Gratitude For Gratitude

Please turn to 1st Chronicles 29. 1st

Chronicles 29, in this passage you see David giving thanks to God as people have collected material for the building of the temple.

God had told David that he was not permitted to build the temple, but his son would build the temple, but that did not prohibit

David from gathering everything that was needed in order to build the temple. So if you look at the work that was done in constructing the temple,

David's really doing half of it, and the people under him, but it is

Solomon who ends up actually overseeing the construction of it. I would like to read the whole chapter, so let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word.

So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, and all sorts of precious stones and marble.

Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my

God, I give it to the house of my God. Three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house, and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold, and silver for the things of silver.

Who then will willingly offer, who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the

Lord? Then the leaders of father's houses made their free will offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king's work.

They gave for the service of the house of God, five thousand talents, and ten thousand derricks of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred talents of iron, and whoever had precious stones, gave them to the treasury of the house of the

Lord, and the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced, because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the

Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly. Therefore, David blessed the

Lord, and in the presence of all the assembly, and David said, blessed are you,

O Lord, the God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all it 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.

In your hand are 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. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly?

For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you, and sojourners as all our fathers were.

Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O Lord, our

God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house, for your holy name comes from your hand, and is all your own.

I know, my God, that you test the heart, and have pleasure and uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart,

I have freely offered all these things. And now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

Grant to Solomon, my son, a whole heart, that he may keep your commandments and your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all that he may build the palace for which

I have made provision. Then David said to all the assembly, bless the

Lord your God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads, and paid homage to the

Lord and to the King. And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the

Lord, one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, and one thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices, and abundance for all

Israel. And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness. And they made

Solomon, the son of David, king the second time, and they anointed him as a prince for the

Lord, and Zadok as a priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in the place of David his father.

And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. And the leaders and the mighty men, and also the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.

And the Lord made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

Thus David, the son of Jesse, reigned over all Israel. The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years.

He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty -three years in Jerusalem. Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor.

And Solomon, his son, reigned in his place. Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the chronicles of Gad the seer, with accounts of all his rule, and his might, and of the circumstances that came upon him, and upon Israel, and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.

You may be seated. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would give us hearts of thankfulness.

We do thank you for for what you have done. You have done great things. You have sent your son to earth to die for your people.

But God, we recognize that apart from you we have nothing to offer, and apart from you we have no heart that we desire to to offer.

We pray that you would give us gratitude and willing hearts as we wish to follow your will, and to be servants who give generously to you with hearts of thankfulness.

In Jesus' name, amen. So I've been studying first chronicles, and I'm almost at the end of it.

I've been studying for several months now, and this passage struck me because of what it says about thankfulness.

You could call it a late Thanksgiving sermon. I don't know when Thanksgiving sermons are supposed to be preached, if it's last week or this week, or you could call it a late sermon on my series on giving, but this passage really struck me about everything it says about thankfulness, because if you think about how counterintuitive what is going on here,

David gives. He gives generously, not just as a king, assembling funds and assembling materials, but then he says even of his own treasure, so even his own private goods, he also gives the

Lord. And then he calls the people to consecrate themselves. You know, there's no distinction made here between people giving their own goods and people giving of themselves.

He asks them to consecrate themselves, and so they do so by giving. And what you would expect when someone gives a gift to someone else, who says thank you?

It's the one who receives the gift. But in this case, what happens? What counterintuitively happens?

After David and the people give a gift, they come to the Lord, and they say thank you to the Lord for even having things to give, for even the heart to want to give.

It's very counterintuitive, but it explains how we should think about our thankfulness to God, and that we should even be thankful for giving, and we should even have gratitude for having gratitude, because it's

God who gives us a whole heart to want to do what is right, to want to give.

He is blessed alone forever. Blessing, being blessed means to be content, and full, and overflowing with goodness.

So he is, he is overflowing with good things, and for us to be overflowing with goodness that we would give to others, that we would give back to God, means that he has given of himself to us, that we might give of ourselves to him.

And so it is a wonderful position that someone stands in to be able to give. So let's look through this, and that's the primary thing

I want to look at, is how we ought to be thankful for the opportunity to give, and for even the heart to give.

Verse 10, I just want to look at verses 10 through 22. Therefore, David blessed the

Lord in the presence of all the assembly, and David said, blessed are you, O Lord, the

God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. You know, as I just explained, the word blessed means to be happy, that's what you see in some older translations of the

Bible or of songs, to be content, to have everything you need, to lack nothing. And so God is blessed in a distinct way than we are blessed.

He is blessed of himself. He has everything he needs of himself, and there's nothing that we can offer to him.

This is what you see later too, after Solomon is done building the temple, you know, he points out that that God has no need of anything.

There's no house that could contain him, there's no sacrifices we could give to him that he would, he would need them, because he's not hungry, he doesn't eat.

So he is blessed in a way that when we say blessed, our blessingness, our blessedness is only a reflection of his blessedness, right?

He is the one who is, who is truly lacking nothing, and is truly overflowing with goodness.

And us, as we are blessed by him and have goodness, whether it be physical prosperity, whether it be joy in our soul, and as that overflows, it's only in a secondary way because it is not of ourselves.

These things are given by God, so God is blessed alone forever. He's eternally blessed, and only he is blessed in this manner of being blessed of himself.

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.

See, all things are God's, and that includes not just things in heavens and earth that are physical, but it even includes these abstract concepts.

Glory, and victory, and majesty, all things are God's. He is the one who possesses all these things.

All goodness is God's. You know, when we when we talk about God as being good, or being true, or different attributes, we're not saying that God conforms to this external standard of goodness or truth.

God is that standard of goodness and truth, right? These things come from him. This is, this is the sense in which he is blessed.

He is, he is the one that defines these things. He is the definition of all these good things. They are all his.

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

God's is the kingdom. Now, not only this kingdom of Israel, but pointing forward to the new nation that Christ would establish.

This is God's kingdom, and you see this prayer of David's, um, I'm not sure what the best way of saying it is.

Recaptured, or, or recalled. Jesus' prayer, the

Lord's prayer, has reference to this. You see some of these same phrases. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.

You know, Jesus is appealing to this, this prayer of David as he, as he leads the people in how to pray.

And so this kingdom that is being talked about is not just that earthly kingdom of Israel, but a greater kingdom that is to come referenced from this time period.

It's the kingdom that we enjoy, that Christ has established. This kingdom is the

Lord's, and as he has established it, and created it, and guides it, that we, as we construct it, you know, by our own hands, and being involved in different ministries of the church, we would be incorrect if we thought, oh yes, we built this, we built this kingdom, this kingdom is ours.

Just as if David and his people were, would be incorrect if they said, you know, we built this kingdom of ourselves.

No, it is the Lord who owns the kingdom. All things are

Lord's. You know, if you were to make a catalog of everything that was God's, and then everything that was not

God's, this would be a very, very long list, and the list itself would be included in that list. Everything is

Lord's. There's nothing that is not his. Everything else that we own, we own secondarily, you know, as a, as a steward of his possessions.

Verse 12. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all.

In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all.

So you see, all things come from the Lord. He is the source of all things.

So before it was talking about how he possesses all things, now David's talking about how God gives all things.

Anyone who has might, they have might from the hand of the Lord. Anyone who has power, they have power from the hand of the

Lord. Anyone who is great, anyone who has strength, where does it come from? It comes from the

Lord. There is nowhere else. And so, because of that, we ought to thank the Lord and praise his glorious name.

See, God gives things in order to, that we might see his gloriousness.

You know, he is already glorious. He is blessed forever. There's no one that can add or subtract from him. But, but we don't all witness that gloriousness, and it is only as we acknowledge that God is the source of all these good things we receive, that we begin to witness that gloriousness.

So you ask, why is God good? Why does he give us all these good things? Well, it's not because you deserve it.

It's not because he has to, or he's required to. He is not obligated to anyone, but he gives these things that we might see that he is glorious.

Because he is so overflowing with goodness, he wishes us to know of his goodness as well.

You know, why did he create humanity in general? He wished to share his goodness with his people.

You know, when we were looking at that psalm in Isaiah last week, when we were, we were looking at what

Isaiah was saying about God's purposes in giving warnings so that he might be merciful to those who heed those warnings, right?

And why does God, why does God wish to be merciful to people? So that they can know his goodness. You know, when he created the world, he created it to communicate himself to people, his gloriousness.

This world that we live in, where it's full of sin and evil, why is it, why is it that it exists that way?

It exists that way so that God might show his mercy. Otherwise, without evil, without sin, there would be no revelation of his mercy.

He desires us to know him fully. And so for us to recognize the purpose of God's gifts, for us to treat them sanely or responsibly, is to give

God thanks for the things that he has given us. If we fail to give him thanks, we fail to recognize the purpose of the gifts.

And why would he give gifts to one who is not going to thank him? If we want to continue to be blessed of the

Lord, let us continue to thank him for what he has given, recognizing him as the source of all these good things.

Verse 14, but who am I and what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly?

For all things come from you, and of your own have we given. You know,

David asks, who am I, what is my people? You know, David is, compare him to Saul, right?

Saul was head and shoulders above everyone else, right? David was the lowest of his brothers, a shepherd boy.

David was no one special. His people, no one special. Deuteronomy 8 says that they were the least of all people.

There is no one, including David, including even, including the low people, including the high people, who have of themselves anything to give the

Lord, but that it comes from him first. For all things come from you, and of your own we have given you.

This is why, David, after he gives the Lord, the Lord doesn't thank him, but he thanks the Lord, because this didn't come from him.

It came from the Lord to him that he might give it to the Lord. For we are strangers before you, and sojourners as all our fathers were.

Our days on earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. David refers to him and his people as sojourners, which, this is, once again, very counterintuitive, once again, very surprising, because they were sojourners for a long time, but now that they've come to the land, now that they've rid the land of enemies, now that they've established a stronghold in Jerusalem, and are about to establish a temple, they're not really sojourners anymore.

They own the land. And David says that they are still sojourners. What he is acknowledging is that this land, this stronghold of Jerusalem, once again, it is still the

Lord's, and it is not properly theirs. They are just sojourners in God's land.

You know, a sojourner, one who is temporarily in the land, has no property of his own, right?

That's why Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were called sojourners, because they didn't have their own property. They lived in the land, but did not get to enjoy any of it as their own.

But David and those men, as it says in Hebrews 11 16, were looking forward to something more than just that land of Canaan, right?

Hebrews 11 16 says, but as it is, they desired a city, a heavenly one, therefore

God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Excuse me, they desired a country.

So, you have the statement that these people of old were looking forward not just to that land in Canaan, right?

And David knows that that land in Canaan is not enough to make him no longer a sojourner. He is still a sojourner waiting for something that the

Lord would give ultimately. We ought to be looking for the same thing, recognizing that we are sojourners, that we have nothing ultimately to give the

Lord, but that he gives us to us. And there is something more awaiting us that will be more than just a temporary stewardship, that will be a permanent stewardship that we will be over.

Our days on the earth are like a shadow and there's no abiding. As it says in Peter, we are like grass.

We are only short -lived. So, for us to imagine that we, these temporary beings, are are giving something to the eternal

God of ourselves, it's misguided. It is God who gives to us and who gives us what we might give to him.

Verse 16, O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and has all your own.

Verse 17, I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure and uprightness, and the uprightness of my heart

I have freely offered all these things. And now I have seen your people who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people and direct their hearts toward you.

Grant Solomon, my son, a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which

I have made provision. Now here you see something more. It goes beyond. So first, David acknowledges that all things are the

Lord. He acknowledges that God gives all things and that if he gives, it only comes from the

Lord. But now he acknowledges even that the heart to give comes from the Lord. That it is

God who maintains the whole heart. I have seen your people who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

Skip ahead. Keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people. Keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people.

It is not we ourselves that have this generous desire to give and then as God gives to us, we give to him.

It is God that gives us both what we might give to him as well as the heart to give to him. Apart from his work, our hearts are ones that would be selfish.

Apart from his work, we would desire to keep everything for ourselves. Yet what he has done in giving us hearts that reflect his heart, a heart that's overflowing with goodness, allow us to experience what that kind of overflowing joy, that overflowing goodness is.

It's something incredibly merciful that God has done for us and he has done for us by his son.

That son who died, offering his whole life, offering us his spirit by which we may begin to experience this heart of God, the mind of Christ.

Verse 20, Then David said to all the assembly, Bless the Lord your God. And all the assembly blessed the

Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the King. And they offered sacrifices to the

Lord. And on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1 ,000 bulls, 1 ,000 rams, and 1 ,000 lambs with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for the

Lord. And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness.

So David leads the people to bless the Lord. Now, to bless the

Lord is to declare that God is blessed, right? It might refer to giving to the

Lord, but here it refers specifically to giving thanks and to acknowledging him as being the one who who is eternally blessed forever.

And he speaks of God, of the Lord, as the God of their fathers. You know, he's mentioned the father several times,

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He mentioned, you know, you see that in several other verses here.

He repeatedly appeals to them because it is God's promises to those men that have led

God to give to this later generation. And I find it interesting here where it says, where it says, bless the

Lord your God and all the assembly, bless the Lord, the God of their fathers. The phrasing of some of these passages, well, especially back in verse 10, blessed are you,

O Lord, the God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. As you see, Jesus Christ, when he is giving the

Lord's prayer and he tells us how to pray, no longer is it God of our fathers, but it is our

Father who is in heaven. There's, there's a pretty radical transformation between the two where they are appealing on behalf of their physical lineage, but we get to appeal on the basis of the spiritual seed within us that comes from God, our

Father. We have such a greater standing that we have in the gospel by which we may come to the

Lord and thank him for these things by that spirit of adoption that causes us to cry out of the

Father and thank him as one who is truly our Father, to ask him to continue to give us hearts that are willing to give, not just appealing on the basis of our physical lineage, but appealing to him for what he has done for us in Jesus Christ.

And so we ought to, we ought to thank him, as you see here David leading the people in thanks.

We ought to thank him in private as we consider what God has done to us, done for us.

We ought to thank him corporately, together as a body, for all the wonderful things he has given, for the gospel that he has given us, and any other blessing that we have experienced.

And we ought to also thank him with Jesus. You see, you see how

David is leading the people to praise the

Lord. Jesus Christ has led us in the Lord's prayer to give thanks to God.

And so we are not doing this just by ourselves or or together as a body, but we are doing it together, even with Jesus Christ, him leading us by his word, that we might praise

God. You see, he has, he has given us a spirit that we might have this heart, and he has also given us instruction by which we might express that heart rightly.

You see, there is nothing that that truly comes from us. Everything ultimately comes from God.

When I was a child, my parents around Christmas time would take me to the dollar store, and they would give me money that I could buy gifts for for them or for other people, right?

And Sarah often does that with our kids, too. So, you know, here

I am at the dollar store purchasing something for my parents with the money that they gave me. I'm just so excited to to give to them.

But, you know, like a foolish child, I felt that I was really being generous to buy this thing into this, you know, whatever cat figurine

I thought that they would like and give it to them. But really, you know, they were giving to me, and I should be, it's not them who should be thanking me for this gift.

It's I should be thanking them for the for the opportunity to give. And so here we are in God's world where everything has come from him, and he has given us so much.

He has given us his son and this gospel that we can share with others. And so as we do this work of ministry, and as we as we give to him financially, as we give to him even in evangelism and sharing sharing this gospel with others, we should not pretend that we are the source of these things, and we are just so generously giving of our own hearts.

But it is God who owns all things. He gives all things, including his gospel. And he even gives the heart that would desire to share this good thing with others.

Let us bless the Lord who is alone blessed forever. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you would impress this prayer upon our hearts, that we might bless you who are alone blessed forever.

I pray that you would give us our purpose and our thoughts, that you would maintain them, that we might have spirits of generosity and spirits of thankfulness to you for the opportunity to give, for the hearts to give.

I pray that we would not only have gratitude, but we would have gratitude even for our own gratitude.

God, you are you are good and you have given us many things, not least of all which is your son.

I pray that as we are found in him and are able to appeal to you as not only the God of our fathers, but as our own father, that you would be pleased to see us flourish, not merely with blessings, but with thankfulness and joy in what you have done.