Ephesians 5:20

“... always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”

We are at all times to give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

the word for “ give thanks” is eucharisteo, from which we get the word Eucharist, which is used by many churches for Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper. Christian worship, in all of its diversity, is thankful. Our songs thank God for what he has done for us in Jesus. Preaching is to always proclaim what is ours in Christ through faith. Holy Communion is an enactment and a remembrance of Christ's death on the cross.

Our whole lives, every situation, every minute, is meant to be a Eucharist, or Thanksgiving to God. Our lives are a thank offering back to our Creator for His work in redeeming us in Christ.

How can we give thanks “always and for everything”?

The phrase suggests a habit of thanksgiving that permeates all of our life. We wake up thanking God for His presence during the night and the promise of a new day. We eat thanking Him for His provision. We work thanking him for a life of purpose and meaning.

thanking God at all times means that as we go about our daily lives, we focus on the Lord as well as on what we need to do.

psychologists tell us that learning to direct our thoughts outwards rather than inwards is an effective antidote for depression. We were created to praise God, and we are prone to mental dis-ease if we try to live contrary to that design.

it is hard to program ourselves towards the habit of thanksgiving. Our busy lives makes that nearly impossible. One way is to set our watch or phone to alert us every hour, and use that as a reminder. Regular scheduled times in our day can be programmed in our thinking to remind us to take a minute to praise the Lord.

praising God for everything can be a challenge. I can be thankful for my home, my family, my car, my job. Can I be thankful in a pandemic? Can I thank God when my spouse is diagnosed with cancer? Or when my child dies?

We are not expected to thank God for tragedy. These things are a sign of the disorder in creation caused by sin. I have made a practice, in the midst of personal tragedy, to ask the Holy Spirit to show me glimpses of his glory and glimmers of hope. When you do that, even in the dark valley of the shadow of death, there is always light and something to thank God for.

christians facing persecution, and even death, for their obedience to the Lord, have commented that, in the midst of their suffering they were aware of Christ’s sustaining presence. Nobody willingly encourages opposition, but when it comes, even there there is something to be thankful for.

we are to give thanks in every situation to the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not intended as a formula to finish a prayer. It is a recognition that all of this is possible through Christ.

it is Jesus who gives us a different vision of the future. We can give thanks because our hope is rooted in eternity so that all of our affections are not limited to this life and this physical world alone.

we give thanks to God the Father because Jesus paid the price for our sin and reconciled us to the Father. We give thanks through Jesus Christ because He is the gateway to salvation and to the Father. Without Christ our future was bleak and the Lake of Fire was our ultimate destination, but now we thank God for the hope of Heaven.

so our life’s vocation is to learn to always and in all things give thanks to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

key points in this verse:

• the word for give thanks is Eucharist. All of our corporate worship is about Thanksgiving

• We need to develop a habit of constant thanksgiving

• even in dark times, Christ is our hope and enables us to give thanks

• Jesus has reconciled us to the Father