Prelude
At the end of our Censored series we broke bread as a church to give thanks to God. If you are looking for the written versions of the last couple of topics, don’t worry, they are on their way. We are moving our last topic of Thanksgiving forward to align better with the upcoming holiday.
Introduction
Our world is in chaos, or so it seems. Our politics are becoming more and more divided and by extension families and communities can no longer relate to one another. Everything seems to be spiraling out of control around us! Thanksgiving is meant to be a time to gather with family and friends and to be thankful. Thinking of what we are thankful for can look different for each of us. Some of us can try to dig deep and find the small things we are thankful for, others have plenty of things they can think of to give thanks. Then there are many people that look around them and find it hard to think of what they are thankful for this year, they might find little to be thankful for and only have complaints. However, for Christians, we need to look to scripture to see what God has said about thankfulness. It is not something that we are to feel from time to time, or even once a year, God commands us to be thankful! It is important we do this because if we don’t constantly remind ourselves of the goodness of God we can get lost in the day-to-day circumstances of our lives and forget the great position we have in Christ. This Thanksgiving we all need to return to the scriptures to remember why we are thankful.
Thanksgiving in the Bible
While the American holiday of Thanksgiving is a newer celebration with its roots back to the first thanksgiving in 1621 with the Pilgrims, the concept of thanksgiving is nothing new. Christians have always been known for giving thanks to God, including when the apostles thanked God that they were considered worthy to endure suffering for His name. This is because God commands that we are thankful to Him. In times of struggle we are to be thankful because God will grant us peace in our thanksgiving.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We are told to not be anxious, but to pray with thanksgiving. The command is not to pray, but to pray with thanksgiving! So often we bring our laundry list of problems before God and ask Him to deal with them. There is no thankfulness, and there is no peace. When we pray this way we become anxious, waiting for any sort of response from God. Many people grow weary and tired and accuse God of not answering prayers. Instead, we need to pray with thanksgiving. Not only should we bring our prayer and supplication before God, but we need to recall why it is that we are going to God in the first place. It is because He is our Father in heaven, He is sovereign over all things, and He is the great comforter. When we remind ourselves of what God has already done for us and what He promises for us in the future we find peace in our prayers. Prayer becomes more than need and complaint, it becomes thankfulness and peace. In that peace, before anything changes in our lives, we are already more joyful and thankful to God. This gives us the endurance to persevere through anything we are going through.
We are also called to be thankful congregationally. This means that Christians are not to be solitary people. We are called to gather, and to not forsake the gathering. When we gather we are to give thanks together.
Ephesians 5:18-20
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father
When we pray we give thanks to God, and when we gather we give thanks to God. We do this with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. When we sing praises to God in this way we are remembering what God has done. The benefit of singing our praises is that God has wired us in such a way that we are better at remembering things in song. I’m sure there are plenty of songs that pop up on your playlists that you can sing every word to. When we have the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in our hearts we can sing them in thanks to God, remembering all that He has done and has promised to do. When we do this in fellowship with one another there is added benefit. One benefit is we can teach these songs to each other. Another is that we see that we are not walking alone. The whole body is coming together as one, and everyone else singing the same praises to God is someone you can rely on. How great is our God that He commands us to do things that benefit us so greatly!
Reasons to be Thankful
If you are a Christian that finds it hard to think of things to be thankful, look no further than Christ. Christ is the greatest focus of thanksgiving for Christians because we have received all things through Him. Christ has redeemed us, purchasing us with His blood and saving us from our sins. He is the king who reigns on David’s throne forever.
Revelation 11:15-17
15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
Jesus is our mediator to the Father, the one who willingly went to the cross, laying down His life to purchase us and pull us from our bondage to sin. Because of the work of Christ on the cross we now have a high priest who can sympathize with us (Hebrews 4:15) and is without sin! While we were dead in our sins and tresspasses He died for us, His enemies (Romans 5:10)! This is the greatest gift we have ever received, we are cleansed of unrighteousness and gifted salvation. God has then made us co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) and we really need to understand what that means. Christ has brought in His kingdom and has been glorified by the Father. If we are co-heirs with Christ then we too will partake in this inheritance. This is why the scriptures tell us that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). We will receive glorified bodies that are sinless (Romans 8:30), and we will spend eternity with our God (Romans 6:23)! There is so much for the Christian to be thankful for in the promises of God.
Be Thankful in Everything
Because of all that God has done for us, we are to always be thankful.
Colossians 3:15-17
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
When we are thankful in everything we will have a peace that is unexplained. God will comfort us with His word, and He will put His law on our hearts. No matter what trials we encounter we will have the endurance to continue through it all. If we want to have this peace we have to let the word of Christ dwell within us. This means that we read and know what God has said. How can we be thankful for what God has done if we don’t know what God has done? This is why we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in thankfulness, and this is why we teach God’s word weekly in the gathering of the saints. We want to constantly remind ourselves of God’s goodness, we want to know what He has done, and we want to be thankful always. God himself knows the benefits of living our lives with thanksgiving, so He commands us to be thankful in everything. In all that we do we are to do it in the name of Jesus and to give thanks.
Conclusion
If you are struggling to be thankful this year, remind yourself of how good God has been. If reading that last sentence only reminded you of your current situation, you aren’t looking in the right place. God’s goodness is not giving you a life that is easy, that would require him removing you entirely from the world because the world is full of sin. God’s goodness is in giving you salvation from sin and a sure promise of the future. That promise is a promise of hope. Hope that God gives peace and endurance for today and an assurance of salvation in Christ. When people look at Christians they should see the most joyous and thankful people they know. Let’s all take this Thanksgiving as a time to remind ourselves once more of how great our God is.