn't move to Moab, because God's people aren't there, God's people, the fellowship, worship, there's no temple, all of those things. And yet, for a short-term gain to kind of make their life more comfortable in the now, they move away from God's people and blessing to Moab. and Limelech dies and his two sons married two Mowelbaat girls and then they die. Their names were Malon and Chillon, but their names meant death, I mean, dying and sickly, and so newsflash, they died. And so there you have it.

Naomi is stuck with no husband, no sons and she's got these two daughter-in-laws. And then somehow, in Naomi walking through severe loss, it leads Ruth to trust God as the one true God, that he is sovereign. And so Ruth says he's very famous. words to Naomi. Ruth says, and treat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you for wherever you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God, my God. Where you lodge, I will lodge. And where you are buried there, I will be buried also. And the Lord do so to me and more also. If any bank of death parts you from me. And Ruth puts her faith in the one true God. And then they move

back to Jerusalem, which was a risky endeavor for Ruth, because there were severe prejudice and racism against her as a moabite. She didn't have any friends. She had no protection and no provision. And yet she trusted that God still had the whole world in his hands. And so today we're going to talk about God's sovereignty in our provision. And last week, Pastor Adam showed us that things begin to change. In chapter 2, verse 10, Ruth just happens to happens to happen to happens to roll up on the field of a guy named Boaz.

Kind of the hero of the story. And in this, in chapter 2, verse 10, it says this. Then Ruth fell on her face, bowing down to the ground, and she says to Boaz, why have I found favor or grace in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? And then it turns out, Boaz is a pretty awesome guy, too. The name Boaz just means strong man. That's a great name, okay? Joby means afflicted.

I don't know why my parents name you that, but they did. And Boaz's his answer is basically this. He doesn't say, well, you know what? The reason I found favor and the reason I'm going to protect you is because I'm awesome. See, I was valedictorian and then I went to an Ivy League school, then I had an internship. It was none of that. His whole answer, if you look at it, is this. You were covered by the wing of the Lord.

His answer is basically when she says, who am I that you have favor upon me? His answer is basically the same thing. Well, actually, I asked the same question. Who am I? that God would put me in such a position that I could provide and protect somebody like you. You see, part of the reason I pointed out to you is this. Here at 1122, we are Bible people. We believe in the authority of the scriptures.

We believe in the inerrancy, the inspired word of God. It's not just a history book. It's not just an ancient document. That it is living and active and can divide down into your soul. In fact, I believe it so much. I believe it cover to cover. I believe the leather is genuine. I'm a Bible guy. And here's the thing about it. The Bible is about one thing. For the very beginning to the very end, the Bible is about one thing. And that thing is not you. It's not. The whole thing is about Jesus. And people, some very well-meaning preachers have said things like, you know what? This is the roadmap to your life. And I know what they mean, because it has maps, like in the back. But your house ain't there, okay? The whole thing is about Jesus. The God's sovereign, redemptive plan from before there was time was to be the house.

send Jesus on a rescue mission to redeem us and all of his people unto himself. And the reason I tell you that is in the story of Ruth, we see that there is a hero in the story, and his name is Boaz. But he's like the little H hero that points to the big H hero who is Jesus, that Jesus is the greater Boaz. And so we'll see a lot of what's happening in the events of these two lives that point to God's provision through his son, Jesus Christ. You see, God's sovereign in everything that we have.

And it seems that Ruth and Boaz understand this. And sometimes one of the things I love about the book of Ruth, even though it's really short, it's like two pages, is it sometimes, especially in the Bible, sometimes God demonstrates his sovereign hand in the universe through the miraculous and the supernatural. I mean, like he parts the red seed. He brings dead people back and he walks on water.

And sometimes God demonstrates his sovereign hand in the universe, universe through ordinary everyday events. We call that providence. That this girl from the wrong side of the tracks just happens to happen to happen upon a field one day. And God still has all things under his control. So in the book of Ruth, there are no miracles. And yet God miraculously saves all of his people. That's what sovereignty is. That's really the thing that ties this whole Ruth series together is sovereignty, that God is in control. First Chronicles 29, 11 to 13 says it this way. Talking about the sovereignty of God. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. That means God owns

everything. So if everything is God's, then guess what's yours? Nothing. You're like, no, this is my shirt. Look, at best, you're leasing the shirt right now. Very shortly, there'll be no more you. We'll stay high of your shirt. We'll sell it in Hope's closet for like $2, all right? It's like these fidget spinners. Have you seen these stupid fidget spinners, all right? And JP's like, can I get another fidget spinner?

I'm like, no, we're not getting another fidget spinner. What is wrong with you? And he's like, well, I'll buy it with my own money. What? You're 11. You don't have money. I have all the money, and I let you keep a little bit of my money in your room for right now. But granddaddy gave it to me. But you wouldn't have a granddad if we

didn't make you. You're missing the point, son. This is sovereignty. For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord. And you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all. So not only does he own everything, he's in charge of everything. This is the sovereignty of God. And in your hand, or power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you our God and praise your glorious name. What we're going to talk about today is an attitude adjustment. Then when we understand the sovereignty of God in our provision, it should lead us to a heart of gratitude. See, at the end of these verses, because God is in charge of everything and he owns everything,

the natural response to that is, and now we thank you. And not just circumstantial thanks, but sovereign kind of things. You see, because sometimes sufferings and setbacks are just a set-up for God to display his sovereign glory all over the world. You see, Naomi and Ruth, what they feel and experience is a civil suffering is actually God just setting them up for a stage to display his glory.

And maybe what you experience as a, as a soul, suffering and a setback is actually just God setting himself up to display his sovereign kindness to the ends of the earth. And in order to be able to see that and recognize that, it'll take a serious, serious change in attitude. And a lot of times, man, when I say these kind of things, some people will say, man, how do you say that, pastor, how can you say that God allows or is even sovereign over pain in order for good things that happen? I'm like, how about the cross? It looks like the greatest suffering and greatest setback of all time. A man shows up, claims to be God, and then he's dying on a cross.

I'm sure if you're there that moment, you're like, how is this a part of the plan? And yet it is the redemptive plan to redeem all things unto God himself. And what we're going to see here is that God, in the lowest times of Ruth and Naomi, he's going to take this little girl, Ruth, and she's going to go from a widow to a wife, from fatherless to faithful, from broken to blessed, from foreigner to family, from alone to adored, from misery to motherhood, because what felt like a setback was actually God's set up to display his sovereign glory. So we're going to pick it up in chapter 2, verse 14. It says this. This is kind of when things begin to shift and Ruth meets Boaz. It says this, and at meal time, Boaz said to Ruth,

come here. Now, just by the way, next week we're going to talk about God's sovereignty in our pursuit of purity. We're going to talk about God's sovereignty in our dating life and being married and all of that kind of stuff. And instead of like searching for the mythical one, we're going to talk about what it means to be the one that the one you're looking for is looking for. And so that's just for next week. So we're not going to get into that. But we'll talk about this verse a little bit.

Notice boys what Boas does. He says out loud with his mouth, come here. There's no swiping. There's no clicking. There's no, like he's face to face with a real live girl and he has to like say something to her. You want to eat? Okay.

So we'll get into it now. week. All the single girls are like, I'm coming next week. You should. You should. So he says, come here. So part of the reason he says come here is because he's the CEO, he's the boss, and he showed up on the job site, and there's like an employee table for the big dogs that run, you know, Boaz.com or whatever. And he's sitting there, and she's like a homeless girl. She's just gleaning over on the side. And yet they've been gracious to her, and she's from the wrong side of the tracks and all of this. and she is invited to eat near them. And so Boaz shows up and go, who's that girl?

I'm talking about the providence of God. And he says, hey, why don't you come eat at this table? Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she's not getting leftover. She's getting like the main dish. And so she sat beside the reapers. And he passed to her roasted grain. That's Boaz.

It's serving her. And she ate until she was satisfied. And she had some leftovers. See, this is a picture of the grace of God. that the Lord of the harvest, that would have been Boaz's title, shows up and he invites a foreigner to it, who has done nothing to deserve it, to eat at his table, and sit at the place of honor, and she does not serve him, but he serves her, and he serves her so much that she is satisfied and she has some left over. You see, this is the grace of God. John would say it this way. Oh, what manner of love is this, that we have been called the children of God, that God lavishes his love upon us. To lavish is like it's more than enough.

It's more than you need. Like God doesn't just give you just enough grace to cover over your sin, but he just dumps buckets of his love and grace on you until it's just a mess goes everywhere. Every time I think of the word lavish, I think of my daughter, Reagan Capri, when she takes a bath. She knows how to lavish the bathwater all throughout our whole bathroom. It's the craziest thing. There's plenty in the tub. Other humans at our house can bathe and be cleanish without it getting everywhere,

but not Reagan. boy, she lavishes it all over the place. It looks like a wet St. Bernard walked in our bathroom and went, and I'm like, how'd you get it on the ceiling, baby? Okay? And so that's what it is. And there's a picture of this here that Boy says to Ruth, why don't you come eat at the big boy table?

If you grew up country like me, remember like Thanksgiving, you'd be at the kitty table? Imagine when you're a kid and your parents, like grandma, would come and go, hey, won't you come here at the big table? There's still ice and the tea, and there's still some white meat from the table. turkey left over and you can see you can get mac and cheese with cheese still on the top because I was a kid I was like why all call it mac and cheese when I get to it it's just mac all the cheese

is gone and she gets invited up there and it is a picture of God's lavishing his grace upon us and when she rose to glean now she's going to go back to work boaz instructs his young men and says let her glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her we'll talk about this a little bit next week too He is providing protection for her. He's looking at the workers going, hey, boys, y'all watch out for her, and I'm going to watch out the way you watch out for her. Which, by the way, when some little knucklehead in the next, however long, I hope it's longer than shorter, comes around my house.

I'm going to share some of these principles that I learned from Boas here, okay? Do not reproach her. In other words, the way we will say it is this. Look here, boy. The way you treat hers, the way I treat you. That's it. If you're nice to her, I'll be nice to you. If you open her door, I'll open your door. If you make her happy, I'll make you happy.

If you make her cry, I'm going to make you cry. I don't mind starting my prison ministry from the inside. That's how that's going, okay? So that's what he's doing. Do not reproach her. And also pull out some of the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her. See, what we find out about the character of Boaz and about his attitude is he's a generous man. He's a generous man.

This idea of gleaning was instituted by God in the Old Testament to take care of the people that did not have the abilities to take care of themselves. And I don't want to call it welfare because it was not a handout. It was a hand up, okay? It was if you were the boss, if you were the CEO, if you had fields, then God would say, just like I am generous to you, you should be generous. So don't push all your profits through the margins, but leave literal margins on the field so that some people that have not been blessed like I have blessed you can come. and work for themselves, because if you don't work, you don't eat. So you're not just giving this to it for free, but they come and they are able to work, and you're going to provide an opportunity for these people.

And so not only is she a hard worker, but we can see that boys is a generous guy. He literally was allowing people to eat into his profits, because he knew that God had given him everything did he have. And so she gleaned in the field until evening, and then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. That's like 50 pounds. probably enough food for two people to eat on for a month, which means she is going to get a year's worth of harvest just in a few weeks working here with Bohaz. 50 pounds is a bunch. And then it says, and she took it up and went into the city. So she's buff as a mug, too,

because she toted 50 pounds. I mean, that's forever. Guys, you ever notice just how strong some women are? I mean, let's be honest. Selena sitting on the front row right here. She weighs 100 pounds. We have kids at the same time, and she can hold her children for longer than me. I could not understand. it. She should be sitting there just doing stuff, talking like, working. And I got my kid like, oh my gosh, I'm cramping. All right. So she's a hard worker. She brings it back home. She takes 50 pounds of stuff into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. So not only does

she have a month's worth of groceries on her shoulder, she's also got her to go box when she ate at the table with Boaz. And here's what we know about Ruth. She's also generous. because listen, man, she's homeless, she's broke, she's got nothing, but the moment she has some for her, she doesn't think it's all for her. The first thing that she wants to do is share it. And so she does. And so her mother-in-law says to her, where did you glean today? And where have you worked?

And then notice this next word, Blessed be the man who took notice of you. Do you remember what Pastor Adam taught us last week? Do you remember what Naomi told people to call her? Remember Naomi means sweetness or sweetheart? And so she rolls back into town and be like, is that you sweetheart? And says, don't call me sweetheart anymore because I left full and I'm coming back empty. So call me morrow, which means bitter.

She's just a bitter old mother-in-law. It's biblical, all right? And so she tells people, call me bitter. And now, again, we're going to talk about how the gospel can change our attitude and what it looks like to have an attitude of gratitude. And what Ruth is doing by working hard and being generous and she never complains throughout the whole book. You see, attitude is contagious. And now the bitter old mother-in-law is now speaking words of blessing.

She says, blessed is the man who took notice of you. And so she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, The man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. And everything begins to change. You see, I want to make some observations about the attitudes of Ruth and Boaz. It seems that both Ruth and Boaz understand. the sovereign hand of God in their provision. And one of them is being provided for, it seemingly, like in a horrible way.

She loses everything, is provided for in an abundance. And yet, we'll start with Ruth. Ruth has an incredible attitude. She has a grateful attitude. In fact, the posture of Ruth is this. Who am I that I would find favor in your eyes? Ruth never complain. Throughout the whole book of Ruth, Ruth never complains.

And I'm telling you, if you're sitting at Starbucks with Ruth and she's telling you her story, you would think she's got plenty to complain about. So, look, man, I was just minding my business and my own country, my own people, and then chilling comes by, and we dated and we got married, and I thought everything was great, and he's dead, and then my father-in-law died, and now I live in a land of people that despise me and look down on me. I mean, it seems like she's got a whole bunch of things to be bitter about, and yet she chooses to be grateful. She says, who am I that I would find favor in your eyes? Not only that is that Ruth finds a way to get stuff done. She never gives excuses as to why she can't.

Ruth never feels sorry for herself. I'm just telling you, folks, on the surface, she's got a list of reasons why it's okay for her to not get out of bed every day and feel sorry for herself. And she refuses to. Somehow she gets up every single day, and she does not give excuses. She just gives an honest effort.

And in fact, she never feels sorry for herself. She feels sorry for Naomi to the point where she puts herself in a tougher situation for the sake of her mother-in-law because she loves her. You see, this isn't a remarkable woman with a grateful attitude. Boaz is the same way. See, Boaz, again, his name means strong man. He's rich. He's a boss. He's powerful.

He's strong. And yet here's what he understands because he has a humble and grateful attitude. He understands that the strength that was given to him by God was not for him. And you can see this. You can see this in a number of ways. First of all, you can see this and what a great leader he is. His title would be Lord of the Harvest. And with the Lord of the Harvest shows up, where does he eat?

He eats with his blue-collar workers. He doesn't eat it like the CEO table. He eats with his workers. And he serves this Moabite. And not only that, he points his workers to the Lord. When he greets them, he says, may the Lord bless you and keep you. And not only that, when Ruth asked him, why have I found favor in your eyes, his answer is not because I'm awesome, but because God is. He essentially is saying to Ruth the same thing. Hey, listen, Ruth, the only difference between me and you is where we were born.

God has been incredibly gracious to me also. And so what we see in the character of Boaz is incredible generosity. He doesn't think more is mine. He thinks God gave me more. so that I could share it with some people that are in need. And I think that generosity, at the root of generosity, is always gratefulness. You see, here's what I want to ask you, straight up, about your attitude. Are you grateful or entitled? Are you grateful or entitled? Do you have a grateful attitude or an entitled attitude? And if we look at Ruth and Boas, we'll use kind of their definitions,

grateful attitude is the kind of attitude like Ruth has where she stands there and says, who am I that I would find favor? An entitled attitude is, do you know who I am? You see, a grateful attitude is when we're thankful for every good and perfect gift that God has given us. And an entitled attitude is when we think someone, God or this world, owes us something. And every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and intention. entitlement. And I'm telling you, it is a fluid continuum. It does not take much to jam us in one direction or the other. And so, I made up a test because here's why. I don't know one person that goes, yeah, I'm pretty entitled. I know people that know a bunch of people that think those people are

entitled, but not me. I am grateful they're entitled. In fact, some of you, when I said the word entitled, you started like tweeting it out to your friends. Hey, y'all need to listen to this, a bunch of entitled people at the beach right now, wherever you are. So here you go. So here's just, just maybe this will help. us figure out where we are on the continuum of quiz. All right. When you're in the left lane of traffic and the car in front of you is going slow, what kind of feeling do you have? When you pray, do you spend more time thanking God for what he has given you

or more time asking God for what he has yet to give you? How about this? I dare you to do this one. You won't do it, but I dare you. I dare you to check the last hundred texts that you sent to your spouse or roommate or friend. And in those texts, are they mostly thank yous or tasks? when you walk into your closet, when you get into your car, when you walk into your house, what do you feel? Grateful or disappointed?

If you've ever complained about where to eat because there's too many options in town. That's a crazy thing, is it not? Do you know there's some restaurants, Gregson, I don't like going to you, you know why? The menu's too big. That's what we say. What? It's just, too. There's pages and pictures, and they bring it out on a fake card, and I don't know. Let's just go away to do one thing.

That's crazy, right? When's the last time you wrote a thank you note? If we were to look at your bank account, would it say that you're entitled or grateful? In other words, do you spend it all on you? When's the last time you shared your faith? Do you feel grateful that God save you and has taken you to heaven, or do you think you're entitled to heaven? When a worship song starts, what's your first thought? Do I like this song, or is God pleased by this song?

Or how about this one? are you withholding forgiveness because you think you're entitled to God's forgiveness of you? What is wrong with us? I wrote the test and I failed it. You understand? I mean, are you with me? Do you see how most of the time, I know with our mouth who would say, no, no, no, I want to live with a grateful heart. But a whole lot of time, I think we're not standing there at the foot of the cross saying, who am I?

I think we're standing way over here going, do you know who I am? because there's just some things that drive us there. And I can tell you what's wrong with us. We just saying it. We're prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. We are very, very prone to take our eyes off of the cross and what Christ has done for us

and put our eyes on things that we want. And here's why we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to help us focus on accumulation, not appreciation. And in a second we can go there, because we're prone to wonder. And let me tell you, there's some environments I find myself at good environments that can, that lead me to think with an entitled kind of attitude. I can take, it's work versus home.

Man, if I'm not careful, see, because when I come to work here, because, you know, I'm like clocked in right now, you know, it's like my main thing I do. And like, when I get done, a line of people, literally, this is the craziest thing in the world. I'm just a nobody from nowhere and a line of people line up to be like, good job, that was great, changed my life, appreciate that, okay? Let me tell you what's never happened.

I've never walked in the door of my house and my family getting in the line. Oh, God, let's get in line. Hey, Dad, we really, we just wanted to say hi and thank you and we've been living in your house for a long time. Never. I've never. There are people right here, friends of mine, which is weird,

taking notes, I say something, and they write stuff down. Never has happened in my home. I've never gone home. Oh, Father, please teach us the Word of God so we can take. Never, ever, ever. And here I'm pastor. I go to meetings with our staff and I'm like, listen, we should do this.

And they all go, man, they do it. We do it. And then I go home and I go, we should do this. And like, whatever. And I can be like, I'm dad, okay? It happens, I mean, it happens quick. Another area this bothers me about me, but I'm just going to confess it. I feel like it'll help me.

I've shared it before. It's getting worse. Especially in the last two years, man, I travel a bunch. I fly all over the world a lot, right? And so I just fly with the same airline all the time so that I can get status. I mean, I have precious metal medallions in front of my name on my little card and my bags and stuff, which means this. You know, it's a perk for flying with the same people. And so when I go, I don't stand in line.

There's lines of people. What's up? And I go over here. And they've got to take their shoes. off. I'm like, I don't get a potential terrorist. I ain't taking my shoes off. Don't have to take my jacket. I don't even typically wear a jacket except when I go to the airport just so people see that I don't have to take it off. That's what I do. That's bad. Then there's these little magic wizard vodz rooms you can go into. I literally did not know they existed until two years ago.

I walked in there like the Sky Lounge. I'm like, there's like a whole world in here. It's so nice. And I eat the snacks are not even good, but I'm like, I'm entitled to them. I'm telling you. Get on the plane first. So two weeks ago, my family and I were going to Texas, the part of Texas we were going to, I couldn't fly my regular airline, and I'm just, uh-oh, prone to wander to the back of the line. I'm way back here. Where are we? Are we coming out of Egypt? What are we doing? I mean, it's crazy, right? You get on the plane and you just walk in and walk in, God, did they make them longer? Where's my seat? It is, I'm telling you in a second. And then you get on the plane and you watch people get entitled real quick. We're sitting on the tarmac,

and the pilot's like, uh, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, we're going to be. be waiting here for about 20 minutes. The guy next to me, he's like, you're kidding me. It's 20. This is the worst day ever. Ever? This is the worst day ever.

We're going to wait 20 minutes to magically fly from here to Texas at 30,000 feet in the air while they bring you a free Coca-Cola and you can watch a cruddy Adam Sandler movie, okay? 200 years ago, we tried to make that same trip and we were burying grandpa in Tennessee. see, you understand? And now this is our worst, that's what entitlement is. When you see a blessing of God as something that somebody owes you, I can tell you what else too. I'm the worst here too. When we get into a hotel room, Gretchen and I have this like towel entitlement. Two days in, we're like, we need more towels. What is this place? Can you go get us some towels? I've been here nine hours. I need six towels every nine hours. I use one for.

throw that one down. Throw that one down. I get these piles of towels. Yet in my home, I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I use one towel, okay? I'm telling you, what is wrong with us? I can tell you what's wrong with us.

We are prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. You see, Ruth and Boas, they've got this attitude of gratitude because they believe that God, every good and perfect gift is from above, that God is sovereign over everything regardless of their circumstances.

The Bible has a whole thing, lot to say about being grateful. Psalm 9.1 Says, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult you. I will sing praise to your name almost high. See, it's really hard to get focused on what you don't have when you're recounting all the wonderful deeds that God has done for you.

I've shared this with you a few times, but I'm just going to stay on it. Have you done your, have you done your gratitude list yet? Two years ago I asked us. I said, listen, I dare you to just sit down and write down one blessing for every year that you've been alive. And so I wrote mine down. I tried to do what I say.

And so I sat down and I wrote mine out. And so I think I did it when I was 42. And so then I had to add one for 43 and September I'll be 44. So I would highly encourage you to do this because when I find myself prone to wonder towards entitlement, I bring this list out and do what

Psalm 9-1 says, and I recount all of your wonderful deeds. So here's some of the things that I'm grateful for that God has blessed me with. My salvation. My wife Gretchen. My kids, J.P. and Reagan. The Church of 1122. A mom and dad that loved me in their own way, even though they couldn't love each other too well. My health.

I mean, we take that for granted like crazy. Wealth, globally speaking. A staff team that followed. follows and respects me. Being American. I will never apologize for that. The next one's even better. Being Southern.

By the grace of God. The elders at our church, friends like Doug and Brad and Ben, a sharp mind. Pastor Jerry Sweat and Beach United Methodist Church, coach Bulley and Camp Pine Hill, a gift of preaching. I get to work with my friends.

Religious freedom. Mert, that's my grandma. Lynn Turner, she's the first person that gave me a youth job. the woods of South Georgia. Dr. Bill Ross for a chance. He hired me out of seminary. The life and legacy of McKenzie Wilson.

My in-laws. Folks, I love my in-laws. What a blessing. Partly because they live in Virginia and we live here, but praise God. Modern medicine. My appendix ruptured 10 years ago. If I was born 100 years ago, I'd be dead. They thought I was demon-possessed.

Now I just go to the hospital for the weekend and they fixed it. So modern medicine. Taco Tuesday. That's 26. People that consistently pray for me. Clean running water. Cool fall mornings. Living in Jacksonville.

The beach. Ministry connections. Good bourbon. Some of you that bothers to the rest of us. Glory to God, okay? My neighborhood. Gretchen's gift of singing. Fescent hunting in South Dakota.

Our home. My children's friends. My truck. My calling. God's grace in my life. God's words so accessible. an opportunity to invest in other pastors around the world. And I think the one I'm going to add for this year is this.

Tony Sleaman. I just signed a lease with him to lease to H.H. Greg, which will be our next campus beginning in January in Arlington. Amen? And right next door to it, we signed another lease to open our second hopes closet. So we'll do like the one-two combo in Arlington. Praise God. So I would highly encourage you to do that because it is almost. impossible to count God's blessings in your life and simultaneously pay attention to what you feel

like you're lacking. Psalm 100 verse 4. Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name. Psalm 106.1. Praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. First Thessalonians 518 says give thanks in all circumstances. Some of you Greek scholars know this, that the word there for all means all. And he goes on, he says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. The number one question I get asked as a pastor here is, what's God's will for my life? And I go give thanks at all circumstances. That is God's will for your life.

Like, we don't want to be circumstantial thankers. We want to give thanks in all circumstances. And so here's what I think, though. I think a lot of us get personality type and attitude confused. Because God does have, he just created different personality types. There are some people on this earth, and they're just happy people. They are just happy. No matter what happens, whether it's raining or sunshine or their team wins, or they're just happy people.

There's a lady that works the door here at our Thursday night service at our San Pablo campus. Her name's Miss Vicki. She's the happiest human I've ever met in my whole life. She's just happy about anything all the time. She's just happy. She could be out there greeting one day. Lightning can strike on the head or left arm fall off. She'd go, but I still got my go ahead and hey, y'all come on in.

I mean, she just would. And then there are other people that are just, they're just pessimists. They just are. And that's how God created them, okay? But that's like personality time. I mean, we got a guy on her staff. And I had a bump on my tongue. I said, oh, I got this bump.

He's like, it's probably cancer and a whole church is going to fail. I'm like, what is wrong with you? Okay? It's Pastor Britt, all right? Everybody knows him. Amen, that makes a lot of sense. All right, but those are personality types. But God has told us that we should have a certain type of attitude,

that we are responsible for our attitude, that we get to choose entitlement or gratitude. And the reason I tell you this was because there are commands that are attitudinal. In other words, God tells us what kind of attitude we should have. In Philippians chapter 2, the Bible says this, your attitude should be. So if God is going to command you about what your attitude should be, that means that we are held accountable for our attitude. Our attitude is not just a, you know, it's not big, spin the wheel of fortune

and you wonder what you wake up with every day. Remember, fellas, when you first got married, that's how you thought life was, right? Every day, you'd spend the wheel, go, come on, happy, give me happy, come on. All right, but we actually have responsibility for our attitude because our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. You're like, whoa, how do we do that? And so before Paul tells us how, he's going to tell us who. So what is Jesus's attitude?

Verse six, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped? Here's what this means. That Jesus always had a grateful attitude. He was never entitled, even though he was entitled to everything. That our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. In other words, Jesus never went to the front of the line and was like, I have diamond status. never in fact he tells us in matthew chapter 20 you want to be great and everybody's like yeah i want to be great

then be the least then serve he says because because gentile leaders are people that don't believe in god they lord their leadership over people it shall not be so among you he says even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many you see that at the heart of the attitude of Jesus is humility and gratitude. It says, who being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God, something to be grass, but made himself nothing. In the Greek, that literally says, but emptied himself.

That's what gratitude is. We, most of us, full of ourselves. That's when we're entitled, because we are full of ourselves. And when we are entitled, when we are full of ourselves, we are at least like Jesus. But he made himself nothing. taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Verse nine, therefore. Let me tell you to secret to Bible study. Here's how you become a Bible scholar. You figure out why all the soes, therefores, because the conjunctions are there. Because here's a word that says,

here's some verses up here, therefore, I'm going to say this truth. And you've got to figure out what the therefore is therefore, and what the because is there for and what the so is there for. And so therefore, because of the attitude of Jesus, because he humbled himself and he was not entitled, therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. You see, there is nothing we could ever do to pay God back.

There's nothing we could do to earn our salvation, but there are some things that we can do that can disqualify us from what God wants to do in us. And so because Jesus humbled himself, therefore God exalted Him. him to the right hand of God. And maybe because Ruth and Boaz humbled themselves and their attitude was, who am I, that I have found favor in your eyes, that God exalted them and used them to change, literally change

the whole world in all of redemptive history. You see, what felt like a setback to them and what felt like an incredible struggle and it was, was actually God using it as a setup for his redemptive plan. and the same thing can be true for you. Therefore, God exalted Him with the highest place and gave Jesus the name to it is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, therefore, again, here's another therefore. So since God exalted Jesus, and he's high and lifted up, so therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

It does not say work for your salvation. It says work out your salvation. In other words, how in the world are we to have the same attitude is that of Christ Jesus? You surrender your life to Christ Jesus. And when you do that, he rips out your dead heart of stone with our ungrateful attitudes, and he gives us a new heart.

He gives us his heart. He puts salvation deep in here. And salvation is then to be worked out. not worked for almost like you would work out a knot in a muscle that you're going to take that thing that is in you and you're going to cultivate it over time by abiding in him and abiding in his word and the thing that he put in you is the spirit of God and the spirit bears fruit fruit like love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control and those things come from the inside out not the inside not the outside of it so that doesn't mean that you can just

take gratitude and try to nail it to the outside of you. It just won't work that way. It starts by surrendering your life to the Lordship of Christ. You see, fruit is not manufactured. It's produced from the inside out. So you can't take an apple and nail it to a two by four and be like, look at my apple tree. Although that's the church I grew up in. They're like, here's some Jesus stuff. Add this on top of your life. See, Christian. Like, are you sure? But in fact, the way Jesus works is he starts from the inside and then we work it out. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose. And so what does an attitude of gratitude look like? How does it demonstrate or manifest itself?

Philippians 214. Do everything without complaining or arguing. Everything. Because when we complain or argue, it is evidence that we are entitled. Because what we're saying is, do you know who I am? And something is not going my way. And again, man, we don't like verses that have words like everything. And so sometimes people would be like, okay, well, how about this particular situation? Can I complain about that? And go, well, if it falls in the everything category, Paul goes, uh-uh.

By the way, he wrote this from prison. It says, do everything without complaining or arguing. Because complaining and arguing are an indictment against God. God, you're not doing this right. in your sovereign control, you didn't give me what I wanted or what I need it or what I think I deserve. That is entitlement. Let me say the real problem with entitlement. The real problem with entitlement is you think you're the center of the universe.

Gratefulness is understanding that Christ on the cross is the center of the universe. And my world revolves around him and not the other way around. I mean, last week I was with a dear friend of mine doing some church planning stuff in Nashville. And so he's showing us all over the place. We went to Opry. That was great. That's like the Vatican for my people. They were impressed.

We met famous people. It's fine. And then we go to this one stage in Franklin at the Franklin Theater. And on the stage in the center of the Franklin Theater, it says, center of the universe. And I thought, how sad? And what an indictment on our society. You see, church, what we need is we need our own Copernicus moment. Copernicus was the guy that said, you know what?

The whole world, the whole universe might not revolve around us. we might be revolving around something else. And spiritually speaking, that's what we need. And the way it's manifested is this, is to do everything without complaining or arguing. Why? Because you trust the sovereign hand of God in our provision, and we are grateful.

We are grateful for everything that he's given us. And then there's a so-that. So if you don't complain and argue, look what happens. So that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe. In other words, hey, you want to change your school, you want to change your neighborhood, you want to change Jacksonville, you want to change where you work. You don't, honestly, the Bible says you don't need some kind of strategy.

Here's what you do. If you do everything without complaining and arguing, you will shine like a star and a crooked and depraved generation. Like, I dare you all week long, at school, at work, I dare you to not complain about anything. not one time all next week. I'm telling you, here's what's going to happen. Your cubicle, mate, crooked and depraved, they're going to lean over and be like, are you okay? Like, yeah, why do you ask? Well, I mean, did you change your meds? What is going on with you? Because when you live a life of gratitude, it is contagious and it will change everything. And if your answer is some kind of version of, I actually, even though the circumstances aren't exactly the way I would love them, I understand that the

circumstances are not my God. My king is king over the circumstances, and it'll change everything. So, are you grateful or are you entitled? Listen, all of us can slide down towards entitlement. So the way for us to be grateful is this. You cannot simultaneously look at what Christ did for you on the cross and look down at your current situation. It's just impossible. And I know for me, I most clearly see God's blessings in my life when I'm most focused on the cross. I most clearly see God's blessing in my life. I most

often have the attitude of gratefulness when I am focused on what Christ did for me on the cross. When I am asking the question, God, who am I that you would take my place versus saying, do you know who I am and what I deserve? And so

this is why we preach the cross, we preach the cross. And so the way we're going to close this service today is by celebrating Holy Communion. And part of the reason God gave us the Lord's supper is to remind us of the cross. So if you're on the end rows at all of our location, the elements are under you.

Hopefully you didn't use it as a trash can. And you will just pass those down. Pass those down. And I know some of you are like, you know, Southern Baptist and Catholic and you felt like you've got to be ordained or something to pass the element. So look up here if that's you.

I don't know. Okay, you're in. And listen, I know that, you know, I know in the upper room on the last supper they didn't have the cellophane cup thing but it's just a way for us to do this all together because what I want to do is to just help us as a church fix our eyes on Jesus because when we focus on the cross it allows us to see God's sovereign hand of blessing in our life so in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 Paul writes to the church at Corinth and the reason

does is because they were jacking up communion. They were jacking up everything pretty much. But they were really jacking up communion. And a part of the way they were jacking up communion is they had put themselves in the center. That they literally were getting drunk before church started on communion. Just so you know, everything in the cell of fame packages is unleaded. So it's just grape juice, all right? But these guys were showing up and they were eating all the communion bread and drinking all the wine.

They'd be hammered. And so Paul in 1 Corinthians writes a letter in the Bible. it says, stop, and you're not the center of the universe. When we celebrate communion, it is a reminder that the almighty sovereign God is. And that we're not asking him to revolve around our lives, but we are laying our lives down to revolve around him. And so he says this in 1 Corinthians 1123. Paul says, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, he took the bread, and when he had given

thanks. Jesus was not a circumstantial thinker. He believed in the sovereign hand of God. I don't know how, maybe you're new to Bible study. Maybe you've done communion 10,000 times, but you didn't know this. The reason they call it the last supper is this the last one

he's going to eat for. He dies on the cross. He'll eat again when he resurrects, but this is the last one. Things, the circumstances around his life right now are not awesome. He's going to sit down with the guys that are supposed to be his followers and his best friends, and he knows that one of them is going to betray him for 30 pieces of silver. He knows another one who promises, I promise, I'll never leave you, I'll never deny you, I'll never forsake you, is going to deny him three

times. He knows that that night he's going to go into the Garden of Gassimony. And he's going to invite three of his buddies, hey guys, will you just stay up and pray with me? I need you to pray with me. He's going to feel the weight of the world and his shoulders. He's going to fall down and feel like he's going to die. He's going to pray with such intensity that he sweats, drops of blood. He's going to go before the Father in heaven and say, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup of your wrath pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. He knows that after that prayer time and after his disciples can't even stay awake and pray for him that a gang of men, soldiers with swords and torches are going to come after him, and they're going to arrest him and falsely try him, that he's

going to be beaten multiple times. His hair is going to be plucked out of his head. His hair is going to be plucked out of his beard. They're going to spit on him. They're going to punch him in the face. They're going to take a crown of thorns and push it down over his skull. They're going to flog him to the point where he has no skin left on his back. They're going to make him carry a cross to Gagotha the place of the skull. They're going to drive nails through his hands and his feet. They're going to lift him up and he's going to be eyeball to eyeball to eyeball. with people who are ridiculing him and he came to redeem them. And in those circumstances,

Jesus takes the bread and he gives thanks. The cross reminds us that we are not to be circumstantial thinkers, but that we are having an attitude of gratitude, the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. And what seems like suffering, and it is suffering, And what seems like a setback could actually be a set up for God to display his sovereign glory for the universe, Christ on the cross. And so we need giving thanks. He broke the bread.

And he says, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he also took the cup. And after supper, he said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. You see, the disciples had no idea what was going on. They had celebrated the Passover meal every year of their life. And Jesus is saying, by the breaking of the bread, my body will be broken for the forgiveness of sins.

And then he holds up the cup. And he says, this cup, and it's very interesting, the words that he uses. He says, this is the new covenant. Covenant and testament are the same thing. So he's saying there was an old covenant or an Old Testament. It was a covenant of law that no one. one could keep. But I have come and have kept the law perfectly to satisfy the justice of God. And because the old covenant has been satisfied, because the Old Testament has been satisfied,

now we will live in a new covenant or a New Testament. And if the old covenant was a covenant of law, the new covenant is a covenant of grace. And nothing will demonstrate my grace like this cup that represents my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin. And then he says, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And then he says, for as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So I'm telling you that it is easiest for me to see the blessings of God and be grateful for the blessings of God in my life when I am most focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the reason that he gave us communion was to refocus us on the cross, to refocus us on the gospel. And if you reverse it.

engineer this. If we stay focused on the gospel, I think that is how we have the attitude, the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, that regardless of our circumstances, we can take whatever he gives us and we can give thanks. Would you please pray with me? Our good and grace is heavenly Father. God, we love you because you love us first. Jesus, we thank you for the cross. God, we thank you not only for your example of an attitude of gratitude, but we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit that you plant in us that gives us the ability to do everything that you have called us to do. So, God, may we always praise you. God, though you slay us, may we praise you because we know that you were sovereign over all of our provision.

God, may we have the same attitude as Ruth, who says, who am I that I would find favor in your eyes? And God, may that stir in us a gratitude that we, works itself out into the way that we live and the way that we talk and the way that we treat one another so that we as followers of you might shine like stars and a crooked and depraved generation and people would see our good works and give you the praise. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.