Hymns of Thanksgiving: For All These Things

Text: Ephesians 1:3

Theme: God has blessed His people with innumerable riches that include 1) His revelation through nature, 2) His promises throughout the ages of a Savior, 3) The ransom of sinner, condemned, and 4) a living Savior who is coming again.

Over the years I’ve taken on the challenge of using hymns as the outline for sermons. Some of those hymn sermon series have included ...

The Great Hymns of the Faith (the congregation’s choice)

The Pastor’s Favorite Hymns

The Great Hymns of Easter, and

The Great Hymns of Christmas.

I’m only left with one major holiday ... Thanksgiving, which is a mere four weeks away.

I think it’s important to do this from time-to-time.

1st, Our Faith Is a Singing Faith. In the history of all the world's religions, only two have used the art of music to proclaim the glories of God. Those two world faiths are Judaism and Christianity. Only these two have included music as an integral part of their worship. In other religions you'll find the dirge and the chant, but not the soul-stirring music that lifts the believer into a euphoria of worship and praise as you do in Christianity. Islam could never produce “Mohamad Loves Me this I Know.” Hinduism could never inspire “The Alleluia Chorus.” The nations which have given the world its greatest sacred music are those which have embraced the teachings of Jesus Christ. Wherever the name of Christ has been received, Jesus has placed a song in the heart of His people.

2nd, The Place of Music in our Faith is Second only to Preaching the Word. ILLUS. “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits.... Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God.” — Martin Luther (1483-1546).

3rd, A good hymn teaches us about our faith. A “good” hymn is not merely a musical composition that moves us emotionally, but one that is Scripturally-based and teaches us God’s truth.

This morning’s hymn teaches us that our Christian duty includes being a thankful people who give thanks “For All These Things.” Its author is Greg Nelson who has received 20 Dove Awards. He is most well-known as the co-author of the song People Need the Lord which is considered a Christian classic. Nelson reveals four areas where we are to be thankful.

I. BE THANKFUL FOR GOD’S GOOD CREATION

“From mountain heights and vaulted skies Your hand is clearly seen; We cast our praise with nature’s cry With thanks for all these things.”

1. the hymn reminds us of the importance of nature in Christian theology

A. GOD IS CLEARLY SEEN IN THE THINGS HE HAS CREATED

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20, NIV84)

1. a contemporary translation of this passage reads this way, “Everyone knows there is a God. The evidence is all around us. In fact, the Creator designed the universe so that His many invisible attributes would be “clearly seen” in the things He made, so that we are “without excuse”

2. how do we know that there is an intelligent power or force responsible for the world in which we live?

a. the repeated word of Scripture says, "Just look around you!"

b. the authors of the Bible were convinced by the glory and the grandeur of nature itself that surely only God could have made the world in which we live

c. listen to just a few of the dozens of Psalms which glorify God as creator

“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” (Psalm 24:1–2, ESV)

“You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.” (Psalm 74:17, ESV)

“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” (Psalm 102:25, ESV)

ILLUS. One of the older hymns in our hymn book declares: "This is my Father's world, The birds their carols raise; The morning light, the lily white Declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world, He shines in all that's fair; In the rustling grass I hear him pass, He speaks to me everywhere."

3. the hymn teaches us that God does not play hide-‘n-seek with humanity

a. no one who stands before God on Judgment Day will be able to plead ignorance to the reality of the existence of the Devine

1) His attribute of power is evident in the energy of the thunderstorm, the velocity of the hurricane, the violence of an erupting volcano

2) His attribute of perfection is seen in the exactitude of the planetary orbits, and the preciseness of leaf veins

3) His attribute of goodness is seen in the bounty of the earth that feeds eight billion people

4. we call this General Revelation, and according to the Scriptures, it if enough to hold people accountable to God for the knowledge that God has revealed to them

ILLUS. I love the story of an encounter between two of the most influential personalities of the 19th century. One was Robert Ingersoll the noted agnostic, and defender of Darwinian evolution who cris-crossed the nation preaching his atheism, and daring God to strike him dead. The other was Henry Ward Beecher, an Congregationalist clergyman, and social reformer. Oddly enough they became good friends. One day Ingersoll, was visiting Beecher in his office. He noticed a beautiful globe portraying the constellations and stars of the heavens. "This is just what I'm looking for," he said after looking it over. "Who made it?" "Who made it?" repeated Beecher in simulated astonishment. "Why Robert, nobody made it, it just happened."

B. THE GLORY OF GOD’S CREATION MOVES US TO WORSHIP HIM

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3–4, ESV)

1. Nelson writes, “We cast our praise with nature’s cry With thanks for all these things.”

a. all of creation worships God

“Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!” ... “7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! 9 Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! 10 Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds!” (Psalm 148:3-4; 7–10, ESV)

“And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”” (Revelation 5:13, ESV)

2. if all of creation worships the Creator, how can we not?

ILLUS. Research in the field of bioacoustics has revealed that every day we are surrounded by millions of ultrasonic songs. Did you know, for instance, that the electron shell of the carbon atom produces the same harmonic scale as the Gregorian chant? Or that whale songs can travel thousands of miles underwater? Or that Meadowlarks have a range of three hundred notes? Supersensitive sound instruments have discovered that even earthworms make faint staccato sounds! Arnold Summerfield, the German physicist and pianist, observed that a single hydrogen atom, which emits one hundred frequencies, is more musical than a grand piano, which only emits eighty-eight frequencies. Science writer Lewis Thomas summed it up it this way: "If we had better hearing, and could discern the [singing] of sea birds, the rhythmic [drumming] of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of [flies] hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet [in worship]."

3. what creation does best for us is to point our attention to the Creator who we then can worship in spirit and in truth

... for All These Things We Give Thanks

II. BE THANKFUL FOR GOD’S PROMISES

“For promises from age to age That caused our hearts to dream; Purest adoration we impart, With thanks for all these things.”

1. there are 7,487 distinct promises made by God to humankind

a. King Solomon said during his temple dedication prayer concerning the validity of the promises of God: ““Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.” (1 Kings 8:56, ESV)

2. just as God does not play hide-‘n-seek with us, neither does God renege on His promises to us

ILLUS. If you grew up in the Baptist tradition, you probably grew up sing “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail. By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.”

a. not every promise in the Bible is mine ... some were exclusively for Israel

b. but enough are mine that I can never even realize them all in my short lifetime

3. about God’s promises, the Bible tells us ...

the promises of God are unfailing —not one word of God's promises ever failed to come true

the promises of God are upheld by God's oath—it is impossible for God to lie

the promises of God are always fulfilled on schedule; God's timing is always perfect!

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4:4, ESV)

ILLUS. It is interesting that the Hebrew language has no word that corresponds to our English word promise. In the Old Testament scriptures we find words like God’s word, God speaks, and God says that are used instead. In other words, God's word itself is the same as a promise. God's promises are obligations that he imposes upon Himself when He speaks.

A. GOD’S PROMISE ABOVE ALL OTHER PROMISES IS THE PROMISE OF A REDEEMER

1. this promise, according to the second stanza, is from age to age

a. God's promise of Messiah is first seen in the protoevangelium ... meaning the first proclamation of good news

1) it was given to Eve (Gen 3:15)

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15, ESV)

a) interestingly enough the very first promise of a redeemer who will come and repair the damage of sin and rebellion is not a promise to man, but a threat to the Serpent to whom God is speaking in Gen. 3:15

2) this protoevangelium is repeated to Abram (Gen 12:2,3), David (2 Samuel 7:12, 13, 28), and the prophets (Isaiah 2:2-5; 4:2; 55:5)

ILLUS. There are 75 Messianic prophecies in the Pentateuch, 243 in the Prophets, and 138 in the Writings. These are all, what biblical scholar James E. Smith refers to as foregleams.

2. throughout the Scriptures we see a scarlet thread running through history

a. it begins right away in Genesis with Adam and Eve

1) after they ate the forbidden fruit, God made the first sacrifice for sin ... He killed an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve with its skin, not just out of love but also as a representation of how He covers our sin with His righteousness

b. that scarlet thread weaves its way through the pages of Scripture, tracing the narrative of God’s redemptive plan, and culminates in the cross of Christ

1) the greatest struggle of our age is not the battle between liberalism and conservatism that will play out on Tuesday of this week

2) the greatest struggle of our age is the conflict between the evil of Satan and the love of God

c. God won that battle at a hill called Calvary

3. the redemptive grace the believer receives in Christ out to produce the purest adoration in our worship

... for All These Things We Give Thanks

III. BE THANKFUL FOR THE RANSOM OF SINNERS

“From ransomed men of tender heart, Whose souls You taught to sing; Your children lift their voice to You With thanks for all these things.”

1. Nelson reminds us that Christ has taught our souls to sing

a. the object of our praise is God the Father

2. whether it's a praise chorus or cantata; a hymn or an anthem; a spiritual or a doxology, whenever Christians gather together to worship God, you'll find them singing

a. we know that singing must matter to God, because He talks so much about it

b. the Bible contains more than 500 references to singing, including 50 direct commands to sing praise to God

3. but why? What's the purpose of singing?

ILLUS. In the early 1920, Albert Ketchum wrote a popular song entitled, "Why Do I Sing

About Jesus." Listen to the first stanza:

Deep in my heart there's a gladness;

Jesus has saved me from sin!

Praise to His name, what a Savior!

Cleansing without and within!

Why do I sing about Jesus?

Why is He precious to me?

He is my Lord and my Savior;

Dying, He set me free!

“An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.” (Proverbs 29:6, ESV)

“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.” (Isaiah 12:5, ESV)

a. the real question is not Why do we sing, but rather, How can we keep from singing?

A. WE SING BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN RANSOMED

1. Nelson speaks of ransomed men of tender heart

2. redemption is the scarlet thread I referred to a moment ago

a. redemption means recovery by expenditure; liberation through payment

1) in the New Testament, redemption refers to the payment made by Christ’s death on the cross for our sin

2) our redemption results from the payment of a great price

“In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:3–5, ESV)

“knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18–19, ESV)

b. the word redemption was the word used in the 1st century Roman world that referred to purchasing a slave’s freedom

c. the New Testament explicitly tells us that, in our fallen state, we are slaves to sin and our ultimate fate is death due to sin

d. but God has purchased us out of our slavery to sin and death

3. the agent of Redemption is the Lord Jesus Christ who, in His sinless person and by His atoning death on the cross, purchased our redemption;

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7, ESV)

a. redemption is God’s work from beginning to end

1) the Gospel explains that God, in order to maintain his own righteousness, must exact an adequate payment for sin

2) yet, while we were his enemies, God saved us by providing the very sacrifice that He required

B. WE SING BECAUSE IT PUTS THE ENEMY TO FLIGHT

2 Chronicles 20:14–22, ESV

1. one of the strangest councils of war in that annals of history is found in 2 Chr. 20

a. Judah was faced with the formidable hosts of Ammon and Moab and their allies

2. it would seem that a death struggle for Judah was about to take place

a. what would Jehoshaphat, Judah’s king do?

1) what great strategic maneuver would evolve from his council of war?

2) all of Judah is awaiting his plan of battle

3. that order came as one of the strangest commands ever given in military history

a. Jehoshaphat orders that the Temple Choir lead the army singing a psalm of praise

1) in that day, it was normal for musicians to lead the army in a victory parade upon their return from a great triumph

2) for the musicians to lead the army into battle is not the usual practice

b. the move bolsters the courage of his own army while showing contempt for the armies of Moab and Ammon

1) the result is a great victory that the Lord had promised ... the enemy was routed

4. music in the church today should serve as an encouragement for the people of God to go forth and battle life, confident of victory

a. in the hands of a Christian, melody and harmony—mixed with words of biblical truth—become powerful spiritual weapons

1) music is a weapon that can melt the most hardened, sinful heart

2) music is a weapon that can ease grief, dull pain, and lesson difficulties

3) music is a weapon that arms the believer to do spiritual battle

5. 2 Chronicles 20:14-22 could be God’s way of telling us that the singing church a conquering church

... For all these things we give thanks

IV. BE THANKFUL FOR A LIVING SAVIOR WHO IS COMING AGAIN

“With honor for the Risen Lord; We praise our coming King. We consecrate our lives to You With thanks for all these things.”

1. Nelson ends his thanksgiving hymn by reminding us that we serve a risen savior who is our coming King

A. WHILE WE WATCH FOR CHRIST'S COMING WE ARE TO LIVE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

1. because Jesus intercedes continuously for us before God we can have a confidence in approaching God

ILLUS. Most of you have seen the movie classic, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion have traversed many miles and come through many dangers to present their petitions before the Great and Powerful Oz. But they approach the Wizard in fear and trembling with no assurance that he will even receive them,

a. that is the same way many believers approach God

2. but the Bible tells us to draw near to God with confidence

3. Christ alone has given us the wonderful ability to have fellowship with the God of Creation who has become our Father in Heaven

B. WHILE WE WATCH FOR CHRIST'S COMING WE ARE TO PERSEVERE IN HOPE

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23, NIV84)

1. trials and temptations are real for all of us

2. Satan hurls his fiery darts our way and seeks to penetrate our shields of faith

a. sometimes we don't raise our shields fast enough and his attack wounds us

3. in the face of all that Satan and the world send our way it is sometimes tempting to give in to a sense of hopelessness

a. don't do it!

4. when those times come the Bible says "Hold on!"

C. WHILE WE WATCH FOR CHRIST'S COMING WE ARE TO LIVE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER BELIEVERS

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24–25, NIV84)

1. the Christian faith is not lived and practiced in isolation

a. there are too many professing "lone wolf" Christians in our society

2. you will never, ever find a growing, maturing Christian outside of the fellowship of other Christians

a. pick a leaf from a tree and it will shrivel

b. take a coal out of the fire and it will grow dim and grow cold

c. separate a believer from the church and you will find a backslider

3. the Bible encourages us to meet, to worship and to encourage each other while we wait for the Lord's return

... For all these things we give thanks