Thanksgiving Day 2000 Sermon
Reasons to give thanks.
BY Andrew Chan, Senior Pastor, Pilgrim Baptist, Vancouver, BC
Text: Deut.16:13-17
One day Bill was hunting in the woods. It had been a slow day and he had yet to shoot any game. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around and saw a ferocious mountain lion only 20 yards away. Bill quickly raised his rifle to his shoulder, took aim and pulled the trigger. Click. The rifle didn’t fire. Click… click… click. Again, nothing - the gun was malfunctioning. By this time, the mountain lion had started toward Bill. In desperation, he threw down his rifle and ran.
Faster and faster he ran, with the mountain lion chasing him. The faster Bill ran, the more the mountain lion gained on him Finally Bill came to the edge of a cliff. There was nowhere to go, so he dropped to his knees and began to pray. “O Lord, I pray that this mountain lion is a Christian.”
As Bill looked up, he was surprised to see the mountain lion kneeling just a few feet away, praying, “Dear Lord, I pray that you’ll bless this food that I’m about to partake to the nourishment of my body…”
Thanksgiving is about the harvest… after a summer’s worth of work and waiting … the harvest is finally gathered and it is a celebration of the bounty that God has given. Credit belongs to God for the harvest in recognition of the fact that without His blessing we would receive no harvest. So the text my mind goes to is to Deuteronomy 16. Tells the command to celebrate the feast of weeks aka Feast of Harvest (Ex.23:16). Feast of Tabernacles which is called feast of the Ingathering, which more appropriate for the time of the year (Sept.-Oct.)
Context tells of 3 feast to be celebrated, not one, not two, but three…
When something is repeated 3 times in Scripture it is there for a reason. What would the reason be? What is God saying through these 3 feasts? Why is he so adamant for the Israelites to carry it out? (16:16) MUST appear!! Three times a year…
Kathy Hamm told this story:
For a thanksgiving assignment, my cousin’s daughter, who is in Grade 1 was to draw something she was thankful for. When the teacher collected the drawings, she saw that Rachel’s paper was blank. When asked why, Rachel replied “I want to draw a picture of God, but He was too big to fit on the page.”
I think that is perhaps why the author of Deut was inspired to write down, this stipulations to have these feasts. Draw a picture of God, and the inference is that God is so big, you just can’t celebrate what He did just once, got to be at least 3 times, a year. What God did is so awesome, so big, can’t fit it all on one page or in one celebration a year. Context suggest what tremendous thing God did fulfilling promises and giving of land (Deut 1:8). No longer live in tents BUT have a home.
Dreams fulfilled before your eyes. So God kept His word, God moved powerfully and wonderfully (Deut.7:7-9).
Keyword #1 Celebrate. (V.10,11,13,14,15)
If our memory ever fails with regards to why we should remember to give thanks, remember this God loves a celebration.
If we can do this over and over again, it seems He does not tire of it. Look at Ps.136. of course Psalms is filled with celebration, most pop. Is Ps. 100.
Luke 17:11-19 Jesus loves a real good praise and worship time…
Kingdom of God celebrates!!! Lk.15
Keyword #2 Give.(V.10,17)
Celebrate by giving a freewill offering (i.e. this is not a GST)
in proportion to the blessing the LORD has given you. In other words, there is a recognition that God is blessing you. Basically, what is being said here is, I recognize that God by His loving and merciful hand has given me so much, and by giving up a portion of what He gave me, I am saying, He has blessed me. This means if I don’t give, I am insinuating that God has given me zero blessings, in fact He owes me, in fact He should cough up more. In fact, he is not a good God at all, He blasts me, rather blesses me. Have you held back giving, surely then, you need to look at your own heart and have you really count your blessings??? Live in country of abundance, with stuff coming out of our ears. Instead of remembering to give thanks we complain
In a stinging rebuke to society Campolo writes:
The reason why the commies did not beat us is simple. We outproduced them. Our socioeconomic system proved superior. The shelves of the shops in the Communist bloc nations were bare while the shelves of our stores were packed with an array of consumer goods that defied description…. In order to keep our incredibly successful system working, there is something we Americans have to do. Buy! We have to buy the stuff that our system produces.
We have to buy the stuff our system produces… There is no doubt that the continued success of our way of life requires that we Americans become unrestrained consumers.
But there is a major problem in all of this. And that is that those of us who have the money to buy all the stuff that our factories produce already have everything we need. I didn’t say “Everything we want” I said everything we need. There is no question about it We have become a people whose needs are more than gratified; our essential hungers are more than satiated.
If people like you and me, whose needs have already been met, are going to keep America going, we are going to have to buy what we don’t need. And… in larger and larger quantities. As absurd as all this may seem, the survival of our way of life depends on this.
Just think about last Christmas season. Your biggest problem was probably not figuring out where you would get enough money to buy presents for family members and friends. Instead, it was trying to figure out what to buy for people who have everything. The answer to that problem should have been self-evident. What you should buy for those who have everything is nothing. But you didn’t have the guts to pull it off, did you?
No! Instead you went up and down the aisles of dept. stores having anxiety attacks. Panic-stricken, you searched, yea, even prayed, that somebody somewhere had invented some new things that nobody needs so you could buy them for people who have everything. This is not an absurd description of a reasonable world. It is a rational description of an absurd world.
People are going crazy, depressed, complaining in lineups at stores, with bent backs because their credit card bill is becoming heavy, NO MONEY, SO POOR…
remember one brother from impoverished S. Am, country chastised me, because I am saying I am a poor student, in North Am even poor people are rich by his stds
I think Campolo is right - World gone crazy - stuff becomes ultimate, God and his blessings has become an antiquated idea that belong to another time and no wonder records are being set today, high numbers in suicide, people with stress disorders, lawsuits over money, people of God gets sucked into this whole dirty business as well and don’t know it.
Are u withholding, or complain I don’t give because of this and that, because I don’t like what the pastor said this morning….The WORD says GIVE, did not say nothing about give because you like this guy’s preaching or not...
2 Cor.9:7 - give cheerfully… good work
1 Cor.16:1-2 set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, save it up
Acts 2:45 sacrificial giving
Here noted in bulletin some monthly reminders for members to review giving, I wonder how many seriously looked at it and give, the church has agreed this is what is needed, that is why we have a meeting and approve a budget, challenging ourselves to give, BUT now need to challenge self to give and give because God has given you. Have we celebrate by giving… I don’t know what u earn, but base on stats from researchers it is well known that if God’s people were to even come close to giving 10% to the churches that they go to, most churches will be so full of money that they will pay off their debts instantly and won’t know what to do with the leftovers. To not give , is statement I choose not to believe in celebration, that God loves a celebration, that God has blest me so much. Which we know is not true… FROM day ONE reason Gen.1:27-28 image and blessed them!!! Gen.12:1-3
blessing the whole world. Choose not to give - refute message of Bible, that God is a God of blessing.
Next, what it means to give thanks is this word....
Keyword #3 REJOICE (V.11,14,15)
But you object, and say what’s there to rejoice about. Even this weekend is nothing to rejoice about , see Friday’s Van. Sun. - article with this caption:
“Beware of holiday rage, psychiatry prof warns.”
This weekend can bring about the worst in people, if travel by plane, car, ferries
plan ahead and expect the worst. as the saying goes hope for the best says Steven Taylor.
Thanksgiving … and what u get >
if experiencing inordinate amount of stress, invite u to hear this story
Sadhu Sundar Singh a Hindu convert to Christ, explains how God wants to use burdens and heavy pressures in our lives:
Shortly after coming to Christ, Sadhu felt called to become a missionary to India. Late one afternoon Sadhu was traveling on foot through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk. It was bitterly cold and the wind felt like sharp blades slicing into Sadhu’s skin. Night was approaching fast when the monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before darkness fell.
Just as they were traversing a narrow path above a steep cliff, they heard a cry for help. Down the cliff lay a man, fallen and badly hurt. The monk looked at Sadhu and said, “Do not stop. God has brought this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself.” The he quickly added while walking on, “Let us hurry on before we , too, perish.”
But Sadhu replied, “God has sent me here to help my brother. I cannot abandon him.”
The monk continued trudging off through the whirling snow, while the missionary clambered down the steep embankment. The man’s leg was broken and he could not walk. So Sadhu took his blanket, made a sling of it. And tied the man on his back. Then, bending under his burden, he began a body-torturing climb. By the time he reached the narrow path again, he was drenched in perspiration.
Doggedly, he made his way through the deepening snow and darkness. It was all he could do to follow the path. But he persevered, though faint with fatigue and overheated form exertion. Finally he saw ahead the lights of the monastery.
Then, for the first time, Sadhu stumbled and nearly fell. But not from weakness. He had stumbled over an object lying in ht e snow-covered road. Slowly he bent down on one knee and brushed the snow off the object. It was the body of the monk, frozen to death.
Years later a disciple of Sadhu’s asked him, “What is life’s most difficult task?”
Without hesitation Sadhu replied: “To have no burden to carry.”
Rejoice that there is a burden to carry, u will never know why He has given u burdens, which may turn out as the saying goes "a blessing in disguise".
Last keyword: REMEMBER (V.12)
If God had not rescued u, u will be in no position to celebrate give and rejoice. Author of Deut reminds them of that.
Has not God rescued u? Saved u? Brought you out of slavery into freedom. This is why right now u can give freely in thanksgiving and not in mortal fear of your lives. With no freedom to move about, only exist to please masters of Egypt, what u labor for u don’t own, and you can’t give away what’s not yours.
Remember God brought you out with a mighty hand and He can do it again - that’ll be great reason remember to give thanks.
In what context do we hear words of Jesus that say “Do this in remembrance of me.” Deut 1:29, 2:7 See how God has been with you
Worship - re-experience God’s salvation today
Remember the grace, the love, the joy...
As u hear these four keywords today
1. Celebrate
2. Give
3. Rejoice
4. Remember
Got lots of reasons to give thanks?
Will u follow carefully these words and let’s LIVE It UP?
