The Surprising Work of Grace: Thanksgiving

“So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.” - Luke 19:6

Last week, I was driving our old car down a county road when I side-swiped a mailbox. It’s embarrassing to admit to the home owner and even now. (How do you hit a mailbox in broad day light? Distraction and a scattered mind. Inattention.) I stopped at the home owner’s house to take responsibility. A woman answered the door hospitably and received the news in stride. Forwarding my information to her husband, I waited for my scolding.

We live in a world where there seems to be no margin for error, no opportunities for failure or faulty decision-making. Just recently, a house cleaner was shot to death through a door in Indiana for attempting to enter the wrong house. Earlier this year, a friend of mine was jumped in a parking garage by a man who was irritated that traffic wasn’t moving. If you’ve been on busy highways, you’ll see inconsiderate drivers and maybe worse, road rage. This is the unfortunate realty of the world we live: graceless and joyless.

One of our values at First Baptist Church is celebrating Jesus. Celebrating Jesus is the joyful effect of the gospel in our lives cultivated by the Holy Spirit who energizes our attitudes, words, and actions. It’s difficult to celebrate in a no margin world. We see this in our lives, and we see this in the Bible. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day often grumbled when Jesus gave margin to sinners and outcasts. But when Jesus gave margin of grace to the sinner and outcast, they often responded with joy and gratitude. Zacchaeus received Jesus joyfully (Luke 19:1-10). When Jesus grace extended to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus celebrated with repentance and gratitude while the grumblers grumbled. The effect of the gospel of grace in our lives, like Zacchaeus, is joy, thanksgiving, and celebration. It is the only proper response to God’s kindness toward us. Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus— receiving him joyfully with repentance and gratitude— is the natural outflow of gospel at work in us. Anything less than that should drive us to examine how the gospel is presently impacting our life and the degree to which we are responsive to the Holy Spirit and his fruit in our hearts. 

It surprised me when I discovered how Scripture regards thanksgiving and gratitude as integral response to our ongoing reception of the gospel and its ongoing application in our life. For instance, those who are futile and foolish in their life characteristically do not give thanks or honor God even though they acknowledge God (Romans 1:21-23). In the positive sense, the Apostle Paul encouraging the Colossian church (Colossians 3:1-17) about our new personhood in Christ on three occasions within about 70 words reminds us to be thankful. In other words, a core part of our identity in Christ is thankfulness and gratitude. For Paul, the outward expression of the peace of Christ ruling, the word of Christ dwelling, and being ourselves in word and deed in Christ is thankfulness. This is the way of Christ: who for the joy set before him endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2).

Whether in moments of quiet or in moments where the is no margin, may we be still and give thanks. For Jesus has said to us, “for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). It is there that we have the opportunity to “lay aside every burden and sin which clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1). In this high-anxiety Martha-riddled-world, it is there that we sit at the feet of Jesus with Mary to learn from our heavenly brother who gives good gifts of great joy (Luke 10:38-42). May your Thanksgiving be filled with the grace and joy of Christ.