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Prayer: Father we know that we must have wisdom in order to live well, and we know that we must have wisdom in order to fight sin and evil well. You tell us to seek wisdom with our whole heart, and that You will give wisdom generously to those who ask. So here we are asking You for wisdom down. Drive Your word deep into our hearts and minds by the power of Your Spirit, Amen.
Introduction
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it’s worth considering how gratitude is at the center of the great war against evil and the particular battles we face in our day. The basic divide that runs through the center of the human race throughout human history is gratitude versus spite. The unrighteous are those who know God clearly revealed in Creation but refuse to glorify Him as God or be thankful, and those foolish hearts are darkened and make idols and are given over to uncleanness (Rom. 1:21-24). The flip side of this is the implication that those who give thanks, have their hearts enlightened. Gratitude is the gym of wisdom.
The Text: “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7)
Summary of the Text
The wisdom of this world is carnal and is marked by envy, strife, divisions, and rivalry (1 Cor. 3:3-4, cf. Js. 3:14-15). And the root of it all is a wicked pride in man. Like arrogant toddlers waddling around in Huggies, people can get puffed up about almost anything, and they do: pride in our bodies, our houses, our marriage, our muscles, our trucks, our smarts, our skin color, our personalities, etc. But the wisdom of God is primarily marked by gratitude since in Christ all things are yours (1 Cor. 3:21), the Lord will judge and make manifest all the counsels of all the hearts (1 Cor. 4:5), and all that we have is from the Lord (1 Cor. 4:7). Who gave you everything that distinguishes you from anyone else? God. What do you have that wasn’t a gift? Nothing. Why do you strut like you had something to do with it?
He Made Us
“Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name” (Ps. 100:3-4). This is the foundation of our gratitude and praise. In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Christ is before all things and in Him all things consist (Col. 1:17). All things were not only created by His Word, but all things are held together constantly by His Word (Heb. 1:2-3).
All of this magnifies His kindness and mercy: upholding (even) wicked men, giving life and health and good things to sinners, and then making us alive together in Christ, forgiving our sins, and granting us an inheritance that will never fade. Whatever our duties toward our families, our churches, and our nation, it is all grounded in this thanksgiving and praise and humility. Everything is a gift. Good and bad, fun and hard, all of it is a gift. And while we must stand against all evil, we must learn to do so with a grin on our face because our Father plays with dragons (Job 41). Our Father only allows those challenges/hardships that are for our good. “Behind a frowning providence // He hides a smiling face.”
No Grievance Farming
Despite all this grace, it is still the temptation of sinners to complain, murmur, and nurse grudges, which are all ultimately directed at God Himself – Because He sent the hardship. When Israel murmured about the lack of food and water, they were rebelling against God (Ex. 17:7, Num. 14:22, 1 Cor. 10:10).
In the name of “justice,” sinners plant resentment, spite, and wrath, and expect to reap a harvest of righteousness. And it’s often in the name of justice, in the name of standing against evil. But Scripture is clear: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (Js. 1:19-20). You can’t build a healthy family, community, business, or nation with wrath welling up in your chest. That is the fuel of the enemy.
Righteous, godly anger is very slow and deliberate: it took God hundreds of years to finally destroy Israel and Judah. But many disciples would call fire down on clueless Samaritans and the animals of Nineveh. Godly anger is like the Ents that hold counsel to determine whether to become angry and go to war. Godly anger is surgical, precise, and altogether holy and productive.
No Marxism
Marxism is the modern cult religion of class envy. It imagines that peace and prosperity will magically appear in the aftermath of violent revolution, when the oppressed victims overthrow their oppressors. This was initially pitched in economic terms (working class vs. business owners), but it was repackaged in the last 75 years to include sex, race, and then sexual perversions. But the engine that drives it all is spite and resentment for the way God made the world (different gifts/hierarchies) and the way He rules the world (blessings, curses, providence). There are real injustices, but whenever they get weaponized (whenever calm due process is not sufficient), the real target, the real “problem” is God and His world.
For example, there have been real sex abuse cases, and those cases should be reported and adjudicated in courts of law. But the weaponization of sex abuse happens with mantras like “believe all women.” Well, what about Eve? What about Potiphar’s wife? That mantra has ruined the lives of not a few young men. Do you remember what they tried to do to Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh? That is the abuse of justice, the abuse of women and men, and ultimately an attempt to fire bomb God’s providence. We don’t like the way the story is going, so we lie and manipulate to try to stop God. Marxism tries to thwart the providence of God by revolution, mobs, and violence.
This so-called “social justice” plays fast and loose with the truth, blurring lines, making sloppy accusations, demanding apologies, and designating classes of people in unbiblical categories (whites, blacks, rich, poor, men, women, Jews, etc.). And what the liberals weaponized for decades, some conservatives are starting to play with, playing the blame game and the victim game. “I’m a victim because I’m a white, male, heterosexual Christian.” It’s possible you lost your job or were passed over for promotion because you didn’t meet some DEI quota. But you are not “a victim.” There may be a particular situation that warrants appeal or adjudication, but do not turn it into a charge against a whole class or system. Don’t be a Marxist. Don’t be a “Conservative” Marxist.
God created the world hierarchically and diverse. And He created a world where virtue and hard work are generally rewarded, and sin has created thorns, weeds, pain, enmity, and death. The problem is not power, wealth, sex, or skin color. The problem is sin infecting those things, and sinners are tempted to rage and hate, fixating on those things. And the Devil loves it so because he can keep people locked in cages of resentment and false victimhood.
Conclusion
So this is the charge: be thankful. Be thankful for your grandma, the turkey, pumpkin pie, how tall or short you are, the color of your skin, and rejoice before the Lord. No guilt for any of His gifts and love your people they way you have been loved in Christ. But no throwing elbows; no wrath in your chest, no resentment.
We want true gratitude without any whining, true thanksgiving without any spite, true grace without any rivalry.
And this includes the hard things: give thanks for the difficult family members, give thanks for the challenging dynamics in the extended family. Give thanks for the hardships. Give thanks for the way things did not turn out.
There is a marked difference between gratitude that simply sees the gifts and bows the head in gratitude on the one hand, and a faux-gratitude that flexes in front of a mirror, while stealing sidelong glances down the table.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill;
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
Prayer: Father, please grant us the wisdom to see where these things apply in our lives. Wherever we have given in, even a little bit, to resentment or rage, please take it away. And in its place give us gratitude. Help us to remember that even as we struggle against evil, in Christ, we are ultimately wrestling with You. So give us the strength not to let go until we have your blessing. We ask this in Jesus’ name, who taught us to pray, singing…
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