THANK YOU GOD
(This sermon is preceded by the Thanksgiving video by the Skit Guys.)
Well, it’s that time again. Time for the celebration of Thanksgiving.
As I was working on this week’s sermon I was busy thinking about all the things that will happen this Thursday. You see, around our family there are all these traditions that go on. Maybe you’ve got some of them in your family too. The Thanksgiving holiday always seems to be so busy.
The morning will start as it usually does with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, sausage balls, and cinnamon rolls. Then there will be the cooking prior to going to the home of whoever is hosting this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. There are football games, card games, picture taking, and lots of noise as loved ones gather. After everyone is stuffed chances are good the guys will go pheasant hunting. All of it will wind down into more cards and leftovers heated in the microwave.
The truth of the matter is though that there may be too much going on to be very thankful. There may just be too many activities going on. There is so much constant noise that finding a moment to be thankful is very rare. Often it is forgotten about.
Your lives are probably like that too. You have a lot going on. There is probably some form of noise in the background in your lives. Sporting events, CDs, records, tapes, and radio. The television may be on as you’re doing something else. The phone rings and there are conversations to be had. Family comes to visit and more noise takes place.
But we’re reminded that we need to have a time of Thanksgiving.
The first Thanksgiving in the United States occurred back in the year 1623, three years after the pilgrims landed at Plymouth.
Governor Bradford sent out this proclamation:
To all ye pilgrims,
Inasmuch as the Great Father has given us this year as abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the raids of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
As they have passed the three year mark since landing in this place, in this new land, they are reminded that they need to give thanks in everything.
I’d like you to turn in your Bibles to Philippians Chapter 4. We’re going to spend some time today taking a few minutes just to be reminded that we need to be giving thanks. The Apostle Paul was great at giving thanks and reminding others to give thanks to God as well.
So beginning in Verse 4 we read, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
From Paul we can find some great lessons in giving thanks.
In fact the word rejoice means to give thanks. It means to lift up praise. It means to express joy.
And Paul is telling us, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Our thanks should be always. Our thanks should be all the time. We should always be giving thanks.
This isn’t the only place that Paul says this. In fact over in Ephesians 5:19 – 20 it says this, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Always giving thanks to God. That’s exactly what Paul is telling us here.
He puts it another way over in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – 18. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Our thanks should be in all circumstances.
Wait. Tim did you just say all circumstances?
Yes. Our thanks should be in all circumstances.
Now I think that we do need to be taking things in a proper perspective. We need to look at the circumstances that we’re in and praise God because He is there.
Here’s a great example.
There was a young girl living away from home at college. Her mother hadn’t heard from her in some time and kept writing her letters until one day they received this response.
Dear Mom:
Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm was really broken. I broke it and my left leg when I jumped from the second floor window of my dormitory… when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the flames and called the fire department. They were there in minutes. But I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory livable again, I moved in with him. He is very nice to me. I must admit that I’m pregnant. Paul and I are planning on getting married just as soon as his divorce finalizes. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine and will write more when I get the chance. Love your daughter, Susie.
P.S. None of the above is true. But I did get a “C” in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted you to receive this news in its “Proper Perspective!”
There needs to be a proper perspective when it comes to giving God thanks. I mean you aren’t going to praise God for your leg being broken. But you may praise God for the doctor that was able to reset it. You wouldn’t thank God for a death in the family. But you might thank God for bringing your family together through the hardship.
But Tim you don’t have any idea what I’m going through.
No. I don’t know exactly what you’re going through. But I can imagine what it might be like. I can empathize with you.
The truth is our thanks should come in the bad times too.
Our thanks should come in the bad times too.
That same disciple, the one that we’ve been reading through today, he wrote these words too. “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -- 2 Corinthians 12:10.
But Tim, Paul never had to face the things I’m facing.
No. He may not have faced the same things that you face. He didn’t have to deal with morning commutes to work or news on the television of jobs closing all around him. He may not have had to deal with armed robberies.
Here’s what he did face though. Paul was ship wrecked at least once during his lifetime. I know of a time he was bitten by a snake as it came out off the fire. There were times in his life that he was beaten and left for dead. He was run out of town on multiple occasions. There were people that wanted him dead. He spent a large amount of his Christian life in prison in Rome awaiting trial and execution.
Even as he penned the words in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Paul was already in prison. He was already being held in Rome because he was a Christian. He was already facing death. In 2 Timothy he writes that he already faces the headsman’s sword.
Finally, our thanks are because God is good. The Psalmist David penned these words, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” -- Psalms 107:1. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
We don’t always think along these terms. Sometimes we wonder where God is. We question whether God is good.
Not long ago I was speaking with a minister friend of mine. He was telling me a very sad story. A story that had affected him personally.
A few years ago he was part of a much larger church, serving as their senior minister. There were quite a few tasks on his list of to dos and he had a few Associate Pastors serving with him. He wanted to make sure that they received time to preach, since many of them felt this was their calling in life.
One Sunday, one of the young associates was preaching. The man was in mid-sentence when he just fell over. Members of the church and staff rushed to the stage and realized that something was desperately wrong. They rushed him off to a local hospital and numerous tests were run. Over the next few days the test results began coming back and none of them looked good. In fact the results that finally came in were devastating. This young minister had a brain tumor. Unfortunately it had been there for so long that the doctors believed there was nothing that could be done to correct the problem. They told the man to be prepared to be gone within six months.
This pastor I know went to go visit the young minister frequently in his home. The young man still preached and did as much for the church that he could. But each time the pastor was in the younger minister’s home he couldn’t help notice the joy that was there. All the time. He never seemed to notice dark times. The household which contained two very young boys, the minister, and his wife always seemed to be happy.
One day the pastor asked how this could be.
The young minister looked and replied, “God is good. God is always good.”
“I just don’t understand,” the pastor said.
“It’s like this,” the younger minister replied. “God has a plan. He knows what he intends for my life. Whether I live or die doesn’t matter. What matters is that God is being served either way. God has given me all this but when he takes me home he’ll give me himself. God is good.”
This pastor friend of mine still didn’t completely understand. He couldn’t see how someone that was dying could say that “God is good.” After all how can God be good if he’s taking someone away from a young wife and children.
A day did come about eight months after the fall during the service that a phone call came. The call informed him that the young minister would not be returning to work. He was being taken to a hospice organization. Only a few short days later the young minister passed away.
This pastor lead the funeral for the young man and a few weeks after the service he went to visit the wife and her children at home. Again the house seemed happy. Death had just occurred here and yet they seemed content with life. As he was preparing to leave the wife spoke some amazing words.
“I just want you to know God is good. God is good.”
This friend of mine has pondered those words ever since. God is good.
We don’t see it like that though. We don’t always see God as being good when we’re in the midst of the worst moments in our lives. We Can’t see what God is doing in the background.
Tim, how can God be good if I’m facing my brother dying of cancer? How can I see a good God if I’m going through a divorce? What about the mother who has just lost a child?
I don’t really know. Every one of those things is a tough thing to face. Everyone of them is devastating.
Maybe it’s not thinking about the worst things that happen. Maybe it’s thinking along different lines.
Maybe it’s thanking God that the doctors are there to do what they can. Maybe it’s praising God for providing friends and family to listen while your heart is pouring out in pain. Maybe it’s rejoicing in a life that was lived in happiness to the end.
Regardless of what else happens, God is good. Even if we may not see it that way at the time.
It wouldn’t be much longer after Paul wrote the words, “Rejoice! I will say it again rejoice.” That he went home to be with God. His head would be taken. We don’t know for sure that Paul died by being beheaded. We think that’s what occurred based on words that he would write to Timothy in a letter.
But this man gave us so much that we can use when it comes to our own lives.
We have the ability to praise God in all the time and in all circumstances. We can praise God even in the worst of times. Even in the hardest circumstances we can give God the praise that he deserves for the things that are going right. Why? Because God is good.
The truth of the matter is that Thursday is Thanksgiving. But it’s not the only time that we should be praising God. It’s not the only time that we should be counting our blessing. That should be a daily process. God I give you praise for all the things that you have done for me today.
