Thanksgiving

For Who God Is

Good morning everyone! You may have noticed from the fact that I already got up on stage, that we’re doing something a little bit different today. As I sat down to prepare a sermon for Thanksgiving, and began to study my passage, I had a thought. I thought to myself, why should I spend 30 minutes on Sunday morning talking about why we should give thanks and then telling you to go give thanks, when I could spend Sunday morning leading everyone in celebrating, praising and thanking God together. So that’s what I’ve decided to do. We’ll look at some Bible passages together that give thanks to God and I’ll talk briefly about some of the things that we should thank God for, but then we’ll just give God praise and thanksgiving together. We’ll start by reading together the passage that guided my choice of subjects, which is 1 Chronicles 16:7-36. It’s a bit of a longer one, so I’ll try my best to do a dynamic reading of the passage.

1 Chronicles 16:7–36 CSB

On that day David decreed for the first time that thanks be given to the Lord by Asaph and his relatives: Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him; sing praise to him; tell about all his wondrous works! Boast in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wondrous works he has done, his wonders, and the judgments he has pronounced, you offspring of Israel his servant, Jacob’s descendants—his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; his judgments govern the whole earth. Remember his covenant forever— the promise he ordained for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, swore to Isaac, and confirmed to Jacob as a decree, and to Israel as a permanent covenant: “I will give the land of Canaan to you as your inherited portion.” When they were few in number, very few indeed, and resident aliens in Canaan wandering from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their behalf: “Do not touch my anointed ones or harm my prophets.” Let the whole earth sing to the Lord. Proclaim his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his wondrous works among all peoples. For the Lord is great and highly praised; he is feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. Ascribe to the Lord, families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him. The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields and everything in them exult. Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. And say, “Save us, God of our salvation; gather us and rescue us from the nations so that we may give thanks to your holy name and rejoice in your praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.” Then all the people said, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”

How’s that for a song of thanksgiving? For context, this song was written in response to David finally returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and putting it in the tabernacle. He finally recaptured the box that held the written covenant that they had with God, and where God had promised to be present with them. In my reading of this passage along with some others in the Bible about giving thanks I came up with four things that we should give thanks to God for.

For Who He Is

For What He Has Done

For Suffering

For Our Relationship with Him

We’ll start by praising God for who He is. This is where we’re going to get a bit interactive this morning, just a heads up. The Bible calls us not just to thank God for what He has done for us, which we’ll get to, but for who He is. His very identity. His character, His power, His essence. So what I want to do now is for all of us to take a minute of quiet to think about what you know about who God is from the Scripture. Remember, there will be a time to talk about what He has done, so just focus on who He is for now.

Pause in silence

Now I want you guys to declare loudly the characteristics of who God is that make Him worthy of praise.

For What He Has Done

Perhaps the most obvious of things to give thanks for are for the things that God has done. The Bible is full of praise for the acts of God, and constant reminders of the great things that God has done through history and calls to praise God for what He has done in our lives. This is probably the kind of thanksgiving that comes most naturally to us. When you sit around the table and ask what everyone is thankful for, this is the kind of thing you give thanks for a lot of the time. And there’s so much we can thank God for! And not just the things that are obviously from Him, like answers to direct prayer and what He did as recorded in Scripture, but the Bible says that literally everything good comes from God.

James 1:17 CSB

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

So that means that literally every good thing that you have or experience is a gift from God. You can thank Him for everything!

That’s what those sheets that I handed out are for, but I thought that together we could do a bit of a responsive reading of Psalm 136. It won’t be on the screen, because I think you guys will remember how it goes. I’ll read a line and then extend my hand out to you guys and we’ll all say together “His faithful love endures forever.” Let’s do it:

Psalm 136 CSB

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever. He alone does great wonders. His faithful love endures forever. He made the heavens skillfully. His faithful love endures forever. He spread the land on the waters. His faithful love endures forever. He made the great lights: His faithful love endures forever. the sun to rule by day, His faithful love endures forever. the moon and stars to rule by night. His faithful love endures forever. He struck the firstborn of the Egyptians His faithful love endures forever. and brought Israel out from among them His faithful love endures forever. with a strong hand and outstretched arm. His faithful love endures forever. He divided the Red Sea His faithful love endures forever. and led Israel through, His faithful love endures forever. but hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever. He led his people in the wilderness. His faithful love endures forever. He struck down great kings His faithful love endures forever. and slaughtered famous kings— His faithful love endures forever. Sihon king of the Amorites His faithful love endures forever. and Og king of Bashan— His faithful love endures forever. and gave their land as an inheritance, His faithful love endures forever. an inheritance to Israel his servant. His faithful love endures forever. He remembered us in our humiliation His faithful love endures forever. and rescued us from our foes. His faithful love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.

Now continue together, tell someone around you something you’re thankful for and then say together “His faithful love endures forever.”

For Suffering

Now praising God for who He is and what He has done are great and encouraged by Scripture, but there’s one thing we’re supposed to give thanks for that is less obvious and a lot more difficult, and that is suffering. Now to be clear, it’s not the suffering itself that we’re giving thanks for. In fact, our suffering is a consequence for the sin of Adam and for our own sins, but yet still the Bible calls us to rejoice and give thanks even in the midst of our troubles and trials. When Paul says 1 Th 5:18

1 Thessalonians 5:18 CSB

give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Everything includes our suffering. So how can we genuinely give thanks in the midst of suffering? By remembering Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 CSB

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

And that Jesus’ suffering gives meaning to all our suffering. So when I say that we should thank God for suffering I mean it on two levels: to thank God in the midst of our suffering for what He will do through it, and to thank God that He suffered for us. Let’s remind ourselves of the value of suffering from Scripture. Listen carefully and meditate on what I’m about to read.

Romans 5:3–5 CSB

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

James 1:2–4 CSB

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

I would encourage you to take this moment to share with those around you something that you’re facing right now that is difficult, and to pray for one another, and to close out your prayers with praise for what God will do in the midst of your suffering.

For Our Relationship

I’m sure that I could come up with lots and lots more things to thank God for, but this will be the last one for today. You may or may not have noticed in our first Scripture we read today that one of the things that the Israelites praised God for in their song was for the covenant that He made with them.

1 Chronicles 16:15–16 CSB

Remember his covenant forever— the promise he ordained for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, swore to Isaac,

Now a covenant was something between an oath and a contract. It was a solemn agreement that bound two parties together. The best and most biblical image of God’s covenant with His people is marriage. In the same way a man and a wife pledge loyalty and love for one another without end, God pledges to be with His people.

In other words, the covenant is a vow to uphold His relationship with His people. Of course we don’t live under the same covenant as David. In fact we live under a better covenant. That’s what the book of Hebrews says in Hebrews 8:6

Hebrews 8:6 CSB

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.

So we, just like Israel, can celebrate and give thanks for the covenant that God has given to us, the one that we re-enact every time we share communion with one another. There are a few different names for communion. Another name for it is “The Lord’s Supper,” that emphasizes its connection to the passover meal that Jesus shared with His disciples. Yet another name for it however is “Eucharist,” which comes from the Greek word “εὐχαριστω” which is the verb that means “to give thanks.” And the thing which we are giving thanks for is the New Covenant that Jesus made for us with His broken body and shed blood.

So how about we give thanks for our relationship with God that was made possible by the blood of Jesus? I’ll share my story first, and then we’ll sing the final song, and if I got my timing right then there should be time for us to share briefly with one another the testimony of how we came to know Jesus.