Thanksgiving As An Offering

A Season of Thanksgiving

is the theme I am using for these next few weeks before our Thanksgiving celebration. The Bible knows nothing about a single day set aside as Thanksgiving day to begin an annual family four-day weekend which includes a rather typical kind of American style buying binge that we call “Black Friday”. But the Bible does know about harvest festivals.

So, although I’m not talking about the American Thanksgiving Day which will come on November 23. In Canada, we celebrated on the second Monday of October as a day of Thanksgiving. In the colder North, travel for families is a bigger problem in November than it is in October.

But for this short series on a Season of Thanksgiving, it works real well to use the month of November as a time for us in the USA to focus for a bit on the meanings of Thanksgiving and how that can be applied to our daily lives and give a focus for our worship of God who gives us so much to be thankful for.

Today, we’ll look at Thanksgiving as An Offering; Next week, we’ll look at the attitude of Always Giving Thanks, then we will see what the Bible tells us about Thanksgiving Living.

The verse I am using as a theme verse for this Season of Thanksgiving is. . .

Psalm 95:2 ESV

2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

And that verse in the Psalms of David is a good way to remember that our worship should begin with Thanksgiving.

What has the Lord Done For You?

The Theme for Today is

Thanksgiving As An Offering

God Gives Us Reason to Be Thankful

That should be obvious, for we awoke this morning, the sun brought light, the air is breathable, most of us had breakfast and maybe coffee or something else to drink, most of us were able to get out of bed today, most of us had clothes to choose from to get dressed for the day. So many things we can say that we are thankful for.

But the one thing that is above all that we should have in mind is what is centered in the God who made us:

Psalm 107:1 ESV

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Be Thankful for Yahweh God has made himself known to us.

Be thankful for Yahweh God is Good.

Be thankful for the steadfast love of Yahweh God endures forever.

The steadfast love of God is a big deal. It is mentioned in 77 verses in the Bible. The Hebrew word for this is hesed which is used nearly 250 times in the old Testament. In English, it is translated in many ways:

mercy is one: for hesed is undeserved love that God offers us.

lovingkindness is another

steadfast love “kindness” “loyalty”

the long version is the Steadfast covenant love of Yahweh.

It is love that flows out of the nature of God, out of the promises of God, out of the heart of God to those he has created.

So our first reason to make an offering of thanksgiving is because of God’s everlasting steadfast covenant love.

A next reason to make an offering of thanksgiving is that. . .

A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Glorifies God

Actually, in many ways, thanksgiving does not really seem like much of a sacrifice. When you step outside and see glorious snow-capped mountains above the palm trees in southern California, how much of a sacrifice is it to give thanks to God?

When you see an incredible sunset,

When you see a glorious sunrise,

When the breakers on beach are thundering,

when a garden takes your breath away with beauty...

how much of a sacrifice is it to offer thanksgiving to God?

Yet many do not.

They do no recognize that God is behind it all.

They do not remember that God doesn’t not need to show us beauty.

They do not believe that what they see is anything more than the science we have discovered to describe how that scene is possible.

A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving is when we know and we praise God because we know that God is WHY there is such beauty.

So the scripture says,

Psalm 50:23 ESV

23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

Sing a Song

A Song of Thanksgiving Magnifies God

Psalm 69:30 ESV

30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 107:22

Psalm 107:22 ESV

22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

so keep singing

Sing to the Lord with Thanksgiving

because reminding ourselves that the Lord is our hope, our help, our strong tower, our certain future and our sure salvation, then singing the thanks of the Lord

encourages us

emboldens us

empowers us

to do what God needs for us to do.

In second Chronicles, Jehosaphat was faced with a mighty invasion.

2 Chronicles 20:1 “1 After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle.”

This put everyone in an uproar.

They called an assembly. All Judah gathered to pray to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 20:12 “12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.””

And while they were gathered,

2 Chronicles 20:14–15 “14 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.”

2 Chronicles 20:18–20 “18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.””

2 Chronicles 20:21 ESV

21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Psalm 107:22 ESV

22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

Pray to the Lord With Thanksgiving

Psalm 116:17 ESV

17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

Give to the Lord with Thanksgiving

Psalm 54:6 ESV

6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.

Fulfill Your Vows With Thanksgiving

Jonah 2:9 ESV

9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Generosity to Others Produces Thanksgiving to God

2 Corinthians 9:11 ESV

11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

The Lord is Worthy of our Thanks

Psalm 100 ESV

A Psalm for giving thanks. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.