Overcoming With Thanksgiving Series

For our Thanksgiving holiday message, I want to open with a little humor. “A kindergarten teacher was telling her students all about the Pilgrims as she prepared them for the Thanksgiving season. After one little girl had gone home and shared the details she remembered from her teacher’s lesson, her mother asked if she could tell her what the Pilgrims ate during that first Thanksgiving. The girl was stumped, so she said, “I can’t remember, Mommy, but you can ask my teacher. She was there!”(1)

In August of 1620, Puritans from England left their homes and comforts to begin a new life in the New World. They boarded two small ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower, to pursue religious freedom in America. Not long after leaving, the Speedwell developed leaks. Most of her passengers and crew transferred over to the Mayflower before the Speedwell turned back.

A total of 102 Pilgrims suffered through sixty-seven days of rough sailing before they arrived at Plymouth Bay in November. There was nobody to greet them, no stores for supplies, nor homes to buy. They endured hardships of a very cold winter and the perils of sickness. At one point, only six people were well enough to care for the sick and dying.

By March of the following year, only 51 of the original 102 Pilgrims were still alive, and it would be another two years before a ship arrived with more supplies. Nonetheless, these brave pioneers celebrated their newfound freedom to worship as they desired.(2)

They were grateful to be alive and thankful for their religious freedom. They were also grateful for that first thanksgiving meal during the following year in 1621. Commentator Donald Barnhouse says, “Thanksgiving Day dates back to the day when the Pilgrims were filled with joy as they saw their barns well-filled and their [storage rooms] well stocked against the approaching winter. Yet Thanksgiving Day for the true Christian is something far deeper and far wider than the joy of autumn harvest blessings. Thanksgiving Day for the Christian is an entrance into the deepest thoughts of God, so that we may say, ‘Yes, Father, I am learning to be thankful for everything’.”(3)

We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The Pilgrims endured great difficulty during their journey to America and during that first hard winter. Perhaps this has been a difficult year for you, but the fact remains that we still have much for which we can be thankful – even in the midst of hardship. This morning, we’re going to look at how giving thanks in everything can help us during times of pain and difficulty. So, at this time, I want to invite you to stand in honor of God’s Word as we read 2 Corinthians 4:15-18:

Abounding in Thanksgiving (2 Corinthians 4:15-18)

15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

In verse 15, when Paul said, “all things are for your sakes,” he was talking about his ministry efforts; how “all” trials and “all” persecutions that he endured was for the purpose of sharing the message of God’s grace. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul stated his message as follows: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Paul preached that we cannot (and do not) earn the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by our own works; and he was persecuted for this message, as it offended the sensibilities of the religious and self-righteous.

Salvation is a free gift, for that’s what the word grace (charis) means in the Greek. It is freely given and freely received; and grace was bestowed through God’s Son. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God “gave” us His Son; or rather, He “gifted” His Son to us. When the non-religious heard the message of grace, concerning the free gift of salvation, it led to joy and thanksgiving. And their public testimony and praises of God’s goodness resulted in the Lord being glorified.