One of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving is the 100th PSALM. Listen to the words as I read it.
‘Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know the Lord is god. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.’
No matter how hard you try, it seems impossible to avoid big dinners at Thanksgiving. All year long, Diana cautions me about how much I eat, because she loves me and wants me to stay healthy by eating the right foods and the right amounts of those foods. But, at Thanksgiving, it is just way too hard to not eat too much. After all, it is a time to be thankful, and one of the things we in America are thankful for is the abundant blessings we have of food.
This will be the first Thanksgiving that Diana and I are away from all of our family, so we will stay home by ourselves and have many phone conversations that stretch from here to Arizona to Tennessee to Michigan and on to Florida. In case you haven’t noticed, our family is pretty spread out. But we will be with them in voice and in prayer even if we cannot be with them physically this year. And just being the two of us, we probably will not have a feast.
However, today after church, we are having our annual Thanksgiving Dinner in the Fellowship Hall, and that is where I will be doing most of my Thanksgiving eating. I promise I will try to save some for everyone else.
Many of you will be hosting banquets at your home, or going to other people’s homes to eat there. Some of you might even decide to do both! And between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, we will have eaten ourselves through a whole year’s worth of cholesterol, which means we all have a major New Year’s Resolution to make on January 1st. We will talk about that on another service.
As far as Thanksgiving is concerned, I truly believe that America is a nation that has been abundantly blessed by our God. And, of all the people in the world who thank God for His blessings, America should be the one doing the most thanking.
It is a normal occurrence to draw up a “Wish List” for Christmas and a list of resolutions for the New Year. But there is another list, that we often forget to write. It is a list of the reasons we should feel thankful.
My sister said she is thankful for smoke alarms, because they tell her when the turkey is done. Diana said she is thankful that I am such an easy person to cook for. I told her I am thankful that everything she cooks tastes good.
Being serious, I’m convinced that if we began to make a list, we would find that we have much more for which to be thankful than we at first realize. Like you, I’m sure, my list would include the major things - life, health, family, friends, & the nation we live in, despite all the chaos some are stirring up.
What I am most thankful for is that God loved me enough to wait for me. And that He loved me enough to let His other Son die physically so that I wouldn’t have to die spiritually. And with Jesus in my heart, I have so very much to be thankful for. We truly are a privileged people, aren’t we?
But has it ever occurred to you that no Americans were more underprivileged than that small handful from the Mayflower who started the custom of giving thanks to God for blessings?
These people had no homes, no central heat, and no transportation. Their food supply depended on that day’s harvest, and they had to go reap it for themselves, because they had no Homeland Grocery or Reasor’s Grocery down on the corner.
They had the least of all Americans since, but they gave the most thanks of all Americans since. Nobody would have even thought that they were underprivileged.
Now, considering the fact that they had so little in most areas, what did they have that they were so thankful for. They had a willingness to work hard, an absolute faith in the Lord, they had courage, and they had the initiative to put all this together and make it work.
Yes, it is true. Our forefathers did believe in God Almighty as the head of this country. And they even took the time to thank Him for giving them the blessings that they had. To hear of people who had next to nothing openly thanking God for everything they had seems strange today, doesn’t it?
It seems especially strange since there are forces at work in this country today that are trying to strip us of every mention of God. I heard on the news last Monday night that there are people who are suing to get the words “In God We Trust” off every federal building. There is another suit in federal courts trying to get every cross off all federally owned land. And that includes the cross headstones at Arlington cemetery where all of our veterans are buried.
Let me just say this about that. The day when those words are taken from our government, and the day that those crosses are removed will be the same day this country falls once and for all.
Our "Declaration of Independence" begins with these words:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . ."
And it ends with these words,
". . .with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes & our sacred honor."
We celebrate Thanksgiving, not to remember some past battle or anyone’s birthday, but to express our nation’s thanks and dependence upon God for our blessings that we enjoy.
In 1789, George Washington made this public proclamation. I want you to see the strong acknowledgment of God, and of our nation’s dependence upon Him.
"By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation: Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, & humbly to implore His protection & favor, - and
"Whereas, Both Houses of Congress" (Did you hear that, "Both Houses of Congress?") "have by their joint committee requested me `to recommend to the people of the United States a day of Public Thanksgiving & Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God. . .’
"Now, Therefore I do recommend & assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great & glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. . .”
So read the very first Thanksgiving Proclamation.
This week, our nation once again pauses to give thanks for what we have. We would think it reasonable that, because of the example our forefathers gave, we would be extremely thankful to God. But today, we are finding quite the opposite.
We are getting more and more every day, and the more we get, the less thankful we are. The more we get, the more we want.
The 100th PSALM could have been written precisely for that attitude. A couple of weeks ago, Nelson put a very appropriate message on our sign out front. “Have an attitude of gratitude.” That message could not have been better said in a day that we have so much.
1. WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR OUR THANKSGIVING?
The 100th PSALM was written for the Israelites. God had told them that when they went into the Promised Land they should not forget Him. He wanted them to know that He was the source of all their bounty.
We can see in Scripture that it didn’t take them very long before they needed a reminder. The very sad part, is that America has followed almost every footstep of the ancient Israelites. Everything they did, we do. They were given the land of milk and honey. We were given a land of abundance and prosperity. They took their eyes off God. We have taken our eyes off God. They suffered extreme punishment. I fear that we are on the very verge of suffering the same depth of punishment, too.
Let me be very clear in what I am saying. In ancient Israel, they took their eyes off God when they decided that others who believed in other gods were just as okay as anyone else. With that decision, they started removing God from their society. And with that, they started engaging in pagan rituals and customs.
America has decided that we must respect everybody else’s beliefs, no matter what that belief is. With that, we have slowly removed God from almost every corner of our nation. And we have even begun practicing ancient pagan rituals and customs.
Did you know that the killing of the old and sick was a custom of the Pagans? Travel to the state of Oregon now and visit any hospice. This is a common practice today. It is called ‘euthanasia’.
The killing of babies was also a Pagan ritual. We have put a small twist in it, though. They killed babies to make their gods happy. We kill our babies to make mommy happy by giving her no consequences to what she has done.
But maybe God had us in mind, too, when the 100th PSALM was written. In the very first verse, it is addressed to “all the earth”. The last verse ends with “all generations.” Both verses; indeed the entire PSALM can be directly applied to America, 2005. In short, the message of thanksgiving applies to every human, in every period of history, period.
America and Canada has a day set aside for Thanksgiving. I believe the Philippines do too, if I am not mistaken. But out of all nations on the earth, these are the only ones who even think about giving thanks for what they have.
Think for a moment what would happen if every nation would just sit down one day a year, or even during one meal a year, and thank God Almighty for what He has given to us out of His tremendous love for us.
We have talked about how God wants sacrifice from us, and we might wonder how sitting down at a big thanksgiving meal shows sacrifice. When we sit down at the table of abundance, and give praise to God, we are sacrificing the notion that we have provided for ourselves. We are sacrificing the notion that we have what it takes to take care of ourselves. And we are acknowledging our God as the supreme giver.
But we must be careful not to base our thanks on how much we have. We should not thank God for the extra big turkey we have on our table, but that we have anything at all on our table.
We should not thank God for giving us that big paycheck with all the overtime in it, but for giving us a paycheck at all. We must be thankful for anything and everything we have, not just the abundance of what we have.
We have all read stories or heard about people who had much in life and then quickly lost everything. Let me ask you a question. If something happened in your life tomorrow, and you lost your home, your car, your furniture, your job, and everything else you have, how would you feel? How would this affect your relationship with God?
It is okay for us to be thankful for the material things we have in life, but the one thing we need to be the most aware of and the most thankful for is nothing more than the personal relationship we have with Christ, our Redeemer.
Let’s be more exact. Just what is that PSALM trying to tell us? Let’s look at it.
In verse 1, it mentions the Lord. In verse 2, it mentions the Lord. In verse 3, it mentions the Lord.
In verse 4, it tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.
And again in verse 5, it mentions the Lord.
It is easy to see that this passage serves to get our attention back on God, and away from ourselves and the world around us. We don’t have anything that benefits us other than a submissive heart to Jesus. And the world certainly has nothing that can benefit us or the kingdom of God.
Do you remember the book “Roots”? There was even a TV series made from the book. The author was Alex Haley. In his office, he had a picture above his desk. That picture was a turtle sitting on top of a fence post.
He was asked about that once, and he said he keeps that picture there so that every time he thinks he wrote or did something really great, he would look at the picture and remember that the turtle never got up there by himself. He had help, and so, too, did Alex Haley.
That is the basis of thankfulness - to remember that everything we have has been given to us by God, and that He is our only true Provider.
2. THE 5 COMMANDS FOUND IN PSALM 100
Verse 1 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord”. That simply means to shout from the very depths of our being with praise to the Lord for everything in our lives.
Maybe God solved a problem for you. Maybe He has given you healing. Maybe he has given you a restored relationship. No matter what you have, it is from Him and we need to shout for joy with thanksgiving in our hearts.
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.
There was once a medical missionary. He was in a place in India that was known for everyone getting blindness. The older they got, they more blind they got. He was able to develop a cure for that, and saved many people’s eyesight.
But he said they never said “Thank You.” He said that really bothered him until he realized they had no words to that effect in their language. They never offered thanks because they didn’t know how to say it.
They did, however, have a saying that was used in its place. That saying was, “I will go and tell of you to others.”
They could not offer what we would call a traditional “Thank You”, but they would eagerly go tell others of the wonderful gift they had been given. In other words, they would shout for joy.
In verse 2, it commands us to “worship the Lord with gladness”. In the King James Version, it says to “serve” the Lord. If we truly worship the Lord, we will witness on His behalf to others, and when we do that, we are serving Him.
Here is another caution. It is natural for us to desire appreciation for what we do. That is why some go around and tell everyone about everything they have done. They need the spotlight to feed their immature spiritual hunger. But we must serve the Lord – not ourselves. And we must serve, not with a heart full of obligation, but with a heart full of gladness.
Another command in verse 2 tells us to come before Him with joyful songs. This one area that seems to create more confusion and trouble within the church than almost any other area.
David had a talent for music. He played the harp, and introduced the harp into the Temple. Can you imagine what the old-timers felt when he did that? I would say that would be how some might feel today by having a keyboard and guitar player on stage, or better yet, when we introduce contemporary songs into our churches.
When I was growing up, there was a cigarette commercial that had the slogan, “I’d rather fight than switch.” That may have been written by a Christian who didn’t want any change to come into his church. But what we are talking about here is looking past the surface and seeing the content. Seeing the joy in the songs we sing to the Lord.
In these first three commands, God is telling us to be happy, shout with joy in our hearts, and serve with gladness in our souls.
Take a moment and look around this sanctuary. Take a good look. Do we look like a group of joyful Christians that have gladness in our hearts? I hope so, because the only other alternative is to look like a bunch of Christians who are confused and with a ‘dear in the headlights’ look about us. I pray that we feel the joy and gladness in our hearts for our Lord God.
In verse 3, we find our fourth command. “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”
If I go out into my garage and get my painting tools together, I can produce an oil painting that fair enough to hang in some back room of your home. I am the creator of that painting. Everything it is, is because of me. I put the canvas on the easel; I put the different paints on the canvas; and I moved those paints around to hopefully look like something. The canvas did nothing.
Likewise, we were made by God. We have done nothing but receive from Him. God is our maker, we have been created in His image. Therefore let us enter into his presence with thanksgiving in our hearts. And that is command # 5. To enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.
I have spoken several times about our being able and willing to show emotion in church as we praise Him. Read verse 4 with me.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.”
God wants a very orderly and respectful church service. Sometimes, I think, we might get a bit too hung up on that, though. God does want respect. God does not want anything in the service to take the focus off Him. But in verse 4, we see that we are to enter His presence with a thankful and praise filled heart.
I just do not understand how one can be truly thankful or joyful when we do not smile, do not have eyes that sparkle, and do not have good uplifting words to say to others. Especially in church. And sometimes, I think we have a tendency to sit and become all but emotionLESS in our traditions of worship.
I was so thrilled when I got here to see that Marolyn, Don, Dan and a couple of others love and thank the Lord enough to raise their holy hands to Him and say AMEN. Did you know the meaning of AMEN is “So be it”?
3. WHERE IS THE PLACE OF THANKSGIVING?
I want us to think about something for a minute. Would we want God to treat us like we sometimes treat Him? What if God met our needs to the very same extent that we give Him our hearts?
What if I never saw another leaf turning in the Fall? What if I never again saw the beauty in my wife’s eyes? Am I prepared for that? I can tell you right now that I am not. And, neither are any of you. Yes, we need to think about whether or not we would want God to treat us as nonchalantly as we treat Him.
Will the Victory Singers please come back on stage?
What if God quit leading us tomorrow because of where we placed Him in our hearts today? If you take nothing else home with you today, I hope that you take this truth with you.
Pray to our Lord more than ever before, and at the same time, keep a heart full of joy and praise so that we can show Him our total thanksgiving and dependence on Him for all He has done for us.
I pray that this will be a meaningful Thanksgiving week for you and your family. Take time to read the 100th PSALM when you are alone and can concentrate fully on what it means to you.
When we enter our time of invitation, we are extending to you, an invitation to come into His presence. It would be my request this morning that as we offer our invitation, all of us respond by coming down.
Where is the place of thanksgiving? It is in our hearts as we give all praise and all glory to God through Jesus the Son. As we stand for our invitation song, let us all come forward to be united in joy and united in His presence.
AMEN
