INTRO.- ILL.- Frank in Dallas calls his son Eddie in New York just before Thanksgiving and tells him, “I am sorry to tell you but your mother and I are going to divorce. I just cannot take any more of her complaining. We can’t stand the sight of each other any more. I am telling you first, because you are the oldest, please let your sister know about this.”
When Eddie calls his sister Julie, she says: “No way are they getting divorced, I will go over and see them for Thanksgiving.”
Julie phones here parents and tells them both “You must NOT get divorced. Promise you won’t do anything until I get over there. I’m calling Eddie, and we’ll both be there for Thanksgiving. Until then, don’t take any action,” and then she hangs up.
The father puts down the phone and turns to his wife and says. “Good news, honey” he says, “Eddie and Julie are coming for Thanksgiving and they are both paying their own way home.”
Hey, I always paid my way home! And it’s always great to have the family together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But, of course, that doesn’t always happen for everyone. Many families are separated by hundreds of miles and can’t be together for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
When I was a kid it was never this way, but it’s getting to be the norm. People have to move where the work is and this often means moving away from their family. Some people don’t get to be with their family members during the holidays.
‘Tis the season. ‘Tis the season for family gatherings but that’s not all! If nothing else, this is a very busy time for most people.
Thanksgiving, for most folks, means family, food and for some, football on TV. And, of course, Christmas is just around the corner so that means shopping, running, etc. and especially, if you have children at home.
What’s your big thing to do this time of the year? Go shopping on Black Friday? Avoid shopping on Black Friday? Avoid people and traffic as much as possible? Play Scrooge? And perhaps you are one of those who likes to be right in the middle of everything: shopping, running, visiting, cooking, eating, etc.
We all need to be SOMEWHAT into this wonderful season because we’ve all been blessed by God.
PROP.- Let me suggest some seasonal things for us to do.
1- ‘Tis the season for singing
2- ‘Tis the season for sharing
3- ‘Tis the season for serving
I. ‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SINGING
ILL.- One preacher said, "I was engaged in a series of meetings in a church in San Leandro, California. Looking at the church bulletin my eyes singled out the following announcement, which was all right except for the lack of one single g: “Choir rehearsal this afternoon at 3:30. Everyone who wishes to sin in the choir must come to practice.”
We want our people to sing in the choir, but not “sin” in the choir. And our choir did a great job last Sunday with “Bless This House.” And then the area church choir about blew us away on Sunday night!
It should be obvious that we should sing praise to the Lord or in His honor. Singing is a way of praising Him. And whether we sing well or not, we must still sing praise to Him! He deserves our worship and praise!
ILL.- Christian author, C. S. Lewis wrote: I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
Praise completes the enjoyment and delight. And this most certainly applies to the Lord. The more we praise Him, the more delighted we become with Him and the better our relationship to Him!
Psalm 5:11 “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”
Wow! Could it be that the more we sing praise to the Lord the most He spreads His protection over us? I THINK SO. Another great reason for singing praise!
Psalm 7:17 “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”
The Lord is the most righteous of all. We are often quick to heap praise on people for their talent and/or good looks, like those in Hollywood, BUT WHAT ABOUT GOD WHO IS COMPLETELY HOLY!
People are just people. But God is our Heavenly Father and Creator and the one who blesses us daily. He is both right and righteous and certainly deserves our constant thanks and praise!
Psalm 13:6 “I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”
Has the Lord been good to you? If He has then sing to Him! Then pat Him on the back by singing His praise!
Psalm 30:11-12 “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”
Has the Lord brought out of the depths of distress and depression? Has He ever lifted your weakened spirit after some great loss in life? You thought you would never feel right again but somehow He brought you out of it. THEN SING TO HIM!
Ps. 33:1 “Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.”
It is fitting for us to praise Him. It’s most fitting we can do! It’s the right thing to do. When we all leave this world and come into God’s marvelous presence and are humbled, we will realize that we should have praised Him a whole lot more in this life!
ILL.- One early morning about 5, I heard music coming from our bedroom. The door was closed but I could hear singing. It was Elaine. She was singing as clearly as could be, “I’ll Fly Away O Glory.” She never sounded so good BUT SHE WAS ASLEEP! Ah but she was praising the Lord! And we all need to do this whether we are awake or asleep, whether we live or whether we die!
II. ‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SHARING
Proverbs 22:9 “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
Romans 12:13 “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19 17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
ILL.- The billionaires are on the warpath. HAVE YOU HEARD? They want more, more, more. In 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income -- more than the bottom 50 percent. But it’s not enough!
The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent nearly tripled since the mid-1970s. Eighty percent of all new income earned from 1980 to 2005 has gone to the top 1 percent. But it’s not enough!
The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. But it’s not enough!
The Wall Street executives with their obscene compensation packages now earn more than they did before we bailed them out. But it’s not enough!
With the middle class collapsing and the rich getting much richer, the United States now has, by far, the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth. But it’s not enough!
It’s not just billionaires who want more, it’s nearly everyone in the US! As Dan Douglass said at our Thanksgiving service, most people just want “a little more,” perhaps 20 percent more. It’s like we’re never satisfied with what we have or have been given by God.
Instead of wanting more, we should share what we have! As we share what God has given us He will take care of us. When we seek the Lord and seek to do His will in our lives He will take care of us. But we need to be thinking about how we can share with others.
ILL.- Those of you who attended the Area Thanksgiving service know how much food we had. We planned to feed 150 people and I would say we had enough food to feed 200 to 300 people. In fact, Dan Douglass, the preacher from Weiner, after looking at our spread of food, filling his plate and setting down, said, “Do you want to trade churches?” (as if to say, “your people put out more food than my church does!”)
Sometimes we have so much food at home that much of if goes to waste. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THIS?
Back in the days when people didn’t have much food they took pains not to waste it. But it’s not that way today. We have such abundance that we often throw away good food without realizing there are starving people in the world and perhaps even in Jonesboro.
Let me say: WE DID NOT WASTE THE FOOD FROM THAT SERVICE! We gathered it together and Jim Reed took it to the Salvation Army the next morning. He said there was an enormous amount of sandwiches, chips, desserts, etc. AND THEY WERE HAPPY TO GET THE FOOD.
In this way, we shared with the poor. Of course, there are other ways that we can share with them. We all can make donations to the food bank, Salvation Army, etc. By sharing with these organizations that deal directly with less fortunate people we are sharing with them!
Proverbs 22:9 “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
III. ‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SERVING
Galatians 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
Indulging the sinful nature is being selfish, thinking only of ourselves and most people live this way, never thinking of what they can do for others.
Matthew 20:26-28 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus came to serve other. He did not come to be served by others.
ILL.- Many of you know that I still go to the Craighead nursing home several times a week even though we lost our Miss Billie last January. I got so acquainted her roommate (Mrs. Hopkins - Valine Hoagland) and others that I just felt like I needed to continue to go visit them. Of course, I also remembered the scripture.
James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
This verse of scripture convicts me. If God considers pure religion as that of caring for widows in their distress then I’d better do it! And for two reasons: to bless the widows and please God.
Let me tell you about Mrs. Doyle who is 100 years old. One of her sons comes to visit her quite often and I’ve been there several times when he’s been there. Her body is failing but her mind is pretty good and she often says whatever comes to her mind.
She has said to me, “Are you a preacher? Give me your text.” “Where do you preach? Are you married to my niece?” One day she said to her son, “He preaches on the street corner?” I have no idea where she got that idea.
One day she said to her son, “I’m going to slap you. I should have slapped you more when you were little.” Then she smiles and her son just laughs at her and tells the story about hiding under the table from her when he was little.
One day she looked up at me and said, “I’m in love.” I turned to Mrs. Hopkins and said, “I hope it’s not me.”
I just never know what she is going to say, but don’t you know that she enjoys the fact I visit with her, talk to her??? Don’t you know that all people in the nursing homes enjoy company?
And let me tell you about a man named Jack Robinett. Jack’s wife, Mary, has alzheimer’s disease and doesn’t even know him. She’s 80 and he’s 85 and he comes to the nursing home every day to feed Mary twice a day. I asked him one time, “Why do you do this?” What do you think he said? He said, “I love her!”
I walked into the nursing home on Monday and Mr. Pryor who comes to feed his wife every day, said, “Did you hear about Jack?” He said that Jack had fallen and was in the hospital but didn’t know which hospital.
Do you know what my immediate thought was? How could I not find out which hospital he was in and go see him? If he loves his wife so intensely how could I not show a little love toward him and go visit him? And I did and he appreciated it very much.
When I went to see him, do you know what he asked me? “How is Mary? I bet they won’t take care of her like I do.” His concern was for his wife. HOW CAN YOU NOT WANT TO LOVE SOMEONE LIKE HIM AND DO SOMETHING FOR HIM? I told him I would check on Mary for him.
Now I don’t tell you these things to make you think I’m the best caretaker in the world or that I’m a saint, because I’m not. But I am getting more sentimental about people as I get older and that’s a good thing. GOD PUT US HERE FOR PEOPLE! To minister to one another, to care for one another, to bless one another!
ILL.- A preacher friend wrote these words to me just the day before Thanksgiving: I made three calls yesterday afternoon which both blessed me and gave me some great concerns. I wish I could describe for you the condition in which this one couple lives. He is so sick, and she is actually out of her mind. And that makes him sicker. He’s on dialysis and chemo. A man of great faith who doesn’t want to put his wife in a nursing home because, as he says, "it would kill her." But she’s killing him. It’s a terrible situation, one of the worst I’ve seen in my 57 years in ministry. His children don’t know what to do. Her children don’t seem to care that much. It is sad! Pray for them. They’re always on my mind and heart.
WE ALL NEED TO TAKE TIME FOR OTHERS! We are here to remember others and serve one another in love! Any way we can, any time we can, but in our busyness we often overlook people and forget to serve. IT MUST NOT HAPPEN!
CONCLUSION--------------------------
‘Tis the season. It’s the season for many things, but the two greatest things are the Lord and people.
We must always give thanks and praise to the Lord, because if there is any good in this world and in our lives, it’s because of Him! And we must remember people. Jesus left heaven for people, for us. And there are times when we must leave what we’re doing and go bless people! It’s the season. It’s always the season for doing good.
Galatians 6:10 “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
