2021.11.21 - What Is There To Give Thanks For?

If you’ve never paid attention to the Liturgical calendar before, this may be your year. We’ve had two years back-to-back unlike any other … This may be one way we can bring 2021 to an end sooner. :)

This week our nation will also celebrate Thanksgiving. For many of us, this celebration will still be very difficult. Some of us will again celebrate around a virtual table. Some of us will travel to family, and will likely be missing some who won’t travel. Some of us will have an empty chair at the table that wasn’t there before because someone is gone. Physical presence is very powerful in our lives.

These last two years have both felt like the year that just keeps on giving … and most of what they’ve given is stuff we don’t want!

What Is There To Give Thanks For?

I’ve thought for several years that the Church needed to move virtual. But never in my wildest imagination did I think worship would go VIRTUAL ONLY like we had to do last year TWICE and the Church is still not what it was before!

Absolutely nothing is the same as it was before. The simplest things in our lives will never be the same to us again because we took them for granted before. We took for granted being able to walk in the store and buy as much sanitizer as we wanted … or hand soap … or toilet paper … or Christmas gifts … or whatever else will be in short supply as the holidays come at us this year.

Now, we’ll be the people telling our kids and grandkids <old man voice> I remember when a man couldn’t just walk in the store and buy a bunch of toilet paper.” I look forward to the days when we look back on all of this. But I don’t think those days are coming any time soon.

We took for granted being able to see our friends and family every week in worship. Now, many are still watching virtually. Some of those folks are still too frightened to come out of their houses … imagine two years clammed up in your house. Others, have simply chosen to stop coming for a handful of reasons.

As we head into Thanksgiving, I’d like to speak to our online worshipers for just a second. If you’re still at home because of a fear of coming out, you can tune out for the next minute, too. If you’re watching this from home just because it’s more convenient … if you could be here in person and have chosen the easier way, I want to remind you of something.

You are a part of this family. Just like it’s hard to imagine a Thanksgiving without gathering around family in-person … it’s hard to imagine continuing to gather around the church family another year without you, and I hope you feel the same about us. Don’t misunderstand me … I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you. I’m trying to encourage you to think beyond the new default. By not being here, you miss out on so much. As I said a second ago … Physical presence is very powerful in our lives. If you have a choice, and you’re choosing to not come to worship in person, you’re denying us the power of your presence, and you’re denying yourself the power of the saints gathered. Please let the holidays be an excuse to reconsider your decision to stay away if it’s just out of convenience.

Now, for everyone:

In today’s Gospel reading, we’re presented a well-known story that offers a whole lot to think about. I’d like to look at the Sheep and the Goats within the context of Thanksgiving Sunday and Christ the King.

First things first … when I talk about this story, I always like to remind everyone that this is NOT a parable. It does not begin with phrases like: “The kingdom of God is like...” or “A man was walking along...” It begins with “When the Son of Man comes in His glory … He will sit on His glorious throne.” So this is NOT a parable. This is a telling of what WILL HAPPEN on Judgment Day!

Here’s where I’ll swerve away from my typical approach to this prophecy. When I hear this story preached, and when I’ve usually preach it, the emphasis usually falls on the goats. That’s a good-hearted preacher’s attempt to help every person consider where they’re life is more like a goat than a sheep, to encourage godly change. That's a noble pursuit, and I’d surely encourage you to consider your own ‘goatiness’, but I don’t want to emphasize that pursuit today.

Today, I’d like to emphasize the sheep … in particular the reward Jesus invites the sheep into.

You see, I grew up like you probably did, hearing God preached as an angry dad ready to break out the belt at any moment. The reality of Scripture paints a different picture, though.

The Scriptures paint a God who restrains himself until the last possible moment.

2 Peter 3:9 NASB 2020

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Jesus isn’t on that throne yet … and the reason is - he wants to give us goats as much time as possible to become sheep! What a gracious God he is, Amen?!

1 John 2:1–2 NLT

1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

Jesus is the ‘make good’ for our sins … the very one who will judge us IS the LIVING PAYMENT for those sins, and HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL ADVOCATE FOR US! That doesn’t grant you freedom to sin, but it should grant you freedom to live above the fear that God is waiting to squash you like an empty Coke can.

And what is the reward for being a sheep, and doing the sheep-like work of feeding, clothing, comforting, and visiting people? It’s “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” You see, God’s not preparing to punish humans. He’s preparing to reward us! He’s preparing for eternity as if every human soul will be with him … because that’s what he desires.

Look at what punishment awaits the goats: “the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” Please notice here that Hell was not designed for human souls. There will no-doubt be human souls who are condemned to Hell, but that is the result of sinful obstinance, THAT IS NOT GOD’S PLAN!

What Is There To Give Thanks For?

Our God’s plan is for us to inherit the kingdom he’s prepared for us from the foundation of the world! And his plan is for EVERY HUMAN BEING to become a part of that “us”! Praise God for his merciful plan!

And what if someone is wandering far away?

Today’s Old Testament reading, (before Jesus came to earth, before he lived in flesh, before he died, and before he resurrected in flesh) … the Old Testament says, Yahweh will:

search for his sheep

care for his sheep

deliver them from their scattering places

gather them

feed them

provide good grazing ground

lead them to rest

“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick;” (Ezekiel 34:16a)

What Is There To Give Thanks For?

So, as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc & and in the midst of all of the division and fighting we’re experiencing, What is there to give thanks for?

We can give thanks that:

Yahweh created us

that he will search for us

care for us

deliver us

lead us to rest

We can give thanks that:

Jesus is King of the Universe … now and forevermore!

He is the payment for our sin

The Judge of the Universe is also our ADVOCATE to the Father, Yahweh

Jesus is Christ the King!

And as John Wesley worded it, I give thanks that He is mine, and I am his!

What Is There To Give Thanks For?

All of the things I usually give thanks for at this time of year are still true this year, or at least most of them are.

Even in the middle of all the [tbthhhh] of the past two years … I still have a healthy family. I still have food on my table, and shelter over my head. I have warmth in the cold, and cold in the heat. And if any one of those was taken away, I am still remarkably blessed by fleshly standards. How about you?

More importantly, I am immensely blessed by spiritual standards! The almighty God of the Universe loves me. His son is my advocate, and he has prepared a kingdom for me to inherit. He has sent his Holy Spirit to woo me and to maintain and strengthen me for this life … so that I could see him face-to-face in the life that is-to-come.

Even with all of the grief we’re still feeling (and Lord knows that list is long and deep) … I can say we are blessed people, and we can be thankful that Christ is King.

Happy Thanksgiving. To God be the glory for what he’s done, what he’s doing, and what he is preparing.

Related Media

Related Sermons