Thanksgiving - The Fields Are Ripe

Thanksgiving – The Fields are Ripe

Psalms 138

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

As thanksgiving approaches my mouth begins to water and stomach growl as I think about all the mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, carrots, dressing and turnip smothered in gravy and all the apple, blueberry, lemon, pumpkin pies I am about to eat. As I thank God for the abundant harvest I have received I can’t help but think about the “fields of the world that are ripe” and yet remain lost (John 4:35), dying in their sin! On the one hand the indignation of those given over to their reprobate minds to worship idols (Romans 1:28), the works of their “own sullied hands,” is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18) and should be outright rejected by God’s own … but on the other hand are not we His royal priests and ambassadors (1 Peter 2:9; 2 Corinthians 5:20) also obligated to proclaim to the lost that our thanksgiving blessings go way beyond physical food (Matthew 28:19-20)? While Scripture says we are not to “cast pearls before the swine” (Matthew 7:6) with all their idols and “glorification of their nonexistent merit,” surely we are obligated to sing to them songs of praise of the supremacy of our Kinsmen Redeemer? After all, in doing so do we not fulfil God’s command to be “a light unto the nations” (Matthew 5:14-16) by sharing with the lost “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3) we have in our Lord, Jesus Christ? The following sermon is going to review how in Psalms 138 David praised God to the lost of his time by pointing them to the radical transformation and blessings he had received from his King!

I Will Praise You Before the World (verses 1-2a)

Charles Spurgeon said, “there is a time to be silent, lest we cast pearls before swine; and there is a time to speak openly, lest we be found guilty of cowardly non-confession.” In the midst of the worldly sea of evil adversaries profaning the Most High, David did not fret or cower but stood firmly on the rock of his salvation and boldly declared with an “all absorbing zeal” “I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee” (verse 1). While the “gods” David referred to might have meant “angels,” “kings” or “judges,” he was most likely referring to “false gods” in which in full confidence he is prepared not to cast pearls of holy truth that might merely provoke arguments, but sing praises of Yahweh’s “supremacy over all other presumed deities” in hope that seeds might be planted in the furrows of their stony hearts! Even though to show his contempt for false gods was a dangerous exercise, because it would greatly offend his peers and all others who held them in high esteem, with great humility of a broken heart over his sins David boldly bowed with all his heart to “praise the Lord’s perfections” as the one and only true God! Let “praising and singing be our armour against the idolatries of heresy, our comfort in the face of insolent attacks upon the truth” but at the same time a beacon of light and powerful witness to those who are lost but ready to be found!

I Will Praise You Because of Your Word (verse 2b)

One of the most profound things we as Christians are to praise God for and share with the lost of this world is absolute truth as found in God’s glorious love letter. While the heavens (Psalms 19:1-4) and all of creation testifies to God’s eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20), His word surpasses creation as revelation in “clearness, definiteness, and fulness of teaching.” Contained in His word we learn that God’s unfailing love surpasses our expectations of mercy and justice! Since prophecy never had its origin in the human will but was inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), we as Christians are to rejoice that God has without error “magnified His word in accordance with His name” (verse 2)! While some might choose to interpret His word through self-serving lenses, every “jot and tittle” are lamps unto the feet (Psalms 119:105) and “food for the souls” of those who genuinely embrace God’s love and submit to His authority to rule over their lives. God’s word “creates, sustains, quickens, enlightens and comforts us.” We are to meditate on His word day and night with the assurance of the “absolute correctness of every unfulfilled prophecy as being just as certain as certainty itself.” Above all David wanted the skeptics and kings of the earth to know that he continually praises God that while their dynasties would one day fail and all heaven and earth pass away, God’s word as absolute truth will remain forever (Matthew 24:35)!