The Power of Thanksgiving
November 18, 2012
Psalm 100:1-5
When most people think of Thanksgiving now-a-days, they think of family, of turkey and
football. Yet it is so much more than that. If you reduce it down to these three things,
disappointment will also be on the menu. After all, not every family can get together
around the table. That’s why I like the old story of this one family at Thanksgiving.
The day before Thanksgiving the elderly dad in Phoenix called his son in New York and said to him, "I hate to ruin
your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough. We’re sick of each
other, and so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."
Frantic, the son called his sister, who exploded on the phone. "Like heck they’re getting divorced," she shouted, "I’ll
take care of this." She called Phoenix immediately, and said to her father. "You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a
single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a
thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" The man hung up his phone and turned to his wife. "Okay, honey. The kids are coming
for Thanksgiving and paying for their own flights."
That is a creative way to get the family together. Hopefully you won’t have to do that.
Seriously though, no matter what your Thanksgiving celebration looks like, I hope you will
do more than just sit around the table and stuff yourselves, watch a little football and fall
asleep on the couch.
The Thanksgiving Holiday gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the blessings we
have in our lives and make a decision to become “thankful people” all year long. Not many
do it. But I want to challenge you this year. God wants nothing more than for us to be
people of thanksgiving and gratitude.
It has been said, “A thankful spirit is one of the key distinguishing marks of a Christian. It
sets us apart from the world, it makes us different.” Psalm 118:1 says, “Give thanks to the
Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.”
When David wrote Psalm 100 he wrote it looking ahead to the day when all of God’s
children would come to worship him in the temple. It pointed to a day when thanksgiving
and gratitude ruled the hearts of the people. It spoke of a time when the sheep would
rejoice and come home to the shepherd.
We were created to be a thankful people and until we learn to reclaim that spirit, our lives
will never be what God had designed us to be.
This morning I want to talk about reclaiming the power of Thanksgiving. You see, having a
thankful spirit is a decision. It is not determined by your circumstances. Happiness comes
from our attitude, our perception, and our understanding of the big picture. That’s why the
apostle Paul could write from prison, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say it
rejoice."
Paul learned to thank God for everything, large and small, because he knew that God was
always with him, always blessing him, always loving him… no matter what was going on in
any given moment. He believed that God had a plan and that nothing, nothing was going to
stop that plan from coming into reality.
Paul believed that everything that happened to him could only make him stronger, more
prepared, more ready to serve God. It was the way he lived life. He understood what David
was saying and that he was a part of the shepherd’s flock.
Perspective is funny. Did you hear about…
the young woman wrote her mother from college: "Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm
really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg too, when I jumped from the second floor of my
dormitory...when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and
called the Fire Department. They were there in minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the
service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory
liveable again, I moved in with him. He has been so nice. I must admit that I am pregnant. Paul and I plan
to get married just as soon as he can get a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine, and will
write more when I get the chance. Love, Your daughter, Susie.
P.S. Mom, none of the above is true. But I did get a "C" in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted
you to receive this news in its "Proper Perspective!"
If we want to be thankful people we need to put our life in proper perspective. We need to
know who the Good Shepherd is and what he wants for our lives.
There is power in that. Not just for our lives but for those around us. Thankful people make
great witnesses for our faith. What is sad that too many of us walk around as if we had no
hope, no faith. We let the circumstances get to us.
I think that’s why I love Nick Vujicic. He is the guy who was born without arms or legs. He
wrote his story in a book titled, “Life without Limits – Learning to Live without Limbs.”
(Commercial Break – This is going to be our February selection for our Christian book club.)
I heard Nick speak when I was out in California last month. He talked about the desperate situation he was in, the
depression, and how he almost committed suicide. Then he was overcome with the love of God and that changed
everything. What a testimony that is.
The truth is that the greatest testimonies to God’s love come from people who have lived
through terrible circumstances. Joni Tada Erickson, Chuck Colsen, Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich
Bonnhoeffer all faced life’s greatest challenges, some even to death, and they did it
because they could proclaim God’s victory and give thanks even in the darkest corners of
life.
The Tim Tebows of the world are far and few between. So we need to choose thankfulness
in all circumstances. But when we do, we bring the glory of God to those around us.
1 Peter 2:12 reads, "Live such good lives among the pagans that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
day he visits us."
I want to give you a couple of reasons to develop a thankful way of living. First it will bless
those important relationships in your life. You see we often take the people closest to us for
granted.
Somebody described the first few years in a marriage this way. The husband seeing the wife has a cold, says, "You
don’t look good. You should go to the hospital. I have already arranged it. I know the food is bad there, but we are
going to have meals catered in."
The second year he says, "You don’t look so good. I have called the doctor. Go and lay down. I will take care of the
kids. The doctor will be right over."
The third year he says, "You know you are not looking so hot. When you are done feeding the kids and cleaning up
the kitchen, you ought to go lay down."
The fourth year he says, "Would you quit walking around here barking like a seal, you’re going to give me your
cold?"
Just imagine what would happen if every day you gave thanks for your spouse and looked
for ways to show them how much you appreciated them! What if you took the opportunity
to thank your parents for all they have done for you? How about if you made it a point to
tell your kids how proud you are of what they are doing? We often think it, but we don’t
always do it. What’s more we don’t always do it in concrete ways. We don’t show our
thankfulness.
What if you came home with some flowers and just told your wife how thankful you are for all she does. You might
give her a heart attack. Do it anyway!
Our society pushes us toward the negativity. But God calls us to recognize the people in our
lives as blessings, as gifts, and to give thanks.
Just imagine how much better our church life would be across the United States if we
expressed our thanks for each other from time to time. Do you know how the apostle Paul
began most of his letters in the Bible?
To the church in Rome he wrote. “First, I thank my God for all of you.”
To the
church in Corinth. “I always thank God for you
To the church in
Ephesus, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you; remembering you in my prayers.”
To the church in Philippi,
“I thank my God every time I remember you.”
To the church in Colossi, “I always
thank God when I pray for you.”
Paul made sure that he let people in the churches know that he was thankful for them. The
other day on Facebook I posted that I loved it when people expressed their love for their
church family no matter what denomination they belonged to and I had many, many likes.
Someone once said that God lives in two places. He lives in heaven and in a humble,
grateful heart. Hebrews 12:25 says, “Let us please God by serving him with thankful
hearts.”
You know what I have found to be true in my life? I have found that I have an
overwhelming need to give thanks. There is a desire within me to give thanks to something
for what I have. Even the atheist or non-believer feels in the mood to be thankful from time
to time.
When I spend time giving thanks to God for all I have, I just feel close to him, don’t you? I
think that is exactly why, 1 Thes 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It is God’s plan, his will for us to give thanks to him. He
made us for that.
So here is what I want to challenge you to do for the next six weeks. I want to challenge
you to be thankful people.
Here are a few ways to do that. First, and we can begin this week as we celebrate
Thanksgiving, we can begin to remember that everything we have is from God. That’s what
our stewardship campaign was all about. We recognized that everything comes from God,
even our loving hearts, and then we reached out to share it. That’s why our giving, OUR
THANKSGIVING TREE, is filling up so nicely. (Thank You!)
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “What do you have that you
did not receive from God? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”
Secondly, if we want to be thankful we need to AVOID COMPLAINING. What would happen
if we set aside the next six weeks from complaining?
Dr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to
realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations
better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause
havoc with our lives.”
Complaining makes us miserable. Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed.”
Complaining is the archenemy of thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart.
And so I challenge you to try to quit complaining from now through Christmas. Just try it.
When you feel tempted to complain, instead of filing your complaint, file a praise. It will
change your life.
Philippians 2:13 says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
Finally, I want to challenge you to DEVELOP THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF GIVING THANKS. In
order to be thankful people we need to start to give thanks every day. Not just once a year
on Thanksgiving. We need to discipline ourselves to find something each day that we
should be thankful for and express our thanks to God.
Remember the old hymn? “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is
lost. Count your many blessing, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
Thanksgiving is a daily discipline. We need to come to God, to enter his courts with
thanksgiving and praise.
For we have been blessed.
I read recently that if you woke up this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than 1 million
people who will not survive the week. If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation you are more fortunate than 500 million people on
earth. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, twenty dollars in your pocket
and a place to sleep you are richer than 75 percent of the world. O, God forgive me when I whine.
Lord, thank you for the blessings we have. So remember: Here is the challenge!
1) Remember everything you have, the people in your life, the blessings, the
challenges, the dreams, the hopes are all from God.
2) Stop complaining about your circumstances. They are temporary. They are
opportunities to leanr and grow. God is with you through them all and he will lead
you to victory on the other side.
3) Give thanks in everything. Come to God with thankful hearts and you will find even
more blessings.
Happy Thanksgiving! No, wait. May your every day be a day of thanksgiving and praise.
Amen.