Five Thanksgiving Commands From Pslam 100 Series

Alba 11-24-13 (Revised 11-27-2022)

FIVE THANKSGIVING COMMANDS FROM PSALM 100

This month I have been sharing with you a series of sermons about Thanksgiving. I thought about calling them “Thanksgiving By the Numbers”. The messages have had the following titles:

Three Marks of a Thankful Christian

Three Things to Include In Thanksgiving

Three Attitudes That Keep Us From Being Thankful.

And today's message is entitled Five Thanksgiving Commands. We find these in Psalm 100.

One of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving is the 100th Psalm. It is described as a psalm for giving grateful praise. Please turn to it and follow along as I read:

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. (NKJV)

It is not uncommon to compile wish lists at Christmas, and draw up a list of resolutions at New Years. But there is another list we often overlook – a Thanksgiving Day list of all for which we should be thankful. And it is not too late to do that.

A while back I looked on line and found something called “Your Personal Gratitude Journal.” It stated that research shows “Saying thank you for the good stuff in life makes for a happier, healthier you. And it makes those around you feel pretty good, too. So spread the love: Sign up to start your very own daily gratitude journal or see what everyone else is thankful for.”

People from all over sent in their lists of things for which they are thankful. One said... “I am thankful for my wonderful life and all the people in my life. I am thankful for my daughter, my sister, my cousins and all my friends.”

Another wrote, “I am thankful for my job. I am thankful for my car. I am thankful for my children. I am thankful for air to breathe. I am thankful for my friends.”

One person simply said he was thankful for “Grilled cheese sandwiches.” But not all things are good. Another person wrote, “That, in spite of heartbreak and disappointment with family fracture and estrangement, I am able to still laugh and find joy in living.”

Now our thankful list might not be the same as theirs, but I’m convinced that if we began to make a list, we would find that we have much more for which to be thankful than just our material possessions.

There is a real danger in this season if we determine how thankful we should be on the basis of how much we have, our possessions. Things like: "Do I have enough turkey to gorge myself sufficiently? Is my money in the bank secure? Am I healthy?" Often we let these things determine whether we are or aren’t thankful.

Like you, I’m sure, my list would include the major things life, health, family, friends, and the nation we live in, despite all its flaws.

But even more than that, I’m thankful for Jesus, that by His death on that cross He made it possible for my salvation.

I'm also thankful for our church family, and the mercy that God showers upon us each day. With Jesus we have so much for which to be thankful.

We talk about the underprivileged. But has it ever occurred to you that no Americans were more underprivileged than that small handful from the Mayflower who started the custom of setting aside a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God?

They had no homes and no government agency to help them build homes. They had no means of transportation but their legs. Their only food came from the sea and the forest, and they had to get it for themselves.

They had no money and no place to spend it if they’d had any. They had no amusements except what they made for themselves, no means of communication with their relatives in England, no social security or medicare.

But they did have four of the greatest human assets: initiative, courage, a willingness to work, and a boundless faith in God.

"A boundless faith in God." That almost sounds strange today in a time when powerful forces are at work in our nation to strip us of every reminder that the very foundation of our nation was built upon the conviction that we are "one nation, under God."

Thanksgiving Day is a distinctive holiday. It doesn’t commemorate a battle or anyone’s birthday or anniversary. It is simply a day set aside to express our nation’s thanks to God.