HAS THANKSGIVING GONE TO THE DOGS
Text: Ps. 103:1-5
Introduction
1. Read Ps. 103:1-5
2. Illustration: In his book FOLK PSALMS OF FAITH, Ray Stedman tells of an experience H.A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited his to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don’t." The other man asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat."
The man said, "Oh, you’re one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!"
Ironside said, "Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!"
Ray Stedman, Folk Psalms of Faith.
3. Now I ask you this morning, has Thanksgiving gone to the dogs? Or are we going to be thankful for what God has done for us?
Transition: If we are not going to be like the dogs we need to...
I. Thank Him For Who He Is (1)
A. Bless the Lord
1. David begins this psalms with the phrase "Let all that I am praise the Lord..."
a. David was imploring himself and us to praise the Lord.
b. Notice that he says "let all that I am praise the Lord."
c. The word that is being translated here refers to the entire being. The body, soul and spirit; including thoughts, cravings, and desires.
d. Colossians 3:17 (NLT)
And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
2. David was a man of great praise.
a. Danced before the Lord with all his might
b. Wrote many of the great psalms of praise
c. Psalm 150:1-2 (NLT)
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!
3. Here he tells himself, and us, to praise God "with my whole heart..."
a. He calls on his heart, and all its faculties and powers, to glorify God for his goodness. Under such a weight of obligation the lips can do little; the soul and all its powers must be engaged. (Adam Clarke’s Commentary)
b. Certainly we must praise him with our lips, but we must also praise him with our "whole hearts."
c. Illustration: I have a friend who will yell so loud at a football game you can hear him on the other side of the stadium, but on Sunday morning he all of the sudden gets real quite and soft spoken.
B. Praise His Holy Name
1. The reason that David gives us for praising God has to do with His character.
2. He tells himself and us to "...praise his holy name."
a. Names tell us a lot about someone.
b. Illustration: A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: “My full name has six letters. The first one is M, and I pick up things. What am I?” When the grades were all in the teacher was astounded to find that almost fifty percent had written in, mother.
c. With God his name is an expression of his character.
d. His name is holy because he is holy.
e. Because he is holy, he is also righteous, trustworthy, and faithful.
3. We can praise him because...
a. He keeps his promises
b. He is just and fair
c. He will never leave us or forsake us
4. Isaiah 6:3 (NLT)
They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
Transition: Second, if we are not going to be like the dogs...
II. We Should Thank Him For What He Has Done (2-5)
A. Never Forget the Good Things
1. In verse 2 David tells not to forget what the Lord has done for us.
2. Psalm 106:7 (NLT)
Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.
3. All throughout the OT the Israelites were constantly warned not to forget what the Lord had done for them.
4. Illustration: "In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years’ War, a German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year, and average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children: ’Now thank we all our God / With heart and hands and voices;/ Who wondrous things had done,/ In whom His world rejoices. /Who, from our mother’s arms,/Hath led us on our way/ With countless gifts of love/ And still is ours today. ’"Here was a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward circumstances.
Don Maddox.
B. Forgives
1. The first of God’s benefits we are not to forget is that He forgives all of our sins.
2. Illustration: How can we understand forgiveness if we haven’t recognized the depth of our sin? SOURCE: John Henry Newman
3. The most important gift that God can give us is forgiveness.
a. Because of our sin, we are enemies of God.
b. Because of our sin, we are doomed to an eternity of death and destruction.
4. Psalm 103:10-12 (NLT)
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
C. Heals
1. Next are told not to forget that God has healed us.
2. How many here have been healed in the last year?
3. Illustration: Once Jesus healed ten leapers, but only one came back to thank him. Why did only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus? The following are nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
Charles L. Brown, Content The Newsletter, June, 1990, p. 3
4. Psalm 30:2 (NLT)
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health.
D. Redeems
1. We are also told to remember that God redeems us.
2. The word redeem, of course, means to buy back.
3. Not only does God forgives us, but he has paid that price so that we could be forgiven.
4. Revelation 5:9 (NLT)
And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
E. Fills with Good Things
1. Finally, we are told not to forget that God satisfies us with good things.
a. The word "fills" means to "have one’s fill." —Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
b. God not only meets our needs, but he gives us more than we need.
c. Psalm 23:5 (NLT)
You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.
2. He satisfies us with good things.
a. He does not give us junk
b. He gives us the best
Transition: How can we forget all the things that God has done for us.
Conclusion
1. The way I see it, we have two choices.
a. We can let Thanksgiving go to the dogs
b. We can thank him for who he is and what he has done for us.
2. Are we going to be like the dog and just dig in, or are we going to be thankful?
Thesis: Today let us not be forgetful, but let us be thankful!
