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Developing an Attitude of Gratitude By Wayne Mack

I want to direct your attention tonight to Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19.
Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19.
We read,
And it came about that while he, that is Jesus, was on the way to Jerusalem,
that he was passing between Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered a certain village, there met him ten leprous men who stood at a distance,
and they raised their voices, saying,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
And when he saw them, he said to them,
Go and show yourselves to the priests.
And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed.
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.
And he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him, and he was a Samaritan.
And Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? What the nine? Where are they?
Were none found who turned back to give glory to God except this foreigner?
And he said to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well.
How would you describe your attitude toward what happens in your life?
Well, basically, people have three main attitudes toward what's happening in their lives.
There are some people who go through life with an attitude of grumbling.
They're like the Israelites who were described in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 in this way.
It said that these people went through the wilderness grumbling,
and consequently they were destroyed by the destroyer.
It didn't matter what God did, they grumbled.
If God gave them manna, it didn't suit them.
If God gave them quail, it didn't suit them.
If God gave them Moses for a leader, it didn't suit them.
If God sent the twelve spies into the land and ten of them came back and said there were giants in the land,
sure it's a land flowing with milk and honey, but there are giants there,
they weren't satisfied with that. They murmured, they grumbled, they complained.
So there are some people who go through life grumbling. Nothing ever suits them.
I remember hearing a poem which is called The Grumbler's Song.
It describes a lot of people.
It says, In country, town, or city, some people can be found who spend their lives in grumbling at everything around.
Oh yes, they always grumble, no matter what we say, for these are chronic grumblers and they grumble night and day.
They grumble in the city, they grumble on the farm, they grumble at their neighbors, they think it is no harm.
They grumble at their husbands, they grumble at their wives, they grumble at their children, but the grumbler never thrives.
They grumble when it's raining, they grumble when it's dry, and if the crops are failing, they grumble and they sigh.
They grumble at low prices and grumble when they're high. They grumble all the year round and they grumble until they die.
Or they grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, grumble on Thursday too.
Grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, grumble the whole week through.
Some people go through life grumbling.
There are also other people who go through life taking their blessings for granted.
In Romans 1 and verse 21 the Bible speaks of those who had an intellectual knowledge of God
and yet the Bible says they didn't glorify God and they didn't give God thanks.
Or maybe they didn't grumble, maybe they didn't complain, but they didn't give thanks because they thought they deserved what they were getting.
Now in our text of the evening, Luke 17, we read of some men who took their blessings from God for granted.
There were these lepers who were sent on their way by the Lord Jesus.
Ten of them were sent on their way.
All ten of them were healed.
And yet the scripture says that nine of them did not return to give God thanks.
They thought they deserved it.
They just took it for granted.
And there are a lot of people who go through life just taking all of the good things that they have for granted.
But then there are those who go through life with an attitude of gratitude.
They're like the psalmist in Psalm 34 and verse 1, who said, I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise will be continually in my mouth.
This man had an attitude of gratitude at all times.
In Daniel 6 and verse 10, we read of Daniel that he prayed and praised the Lord three times a day as he had done previously.
It was the custom with Daniel to spend at least three specific periods every day when he would pray and praise God.
He was a man who had an attitude of gratitude.
And in Luke 17, we have the record of one of the ten men who was healed.
When he was healed, the scripture says he returned glorifying God with a loud voice.
He shouted at the top of his voice.
He wanted to know everyone to know how great God was.
And the scripture says he fell on his face at the feet of Jesus giving thanks.
And the Greek verb is in the continuous tense, which means that he did it over and over and over again.
Here was the man who had an attitude of gratitude.
Now, our text indicates that this matter of having an attitude of gratitude is a rare thing.
There were ten men who were healed, and yet only one returned to give thanks.
True gratitude was a rare thing then, and my friends, it's a rare thing even today.
True gratitude is a rare thing in reference to man's relationship to man.
It's a rare thing in reference to the parent-child relationship.
On a number of occasions as I've been involved in working with young people,
I've asked young people what their parents appreciate about them.
And many of these young people have said, I really do not know what my parents appreciate about me.
Now, they could very quickly tell me what their parents didn't appreciate about them,
but they couldn't tell me what their parents did appreciate about them,
and that's because their parents weren't in the habit of expressing appreciation.
Parents were in the habit of criticizing them, correcting them, telling them what they didn't like,
but they were in the habit of telling them what they did like.
Some time ago I received a telephone call asking for a counseling appointment
from a woman who told me that her son had taken an overdose of drugs,
ended up in the hospital, they had pumped out his stomach, and they had just saved his life.
And this woman knew that her son needed some counseling, and so she made an appointment.
They came for counseling, and when they came in, the husband and wife were sitting there.
The mother did most of the talking.
She was complaining and griping about her son, and he was sitting there slouched down, you know,
and with a sad expression on his face, and he was there under protest.
You could almost see the marks of his mother's fingers on his ear,
and you could see his hoop prints in the rug as she drug him in there.
He didn't want to be there.
And I recognized from talking to these people that she was something of a nag,
she was something of a complainer.
And so I gave them an assignment to go home
and make a list of everything that they appreciated about this son
and then to make a list of everything that they didn't appreciate about the son.
And then I suggested to the parents that after they made these two lists,
they should go to the son, not let him see the list,
but they should ask the son, what do we appreciate about you?
What don't we appreciate about you?
And when they did this, the son told them, I don't know of anything you appreciate about me,
and he had a whole list of things that he knew they didn't appreciate.
And you know, the truth of the matter was they couldn't put anything on their list
of what they appreciated about their son.
Now the son was wrong for what he did, but mom and dad were wrong also
because they were not expressing appreciation to him.
They weren't communicating to him that they loved him, that they thought he was important,
that he had value, that he had worth, and that he had potential
because he was a creature made in the image of God.
And as a result of that, he got an indifferent, apathetic attitude toward life.
What's the use of even trying? I'm not worth anything.
I can't contribute anything. I can't accomplish anything.
You know, many times in the parent-child relationship, parents are guilty
of grumbling at their children instead of having an attitude of gratitude toward their children.
But this is not only true in the parent-child relationship.
It's also true in the child-parent relationship.
In Proverbs 31 and verse 28, the Bible says that the children of a blessed woman
rise up and call her blessed.
I remember reading about a woman who was dying,
and as she was on her deathbed, her children gathered around her,
and one of the children became a spokesman for the rest of the children
and went to the mother and said,
Mother, we children have been talking,
and we just want you to know how much we appreciate you as our mother.
We thank God for you, and this child went on to share with the mother
some of the things that they appreciated.
And the mother looked up into the eyes of this child and the other children and said,
Do you really mean it?
I didn't know that you appreciated anything about me,
because these children, until she was on her deathbed,
had not really been expressing appreciation to their mother.
I remember also another man, someone I know very well,
who at 35 years of age sat down and began to think
about how much he owed to his mother and his father.
Now, his mother and father weren't perfect.
They had a lot of faults, a lot of failures.
They had done a lot of things wrong in raising him,
but they had done some things right, and they had sacrificed for him.
And until this time, he really hadn't sat down to think about
how much he owed to his mother and father.
Well, at that time, when he was 35, it was too late for him
to say anything directly to his father, because his father was now in heaven,
and the only one left here on earth was his mother.
But as he sat there thinking about how much he owed to his mother and father,
the tears began to flow down his cheeks,
and he had to go to God and ask God for forgiveness for his ingratitude.
And then he sat down and he wrote a letter to his mother
asking his mother for forgiveness for the way that he had treated her,
for his lack of honoring her.
And he made a list of things that he appreciated about her
and about his dad and sent it to her.
It was late, but better late than never.
And since that time, that man has continued to try to express gratitude
on a more frequent basis to his mother.
Sometimes I have children who come to me, young people usually,
or people in their 20s or 30s,
and they tell me that they don't have a very good relationship with their parents.
You know, my mother and dad and I don't get along very well.
What do I do?
There are a couple of things that I tell them to do.
One is to sit down and make a list of ways that you have sinned against your mother and father,
ways that you have failed your mother and father,
ways that you have disobeyed your mother and father,
ways that you have dishonored your mother and father.
And secondly, I suggest to them that they make a list of all of the things
that they appreciate about their mother and father
and send both of these lists to them or take both of these lists to them,
to confess the way that they have failed
and express in specific ways the way that they appreciate their mother and dad.
I had one woman who caught hold of this idea.
It was just before Mother's Day.
And she wrote to all of her brothers and sisters,
and she asked of all of the brothers and sisters
to make a list of everything they appreciated about their mother.
And she said, let's all of us send mother these lists
expressing the specific things that we appreciate about her for Mother's Day.
Well, you can believe it was the best Mother's Day that that mother ever had
to get all of these lists from her children expressing appreciation.
True gratitude in reference to child-parent relationships is a rare thing.
But it's not only a rare thing in reference to child-parent relationships and parent-child relationships.
It's a rare thing in reference to husband-wife relationships.
Now the Bible very clearly teaches that it's the responsibility of husbands
to express appreciation to their wives.
Did you know that?
God commands you to express appreciation to your wife.
And if you're not doing it, you're sinning against God.
You know, back in the garden, when God created Eve for Adam,
God brought this creature to Adam.
He had never seen her before.
And the King James says in Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and verse 23,
that when God brought the woman to Adam, Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
He shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man.
It's all right.
Rather tame, though.
This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.
The New American Standard is a little bit better at that point.
I know the New American Standard also says this is now.
It's the Berkeley version, I think, which says at last.
Here's Adam in the garden.
He has all of this fantastic creation around him.
Sin hasn't polluted it yet.
The animals, they're all in harmony at this point.
Sin hasn't in any way destroyed or ruined any of the animals or the plant life.
And it's a beautiful garden in which Adam finds himself.
And yet when the woman came walking up, this translation says that Adam said at last.
This is what I've been looking for.
She's better than anything I've seen so far.
But I like the way Martin Luther dealt with the Hebrew there in Genesis 2 and verse 23
better than any of these translations.
Now, Martin Luther, of course, translated the Hebrew into German,
but the English equivalent of what Martin Luther said that Adam said when he first saw Eve was this.
Now, listen closely so you catch it.
Martin Luther said that when Adam took one look at Eve, he said, wow.
Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, I'm going to call her woman.
She's really something.
And what Adam was doing was expressing his appreciation for this beautiful creature
that God had given to him.
I asked you husbands here tonight, when was the last time you looked at your wife
and you said, wow, am I fortunate.
How good God has been to me in giving you to me.
Oh, thank you God.
How often do you express appreciation to your wife like that?
You know, that's what we ought to be doing.
In the book of Song of Solomon, we have a description of what one man said to his wife
and it's in the Bible, so I think it's all right for any man to say this type of thing to his wife.
In Song of Solomon chapter 4 verses 1 through 4,
this man who loved his wife deeply said, how beautiful you are, my darling.
How beautiful you are.
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats.
Now, maybe your wife wouldn't like you to call her hair like a flock of goats.
But they were living in an agricultural society at that time and, you know, a flock of goats was pretty important.
I don't know, maybe they had goats that had beautiful hair then, I don't know.
But your hair is like a flock of goats.
You can say something else, but get the idea.
That have descended from Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes which have come up from their washing,
all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young.
Your lips are like a scarlet thread.
Your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Your neck is like the Tower of David, built with the rolls of stones,
on which are hung a thousand shields, all the round shields of mighty men.
Now, you don't have to say it just like this man said it, but say it.
What he was doing was expressing his appreciation for his wife.
And, you know, a lot of the couples who come to me with marriage counseling come because,
at least in part, the husband has been taking his wife for granted,
or else he's been grumbling and complaining and murmuring and criticizing.
And it's been many a day since she's heard real expressions of praise and appreciation.
And she begins to think, he doesn't care about me at all, he doesn't appreciate me,
he doesn't think I'm worth anything, he doesn't think I'm important.
That's wrong, because the Bible says in 1 Peter 3 and verse 7,
we're to give honor unto our wives as unto a weaker vessel.
We're to give honor to our wives, and so we're commanded by the word of God
to express appreciation to our wives.
But it's not only husbands who fail to express appreciation to wives.
Wives also fail to express appreciation to their husbands.
In Ephesians 5 and verse 33, the Bible says,
let the wife see to it that she reverents her husband.
My lady friends, do you reverence your husband?
In 1 Peter 3, the Bible says that Sarah called Abraham Lord.
When's the last time you looked at your husband and said,
good morning, Lord?
I don't think you have to do that either.
It could be translated, sir, it was a term of respect.
Do you know what Charles Spurgeon's wife called him?
She called him Purshatha.
Still don't know what she called him, do you?
Purshatha meant governor.
She was acknowledging in an affectionate and loving way
that as far as she was concerned, he had her respect.
As far as she was concerned, he was the governor,
and she was glad to have it so.
Now the Bible says let the wife reverence her husband,
and the Greek word which is translated reverence could be translated esteem.
Let her praise her husband, let her admire her husband,
let her appreciate her husband, let her honor her husband.
Do you honor your husband? Do you praise him? Do you esteem him?
Do you let him know, honey, I think it's great the way you work so hard every day.
I want you to know that I really appreciate the fact that you're a hardworking man.
Do you let him know that you appreciate his body?
Do you let him know that you appreciate his efforts,
his faithfulness, and his loyalty?
You know, back in the book of Song of Solomon,
it wasn't only the husband who expressed his appreciation to the wife.
Listen to what the wife said to her husband.
She said in chapter 1, verses 15 and 16,
How beautiful you are, my darling.
How beautiful you are. Your eyes are like doves.
How handsome you are, my beloved, and you are so pleasant.
When's the last time you looked at your husband and said,
Hey, you handsome guy, you know, you're really pleasant.
Over in chapter 5, verses 10 through 16,
again, this woman is expressing her appreciation for her husband.
She says, My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
She was admiring him. She was esteeming him.
His head is like gold, pure gold.
His locks are like clusters of dates and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves beside streams of water,
bathed in milk and reposed in their setting.
His cheeks are like a bed of balsam,
banks of sweet scented herbs.
Now again, I say, you don't have to say it exactly like that, ladies.
If you can do better, go ahead.
But again, I say, the point is, do it.
Let your husbands know that you really appreciate them.
All I say, true gratitude is often a rare thing.
In reference to husband-wife relationships,
we begin to take each other for granted,
or we do more grumbling than we do expressing thankfulness.
But it's not only a rare thing in family relationships,
it's also a rare thing in interpersonal relationships outside of the home.
Now the Bible has much to say about this matter
of expressing appreciation to other people.
It has a lot to say about this matter of expressing appreciation,
and some of us are so hesitant to express appreciation to other people.
It seems as though we're afraid to let somebody know we really appreciate them.
We think they've done a good job.
They've been a blessing to us.
We're afraid they'll get proud or something like that.
But the Bible says in Romans 13 and verse 7,
we're to render to all what is their due,
respect to whom respect is due,
and honor to whom honor is due.
In 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 11 through 13,
the Bible says,
encourage one another and build up one another.
Now how are you going to do that?
That's a command. We're to encourage one another.
We're to build one another up.
And then in verses 12 and 13,
he tells us how we can build one another up,
how we can encourage one another,
and he tells us something about whom we should encourage and build up.
He says, but we request of you, brethren,
that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you
and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,
and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their works.
He's commanding church members to appreciate their pastors,
their elders, the leaders of the church.
He's commanding them to esteem them very highly in love for their works.
He's saying, let your pastors and the church leaders
and the Sunday school teachers and the deacons
and whoever does the work of the church,
those who labor in the work of the Lord,
let them know you appreciate them.
So many church members who are very quick to criticize
and find fault and say what they think is wrong,
but they're so slow to give a word of commendation
or a word of appreciation, and that's wrong
because this text says you're to be constantly
expressing appreciation to your leaders.
In 1 Corinthians 16, verses 15 through 18,
Paul says to the Christians at Corinth,
I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas,
that they were the first fruits of the chaos
and that they have devoted themselves for the ministry to the saints,
and I urge you to be in subjection to such men
and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.
Now what he says here is Stephanas is doing a good job.
Paul wasn't afraid to say that somebody was doing a good job.
He said it very clearly here.
He said, they were the first fruits of the chaos
and they have devoted themselves for the ministry to the saints,
and as you read through the epistles of Paul,
you find Paul saying something like this again and again.
I thank God upon every remembrance of you.
I thank God for your works of faith,
your labors of love, and the patience of your hope.
Paul was constantly commending and expressing appreciation to people.
That's how we encourage people.
That's how we build them up.
In 2 Timothy 1, verses 16 through 18,
the apostle Paul writes and he tells Timothy
and everyone who reads the second epistle of Timothy
about a man whose name is Onesiphorus,
and he says, hey, that Onesiphorus is a great guy.
He's really something.
When he came to Rome, he looked all over Rome for me,
he sought me out, and he oft refreshed me.
Oh, I just pray that God will show mercy to him.
And what's Paul doing?
He's commending Onesiphorus before people.
Or look at Romans chapter 16.
He's writing to the church at Rome,
and in the last chapter, he spends,
oh, at least 10 verses, more than that.
He spends about 16 verses talking about some very wonderful people.
He says, I want to tell you about Phoebe.
She's some kind of woman.
She's a servant of the church.
Now, hold her in regard.
He says, I also want to talk to you about Priscilla and Aquila.
Priscilla and Aquila are my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
and did you know that for my life, they risked their own necks?
To whom not only do I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
And not only that, they allowed the church to meet in their house.
And then he goes on to talk about Epinetus.
He's my beloved.
And then he greets Mary.
He says, she's worked hard.
And then he talks about Andronicus and Junius.
He says, they're my fellow prisoners,
and they're outstanding among the apostles.
They were also in Christ before me.
And on and on he goes, expressing appreciation
and commendation for these people.
Now, that's a rare thing,
because we're so selfish about giving praise to other people.
I find more people who are envious and jealous of others
who are doing well than they are thankful for them.
You say, someone did a great job.
Yes, but I really preach.
Yes, but did you know this about him?
True gratitude is a rare thing,
and it shouldn't be a rare thing
because the Bible commands us to be appreciative of other people.
But true gratitude is not only a rare thing
in reference to man's relationship to man.
It's also, and even more so,
a rare thing in reference to man's relationship to God.
God has been so good to us.
He daily loads us with benefits,
according to Psalm 68 and verse 19.
And yet some of us rarely praise God
and frequently grumble and complain
or at least go through life taking things for granted.
Now let me share with you tonight some of the different things
that we ought to be thankful for.
And I want you to examine yourself to see how you're doing
in expressing gratitude to God for these various things.
For example, are we really thankful to God for our common blessings?
Now by common blessings, I mean the blessings that we share
in common with all men, whether they're saved or unsaved.
Do we really appreciate the earth on which we walk?
The beauty of God's creation, the flowers,
the grass, the sky, the sun, the rain, the snow?
Do we really appreciate these things?
Isn't this a fantastic world that God has given to us?
Do the heavens declare the glory of God?
The firmament show forth his handiwork?
The psalmist said, Oh, Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth.
Do you ever stand out under the stars of heaven
or out under the brilliant sunlight and look around you and say,
Oh, Lord, my Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth?
Isn't God good to us in the way that he created this world?
Isn't that a fantastic food to enjoy?
Oh, isn't that wonderful?
God could have created food in such a way that it would have all tasted the same,
or he could have created it so that it would have all been bland
and had been a chore to eat it, had been like taking medicine.
He could have done that. He didn't.
God could have created a world in which there was only one color.
He didn't have to paint the world with all of these fantastic colors.
He could have painted it all chartreuse or something like that.
Wouldn't that have been something?
But our good God painted the world with different colors,
and it's fantastic to be whole.
Old God's cool.
But what about this matter of our own bodies?
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?
Some of us maybe don't like to do that because we put on too many pounds.
But have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror
and said what the psalmist said in Psalm 139?
He said, Lord, you did form my inward parts.
You did weave me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are thy works, and my soul knows it very well.
Now, when the psalmist says, Wonderful are thy works,
do you know what he's talking about?
He is, as it were, looking at himself in a mirror,
and he's saying, Lord, I'm wonderful.
You made me.
I'm fearfully and marvelously made.
Thank you, Lord.
Have you ever thanked God for yourself?
Now, we can complain about ourselves.
It's said that a majority of people don't like a lot of things about themselves.
Some fellows don't like how tall they are.
They like to be taller, and others like to be shorter.
Some girls would like to be shorter.
Some of us would like to have a different build
or a different color hair or different nose or different whatever,
and we aren't really appreciative of the way we've been created.
But you know, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
That's true of all of us.
Just think of these fantastic fingers.
Imagine if you didn't have five fingers,
and you just had a stub, and you were trying to pick up a Bible,
but God made us so that, you know, it's a simple matter for most of us.
Unless we have arthritis or our fingers have been cut off or something,
it's a simple matter for most of us to reach down and pick up things like this,
and we take those things for granted so frequently.
Or these eyes.
You know, no man has ever duplicated the human eye.
I can look out here and in an instant take a picture,
and the image is developed.
It's reflected on my brain, and then I can go away from here,
and two hours from tonight I can call that picture back
and remember this congregation sitting here.
I went down with my wife to take a missionary tour around South America
and Central America a few years ago, and we went to a spot in Guatemala.
We landed in Guatemala City, met some missionaries there,
toured Guatemala City, and then the missionary took us out through Guatemala,
up through the mountains, and we climbed a mountain,
and when we arrived at the top of a mountain,
we looked out over what I think is the most beautiful scene that I have ever seen.
I've been in a lot of places in the world,
and I don't think I've ever been any place, at least in my estimation,
which is more beautiful than this spot.
Here was a great big lake called Lake Atiklan
down in the middle of these mountains, and it was surrounded by volcanoes,
and there were tropical trees with every hue and color of flowers on them in that area,
and my wife and I spent the evening on that lake,
and we saw the sunset over that lake, and we arose in the morning.
We saw the steam coming out of the volcanoes,
and we saw the natives out on the lake fishing early in the morning with the mist rising.
It was a fantastic sight.
Now, that happened years ago, and as I stand before you,
that scene is as clear to me as it was on the day when I saw it.
Oh, God's made me wonderful, folks, and He's made you wonderful,
and we ought to thank Him for the way He's made us and the way He's made other people.
And what about this matter of our noses?
Isn't it wonderful to be able to smell?
Sometimes maybe it isn't so wonderful, but in most cases it is.
The perfume is the smell of a flower.
Great, isn't it?
And what about these ears?
Oh, I just love it when my little guy five years of age crawls up in my lap,
throws his arms around me, and he says,
I love you, Daddy.
Daddy, I just thank God for you.
Oh, I'm glad God gave me ears like that to hear sounds like that.
I'm glad that I can hear beautiful music.
I'm glad I can hear my wife say, I love you, and my children say the same.
God's been good to us.
On and on with these common blessings, but my point is tonight, my friends,
are you really thankful for these blessings?
Do you let God know?
But God hasn't only blessed us with what I've called common blessings.
He's blessed each of us with special blessings.
Now, by special blessings, I mean those blessings which are unique to you.
I mean those things that God has blessed you with
that perhaps he hasn't blessed somebody else with.
You have some unique blessings in your life, and so do I.
For example, in my life, there have been some special people.
My parents, for example, they've been very special to me,
and God's used them in my life.
I was raised in a home which was a very religious home.
My mother and dad were honest.
They were religious, but they weren't Christians.
My dad was hardworking. I learned a lot from them.
He made me work. He made me accept responsibility.
He disciplined me and all the rest, but I never heard the gospel.
And then one day when I was 16 years of age,
a typical teenager living for what the world had to offer,
I loved football. It was my meat and drink.
And we played football, and God was pleased to give us
something of success in the area of football,
and our football team got very close.
And one night when I was 16 years of age, after practice,
at the beginning of the year, a friend of mine
in the locker room of our high school began to talk about Jesus Christ
in a way that I had never heard anybody talk about Jesus Christ.
He talked about Christ as though Christ was real to him,
and Christ really made a difference in his life,
and this struck me because I had never heard anybody
talk about Christ like that before.
And then this friend of mine invited me and a number of the other fellows
on the football team to go out to a special evangelistic service
where a man by the name of Percy Crawford was preaching.
Now, I didn't know what an evangelistic service was.
I had never been at one before, but I liked this guy, so I went.
And that night, I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time,
that I was a sinner, lost, undone, under the wrath of God, headed for hell.
And I heard that God sent his Son into the world to be the substitute for sinners,
to die in their stead on the cross.
And I heard that God raised me from the dead,
and I was challenged to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as far as I know, the first time I ever heard the gospel,
God the Holy Spirit moved upon my heart to respond.
And that night, Wayne Mack was saved.
Now, from a human point of view, I owe my salvation to one fellow in a locker room,
a man by the name of Fred Smith.
And since that day, I've been thanking God again and again
for Fred Smith, who had the courage in a locker room to talk about Jesus Christ
and to invite me out to an evangelistic service.
And I've been thanking God for Percy Crawford, who's now in heaven,
because it was through him that I heard the gospel and I came to Jesus Christ.
Now, my friend, tonight, if you're a Christian,
there have been some special people in your life, too.
Maybe a mom or a dad, maybe a high school friend, maybe a fellow employee,
maybe a pastor or Sunday school teacher,
but there have been some special people in your life who have pointed you to Jesus Christ.
Are you thankful for them?
Not only has God brought special people into our lives,
he's brought special circumstances into our lives to mold our lives.
You know, it wasn't by accident that I was born where I was born.
It wasn't by accident that I was raised in the kind of home in which I was raised.
God planned that.
I don't know all the reasons why God planned it that way,
but I am as convinced that he planned it that way as I am
that I'm standing before you tonight.
I believe God ordained that I should be born in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mack
in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
I believe it was ordained of God that I should live in Stockertown, Pennsylvania
and that I should be raised there
and then that we should move to Carlisle, Pennsylvania
and that I should go to Boiling Springs High School
and that I should have all of these circumstances.
I believe it was ordained of God that I should go to Wheaton College.
I believe the circumstances of my life were ordained by God
because God was equipping me for some special purpose,
for some special mission that he had for me in life.
And what's true of Wayne Mack is also true of you
because Psalm 37 verse 21 says,
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he takes delight in our ways.
Now, so many of us complain about where we were born
and to whom we were born
and the circumstances in which we were living.
My friends, we need to stop doing that.
Regardless of what your circumstances were or are,
God ordained them.
See them as coming from the hand of God
even though they may have been difficult and hard.
If they're difficult and hard against the backdrop of all that blackness and darkness,
God wants to do something wonderful with you.
And your circumstances can either make you better or better
depending on how you view them.
Do you thank God for all the circumstances of your life
or are you grumbling about them?
And what about the special deliverances that you've had along the way?
You know, I'm sure until we get to glory,
we won't know how many times God has delivered us from physical or spiritual harm.
But I know of some of the times when God has delivered me.
When I was a boy of three years of age,
I caught pneumonia and I ended up in bed.
They didn't have any of the miracle drugs then, penicillin or any of the rest.
And my mother sat up all night putting the only thing the doctor told her
to put on me, putting mustard plasters on my back.
And all night she would sit up and she would put these mustard plasters on my back.
And I got better after the first bout with pneumonia
and shortly after that we went out for a drive in a car
and came back from driving a car.
My mother and dad told me this. I don't remember all the way back when I was three.
But I was back in the home only a short while when I came down with pneumonia again
and this time it was worse than it was before.
And I got so bad that the doctor told my mother that my life was hanging in the balances
and that I might not make it through the night.
I did.
I did.
God, in an unusual way without miracle drugs, without penicillin or any of these other things,
delivered Wayne Mack from that critical condition
because God had special things that he wanted to do with me down throughout life.
There have been many other times where I've almost been killed in an automobile accident
or in other things.
I could have been out on the football field or wherever.
And God again and again has delivered me.
And I'm sure that if we took the time tonight many of you could stand up
and tell how God has in a special way delivered you from danger.
Oh, we need to thank God for his special deliverances.
But then we need to thank God for his special trials.
Do you thank God for the trials of your life?
Scripture says, count it all joy when you encounter various kinds of trials.
Do you count it all joy?
Do you really get happy when you have trials?
Jesus said, blessed are ye when you're persecuted.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
How much do you rejoice and thank God when you're persecuted,
when you have trials?
The Apostle Paul said, we rejoice in tribulation.
That's what he said in Romans 5
because the Apostle Paul saw what God was going to do through those trials.
He knows the way that we take.
And when he's tried us, we'll come forth as pure gold, Job 23 and verse 10.
And I think when we stand before God
and God lets us know what he was doing
that we'll realize that some of the best things that ever came into our lives
were the trials and difficulties and problems that he sent our way.
All my friends, let's thank God for these special blessings.
But I think we should not only thank God for common blessings and special blessings,
let's thank God for our distinctly heavenly blessings.
Paul talks about them in Ephesians 1 and verse 3.
He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
God has blessed those of us who are Christians with heavenly blessings.
I've often sat down and imagined what my life would be like
if Jesus Christ had never saved me.
I've often had to sit down and say to the Lord,
Lord, why me? Why did you love me so?
I was the first in my family that God was pleased to save.
I went home and began to witness to my mother and dad.
I started family devotions in my home around the table.
I see it now, a very forward young man.
I went home and I just thank God that he so moved upon my mother and dad's heart
that they didn't throw me out.
Because there were some ways in which I'm sure I was obnoxious
and I was telling mom and dad what they ought to do about spiritual things.
But I said, Dad, I think it's time we have some family devotions.
So after the supper hour, how about we sit around and read the Bible together and pray?
We did that.
I grilled my mother and dad and asked them questions about what the text had to say.
Through that, the Lord was pleased to save my mom and dad.
And then the Lord was pleased to save my oldest sister.
And then the Lord was pleased to save my youngest sister.
Four out of five of our family came to Jesus Christ.
I've still got one sister who's not a Christian.
And I've often had to say, Why, Lord, did you save Arlene?
Why did you save Geraldine? Why did you save Wayne?
Why did you save mom and dad?
And my other sister is still on her way to hell.
I pray God she'll be saved.
I don't know, though.
But I wonder, I wonder what it would be like to live without Jesus Christ,
the people that I went to high school with.
Some of them have been divorced two or three times by this time.
Some of them are drunk. Some of them are drug addicts.
Some of them have wasted their lives.
And I look at myself and I say, Lord, you've been so good to me in every way,
especially spiritually.
What would it be like to go to bed at night without knowing the forgiveness of God?
My sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west.
God has removed them from me.
I'm not guilty. There's no condemnation anymore.
I know I passed from death unto life.
I belong to God.
Or what would it be like to face the problems of this world and of life,
to endure pain and suffering and rejection and criticism,
without a friend like Jesus?
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Why me, Lord?
What would it be like to try to raise a family in this crooked and perverse generation
with darkness rampant, with immorality abounding,
with standards which are so contrary to the standards of the word of God,
the whole world lying in the arms of the wicked one?
What would it be like to try to raise a family
without the health of the Holy Spirit and without the clear instructions from the word of God?
What would it be like to try to keep my equilibrium in a world that seems to have gone topsy-turvy?
What would it be like to live without the Bible, to live without a church?
My friends, there are people in some parts of the world who don't have a church.
A friend of mine just this past summer went to Europe
to take Bibles into communist countries.
And the reason they're taking Bibles into communist countries
is because the communist countries don't have Bibles.
And so he was taking Bibles into Czechoslovakia.
He was stopped at the border.
He discovered these Bibles in his suitcase.
He was thrown in prison.
And for something like seven or eight weeks this summer,
he sat in a Czechoslovakian prison
because he had dared to try to take Bibles into that country.
Those people can't meet like we meet tonight.
Those people can't stand up and praise the Lord as freely as we can.
What would it be like to live without my brethren,
to not have others to pray for me, to not have others to exhort me,
to not have others to encourage me?
What would it be like? I thank God I don't have to know that.
What would it be like to face the prospect of death to know that I was going to die
and not to know what was beyond the grave
or to realize that maybe hell was beyond the grave?
What would it be like to go across that deep river without Jesus Christ to go with me?
And what would it be like to live without meaning or purpose in this life,
to go through every day without the friendship of Jesus Christ?
Christian friends, we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
We are most blessed by God.
God's been good to us as far as our common blessings are concerned,
as far as our special blessings are concerned, and as far as these heavenly blessings.
Now at the beginning of our study tonight,
I mentioned that there are three kinds of people.
There are people who grumble their way through life.
There are people who take it for granted through life.
And there are people who give thanks.
I want to ask you tonight as we come to the conclusion of our study,
where do you live? Where do you live tonight?
Do you live at Grumble Corner? Do you live on Take It For Granted Street?
Or do you live on Thanksgiving Corner?
The poet said,
I knew a man whose name was Horner who used to live at Grumble Corner,
Grumble Corner in cross-patch town, and he never was seen without a frown.
He grumbled at this, he grumbled at that, he growled at the dog, he growled at the cat.
He grumbled at morning, he grumbled at night, and to grumble and growl were his chief delight.
He grumbled so much at his wife that she began to grumble as well as he.
And all the children, wherever they went, reflected their parents' discontent.
If the sky was dark and betokened rain, then Mr. Horner was sure to complain.
And if there was not a cloud about, he grumbled because of a threatened drought.
His meals were never to suit his taste.
He grumbled at having to eat in haste.
The bread was poor, the meat was tough, for a cake he hadn't had half enough.
No matter how hard his wife might try to please her husband,
with scornful eye he'd look around and then with a scowl at something or other begin to growl.
One day, as I loitered along the street, my old acquaintance I chanced to meet,
whose face was without the look of care and the ugly frown he used to wear.
I may be mistaken, perhaps, I said, as saluting I turned my head.
But it is and it isn't Mr. Horner who lived for so long at Grumble Corner.
I met him next day and I met him again in melting weather, in pouring rain,
when stocks were up and when stocks were down.
But a smile somehow had replaced the frown.
It puzzled me much and so one day I seized his hand in a friendly way and said,
Mr. Horner, I'd like to know what can have happened to change you so.
He laughed a laugh that was good to hear, for it told of a conscience calm and clear.
And he said, with none of his old-time drawl, why, I change my residence, that is all.
Change your residence? Yes, said Horner, it wasn't healthy at Grumble Corner.
And so I moved, was a change complete, and you'll find me now on Thanksgiving Street.
Now every day as I move along the street so filled with a busy throng,
I watch each face and can always tell where men and women and children dwell.
And many a discontented mourner is spending his days at Grumble Corner, sour and sad,
whom I long to entreat to take a house on Thanksgiving Street.
My friend, God commands us to be thankful.
He said we're to give thanks always in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
The psalmist said, I'll bless the Lord always, his praise will continually be in my mouth.
Paul said in Colossians 1 and verse 3, I give thanks always to God.
These men lived at Thanksgiving Street and so should we.