COMMUNITY WIDE THANKSGIVING SERVICE
We are much like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought and handed the orange back and said, “Peel it.” Cute little story but the truth is that many of us have forgotten to thank God for the things He has blessed us with. Tonight we are going to be reading Psalms 100:1-100:5.
I believe that it is one of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving ever written. Listen to the words as I read it. ‘Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know the Lord is god. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.’
No matter how hard you try, it seems impossible to avoid big dinners at Thanksgiving. At Thanksgiving, it is just way too hard to not eat too much. After all, it is a time to be thankful, and one of the things we as Americans are thankful for is the abundant blessings we have of food. And I promise you that this Thanksgiving I will have my fair share of Turkey and Dressing and I will be very thankful for that. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Many of you this Thanksgiving will be hosting banquets at your home, or going to other people’s homes to eat there. Some of you might even decide to do both! And between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, we will have eaten ourselves through a whole year’s worth of cholesterol, which means we all have a major New Year’s Resolution to make on January 1st.
As far as Thanksgiving is concerned, I truly believe that America is a nation that has been abundantly blessed by God Almighty. And, of all the people in the world who thank God for His blessings, America should be the one doing the most thanking. It is a normal occurrence to draw up a “Wish List” for Christmas and a list of resolutions for the New Year. But there is another list that we often forget to write. It is a list of the reasons we should feel thankful.
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 we at first realize. Like you, I’m sure my list would include the major things - life, health, family, friends, & the nation we live in, despite all the chaos some are stirring up.
What I am most thankful for though is that God loved me enough to wait for me. And that He loved me enough to let His Son die physically so that I wouldn’t have to die spiritually. And with Jesus in my heart, I have so very much to be thankful for. We truly are a privileged people, aren’t we?
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 giving thanks to God for blessings? These people had no homes, no central heat, and no transportation. Their food supply depended on that day’s harvest, and they had to go reap it for themselves, because they had no Homeland Grocery, Reasor’s Grocery, or Smith’s Grocery down on the corner. They had the least of all Americans, but they gave the most thanks of all Americans. Nobody would have even thought that they were underprivileged.
Now, considering the fact that they had so little in most areas, what did they have that they were so thankful for. They had a willingness to work hard, an absolute faith in the Lord, they had courage, and they had the initiative to put all this together and make it work.
Yes, it is true. Our forefathers did believe in God Almighty as the head of this country. And they even took the time to thank Him for giving them the blessings that they had. To hear of people who had next to nothing openly thanking God for everything they had seems strange today, doesn’t it?
It seems especially strange since there are forces at work in this country today that are trying to strip us of every mention of God. From trying to get the words “In God We Trust” off all money to every federal building. There is another suit in federal courts trying to get every cross off all federally owned land. And that includes the cross headstones at Arlington cemetery where all of our veterans are buried. Trying to remove the 10 Commandments out of Court Houses and trying to taking “One division Under God” out of our pledge. Church this country was founded with God at the center of it and slowly but surely He is completely being taken out. Let me just say this about that. The day when those words are taken from our government, and the day that those crosses are removed will be the same day that I believe this country falls once and for all.
Our "Declaration of Independence" begins with these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . ."
And it ends with these words,
". . .with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes & our sacred honor."
We celebrate Thanksgiving, not to remember some past battle or anyone’s birthday, but to express our nation’s thanks and dependence upon God for our blessings that we enjoy.
In 1789, George Washington made this public proclamation. I want you to see the strong acknowledgment of God, and of our nation’s dependence upon Him. "By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation: 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, & humbly to implore His protection & favor, - and "Whereas, Both Houses of Congress" (Did you hear that, "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 & Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God. . .’ "Now, Therefore I do recommend & assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great & glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. . .”
So read the very first Thanksgiving Proclamation.
This week, our nation once again pauses to give thanks for what we have. We would think it reasonable that, because of the example our forefathers gave, we would be extremely thankful to God. But today, we are finding quite the opposite. We are getting more and more every day, and the more we get, the less thankful we are. The more we get, the more we want.
The 100th PSALM could have been written precisely for that attitude. You see church we are to “Have an attitude of gratitude.” That message could not have been better said in a day that we have so much.
1. WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR OUR THANKSGIVING?
The 100th PSALM was written for the Israelites. God had told them that when they went into the Promised Land they should not forget Him. He wanted them to know that He was the source of all their bounty.
We can see in Scripture that it didn’t take them very long before they needed a reminder. The very sad part is that America has followed almost every footstep of the ancient Israelites. Everything they did, we do. They were given the land of milk and honey. We were given a land of abundance and prosperity. They took their eyes off God. We have taken our eyes off God. They suffered extreme punishment. I fear that we are on the very verge of suffering the same depth of punishment, too.
Let me be very clear in what I am saying. In ancient Israel, they took their eyes off God when they decided that others who believed in other gods were just as okay as anyone else. With that decision, they started removing God from their society. And with that, they started engaging in pagan rituals and customs. America has decided that we must respect everybody else’s beliefs, no matter what that belief is. With that, we have slowly removed God from almost every corner of our nation.
But maybe God had us in mind, too, when the 100th PSALM was written. In the very first verse, it is addressed to “all the earth”. The last verse ends with “all generations.” Both verses; indeed the entire PSALM can be directly applied to America, 2006. In short, the message of thanksgiving applies to every human, in every period of history, period.
America and Canada has a day set aside for Thanksgiving. I believe the Philippines do too, if I am not mistaken. But out of all nations on the earth, these are the only ones who even think about giving thanks for what they have. Think for a moment what would happen if every nation would just sit down one day a year, or even during one meal a year, and thank God Almighty for what He has given to us out of His tremendous love for us.
But we must be careful not to base our thanks on how much we have. We should not thank God for the extra big turkey we have on our table, but that we have anything at all on our table.
We should not thank God for giving us that big paycheck with all the overtime in it, but for giving us a paycheck at all. We must be thankful for anything and everything we have, not just the abundance of what we have.
We have all read stories or heard about people who had much in life and then quickly lost everything. Let me ask you a question. If something happened in your life tomorrow, and you lost your home, your car, your furniture, your job, and everything else you have, how would you feel? How would this affect your relationship with God?
It is okay for us to be thankful for the material things we have in life, but the one thing we need to be the most aware of and the most thankful for is nothing more than the personal relationship we have with Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let’s be more exact. Just what is that PSALM trying to tell us? Let’s look at it.
In verse 1, it mentions the Lord. In verse 2, it mentions the Lord. In verse 3, it mentions the Lord. In verse 4, it tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. And again in verse 5, it mentions the Lord.
It is easy to see that this passage serves to get our attention back on God, and away from ourselves and the world around us. Folks, the world has nothing that can benefit us or the kingdom of God. Church, the basis of thankfulness is to remember that everything we have has been given to us by God, and that He is our only true Provider. The house, vehicles, clothes, money, family all belongs to God. It was all his to begin with He’s just loaning it out for us to use.
2. THE 4 COMMANDS FOUND IN PSALM 100
Verse 1 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord”. That simply means to shout from the very depths of our being with praise to the Lord for everything in our lives. Maybe God solved a problem for you. Maybe He has given you healing. Maybe he has given you a restored relationship. No matter what you have, it is from Him and we need to shout for joy with thanksgiving in our hearts. Maybe He has provided a blessing, & you realize that it has come from God. So from the depths of your being you proclaim your praise.
In verse 2, it commands us to “worship the Lord with gladness”. In the King James Version, it says to “serve” the Lord. If we truly worship the Lord, we will witness on His behalf to others, and when we do that, we are serving Him. Here is another caution. It is natural for us to desire appreciation for what we do. That is why some go around and tell everyone about everything they have done. They need the spotlight to feed their immature spiritual hunger. But we must serve the Lord – not ourselves. And we must serve, not with a heart full of obligation, but with a heart full of gladness.
In these first two commands, God is telling us to be happy, shout with joy in our hearts, and serve with gladness in our souls. Take a moment and look around this sanctuary. Take a good look. Do we look like a group of joyful Christians that have gladness in our hearts? I hope so, because the only other alternative is to look like a bunch of Christians who are confused and with a ‘deer in the headlights’ look about us. I pray that we feel the joy and gladness in our hearts for our Lord God.
In verse 3, we find our third command. “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” We were made by God. We have done nothing but receive from Him. God is our maker, we have been created in His image. Therefore let us enter into his presence with thanksgiving in our hearts.
And that is command # 4. “To enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” Church we need to be able and willing to show emotion in church as we praise Him. Read verse 4 with me. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.”
God wants a orderly and respectful church service. Sometimes, I think, we might get a bit too hung up on that, though. God does want respect. God does not want anything in the service to take the focus off Him. We come to church to make God our Audience. But in verse 4, we see that we are to enter His presence with a thankful and praise filled heart.
I just do not understand how one can be truly thankful or joyful when we do not smile, do not have eyes that sparkle, and do not have good uplifting words to say to others. Especially in church. And sometimes, I think we have a tendency to sit and become all but emotionLESS in our traditions of worship. You know what? I love it when I hear someone say Amen. Did you know the meaning of AMEN is “So be it”?
3. WHERE IS THE PLACE OF THANKSGIVING?
I want us to think about something for a minute. Would we want God to treat us like we sometimes treat Him? What if God met our needs to the very same extent that we give Him our hearts? What if I never saw another leaf turning in the Fall? What if I never again saw the beauty in my wife’s eyes? Am I prepared for that? I can tell you right now that I am not. And, neither are any of you. Yes, we need to think about whether or not we would want God to treat us as nonchalantly as we treat Him.
What if God quit leading us tomorrow because of where we placed Him in our hearts tonight? If you take nothing else home with you tonight, I hope that you take this truth with you. Pray to our Lord more than ever before, and at the same time, keep a heart full of joy and praise so that we can show Him our total thanksgiving and dependence on Him for all He has done for us.
I pray that this will be a meaningful Thanksgiving week for you and your family. Take time to read the 100th PSALM when you are alone and can concentrate fully on what it means to you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. Just remember to take some time for God this week to thank Him for the things He has blessed us with as a person, as a family, as churches, as a town and as a nation.
