Pleasure in Moderation: Thankfulness is the Key to Moderation

God’s Good Creation and the Call to Thanksgiving

Please turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 4, that can be found on page 992 if you're using the Pew Bible. 1 Timothy chapter 4. When you have that, please stand. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your Word and we thank you for all the blessings that you have given us.

You have given us so many things. You have given us food and every created thing you have on this realm you have placed beneath man. What is man that you are mindful of him? And yet you have put us in this position where these creatures are underneath us and we may enjoy them, receive them with thanks.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So we are in the middle of a series on pleasure and moderation, looking at different passages that relate to receiving the good things of God with moderation. One of the most important concepts to understand in understanding moderation is that thanksgiving, thankfulness, is the key to moderation.

How is it that you are to be moderate? It is through thanksgiving. It is through recognizing who the giver is and then responding to the giver with thanksgiving. When you are thankful, there is no place for excess and there is no place for asceticism.

There is only a place for receiving things with the purpose, with the intent that God has given them. Just looking at this passage, he says that the Spirit tells us that in later times some will depart from the faith.

Now, if you've been here, hearing the preaching of the Word over the past year at this church, you'll know that as I've preached on this passage and on 2 Thessalonians 2, I believe that this in a very particular way relates to the rise of Roman Catholicism and the various things that they require absence from at various times and from various people.

However, this is still a pervasive danger in our era regardless. Many depart from the faith devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. They are insincere liars. Their consciences are seared.

Marriage, Food, and the Purpose of Created Things

They are hypocritical. They go ahead and enjoy the things they claim that others cannot enjoy. They forbid all kinds of good things. Some of the greatest pleasures that God has given man, marriage, one of the greatest pleasures, not the crowning jewel of creation was marriage.

Even after God created man, He created woman, creating marriage. So it is not just the crown of that six days of creation, it is the crown of that sixth day. And people forbid marriage. They forbid foods.

Food being a, as I mentioned this morning, really one of the most pleasant things that God has given to us. And they forbid all these things even though those are to be received with thanksgiving because everything created by God is good.

He has created all things good. As it says in Genesis 1, 31, He looked and He saw and it was good. As it says in Genesis 9, 3, that every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. God gave creatures as food for man.

These things are good. He has given them to man. That was their whole purpose in being created. For it's made holy by the word of God and prayer. Our focus today is on this final verse. It is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

God has made all things good. They are to be received. And so how are they to be received? What is necessary in order that they be fit for you, in order that they be sanctified for the purpose of receiving it?

The answer is the word of God and in a sense the word of man, prayer. Okay, so God speaking from above, man responding from below. By the word of God and prayer. These are what make things holy and if you understand this, you'll also understand the key to moderation.

The Word of God, Prayer, and the Right Reception of Good Things

To reject excess, because this is what is being responded to, right? Like we looked at last week in Colossians, people respond to excess with asceticism that has the appearance of religion. Okay, so this is a response to excess but then it's one that ends up in the wrong place too because then it rejects as good what God has given as good.

And it also answers that asceticism. So it answers both excess and asceticism. If you understand Thanksgiving and if you understand that things are made holy by the word of God and by prayer. The word of God, first of all.

By the word of God. He pronounced all things good. He created them by creating them. He is a good God. The things that he creates are good. That in itself is a good thing. But furthermore, by his word coming from his mouth, he has blessed it and approved it for mankind.

The Greek phrase here, pankatisma, just means all creatures. All creatures. Some translations translate it that way. All creatures. Of course, when you think of a creature, you tend to only think of the ones that are living and moving.

But really this is talking about every created thing. Every created thing, God has made it. And he has made it for the purpose of man. Even those things which at this time are above man, namely the angels.

I mention this often that because Christ is raised on high and we are seated with him, man will be raised up above the angels. Yet even at this time, man being lower than the angels, what is their purpose?

Hebrews 1 .14 tells us that they have been sent out for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. All created things, God has made for the purpose of mankind. So he has declared all these things good.

Now you might hear that and ask yourself, well, in a fallen world, aren't there a lot of bad things? Aren't there things that must be abstained from? You know, I can think of all kinds of things that Paul talks about.

There's all kinds of sexual immorality that should be abstained from. There's idle food that Paul says to avoid. There's, you know, I can think of all kinds of things. Hard drugs. Obviously these are just to be completely abstained from.

If you understand what reception means in its broadest sense, I think it will give you a framework to think about this. Just because God has given the thing and that it is good, even in a fallen world, it still serves a good purpose and is meant to be received in the sense in which it was given.

So, for example, if he's given rocks and those are good things because you can build your house on them, that'd be a very foolish thing to eat rocks and say, well, God has given this and therefore it is good.

Or if God gives certain things to be food and you build your house on that and it's not stable because, you know, I don't know what they are, potatoes or pumpkins, whatever, not good foundation. Just because he gives the thing does not mean that it's good for every purpose you might want it for.

It is good for the purposes he intends it for. And so everything is good for the purpose which God intends it. And so, yes, in this fallen world, some things are good for other purposes. They are good for a test.

Abstinence, Trials, Signs, and Sacrifice

James 1 tells us to rejoice, to give thanks in our trials because of our trials. God sometimes gives things as a test and so they are received in abstinence by rejecting them. Some things are given as signs for us and to be rejected as signs.

For example, there are various things that the Israelites were required to abstain from, not because those things are not good, but God signifying that his people are distinct, gave them certain things to abstain from, to set them apart from others.

Okay, we on this day refrain from worldly activities or not just worldly activities you would frame from every day, but just our own recreations, our own works, et cetera, so that this day would be holy.

This is in part something that sets us apart from other people. So God has given us this day to abstain from it, to abstain from the things that we would otherwise do on other days as something that distinguishes us from others, right?

And then he has also given some things to be sacrificed. He has given us in such measure that we are able to give it back to him and have the privilege of giving to him. He gives many things and he calls for us to give the first fruits of our increase.

We are supposed to bring in the tithe, right? Why is that? It's because God has given those things so that we would not enjoy them for ourselves, but enjoy them in giving them up. Okay, so all things are good in the purposes for which God has given them.

Just like we talk about with his providences, he has a smiling providences, those situations that he has by his sovereignty placed us in that are very pleasant, those things are good from his hand. And those situations which are very difficult are also for our good.

He is the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. He is not changing from one moment to the next. All of those things are good from a good God, even though some are pleasant to us and some are unpleasant to us.

So understanding the purpose in which he has given them lets you know the mode in which they are to be received, which is not the same for everything. So you have to understand the purpose of God so that you can understand the mode in which is to be received and be therefore thankful for that thing.

Excess, Gluttony, and the Loss of Spiritual Discernment

Now consider what that means for excess, for taking too much of the pleasant things that God has given, for gluttony, etc. Well, if these things are supposed to be received for their purposes, are you really observing the purposes that God has given food for, etc., any other thing, if it makes you no longer fit for the callings that he has called you to?

It doesn't matter if it's food that makes you obese or if it's any other kind of thing, and it keeps you from being fit for the things that he has called you to, then that is not receiving it with thankfulness, right?

If you are so full of certain pleasures that God has given as good things, but you enjoy those things, you indulge in them in excess, then to the point where you're no longer able to discern what is right, what is honorable, because your senses are so confounded with feeding them with the things that you're indulging with, there's no place for gratitude in that.

That's against the purposes of God. If they distract you from the purpose that we have in humility, so for example, God has given all kinds of fine clothing for us to wear, nice clothing, but the one who is excessive in the kind of clothing that they wear that's ostentatious or peacocky or whatever, now that does not maintain the humility that we are supposed to have.

Instead, it raises up to pride. Or all kinds of pleasures. If you think of yourself as being so deserving of all these things and engaging them in a way that's not grateful, it raises man up in pride.

And then the same is true with anything that is so indulged in that it distracts you from the pleasures of God. As we were talking about this morning, meditation requires separation, even from good things often, in order that you would be able to taste the good things of God.

And so if you are so caught up in earthly pleasures, you cannot enjoy heavenly pleasures. God would have us to enjoy the things He has given in the right measure so that we would be able to enjoy Him through those things without distraction from the higher things that our mind is to be set on.

Calvin, in a very eloquent passage, talking about all the different ways that one would be distracted with the things of the earth, he said that those who are so enamored with all the pleasures of man and fine buildings, things made of marble, will themselves become marble-hearted.

This is what happens. You fill yourselves with pleasures of the earth and you'll be so full of those things that you will not have space for the things of God. Now how does this relate to asceticism? To a rejection of the good things of God?

Asceticism, Legalism, and Antinomianism

Well, if it is supposed to be given, if it is given for this purpose of man's good, then it should be received understanding purpose of man's good. And in the end, asceticism is really no different than excess, because if there are some things that are to be abstained from, and even good things are to be abstained from in some measure because we are to receive them in the mode that God has given, what is the ascetic saying?

Especially as we looked at Colossians 2 last week. The ascetic is saying, okay, I like tests. I like signs of my specialness. I like things that I can, this experience of sacrifice, etc. But what God has given me as tests, as signs, as sacrifices is not enough.

And I want more and more and more. Right? It's its own kind of excess. A lot of people will use the term balance to describe all these things. I really do not like using the term balance, even though it's a perfectly appropriate word in some measure to talk about these things.

There is a sense in which we need a balance between excess and asceticism. But most often when people use the term balance, they fail to realize that there is an identical heart behind both of these poles.

These are just a horseshoe that really meet in the same place. And this is true for most polar sins that you could come up with. One book that a lot of people really like, Sinclair Ferguson's The Whole Christ.

One of the main points of that is legalism and antinomianism, a rejection of the law of God, are really pretty much the same thing when you understand the heart of them. This is really true with most polar sins, is that they end up being a horseshoe, that at the heart of them are the same thing.

The ascetic, the one who is overindulgent in everything, is really taking the things of God and saying, I want more of this aspect of the good thing, whether it be in the receiving of it, or in the mode that needs to abstain to understand the purposes of God.

Prayer as the Means of Sanctifying Daily Pleasures

Now it is sanctified by the word of God. He has blessed it, explained his purposes to mankind, and man is then supposed to respond with prayer. These things are received by the word of God from above, and the prayer of man from below.

We are to pray. Now, there is a focus here on food. Food, things that are supposed to be received. I mentioned this morning, it is very interesting that the word of God is metaphorically spoken of in our reception of it as eating.

And why is that so frequent? Because food is an especially pleasant thing. That is why food often comes up in these discussions about either moderation, whether it be excess or asceticism or rejection of good things.

It is because it is something that is especially pleasant. It is a quintessential pleasure that God has given us. God has given us food, and he has given us prayer, by which it is received on our end as something good from him.

You notice that the Lord's Supper is blessed by prayer. It is set apart for holy use. But this is the very same mechanism by which things are even set apart for their common use. Okay, when I pray for the Lord's Supper, setting it apart for holy use, that is in the same mechanism, recognizing God's purpose, his distinct purpose for this ceremonial meal, is the same means that he has given you to bless those things which you would commonly receive.

Yet so many people do not receive the things that God has given with thanks. The Israelites in the wilderness were displeased with God, discontent. He sends manna from heaven. He sends, the way it is described, I always imagine it as baklava.

You know, he gives them baklava from heaven. And they are, they get sick of it. They want something else. They want meat, and they complain to God. And then Moses tells them that meat is going to come out of their noses because they have been so ungrateful.

He's going to give them so much meat, it comes out of their noses. And lo and behold, when they go to eat, a plague spreads out among the people, and many of them are destroyed. Why is this? Multiple of the Psalms interpret that event for us.

It tells us that they had forgotten the good things that the Lord had done for them. They had forgotten. They were ungrateful. They did not receive that quail that God had given with thanksgiving, but rather as something that was owed to them, as something that they didn't understand his purposes in giving the food that he had given.

They wanted more, and they were not satisfied with what God had given. This is an important thing, to receive the things that God has given with food, or excuse me, with prayer. And this is true, of course, of those things that stand out like food.

It's also true of any other kind of major thing that you would receive. I say major because all things should be received with prayer, but as we have special opportunities, we must take those opportunities, and food is a distinct opportunity.

When I was growing up and entering my late teens, I began to question a lot of my parents' religion, and reading more of the Bible, and recognizing that there were some things that I had been taught and some practices that weren't necessarily in the Bible, I began questioning a lot of things, and I questioned too many of them, frankly.

One of them that I questioned was, should we even be praying before meals? That seems like an almost superstitious thing to do, and I intentionally stopped praying before meals because I didn't know where that was in Scripture.

Well, it turns out it's a lot of places in Scripture, and I was a very ignorant person. Food is a very special kind of pleasure that God has given man, and it's something that is to be distinctly recognized and received with prayer.

Thanksgiving Recognizes God as Giver and Purpose

What does this accomplish when we pray for food? Well, first of all, it recognizes the source of that food. It recognizes God as the giver of good things, as the one who has sanctified that for the purpose of man, and it also recognizes the purpose that He would have in it.

He is not just the source of it, but He is ultimately the purpose in it, that we are to be receiving these things for His glory, for whatever purpose He would have in mind that would exalt Him and help us to know Him and enjoy Him.

And it prepares us in that moment to receive with thanksgiving. God often withholds many things from people because they are unable to receive them in thanks, and oftentimes the reason He pours out His blessings on people that are not thankful is to further condemn them.

This seems to be the judgment in a lot of the Psalms, is that why do the wicked prosper? In part, it seems to be judgment on them that they experience all these good things of God. So, whether you have too little or too much, it may be because you are not being thankful.

You are not ready to receive the blessings of God in the proper measure that they are to be received. And then, it commits yourself in the future to not forgetting the things that He has done, like the Israelites did when they were in the wilderness.

He did so many things. There were 10 plagues. Of course, that's the point of these Psalms, is they catalog all the things that He did. He took them through the Red Sea. He fed them in the wilderness, etc., etc., etc., etc.

Yet, they did not remember the things that He has done. And so, it does not just prepare you in the moment to receive something with thanksgiving, but it commits you in the future to recalling His mercies throughout your life.

This is what prayer accomplishes in the heart. And then, what is the result? Moderation. If you are receiving things with prayer, as God has blessed it, and then you blessed it, blessed from us, not meaning that we have the power to grant anything some sanctification, but we have the ability by our mediator to call upon God to give His blessing.

So, He has blessed it, and we call upon Him to give that additional blessing. As we receive it, we then receive in moderation. The one who is thankful, the one who is truly thankful, understanding the purposes of God, receiving the things of God from Him, will be moderate in the way he receives.

And he will be able to rejoice in the things that God has given for his pleasure as he is to rejoice. Food and all things are sanctified by the Word of God, they are sanctified by prayer, and they are sanctified for our reception.

Salvation, Christ, and the Ability to Give Thanks

We may receive these things because of the salvation that we have. As we looked at in a previous message, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled, all things are defiled. To the pure, all things are pure.

If you have been saved by Jesus Christ, then you do not have to have the seared conscience that would not know how to receive things. Instead, you can give thanks. Thanksgiving is not something that is possible if you do not have the blood of Jesus Christ.

If you do not have forgiveness of sins, God does not hear your prayers. You do not have a mediator through whom you can give your prayers up to the Father and they be received. It is through becoming pure that you can know that you are receiving things, not as one who is defiled, who cannot handle the good things of God, who cannot receive them for a proper purpose because you are not fulfilling the purposes of God, but rather fulfilling something else, but as the one who has been sanctified by the blood of Christ, made holy for God's purposes, that those things are then holy for you.

It is through Jesus Christ that you can receive things with thanksgiving. And this is, as I mentioned in the prayer earlier, this is preparation to receive the far greater blessings that we will receive.

The blessings that we receive in this life are so wonderful. God has been so kind to us. He has given us so much, but there is so much more that we will receive. No eye has seen, no ear has heard. In Romans chapter eight, it says in verse 17 that if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs with Christ.

If we suffer with him, then we will also be glorified with him. Okay, we are heirs of, Christ is an heir of all things. He has, by his perfect obedience before God, by being this perfect son of God, he has inherited all things.

And then he, in uniting us to himself, has made us with him children of God, right? He is the only son of God and we are called sons. How is he the only son of God and we are sons? It is in him that we are sons.

And if we are sons, then we are heirs. We will receive all things, all things with Jesus Christ. It says later in that same chapter in verse 32, if he has given us his son, how will he not also give us all things?

That's not just a hypothetical that he would be willing to, kind of like the Bible speaks of even moving mountains, right, prayer. If it were the case that God wanted to do something through prayer, he could do this through prayer.

It is a real statement of what is to happen. He will give us all things. It was promised earlier in that same chapter. We will inherit everything along with Jesus Christ. And if we will inherit everything, we need to be prepared to receive all those things with thanksgiving.

Holiness, Gratitude, and the Inheritance of All Things

The one who does not know how to receive the things in this life with thanksgiving will not be ready for the next. We must pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, as it says in Hebrews 12, 14.

Part of that holiness is the holiness of having gratitude, of being a grateful person, unlike the unholy people in this world who are not grateful, who might say things about being thankful, but do not know the true God and are not able to give real thanks.

You must know him. You must practice gratitude in order to be ready to receive all the things that God has in store. And they are all enjoyed in Jesus Christ. Do you understand what the point of this is?

Those things that we receive, in God's providence, very similar to what I was saying this morning, those things that we receive, ultimately, they are not distinct blessings from Jesus. It's not that you have to learn to be thankful for your salvation and then in addition, be thankful for all these other things because they are all coming through Jesus Christ.

And even the mercies that we would receive on this earth have to do with God's preparing us in the whole work of salvation that he is doing means that our enjoyment of things now, our enjoyment of things then, everything that we would enjoy in this life given that all things find their purpose in Jesus Christ means that being thankful for anything in this life is at its heart understanding and appreciating Jesus Christ himself and whom are all the blessings that we receive.

This is the treasure that I want you to know is not merely earthly pleasures and not even merely heavenly pleasures but Jesus Christ himself and all things in him. Understand God's purposes for the things that he has made, for the things that he has blessed.

Practicing Gratitude in Plenty and Need

He has by his word, blessed creation, called it good for the purposes of man, for his own purposes in man's good. Understand the mode in which things are to be received. They are to be received sometimes by the actual ingestion of them, by the actual use of them and they are to be received in some modes that would be different and some that would be an actual abstinence thanking God for the trial of the temptation or of the sign or of the opportunity to make sacrifice, whatever the case may be.

And then, once again, respond. So not just understanding God's word as he has blessed, as it says here in Timothy, but also understanding how we are to pray in order that things be holy. Pray to God giving thanks most especially for those things that God has called us to give thanks for.

He has called us to give thanks for all things, but in a special way, he has called us to give thanks for food. I believe also in a special way, he has called us to give thanks for each day. At the beginning and at the end of each day, give God thanks for that day and give him just thanks throughout the day for all the things that he has given.

And then practice. Practice receiving things in the mode that he would have you receive them in. Practice enjoying much and enjoying little. Paul says in Philippians 4 .11, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Maybe you had forgotten the context of that verse, but he's talking about being able to handle very little and being able to handle much. When you find yourself with much, practice restraint. When you find yourself with little, practice the other mode of gratitude where you would not be covetous of more.

Many people who cannot handle one of those situations usually betray that they would have the contrary sin in the other circumstance. If you're covetous when you have little, it shows that you would overindulge when you have much.

If you are very ashamed of having little, you would be very proud if you would have much. And so whenever you are in a situation where you have more or less, that is an opportunity to prepare for the opposite situation.

Job’s Example and Questions for Self-Examination

Just one example in scripture, you see Job, he has everything. He's got a great family. He's got great wealth, all that. He is thankful for it. And what is that Thanksgiving doing? Preparing him for when he loses it all.

When he loses it all, he is still able to handle himself in a situation with little. He says, Okay, prepare yourself in situations with little that you would be able to handle much. Prepare yourself situations with much that you would be able to handle little.

And then enjoy the things of God. Receive them with gratitude. And as you're trying to figure out whether or not you are receiving them with gratitude, you can ask yourself a few questions. What has God given this thing for?

Okay, so the word of God, what has he blessed it for? And then what am I using it for? Why am I thanking him? Okay, so what has God made it for? What am I using it for? How does this glorify God? And would I be able to handle myself in a situation where I did not have this thing or I had far more?

Ask yourself those questions. They will help you assess whether or not you are truly receiving things with gratitude. God is a most blessed God. He is overflowing with goodness. And he has created us to be creatures that would receive from his hand and to need things on a daily basis in order that we would be satisfied with what he gives.

Things that please the senses. Food that pleases man each day as God gives it. As he gives man his daily bread. This is a wonderful truth. And you may enjoy those things in your maker much more if you receive these things of gratitude.

And above all, you can receive the blessings of redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the many blessings that you have given. We ask that you would make us a grateful people.

We know that we suffer from the same temptations that those Israelites in the wilderness did. Yet, while they have the law written on tablets of stone, we, by the Spirit, have your law written on our hearts.

And so we ask that this law of not being covetous, of instead being grateful, would be written even deeper on our hearts. That as we have received your word today, that that would be engraved in a deeper way and that we would be a more joyful people, able to handle your blessings when we have much and even when we have little.

In Jesus' name, amen.