MARKS OF THE CHURCH --- THANKSGIVING

Today we turn to the “Mark of the Church” that is so deep and profound that I don’t think we can even come close to plumbing the depths of the meaning of this mark.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “thanksgiving?’ What does thanksgiving mean to you? How do you give thanksgiving? How do you live with thanksgiving?

The holidays are here and we are four days away from Thanksgiving Day! Families and friends will gather together, they will share a meal, and share their lives with laughter and love.

This morning let’s take a few minutes to scratch the surface of the mark of the church called “Thanksgiving.”

We have two, long readings. Before we dig into the word, let’s pray!

“God of mercy, grace, and forgiveness, we gather today with a thankful heart. We give you all our thanks and all the glory for the lives you have given us. We are so thankful. We are so grateful. Help us to always live a life of thanksgiving. Amen”

In chapter fifteen of I Chronicles, the Ark of the Covenant is brought to Jerusalem. When the Ark arrives by chapter sixteen, David and all the people begin to worship! The Ark has been brought into the tent that King David pitched. What we are going to read from 1 Chronicles is King David’s praise and thanksgiving song!

I Chronicles 16:7-36

That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the Lord:

8 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

10 Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

11 Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.

12 Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

13 O descendants of Israel his servant,

O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

14 He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

15 He remembers his covenant forever,

the word he commanded, for a thousand generations,

16 the covenant he made with Abraham,

the oath he swore to Isaac.

17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

18 “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion you will inherit.”

19 When they were but few in number,

few indeed, and strangers in it,

20 they wandered from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another.

21 He allowed no man to oppress them;

for their sake he rebuked kings:

22 “Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.”

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

24 Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

25 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

27 Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and joy in his dwelling place.

28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength,

29 ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.

Bring an offering and come before him;

worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth!

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

33 Then the trees of the forest will sing,

they will sing for joy before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth.

34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

35 Cry out, “Save us, O God our Savior;

gather us and deliver us from the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name,

that we may glory in your praise.”

36 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”[i]

By doing this, King David reminded the people of Israel that worship was to begin and end with the Lord. King David took several of the Psalms that he had written and combined them together in his praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. You probably didn’t notice, but David uses title “The Lord” fourteen times. David wanted to remind the people of God’s works (vv. 8–13), God’s words (vv. 14–22) and God’s wonder (vv. 23–36). David wanted the people to be thankful and to offer up thanksgiving sacrifices of praises for God’s works, God’s words, and God’s wonders. King David wanted the people to offer up thanksgiving and praise for the Lord’s glory, greatness, and goodness.

Can you imagine the excitement of the day? The Ark finally came to Jerusalem! One day the Ark would disappear, but the inspired song of praise and thanksgiving has remained for all generations to use as they worship God.

King David does not end the song with the God’s works, words and wonder. King David reminds the people that after you have worshiped, you must remember to witness to the lost (v. 23) and to do your part in getting the worship of God out to the nations of the world (vv. 24, 31).

This past week, I found an interesting and compelling statement from Archbishop William Temple. Temple was the 98th Archbishop of Canterbury and he pointed out the essential nature of worship: “For to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”[ii]

It has been said that many people worship their work, work at their play and play at worship. One “Dear Abby” column described a poll the writer took, asking churchgoers why they went to church. Not one of them mentioned worship[iii]

So what? Why do we come to worship? Why DO we come to church? What is thanksgiving? How do we become a people of thanksgiving?

When Paul wrote the letter to the church in Colossae, he was sitting in a prison in Rome awaiting his own death. Paul had never been to Colossae, but he had heard of their faith and he was thankful for their love for Christ. Paul wanted to proclaim the preeminence of Christ when he wrote this letter. His theme of the letter is one of thankfulness.

Colossians 1:3-14

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.[iv]

THANKSGIVNG IS THANKS-LIVING

Few have understood power of giving thanks and living with a thankful heart as thoroughly as Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and novelist. Here’s the transcript of what Wiesel said on the Oprah Winfrey show:

OPRAH: There may be no better person than you to speak about living with gratitude. Despite all the tragedy you've witnessed, do you still have a place inside you for gratefulness?

ELIE: Absolutely. Right after the war, I went around telling people, "Thank you just for living, for being human." And to this day, the words that come most frequently from my lips are, "Thank you." When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

OPRAH: Does having seen the worst of humanity make you more grateful for ordinary occurrences?

ELIE: For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.[v]

What a powerful testimony of living with thanksgiving. Ellie said, “When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”

In the Old Testament, when the word THANKSGIVING is used it is very closely tied to praising God. Psalm 50:14, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…”. Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His steadfast love endures forever.” The New Testament seems to take this idea one step further; not only are we to praise God and give thanks—but we are beginning to learn how to live a life of thanksgiving. Listen to John 6:11, “Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, he distributed the loaves to those who were seated…” Jesus gave thanks to God and then he shared what he had.

When I went to my Logos computer program and put in the word “thanksgiving,” it downloaded an overwhelming amount of reasons for thanksgiving:

We thank God for His character, His goodness, His presence, His answer to prayer, His works, His wonders, His Words, His victory over sin and death, His forgiveness, His mercy, His power, His peace, and His love. Do you remember that the Lord’s Supper is called The Great Thanksgiving? We celebrate the Great Thanksgiving every time we share the sacrament of communion.

So What?

Shawn Achor, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard, suggests that we can train our brains to become more grateful by setting aside five minutes a day for practicing gratitude. He cites a one-week study in which people were asked to take five minutes a day, at the same time every day, to write down three things they were thankful for. They didn’t have to be big things, but they had to be concrete and specific, such as, “I’m thankful for the delicious Thai take-out dinner I had last night.” Or, “I’m thankful that my daughter gave me a hug.” Or, “I’m thankful that my boss complimented my work.” The participants simply expressed thanks for three specific things at the same time every day.

At the end of one month, the researchers followed up and found that those who practiced gratitude—including those who stopped the exercise after one week—were happier and less depressed. Remarkably, after three months, the participants who had been part of the one-week experiment were still more joyful and content. Incredibly, after the six-month mark, they were still happier, less anxious, and less depressed. The researchers hypothesized that the simple practice of writing down three thanksgivings a day over the course of a week primed the participants’ minds to search for the good in their lives.[vi]

Here's your “SO WHAT?”

At the same time of the day, for the next week, write down three things you are thankful for; three specific, concrete things. Here’s my first three things that I wrote down this morning:

1. I am thankful that the young boy at the wrestling tournament did not get seriously hurt.

2. I am thankful that I was able to go to dinner with my wife and two good friends last night and share some memories and laughs.

3. I am thankful for being able to walk around Victoria Gardens with three of my grandchildren, and to celebrate the night with a Starbucks.

The research is in. If we can do this small listing of three thankful things for this week, we are going to be happier, less anxious, and less depressed—in a week, in a month, and even in six months. This is a wonderful season for us to turn the praise of thanksgiving into learning how to live a life of thanks living. First, our thanksgiving goes up…as we praise God…and then…the thanksgiving comes down to live among us as we share what we have with others in our family, at work, at school, at the grocery store—and even on the freeway.

I’m even going to help you out. I’ve made up a chart for the next week. Each day has 3 spaces for you to write down what you are thankful for. I’ve added a verse for you to memorize as you do this exercise. Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses ALL understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

I think Jesus was on to something when he lifted the bread and the cup and gave THANKS.

I think the early church was on to something when they called communion THE GREAT THANKSGIVING.

More than anything, I want us to wear this mark of the church, THANKSGIVING. Like Miss Jac shared: Jesus, Others, You…in that order…produces JOY.

Lord, teach us to be a thankful congregation. We put YOU, Jesus, first. We praise You. We are so thankful for each person here. Help us to give thanks for all you have given to us and help us to share what we have with others. Amen.

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

November 18, 2018

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (1 Ch 16:7–36). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[ii] Hughes, R. K. (1996). Acts: the church afire. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[iii] Hughes, R. K. (1996). Acts: the church afire (p. 349). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[iv] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Col 1:3–14). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[v] Diana Butler Bass, “Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks,” (HarperOne, 2018), Page 44

[vi] Ken Shigematsu, Survival Guide for the Soul (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), Pages 114-115

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