Thanksgiving 2015His Love Endures Foreverpastor Michael Ewart

Thanksgiving 2015His Love Endures ForeverPastor Michael Ewart

November 25, 20151 Chronicles 16:8-36

UNEDITED DRAFT

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Friends in Christ,

I’d like start with a trivia question. How many countries in the world have an official, national, general day of Thanksgiving? Answer: 2. The U.S. and Canada. There are many awesome things about the United States of America. But our forefathers really nailed it on this one. Thanksgiving celebrations can be trace all the way back to 1621 when pilgrims at Plymouth celebrated a good harvest. But it wasn’t until 1789 that George Washington proclaimed athe first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America, marking November 26, 1789 "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God." Tomorrow marks the 226th anniversary of America officially celebrating Thanksgiving.

Even though tomorrow is officially a national day of Thanksgiving, official holidays do not give you a thankful heart. And sometimes we struggle with being thankful, don’t we?

What gets in the way of Thanksgiving?Like the Grinch that stole Christmas, there are Thanksgiving Grinches that rob us of thankfulness. Here are four grinches. And, by the way, these are not four distinct categories. Sometimes these grinches herd together… it’s not unusual to see all four at once.

• Busyness. If we are always going, never resting, we don’t have time to be thankful. We’re too stressed to be thankful.
• Suffering. It’s really hard to muster a heart of thanksgiving when you are in a lot of pain. Or if you have a chronic illness. Or if you’ve recently lost a loved one. Or if you’ve recently lost your job. If you are in a lot of debt and you’re struggling to repay. Or if you have a strained relationship with someone (spouse, mother-in-law, coworker). Any of these can blind you to God’s blessings.
• Forgetfulness. Simply not being mindful of God and all he has done robs us of a thankful heart. If we don’t stop and think about it, thankfulness erodes away.
• Negativity. Focusing on the negative instead of on the many blessings God gives. Many people don’t realize this, but we do get to choose what we focus on and what we think about. Sometimes you can get into a pattern of thinking only about the bad, when the reality is the is all sorts of good all around you. But you have blinders on to the good and only look at the bad.

Now here is the problem. A lack of gratitude and a lack of thanksgiving has serious consequences. First and foremost, it is an offense to God. Have you ever done or given something really nice for someone else? Maybe it took a whole lot of your time – you really put yourself out. Maybe it took a whole lot of your money – it made a real dent in your wallet. But your gift was not acknowledged in any way. Not a word of thanks given. How did that make you feel? How do you think God feels when we fail to give him praise and thanks that he is most worth of? What slap in the face to God when we take his gifts for granted and fail to acknowledge him for who he is and what he’s done.

There’s another problem with thanklessness. Not only does it offend God, but also hurts you. Secular psychologist have demonstrated through numerous studies, that people who are not grateful and thankful… have more emotional and mental problems, have decreased physical health, have poorer relationships with others, sleep worse, and are more aggressive.

In other words, the grinches that steal thanksgiving hurt your relationship with God, they hurt your relationships with other, and they hurt YOU.

So how can we stop the thieving grinches that want to steal Thanksgiving from us this year? How can we restore in our hearts true thanksgiving?

The answer is found in the Bible reading before us today: 1 Chronicles 16:8-36.

I would guess that most of you here today are not overly familiar with this portion of Scripture. My hope and prayer is that by the end of this Thanksgiving holiday, you will not only know these verses well, but fall in love with this particular portion of Scripture and refer back to it often.

Now if you’re counting, that would be 29 verses we’re looking at. Clearly we’re not going to be able to thoroughly examine that many verses. You won’t know these verses well by the end of this sermon, which is why I want you to look at this several more times over the Thanksgiving holiday. To make that easier for you to do, I printed out all of the verses in the service folder today. In fact, on the back side of that page are a few questions to help you think about the verses more, and then some questions to help you apply them as well. Maybe you could use this as a Thanksgiving devotion to do with your family. Or a personal devotion sometime on Thanksgiving day.

But in the little bit of time we have here, my goal today is simply to give you the big picture look at these verses and then encourage you to study them further on your own, or with your family.

So let’s jump in. What restores and focuses a thankful heart? There are three words I want you to keep in mind as we study these word: Remember. Respond. Relate. I’ll even put hand motion with each one. That will help the younger kids we have with us today. (And honestly, all of us adults too.) Remember. Respond. Relate. Those three concepts are interwoven throughout this reading.

So if we are going to have thankful hearts, the first critical concept is: remember.

Remember: We absolutely will not have thankful hearts if we do not remember who the Lord is and what he has done and what he has promised. If we forget about his character, his attributes, his mighty deeds, and his gracious promises, I guarantee that you will not have a heart of thankfulness.

So, looking through this reading, let me just pull out some of the words that encourage us to remember God’s character, attributes, deeds and promises.

Parts that talk about his character and attributes: Holy name. His strength. Great is the Lord. Worthy is the Lord. Splendor, majesty, strength, joy, glory. Splendor of his holiness. The Lord reigns.

Parts that talk about his deeds: His wonders, miracles, judgments. His salvation. His marvelous deeds. The Lord made the heavens. He comes to judge the earth.

His promises / covenant.

• All of verses 14-22 are also about God’s promises / his covenant. Here, with Israel.

14He is theLordour God; his judgmentsare in all the earth.

15He remembershis covenant forever,the promise he made, for a thousand generations,

16the covenanthe made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

17He confirmed it to Jacobas a decree,to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

18“To you I will give the land of Canaanas the portion you will inherit.”

19When they were but few in number,few indeed, and strangers in it,

20theywanderedfrom nation to nation,from one kingdom to another.

21He allowed no one to oppress them;for their sake he rebuked kings:

22“Do not touch my anointed ones;do my prophetsno harm.”

o you also, if you want a thankful heart, you need to remember. And what greater thing could you remember about your God than the promise and covenant he made with you? In spite of our ungracious, unthankful hearts, God committed himself to you. He made a promise and continually repeated a promise to save us from our sins. And 2,000 years ago, God kept that promise. He sent Jesus to be our Substitute. He was always gracious, always thankful. Whenever Jesus at, we’re told that he gave thanks. We have not a single report of Jesus grumbling and complaining. Jesus was our perfect substitute. He went to the cross to pay the debt we owe for our grumbling and complaining and lack of thankfulness. And he did it. Completely.

So remember! Remember his promises to you. The promise that you are forgiven through Christ Jesus and his shed blood. The promise that he will never leave you or forsake you. The promise that all will work out for good. The promise that you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! When you remember, then you will respond [hand gesture from heart to heaven].

Respond: What does an appropriate response of thanksgiving look like? It is feasting? Football? Family? None of those things are wrong, but listen now to the responses commanded or described in these 29 verses before us.

• Give thanks.
• Call on his name
• Sing to him, sing praise to him.
• Glory in his holy name
• Rejoice
• Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
• Sing to the Lord.
• Bring an offering and come before him.
• Worship the Lord
• Tremble before him.
• Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.
• Praise the Lord.

So what kind of responses of thanksgiving are appropriate? Worship him. Prayers of thanks. Praise to God. Singing praises to God. TRUST HIM. Full reliance. Bring offerings to God. Don’t we do all of those things when we gather like this in a worship service? All of those aspects are included! And it’s simply true that we respond better when we respond together.Certainly it is good and right and necessary to thank God at all times and in all places and individually. But don’t lose out on this opportunity to grow in thanksgiving by meeting together to remember our God and then to respond with thanks and praise.

Finally, the last word is:

Relate: Tell others what God has done! Can’t keep quiet about this good news.“Praise = Declaring God’s character, attributes and deeds to others.” It focuses us and others on God’s power, mercy, majesty, love and deeds and promises. So here are the parts of the Psalm that talk about relating to others praise and thanksgiving.

• Call on his name (public proclamation), make known among the nations what he has done.Tell of all his wonderful acts. Proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory [and marvelous deeds] among the nations. Say among the nations “The LORD reigns!”

Proper thanksgiving to God is not something you keep bottled up inside. It’s something you must share and relate to others as well!

Now, there is actually a fourth “R” word, but it’s only found near the end of the psalm. And that word is “request.” The vast majority of this psalm is remembering, responding and relating. Notably absent are requests of God! Requests are not a prominent part of thanksgiving. But there is one at the end here, and we don’t want to miss it.

Request: “Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise.”

The simple request? Save us! Gather us! Deliver us! And why? “that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise.” The request is merely a request that they may be able to offer exponentially more – to multiply in – thanks and praise!

CONCLUSION:

Now we’re going to wrap this up. You may have noticed that I didn’t actually read this reading through from beginning to end, although I shared with you bits of every verse. That’s because we’re not done. Remember to do the home study and look at these verses several more times.

As you do, keep the three words in mind: Remember. Respond. Relate. Study this Psalm, take it to heart, and look for those three things, and I promise you, God will work in your heart and his Holy Spirit will produce in you a heart of thankfulness.

At the end of David’s Psalm of thanksgiving, we are told that the people added their approval to this praise and thanksgiving. It says: “Then all the people said, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.” Could we conclude this evening by you expressing your agreement with these words of praise in the very same way? I’m worried about this, because I’m asking Lutherans to respond during a sermon, but let’s give this a try. Again, your lines are “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”

36Praise be to theLord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise theLord.”

Thanksgiving Day Word Feast
(for home use with your family or personally)

David composed a beautiful psalm of thanks on the occasion of the ark being brought into Jerusalem. Read 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 (see below) and reflect on the following questions.

Feast on the word

1.What verbs did David use to encourage the people to worship the Lord in verses 8-12?

2.According to verses 14-18, what is the main reason we worship the Lord?

3.How did God deal with Israel during its early years as a nation? (verses 19-22)

4.What verbs did David use to encourage the people to worship the Lord? (verses 23,24)

5.What did David call on the nations to do? (verses 25-29)

6.What would all creation do in response to the Lord’s greatness? (verses 30-33)

7.What did the Israelites ask the Lord to do for them in verses 34-36? Why did they make this request?

Digest the word

Remember: 1) Make a list of God’s characteristics. 2) Make a list of amazing things God has done. (Hint: First recall Bible history. Then also reflect on your own life.)

Respond: List various ways God wants you to thank and praise him.

Relate: Tell, text, or tweet family and friends the things for which your are thankful to God. (This is a good way to share your faith in God who gives every good and perfect gift!)

1 Chronicles 16:8-36 (NIV)

8Give praiseto theLord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nationswhat he has done.
9Sing to him, sing praiseto him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
10Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek theLordrejoice.
11Look to theLordand his strength;
seekhis face always.

12Rememberthe wondershe has done,
his miracles,and the judgments he pronounced,
13you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
14He is theLordour God;
his judgmentsare in all the earth.

15He remembershis covenant forever,
the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
16the covenanthe made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
17He confirmed it to Jacobas a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
18“To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion you will inherit.”

19When they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
20theywanderedfrom nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
21He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
22“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophetsno harm.”

23Sing to theLord, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
24Declare his gloryamong the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

25For great is theLordand most worthy of praise;
he is to be fearedabove all gods.
26For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but theLordmade the heavens.
27Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his dwelling place.

28Ascribe to theLord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to theLordglory and strength.
29Ascribe to theLordthe glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him.
Worship theLordin the splendor of hisholiness.
30Tremblebefore him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

31Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “TheLordreigns!”
32Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
33Let the treesof the forest sing,
let them sing for joy before theLord,
for he comes to judgethe earth.

34Give thanksto theLord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”
36Praise be to theLord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise theLord.”

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