Thanking God for a Grace-Infused Life
Prelude: “Perfect Wisdom of Our God”, by Getty Music
Proclamation: Good traditions do not always promote traditionalism. Some are very important to honor. President George Washington stated in his Proclamation of October 17, 1789, “It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” And so we continue to honor a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to the one and only true God for His grace and favor to us throughout the year.
Several times in US history, leaders have called for a day of fasting and repentance to God, NOT a day of Thanksgiving. President Abraham Lincoln stated in his Proclamation of April 24, 1863, a day of national humble repentance, fasting and prayer, “It is the duty of all Nations as well to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations are blessed whose God is The Lord (Psalm 33:12)…But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand, which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace-to-proud to pray to the God that made us…”
Prepare to Give Thanks: “Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!” Ps. 105
PRAYER: We Praise your goodness, O Lord! We give thanks to you, O Lord, for Your mercy endures forever. Remember us, O Lord, with the favor You have shown toward Your people; Thank you for visiting us with Your salvation, who IS the Lord Jesus. Help us to more clearly see the benefits of being Children of the most High God, so that we would rejoice in the gladness of belonging to you, that we would glory IN YOUR PROMISES to us in Christ. We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, We have done wickedly… “Save us, O LORD, our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your Holy Name and glory in your praise.” Thank you for the cleansing and forgiveness which you have supplied in fullness through our Savior, the Lord Jesus, in whose name we worship. Amen.
Songs: Bless the Lord, O My Soul, Blessed Assurance
#1. Psalm 103:1-2: “Bless (or Praise) the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! (Not just Yahweh or LORD, but bless Him for EVERYTHING THAT HE IS! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” (His “Benefits” are the FRUIT of God given to you, out of His Heart of Mercy)
David is writing this and the first verse is a command to his soul (the very center of your being) to BLESS the Lord. The only way that a human could “bless” the LORD God Almighty is to recognize first of all what the LORD has given, because generally, blessing can only be transmitted from the greater to the lesser, and God is infinitely greater than man. The root word for “bless” (barak) means “to kneel” and although that aspect of this word is only used 3 times in the Bible, KNEELING before God is really a prerequisite to understand how one’s sinful soul could ever “bless” the LORD. (The word is translated “bless or praise” 302 times.) In order to “bless” or “praise” God you have to humbly BOW BEFORE HIM in humility.
Some of the early leaders of our country understood this; James Madison wrote this in 1815: “To the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land. It is for blessings such as these, and more especially for the restoration of the blessing of peace, that I now recommend that …the people of every religious denomination may in their solemn assembles unite their hearts and their voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly Benefactor of their homage of thanksgiving and of their songs of praise.” God’s desire is for you and I to BLESS and PRAISE Him who is the Giver of all Good and Perfect things.
This proclamation also was made by God often times in the Old Testament, but you can’t bless or praise the LORD unless you have a heart that actually loves and honors God for who He is! In fact, In HUMILITY before the Mighty God is how mankind should live their lives. In April of this year, Governor Terry Branstad signed a proclamation declaring July 14, 2014 as a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance in the state of Iowa. Christians in Australia are calling for a month of national prayer and fasting from Feb-March 2015.
We certainly should be thankful to God for being physically alive since all life is in Him, and for all of God’s provisions in every way, but especially for the Blessing of HIMSELF. Ps. 107:9 tells us that “He (God alone) satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” If your heart is full of God’s goodness, THEN your SOUL will bless the Lord because your soul has been blessed by God. The following verses are the BLESSING upon that “soul”, because it is God alone…
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, (HE alone forgives and He alone heals the soul that is dead in sin) (In mind here is Deut. 30:19:The Lord said: I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” Deut. 32:39: “Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.) 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,(God’s mercy brings a sinner from death to life.)
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (not only food: Jesus said His Words were life. He is life. His food was to DO the will of His Father. Jesus is the only one who brings goodness and satisfaction.) 6 The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. (God gives grace to the humble but despises the proud.) 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. (This past Sunday, but His own people rejected Him even as most of the World does. If you have HIS PEACE you are TRULY blessed!) 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9 He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (AH! The Mercy of God in believing in Him. Believing faith in Jesus Alone brings complete forgiveness to sinners from a Holy God. THE BLESSING above all blessings.)
Look at Psalm 106:1-2: Praise the Lord! “Halal Yah”: We get our word HALLELUJAH. Praise the Lord. 2. PRAISE (halal: “shine (of God’s favor), to flash forth light, to PRAISE, boast, be boastful.)
We shine with God’s favor and flash forth PRAISE TO HIM because HIS LIGHT came into our darkened lives. There IS GOOD BOASTING: We can Boast About Him TO Him and to what He has done in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 12:9: God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul replies: Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Galatians 6:14: But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world
The rest of verse (1b): “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, (WHY?) for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise?”
3. GIVE THANKS is actually a command in the Hebrew. It is not an option, but not everyone is capable of actually GIVING THANKS TO GO. ( The word is “yadah” and comes in different “aspects” or forms: “throw, shoot, to give thanks, confess the name of the Lord, confess sin”.) All of these Biblical terms associated with blessing, praise, being thankful, giving thanksgiving, confessing, are given by DAVID, the man after God’s own heart, and He asks the question WHO CAN SPEAK OF or express THE mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His PRAISE: He, himself, must have struggled with the question: Who can praise? The only time you can thank or praise or bless another is if:
a. Someone greater than you has a blessing to give. b. That “someone” actually gives a blessing to you. c. And You’ve actually received it.
David immediately responds, in the text! Verse 3: Blessed are those who keep justice, And he who does righteousness at all times!” That answer would eliminate anyone ever born in this world from giving TRUE thanksgiving to God because everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s perfection! But praise God it does not.
Read David’s petition: 4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people; Oh, visit me with Your salvation, 5 That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance.
VERSE 6 is his CONFESSION: 6 We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, We have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, But rebelled by the sea--the Red Sea.” How many of them rebelled against God? Everyone of them.
Verse 8 gives the INFINITELY POWERFUL ACTION of the ALMIGHTY God of Mercy:VERSE 8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake, That He might make His mighty power known. (God does not save people because they are good. He saves them for His own glory and to demonstrate HIS INFINITE POWER to those He saves, who will BRING GLORY TO HIS NAME because they have been blessed by God in this miraculous way!)
Verse 9: He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; So He led them through the depths, As through the wilderness. 10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, And He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 The waters covered their enemies; There was not one of them left. 12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.”
Prov. 28:13:He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses (same word as praise, in the sense that you are lifting up with words) and forsakes them will find compassion.(MERCY)
It is God who blesses first. It is God who provides what you need to be saved and to believe. It is God who gives you THE REASON to be thankful, to praise Him, to BLESS Him, only because He blessed you first. Colossians 3:17 says: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him (the LORD JESUS) to God the Father.”
4. Remember how God works in this way: The word is for GIVING THANKS is Eucharisteô, which means “giving thanks, grateful, thankful”. Giving thanks as a believer is GRACE-BASED. Living IN God’s Grace is living a life that is GRACE-INFUSED. The root is charis which means GRACE; We are able to ALWAYS GIVE THANKS because we know that "God's grace works well," for our eternal gain and for His glory, both NOW and forever.
To give thanks – literally means that I am "thankful for God's good grace” to me; I have been BLESSED by God’s Grace and I’m able and willing by HIS POWER to bless God, to praise God, and to shine that grace on others. Giving thanks to God is not adding something to your goodness, it is only allowing God’s goodness to shine through you. Giving thanks to God is giving God what is due on account of His grace to you.
I love John's testimony in John 1:16 "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace". That is not only a wonderful personal testimony from John himself, but it is a blessed promise and reality that we have experienced also! We have touched and received of God’s grace in our lives and He is even now working in our lives to make us like Him so that we might represent Him to this world as people full of grace and truth and full of thanks to Him. To God be the Eternal Glory. It is what is due to Him.
*Songs of Response: “My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness” “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
