Give Thanks: 'A Most Indescribable Gift'

Give Thanks  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  30:23
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(S1) — Give Thanks (title)
Some time ago there appeared an article in which the author imagined himself speaking before a group of 100 persons gathered to hear a Thanksgiving message. The treatment of the theme was memorable and went something like this...
"I thanked God for abundance, and 40 persons lowered their eyes for they were hungry and in need. I thanked God for health, and 40 other persons were excluded from sharing my praise, for their health was failing. I thanked God for homes and family and a dozen rose to leave, knowing that their homes were faltering. I thanked God for sparing my loved one, and tears fell from the cheeks of some who had had lost loved ones...." Douglas Phillips, Sermon Central
Thanksgiving is more than our own gratitude of God’s many blessings; its helping others in a way that gives them a reason to give thanks.
Today’s scripture lesson
Paul’s second letter to believers in Corinth (modern day Greece-3 mile from ancient Corinth). He writes of the need to serve Christians in Judea, and Jerusalem thorough their gifts (vs 1), after a famine had swept had across the land (40 A.D.).
He had been boasting to others about their generosity (vs.2); Commending them for their willingness to help with the collection for those who were in need. His words are a familiar ancient parabolic metaphor...
6 Whoever sows (gives) sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows (gives) generously will also reap generously.
Paul then shows them that their giving has a much greater purpose then supplying to those in need—He sums up his thought quoting from Psalm 112:9
9 “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures (everlasting) forever.”

To give is a gift; but to give thanks is a most INDESCRIBABLE gift!

Series: Last week—to give thanks is a ‘Joyful Noise’
Jeremiah 33:11 “the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.”
Today—God’s providing, supplying, and enduring love—Jesus; the greater gift and our reason to give thanks
(S2) 2 Corinthians 9:10-15...
(NLT) 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!
The need was great, and certainly in their eagerness to help, they were deserving of Paul’s praise—His words prepare them to be ready to do so and to respond with the attitude of giving
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Responding in thanksgiving to God, their gifts would have been monetary; providing to the lively hood of Jews in need—gift (blessing); their divine utterances (prayers), asking for the peoples favor and protection from God.
The apostle also speaks to the need for a right attitude of heart…their abundance and ability to give because of God’s blessings—Giving thanks to God, breeds a generous and giving heart!
Are we thankful for our many blessing? Are our hearts to respond to the needs of others—who face hunger, afflictions, homelessness, uncertainty...
New Creations/Mitten Tree/Adopt-a Family/church/Prayer Ministry
(S3)—
Today’s message...When our THANKS becomes thanks GIVING
Give Thanks…Cards...PRAY
(S4)
There are two ways of looking at Thanksgiving—The first is being grateful for our many blessings
Walton’s Thanksgiving—John Boy’s being accepted to college/Jenny comes back to the mountain—Jason’s new job with the Baldwin sisters—Ben’s first opportunity to get the TG turkey (turkey yelp-er)—Maryellen trying out for the school play—Grandma cooking in the kitchen
(S5)
Blue Bloods (contemporary version)
Certainly it is proper to thank God for our blessings— Israelites in the wilderness...were given bread for food
(S6)
Jesus himself in feeding the 5,000, taught this to his disciples
Mark 6:41 “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.
We should be thankful for our many blessings....but Paul is pointing them to second way of looking at thanksgiving—Giving thanks for the MINISTRY of Christ—God’s indescribable gift by sowing seeds of thankfulness to God—Jesus spoke of this idea in the parable of the sower
Luke 8:8 “8...seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
Three results of SOWING SEEDS in THANKSGIVING to God
(S7) — First…

I. The GIVER is blessed with the GOODNESS of God!

Paul has already established that God is the one who supplies and provides…its God who blesses...
(S8)
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food...will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
How is the giver blessed with the goodness of God? In three ways
God SUPPLIES seed (the word that brings life), and bread (spiritual food that nourishes the soul)
John 6:48 “I am the bread of life.”
2. God PRODUCES in the giver a harvest of righteousness
Romans 3:10 “There is no one righteous, not even one;”
No one can obtain on their own, what can only be received in Christ—Right-standing with God.
Romans 5:6–8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
With Christ in them, the giver becomes a sower of seed producing a harvest of right-living and thankfulness to God.
Isaiah 55:10“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
3. The giver is ENRICHED in every way
(S9)
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Because of the righteousness of God in them, the giver is blessed, made wealthy, in the riches of Christ.
“What Paul promises to the generous giver is not wealth-in-return but all that you need and also sufficient for every good work” (8). The Message of 2 Corinthians (c. The Results of Giving)The giver is given what they need to sow and by it is produced a harvest of abundance—increasing, enlarging, and enriching one to sow thanksgiving to God.
“The greater the giving, the greater the enrichment. The greater the enrichment the greater resources to give.”
2 Timothy 3:17so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
How is God producing a harvest of blessing in your life? Supplied, enriched, a harvest of right-living?
Sometimes we sell ourselves short in our ability to be generous in ways that bring thankfulness to God.
John 1:16 (ESV) “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
Sowing seeds of thanks to God; the giver is blessed with the goodness of God.
The second result of sowing seeds in thanks-giving to God
(S10)

II. The RECIPIENT will respond in a MULTITUDE of ways in thanks to God

“The hungry receiving food…will be so overwhelmed by the givers generosity that they will will raise their hearts and voices in many ways
(S11)
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
“Jewish people believed that God heard the cries of the poor” Deuteronomy 15:9–10. His readers would have understood his point that their aid to the poor brought direct Glory to God in many ways. New Testament (9:6–15—Sowing and Reaping).
“Paul is expanding the audience of thanks-giving to God to include not only Judean believers (with them), to the whole body of Christ” (others) Bible Commentary, Belleville
Their generosity was to go beyond the Lord’s people but to all those who were in need—Jesus and the Parable of the great banquet
Luke 14:12–14 “Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.””
Do we hear the cries of those in need over our own reasons for giving thanks? How is our thanks-giving produce a multitude of thanks to God?
The third result of sowing seeds of thanks-giving to God
(S12)

III. Many OTHERS will offer praise to God

Paul is speaking of those observers who will witness their generosity.
(S13)
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
Notice it is not the act of providing for one’s needs that solicit’s praise to God, but the ministry of their obedience and confession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems, published in 1739, John Wesley wrote, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.” J.W.
“For Wesley, “social holiness” did not simply mean “social justice.” Social holiness begins in Christian community, and therefore has everything to do with the fellowship of believers. The church is the place where social holiness is cultivated and exercised, but it also spills over the boundaries of it and reaches out to those who are outside of the fellowship.
Jesus’ healing of the paralytic…
Matthew 9:8 “When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”
In other words, the social gospel…is not the gospel without the good news of Jesus proclaimed through our obedience to it and confession of it in our lives to others. Sowing seeds of thanks-giving is meant to lead others to praise God…not man
When our THANKS becomes our Thanks-GIVING
—The giver is filled with the GOODNESS of God—The recipient responds in a MULTITUDE of ways in thanks to God—Many OTHERS would offer praise to God...all because of the grace of God and His most indescribable gift
(S14)
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Notice how God takes the smallest of seed, some bread for food, and increases our supply of generosity…enlarges our righteousness so we have all we need to provide for others…enriches us in every way for every occasion…overflowing in many expressions of thankfulness…all because of the surpassing grace of God, given to us in His most indescribable gift—Jesus
Romans 5:15 “The gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
(S15) —Sow seeds of thankfulness...
by helping others in need…those whose health is failing…whose homes are faltering…who are mourning loss…who need Jesus; God’s most indescribable gift...
John 4:10 “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink...
Are you thankful…? Are you Sowing Seeds of thanks-giving so it produces a harvest of righteousness in you and others?
GIVE, GIVE, GIVE—One time a skeptic said to a preacher, "I can’t stand this Christianity business. All I ever hear from you Christians is give, give, give." The preacher thought a minute and said, "That’s about the best description of Christianity I have ever heard!"
Give, give, give…thanks— Be thankful....help others in a way that gives them Jesus; a reason to give thanks.
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