Thanksgiving, Psalm 100
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
November 24, 2002
They say that everybody acts more friendly around thanksgiving. Everyone lightens up a bit. That we don’t mind the long lines at the stores. We are a little more gracious in traffic.
We also have a tendency to link thanksgiving with Christmas. The morning after thanksgiving will mark big sales. In fact I would bet that sometime in the evening on Thanksgiving Day you will see Christmas promotions, sales and some will probably get that tree up right away. For us it does kind of blend together.
Time magazine stated one year ago, "This is the kind of holiday we need right now, a holiday of paradox that comes at the end of a bitter harvest and yet finds something sweet to celebrate." The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was born in paradox. About half of the 102 people who traveled from England to America died before summer. Yet after that first fall harvest about 50 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans chose to give thanks.
This week we will choose to give thanks to God as well. We will thank Him for another year. In the midst of elevated terror alert, a lingering memory of lives lost and friends out of work we will chose to be thankful. Some will chose to be thankful in the midst of deadly health problems that could tear them from their family in an instant, others will offer thanks even though family is not close and your health is being weakened.
Choosing to give thanks to God is a conscious choice we all have to make. I learned early on in life that you should always find something to be grateful for in every situation that you find yourself in. The truth is the tough spots in our lives build our character more quickly than the times of ease and triumph. Because it is in those times that God teaches, God molds and God forms our hearts.
Isaac Newton said that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” What will be your reaction to thanksgiving this year? What will be your reaction to his provision for you? We’re used to cause and effect. We understand it, it’s measurable. A lot of times we play cause and effect with God. Such as God if you do something for me I will do something with my life for you.
Our Psalm today is right in the middle of your bible. It’s Psalm 100. and in it the author talks some about cause and effect.
Prayer
Psalm 100:1 A psalm. For giving thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
This is very much a cause and effect Psalm. Often we think of cause and effect like trading favors. There are still those who think that they can go to church when God is good to them. And stay away when God is refining us like pure gold. The truth is the only way we offer God anything of value is through our worship. If you come in and don’t worship, what does God get our of that. God is clear about 2 things when it comes to worshiping Him.
First He wants us to worship him honestly and because we want to. As in this text our worship should come from the heart and we should be mature enough to come before Him with all sincerity and be real about our relationship with him.
The second thing that God makes clear in this text is that He is in charge, God alone is in control.
Dave Stone tells a story about going into a pizza hut and the waitress comes by to take their order. After the waitress took the order she pulled out a egg timer and said this is a new promotion we set these timer’s for 15 minutes and if the timer stops before you get your pizza the next pizza is free. Dave said ok and the other 3 guys he was with started talking but Dave said I just stared at that egg timer.
It got down to about a minute and I waved at the waitress 1 minute to go. I could see her getting drinks for some people and when the timer got to 20 seconds he knew she wasn’t going to make it. The timer went off and about 10 seconds later the waitress came with the pizza. Dave said It looks like you were a little bit late. She said I guess so, went in the back and brought out 4 vouchers for free pizzas and gave one to each person at the table.
Here’s the question, are you ever guilty of treating The God of the universe like a pizza hut waitress? God is clear in this text that He is in charge, He is in control.
This verse in effect says that God is not here to jump through our hoops. That’s not Godly cause and effect but the cause is God is good and because He is so good we should praise Him. We should offer thankfulness.
Listen again to verses 1 and 2 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
The resounding message of this verse is God made us. We belong to him. Which is great news if you’ve been looking for a place to belong. But this verse just reaffirms that true Christianity is not defined in who you are but it is more accurately found in whose you are.
We are the work of God, He created us, He says to Jeremiah right in the beginning chapter 1 vs. 5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." God created you too. He knew you before he formed you. He gave you your personality. And what’s more is that He has set you apart as well.
In the case of Jeremiah he was set apart to be a prophet. I really believe that God forms us to be people who offer the world something. How refreshing to know that God has a special purpose for each one of our lives.
I love that song we sing about how much God knows us
I have a Maker, He formed my heart
Before even time began, My life was in His hands
I have a Father, He calls me His own
He’ll never leave me, No matter where I go
HE KNOWS MY NAME, HE KNOWS MY EVERY THOUGHT
HE SEES EACH TEAR THAT FALLS, AND HE HEARS ME WHEN I CALL
That’s why we worship, That’s why we are joyful, and That’s why we show our thanks because even if nothing else is going right we know that we have a father who calls us his own.
This is a mandate of thankfulness and praise, Listen to Psalm 96:1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
God wants Joyful worshipers. People who are committed to expressing themselves to Him in worship. You know worship should not feel contrived or stuffy. When we come into worship it is a time of celebration, yet I know of people who view churchgoing as a chore. I know people who act like Sunday is a 2000 year old funeral for Jesus. Friends my Jesus broke out of that tomb and rescued me from a life of meaningless mediocrity. The God I serve resurrected Jesus from the dead and gave me the promise that because God has beaten death I can have life with Him.
This isn’t a funeral it’s a house of celebration. It’s a time to show our thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations
There’s another cause and effect right in this same verse. The Lord is Good and his love endures forever. Isn’t it great to know that God can be trusted? That He is faithful to us and that faithfulness that was available to your great grandparents will be available to your great grandchildren.
This is the place to show your gratitude to God. We have a tendency to look at all the negative things that happen but that kind of lifestyle is completely contrary to what God wants for us. We need to accurately display Christian attitudes, full of grace and compassion.
Listen to what the book of Colossians says in chapter 3: 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
God is clear that Thankfulness is a choice Gratitude is an attitude.
We all make those decisions everyday. Look at all we have to be thankful for. Our personalities will become more magnetic when we accurately reflect God’s goodness with our lives.
I am not a big fan of clichés or catch phrases but we have used a philosophy that is very much a cliché. It’s this “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”. What does your attitude toward God say about you? When you talk to people about the church are you sharing honey or vinegar. When people hear about your faith are they hearing condemnation or compassion? It all starts with this idea of thanksgiving.
One day Jesus and Moses were on a golf course in heaven and decided to have a contest over who can make the most outstanding shot.
Moses goes first. He settles up for the shot and hammers it straight for the green. Unfortunately, the ball falls into a water hazard. Undaunted, Moses raises his arms to the sky, and the water parts where the ball dropped in. The ball rolls out of the water and onto dry land, only a foot away from the hole. Jesus looks at Moses and says, "Hey Moses, that was a pretty good shot. Now let me see what I can do."
Jesus settles up for his shot and sends the ball screaming towards the green. Unfortunately, Jesus has the same luck as Moses did. The ball heads straight for the water hazard. Jesus holds out one hand and, instead of dropping into the water, the ball bounces on top of the water and rolls onto dry land only 3 inches from the hole. Moses says, "Wow, that was an incredible shot!"
No sooner did Moses say this, than the skies grew dark. The wind started up, lightning and thunder crackled through the sky. Suddenly a ball falls from the heavens into the same water hazard where Jesus and Moses had hit theirs. A fish swims up and swallows the ball. An eagle swoops down, grabs the fish in his talons, and heads for the now darkened sky. Lightning strikes the eagle and he drops the fish onto the green. The fish opens his mouth, the ball rolls out and drops into the hole.
Moses turns to Jesus and says, "Man! It really bugs me when your Dad plays!!"
There may be some things that have bothered you recently about a church decision. Or it may not be that, You may be dealing with an uncertainty or a loss in the last few months and you thought God should have come through for you.
But today wherever you are the most important thing you can know is God is in control. Vs 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. That’s why we should have an attitude of thanksgiving. That’s why we do what we do. This text even gives some specifics.
Enter His courts with thanksgiving, Praise Him, Give Him the Honor he deserves. The thing that interests me is that this Psalm inspires a take home message, but it does not tell exactly what the take home lesson is.
This text speaks about How great God is and specifically what happens it worship. But I have noticed that it these things do not happen personally then they will not happen in worship.
If we never understand what it means to have an attitude of thankfulness, we will never be completely grateful people.
Offering thanks means that we have to acknowledge a force greater than ourselves. It means that we have to recognize that we are not in control but that God is.
But also it means a revolution of our lives. If we are truly thankful and want to show it we will express gratitude in every area of our lives. Instead of saying hurtful and demeaning things about others who disagree with us we will be thankful that we serve a great God who can bring us together.
Instead of being unforgiving and legalistic to those who have lead hard lifestyles we will seek to become more compassionate and accepting, while pointing people to Jesus.
Instead of offering complaints when someone makes a mistake we will offer compliments and help where needed. And instead of hiding our money and resources in a hole in the ground we will offer them at the feet of Jesus. God knows thankful people are joyful builders of what he has in store.
I don’t know about you but that’s the kind of church I want to continue to be in. To know that God can be trusted because He is all powerful and cares so much about us. He wants us all to go see the place he is getting ready for us.
2 peter 3: 9 says The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God may be waiting a little longer to see if you will accept him today.
If you need to enter His courts today we invite you come as we stand together and sing.
