Thanks-Giving Defined

Call To Worship

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95:1-2

Introduction

What is Thanksgiving Biblically defined

Puritan quote

Thanksgiving is a self-denying grace; it is an uncrowning ourselves and the creatures to set the crown upon the head of our Creator; it is the making ourselves a footstool, that God may be lifted up upon His throne and ride in a holy triumph over all. ⬩ THOMAS BROOKS

Definition

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Thanksgiving

The act of offering thanks or being thankful, usually to God. Often connected to provision, deliverance, or God’s character. Commonly associated in Scripture with meals and worship.

Expanding on the idea

The Lexham Bible Dictionary General Usage in the Bible

The concept of thanksgiving evolves theologically throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, it is closely tied with the verb “to bless” (בָּרַךְ, barakh; e.g., Deut 8:10). The most common Hebrew noun used for “thanks” (תּוֹדָה, todah) derives from the verb “to praise, confess” (יָדָה, yadah). While Genesis bears little evidence of individuals offering thanks to God, by the time of Leviticus the Israelites had instituted a thanks offering as part of the sacrificial system (Lev 7:11–15). Thanksgiving bears a prominent place in the Psalms, both on an individual (e.g., Psa 116) and communal (e.g., Psa 100) level.

In the New Testament, thanksgiving is tied to the concept of “grace” (χάρις, charis). Most Greek words related to “thanks” are semantically connected, including the noun “thanksgiving” (εὐχαριστία, eucharistia), the adjective “thankful” (εὐχάριστος, eucharistos), and the verb “to give thanks, be thankful” (εὐχαριστέω, eucharisteō). People in the New Testament offer thanksgiving to God in worship (e.g., 1 Tim 2:1), individual prayer (e.g., Acts 28:15), and at meals (e.g., Matt 15:36–37). Expressions of thanksgiving appear throughout Paul’s writings (e.g., Phil 1:3–8). In the New Testament, thanksgiving is often a response to the redemptive work of Jesus (e.g., Rom 7:25). Texts like Luke 24:30 indicate that thanksgiving held an important part in Jewish and Christian meals.

Thanksgiving for Salvation

The Root of Thanksgiving

Psalm 95:1–2 (ESV)

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

The Rock of our Salvation. This is Jesus He is the place in which our hope is found!

This section commands specifically us believers to first

Come (1,2) We are to bring Jesus worship and to bring him thanksgiving. This is a command that the Psalm writer is giving us!

Sing We together are to bring Holy song unto him for the Goodness. Thankfulness for what God has done wells up inside of us.

The Rock is a secure place it is the place that we must dwell.

We are told that Jesus is the Rock.

He is the secure ground to build your life on

He is the the place in which lasting legacy are built.

He is the foundation of strong families, marriages, churches, nations.

Without him nothing has a firm foundation.

We must give thanks to him because he is good

The Works of God Lead to Thanksgiving

Revelation 11:15–19 ESV

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

In Heaven you see this proclaimed.

We sing about This every time you hear Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah chorus. Which take place as the end of the second part the story of the Crucifixion and resurrection. Verse 15 is part of this famous songified part of this verse. It was so moving that when the King of England heard it for the first time he stood. All man no matter how great or small in worth according to this world will stand in worship for Christ.

Oh praise that the good and perfect king will reign forever and ever.

We will all sing Hallelujahs

Why You should Give thanks to God

Thanksgiving is God’s Will for you

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

A thankful obedience and an obedient thankfulness are a Christian’s life. ⬩ RICHARD BAXTER

Many are seeking what they are to do with their lives. This is a clear command to yo with what to do with your life.

This command is in a list of other commands God has given us all on how to live peaceably with one another.

Want to end hostility with your husband or wife, your children ask what are you thankful for that they do with their lives.

Why are you thankful for God, because he through our hostility due to our sin saved us from the just wrath of God we deserve.

Likewise if your thankful for your family member how much pain could be avoided?

The same for your church family, what are you thankful for?

For the Kids Thankfulness also means you don’t whine! (some of us adults need to hear this also!) If your whining about your lot in life, your portion that God has given you, you’re in sin! If you want a better portion that takes work not whining! Be Thankful it is God’s will for you!

When Their Should be Thanksgiving

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Let me put this another way are you breathing? is God giving you every waking and sleeping moment? Than you should live a life of thankfulness.

Maybe your like me and had thanksgiving with one less family member, yet God is still so good.

Maybe your family is growing and you’ll be able to give thanks to God for one more. God is so good.

Give thanks

Maybe the pain just keeps caring on, yet God still is your portion, your hope when he isn’t for so many give thanks.

All circumstances is all cirucustances.

This reminds me of one of my favorite sections of scripture

Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You by being thankful model this to your family. I can tell you one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard is little lips saying “praise the Lord.” Strive to be a person who models it so that little lips may say praise the Lord.

Thanksgiving is worship

Psalm 100:4–5 ESV

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.

Christ is God’s very best gift for us. He is faithful to us and our children and our Children’s children. He endures forever.

Really practically demonstrate that to your children and grandchildren, the kids you see.

Men does your family see you as a thankful man or not? Will at your funeral will they say Dad/grandpa was always thankful for what God has done?

Ladies do your children rise up and say you always were the symbol of thankfulness to God and to your husbands?

Do your friends see you as a grateful person?

Your Thankful worship is a gospel presentation

The Supper as Thanksgiving

Puritan Thomas Doolittle said

every believer seeks deeper assurance when going to the Lord’s Table. He said God’s children come to the Table for the following reasons:

“To have communion with God. To increase our faith in Christ and love for God. To further our joy in the Holy Ghost. Our peace of conscience and hope of eternal life.… To make us thankful to God for His mercy bestowed upon us in Christ. To get power against our sins. And especially to remember and show forth the death of Christ.”

When you approach the table it should evoke a thankfulness ofr God nourshing your faith through the supper

For him providing spiritual food by which we grow in faith

by recalling us to the forgiveness of Sins that we have received from Jesus

Let’s Partake

Benediction

300 Quotations and Prayers for Christmas The Words, Thoughts, and Emotions that Belong to You This Day

This day, the holiest, the happiest, the most glorious of words, and thoughts, and emotions belong to you. Use them! God help you to enjoy them; and His be the praise, while yours is the comfort evermore. Amen.