Let us be thankful

Introduction

Good morning church and happy lead-up to one of the most important holidays on our calendar, and unashamedly, one of my favorites. Thanksgiving. Despite what you may think, its not just because it allows me to get my smoker out, or because I just really love the food. I can admit openly those things are always true and thanksgiving is one of my top 5 favorite meals bar-none. It’s not the family, or the football, or the black-Friday, or the parade on tv, or the many and many of family traditions.

Thanksgiving was an on-again/off-again celebration since 1789 when President Washington requested it from congress but ultimately in 1863, it would be President Lincoln who Proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” He called on Americans to “with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience… fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation.” The nation had been so scarred and left reeling from the civil war that Lincoln recognized the need for us to come together again around something that we could and should all get behind.

Listen to his remarks:

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and 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 next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union

Tension

You see, the origins of thanksgiving might have happened at Plymouth, and the details are often cussed and discussed by people with that kind of time on their hands, but for me, the real meaning of Thanksgiving is supposed to be one that causes us to pause from our daily grind of consuming, bringing in the harvest, looking towards the next thing, the next meeting, the next purchase, the next grind, and pause. To take stock. To dwell in the present, and surround ourselves with our families and friends to really appreciate the blessing they are to our lives. It’s a time to count blessings and “to offer up their supplications to Almighty God, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner, to give Him praise for His goodness in general.” And no matter what your time looks like this week, I would ask you, along with president Lincoln to petition the Lord. Thank him for all the many blessings he’s poured out on you. Ask him to indwell you and your family going forward. Ask for his blessing and renewal over our broken and divided nation. Ask for revival to break out over our community, our region, and our nation. Ask him to start that revival in your heart.

In short church, today, I want us to go through a famous passage found in Hebrews 12 as we explore how much we really have to be thankful of as believers in Jesus Christ. We are people who have no shortage of blessings, of promise, and of hope.

Will you stand with me this morning as we read together out of the word of God, in reverence to him and his provision in our lives?

Truth.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do Not Grow Weary

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly[a] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Exposition.

I think, as we analyze this passage in light of the great gifts we have been given through Christ, we have a great deal to truly be grateful for.

1. We are thankful for those who have gone before us and poured the hope of Christ into our lives. Vs 1.

Have you recently considered the miracle that was the participation of all those who invested in your life? Those who taught you Sunday school? Grandma, who found a way to take you to church all those years as a kid? Those teachers who loved you and gave you confidence and competence? The pastors who poured into your marriage and the friends who always pointed you towards holiness with love and gentleness. Behind every face in this room this morning stands a lineage of faithful saints who molded us and showed us Christ’s beauty. Perhaps a duty you owe to them this week and unto the Lord is to thank him properly that in his sovereign will he put them in your life. That in all the families you could have been in, he gave you the one you have now. Perhaps another step is to call those that you still can and let them know the impact they truly made.

I was in a particularly dark season of life as a young man. I was working 3 jobs to make ends meet and currently sitting on a medical bed as a young woman, probably 19 was hooking me up to donate plasma. I was running ragged and getting pretty tired from it all. As she hooked me up she asked, “I hate to presume anything but is your name Juston Davidson?” I responded, “That depends on who is asking and what I’ve done.” She proceeded to explain to me that she was a kid at a camp that I spoke at my first year as a youth pastor. “I want you to know that that year changed my life forever. I was in an abusive family who regularly went to church and looked great from the outside but for the first time, that week, I really considered that Jesus was better than what I had been shown. I talked with a leader that week, gave my heart to Jesus, and went home to tell them what had happened. God broke my dad’s heart and my whole family came up to the altar that week and prayed together. Im 19 now, have a new baby with my fiancé and we are trying to make it all work. I just wanted to tell you that you probably have no idea who I am but you changed my life. Thank you.”

I sat on that bed, reflecting and crying, and remembering that I serve a God who is so big. So, from one guy who gets this point to you all, call the people who mattered and tell them such. It’s a blessing that feels like a 5 pounder but actually weighs a ton.

2. We are thankful because Jesus is our priest who endured where we could not. Vs 2-3.

In high school I went from being a wide receiver to being a wide lineman. I wasn’t very good but when I got down on the line, I was always grateful I was next to Mike. He was twice my size, twice my experience, and would often make plays happen that I couldn’t hope to. He was strong and I was just next to him, letting him make me look good.

Friends, you serve a God who is stronger than you are. Your priest is the very son of God who took on flesh and lived just as you do. Temptations, struggles, physical and mental and spiritual trials, they all happened to him as well. While his divine nature was intact, his power and privilege were set to the side so that he could live in and among humanity. Why? To show and make a way for us. Or, as the passage says,

“so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

He took on your weakness and lived righteously. I think sometimes we forget what that really means for us. That he came to live a despised life-just because he wouldn’t falter or compromise. He lived out genuine perfection and devotion to the righteous requirement of God’s law, only to be persecuted by those who couldn’t keep one dot or chattel of it. He was what they only wished they could be and his nature infuriated them. What should they have done instead? Instead of intense jealousy and rage towards their enemy they should have seen that the messiah wouldn’t come as a conquering king but a sacrificial lamb. His perfection made the way for their salvation.

We learned a couple weeks ago in Awana that everyone’s favorite verse is John 3:16 but that, astonishingly it is attached to John 3:17,

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus lived perfectly and righteously, yes, but he didn’t come to condemn sinners as much as save them. He was strong because you are weak. He was righteous and you didn’t have any righteousness. He was loving and kind and we raged at him for it. Yet, all the while, he took it and carried on towards a cross of suffering and shame because he knew it was too heavy for me to carry on my own. In essence friends, we serve a high priest who truly does know you, and loves you. This is such a reason for your embrace your thankfulness and gratitude this year.

3. We are thankful for God’s love and his discipline. Vs.4-17

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

This year, as Amanda and I went through training through the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, we sat through classes on a lot of stuff. Frankly, more than I can still wrap my head around. But, one talk stuck out around discipline and punishment. The idea being, to help parents really ask themselves what their goals are when it comes to disciplining kids. This is obviously a divisive and controversial subject.

· How many of you are from a timeout house?

· A grounded house?

· A spanking house?

· Grew us in a “back-talk your mom again and they won’t find the body house?”

I remember I grew up in a house where a couple cuss words where, as far as I could tell, invented. One time, as a kid, I decided to use what I had learned from my folks to tell my mom off. As I was flying through the air and skidding into the couch I remember thinking, “Maybe I shouldn’t do that anymore.”

One of the things that stood out to me about that conversation was this tidbit. “the goal of discipline is to teach a lesson, not simply to bring about punishment.” So what lessons are your punishments meant to teach? Are they teaching any or are you just mad?

As we all kind of sit up a little bit from such a statement, I want to remind you that God disciplines those that he loves because his goal is to teach us a lesson. Make no mistake, if God’s desire was simply to punish, he would let us go on holding the consequences of our sin. He would let us faulter to our own whims and destruction. Yet, he doesn’t.

Verse 7 tells us that God disciplines us, teaches us lessons because he wants us to endure as his sons. Discipline doesn’t always feet good in the moment but the lessons it give produce so much fruit in our lives if we will but see that for what they are. Dad cares about me so much that he has to say something. “We have to have a talk” becomes a phrase that you go from fearing to embracing because you know the heart from which its coming.

How does the Lord teach us these lessons, disciplining us? 3 thoughts for you.

His word.

Get in touch with his will by becoming a student and practitioner of his ways. Decide in your heart that when the way I do it comes in conflict with how God says I should, that His will, will win out in my life. It may tell you stuff that you are uncomfortable with or unfamiliar with but discipline is about pruning off the things that don’t produce fruit so that new life can grown.

His faithful.

Oftentimes in the scriptures, God impressed upon the hearts of believers to care for, love on, and even rebuke his faithful when they were off course. This still happens to this day. Surround yourself with brothers and sisters who are on the same road you are. That value the Lord and serving him. That care for your holiness more than just your happiness. Who love you enough to hurt your feelings for your own good. And don’t flee from them when they exercise discernment towards you. I explain it this way often, “How are you doing. Now how are you really doing?” When someone asks that type of question, don’t flee but lean in, accepting that honesty is where we first embrace discipline.

His Spirit.

Simply put, you don’t know you as well as the Spirit knows you. He is the one that convicts our hearts of sin and of righteousness. I say that a lot but what it means is that your ability to judge a situation as good and holy or wrong and evil is not your ability. The spirit is the quiet voice of reason and truth in your heart and he is the one who guides you towards the hard things of God and away from the ease of sinful happiness. He prays for, interceding on your behalf before God, for things you don’t even realize you need. Join him in this work. Become a good listener to the ways in which he applies the truth of God’s word to the behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs in your heart and mind. Join him in the work instead of fleeing when it gets hard.

In short church, we have a God who loves us enough to care enough to discipline us as his children. Thank him for that, embrace him for that, realize the riches of wisdom and knowledge that you’ve been give because he treats you with such love.

4. We are thankful because we’ve been given citizenship in an unmovable kingdom with an unshakable king. Vs.18-29

No matter what comes across twitter, Cnn, or fox news you serve a risen Christ. You serve a winning Christ, who defeated the stranglehold of sin, death, and hell that owned your destiny. No matter what leader, what movement, what new social doctrine rises to popularity, we serve a king who owns the last pages of Revelation. He wins and if we are on his side, who can even raise a threat to those who are in him? The answer is emphatically, “No one.” When is the last time you sat in thankfulness for the victory, the hope, and the peace that is given to you because of what Jesus did for you?

I mean it. Look at what he’s provided for you. Forgiveness of sin? Something you could never have earned in a year of your best life now you couldn’t have hoped to even make a dent in earning forgiveness.

Restored relationship with God? How quickly we forget that our sin doesn’t make God disappointed in us, it makes us his enemy. It isn’t us just “being human” it is us spitting in the face of God’s authority and sovereignty. Yet Christ’s sacrifice paid the penalty that my sin demanded. He bought and brought me back to the fold of a God that I maligned and rebelled against.

Called a son or daughter? Who are we that God would even look our way let alone invite us to become his children? To become joint heirs of the promise as Christ is?

The right to walk in eternity with him? Think about this for a moment. The huns- gone. Rome- ashes. Alexander the Great- Alexander the who? Hitler and the thousand year reich-didn’t last 12. Yet we are citizens in the kingdom of God that will have no end. No end, no failure, no struggles.

Are we truly thankful Church. Knowing that we serve a God who is worthy of our gratitude and worthy of our worship. Or as verses 28 and 29 say…

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.