Many things come together this week. Finally, after all this time, the Israelites step foot into the promised land. This is also pledge Sunday, when we respond to God’s work and call in our lives and set our expectations of support for next year. Liturgically, this is Christ the King Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the church year. We celebrate Jesus reigning in the kingdom of God, the true promised land. And, most visibly, it is Thanksgiving week. This is the week that we sit down with our families around a big turkey and take stock of how God has brought us through this past year – of what it is we have to be thankful for.
All that is to say that today is about remembering what God has done for us. We recognize and remember our many blessings, particularly our salvation. And, as we see in this passage, just by remembering and appreciating, God builds in us a character of gratitude for the past, of trust for today and of hope for tomorrow. All of that comes from remembering and being thankful.
Sir John Templeton, a billionaire investor, was once asked what is the secret of wealth. He said, "Gratitude. If you're not grateful, you're not rich—no matter how much you have." The flip side of that is, "If you're grateful, you are rich—no matter how little you have."
So, today, your life can become rich—if you choose to be thankful for all that God has done for you, does now, and will do.
We have a tendency to rate our lives on a scale of comparison with others—and we compare ourselves with those whose lives appear to be richer, fuller, and more exciting than ours. Many times we feel short changed—we wonder why others have it so much better than we do. For many people, this is simply a way of life, focusing on how hard they have it. Of course, that's distorted thinking. But I want you to realize that having a thankful heart is not about comparing yourself to others, it's about recognizing and acknowledging what God has done in your life.
And the most important single thing he has done was to save you from the power of sin and death.
Our passage today is a picture of the fulfillment of the salvation of the People of Israel. Forty years before, they were saved from slavery in Egypt. God parted the Sea, and they escaped. But today, we see what they were saved to. After forty years in the wilderness, another body of water is miraculously parted for them, and they walk across the dry riverbed of the Jordan river. They were saved our of slavery, to the Promised Land!
As Christians, we are saved out of slavery to sin and it consequence – death. But many people leave the understanding of their faith there. For too many, that is the end of the message. But that is just the beginning. We are saved from sin. Some people, people whom Paul addressed in the book of Romans, now think that that means you can do whatever you want. That’s not what it means. Doing whatever you want is what sin is. That is what we are saved from. We are saved from sin to a whole new life, a whole new wanting. This is a life of wanting to follow Jesus – to want ourselves what he wants for us, to do what he would do – to be like him. That is the life we are born anew for. That is a transformation of our whole selves.
That transformation is not complete. It will be in heaven. But it has begun in every believer. Our bondage to sin, to wanting only what we want, to being our own gods, that bondage is over. Now, by the power of the Spirit working in us, we have the power to want what God wants. That is an amazing transformation.
I am amazed that anyone can hear the gospel message in the midst of the loudness of our world. It is a miracle. All of the messages of our world, the message of how to be successful, of how to be happy, the messages of what will fulfill you, of what you need that you are missing, the messages of money, sex and power, the messages of despair, frustration, of hopelessness, all the din of the messages of this world that you see every time you open up a paper, magazine or book, every time you switch on a TV or radio, every time you look at a billboard or gain advice from outside the influence of God’s Spirit, all of this stuff that does not contain the grace of God comes flowing at us like a raging river, trying to fill us up, hold our attention and gain our trust. It amazes me that in the midst of all that, sometimes, God stops that river and parts that water just long enough that someone can hear the truth. Then their lives are transformed from the inside out, totally and forever. That is the miracle of salvation.
Jesus has paid the penalty of our sin by dying on the cross. That was the exit from slavery from sin and death. Today, we remember and celebrate the resurrection. That is His new life reigning in our hearts. Christ the King.
And our response is simple whenever we stop and remember. Our response is simple and overwhelming gratitude. We are rich in our gratitude for what God has done for us.
That is not where it stops. That is just the fantastic beginning. It is not just an act of salvation long ago in history or in our lives for which we are thankful. One of the most significant results of that work of salvation in us is that we have our eyes opened to see that every single good thing in our lives comes from God. David said in Psalm 16:2: “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” And The book of James says, ”Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17).
All the good things in your life, you can thank God for them. Not just the “spiritual” blessings, but the material blessings, the sociological blessings, the relational blessings, every good thing in your life is a gift from God. The Spirit at work in us gives us eyes to see the good things that God has done, that he has given us.
And this is the week where we take the time to remember those good things. The People of Israel are told to take stones from the dry riverbed and build a monument to God’s work of salvation. When the children of generations to come see this, they will hear the story again and remember God’s faithfulness. Jesus has given us something else to remember His work by – he has given us the Lord’s table. Every time we celebrate communion, we thank God for what he has done. Even our history as a nation has given us the celebration this week. Many of us will gather with family, and we’ll take the time to remember how God has sustained this land and its peoples. And we’ll remember how God has taken care of us, how he has worked in our lives this past year.
And it is by remembering, by looking back at the past with Godly vision, that we are changed for the present and for the future. If we can see God’s work in our past, we’ll see it in our present and live in full confidence of it in our future.
Too many people are nearly completely focused on everything they can find that is wrong with their lives, completely focused on a future that holds no promise. It is something I think our culture fosters. We are used to that river of promises coming at us being filled with lies and loss. Almost as a guard against those false promises, a good many in our world trust in no promise at all. There is no gratitude for the past, no hope for the future, and no life in the present. There is cynicism, doubt, and despair. Having a thankful heart enables you to recognize God’s presence in your life, in your past, your future, and right now. It is a whole different attitude – an attitude of faith.
As this holiday season approaches, I know I’ll be inundated with busyness. Life is already busy as it is. It is going to pick up the pace after this week. But this week, I hope to take the time to stop and remember what it is God has done for me. I’ll remember Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and think afresh of all that means for me. I’ll read scripture and look for the work of God, for God’s character, for the promises he has given me and us. Scripture is the most important place to look back.
I’ll look back by worshipping God. That is perhaps the time I can best focus my attention, the attention of not just my mind, but my heart and whole self, on what, exactly, God has done for us in the past and continues to do for us every day. Prayer, it is said, is not so much about getting God to come around to our point of view nearly so much as it is about us coming around to God’s point of view. Worship is about the same thing. When we sing the poetry of the hymns, when we lift our hearts with the passion of the praise songs, we are reminded to our very hearts of God’s grace and overwhelming love for us. Through God’s word, and worship of God, we become grateful, faithful, hopeful people. We become more like our Lord Jesus.
I’ll remember in those ways this week. But I’ll also look back at this year in my life. And I’ll give you just one example of where I have seen God work. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got to go stay with my parents for a week. Most of you know that my Dad is battling cancer. He’s had just about three months of strong chemotherapy. And, as you would expect, I’ve never seen my Dad like that before. I knew I had to go, but I was afraid of what I would find there. There is a great deal to be afraid of when someone close to you has cancer.
The first thing I noticed was certainly the most obvious. I’ve never seen my dad bald. I think he’s a good looking man – better looking than his only son. He’s still good looking without any hair. That was the first hurdle to cross. But I was much more afraid of what I would find going on inside him. The fear, the grief of losing so much control of life was certainly there. But, there was something else much stronger, much more dominant. In a way more powerful than I have ever seen in him, God is at work. And God’s work inside and outside and all around him has resulted in this: faith, hope and gratitude.
I don’t have any illusions about Thanksgiving. It is not a time to just try to ignore all your problems. That is not what this message or thanksgiving is all about. All of us have challenges in our lives. For some, it feels like the weight of those challenges is going to overwhelm you. I’m not saying, “Everything is going to be alright.” Thanksgiving, remembering, it is about being able to look with the eyes of Christ and see God’s work through it all. And when you can see that, well then, you will have real gratitude for the past, hope for the future, and faith for today.
