Give Thanks To Him! (A Thanksgiving Sermon)

INTRODUCTION (SECURE ATTENTION) & BACKGROUND OF THE PASSAGE:

PRAY before starting the sermon.

ILLUSTRATION: {Taken from “Our Daily Bread” dated February 20, 2005.

On my way to work one day I saw a bumper sticker that read: “Did you thank a green plant today?”

Plants are essential to the balance of nature.

They release oxygen into the air.

They’re also a source of food, fuel, medicine, and building materials.

Was the bumper sticker suggesting that because we are so dependent on plants we should actually thank them?

If that’s what the driver believes, he certainly has a lot to learn about who should receive our gratitude.

… to direct our praise to nature reminds us of Paul’s indictment of those who “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

God alone is worthy of our gratitude!

He set our world in motion, and He sustains it by His power.}

Today is our Harvest and Thanksgiving Festival.

We don’t have to really wait for special days to thank God.

But still it’s a good practice to set apart few days to thank and praise God.

I say that because I see that many Christians, including myself, are ungrateful to God.

We wait for our circumstances to be perfect in order to thank God.

But that will never happen.

As we live in this world, we will never have a trouble-free life.

We must praise God right now, in whatever situation we are.

We are called to thank and praise God in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Praising God is extremely important.

That’s why Scriptures often command us to praise God.

It also gives us reasons to thank God.

Today’s psalm exhorts us to thank and praise God and gives few reasons to do so.

Would you take God’s Word and turn your Bibles with me to PSALM 100:1-5 (READ)?

I have entitled today’s sermon as: “GIVE THANKS TO HIM!”

The title of this psalm is “A psalm for giving thanks” and is an appropriate psalm for our Harvest and Thanksgiving Festival.

So, the theme of this psalm is thanksgiving.

In the psalm that we read today, we see that:

CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE TEXT: We must approach God by thanking him joyfully on the basis of his goodness.

FALLEN CONDITION FOCUS: Already dealt with.

THE PURPOSE BRIDGE: To encourage the members of EAGC to joyfully thank the Lord for his amazing goodness.

CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE SERMON: We must joyfully thank God for his amazing goodness.

I. A CALL TO THANK GOD.

Read Psalm 100:1-2.

These two verses give a call to thank and praise God.

A. The whole earth must make a joyful noise to the Lord (v. 1).

Not just Israel, but the whole earth is called make a joyful noise to the Lord.

Israel was called to be the light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6) and thus the psalmist invites the Gentile nations to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

We worship the God who is King over all the earth.

Thus, the whole earth is invited to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

But we know that the whole earth still doesn’t worship God.

That’s why we must invite the lost to come to Jesus, be saved, and to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

We must make efforts to lead the lost to Christ.

In the ancient days, a messenger would bring the news of victory to the people.

Then, as the king and his army would march into the city, the crowd would make a joyful noise.

Likewise, we must express joyful worship unto our God!

Note that the psalmist says that we must make a joyful noise “to the Lord.”

This is not just for few extroverts, but it’s for “all the earth.”

ILLUSTRATION: {When we had a couple of cricket matches for the brothers in our church, we could see the excitement and joy on the faces of the brothers when their team did well.

However, when we are in church, we are not excited about God or the things of God.

Sometimes, I wonder whether we are excited about a game rather than God.}

Those who are more reserved need to push their boundaries and learn to express their praise to God.

On the other hand, praising God is not just about shouting all the times.

Sometimes, we need to reflect in silence and worship the Lord.

B. We must serve God with gladness (v. 2).

The psalmist further invites his readers to serve the Lord with gladness.

He’s probably referring to the temple rituals, but this call refers to any service that is rendered to the Lord.

Everyone serves something.

People serve money, work, movies, smartphones, and many other things.

But we are called to serve God, with gladness.