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Godward Thanksgiving for Brothers and Sisters

How should we communicate thanks and praise?

I, as a person, don't really know how to handle praise and thanks very well. Not because I'm extra humble, or super spiritual, I just don't really know what to say back. I've concocted all sorts of things like, "I will convey your thanks to my Master", or "My most depraved self is honoured". Mostly, they're mechanisms for fighting pride.

I've been reflecting on 1 Thess. 3:9 in relation to the giving of praise. 1 Thess. 3:9 reads,

"For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God"

Some translations have it "How can we thank God enough for you" and I love that phrase. There are (I think) only three individuals in my life about whom I can honestly say that. One is a man called Brian, another is a woman called Gill and the third is a friend called Luke - and I literally struggle to express before my God the depths of my thankfulness for each of their lives. They have each been used of God in my life in powerful ways, and have shaped who I am mightily. There are many who have been used like this (one could in fact argue that every Christian I meet does this - 1 Cor. 12:21) but these three particularly hold special place in my prayers before God.

The thing I've been reflecting upon is the way that Paul talks about good things in fellow believers. And it has struck me that more often than not, rather than praising them directly, he instead identifies for them evidence of God's Grace, and then thanks God for them in their hearing. Here is a case study on the matter from 1 Thessalonians.

"Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come."

That's the entire first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. I want you notice something.

Paul writes, "We give thanks to God always for all of you," and then everything else he writes is in that tone and context; he is not directly praising them per se, but rather he is identifying in them things about which he gives both private and public thanks to God. This is key; and I think it should be our model for delivering praise. However, two things to note:

1. Don't Lie

If you don't actually thank God for someone and for things in them, the person will soon sniff out your disingenuous and pietistic comments as being nothing more than 'holier than thou' Christianese. Instead, make it a private practice to thank God for individuals in your life so that you may say to them with honesty and kindness, "I thank God for you." This will be massively encouraging.

2. You can however, do it on the spot.

You can thank God for someone whilst you are with them. Once, when I was with a someone who is now a dear son of mine in the faith before he was saved, we prayed together, and he heard me thank God for his seeking heart and for his friendship to me, as we then began to pray through some issues he was facing emotionally at the time. This guy was about a foot taller than me and built like a professional wrestler, so to open my eyes to find him moved to tears by my earnest thanks to God for him was shocking; even more shocking was the firm embrace he then pulled me into (nearly, I might add, crushing my thin frame into nothingness). Don't be afraid to thank God for someone whilst you are with them - it can be a deep ministry to their soul.

Paul takes this tack with the Corinthians too, check this out -

"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-- even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. " - 1 Corinthians 1:4-8

This text actually shocks me a little! Think about it. Paul is writing this letter with some serious rebuke and adjustment to be made in the Corinthians church practice; not just minor points, but massive shifts. And the thing is, part of their adjustment means overcoming their negative attitude toward the Apostle himself. If I were writing to a church gripped in charismania and spiritual pirde like the Corinthians, I would not begin by affirming the reality of the spiritual gifts among them, and thank God for it! Neither would I have in my heart the thankfulness that Paul demonstrates; but, I am but a babe in Christ, and think that there is little hope for my ever becoming a man of equal calibre to the Great Apostles to the Gentiles. However, just observe these things in him. And bare in mind 1 Cor. 11:1.

So, my point is this:

When praising people, identify God's Grace in them, and thank God for it, both privately and in the presence of the individual. I am much more encouraged when individuals write to me after reading an article, or hearing a sermon, or something of that nature with the comment that they are very thankful to GOD for what I have written/said/done than when they pour out reams of arron-centred praise. I tend to close emails of the nature of the latter pretty quickly, but I relish the emails and letters of the former kind with exceeding joy, because I can join with them in thanks to God for using nothing but my feeble words to speak to and bless souls. This my joy and my heart - that Christ be praised!

Join me?

All my love in Christ,

Arron