I’ve entitled our message for this morning “Just Be Thankful.” If I were to subtitle this sermon, it would be “Learning Contentment in Tofurkey Times.” Right now you’re probably thinking I’m crazy, or perhaps you’re stumped wondering what tofurkey is! Hang on, and a little later in the message I will tell you about tofurkey! For Americans, Thanksgiving typically involves sitting down and eating a large meal with friends and family. The root of this tradition is grounded in the very first Thanksgiving meal eaten by the Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims sailed for nine weeks on the open seas, and the one hundred two puritans arrived in America on November 9, 1620. That first winter was very difficult and they weren’t prepared for the hardships they were to endure. It was difficult for them to care for the sick because the sick actually out-numbered those who were healthy.(1) During the Pilgrim’s difficult time the Native Americans stepped in and provided them with food to eat.
A leader of the colony, named Edward Winslow, commented on the first Thanksgiving in a work called Mourt’s Relation. He said, “Many of the Indians [were] coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”(2)
In the year 1623, after having gathered the harvest, the governor of the Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, proclaimed: “All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill . . . there to listen to the pastor, and render thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings.”(3) Bradford had not forgotten God’s provision during that first hard winter; nor had he forgotten the Lord’s provision at harvest time and in each and every day.
Thanksgiving is about being thankful for God’s continual, never-ending provision in our lives. This year when we sit down to eat our Thanksgiving dinner we must realize that the food on our table is a great blessing, and it represents only a small portion of the abundance that God has bestowed on us here in America. We must realize that just as God provided the food on our table, He has provided every good thing we have in our lives! The Bible says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
There Are Unthankful People in the Last Days (vv. 1-3)
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Paul spoke to Timothy of “latter times,” meaning the last days. Jesus said we can’t know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36), but we can know the season by the things we observe (Matthew 24:32-33). Paul shared with Timothy about some of the things that signify the season before the end.
People will depart from their faith in Christ, believing instead the doctrine of demons (v. 2). There are a lot of people today who’ll worship Buddha before they’ll ever submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ! People will also speak lies in hypocrisy (v. 2). Have you noticed how hard it is to trust anyone these days? I wonder why? It’s because you can’t seem to find honesty and integrity anywhere! We also read that people will forbid to marry (v. 3). How many people today forgo marriage in order to pursue a career; or perhaps, decide to live with a partner outside of wedlock? We’re indeed living in the last days!
In verse 3, we read that in these days people will command “to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” Do the words “vegetarian” and “vegan” ring a bell? How many people in war-torn Somalia do you think are vegetarians by choice? If you brought in a planeload of pigs and cattle, no one would complain! I knew a mission team that traveled to Djibouti, and they told of how the people there were so hungry they ate goat tails! People in America can be vegetarian or vegan, or establish whatever diet they so desire, because of the abundance of food we have in our country. If you have abundance, then it’s easy to be picky!
Tofurkey is a good example of just how picky we’ve become here in America. Let me share with you the definition of Tofurkey from Wikipedia. “Tofurkey is faux turkey - a loaf or casserole of vegetarian protein, usually made from wheat protein or tofu with a stuffing made from grains and flavored with a broth and seasoned with herbs and spices. Tofurkey can serve as the main dish of a formal meal for people who abstain from or would like to abstain from eating meat. It has become a popular vegetarian meat alternative served at Thanksgiving.”(4)
Can somebody say yuck! The definition we just heard used an interesting choice of words. It is “for people who abstain from or would like to abstain from eating meat.” Does this ring a bell? Paul said that in the last days people will command “to abstain from foods” (v. 3). And once again, I’ll express that we’re in the season of the last days!
Verse 3 tells us that all food is to be “received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” Believe what, and know what truth? Paul was referring to those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the One who makes all things new. Jesus can take our unclean and sinful life and turn it into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17); and He can take unclean and unpurified food and make it safe to eat (Acts 10:14). The truth that Paul referred to was the knowledge of Christ’s redeeming and cleansing power. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Therefore, by the liberating knowledge of the redemption we have in Christ, a person can be free from the concern of impurity, spiritually speaking; and as Paul shows us, culinarily-speaking.
In Acts chapter 10, we read where Peter was hungry, and he had a dream in which a sheet was lowered down from heaven containing “all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air” (Acts 10:12). The Jewish people had laws against eating certain kinds of animals. The Lord told Peter to eat, and he replied, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (v. 14). The Lord then told him, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (v. 15). God wasn’t just referring to food, but to the fact that He would take unclean Gentiles, purify them, and use them for His kingdom purposes! The Lord can purify anyone and anything! We need to accept His purifying grace, and be thankful for His desire to cleanse not just food, but also people!
Let’s consider again how people in the last days will abstain from foods. Some people will choose to become vegetarian or go on certain diets for health reasons, which is understandable; but keep in mind that many of the health-related problems we have concerning the foods we eat have to do with the fact that we don’t know how to handle abundance. We’re just poor stewards. We have so much food that we overeat; and we eat way too much of the bad stuff, all because we can! We have too much variety to choose from, and an overabundance of provision! No food that God has created is bad or unhealthy if we learn how to balance our diet and stop the excess and abuse.
I’m not here to teach you about eating right, but to say that we are richly blessed with an abundance of food and resources in this country, and we need to be thankful and gratefully receive all that God has given us; and we need to learn how to use it wisely. We’re also blessed by knowing Jesus Christ, the One who purifies us from our sins and provides the bread of His precious body that was broken on our behalf. In the last days we’ll see a lot of unthankful people, who’ll neither be thankful for God’s provision of food nor thankful for His salvation. Therefore, let’s not become one of them!
We Must Be Thankful for All of God’s Gifts (vv. 4-5)
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Paul said, “Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused.” In 1 Corinthians 10:25-26, he said, “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience sake; for ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness’.” Everything on earth is the Lord’s, Paul said, and we read in Genesis how in the beginning God created everything good (eg. Genesis 1:10, 12). Everything that God created is good. This includes plants, animals; and at one time, before “the fall,” even people. Human beings were originally created as good, but we’re now impure and unrighteous (Romans 3:10), because we chose to separate ourselves from God and rebel against Him, which is called sin.
God can make us clean again if we choose to submit to Him and confess His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior. Isaiah said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” If you want to be identified as one of God’s good creatures, or as His righteous creation, and become as one who is not refused - as one who is not rejected by the Lord - then you must believe in and confess Jesus as the one who died for your sins to grant you the forgiveness of sin and eternal life (Romans 10:9-10).
The Lord loves us so much that He always provides for our needs. First of all He provides us with salvation from sin; and secondly, He provides for our daily needs (Matthew 6:32-33). God gives us so much that people take His provision for granted. Will Rogers observed, “People that pay for things never complain. It’s the guy you give something to that you can’t please!”(5) You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” We’re so choosy and picky simply because God has spared us from being beggars! The Lord has spared most people in the United States from lacking food and provision, and it’s about time that we start thanking Him and receiving all His provision with thanksgiving!
We read here that the food God gives us “is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (v. 5). Sanctify means, “made holy, consecrated” and “purified.”(6) If you’re concerned that your food is unhealthy, realize that it’s purified by the word and prayer. What is the word? The “word” here is probably not referring to the “Word of God” or the Bible, but to the spoken word of God, meaning His “promise” that what He’s provided is safe and good. We also read here of prayer. When we pray for the food we receive, thanking the Lord in faith for His provision and believing in our heart that it’s safe to eat, He purifies it and uses it for our nourishment. What God has created is good. The way it becomes unhealthy is when people ruin it through sin; whether it be overeating, or manipulating God’s creation.
When you sit down with your friends and family for Thanksgiving dinner, remember to be thankful for God’s provision and be sure to trust His promise that what He has provided is good. Also, keep in mind how blessed we are in this country to have such abundance, and don’t take God’s provision for granted. Especially remember to be thankful for the provision of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life found in God’s Son, Jesus Christ!
I know this message is probably different than any you’ve heard before, but the Lord wants you to hear it! Look down in verse 6, and listen as I read what Paul shared with Timothy concerning this passage. Paul said, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.”
Time of Reflection
I stated earlier that by the liberating knowledge of redemption in Christ, you can be free from the concern of impurity. Have you been set free from the impurities of sin? In the book of Revelation, we read of those who’ll one day stand before the throne of God, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Have you been washed white and made pure by the blood of the Lamb? If you’ll receive Jesus as your Savior you’ll be made brand new! Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Lord not only purifies food and makes it safe to eat and something for which we can thank Him, but He purifies dirty unclean sinners and makes them able to abide in the presence of a holy God. There are so many unthankful people today, but there’s no need to be unthankful. If you’re a believer and you know the Lord Jesus Christ, then you now have the truth abiding within you of how God redeems everything for good. If you’re unthankful, then perhaps you don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you’ll receive Him into your heart, and allow Him to cleanse you of your sin, then you’ll have a reason to rejoice this Thanksgiving!
NOTES
(1) Taken from the Internet in November of 1999 at www.ChristianAnswers.Net.
(2) Taken from the Internet in November 1999 at http://www.pilgrims.net /plymouth/thanksgiving.htm.
(3) Taken from the Internet in November of 1999 at www.ChristianAnswers.Net.
(4) “Tofurkey,” taken from the Internet in November 2009 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofurkey.
(5) Taken from the Internet in January 2009 at http://www.quotegarden.com /business.html.
(6) “Sanctified,” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sanctified (accessed: November 09, 2009).
