One birthday this week...and it is my daughter’s. She turns three on Thanksgiving Day. So, Happy Birthday to Suzy. One other housekeeping piece of business to take care of is this Wednesday evening about 5:15 I fully intend to open the church for prayer until about 6:00. This isn’t a Thanksgiving service per se in that there won’t really be any singing or preaching...but it will be an opportunity for you to stop by if you want to and pray and offer up thanksgiving to God before Thanksgiving Day. Also, keep in the back of your mind our Christmas Eve service this year. I know that this is maybe not something that you normally have planned on but its a tradition I would like to start....coming together to remember the reason for Christmas season. Tentatively we have it planned for 5 pm on Christmas Eve...it will be a relatively short service...no preaching or anything...just some songs and some scripture...and perhaps a Mary and Joseph or something...it we have some kids who want to do it. So...go ahead and make your plans to be here with us then and let your friends and family know.
I’ve already kind of touched on it...but this Thursday, of course is Thanksgiving so today we are going to focus in on this holiday and try to give you a bit of a mindset to start this week and to enter the Thanksgiving holiday with. As Americans...I think it is fair to say that we tend to overdo things...isn’t it? We tend to buy houses that are way bigger than what we actually need....we tend to eat too much....ok...at least some of you do...I never do that. Just watch me this afternoon! So, I wanted to start out today with some of the signs that you have overdone Thanksgiving...and these are from a website called indiafunfactory.com:
You Know You Overdid Thanksgiving When....
Paramedics bring in the Jaws of Life to pry you out of the EZ-Boy.
The "Gravy Boat" your wife set out was a real 12’ boat!
You receive a Sumo Wrestler application in your e-mail.
Friday you set off 3 earthquake seismographs on your morning jog.
Pricking your finger for cholesterol screening only yielded gravy.
A guest quotes a Biblical passage from "The Feeding of the 5000."
That rash on your stomach turns out to be steering wheel burn.
Representatives from the Butterball Hall of Fame called twice.
You consider gluttony your patriotic duty.
Your arms are too short to reach the keyboard & delete this.
So...as we go into Thanksgiving I think it is fair to say that many of us are destined to overdo things this Thursday...many of us will be miserable in the afternoon...and that is actually how I remember many of my Thanksgivings....as having eaten so much that I cannot move in the afternoon...the afternoon’s are really very sleepy on Thanksgiving Day aren’t they. But, you know what....I cannot remember a single solitary Thanksgiving in which I was to tired from giving thanks...that I had prayed so much that I was literally exhausted...unable or unwilling to move from my easy chair...and, when we consider with what we have been blessed with...that really is amazing isn’t it?
We’ll get to our scripture in just a moment...but first let me give you two brief stories: first, the history of this holiday that we call Thanksgiving. Oh, we all know about the pilgrims...Plymouth Rock...the Mayflower....and Squanto...but do we know how it came to be a national holiday. You all know that I am a scholar of history and I also know that many of you don’t care for it to much...but indulge me for just a moment as I tell you how we got to the point where every fourth Thursday in November became a day of thanks.
Christiananswers.net says that
Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln’s precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.
Lincoln’s original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation came - spiritually speaking - at a pivotal point in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln delivered his famous "Gettsysburg Address." It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:
“When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.”
Lincoln made his declaration on October 3rd, 1863...three months after Gettysburg and one month before his address...he recognized the need to thank God for what he has done for us.
And the necessity to continue to be thankful...it continues today...if anything it has gotten even stronger...especially in this country. Listen to this:
If the population of this world was reduced to 100 people but the current trends continued:
There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere, and 8 Africans.
50 would suffer from malnutrition and one would be near death. Only one would have a college education, and only one would own a computer.
80 would live in substandard housing.
70 would be unable to read.
6 would possess 59% of the world’s wealth and all 6 would be from North America.
We attend church without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death. We are better off than 3 billion people in this regard.
We have money in the bank and spare change in a dish, food in the refrigerator, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads. We are richer than 75% of this world.
Those statistics come to us from a man named Davon Huss...I’m not real sure where he got them though...but it’s sobering isn’t it? If we boiled it all down to 100 people....six North Americans would control 59 percent of the world’s wealth...blessed? Can you say: spoiled? I am...I know.
But, we don’t quit there...we today are a country at war...and we are fighting that war on two fronts. One of these fronts is in Iraq...and we have lost the most there...the total casualty for this war...on both sides and innocents is placed by some as being over 600,000 people....a staggering figure...but....when we look at total numbers of soldiers....it is a little over 4,000 for the entire coalition and over 3,800 American dead. Again, a sobering figure...but...when we put it within the scope of other conflicts...we realize how blessed our country has been and how God has protected our military men and women...during the first four "major" years of combat in the Vietnam War over 45,000 U.S. men and women lost their lives...more than 12 times the current number in Iraq. I don’t say this to downplay the sacrifice made in either country....I only say it to make a point: in a time where we are so focused on the negative we forget the positives....how God has provided for our country...how he has protected....and how he has provided.
But...I am going to say something this morning that I hope will become your focus on this Thursday as you gather with your friends and family and cut your turkey and eat...when you offer up thanks...don’t just thank God for the physical blessings he had provided.....thank him for the type of God he is.
We’re only going to read one verse of scripture today...but we will learn more in this one verse of scripture about the type of God we serve then we really will ever be able to completely and totally understand. Turn in your Bibles with me over to Matthew 11.
As your turning let me tell you about something I started this week...I started a blog. Some of you are wondering what in the world a blog is so I’ll fill you in real quick. A blog is like an online diary. The web address for my blog is http://summershadechristianchurch.blogspot.com. If you didn’t get that then ask me after the service or send an email to the church email address and I’ll send you the link. Basically, this is a way for me to communicate with anyone who is surfing the net about what is going through my mind...about events here at the church...and about the Gospel. Anyway...I was flipping through the other blogs and I found some that were really bizarre...and I also found blogs for families...where parents would right about their sleepless nights...their kids sneezes and sniffles....and I suddenly realized.....I don’t really care about the little minor struggles of other people. Now, I know that I am a minister and that probably sounds really bad for me to say it...and deep down I do care...but...I have minor struggles of my own....kids of my own that get sneezes and sniffles. Don’t get me wrong...if I tell you that I will pray about something for you then rest assured it will be done....most times on the spot...but...I don’t have time to read about all the minor things going on in other people’s lives because I’ve got other things going on in my life...and my problems are more important than your problems. Again, I know that this might sound a little bad for a minister to be saying, but, even though I am a minister...I am human...I make mistakes...I have faults. I care about others but I don’t care perfectly.
God, however, he isn’t human...he is God...and he is perfect and he is loving and he is just and he cares about those little minor things going on in your life as much as he cares about the major things going on....they are important to him because they are important to you. You have your Bibles out and open to Matthew 11....I want you to read with me verse 28.
That word there that Jesus starts out with....it is the Greek word "Deute" and it is an interjection....now we all know what an interjection is right...it’s an attention getting word...it is not said softly....we hear them all the time...No! Stop! Don’t! Here Jesus he says "Deute!" "Come!" It’s not some little wimpy word...it is almost like a command...a plea...there is emotion in this word....and why does he want us to come?
Because he looks at us and he sees people who are tired...who are weary...who are carrying a lot of weight around and he wants to change that.
When Jesus yells "Deute" to those who are working...he isn’t talking about white-collar workers here...he is talking about those who have calluses on their hands and blisters on their feet. The Greek indicates here that this work results in tiredness, weariness...there is colossal effort involved....it is bodily labor...and isn’t that what life is sometimes?
We have all been there...we can’t hardly get ourselves up out of bed from the fatigue that we feel...every single one of us have been there and each person’s individual experience is different. For one it might be the backbreaking labor of raising a child...for others it might be the sweat of supporting a family...for others it might be the effort in caring for an aging and elderly parent. My mother in law is dealing with that together with my father in law. Mom’s mother, Grandma Betty has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her and Pop are going through a lot...something that if they were to write about it in their blog...if they had one...that another person might say "big deal" and click the button and go on...but to them it’s work...back breaking, sweat inducing work...and here Jesus says that if you are over worked...if you feel like you can barely keep your head above water...then Deute! Come to him...and he screams it out...he wants to get your attention...there is no reason for you to work alone.
Jesus though...he doesn’t just call to those who are overloaded with work...he yells to those who are heavy laden...the Greek word here is Phortizo...and it means to literally place burden on someone...but he’s not talking about physical burdens here...because like so many words in the Bible this one has a metaphorical meaning....that’s the danger in just taking the Bible at face value...because if you did so then Jesus’ command here would just be for those carrying around heavy packs. No, the metaphorical meaning here is for those who have been loaded down with the burdens of rites and unwarranted precepts...for those who have been bogged down by religion.....Jesus...he has no use for religion....he does have use for relationship.
Let’s remember here...whom is Jesus talking to? Who is his audience...the Jews...and what have they been bogged down with their entire lives? Isn’t it religion...all of the thou shalts and thou shalt nots....all of the things that they had to do to please God....relying on the Law for their salvation...the Law in and of itself was not wrong...the problem occurred when it became the source of salvation and God was left out of the picture.
Here...Jesus...he has a simple message for these people who have been beaten down with tithes for the sake of salvation...sacrifices for the sake of salvation...rabbinical traditions for the sake of salvation....and that message is "Deute!" Come...come to me...I care....I want to help...I care about each and everything going on in your life.
And that message is so valid for us today....it so valid. We have heard preachers on TV and from the pulpit tell us all of the things we must do to gain God’s favor...all of the works...all of the commands....we have watched religion become the source of salvation...we have watched quote/unquote Christians walk out of the bars and the strip clubs on Saturday night and walk into church on Sunday morning...we have seen quote/unquote Christian marriages end because of infidelity or because of "irreconcilable" differences...we have seen leaders in both the Catholic and Protestant faiths arrested or accused of crimes against children and we have become so disillusioned about religion....that we begin to turn away...to write it all off...and Jesus...he only has one thing to say to us....Deute...but he says it as an interjection...he says it much louder....he raises his voice and perhaps even waves his arms because he wants to get our attention...because he has something special for us.
What he has for us is rest....and not just any rest...the original language...it implies a rest that enables us to recover and collect our strength...it is a rest with a purpose....so we can get up and get back to work...for those of us who are facing the challenges that we spoke about...the rest that Christ gives us...it restores our strength and replenishes our strength...not so we don’t have to go back to work but so we can do the work that we have to do. The same goes for those of us facing the burdens of religion...it restores our strength so we can go out and recognize truth.
That, my friends, is the type of God we serve and, to me, the reason that we should give thanks to him on this Thursday. As you gather around your tables this week…as you bow your heads…hopefully more than once to give thanks…remember not only the material blessings he has given…but remember the type of God he is…the “small” things that he cares about. You see, unlike us as humans…he cares about the small things….he wants to read on your blog about the sniffles and the sneezes…about the parents with Alzheimer’s….the kids with illnesses…the marriages that need help and healing…the financial worries…he tells you to Deute! with all that stuff and bring it to him so you can get some rest and relaxation…he wants to know about it….he is interested…he cares…and that is the reason we give thanks….not just for the wealth but for the interest in our lives.
You know, it would be really easy to smother Suzy with gifts…but I think that I am a better father when I show interest in what is going on in her life…when I play with her…when I kiss and hug her…when I take the troubles that I can off her hand…and her response to those things are a lot better than they can ever be to any gift.
If you are hear today and you have not Come to him…then that opportunity is available to you this morning…I want to invite you to come and bring all of your work and all of your struggles with religion and lay them solidly at the foot of the cross….to come to him and allow him to give you the rest that you so desperately need…whether this is your first time bringing these things to him or your fiftieth…he is waiting to give you rest as we pray and then sing.
