“The Fruit of Gratitude and Ingratitude”
11/19/17 PM
Scripture ReadingLuke 7:41-43
Introduction: Each one of us this evening could come up with a list of actions and attitudes that are the fruit of gratitude or the fruit of ingratitude.
We took our grandson (age 3 at the time) to Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and noisy rides. When the evening ended, his grandmother buckled him into his car seat and said, "Now be sure you say thank you to your Papa." Silence. No reaction. She said again, "Did you hear me? Be sure you say thank you to Papa." Again, silence. At first I ignored this backseat conversation. But then I changed my mind and said this. "You know, Papa enjoys doing nice things for grandchildren, especially when they say thank you." More silence. "Did you hear Papa?" I asked, now a tad irritated. "Uh huh." But there was still no thank you. And now I was [very upset]. "Are you ignoring me?" The volume of my voice amped up. Then this response: "I'm thankful, Papa; I just don't want to say it."
[Gordon MacDonald,"The Thankful Exchange,"Leadership JournalFall 2013]
A grateful heart moves us to do good things—loving and serving the Lord and our neighbor.
Ingratitude leads us to do bad things—blaming God; rebelling against God; forsaking God.
But ingratitude also leads us to not do good things—things that we should do; things we would do if we were grateful and realized and appreciated the blessings of the Lord.
As we begin this Thanksgiving week, here are a few Bible passages that contrast the fruit of gratitude and the fruit of ingratitude.
1)You thank God. Or you don’t.
Luke 17:11-19
2)You share God. Or you don’t.
John 4:28-42 (Isaiah 6; Acts 9)
3)You serveothers. Or you don’t.
Eph. 2:1-10 (Titus 3:3-8; Eph. 5:1-2)
4)You worship God. Or you don’t.
Luke 7:36-50
Conclusion: Does the fruit of my life indicate a heart of gratitude or ingratitude?