Being thankful in everything(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

All the churches in Korea celebrate the festival of harvest with barley in the spring time. usually farmers harvest barley in Jun. So churches celebrate the barley thanks giving day on the first Sunday of July. So today is the Sunday of the barley thanks giving day. I am not sure here in Philippines, but in Korea all churches celebrate two kinds of thanks giving day. One in the end of spring season, the other in the end of the fall season. These two kinds of thanks giving day came from what God commanded to the Israelites. God commanded to the people of Israel to celebrate two kinds of the festival. One is of harvest with the first fruits of the crops they sow in their field and the other is of Ingathering at the end of the year. You can see what God commanded to the Israelites in the book of Exodus 23:16.

16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

So this time I will tell you about Being joyful in everything with the book of Habakkuk 3:17-18.

When we ask "Who is the real christian? who is closer to God?... the exact measure is how thankful he is and how can he be joyful in everything. Thanks and joy... the Greek origin of these two words is same. Joy is the inner part of person and thanks is the result of joyful life. Truly when joy springs up abundantly in our heart then we can thank in any circumstance.

In his book in Bible The prophet Habakkuk confessed that the righteous person would live by his faithfulness. What did he mean? It means that if we are real christian we can be joyful in the faith. It means the joy in real christian is unconditional and absolute. It is not changeable. As a normal persons if we were in the situation of the prophet Habakkuk we could not rejoice. At that time the Babelonian empire was invading Judea. Because of that invasion the prophet Habakkuk fell into fear and dreadfulness. We can imagine the enemies invading before his eyes. Specifically 3:16 of the book of Habakkuk says like this... 

"I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us."

The coming suffering days were so scared and dreadful the prophet said "my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled." But even though his situation was like this the prophet Habakkuk was very joyful. The two verses in the book of Habakkuk show what is the real joy of the christian life. These days we are living is the generation without joy. The poor have no joy because they have no money and the rich have no joy because they are so greedy. They want to make much money than they have now. So even though they are rich there is no joy in their lives. But We christians who live in this joyless generation are distinguished by joyful and thankful life.

I know a Korean whose name is Kim Junho. He is very famous for his own pictures. He is drawing and painting picture not by his hands but by his mouth. When he draws a picture he uses his mouth instead of using his hands. Because he cannot use his hands. He had an accident in the period of army service. So he was totally paralyzed. But he did not complain about that because he was a christian. Instead of complaining of his disabilities he thanked God for four things. First, he thanked God for his being christian. Second, he thanked God because he had his accident in the period of his army service. So the government paid all the hospital expenses for his operation and his medical treatments. Third, while he was in the hospital for the medical treatment he met his wife. He thanked God for that. At that time she was a nurse. Last, he thanked God for his ability of painting using his mouth. He is the only painter using mouth in Korea and he is very proud of himself. I think he practices a real christian life. In the book of first Thessalonians 5:18 Paul said us "give thanks in all circumstances"

I think the book of Philippians 1:3-4 is saying about the real mark of christianity. The real mark of christianity says who is a christian and who is not a christian. Paul pointed two things as the mark of christianity. 1. thanks giving 2. joy.

In verse 3 Paul said "I thank my God every time I remember you" If you are a real christian you will thank God for people. I know many people who complain about their friends and their neighbors and people around them. "He is like this, He is like that, He is doing this, He is doing that..." Always they complain about the people around them. So if you can thank God for the people around you it means you are a christian in high level.

And in verse 4 Paul said, "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." If you have a wrong attitude in the faith you will complain and say bad things about the people around you in your prayer. But if you are a maturated christian you will pray joyfully for the people around you. The pray with a joy is very powerful. That kind of prayer can move God.

I know a sister in the church I served before. Her husband is a high school teacher. He was not a christian and he liked alcohol very much. Every day after class he had a drink. She didn't like her husband to have a drink everyday. One day after having a drink as soon as he came back home he fell asleep. Seeing him at that moment she was on the impulse of the moment to scratch his face with her neil. But because she was a christian she could not do that. So she prayed to God and she complained about her husband in her prayer. She even cried in her prayer. And at the moment the Holy Spirit moved her to remember this verse in the book of Philippians. And she changed her prayer. She started to thank God for her husband. But how could she thank God for her husband? Sho could not think of anything about her husband for thanks giving. So she thanked God like this. "Anyway I thank you for my husband in everything. But at the moment she could think of many things about her husband for thanks giving. 1. Because my husband is alive I am not a widow. He works every day to feed me and my family. 2. Even though he lost his mind because of a drink he never lost the way to the house. 3. On Sunday because of drink he stayed in bed and she could attend Sunday worship service and could stay in the church all day. Thinking of these things she smiled at her sleeping husband. At the moment her husband opened his eyes and asked her. Why are you smiling at me? Are you laughing at me? So she explained why did she smile at him. "I am very thankful for you. I am very happy with you!" hearing his wife he decided to be a christian as his wife. And his wife gave me her testimony. She had been praying for her husband to be a christian for 10 years. But God did not answer to her prayer. But now after thanks giving prayer for her husband for a minute God answered to her prayer. So the prayer with joy and thanks giving is very powerful.

Now I will close my preaching with pointing one thing. the righteous person would live by his faithfulness. if we are real christians we can be joyful in any circumstance. And we can thank God for everything. The thanks giving life, the joyful life are only belong to a real christian life.

[Pray]

Heavenly Father, we very thank you for your word and the faith to rejoice in any circumstance. Help us to rejoice in any situation in our daily lives so we may show the people what is a real christian life. We pray in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ. A-Men