Trampling Thanksgiving
(Run, Turkey, Run)
Psalm 100:1-5
I know some of you will find this hard to believe, but I don’t like to be controversial and cause a stink or alienate people.
I will. And I have, and I probably will again… today… but I don’t like it… I like to be liked.
BUT……………..I have a problem.
I have a big problem, really… with Torence Inman, head of the Chamber of Commerce.
I doubt he is listening, but if he is… I also have a problem with our mayor, Harold Thompson.
I doubt they are listening either, but I have a problem with Arthur State Bank, with Graham Cash, with Smith’s Jewelers and with the other businesses on Main Street.
What is my problem? They have decorated downtown streets and the stores for Christmas.
Don’t call me Scrooge… it is not that I do not like Christmas
It is not that I don’t like Christmas decorations
Hey Listen: I love Christmas. It is, by the way, a Christian holiday.
I love Christmas decorations… I hate putting them up… but I love them.
Then why are you upset with the city and stores for decorating?
The problem I have with the decorations is… it was just the first day of November when they put them up.
Or did they already have them up for Trick-or-Treat on Main?
Well, let’s be honest about why they did it. GREED!
Crass Commercialism.
Because the economy is so bad that stores are starting their Christmas shopping season… which accounts for the lion’s share of their annual sales… and which they hope will pull their sagging sales numbers up for this year… they want to stretch the buying season so that we will buy more.
Are they hanging Christmas decorations on the lamp poles in November because they are so evangelistic they want to see the Gospel spread and more people saved?
NO… they want to see more profits…
and Christmas = profit
Now…I don’t begrudge them profits, big profits. I hope the stores on Main Street have record setting sales and profits and stores begin to move back to main street and it become the hustling-bustling center it used to be.
But now hear me… mark this and write it down
I DON’T BELIEVE IT WILL HAPPEN BY STARTING CHRISTMAS EARLY
Why? If we start celebrating Christmas at the beginning or middle of November…
that is just like putting Santa on a steamroller and running right over Thanksgiving…
… leaving nothing but a greasy spot in the road, which only vaguely resembles a turkey.
What does it say to God when we rush right past Thanksgiving in our mad dash to get to Christmas
Thanksgiving = thankfulness
Christmas = greed and desire for MORE
What does it say to God when we rush right past thankfulness in our mad dash to get to MORE
Now listen to this too: This is a TRUISM… Something that is so obviously true that it cannot be missed.
It is true for individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, etc.
“The key to getting MORE is
giving thanks for what you have.”
You know what I’d love to see… I don’t believe I ever will, but what I would like to see…
ONE STORE on main street where the owner is a Christian and goes into their store tomorrow, takes down all the Christmas decorations and replaces them with THANKSGIVING decorations and keeps them up until Nov. 23.
Last year our church participated in Christmas on Main. This year we are not. Why?
Because I refuse to have Thanksgiving trampled by Christmas… especially crass commercial Christmas
This church starts Christmas the NEXT Sunday… Sunday AFTER Thanksgiving. Today we have Thanksgiving decorations.
Why are we so ready to forget thanksgiving?
Have we forgotten Thanksgiving because we don’t have anything for which we can be thankful?
Here is the Monday paper… the Union County News
A quick scan reveals that we do have much for which we should be thankful…
Page one… one of our own… Jay Allen who completed an Iron Man Triathelon… ((((take top stories and show what we should be thankful for)))
With all my heart I believe we are a people & a nation that has truly been blessed by God. And of all those who "give thanks to Him & praise His name" our name should be at the top of the list!
And one would assume that because of the example of our forefathers, & because today we have so much, that we would be an extremely thankful people.
But it is often just the opposite, isn’t it? The more we get, the less thankful we become, the less mindful of God we are, & the more we want.
We just want to skip right past thanks and rush to getting more
Do you see how wrong that is?
Let me put it a way that you can see how wrong it is….
Let’s say you were having prayer with a group of people and one of them said… “I think we should begin with thanksgiving prayer and thank God for the many things He has done for us.”
And one of the group says, “The heck with thanksgiving, I want to get to the asking prayers, I want to ask God for more.”
We would maybe run away from that person because we would not want to be collateral damage when God zaps that person.
And it is wrong for us to be unthankful to God. He has been so good to us. He has been so faithful to us.
If I were to ask you who you think of when I say “thankful people”… who would you say. I believe most of you would say…
The Pilgrims
Has it ever occurred to you that no Americans were more underprivileged than that small handful from the Mayflower who started the custom of setting aside a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God?
They had no homes & no government agency to help them build homes. They had no means of transportation but their legs. Their only food came from the sea & the forest, & they had to get it for themselves.
They had no money & no place to spend it if they’d had any. They had no amusements except what they made for themselves, no means of communication with their relatives in England, no social security or medicare.
Yet when you think of thankful people, you think of those Pilgrims
Why??????
Why were they so thankful and we can be so thankless?
I believe they understood the Four Secrets of Thankfulness that are found in Psalm 100
1. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
The Jews would come to the temple for worship. The worship would begin with a trumpet. The trumpet would blast and the people would shout.
The trumpet blast was planned and scheduled… it was to let the people know it was time to start.
The shout was not planned… it was spontaneous.
Why?
Because every temple service had some new people, some who had never been there. This was a special trip for them. Perhaps the trip of a lifetime. They had planned it for months. They had prepared for the long journey. They had imagined what it would be like. Before they got to town, they could see it… shining like a diamond in the sun. The temple of God. The gates were over twenty feet tall and covered entirely in gold. As they entered town, the temple was the tallest building in town and could be seen from everywhere. All of life revolved around the temple. They would go into the outer court, the court of gentiles… where the market was…and they could see the doors that led to the inner temple. In there they could see IT… the Holy of Holies, the place where God was. The holiest place in the whole world. A sense of awe and excitement began to build. Then, finally, after many miles, many plans, many sacrifices… it was time. They were called to the inner court. As they entered they saw the holy articles, the altar for sacrifices, the Chief Priest in his royal robes, and the veil… the curtain that covered the Holy of Holies… and they knew that inside, just a few yards away… WAS GOD!!!
Excitement mounted as they saw the priest walk forth carrying the trumpet. This was the culmination of months of planning and years of dreaming. This was the place they wanted to be and they were just about to have the greatest experience of their lives.
Chill bumps rose on their arms as they saw the priest bring the trumpet to his lips. The trumpet blast was like a dynamite blast in a dam, and the emotions burst forth like a flood… they shouted with all of their being.
The joy came from THANKFULNESS. To shout for joy means to shout from the joy that is bursting forth… because of your thankfulness.
Thankless people are joyless people
Maybe He solved your problem. Maybe He has given you the direction to go. Maybe He has provided a blessing, & you realize that it has come from God. So from the depths of your being you proclaim your praise.
And that is what the Psalmist is saying. "Suddenly you realize that God has been so good to you that you can’t keep it inside any more. From the depths of your being you shout your joy unto the Lord."
B. The second secret is, "Serve the Lord with gladness."
The important words here are “serve the Lord”
To serve implies FOCUS
On whom does the servant focus?
Self? NO
Master? YES
The reason many are not thankful is that many have all of their focus on self
They see SELF as the source of their blessings
They see SELF as the one to be pleased
They do not focus on God and thus they are not thankful
I think I have used this video clip before, but I do not apologize for using it again… listen to this prayer of thanks which is not thankful at all because the person sees self as the source.
((Ext hard drive-videos-Thanksgiving prayer from “Shenandoah”))
Enough said!!!
Secret #3 is, "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, & we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
We give credit to so many people for “making us.”
We like to think that we are “Self-Made” people…
that we deserve the credit for what we are and have
Like Jimmy Stewart
We see our parents as “making us” because they conceived us
We see our teachers as “making us” in the sense that they molded our minds
We think of doctors as though they “made us”
We even think of our life experiences as “making us”.
But they did not make us… GOD DID!!!
God took every bone, every joint, & He welded them together with sinews & muscles & covered them with skin & gave us eyes that see, brains that think, & fingers that can pick things up. God made us, inside & out. He made you the way He wanted you to be. And He made me the way He wanted me to be.
That is a mystery, isn’t it? I don’t understand why, but somehow in God’s providence He decided that He wanted a small man, not too good looking, not outstanding in any way, but just a faithful father & husband who would keep plodding along. So He made me.
Someplace along the way He had you in mind, & He made you.
God is your maker, & you are created in His image. Therefore give Him thanks for who you are.
Secret #4 is this, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, & His courts with praise; give thanks to Him & praise His name. For the Lord is good & His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations."
In the O.T. the temple symbolized the presence of God. So whenever the people came to the temple & entered the courtyards they knew that they had come into the presence of God.
Now that temple no longer exists. But oftentimes the place where we meet to worship God is called a "sanctuary," indicating that God is there.
But God is everywhere. You know that.
He is with you as you drive on the highway.
He is with you when you work.
He is with you as you care for your children.
He is with you every moment of your life.
That is the source of our thanksgiving, isn’t it?
CONCL.
This morning we offer His invitation. If you have a decision on your heart, we pray that you will make it, that you’ll come forward, confessing your faith or transferring your fellowship, being faithful to the Lord in Christian baptism, whatever your need might be. We extend His invitation as we stand & sing.
Idea/Source: MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK, sermoncentral.com
I have a powerpoint to go with this sermon … rhpendleton57@gmail.com
