A Proper Thanksgiving

If you would open your Bibles to Psalm 107. Tonight I would like us to take some time and look at the first three verses. And as I said this morning, the name of the sermon for this evening is a proper thanksgiving.

If you would stand for the reading of the Word of God. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

Let's pray. Father, we just come to you this evening and Lord, we have been blessed already in this worship service. Lord, the report of Louis and your Holy Spirit working in his heart and calling him unto yourself.

Lord, what we've heard from Pastor Turner, his work with Muslims as well as his work now in Clarkville, Tennessee. Lord, we are so thankful that your Holy Spirit is active and vibrant and moving to bring your people to yourself. Lord, tonight as we look at your word, we pray that the Holy Spirit teaches us and Lord God that as we leave here tonight, we have a proper understanding of the thanksgiving of the praise of the gratitude that we should have daily. Lord God, we praise you and thank you through Christ Jesus. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Well, this week the nation sets aside. Thursday is a day of thanksgiving. And like Eugene said, it's hard to believe that we are already to the thanksgiving and Christmas season.

But it makes you start to think, especially now I'm 53 years old. I think I had a half decent public school education where they taught me where this holiday of thanksgiving came from. But as I started to look and prepare for this message, there's a lot of misinformation that exists even on a simple one-day holiday that our government declares. And so it led to the question, where does this holiday truly come from?

For the United States, there's several answers we could use. We could say that it's President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 when he made his declaration that thanksgiving would be held on the fourth Thursday in every November. We could move back to 1789 and see George Washington make his grand thanksgiving day proclamation to a nation that has just come through revolutionary war.

They have established a government and he is calling them to look towards and be thankful for the providence of God and what he has done. Some go back to 1621 and the pilgrims. So in each case when you're studying for something like this, each has a good important point that we should remember.

What's really neat at 53, I knew all three of them. I learned the pilgrims in 1621, I read about Washington in 1789, and then Lincoln memorialized it in 1863. But I'd like to share with you the one that struck me the most as far as a nation being called to thanksgiving. I want you to hear the words of our first President George Washington on October 3rd of 1789. He said this, whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend in a sign Thursday, the 26th day of November, next to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious being who is the benevolent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation, for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of his providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lightly instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us, and also that we may then unite in most humbling offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations, especially such as shown kind unto us, and to bless them with good government, peace and accord, to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best, given under my hand at the city of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord's 1789. It is quite amazing when you read or hear that read how much our first president understood the sovereignty of God, how much the people of our country looked to and understood a sovereign God who had provided everything for them. Do we still see this type of understanding in our culture today? I wouldn't think, but the scary thing, the question to ask is, do we see it in our church?

Does the church in the West here in the United States have that same understanding? Do we as individual Christians have an understanding of why we are called to Thanksgiving, not by a president, but by scripture itself? In the psalm, oh, give thanks to the Lord, a command to us to thank the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. But as we head towards this Thursday, what have we devolved into?

You know, a quick search on the internet, I typed in, please don't do this unless you really want to get frustrated. I typed in, what should we be thankful for? The first thing that came up was, why should I be thankful? And it had this little, again, it's the internet, but it had this little blurb, being thankful helps you think more about other people's feelings. It also helps you get through life's tough times because you can easily call to mind all the good things in your life. Then I scanned down a little bit further and I got what to be thankful for, top 10 lists.

I'm going to go over just a few. A roof over my head and warm home, plenty of drinkable water, I don't have to go hungry, access to the internet, friends and family. The next list, good health, money in the bank, good friends, freedom of religion, I think that's the first time we talked about anything godly in the lists, parents, weekends, having a partner and pets. In and of themselves, we can be thankful for all those things. I don't want to have you think that I'm up here telling you that we're not to be thankful for the things we have, but listen to how shallow we've become.

I then stumbled upon a website, and I'm not going to tell you the name, but the banner said a website helping moms thrive, and moms, please do not follow any of this. It says there are many things to be grateful for in 2021, yet sometimes it's hard to see the ridiculous amount of good that's all around you, so when you can't see the forest through the trees or you'd love a dose of optimism, a gratitude list is a perfect tool. But first, gratitude can do even more for you, according to science. It will make you happier, enhance your positive emotions, increase your self-esteem, improve your relationships, help with your decision making, reduce stress and depression, improve your health.

So what I'm seeing in the culture is this I mentality, this what do I get from doing the thing that I'm called to do, whether it be by a president or by the Lord Jesus. Then it moved into here's their top 10 to help moms thrive. You should be thankful for your home. There's no place like home. Your parents, they gave you life and a way to see the world. Your friends, friends that feel like family can't be beat. Your kids, even if you have them, you know they bring incredible joy to life. Your relationship, your person to spend life with. Your pet, animals are incredible sources of love. Your health, it is said that health is the crown that sits on the well man's head that only the sick man can see.

Sight, your ability to see the beauty in this world, smell, the first sniff of fresh baked anything and taste, what would the world be like if you couldn't taste anything? As you read that and compare it to Washington's call in that 1789 call for Thanksgiving, it is saddening to see how our society has become shallow and self-centered, but folks, that society is what enters our churches. As they come and they hear, they are more focused on themselves than they are focused on the one who gives them the ability to breathe, to walk, to be, the one that we owe all our praise and thankfulness to. In Psalm 107, one through three, it instructs us to be thankful, and why are we to be thankful? When we look at the verses, there are two points that jump out at us concerning our responsibility to give thanks. First, we are to give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. In the second part of that same verse, we are to give thanks because his steadfast love endures forever. As we look tonight at these two points, I pray that our humility will grow. Our love for one another, but mostly for God, will grow as we see how he has revealed himself. Bill said about the scarlet threat of redemption. We have a God who has revealed himself to us.

We don't have to guess. He came and made covenant with us. He comes to relate with us, and that, as we look tonight, hopefully will result in our praise and thanksgiving as it should be this Thursday coming, but actually this evening, tomorrow morning, every moment that we have breath, we should give thanks to the Lord. The first point, looking back at the text, verses one and two, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble.

Christians, this word is for us. We are to give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good, and his steadfast love endures forever. What does it mean that God is good? Have we so become shallow and misused our languages that we truly can't even understand when we use the term good? I think to the rich young ruler coming up to Christ, and the rich young ruler says to Jesus, good teacher, and Jesus said, why do you call me good? Only God is good.

And then I think as I watch TV or in conversations within the culture, the way we use terms like great and awesome, and this term good, we can't even fathom. And we try to use adjectives that are even greater than good, and God would envelop all those. David speaks of the awesome God, the almighty God, the everlasting God. But you and I get revealed that this God is good. God himself in the Genesis account goes through the creation of the world, and at the end of the creation account, he looks upon it and he says what? It is good.

It is very good. If we move to Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7, anybody know what the passage in Exodus 34, 6 and 7 is talking? It's when Moses asked God for him to be able to see him, to reveal himself, and God is going to reveal himself to Moses, and I want you to hear what God says about himself, revealed to Moses, but given to us. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.

Keeping the iniquities of the father on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. When we look at that opening verse, oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, and the question comes, what is good? God gives us his answer. God says, this is me. I am merciful. I am gracious. I am slow to anger and I am abounding in steadfast love. I am faithful.

I am forgiving and I am just. He is not a God who hides. He's not a God who is indifferent to us. He is not a God who is put in motion and we have to try to guess how he is, who he is, or what he is.

He clearly and distinctly describes who he is, what his attributes are, and what he has done and accomplished on our behalf. When we sit and see that in Exodus 34, 6, and 7, that merciful, gracious, slow to anger, faithful, forgiving, just God, a concern could raise in our heads, but what if? But what if God wanted to do something different? What if he changes his mind in his mercy or in his grace? But this God even reveals that to us, Malachi chapter 3 verse 6, for I the Lord do not change. Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same, say it, yesterday, today, and forever. We have a God who reveals who he is, what his goodness is, how he is, what he's accomplished, and he tells us that I will not change, I do not change. These things that you call attributes or characteristics are actually my essence.

I mean, think about that. God is good. It's not a description. It's the essence of his being. We come together and say, oh, on Thanksgiving Day, I'm thankful for a house, I'm thankful for a job, I'm thankful for transportation, and again, we should be thankful for those things, but that is not the primary thing we are called to be thankful for. They are secondary blessings given by a God who we need to be merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love, because he does not change, and therefore we will not be consumed. Do we understand that when we look at what the scripture is revealing to us? Due to this same God, Exodus 34, we should see then the cause that it should raise thanksgiving and praise to God in us. What is it about those, what we call traits or characteristic or his essence? It is the gospel message, isn't it?

It ties directly to the next part. We are to be thankful for his steadfast love, which endures forever. I'm sure that you've heard pastors who are much better in languages than I, but the word there is hased. It is a Hebrew word that our words do not have a good enough contextual meaning to grab it in one word, so we use steadfast love at times.

We use mercy at times, or merciful. We use faithful at times. What this has said, this steadfast love, basically is a loyal love. When we step back and think about a God who is holy, right, and just, who cannot tolerate sin, but yet covenants with a people that does the very thing that he cannot tolerate, and in order to continue his relationship with us, takes it upon himself to do the very thing that we can't do to make us right, in order that he maintains a covenant that we break continually. Do we understand that hased love, that steadfast love? Psalm 136, 23 and 25, the whole of Psalm 136 tries to give us that understanding of what steadfast love is, because it keeps repeating at the end of each verse, and his steadfast love endures forever, and it's listing off that he brought them out of Egypt, that he parted the Red Sea, that he defeated the Pharaoh and his armies, and after each one of those statements, and it says, and his steadfast love endures forever, in verses 23 through 25, it says this, and it applies greatly to us. It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever, and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.

That loyal love, that love that looked upon an estate of a person like me, who without thought could rebel without issue, and want to do my own thing, want to have my own way, want to desire and do what I felt was right. In the Old Testament, in the book of Judges, it continually went, the Jews would be delivered by a judge, then they would devolve, and it said that everybody did what they thought was right in their own eyes. That's what sin causes us to do.

We want to drive back to the things that we think are right. And God, looking upon us in that estate, because his steadfast love endures forever, sent his son Jesus Christ to do the very thing that we could not do, and that was live under the law perfectly, and after that, to give himself over as a blood sacrifice and atonement to propitiate the wrath of God. That's the gospel message. And on the third day, arise from the dead through the power of God, and ascend and sit at the right hand of God, and the writer of Romans 5-8 says it the best. Paul writes this to the church of Rome, but God shows his love, we can say has said, his steadfast love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is no greater word for you to hear the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Monday before Thanksgiving, the day of Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, God's love, his steadfast love is so great that a sinful, lowly creature, while they were still sinners, God died for us in Christ.

We see this love not only in a loyal sense of love, but as a love that is an action that is just so overwhelming. If we move from Romans 5-8 that tells us about that love to the words of Jesus Christ as he inaugurated the Lord's table in Luke 22, hear the way Jesus loves us. And when the hour came, he reclined at table and with the apostles with him, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. What is that new covenant?

What is it that Christ is accomplishing? He is facing a Gethsemane prayer time where he is in such turmoil that drops of blood or what is sweat from his body. He is going to stand before his creature. His creature is going to spit on him. He is going to punch him. He is going to scourge him, mock him, and hang him on a tree. That is what's facing him in the next 12 to 16 hours, and he looks at his disciples and he says, I have looked forward to eating this meal with you. Take this bread, it's my body that's broken for you.

Do it in remembrance of me. And when he took the cup, he said, This is the cup of my blood of the new covenant. That new covenant is that God will forgive our sin, and he will remember them no more, and he will be our God, and we shall be his people. That's hased love.

That is a loyal love. That is what we are to be thankful for. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his steadfast love endures forever.

As we close tonight, as we gather this Thursday or every day, I pray that as believers, verse 2 and 3, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he is redeemed from trouble, and gathered in from the lands, and from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south. This Thanksgiving holiday for the church is different than a national holiday called for us to recognize the sovereign providence. Our day of Thanksgiving is every day that we have breath to declare Jesus Christ as our King and our Savior. We should daily be brought to Thanksgiving in praise, just as doubting Thomas when he put his fingers in, and he cried out, What my Lord and my God. Because that is the God who is sustaining us day in, day out. He is good, and his steadfast love endures forever. So I pray that on this Thursday, as we come to our table, and yes, there are many secondary blessings that should overwhelm us, but I pray that we meditate upon the one who is the only founder and reason for Thanksgiving.

It wasn't the 1621 pilgrims, it wasn't the 1789 George Washingtons, it wasn't the 1863 Abraham Lincolns, nor the 2020 Donald Trumps, or 2021 Joe Biden. In Genesis 3.15, God laid the reason that we are to be thankful. I will bring one through the seat of the woman. You shall strike his heel, but he will crush your head. So let us, on Thursday and every day, raise our prayer and thanksgiving for his redemptive work, and let us please see everything else secondary, still provided by his sovereign merciful hand, but praise God for Christ. Thank God for his work and redemption.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. There are so many places in the psalm. We could have went to the same verse, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Father, I just pray that your Holy Spirit drive home to us that understanding of good because it is far beyond anything our language can grasp. We come to unite tonight as a redeemed people, not of our own doing, but by the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit calling us to your word.

Lord God, we should be a grateful, thankful people every moment of our life. Your scripture reveals that it is through you and for you that all things are created. It reveals that our very heartbeat and our breath are in your hand and your control, and you are good, and you love us, and you died for us, and you made us right.

What more could we ask? Whether we have a home or have a table with food, we have Jesus Christ. We are the richest of all in that redemptive work. Let that be our praise and our glory to you, and it's in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.