Celebration

This is our week of Thanksgiving

We celebrate—if we’re doing it right--the goodness of God to us

It is a national tradition, begun in the times of our early settlers

Many try to edit the history and make it a purely secular holiday—claiming it ties to the British “Harvest Home” celebration; problem is that Harvest Home is a holiday of pagan origins, celebrating the “spirit of the harvest”

In 1621, William Bradford’s first proclamation begins: "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams....”

June 20, 1676, Charlestown MA: “The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present War....”

Once our nation became a nation, the tradition continued with President Washington’s proclamation of 1789: “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....”

Many more since have help the Almighty at the center…though maybe not so much anymore

Before going any further, it’s worthy to note that it is the base for two hymns

The first in 1561,

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;

Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell

Come ye before Him and rejoice.

The second, some years later,

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

We’ll look at the imagery, the identity, and the activity brought out in this beautiful, yet short work

Imagery

The overall imagery of this Psalm is one of celebration upon entrance to the tabernacle or the temple—depending on the time the Psalm was written

If written by Moses, it would have been the Tabernacle

Either was the place where God met His people

Joyful noise, singing, thanksgiving, praise, blessing

it is something of a common theme in the Psalms Ps 66 1-2

Psalm 66:1–2 ESV

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!

it may be specifically related to worship during any of the many prescribed festivals; possibly as an entry hymn

We’ve commented before that Jewish worship was likely loud, and to our Baptist sensibilities, a bit on the raucous side

Identity

Two issues:

There can be no doubt about the identity of the God being praised

Within this is something of a lesson in theology

LORD—Yahweh—is used 4 times in only 5 verses…no open door for any other deity

He is only this God who is good and has eternal, steadfast love—defines steadfast love, and is faithful (v. 5)

He is our maker, creator and keeper

All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God

That our God; that’s the goodness He has

The identity of the worshipers is less sure

It could be argued that it is the Jewish nation only

More likely it is an invitation, or even a command, to all people groups of that day to worship the living God

He is God overall and shepherds all peoples

The Jewish people—the people set apart—as God’s people were to be signpost directing the other peoples to God

God’s temple was to be a “house of prayer for all people” (found multiple places in the old and new testaments)

Activity

This would be the corporate worship

First would be the loud praises—the joyful noise

There would be service—acts of devotion/worship—in whatever form they may take

…in that day, there would be offerings and sacrifices brought and presented

Blessing His Name—the implication is that this is to be verbalized; “name” implies, reputation, renown, presence and authority

Of course there is His name itself, I AM!—the self-evident, self existing one

In the day of tabernacle/temple, they would have had prescribed Psalms they would have sung Ps 98 1-2

Psalm 98:1–2 ESV

Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

Psalm 86:12 “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.”

Those are a lot of details pulled from five short verses…but how do we take that and apply it to us, all these years later

It may be of interest to some that this some is the source of two reasonably well-known hymns, both to the same tune

Application

This Psalm largely references corporate worship

To a degree we should keep this in mind every time we come together for worship

Our worship should be praise-filled, happy, joyous events

For believers, our lives should not be just worship when we get to church on Sunday—it should be a 24/7 thing

We who are believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit—in fact, our bodies are the temple of the Spirit

We should continually be conscious of our God—His presence in our lives..

We should have a clear…and grand…understanding of who our God is—and be continually in a state of thanksgiving

Though we make Thanksgiving a one day/year event, the imagery from this Psalm is for every time they came to the place of meeting with their God, our circumstances are much different

This is that point in the message when I must bring in the reality of some people NOT being among God’s people

Just as there were people who would not meet the true and living God in days of that Psalm, there are those today who also avoid Him

Interestingly, they may sing all the Thanksgiving hymns---maybe sing them with great gusto---but they do not know God

Some my express thanks…but to some non-specific force…maybe not even to the God the acknowledge but don’t know

It looks different for different people

Some just deny God…but the songs make them feel good

Some deny God’s sovereignty in their lives—so it’s just something they do once/year

Some have never examined the reality of God—an increasingly real thing in our culture

So, how can we be sure we get this right

If you are among those who do not know God—for whatever reason—lets get that right today

God lays out a very simple plan for us

Jesus told His disciples John 14 6

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Coming to the Father is by way of the Son; humbling ourselves before Him, repenting of our sins, and taking on a new direction in our lives

Only those with that relationship can come to the table—both literally and figuratively—with a thankful heart

ur Thanksgiving celebration are not going to look anything like the Jewish celebrations

We don’t expect that the activities of our celebrations will change much

Challenge

As we spend these next few days working up to the event that is one of the great traditions of our country, let us keep in mind the origin, the reason, the true nature of what we celebrate

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;

Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell

Come ye before Him and rejoice.