PSALMS 95:2
HEARTFELT HAPPINESS
HONES HISTORIC HOLIDAY
I. HERITAGE:
A. Home.
B. Hardiness.
C. Hedges.
II. HIATUS:
A. Health.
B. Happiness.
C. Homeland.
III. HOPE:
A. Heaven.
B. Harvesting.
C. Hallowedness.
“Thanksgiving” is an unique American tradition. While we have celebrated this day for a long time, many other nations have not and desire not to emulate our very homegrown day of giving thanks to our God. While many other nations shy away from this happy and blessed holiday, there have been a few who have seen the value of it and have followed our example. Besides these facts, many Americans who are visiting or living in a foreign land often pause for this day to give thanks to God and if there are a great many Americans living in a specified area of a foreign nation, often the local area seems to comprehend just how important this day is for we Yanks.
However, in a day when it seems that giving thanks to God for anything is coming under scrutiny by the secularists of today’s world, I clearly wish to go on record and state that I am proud to be an American who wishes to honor this day. I wish to honor it by giving thanks to God for what He has done in my life and I wish to state that by keeping this tradition going, I want it always to be heartfelt and done without reservation or intimidation by anyone. I feel that the longer I continue to give thanks to God for what He has done for me it helps me to keep a thankful heart. A thankful heart makes the soul a merry soul and it helps to give thanks always-not just on one day. By living in a state of thankfulness, it helps hone the heart to continue to celebrate this historic day.
As I think about Thanksgiving, I read where I have a Biblical basis for being thankful. The Psalmist said that we are to come into God’s court-into His presence-with thanksgiving and I want to do just that for the rest of my life. Being thankful to God for what he means to me and for what He has done for me, helps me to be a better worshipper of Him and the more I am thankful, the easier it is to be thankful and to come into His presence-always-with a thankful heart.
By continuing this holiday, I find that my life, my soul, my heart are happy and I want to make everyday a thanksgiving day to my God. Then when this special holiday of “Thanksgiving” comes around, it is much easier to say thanks to God and mean it rather than just give lip service to this very special day.
As I prepare my sermon, I see three areas of thanksgiving which help me to really enjoy this day because I have prepared for it all year long. The first thing I wish to address is being thankful for my HERITAGE: the past has a lot to do with my present state of being. The next area of my sermon has to do with this present time in which I am living on this earth-between the past and that which is to come which I call my HIATUS. The last part of the sermon then looks forward to my HOPE of that which is to come and as I combine all of these together, I desire to be thankful for all of my life and when my life is over here, I want to come into the presence of my God with thanksgiving.
I. HERITAGE: As I survey my past, my heritage, there are some things that come to my mind which aids me in my giving thanks and for which I can enter into the presence of the Lord with a thankful heart. The first thing for which I give thanks from my past is centered around my Home.
My dad was a factory worker and my mother worked part time for a few years peeling tomatoes for a local canning company. I am the last of five children so one can tell very quickly that the amount of money being generated in our home when I was a lad was not very much. Yet, I did not know we were poor-I thought every one lived as we did. It was not until I went off to college did I realize that we were poor people. Yet, amidst the lack of funds for a lot of luxury, I was taught some very good lessons about going to church, living right, and being a Christian. Our church was the central point in our lives and I learned early that it pays to seek God. My parents always encouraged us children to accept and serve Christ; and, to mind, love, obey and fear God. I am glad and thankful for that rich HERITAGE I received growing up in my Home. Looking back over my life, I can honestly say that I was blest by my past and my parents. I am and always will be thankful for what I was taught when growing up in my family.
Not only am I thankful for my Home and the manner in which I was raised, I am and always will be thankful for what I was taught about what it takes to make it in this world: Hardiness. This might sound a bit trite, but I learned a lot from my parents and am grateful for their willingness to work, to be industrious, hardy and to make ends meet. Idleness was not tolerated by my parents and they expected the same from we five children. To go on the public dole was a disgrace to them and they taught me that if I was to make anything out of myself it had to be up to me to do the job. I will forever be thankful that I was taught lessons of life both spiritually and socially in how to survive in this world. I was also taught that work was beneficial in itself and we were to do our best at what ever job we had to do. I am thankful for these aspects of my HERITAGE that have stood the test of time in my life.
I am also thankful that I never saw my parents drunk, or on dope, or lazy and refused to do what it took to get us kids ready to face life on our own. I am forever thankful that I had hand-me-downs, which include pants, shirts, socks, bicycles, toys etc. I was taught to be frugal by two parents that served left overs for suppers, lunches and snacks. All of these things spoke volumes to me about being Hardy and hard working. I am thankful for my upbringing.
I have mentioned two things for which I am grateful concerning my HERITAGE. The third thing about my past which makes me to be thankful, is the fact that God set certain Hedges around me and protected me from getting out into deep sin. Yes, there were drugs to be had in the fifties and the sixties, but they did not appeal to me. My fellow classmates had wild parties with booze, cigarettes and yes-dope, but they never invited me-I never ran around with that group anyways. There were loose girls whose morals were low, but I never tried to date them. I saw at a young age the devastation what sin, sex, and slothfulness could do to people and I never wanted to be around these things.
I had a dad and a mom who would have blistered my backside if I dipped into the cesspools of teen years-and I am thankful for that Hedge of my maturing years.
I remember one time when I fancied a young lady in my high school class and I think she might have liked me. But when my mother found out about my feelings, all she said to me was, “I think you can do better than that,” and she never ever met this young lady. That stopped me in my tracks and I realized that mom knew more about love and life than I did when I was sixteen years old. I let that young lady drift away out of my heart and life. I am so glad that there was a Hedge swung around my soul at that time because God was saving me for my wife whom I met in college and we will be celebrating our 39th year of marriage next year.
When it came time for me to go away to a Christian college, I remember my dad telling me before he left, after he helped me move into my dorm room, “Son, there are two types of people who go to a Christian college-you find the good group and stay with them.” Another Hedge!!! I did not understand what he meant, but within a short time, I realized that not all who go to a Christian college or even attend church are Christians. I took his advice and have been ever thankful for that wall of protection, a Hedge, given me by God.
As I look back over my early life at home and even later, I come to the conclusion that I have been blessed beyond measure for which I am eternally thankful. Someday, I will be ushered into the presence of God, Himself, and I will enter with thanksgiving because of what He provided for me when I was a lad and maturing into a man.
II. HIATUS: I have looked at my earlier years and noted some things for which I am thankful, but what about the time from then until now, the time in between my arriving on this planet and the time to come when I will take my leave of this world? This time frame I term my HIATUS-it is the time in between of which I now live. Are there any things in this time frame which make me thankful? Ah, yes; there are many things for which I am thankful, but I will list only three of them at this time.
The first thing I list for which I am thankful as I live between yesteryear and tomorrow is my Health. I have had my share of illnesses, or so I think. Yet, I know that there are many other people my age that are worse off than me. I can walk, stand upright, sit in a chair, take food, do exercise drive a car, climb stairs and other things that many, many people who are 63 can not do for one reason or another.
I wear glasses because my eyes are getting older and they need help in focusing, but I know there are many who are blind and cannot see anything. My ears are not as keen at picking up fainter sounds as they used to be, but I can still hear children laughing and I can hear my wife tell me that she loves me. There are many others who cannot hear the birds wake up the sun in the summer time or the giggle of a grandchild. I am thankful for the Health that I have in this transition time which lies between my past and my future.
I am thankful for these benefits of my health and I need to remind myself that these are gifts from God and I should come into His presence with thanksgiving for these benefits more than what I do.
Besides being thankful for the Health I do have, I am thankful for that most elusive thing called Happiness. I have learned a long time ago that it is not what I posses but that which possess me that makes me happy. Things have an allure but the Happiness for which I am thankful is not in things but in the realm of non-things. I am thankful for my family: my wife, my children and my grandchildren. I am thankful for a place to minister the Word of Life to a group of fine Christians. I am thankful that I have had the privilege to be a college instructor for 21 years plus. I am thankful for all that God has allowed me to enjoy in my life. These blessings make me humble and through them, I have learned the secret of Happiness.
While I live out my life here on this earth, I am grateful to God for helping me to be happy. I have learned to find happiness in reading notes from my wife, children and grandchildren. I find Happiness in resting in the quite peace of God’s love and care. I find contentment in reading His Word, in spending time alone with my Lord, and in singing the songs of Zion. I have learned that my inner well being is content as long as I am following my Lord. For all of these things, I am thankful as I live out my life one day at a time as I slowly inch my way towards my eternal Home.
Besides the two things which I have listed which make me thankful in my brief stay here on this earth, the last one concerns itself with my Homeland: the United States of America. I am happy and thankful that I am an American. God could have let me be born in some other local of this world, but He thought so much of me that He allowed me to be born here. I am grateful to be an American. I love the freedom I have, the possibility which still opens its doors to me so that I can better myself even at this time in my life. In between the time of being born and of dying-this brief HIATUS of my life-I am thankful for what He has given to me. I do want to come into His presence with thanksgiving for my Health, Happiness and my Homeland. He deserves my praise for His blessings to me.
III. HOPE: While I have looked at my past and my present time of living and have mentioned just a few things for which I am thankful, I want to conclude this sermon by stating that I am thankful for the HOPE of that which is to come-my future. As I conclude the sermon, I want to state that just as I am thankful for my upbringing and for my present day-by-day living, I want to go on record and say that I am thankful for that which lies in the future
The first thing for which I am thankful as I face the future is the aspect of going to Heaven. I believe we Christians can know this side of eternity if we are fit candidates for God’s Heaven. There are some others who feel differently, but I think we can have the assurance that we are going home to Heaven as long as we dwell in His salvation. I think there have been plenty of God’s good saints down through the ages who have verified on their death bed that they were going home to Heaven. I am thankful for that possibility. Even if I was not assured of going to Heaven, I would still be thankful that there exists the chance that I might make it. Some sinners are set in their hard hearts and know that they will not make it to Heaven and are assured that their final resting place will be with the dammed. I, on the other hand, want to go on record as saying I am thankful that my sins have been forgiven and my name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life and I have the opportunity to go to Heaven and avoid Hell. I will come into the Lord’s presence with thanksgiving for this assurance.
Next, I am thankful, as I HOPE for the future, in seeing and participating in a great Harvesting of my labors as well as others. One of the blessed things of the future with our Lord will be the reality that at long last we will be able to see and realize that our lives were not lived in vain for our Lord. I believe that every Christian influences at least one other person to either become a Christian or to remain so. Far too often we labor and see nothing for our rewards but they are being seen by God Himself. Hudson Taylor labored long years, forty long years, in China and never saw a convert. Yet upon his death there was a great revival which followed and as a result, all of inland China was opened at last for mission work-his efforts are still being carried on in spite of the Communist government.
Old Praying Hyde labored in India and saw such minimal gains for his efforts. Yet, upon his return home to America, his prayers were at last heard and India opened its doors to the gospel seeing multitudes swept into the Kingdom of God.
David Livingston buried his lovely bride in Africa and he almost died himself, yet he labored on and when at last he did die, the natives took out his heart and buried it under a tree saying, “That White man’s heart was for Africa, and should stay in Africa.” Due to his love for the natives, thousands came to know the Lord, and he was a very powerful influence in stopping the slave trade in that Dark Continent. These giants of the faith labored on long and so often lonely thinking that their efforts were in vain, yet they turned the world upside down for Jesus and when the final day arrives and the crowns and rewards are given to God’s saints, I will be able to see the vast Harvesting of souls that have been the results of these and countless other ministers’, missionaries’ and preachers’ efforts for Jesus.
But what about myself? Who have I won to the Lord? I fret that that number is small. Yet, on that day when I see all of God’s saints come home, I feel that somehow Jesus will let me know and see the ones that I have influenced to either accept Him or to remain faithful to Him. I look forward in great HOPE to the time of Harvesting and will be ever so thankful for my small part I will have played in helping to build the kingdom of God.
The last thing I list as something for which to be thankful as I look forward to the future is I will at last be in a place of Hallowedness. I look forward to going to Heaven with all that it involves and I anticipate the aspect that there is a place where everything will be Hallowed and sacred. To think, that there is a place where there will be nothing like this sin cursed world! The Hallowedness of Heaven and of being with God for ever is something that is hard for me to fathom completely in my earthly mind, but I know there is a place like that and I am going there by God’s graces. I am and will be thankful for that place and I will come into His presence with great Thanksgiving.
From my past to my present to my future, I am thankful that I am a Christian and will be grateful to tell my Lord, Himself, "Thanks for helping me to arrive here-it was all due to Your graces and kindnesses."
