Thanksgiving, November 18, 2001-- AM
No Hope? No thanks!
Isaiah 38:1-20 (*18)
INTRODUCTION:
(1) Donn Moomaw is sort of a larger-than-life person, so he has a lot of larger-than-life stories that are really funny. This is true. When he was preaching at Bel Air, a lady came up to him after a sermon and said, "Oh, Reverend Moomaw, I just have to tell you that every sermon you preach is better than your next." He thanked her in the way Donn would thank her for that.
Then he went home and began to think that over. Now that is the compliment that a pessimist can give. If you’re a pessimist and you want to give a pessimist compliment, that is one. "Every sermon you preach is better than your next." It’s a downhill slide. Earl Palmer, "A Durable Hope," Preaching Today, Tape No. 47.
(2) A life without hope is a downhill slide. A life without thanksgiving is a life headed toward the slope because it does not feed hope.
(3) What is Thanksgiving? For American Christians, it is a season highlighted by a day. Because of God¡¦s provision for our earliest forefathers, generations since have also been urged to express their gratitude to our benevolent and Divine creator. The season of Thanksgiving means that we again acknowledge the blessing of God on our lives. It means that God should receive the fruit of gratefulness from the hearts and lips of His people. We then bless Him with appreciation.
The season of Thanksgiving means that our business and ¡§busyness¡¨ decelerate to acknowledge God as God. Our focus must not be on what we do not have. Our worries, then, are not our source of nervous energy by which we power our days. To the contrary, thanksgiving is a means to confidence, or even a cure for worry.
The Thanksgiving observance is like Spring cleaning for our spirits. It provides conditions, then improves conditions and potentially develops patterns by which life is lived the rest of the year. It is a time of renewal, concentrating on gratitude that clears our lives of iniquities in attitude that tend to accumulate gradually over months throughout a year. Thanksgiving is a reminder. It is a revival. It is a resource. It is a righteous activity. Thanksgiving is evidence of spiritual life that has not ceased.
(4) Ready
I would be ready, Lord,
My house in order set,
None of the work Thou gavest me
To do unfinished yet.
I would be watching, Lord,
With lamp well-trimmed and clear,
Quick to throw open wide the door,
What time Thou drawest near.
I would be waiting, Lord,
Because I cannot know
If in the night or morning watch
I may be called to go.
I would be waking, Lord,
Each day, each hour for Thee,
Assured that thus I wait thee well,
Whene’er Thy coming be.
I would be living, Lord,
As ever in Thine eye;
For whoso lives the nearest Thee,
The fittest is to die.
ƒÞ Author Unknown -- Glen V. Wheeler, 1010 Illustrations, Poems and Quotes, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing, 1967), p. 132.
(5) As we live, we should praise the Lord, for it is the living who praise Him (verse 19). Give Him thanks for every day that allows us to live without debilitating pain. Working in the rain is an ability denied to many who are bedridden. Don¡¦t save things for special moments and forget that every moment that you have with each other is special.
This California woman wrote, "No matter how bad the pain is, it’s never so bad that suicide is the only answer. Suicide doesn’t end pain. It only lays it on the broken shoulders of the survivors." And she ends her story. "By the way: to all the doctors, nurses and psychiatrists who forced me to live when I didn’t want to -- thank you for keeping breath in my lungs and my heart beating and encouraging hope in me when I didn’t have any hope." -- Newsweek, Feb. 7, 1983, p. 13.
Don’t wait. It could result in something you regret for the rest of your days. I realized this anew when I read an article that appeared in mid-April back in ’85 in the Los Angeles Times. If it doesn’t get you off the dime, nothing will. A lady named Ann wells writes:
My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package.
"This," he said, "is not a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached.
"Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least eight or nine years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion."
He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.
"Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister’s family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn’t seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.
I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my life.
I’m not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event -- such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.
I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.
And every morning when I open my eyes I tell myself that it is special.
PROPOSITION: THANKSGIVING IS A PRIVILEGE OF THE LIVING.
Here are Four questions of hope.
I. Who needs hope? (Isaiah 38:1)
A. Hezekiah needed hope. He was deathly sick and received direction to ¡§put his house in order.¡¨ The nature of Hezekiah’s illness is not mentioned; neither is it stated that it is punishment for sin. God’s command suggests that Hezekiah had a duty to his family and kingdom to arrange their future administration. [EBCOT] The instruction to put his house in order caused the king to turn to the wall in prayer. Hezekiah’s couch was probably placed in a corner, which is the place of honor in the East; in which, turning on either side, he must turn his face to the wall; by which he would withdraw himself from those attending him in his apartment. A great king still depended on the Lord in the hour of death. The last hours equalize all mankind. An unordered house lacks the preparation for the demise of its head. Hezekiah was not ready to die. He needed hope like many who hear of his account today.
1. People who have had life-shattering experiences like a death of a friend or loved one, divorce, or a loss of a job need hope
2. People who have faced the same problem or trial for a long time need hope
3. People who have sincerely tried to solve their problems and failed need hope
4. People who are severely depressed need hope
5. People who are suicidal need hope
6. People who are in a difficult marriage need hope
7. People who struggle with rebellious children need hope
8. People who are addicted need hope
9. People who are dying need hope
10. People whose hopes have been dashed repeatedly need hope
B. Hezekiah provides opportunity to discuss the universal need for hope. It is a need that touches living souls across all barriers.
II. What gives hope? (Isaiah 38:3-6)
A. Hezekiah prayed with tears and received hope. The Lord spared his sorrowful servant.
B. There were certain things in the account that imparted hope to Hezekiah.
1. The Lord¡¦s attention (3 ¡V Remember)
2. The Word of God (4)
3. Prayer (5)
4. Provision (5)
5. Deliverance (6)
6. Defense (6)
C. AT A MUSIC CONFERENCE where I spoke, a gentleman approached me with tears in his eyes. ¡§We¡¦ve just gotten a new pastor,¡¨ he said. ¡§And his instructions to me, as the min-ister of music, are: ¡¥Please discontinue ¡§church music.¡¨ I want you to look for choral music from Broadway, from the pop scene, for the Sunday meetings.¡¦
¡§What am I going to do? I want to relate to people the same as he does¡Xbut does that mean I can¡¦t honor the Lord¡¦s name in our music, as I always have?¡¨
I told him he had no choice but to go back to his pastor and open his heart. They needed to have a long talk.
There will come a day, Paul says, when all our ¡§work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man¡¦s work¡¨ (1 Cor. 3:13). The gold, silver, and pre-cious stones will endure while the wood, hay, and straw will go up in smoke.
Paul doesn¡¦t say that the quantity will be tested. He says nothing about attendance totals. Everything will focus on quality.
Warren Wiersbe made an interesting observation about this passage to the Brooklyn Tabernacle staff. ¡§What¡¦s the difference between these materials, besides the obvious¡Xthat one group is fireproof while the other isn¡¦t?
¡§I think it¡¦s significant that wood, hay, and straw are abundant ... right outside your door, or only a few miles away at most. Any forest, any farmer¡¦s field has an abundance of these.
¡§But if you want gold, silver, and costly stones, you have to dig for them. You have to pursue with great effort. They¡¦re not just lying around everywhere. You have to go deep into the earth.¡¨
To me, these words are profound. Spiritual ¡§construc-tion¡¨ that uses wood, hay, and straw comes easy¡Xlittle work, little seeking, no travail, no birthing. You just slap it up and it will look adequate¡Xfor a while. But if you want to build something that will endure on Judgment Day, the work is much more costly.
On that day it won¡¦t matter what your fellow Christians thought of you. It won¡¦t matter what the marketing experts advised. You and I will stand before the One whose eyes are ¡§like fire.¡¨ We won¡¦t soften him up by telling him how bril-liant our strategy was. We will face his searing gaze.
He will only ask whether we were boldly faithful to his Word. Jim Cymbala with Dean Merrill in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997), pp. 135-36.
D. We have to dig for the quality expressions of thanksgiving that build hope.
III. What does hope do? (Isaiah 38:9-20, *18)
A. The sun had been about to set on the life of the king but the Lord prolonged it in response to prayer. Hezekiah, out of gratefulness, put his hope into words and responded with praise to the Lord who had delivered him. This Psalm is not recorded in the parallel account in 2 Kings 20:1-11. Hope has some marvelous effects as recorded in God¡¦s Word.
1. Hope produces trust (Job 11:18)
2. Hope produces praise (Psalm 42:11)
3. Hope produces joy (Proverbs 10:28)
4. Hope produces life (Ecclesiastes 9:4)
5. Hope produces courage to face the future (Jeremiah (29:11)
6. Hope produces confidence (Romans 5:5)
7. Hope produces perseverance (Romans 8:24-25)
8. Hope produces stability (Hebrews 6:19)
9. Hope produces a more intimate relationship with God (Hebrews 7:19)
10. Hope produces purity (I John 3:3)
B. The Lord spared and extended the life of Hezekiah because, for God¡¦s glory, Hezekiah would:
1. Set his house in order.
2. Take greater care in rearing his children.
3. Thank the Lord among the living, including his future children, as he could not if he died. [Hezekiah apparently had no living sons at this time.]
C. Though a believer is present with the Lord when he is absent from the body so that fellowship with God continues after death (2 Corinthians 5:8), one cannot, without the body, praise God in the "wholeness¡¨ of his being as he was created and commanded to do (Deuteronomy 6:4-6). There is no hope for those who die and cannot benefit from God¡¦s faithfulness to show mercy any longer.
IV. Where is danger beyond hope? (Isaiah 39)
A. In the next chapter, Hezekiah showed all the nation¡¦s treasures to emissaries from Babylon. Isaiah revealed that the Babylonians would one day carry away his descendants into captivity.
B. For the first decade of our marriage, my wife, Doris, and I hoped passionately for a child. I think we wanted a child more than we wanted anything else in the world. So we hoped and prayed for ten long years. And then finally, after ten years, Doris became pregnant. We thanked God and drank a toast to hope.
One night, about six months into the pregnancy, something went wrong, and I called the doctor. He told me Doris was going into labor and to get her into the car and take her to the emergency room right away.
"I’ll meet you there," he said. "Oh, yes; I have one more thing to tell you; I should have told you before. Your baby is going to be seriously malformed."
"Malformed? Seriously? How serious?"
"Very serious. It’s up to you now to tell Doris on the way to the hospital."
Well, I told her. But we decided that we were not going to give up hope. No matter what the doctor said, we were not going to give up hope. So we kept on hoping all through the night.
At six o’clock in the morning, the doctor came to me with a somewhat embarrassed grin from ear to ear. He said, "Congratulations! You have a perfect baby boy. Come and see." I went with him, and there he was, yelling his head off, looking just like me--a perfect man-child. Praise God! We thought.
It’s true. Never give up hope. Never, ever give up hope.
But two days later our baby was dead. Hope can break your heart. Lewis Smedes, "Keep Hope Alive," Preaching Today, Tape No. 139.
CONCLUSION:
(1) Re: Isaiah 38:18 ¡V One of the functions of the believer is to praise the Lord in this life. If he dies, that believer can no longer be a praise on earth. He cannot Hope for truth. No thanks, no hope. This one thing is missing when we are missing.
(2) Now is a special moment to thank the Lord. Now is a special moment to accept Christ as Savior.
(3) Psal 30:12 -- The help of God is worthy of praise. Our expressed gratitude is praise. We honor and glorify Him when we speak out to say He has helped us! Do not be silent about the Lord’s help. Praise Him! Glorify Him with spoken words of gratitude. Never remain silent when God has helped.
(4) Dear Ann Landers:
The enclosed appeared in the Schenectady Gazette. It was written by a teenage boy who died from cancer. His parents were divorced and he and his sisters were being raised by grandparents. Please try to find room for this farewell message in your column. We went to school with Kevin, and he was truly one in a million.
A Very Special Thank You
If I were back on earth, I would want to express my thanks:
To the doctors and nurses at Ellis Hospital who attended me and made sure I did not suffer any unnecessary pain during my illness.
To all my school friends for your concern and kindness; for the many visits you made to the chapels and churches to pray for me; for the many hours you spent at the hospital helping to cheer me up and lift the spirits of my family. For the memorial services you held on the steps of Draper High School the day I left this earth.
To all who came by the funeral home to pay their last respects. I stopped counting when the number reached 400.
To all who sent cards and sympathy letters. They were so helpful.
To you dear friends and neighbors who cooked all that delicious food and baked those wonderful pastries. Your goodies just about covered every flat surface in our home. How I wish I could have tasted some of them.
To the thoughtful friends, relatives and neighbors who sent donations to charities in my name -- and, oh, those gorgeous flowers! What a beautiful array! It was almost as if I was back in the Hawaiian islands again -- a place I truly loved. Many of the plants and flowers are now in our home, being tenderly cared for by my grandmother.
To those who made up the funeral cortege. What a sight that was! There were over 30 vehicles -- one after the other, all with their lights on. What a great send off. I loved it!
To my family -- Kelly, Celia, Gina and Katie. I am proud to have been your one and only brother. I’m sorry I had to leave you, but I know you will all grow up to be good citizens and a credit to our grandparents.
To Gram and Grandpa. Thanks for everything. Too bad God called me just when I was reaching the age when I could have been of help to you. I realized a long time ago that you were exceptional people. I was a lucky guy to be your grandson.
To all: This isn’t the end. We are sure to meet again. I’ll be on hand waiting when you arrive, and we’ll take up where we left off.
-- Kevin Dolan, 1964-1981.
Dear Friend in Schenectady: Thank you for sharing that extraordinary message. For those who may be wondering how Kevin knew the number of vehicles in the funeral cortege and the fact that more than 400 passed his coffin, his farewell message was written several days before he passed away. He left blank spaces for his older sister to fill in after his death.
(5) Expressing thanks gives rise to hope, which in turn leads to giving of thanks. Come to Christ for hope in eternity and give Him thanks for the here and now.
