Sermon Tone Analysis

THANK GOD – FOR GOD

The hostess for a luncheon asked her pastor to come and offer a blessing.

However, an emergency came up and he couldn’t make it.

The shy husband of the hostess volunteered to support his wife though he hated to speak in public.

Visibly nervous he rose and announced reverently, “As there is no clergyman present, let us give thanks.”

I kind of hope that is not part of your thanksgiving list!

Let me suggest a nobler possibility this morning.

We usually concentrate on God’s gifts.

And God is definitely glorified when we enjoy what he has given us (I Tim 4, 6).

But, there is always the danger of making an idol out of His gifts – letting them actually take His place.

So, let’s go straight to the top this morning.

Let me suggest we thank God for God!

The older I get, the more I realize how little I know God.

I believe it is my own greatest need.

God is vast, so I’ve just chosen 5 things about God to be thankful for.

My prayer is that in examining them, we will take one more step toward knowing Him better.

What about God can we be thankful for?

I. God Exists

The Bible takes God’s existence for granted.

It never sets out to prove it for the same reason you would not write a book to prove your existence.

You don’t need to prove what you know to be true, and neither does God.

God’s take is found in Psa 53:1, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Perhaps you heard about the guy who was unhappy that atheists have no holiday.

Christians have Christmas and Easter.

The Jews have Passover.

“But we atheists,” he said, “have no recognized national holiday.

It isn’t fair.”

His friend said, “I have an idea.

Why don’t you celebrate April 1st?”

Appropriate or not, think how foolish it is to declare, “No God.”

When our granddaughter Meagan was here we were playing hide-and-seek.

Bless her heart, still likes it at 11. Kills me that it won’t be long.

One time she hid and I looked everywhere.

Couldn’t find her.

Later she took me to the our closet, where I had looked, and demonstrated how she crouched between some clothes hanging tightly all the way to the floor in such a way that I missed her.

The point is you can’t declare “No God” unless you have examined every nook and cranny of the whole universe -- physical and spiritual.

No one has done that.

It is sheer arrogance to declare “No God.”

What I’d like to know is why are some people so anxious to declare “No God” and with such vehemence?

Men like Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins are on a crusade.

And the question is why.

What difference does it all make if there is no God in the first place.

The verse answers: “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity.”

The fool declares “No God” because he does not want to answer for his iniquity.

Someone has well said, “The fool cannot find God for the same reason that a thief cannot find a policeman.”

He does not want to find him.

Thankfully God’s existence does not depend on man’s opinion.

He does not need man’s approval to be.

The truth is, it is only because God exists that you and I and the world we inhabit exists.

The Bible is eloquent in its simplicity: Gen 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Think about that for a moment.

So many questions answered right in verse 1 of the Bible!

John says it this way in 1:3, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Listen, if you can believe those two verses, it’s downhill from there.

What are the most basic personal questions in life?

Here are everyone’s top 3.

Where did I come from?

Why am I here?

Where am I going?

People struggle desperately to find answers because when you leave God out of the equation, logical answers lead to despair.

There’s no tomorrow w/o God.

The existence of the God of Scripture simplifies things exponentially.

Where did I come from?

I came from God.

I am part of the “all things” He made.

The Creator of this marvelously complex universe took a personal interest in my creation.

Psalm 139:13-14,“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Beloved, that is “personal involvement.”

I came from God.

You came from God.

We all came from God.

Why am I here?

Isa 43:7, “7) everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

We were made to glorify God.

Miss that and you miss your whole purpose for being.

You do!

Now, you can glorify God in a lot of ways.

Lynn does it by farming.

Todd does it by coaching.

Diane does it by teaching.

Anything can point to His magnificence.

I Cor 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Col 1:16 summarizes beautifully and wonderfully, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

You, me, everyone who ever lived exists for him.

To miss that is to waste your life.

Where did I come from?

Why am I here?

How about where am I going?

Only you can answer that one.

Naturalism has only one answer to this question, by the way.

Where am I going – to nothingness.

Kim Elizabeth has said, “Nothing is more dreadful in life than the profound thought that death may only greet you with eternal nothingness.”

But Jesus makes clear that the options are two: Matt 7:13-14 says, “13) “Enter by the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

14) For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Where am I going?

Two choices.

Heaven or hell.

There is no third alternative.