Thank you Lord (2)

Introduction

The observance of Thanksgiving Day is a distinctively American tradition.

Its practice began 404 years ago, in 1621, on American shores,

as grateful Pilgrims gave thanks for a modest harvest on a twenty-acre

plot that promised to carry them through another hard winter. For over a century

Our nation has observed this festive day by presidential statute.

Thanksgiving Day is a distinctively religious observance. It was set aside

as a day of prayer and praise. In 1863, President Lincoln designated the last Thursday of

November “as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our gracious Father who dwells in the

heavens.”

Thanksgiving Day is not set aside that we might concentrate all our

gratitude within the day and take God’s gifts for granted the rest of the

year. Someone has suggested that we change Thanksgiving Day into a day

of grumbling and complaint and spend the other 364 days of the year in

thanksgiving.

Benjamin Franklin recalled a childhood experience that brought a sharp

rebuke from his father. An old pork barrel was situated near the table from

which the father would daily draw meat for the day’s need. Then his father

would always pray the prayer, “We thank Thee, Father, for the meat Thou

hast set before us.”

One day young Ben suggested: “Father, why not say one prayer over the

whole barrel and get it done with? Then we won’t have to thank the Lord every

meal for every piece of meat we eat.” Isn’t this often what we do?

Never has a generation been so blessed with material comforts and possessions

as in our day.

The late Dr. Gossip told of a message he brought at a meeting in a small coal-mining

town in Scotland. While he was speaking, a note was handed to the chairman. He glanced

 at it, looked over the crowd, and passed it down the line. Dr. Gossip said he could feel the

sudden, ominous, tense stillness, the unanimous agony of suspense, the holding of breath,

the quickening of the heartbeats of the whole group as the terrifying note made

its way nearer to the woman to whom it was directed. Her face was white as

she received it. Every eye was upon her. She opened it, read it, and smiled.

Instantly everyone relaxed. Dr. Gossip commented, “For always, always they

live with the terror of injury and death for their loved ones brooding over

them—that we might have coal.”

We flip a switch on our wall and expect light. We forget the linemen who

keep the electricity flowing. We are unmoved when we read of the electrocution

of a worker atop a pole. We turn the faucet in our kitchen and water flows. In the book

 Wind, Sand, and Stars, written by a pilot of the French Sahara line during World

War II, we read of three Moors from the desert who had never seen a tree, a

rose, or a flowing river in their native land. After the War they were guests in

Europe. They were shown a waterfall in the French Alps. Now, to them, water

was worth its weight in gold. This extravagance was overwhelming.

The guide was ready to move on, but they insisted on waiting. “Why?”

he asked. Their amazing reply was, “We are waiting for the falls to come

to an end.” It was simply beyond their comprehension that God should so

madly supply water. This water had been running ceaselessly for thousands

of years. When they returned to their homeland, they said very little about

the waterfalls. No one would believe them anyway.

The psalmist, in a time when his heart sang in praise in an awareness of

God’s gracious gifts, asked himself, “What shall I render unto the Lord for

all his benefits toward me?” (Ps. 116:12).

 He answered with three responses:

1. I will take the cup of salvation.

2. I will pay my vows.

3. I will assume the role of servant.

I. I will take the cup of salvation (Ps. 116:13).

Ps 116:13

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

NIV

What was this cup of salvation the psalmist lifted in praise to the Lord?

1. Most likely, it was a symbolic reference to the drink offering prescribed in Leviticus 23:13.

a. At the yearly Feast of First fruits, the Israelites were to submit a drink offering of “a quarter of a hin of wine” (about one quart) to God in gratefulness for His salvation and continued provision in the Promised Land.

b. The liquid offering was poured out on the altar, accompanied by other contributions from products of the land.

c. These offerings were given as reminders that the rich fruits of the harvest were all from God and depended on His favor.

2. Drink offerings were frequently presented in the Bible to thank God for His salvation.

a. After the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel and changed his name to Israel, Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark where God had met with him and spoken to him.

b. Then “he poured out a drink offering on it” (Genesis 35:14).

c. At the ordination of the priests, a drink offering was presented (Exodus 29:38–41).

d. As a test of obedience, God gave additional rules for offerings in Numbers 15, including burnt offerings accompanied by a drink offering (verses 5, 7, 10).

e. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul compared his sacrificial ministry to an act of worship: “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you” (Philippians 2:17).

f. In the face of death, he told Timothy, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near” (2 Timothy 4:6).

3. The “cup of salvation” is also suggestive of God’s good gifts to humans, which David extolled: “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings” (Psalm 23:5, NLT).

4. The psalmist’s “cup of salvation” is the counterpart to the “cup of wrath,” representing God’s judgment of sin and His wrath reserved for the wicked to drink (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:22; Jeremiah 25:15–16; Ezekiel 23:31–34).

a. This cup of wrath is associated with Jesus Christ’s extreme suffering and death on the cross (Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42).

b. The Lord’s mention of it in Gethsemane anticipated the excruciating moment when Jesus would cry, “God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

c. Jesus was about to drink the cup of God’s wrath for us so that we might be spared and saved.

5. In lifting the cup of salvation, the psalmist offered praise to God for the blessing of His salvation.

a. In the manner of a salute, he raised the cup high and partook of it amid praise and thanksgiving for God’s tremendous and abundantly gracious deliverance.

b. This illustration is an excellent image for believers to contemplate when offering our thanks to God

This is the first step. The greatest gift of God to humanity is the gift of his Son. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

1. We cannot sincerely say, “God, we thank you for sending your Son to die for our sins,” and not accept that Son as our own Savior.

a.  To reject God’s Son and his claims on our life is to say, “So far as I am concerned, He might as well not have come to the earth.”

b. The first response of gratitude is to “take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.”

c. What a blessed promise is the declaration, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

II. I will pay my vows (Ps. 116:14).

Ps 116:14

14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

NIV

“I will pay them,” the psalmist suggests, “in the presence of all [God’s]

people.”

1. These are public vows. They begin with a public profession of faith.

a. We declare our allegiance to Christ and his church.

b.  Like the public vows of marriage made by two people deeply in love, the public vows of the Christian put us on record and under obligation to be consistent and faithful to our vows to Christ and his church.

2. Think back today on all the vows you have made since that first one.

a.  Think of the high, emotional experience when that baby was born and you held in your arms a life of your own flesh.

b. Think of that revival meeting, that camp experience, that time of great sorrow or great joy when God was so close and you vowed to love him more devotedly and to follow his will.

3. Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful time to pay our vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

III. I will assume the role of the servant (Ps. 116:16).

Ps 116:16

16 O Lord, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.

NIV

“O Lord, truly I am thy servant,” the psalmist writes.

1. When we assume the role of the servant, we are most like our Lord.

a. The word minister means “servant.”

b. The word deacon means “servant.”

c. The New Testament declares that all Christians are called to be “ministers,” “servants,” in the sense that we are to be concerned with ministering to the needs of others rather than being concerned with being served by others.

2. Jesus said of his coming, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” Let us follow his example. Let us translate our “thanksgiving” into “thanksliving.”

Conclusion

When Jesus addressed Peter with the question, “Do you love me?” He

followed Peter’s declaration with the words, “Feed my sheep.”

1. In other words, if you love, do something about it! Thanksgiving must not be mere words.

2. The Pharisee started his prayer with the words, “God, I thank thee,” but followed those words with a bigoted, self-centered eulogy about his own self-righteousness.

a. How does God know we love him? By our doing something about it.

b. This begins with receiving his blessed Son as our Savior.