Thanksgiving
Psalm 69:30,
Here is why we ultimately give thanks to God: to magnify, to glorify, our great God and Savior.
Philippians 4:4-7,
I think everybody who's read their Bible, if you get a sense of what your Bible is about from beginning to end, recognizes that thanksgiving permeates the Bible. You can't read the Psalms without getting the sense that giving thanks to God was a strong major element in their life and worship. Many of the Psalms begin with that very note, “I give thanks to the Lord.” We also know this, that a number of Psalms (I think 40% or more) are Psalms of lament. So you have wonderful Psalms of thanksgiving, but Psalms of lament which express grief, sorrow and pain.
And that just reminds us of life here on earth. We can never escape tension, conflict and pain on this side of heaven. The great danger is when we face our trials, our difficulties, the temptation is to complain and murmur. All of us have done that at one point or time in our lives, maybe even today. And it's interesting in the book of Philippians, that comes through in a very strong negative or warning. If you turn to Philippians chapter two Paul says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” In this past Sunday’s sermon we saw the disciples on the very night of Jesus’ betrayal. They were disputing, they were grumbling and you see that in the lives of the best of saints. Certainly one of the easiest things to do when we go through trials is to murmur and complain. But if our lives are shaped by our Bibles, we have to be a people distinguished by gratitude and joy.
And that word joy and rejoicing pops up in the book of Philippians alone, just in that one book, it's called the singing epistle, twelve times, joy and rejoicing, and there's a couple references to thanksgiving. When Paul speaks in Philippians 4 of thanksgiving, he speaks of it in conjunction with praying. Notice again, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” I love the way Spurgeon described it once, he said,
“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
Here is why we ultimately give thanks to God: to magnify, to glorify, our great God and Savior.
Philippians 4:4-7,
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I think everybody who's read their Bible, if you get a sense of what your Bible is about from beginning to end, recognizes that thanksgiving permeates the Bible. You can't read the Psalms without getting the sense that giving thanks to God was a strong major element in their life and worship. Many of the Psalms begin with that very note, “I give thanks to the Lord.” We also know this, that a number of Psalms (I think 40% or more) are Psalms of lament. So you have wonderful Psalms of thanksgiving, but Psalms of lament which express grief, sorrow and pain.
And that just reminds us of life here on earth. We can never escape tension, conflict and pain on this side of heaven. The great danger is when we face our trials, our difficulties, the temptation is to complain and murmur. All of us have done that at one point or time in our lives, maybe even today. And it's interesting in the book of Philippians, that comes through in a very strong negative or warning. If you turn to Philippians chapter two Paul says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” In this past Sunday’s sermon we saw the disciples on the very night of Jesus’ betrayal. They were disputing, they were grumbling and you see that in the lives of the best of saints. Certainly one of the easiest things to do when we go through trials is to murmur and complain. But if our lives are shaped by our Bibles, we have to be a people distinguished by gratitude and joy.
And that word joy and rejoicing pops up in the book of Philippians alone, just in that one book, it's called the singing epistle, twelve times, joy and rejoicing, and there's a couple references to thanksgiving. When Paul speaks in Philippians 4 of thanksgiving, he speaks of it in conjunction with praying. Notice again, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” I love the way Spurgeon described it once, he said,
"Our prayers should be perfumed with thanksgiving."
It's a nice way of putting it, “Our prayers should be perfumed with thanksgiving.”
Notice he places thanksgiving here in Philippians 4 over and against our anxiety. After giving the command not to be anxious, he follows it up with prayer with thanksgiving. Here's a question we certainly need to ask ourselves, why would prayer with thanksgiving be helpful in terms of fighting or overcoming anxiety? I think it is a pretty simple answer. Anxiety for the most part is self-focused and it is problem focused. Often our problems or things that worry us are potential things at work, even in our home. Anxiety is self-focused and generally focuses upon our problem. Thanksgiving is God-focused. It should be. I give thanks to God. You see that through the scripture, I give thanks to God. And it focuses most times upon gifts and blessings.
So you can see a remedy in that in terms of focus. What are we focusing upon? Well, if we're giving thanks to God regularly in our prayers, if our prayers are perfumed with thanksgiving, that should help us battle against anxiety. And there's something else about Christian thanksgiving that is so different from the world's thanksgiving. If you read again through scripture, it's an always thanksgiving, it's an everything thanksgiving. We are able to thank God in everything; it doesn't mean for everything, but I think at times we can even do that, but in everything or always give thanks. He says to the Thessalonian believers, even Paul, I don't know if he actually says it, but he does realize there is benefit to the thorn in the flesh. It kept them humble. It also showed the sufficiency of Christ. So that was something he could rejoice in. He could be thankful to God that his trial was used by God even though it was a messenger of Satan it was also used by God to humble him, to keep him realizing his dependency and his need for Jesus Christ. Now we look at the calendar tomorrow, it's a thanksgiving day, but every day should be a thanksgiving day for the child of God.
There's something else I would say in terms of why Christian thanksgiving is important. Think of the coming up Thanksgiving Day, it magnifies God, we saw that in that text from the Psalms, but it distinguishes us from the world. Just rub shoulders with most people in everyday life, then you can easily hear them grumbling and complaining. And a Christian, a joyful Christian- you could say this is countercultural- it's a light/salt reality. If you want your Christianity to be attractive to the world, to your neighbors, to your children, to your unconverted friends, here's a great way to get their ears and their eyes by being a thankful person.
And we're here tonight to remember that injunction, “In everything give thanks,” and we often try to begin on a note of thanksgiving.
Notice he places thanksgiving here in Philippians 4 over and against our anxiety. After giving the command not to be anxious, he follows it up with prayer with thanksgiving. Here's a question we certainly need to ask ourselves, why would prayer with thanksgiving be helpful in terms of fighting or overcoming anxiety? I think it is a pretty simple answer. Anxiety for the most part is self-focused and it is problem focused. Often our problems or things that worry us are potential things at work, even in our home. Anxiety is self-focused and generally focuses upon our problem. Thanksgiving is God-focused. It should be. I give thanks to God. You see that through the scripture, I give thanks to God. And it focuses most times upon gifts and blessings.
So you can see a remedy in that in terms of focus. What are we focusing upon? Well, if we're giving thanks to God regularly in our prayers, if our prayers are perfumed with thanksgiving, that should help us battle against anxiety. And there's something else about Christian thanksgiving that is so different from the world's thanksgiving. If you read again through scripture, it's an always thanksgiving, it's an everything thanksgiving. We are able to thank God in everything; it doesn't mean for everything, but I think at times we can even do that, but in everything or always give thanks. He says to the Thessalonian believers, even Paul, I don't know if he actually says it, but he does realize there is benefit to the thorn in the flesh. It kept them humble. It also showed the sufficiency of Christ. So that was something he could rejoice in. He could be thankful to God that his trial was used by God even though it was a messenger of Satan it was also used by God to humble him, to keep him realizing his dependency and his need for Jesus Christ. Now we look at the calendar tomorrow, it's a thanksgiving day, but every day should be a thanksgiving day for the child of God.
There's something else I would say in terms of why Christian thanksgiving is important. Think of the coming up Thanksgiving Day, it magnifies God, we saw that in that text from the Psalms, but it distinguishes us from the world. Just rub shoulders with most people in everyday life, then you can easily hear them grumbling and complaining. And a Christian, a joyful Christian- you could say this is countercultural- it's a light/salt reality. If you want your Christianity to be attractive to the world, to your neighbors, to your children, to your unconverted friends, here's a great way to get their ears and their eyes by being a thankful person.
And we're here tonight to remember that injunction, “In everything give thanks,” and we often try to begin on a note of thanksgiving.
Posted in Pastor Devotional