A Sunday School Lesson On Thankfulness

Here is a Sunday school lesson or Bible study on the subject of thankfulness from the Bible.

The Will of God

First Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Does it hurt sometimes when you do something for someone and they don’t even say thank you? Just think about how God sees our unspoken thanks to Him. Many people are seeking to find the will of God in their lives when the Bible clearly gives us many things we know are His will. We know for example that it’s the will of God to be renewed in our minds and be transformed into the image of Christ (Rom 12:1-3) but we also know, from reading 1st Thessalonians 5:18 that God’s will for our lives is to rejoice, pray without ceasing, and to do so in every circumstance we find ourselves it. God’s will is not a mysterious, hidden will because His will is found in the Bible. God will never reveal more of His will for our lives until we are doing His revealed will in His Word.

Why is it the will of God to be thankful (2nd Tim 3:2)?

How can we possibly “pray without ceasing?”

How hard is it to give thanks in some of the worst circumstances we find ourselves in (Rom 8:28)?

A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Leviticus 7:12 “If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil.”

When we give God our thanksgiving in prayer to God, it is like a sweet savory offering to Him and He accepts it well, but the psalmist makes a very important point in that “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:23). Yes, thanksgiving glorifies God and that’s a purpose-filled goal. There are some interesting elements included in the thanksgiving offerings; we are to do it with unleavened bread (representing the absence of sin) “mixed with oil,” which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and the loaves made from “fine flower” perhaps representing the finite, minute details that our prayers of thanksgiving should contain, therefore our thanksgivings to God should be detailed with specific thanks to Him for our salvation, home, job, health, family, and our freedom to worship. These are among only a few things we should be offering up as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God and these are all things that we sometimes take for granted.

Why does God see us giving thanks as being a sacrifice to Him?

What are thing we should thank God for that are not mentioned here?

Is it God’s will that we should give thanks to Him (1st Thess 5:18)?

Reasons for Thankfulness

Romans 6:17-18 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

How much do we have to be thankful for!? We’ve been spared the wrath of God and been redeemed from the punishment by Jesus Christ’s work on the cross so Paul tells us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:16). It’s easier to sing songs of praise with a thankful heart than one that is ungrateful. We have every reason in the world to be thankful because we “were once slaves of sin” but have now “been set free from sin” and made into “slaves of righteousness.” That is something that I truly thank God for.

What does it mean we’ve become “slaves of righteousness?”

What does “obedient from the heart” imply?

Why is God so concerned with us being thankful?

Thankful for Rulers

First Timothy 2:1-3 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”

This could be one of the most difficult things for us to be thankful for; politicians, presidents, congressmen and congresswomen, and for those who rule over us in high places of authority. Why? It’s because they are anything but ruling in righteousness and so it’s hard to be thankful for ungodly leadership but it didn’t matter whether they were godly or not; we are to give thanks “for all people” and this includes kings (today, it could include those in governmental authority) and those who are in high positions of powers (congress, law enforcement, local leadership). We don’t give thanks only for those we love but those we might even disagree with and you can be sure of this; this is well “pleasing in the sight of God our Savior” and that’s all that really matters.

How can we thank God for evil, wicked rulers (Prov 21:1)?

Why does this please God (Matt 5:46)?

Why is Paul concerned that we can “lead a peaceful and quiet life?”

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of this lesson on thankfulness because this might be the greatest of the sins of omission that there is in the world today and it is that of ingratitude or showing no thankfulness. It shouldn’t be found in the church. We have every reason in the world to be thankful to God, don’t we (John 3:16)? God has redeemed those of us who were, before being saved, enemies of God (Rom 5:10) and made us, in Christ, to become the very righteousness of Christ (2nd Cor 5:21).

Do you tend to be unthankful?

Why does it grieve God’s heart to not give Him thanks?

What has changed in your understanding about thankfulness in this study?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.