The Challenge of Thankfulness in the Age of Stuff.
Come Ye Thankful People Come
INTRODUCTION
We just sang
Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.
It's an English hymn of Harvest Home. Written for village harvest festivals in England.
In England the harvest festival is called the harvest home. This festival usually takes place during September. Offerings of fruit and vegetables are placed around the altar for a thanksgiving service that would make sure there was a good crop for the next year. After the service the offerings are given to those less fortunate.
The Harvest Home festival is held at the end of September once all harvesting of all crops has been finished. People take great pride in decorating the churches and often keep the best of the harvest for this festival.
The altar in the churches is decorated with vases which hold autumn leaves, berries and flowers and special tables are set up to hold the offerings that people bring. There are pumpkins, cabbages, baskets of fruit and vegetables of all kinds. Sometimes the window ledges are used to display the results of harvest.
People also come to church to say prayers of thanks and sing hymns. At the end of the service the produce that has been left as offerings are each blessed and sent to hospitals for the sick and needy. Also in some places at the end of the day there is a Harvest Home supper after which people dance and have a band play.
Double Meaning
It understands that Harvest-tide is but a fore-taste of the final harvest and the victory of Christ. It affirms for us that the whole world's history is geared around one man and his triumph over sin and death. Sung during a Christmas celebration, it is the perfect moment to celebrate the arrival of the Lord of the Harvest and to recognize that the baby in the manger is the Lord of all Time who will judge sin and the world and divide the wheat from the tares on the final day.
The text uses imagery found in two gospel parables: the growing seed (Mark 4:26-29) and the wheat and the weeds (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).
2. All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield; wheat and tares together sown are to joy or sorrow grown; first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear; Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.
3. For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home; from the field shall in that day all offenses purge away, giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast; but the fruitful ears to store in the garner evermore.
4. Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home; gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, there, forever purified, in thy presence to abide; come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.
Appl: So it is a Hymn of Thanksgiving designed to remind us of greater truths about our relationship with Jesus--Lord of the Harvest.
T.S. We now live in the age of Paradox. An age of Paradox that twists and distorts our understanding of Thanksgiving. As Americans we celebrate a Holiday called Thanksgiving in the age of Paradox.
Gregg Easterbrook in The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse wrote,
"The incredible rise in living standards for the majority of Americans and Western Europeans has made them more affluent, healthier, more comfortable, more free and sovereign over ever taller piles of stuff--but it has not made them any happier."
Did you ever stop to think about why the Pilgrims were so thankful, grateful.
They had uprooted themselves and sailed for America, an endeavor so hazardous that published guides advised travelers to the New World, "First, make thy will." The crossing was very rough, and the Mayflower was blown off course. Instead of reaching Virginia, where Englishmen had settled 13 years earlier, the Pilgrims ended up in the wilds of Massachusetts. By the time they found a place to make their new home -- Plymouth, they called it -- winter had set in.
The storms were frightful. Shelter was rudimentary. There was little food. Within weeks, nearly all the settlers were sick. Many never recovered.
"That which was most sad and lamentable," Governor William Bradford later recalled, "was that in two or three months' time, half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with the scurvy and other diseases.... There died sometimes two or three of a day."
When spring came, they tried planting wheat, but the seeds they had brought from Europe wouldn't grow in the stony soil. Friendly Indians showed them how to plant corn, but their first crops were dismal. When supplies ran out, their sponsors in London refused to replenish them. And the first time the Pilgrims sent a shipment of goods to England, it was seized by pirates.
If you had been there in 1621 -- if you had seen half your friends and family die, if you had suffered through famine and sickness, if you had endured a year of disappointment and tragedy -- would you have felt grateful? Would you have Celebrated. They did.
TRUE THANKSGIVING MUST BE CULTIVATED IN THE AGE OF "STUFF"
Appl: Thanksgiving, gratitude isn't some mystical experience that wells up inside of us at the smell of roasted turkey. It is the obedient response of those who understand and cherish the significance of their relationship with God.
Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Rejoice Always
The only possible way to rejoice always to is to recognize that rejoicing has nothing to do with circumstances, situations or stuff, but it has everything to do with the relationship.
That is only possible when we are considering things from a greater perspective.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of GOD. Ephesians 2:8
The tricky thing about the riches of God, if we are not focusing on them we too easily lose sight of their signficance.
Where you Treasure is. . . Matt 6:21
Everything we have in Jesus is . . .
Glorious (Eph 1:8)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us.
Immeasurable (2:7)
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Unsearchable (3:8)
8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Imperishable (1 Pet.1:4)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
Appl: Personal card to God, Expressing all the things you are rejoicing over. The things that are only about your relationship with him, who He is, what He has done, what He has promised.
Look for opportunities at family gatherings to express Joy over your relationship and riches in Him
Quiz your children enroute Grandmas, at the table. Begin with rejoicing this Thanksgiving.
TRUE THANKSGIVING MUST BE CULTIVATED IN THE AGE OF "STUFF"
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
PRAY CONTINUALLY
The Missing Discipline
Philippians 4:6
Some people struggle to cultivate thanksgiving, because they have neglected the power, importance, significance of prayer in their lives.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil 4:6
For many the Holiday Spirit is one of anxiety, worry and stress. Paul said don't be anxious -- Pray.
We need to do a lot more of the in everything type of praying if we really want to reduce the stress level in our lives.
Teach us
Luke 11:2-4
They saw him pressed by crowds; they saw him confronted by Pharisees, doubters, seekers. Time and time again people called out to him, respond. They saw him handle all the stress in such a different way that you and I. Seeking insight, the disciples who had prayed for a lifetime ask the giver life, "Teach us to pray."
Luke 11:2-4
"When you pray, say:
"'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. '"
Prayer Reminds us of Who is in Control (Our Father in Heaven)
Prayer Returns us to a place of perspective and Hope (You Will be done, give us our daily needs)
Prayer Restores in a right spirit. (As we forgive)
Some of us will never discover the peace of a grateful heart in the midst of all the stuff of our live simply because we have failed to talk to Creator, the redeemer, the Lord of Life about life.
We are more apt to ask others to pray for us than to pray.
TRUE THANKSGIVING MUST BE CULTIVATED IN THE AGE OF "STUFF"
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
GIVE THANKS
In All Circumstances
Gratefulness is recognition that God is always good and always right in his dealings with us. Gratefulness is not solely about out comfort, our things, and our financial situation. Gratefulness is our declaration that we trust him, not because we get everything we want, but because of who he is worthy.
The biggest challenge to a grateful heart is coveting. For the covetous heart, the stuff and the circumstances always comes first.
In times of plenty or in need the covetous heart says, "I want, I need, I must have."
The grateful heart says "O Bless the Lord, my soul, bless the Lord."
In all Obedience
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Thank Offering
Jesus would have understood the significance of the thank offering.
He would have presented them himself
Leviticus 7:11-13
If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil.
There are three different breads which were to be offered for the thank-offering:
* unleavened cakes mixed with oil
* unleavened wafers anointed with oil
* cakes of blended flour mixed with oil
Verse 13
Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.
This offering was also to include leavened bread which would be tastier than the unleavened cakes. Notice this verse calls this the sacrifice of thanksgiving. We need to sometimes give a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Jesus would have expressed his own thanksgiving in just this way.
A thank offering was not an offering unless it cost us something.
SUMMARY
Thanksgiving in the age of stuff can be truly discovered.
Rejoice always, Pray continually, Give thanks in all circumstances.
CHALLENGE:
This Week
Appl: Practice Grateful Spirit -- Make your Thankful List
Throughout this week make it your ambition to begin to compile a list of things, situations, truths realities for which you are thankful.
As a family post it on the refrigerator. Make it a game. Home many items can you get on the list.
Put it in you Bible, on your desk at work, make a thanksgiving note book.
Appl: Practice Grateful Speech -- take the attention of self and on another.
Don't just write them down. Begin to express it. Husbands, imagine what a week your wife would have if you genuinely thanked her for something 6 times a day. Go get a dice from a game. Put in your pocket. Wives try the same thing.
What would happen if you went crazy with thanksgiving? This week.
Appl: Practice Grateful giving -- Thank offering
