Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart
Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason Sunday, Novemer 23, 2003
A psalm of thanksgiving
Psalm 100
1 Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth!
2 Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
“No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
With Thanksgiving Day coming this next Thursday, it is appropriate for us to stop for a few minutes and consider the concept of thanksgiving. By definition Thanksgiving is the expression of our gladness that God is good to us and appreciation for what He has done for us.
Praise on the other hand is worship, adoration, the expression of our sense of the goodness and glory of God; with the focus on who God is. In praise, we give to God.
Our history as a nation has always included the acknowledgement of God and His goodness toward us.
The first American Thanksgiving didn't occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians. The first recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn't a feast. The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60. The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come. When help arrived, in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God.
First National Thanksgiving 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, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!"
Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.
George Washington, 1779.
Abraham Lincoln's
Thanksgiving Proclamation
of 1863
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.
A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.
Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn't make it.
Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We're in for it!"
John answered, "I can't. I've never made a public prayer in my life."
"But you must!" implored his companion. "The bull is catching up to us."
"All right," panted John, "I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: 'O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"
Source Unknown.
Notice if you will two very important things about Paul’s statement about Thanksgiving:
First of all Paul is talking about giving as a life style response to God. In other words, he is saying “Do this every time you think of the good things or even the bad things of life…in everything…as a natural part of your life response to those things give God thanks!”
Secondly, notice that Paul gives this to us as a command. Commands are to be obeyed. To put the thought another way: Paul says to us: this is something you can do and must do every time some thing takes place in your life. Remember: Obedience is a choice we make. We choose to obey. Thanksgiving, therefore, is not a matter of feeling thankful. Thanksgiving is a choice we make to express our appreciation to God for all that the does for us.
When should I be thankful….on those times when I feel thankful? No! Thankfulness must not wait for those times when I feel thankful. Thankfulness should be the automatic response of our heart to God.
God expects it and looks for the expression of appreciation from us when he has done good things for us.
One of our texts today is found in Luke 17:11-18:
Ten Healed of Leprosy
11As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.
15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” 16He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
17Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?” 19And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.”
There were 10 lepers. Leprosy was a very contagious skin disease. Lepers were not allowed to have any normal contact with non-leprous people until such time as they were healed of the leprosy.
As they left Jesus and went to see the priests, they were all healed.
One leper of the 10 healed returned to say “Thank You!” to Jesus. And he was a Samaritan…not even a Jew like the others.
He had simply responded to their cry for help by sending them to the priests. This was the way the Law of Moses dealt with the issue of leprosy. Jesus asked where the other 9 were. He was looking for their expression of thankfulness and missed it when they did not tell him “Thank you!”
Why did only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus? The following are nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
As we consider all the good things, we have received from our Lord Jesus Christ, and consider this:
Forgive Me When I Whine
Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her -- she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet -- the world is mine.
And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm; I said, "It's nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find"; he turned and said, "Oh, thank you sir." And then I saw that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.
Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do; I stopped a moment, then I said, "Why don't you join the others, dear?" He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
Why should you be thankful this day? May I suggest three things?
1. We must [choose] to be thankful or we become bitter.2. We must [choose] to be thankful or we will become discouraged.3. We must [choose] to be thankful or we shall surly grow arrogant and self-satisfied.God expects it.
Thanksgiving is the appropriate response to the good things God does for us.
Let’s take a few minutes and do what we have been talking about…offer God the expression of a thankful heart.
