We don't often break into our worship services
to observe national holidays, which really Thanksgiving
Day is. But because of the importance of the
theme for all of us who are children of God,
I think it's appropriate that we should think
about Thanksgiving on this Sunday before Thanksgiving.
It's always been one of my favorite holidays
and one of my favorite stories is about a little
boy who was asked in his Sunday school class
for what he was thankful. And he said, I'm thankful
for my glasses. He wore glasses. And the teacher
said, well, why are you thankful for your glasses?
He said, it keeps the girls from kissing me and
the boys from hitting me. We can always find
something for which to give thanks. Of course,
learning to say thank you is an important part
of childhood training, isn't it? It doesn't come
naturally. as all of us know, to teach our children
and to learn ourselves the importance of saying
thanks to those who deserve it. When an individual
trusts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, he receives
a new nature. So the gratitude becomes more natural
to him because of that new nature, but it's not
automatic. That's why we are commanded in Scripture
to be grateful. In Colossians chapter 2 it says,
as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in him overflowing with gratitude.
Isn't that interesting? Walk in him overflowing,
he says, with gratitude. The point is that when
we're walking in Christ, gratitude is going to
be a natural outflow. of His life flowing through
us. While thanksgiving is always appropriate,
the Bible tells us that giving thanks is expected.
So this morning as we think about the theme,
when to say thanks, let's consider what the scripture
commands us about it. Turn with me first to Psalm
100 and verse 4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him.
Bless his name. For the Lord is good, his loving
kindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness
to all generations. When should we say thanks?
Well, first of all, we see here that we are to
worship with thanksgiving. It is said that this
psalm was sung as part of one of the offerings
that the people of Israel offered in ancient
days in their temple. That offering was the peace
offering, or as it was also called the fellowship
offering. It was the one offering of which the
offeror himself was able to partake, he was able
to eat of that sacrifice. And in Leviticus chapter
7 we see several reasons why one would offer
what was called a peace offering. One of them
was for the giving of thanks to the Lord. If
one of those ancient Jews just wanted to give
thanks to God for his blessings or for some particular
good thing that had come to him, he offered to
the Lord a peace offering, a fellowship offering.
Now of course today we no longer observe these
ancient Jewish rituals. They were a part of the
covenant of law with that nation. But we can
observe and learn from the principle that seems
to be written in there. And that is that our
worship of God should include thanksgiving. I
think we can all agree that entering a service
with a spirit of thanksgiving affects the mood
of that service. Not to mention what we receive
ourselves from it. If we come as joyful, grateful
people, the whole service tends to take on that
flavor. And we ourselves are more open in spirit
to receive from God during that time. What a
benefit it is to worship with Thanksgiving. How
far do you have to look this morning? How hard
do you have to think to come up with some of
the blessings of God? in your life. As the gospel
songwriter said, count your many blessings, name
them one by one. We together this morning have
sung our thanksgiving to the Lord. That too is
appropriate. Singing by God's people is right.
The soul's appropriate expression of praise is
through singing. Now, verbally as we speak as
well, but singing is an important part of that.
Turn with me into the New Testament to Ephesians
chapter 5 and notice the striking words of the
Apostle Paul as he talks about the results of
being filled with the Holy Spirit. In verses
19, 20, and 21 of Ephesians 5, he gives us at
least three results when one is filled with the
Holy Spirit. speaking to one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. So they're speaking
to each other with encouraging words of praise
and thanks to God. He goes on to say, singing
and making melody with your heart to the Lord.
And so singing also is a part of the spirit -filled
life. The Christian who never sings has to wonder
what the ministry of the Spirit of God is in
his life. Because when the Spirit of God is ministering,
there is music, there is singing that takes place.
And then verse 20 kind of wraps up the theme
in both the speaking and the singing and making
melody. It's always giving thanks for all things
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God,
even the Father. In the Old Testament, giving
of thanks. singing, and music were inseparably
linked with worship. We see that specifically
mentioned on several occasions. I'd like to turn
to one of them that is found in 2 Chronicles
chapter 23. I'm not going to give you time to
get sleepy this morning. Just keep turning your
Bible. 2 Chronicles chapter 23. Here we have
the record of Jehoiada the priest protecting
the young King Joash. You recall that his grandmother,
whose name was Athaliah, was a very wicked woman.
And when her son was killed in all of that generation,
she desired the throne for herself, and so she
killed all of her grandchildren, except for this
one young boy that Jehoiada the priest was able
to spare and hide. And eventually, Joash was
placed on the throne, Athaliah was executed,
and then Jehoiada, it says in verse 16, made
a covenant between himself and all the people
and the king, that they should be the Lord's
people. And all the people went to the house
of Baal and tore it down, and they broke in pieces
his altars and his images, and killed Matan,
the priest of Baal, before the altars. Jehoiada
placed the offices of the house of the Lord under
the authority of the Levitical priests whom David
had assigned over the house of the Lord to offer
the burnt offerings of the Lord as it is written
in the law of Moses. And notice this last little
clause here, with rejoicing and singing according
to the order of David. Now apparently because
the people's hearts had been turned to Baal,
they had forsaken the proper order of sacrifice
in the temple. Now, Jehoiada puts an end to Baal
worship, the false worship of the world, and
he reinstates the worship of Jehoiada. Part of
that means putting back together the courses
of the Levitical priests that were established
in the law of Moses. But linked together with
those courses of priests were those Levites that
were responsible for the music. of the temple.
Now it's David that put those in order. You can
read about that over in the First Chronicles
25. He drew together several thousand musicians,
students as well as teachers. He established
a school of music where these particular ovidical
priests were trained so that there would always
be musicians to sing and to rejoice. as the sacrifices
were being offered by the other Levitical priests.
My point here is this, that singing, music, and
thanksgiving were inseparably linked in the Old
Testament, and I believe the same is true today
in the church. Ephesians chapter 5 would be one
proof text of that. It really is impossible for
us to get together and to worship unless we sing.
unless we give thanks to the Lord and rejoice
in His presence. We should never undervalue the
time in a service that is given to worship. There
are some people, thank God, I've rarely heard
it in our church, but there are some people who
feel, hey, let's get this music stuff over with,
that's just the preliminaries, let's get on to
the preaching. A person who says something like
that shows a woeful ignorance of worship. When
we come together in the first part of this service
and we're in our places and we begin to lift
our hearts to God in singing, that is worshipping
God and there is nothing that is more important
than that, including the preaching and the service.
Let's never undervalue the resources, too, that
we commit to worship. Sometimes we think of nothing
of sending thousands of dollars to this project
or overseas to missions, and we begrudge a penny
that is spent on worship in our own church. Shame
on us. The one is not more spiritual than the
other. When we spend money on worship in our
church, that is pleasing to God. You say, oh,
we're spending it on ourselves. Who are you worshiping
anyway, yourself? Why do we have beautiful music?
It's because we are presenting that to God as
an offering and a sacrifice of thanksgiving to
Him. Never undervalue the music, the worship
of a church. Our pragmatic Western minds tend
to think that God is pleased when we spend our
money doing things. But let's not forget that
God is also pleased when we spend our money to
enrich our worship experience because that is
a celebration of praise to Him, to Him. I thank
God when we have the resources that we can put
into an orchestra for a cantata in our church
because that is an offering that we present to
God and it's appropriate. That we should worship
the Lord with thanksgiving and we should invest
our resources, our time, our money, our energy
in doing that. Because it is presented to Him
as an offering. Let us worship the Lord with
thanksgiving. And then Philippians chapter 4
gives us further instruction regarding when we
are to give thanks. Philippians chapter 4. Some
of you have these words already coursing through
your mind as we say Philippians 4 6 Because it's
a verse that all of us come back to time and
time again when we're worried It says Be anxious
don't worry about anything be anxious for nothing
but in everything by prayer and supplication
with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known
to God You and I are known to worship with Thanksgiving.
We are to pray with Thanksgiving. One of the
most significant prayer experiences I've ever
had was Friday night. Some of you were there
at the concert of prayer when about 8 ,000, I
would judge, of Christians from around the Twin
Cities gathered in the Metrodome to worship and
to pray. It was a great evening. And during that
evening, something happened that affected me.
At one particular point in that two and a half
hour service, they had all of the Christian workers
stand up. There were a number of us from Grace
Church sitting together in several rows. And
they said, now reach out and touch those full
-time Christian workers that are near you, and
let's pray for them. And from all around me,
I felt hands touching me as people within our
church by that act indicated their support and
their prayers. God did something to me in those
moments. As in a very tangible way, I sensed
the support of His people in prayer. It was a
significant night. I'm sorry if you missed it.
I hope that you'll be there next year. You can't
believe how fast the time goes. And one of the
things that we did that evening was to give thanks.
You and I are to pray with thanksgiving to God.
Notice that there are three kinds of communication
with God that are suggested in this one verse.
There's prayer. In everything by prayer. Now
that word is the general word for prayer. It
especially embraces thoughts of devotion, of
worship, and adoration. When we bless the Lord
for who He is. prayer. And then he mentions supplication
or petition. That's another kind of communication.
It goes a step beyond adoration to the point
when we offer up to God our requests. When we
hold up the hands of Moses as we talked about
last week. When we lift up to the Lord the burdens,
the concerns, the requests that we have. When
we enter into spiritual warfare, those are our
supplications that we present to God. And then
the third thing is thanksgiving or praise. Giving
thanks to the Lord for the worthy deeds that
He has done. The importance of thanksgiving along
with its rarity is found in Luke chapter 17.
We have here an incident that occurred in the
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ In Luke chapter
17 And we look in verse 11 Where it says and
it came about while he was on the way to Jerusalem
That he was passing between Samaria and Galilee
and as he entered a certain village ten Leprous
men who stood at a distance met him. They kept
their distance because they were used to being
ostracized and cut off from other people because
of their disease. And they raised their voices
saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And
when he saw them, he said to them, go and show
yourselves to the priests. And it came about
that as they were going, They were cleansed.
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been
healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud
voice, and he came and fell on his face at his
feet, giving thanks to him. And Luke inserts
this little phrase, and he was a Samaritan. And
Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed?
But the nine, where are they? Was no one found
who turned back to give glory to God except this
foreigner? That is the Samaritan the implication
being that the other nine were Jews And he said
to him rise and go your way your faith has made
you well There are ten lepers here They are united
in one deep concern and that is their leprosy
G Campbell Morgan put it this way they were reduced
to the consciousness of their common humanity
by that misery. In other words, we have here
what were probably at least nine Jews and then
one Samaritan. But it didn't make any difference
anymore that the Jews and the Samaritans had
nothing to do with each other. All those kinds
of divisions were put aside because of disease.
Under such conditions, Morgan says, men forget
the things that hold them apart. It would almost
seem as though there may be occasions when trouble
and misery are beneficent, if they reduce men
to the consciousness of their common humanity
and make them forget the things that divide."
Well, that was the case here, wasn't it, with
these men? And Jesus healed them. Now, He did
it differently than He had done on other occasions.
Back in chapter 5, He healed the leper first.
And then He said, go and show yourself to the
priests. But that was according to the law. A
person who had leprosy had to be declared clean
of it by the priest. And so Jesus healed him
first and then said, go and show yourself. In
this case, he simply says, go and show yourselves
to the priest. And it was not until they were
on their way, says the text, that they were healed.
What does that say to us? Well, perhaps among
other things, it says to us that God works in
a variety of ways. God doesn't always do something
the same way for everybody. God uses a variety
of ways to get His work done in our lives. Now,
of these ten that were healed, there was only
one in that of Samaritan who returned to give
thanks to the Lord. It is obvious from what Jesus
says that He values gratitude. And he notes the
fact that that gratitude was missing from the
others. I wonder as you and I bow in prayer and
we come before our Lord, does our prayer life
place us with the one or with the nine? Do we
come back to the Lord again and again and again
and have only petition and request? Or do we
ever come back and say, Lord, thanks? Jesus,
thank you for working in that situation that
I prayed about. You and I ought to pray with
thanksgiving. We ought not to worry and be anxious,
but to worship, to pray, to supplicate, to offer
our petitions, and to praise with thanksgiving
to bring our requests to God. Let me cover a
third point as we think about when to say thanks.
And to do this, would you turn please to 1 Timothy
chapter 4. Here at the beginning of the chapter,
the apostle is warning about the latter days
when there would be people come forth with doctrines
that do not agree with the Word of God. For example,
in verse 3, they forbid marriage and advocate
abstaining from foods, which God has created
to be gratefully shared in by those who believe
and know the truth, for everything created by
God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if
it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified
by means of the Word of God and prayer. We are
to worship with thanksgiving. We are to pray
with thanksgiving. And we are to eat with thanksgiving.
It is appropriate. It serves as a regular reminder
of our dependence upon the goodness and the providence
of God in caring for our daily needs. There are
numerous examples in the Bible of those who prayed
and blessed the food before they ate. Our Lord
Jesus did that. When He fed the thousands on
the hills of Galilee, it says that He took in
His hands the loaves and the fishes, and He blessed
it, holding it up to heaven. And then He distributed
it to those who were about to eat. He did the
same on that night before He was crucified. And
then again after His resurrection, when He ate
with the two disciples at Emmaus. They asked
him to offer the blessing for the food, and he
did so. And then again, the Apostle Paul in Acts
27 gives us a beautiful example when in the midst
of a storm at sea with 276 people on this wooden
crate that's about to come apart, he says to
them, be encouraged and get something to eat.
Now, I don't know if you've ever been seasick.
I never have. But if you've ever been seasick,
that's not what you want to hear. But Paul says,
be encouraged. We're all going to be saved. Let's
have some food. And before he distributed the
food, it says there, he gave thanks for it in
the presence of all of them. Only a handful of
believers on that ship. Paul, who was under arrest
in the small party with him, including Luke,
all the rest pagans. as far as we know, but the
apostle Paul gave thanks for that food in the
presence of all of them. Do you do that? In the
cafeteria there at your office? Do you bow to
give thanks to God for that food in the midst
of all of them? What about in the cafeteria school
or college? For that matter, a restaurant. Do
you pause to give thanks to God for that food
that you're about to eat? The Bible commands
us to eat our food with thanksgiving. God has
created all of it. It's good for us to eat, but
it is sanctified. That is, it is set apart for
God's purpose in our physical bodies by the Word
of God and prayer. We are to pause to take time
to say, Father, thank you. You are the one who
has provided this food, and we acknowledge that
from your hand. You can never go wrong in doing
that. You say, yes, but if I'm out with a businessman
and I'm trying to sell him something, it's a
little awkward, isn't it, for him to be my guest
and for me to pray? It may be a little awkward.
It doesn't mean it's inappropriate. What I usually
say when I'm out with an unsaved person for lunch
is to say this. It's my custom to give thanks
before eating. Would you please join me? And
I have yet to find anyone who is offended by
that. Sometimes they're a little red in the face.
But I have yet to have anyone say to me, oh no,
please don't do that now. Because I say, we offer
thanks, Lord, we thank you for this food. They
don't have time to say no. Not really. Do you
eat with thanksgiving? I love that we ought to
do that. That's a testimony to the world. of
our dependence upon God, and we're not independent
of Him for our food, the daily food that we eat.
The story is told about a king in Spain who got
reports that his pages, the young men who served
him in his court, were eating without giving
thanks to God first for their food. He was quite
alarmed by that, and so he arranged an occasion
when there was a banquet. He invited all of them
to come, and they did. And sure enough, they
all began to eat without giving thanks for the
food. About halfway through the meal, a beggar
came in by design of the king and sat down at
the table and began to eat the food. The young
pages looked at the king, expecting him to order
the man removed. But he never did, and they were
amazed. Finally, the man finished and got up
from the table and walked out without saying
a word to the king. And when he had departed
the page, he said to the king, what an ungrateful
man he was. And the king had them just where
he wanted them. And he said, yet you are more
ungrateful than they, for you eat at this table
every day and never give thanks to your heavenly
father who provides you this food. They learned
a lesson that day, a lesson that all of us can
learn. Eat with thanksgiving. And let's close
our message this morning by seeing one more time
when we are to give thanks. And this is found
in Colossians chapter 3. And verse 17. And whatever
you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to
God the Father. I tie this together with several
other verses in the New Testament, including
1 Thessalonians 5 .18 where it says in everything,
give thanks. I simply put it this way, you and
I are to live with thanksgiving. Whatever we
do in word, in deed, we are to do that with thanksgiving
to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether
the circumstances that come into our lives are
the result of what we've actively done, or perhaps
they come upon us despite what we've done, it's
outside of our control, you and I are to learn
to give thanks in everything. Why? We are to
trust our circumstances to be God's will for
us. As you and I understand the sovereignty of
God, Understand that He is bigger than our circumstances.
We can learn to give thanks to Him whatever our
circumstances may be. One poet put it this way,
Thank you Lord for every blessing, though disguised
they often are. Thanks for guiding through the
valley that we might behold thy star. Thanks
for sunshine and for shadow. Thanks for pleasure
and for rain. Thanks, O Lord, for every blessing
thou dost give and give again. Thank you, Lord,
for home and loved ones. Or, if we must walk
alone, thanks for promises so precious thou wilt
never leave thine own. Praise for food or lack
we give thee. Praise what air befall us here,
for thy blessed word assures us of thy presence
ever near. Even the most tragic and difficult
experiences of life can yield cause for thanksgiving
to God. We may have to be like a miner who goes
down deep to look for the diamonds. It requires
diligence, perhaps. But when those occasions
for thanks are found, we can offer them up to
the Lord and they sparkle with particular beauty.
Matthew Henry was a Welshman who lived from 1662
to 1714. Matthew Henry grew up in a minister's
home and he himself was ordained to the Presbyterian
ministry at the age of 25. He served only two
churches. in his lifetime before his early death
at the age of 52. He is best known for his Bible
commentary, which some of you perhaps have, in
your library. On one occasion, Matthew Henry
was robbed. After that experience, he sat down
and wrote these words in his daily diary. Let
me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed
before. Second, although they took my purse,
they did not take my life. Third, because although
they took my all, it was not much. And fourth,
because it was I who was robbed and not I who
robbed. Now there's a man who has done some mining
in a tough experience, but he gave thanks. The
psalmist said, I will extol the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be on my lips. Beloved,
Satan is never more quickly disarmed than when
you choose to be thankful. When you are thankful
in adversity, it delivers you from self -pity
and despondency. When you are thankful in prosperity,
It delivers you from self -importance and conceit.
The one choosing to live in gratitude rather
than grumbling is truly set apart from the devil's
grasp. We have to observe that the life characterized
by thanksgiving is the one that is under the
control of the Holy Spirit. Gratitude is something
that must go beyond mere attitude, though it
starts there. It must embrace action. That's
why this day is called Thanksgiving and not thanks
thinking. You see, it's action that's involved.
A famous surgeon and OB doctor by the name of
Dr. Howard Kelly lived outside of Baltimore.
One afternoon, He was taking a long country walk,
and he became thirsty. He stopped at a farmhouse,
and he asked for a drink of water. The little
girl who came to the door was by herself. Her
parents were not there, and they had gone to
town. And so she said, I have no water. But she
said, there is some cold milk down at the spring,
where they kept it cool. Would you like a glass
of milk? He said, I surely would. And so she
took him down to the spring and then she dipped
out some milk and he drank it. She said, would
you like another glass? He said, well, yes, I
would. And so she offered another glass to him.
And then giving thanks to her, the famous doctor
went on his way. He worked at John's Hopkins
Hospital. And would you believe that within just
a few days, that little girl was taken to the
hospital? with a serious illness which that doctor
had to take care of by his surgical skills. He
recognized her, although she did not, of course,
recognize him. Her parents came to take her home
and they received the bill expecting to find
it rather large. They were poor people, but their
where the total balance should have been on that
bill. It simply said, paid in full with two glasses
of milk. Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly. Now, my friend,
that's Thanksgiving. Not just thanks thinking.
That's Thanksgiving. How can you give thanks
this season? To God? to your spouse, to other
loved ones or friends or co -workers, when ought
you to say thanks and how? Would you bow with
me please? If you're not a Christian today, if
you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your
Savior, Your greatest need is to say thanks to
God for his salvation provided through Christ.
And the way to say thanks is by receiving that
free gift he would have for you. Hundreds of
us here have done that. Will you do it today?
Right where you're seated? As many as received
Jesus Christ, to them he gave the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name. Will you believe on his name for the
saving of your soul? And then those of us who
have done that, whose souls have been saved,
are we really a grateful people? Our quickest
answer would probably be yes. But let's allow
the Spirit of God to search our hearts. Let's
not give a superficial response. Holy Spirit,
we need to be more thankful than we are. Even
the most grateful of us is at times not thankful.
There are times when we grumble and complain,
we criticize and gripe, when we ought first to
give thanks. We acknowledge our sins. Lord, make
us truly grateful. And show us how in very practical
ways we can be practices of thanksgiving this
season. First to you, and then to others. Just
before we say amen and close our prayer time,
I wonder if there's someone here who would say,
yes, God has spoken and I am in need of being
more grateful to Him and to others. And by His
grace, I want to practice thanksgiving. I want
to overflow with it as I walk in Christ. Would
you just lift your hand and put it down? Yes.
God bless you. Many, many. Lord, you see our
hands. You know the desires of our hearts. And
so work in us this grace, we pray, in Jesus'
name. Amen.