Oh, Give Thanks to the Lord

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 19th of November, 2023, the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, this coming Thursday we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving.  It seems like this year has flown by.  It’s already Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner.

This is a joyous time of year, as we prepare for the celebration of our Lord’s birth in mortal form.  And it is indeed a time to be thankful, as Jesus coming to us is God’s love and mercy in action.  For only through Jesus, by the great mercy of our Father God, can we be redeemed of our sin and granted everlasting life in heaven.

Our celebration of Thanksgiving Day as a holiday is a relatively recent event.  What we consider the first Thanksgiving was in 1621 after the Pilgrims had survived - with the help of the natives - a very difficult winter in the new world.

George Washington set the very first official day for the nation to give thanks in 1789, and then in 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed another day of national thanksgiving.  This day for giving thanks was annually proclaimed by every president afterwards, and it usually was set for the last Thursday in November.

But in 1939, it so happened that November had five Thursdays in it, with the fifth being on the 30th of the month.  Then president Franklin Roosevelt feared the late date would cut the holiday shopping season short, putting a damper on economic recovery, so he issued a proclamation moving it to the second to last Thursday.

Well, this created a lot of fuss and confusion, with some states accepting this new date while others stuck with the last Thursday.  So Congress finally got involved and in 1941 made it the law of the land that Thanksgiving Day would be the fourth Thursday in November from then on.

That’s the history of Thanksgiving Day in America, but people have been celebrating Thanksgiving for thousands of years.  And it wasn’t for just one day a year.  Throughout history, mankind has experienced certain circumstances where survival or success could only be attributed to the work of some higher power.  Those who believe in God recognize His hand at work in our lives, and give Him thanks.

During the reign of King David, the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem and a great celebration was held to honor the event.  Please listen and follow along as I read from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible, some selected verses from the 16th chapter of the Book of the Chronicles of the Jewish people from the days of Adam to captivity in Babylon…

8 Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

10 Glory in His holy name;

Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

11 Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face evermore!

12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

24 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

25 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is also to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

27 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and gladness are in His place.

29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come before Him.

Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!

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

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

32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.

33 Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord,

For He is coming to judge the earth.

34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

--1 Chronicles 16:8-12, 23-27, 29, 31-34 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for bestowing Your loving mercy upon us!  We see Your hand at work in our lives.  We see Your handiwork in the world all around us.  And we thank You.  But sometimes we take all Your many gifts for granted, especially the smaller blessings that go unnoticed or ignored.  Sometimes we just don’t stop long enough to say thank You, let alone show our appreciation in our service to others.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Know that we do thank You for all that You give us, for all Your love and kindness.  Please help us find tangible, meaningful ways to show our appreciation.  Please continue to bless us so we can be a blessing to others.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In 1789, our first president, George Washington, presented this first national Thanksgiving proclamation:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence for Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful to His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; And whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!'  Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of the States, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country..."

George Washington and others of our Founding Fathers realized that the colonies could have never won their independence from English rule had it not been for the intervention of God.  There is no way a hastily thrown together regular army and a bunch of farmers and store clerks formed into militias could ever defeat the mightiest military force on earth at the time.  Yet they did, and the American people won the right to govern themselves.  So Washington declared a day that year for all the people of this new nation to stop, unite, and render unto God their sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.

But if you read closely, you can see that the President had more than saying “thank You” in mind.  He declared for that specific day to be devoted by the people to the service of God.  “Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of the States, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

Saying “thank You, God” is fine, and really, it’s the very least we can do.  Showing our appreciation is much better.  And what better way to show it than by serving God.  This is what Washington must have had in mind.  Sadly, we seem to have lost sight of this ideal.

There are many ways to serve God.  Jesus showed us how in His own life, and left us with the mission of spreading the Gospel message and making more disciples.  He also told us that we can serve by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the institutionalized and imprisoned.  But even long before this we are shown ways we can honor our heavenly Father and give Him our thanks.

As we see in our scripture reading, the author of the Books of the Chronicles - most likely Ezra – tells us that we can thank God by simply calling on His name and singing to Him.  What parent doesn’t enjoy it when their child sings to them?

The author goes on to say we should tell everyone about all the good things God has done for us, all His wondrous works, and declare His glory among the nations and His wonders among all people.  Give to God all the glory due His name, and worship Him, honor Him, rejoice in Him.  None of that is all that hard to do, and any of it can be done on any given day, not just once a year.

It’s really great when we can spend the day, or at least some part of the day, with family and good friends.  It’s such a special time when we can sit down with them and enjoy a meal together, chatting over warm memories, sharing our love for one another.  But Thanksgiving Day should be more than a turkey dinner and football games on TV.

We should pause and take a quick inventory of our lives, looking at those times when God worked His wonders for us - as individuals, as a family, as a nation, as a people.  We should stop long enough to recognize and acknowledge God’s divine intervention, not only in our greatest times of need, but also in our daily walks through this life.  And family, we should do this every day, not just on the fourth Thursday in November.

Giving thanks is easy.  Hear the proclamation of King David from his 100th Psalm, his Psalm of Thanksgiving…

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

--Psalm 100 (NKJV)

Make a joyful shout to the Lord.  Some versions say make a joyful noise, and in David’s days their “shouts” included musical instruments and clapping and dancing.

And there’s that word “serve” again.  Serve the Lord.  And not just out of some sense of duty or responsibility, but with gladness.  Serve the Lord because we want to, because we’re happy to serve Him.  And family, when we serve God for the right reason, when we serve Him by helping others without any thought of reward or even recognition, when we bless others with our time and our resources, we find that we are blessed in returned.  We are rewarded both in this life, by the simple joy it brings us, and in the next, where our true rewards are being stored up.

So let us enjoy this upcoming Thanksgiving Day.  If you are so inclined, the local Salvation Army is seeking donations to help make this a good Thanksgiving Day for the less fortunate in our county.  Or maybe you know someone who will be alone this coming Thursday, someone you could invite over to share a nice meal with you.

There are so many ways we can show our appreciation to God for all He has done for us.  Choose one, even if it’s just to make a joyful noise.  But let’s not stop with just one day of thanks.  Let’s make it a habit to give and show God our thanks.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who showed us how to thank our Father.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for Your hand at work in our lives.  Thank You for Your help in our times of need.  Thank You for the beauty of this garden You have given us to live in.  Thank You for salvation through Your Son Jesus.  And thank You for all the opportunities You give us to show our appreciation.  Too often, though, Father, we don’t take the time to truly offer You our thanks in tangible ways.  Worse yet, too many times we don’t even recognize when You have blessed us.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we just don’t see Your blessing.  Forgive us when fail to share Your blessings with others.  Please help us be more grateful.  Help us make Your wondrous works known to all the people we meet.  Help us not be embarrassed to make a joyful noise unto You as a sign of our thanks and our love.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You lived Your life on earth as a constant sign of gratitude to God.  You thanked Him for everything, and You showed Your appreciation in Your service to mankind.  Thank You, Lord, for the greatest service to us of the sacrifice You made on our behalf.  Please help us, dear Lord -- help us be more like You in our daily interactions with others.  Help us thank our Father God by serving others in their need.  And especially please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost, showing them Your love through our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.