Thanksgiving 2022 Message

 Today’s text: But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-22)

While we could spend a few weeks looking at the Lord’s commandments in this text, because it is Thanksgiving week, I want us to look at verse 18: In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

As you know, Thanksgiving is the celebration of the time when first settlers arrived on this continent and in that cold November day gave thanks to God for His rich blessings and gifts.

And so, on this Sunday before our own Thanksgiving celebration, I thought it good to take these next 30 minutes to reflect – not just think about, but to reflect – on the things for which you and I are thankful.

 

Some of the first things that come to mind for which I am thankful are – for example – good health, for living in a country where people are free to worship – or not to worship – as they choose. A place where we can speak our minds without fear of Storm Troopers knocking down our doors at 2 in the morning.

 

I am thankful for my wife of 48 years, for our health, for comfortable finances, and for the opportunities He has given me to minister to people such as yourselves for so many years. So, I am thankful to God for many of the gifts He has given me over the many years – even before I began serving Him. And I know you here are also thankful to our God for the gifts He has given you over the years and even to this day.

 

But all of those gifts, we realize – if not consciously then subconsciously – all of those gifts can be gone in an instant. Life changes. At times, slowly, and at other times, in a moment.

 

Take health, for example. A stroke. A heart attack. A fall – and our health changes for the rest of our lives. Or our relationships – a death of a spouse, or even worse – a divorce can change our lives. Finances can evaporate like smoke from a candle in a hurricane.

 

So, if we hang our thankfulness on things that are by their very nature transient – health, relationships, finances, and the like – if we hang our thankfulness on those things, then what happens when those things are gone? Do Christians have anything firm, rock solid, immovable and unchangeable for which we can always and at all times be thankful to God for His unchangeable gifts?

 

The answer to that serious question is a resounding, yes!

 

And so, what are some of those unchangeable gifts God has given to every one of His children who were born not of the flesh, but through their faith in and obedience to Jesus the Christ? I can list off the top of my head a dozen of God’s promises, and so could many of you. But we do not have time to list them all and talk about them, so what I have done is selected only three of the gifts of God for which we can and ought to be thankful.

 

First: There is the Bible, God’s unchangeable, eternal, inerrant, and transcultural voice to us – His very heart to us. How could you know God loves you like a precious Father if we did not have His assurance of that relationship in His word to us? How could we know He forgives us for every and any sin when we repent, if we did not have His vow to that effect in the Bible? How could we hope for divine direction in our moral decisions if we did not have God’s flawless word to guide us? How could we have assurance of eternal life? How could we know that we could never ‘do enough’ to earn that eternal life, but that we will live forever with Him because of our trust in His work alone on Calvary?

 

How can the Christian be sure – really, really SURE that when we close our eyes in death, we will open them a moment later in the smiling face of our Father in heaven? We can be sure of that reality because God tells us it is a reality in the Scriptures.

 

How can the Christian know what kind of lifestyle is pleasing to God and what lifestyle brings His judgment? Again, we go back to the unchangeable and infallible word of God. Surely, as Isaiah tells us, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) It is for those reasons, and for so many others that we cannot take time to rehearse them, it is for those reasons the psalmist tells us, “How can a young man [or an old one] keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word” (Psalm 119:9). And later in the psalm: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105).

 

So when all of life changes – slowly or in an instant, the Christian can be thankful for the unchangeable word of God, the voice of God, the heart of God, the counsel of God, the direction of God, the promises and the warnings of God found in the pages of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation.

 

For what else can the Christian be thankful on Thanksgiving Day? How about for God’s forgiveness, that glorious and unfathomable truth that God placed all the sins of the penitent on the Lamb of God as He suffered and died on that cross. Scripture tells us that Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice, that He purchased our pardon from the Father with His most precious blood.

 

Jesus died in our place, for our sins, so that WE would not have to pay that eternal penalty.

As I was reading the first chapter of Luke’s gospel a few days ago the Holy Spirit stopped me when I came to verses 76 and 77. The context is Zacharias’ prophecy about his newly born son, John. Here are the verses:

“And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:76-79).

 

The Greek word Luke uses here for ‘forgiveness’ is a-fay-CEASE. It is most often translated as the remission of sins. So, what does remission mean in the New Testament? It means MORE than simple forgiveness of sins. When sins are forgiven, but not removed from the ‘ledger’ – so to speak. But REMISSION of sins means the sins are pardoned and treated as if they had never been committed.

 

Did you get that? When God gives us remission of sins it is as if those sins had never been committed!   It’s the same word Matthew used when he recorded the words of Jesus during the Last Supper: “And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28, ASV)

 

I heard an illustration some time ago that helps illustrate what remission of sins means. When a person breaks a bone and the orthopedist places it in a cast for healing, the bone will eventually heal and be pretty much as good as new. BUT, for the rest of the person’s life, an x-ray will always reveal the place where the bone was broken.

 

When we commit sin, when our relationship with God is broken, repentance (we will look at that word shortly) – repentance restores our relationship,

and fixes the ‘break.’

 

Scripture tells us God casts the sins of the truly penitent – meaning the one who has acknowledged to God that he or she sinned against God, broke His commandments, is truly sorry and demonstrates that sorrow by a decision to never commit that sin again – God casts the sins of the truly penitent as far as the east is from the west. You find that promise in Psalm 103. Scripture also tells us God casts our sins into the depths of the sea. You can find that one in Micah 7.

 

BUT – and here is the thing I have missed for decades and decades: When we repent, God grants us remission of our sins. In other words, from God’s perspective, it is as if WE NEVER COMMITTED THE OFFENSE!

 

Please now take a moment to think of the absolute worst sin you have ever committed in your life. Do it now. I will give you a moment to do that.

 

Did you ever confess that sin to God and ask forgiveness for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice for that sin? If you did, then God tells us through His unchangeable words of promise that He has remitted that sin, meaning it is now as if YOU NEVER COMMITTED THAT OFFENSE.

 

Oh! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I occasionally listen to a song I have stored on my phone. The lyrics always speak comfort and confidence to me. I hope they speak comfort and confidence to you, too. It’s sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir:

I'm amazed that You love me. I'm amazed how You care
Through Your precious blood I've found pardon
And my sins are washed; They're all washed away
All my sins are washed away

 

Yes there've been days when I've failed You.
Lord You know the many times I've gone astray.
But I've learned Your love is stronger than my weakness,
And Your ear is open every time I pray. . . .

I'm amazed that You love me I'm amazed how You care
Through Your precious blood I've found pardon
And my sins are washed they're all washed away
All my sins are washed away

 

Please hear me. When I think of the worst sins I have ever committed, then I remind myself of what I only recently learned about the remission of sins. Oh! How can I not be thankful – even if my world has crashed into flames all around me – how can I not be thankful for God’s unchangeable promises for His remission of all sins for the truly penitent.

 

And so, for the sake of time, I will remind us of only one more truth for which Christians be thankful.

 

We have a PURPOSE in life. A life-MISSION. A reason for living. God has gifted you and me with the privilege to tell others of this great news, this news that I am telling you now.

 

We have the message of God’s promises that bring irreducible hope to others! Whatever they’ve done in their lives, we can give them the ASSURANCE that through repentance – turning from their sin – we can give them the full assurance from God Himself that He views their sins as if they NEVER committed them.

 

I know I keep repeating myself. I do that for a reason. I want you – and I want myself –l to get that truth burned into our souls.

 

No wonder Peter tells us: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

 

The Lord Jesus quoted a passage from Isaiah and referred to it about His own ministry – but don’t think for a nanosecond the same Great Call, the same Great Mission does not apply to ALL God’s born-again children: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners;  To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn . . .” (Isaiah 61:1-2)  

 

Listen to what the Lord Jesus said to the rabid persecutor of the Church when he was on his way to Damascus to wreak havoc there among the Christians. Jesus said to Saul: ‘[G]et up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you . . . ¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness [remission] of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ (Acts 26:15-18)

 

It is a deception straight from Satan to think anything else but God’s gracious grace through the bloody sacrifice of Jesus His Son remits – takes away – our sins’ deepest stains. No amount of good works will remit them. No amount of money we give will erase them. You could go to church every day for your entire life, you can teach Sunday School or Catechism classes for fifty years . . .  Nothing will sanctify us before God, nothing will wash away our sins but our faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus; Jesus, who was sacrificed for us.

 

THAT is the mission, the purpose, the message God gifts to us to gift to others.

 

I believe everyone hearing my words have had their sins remitted by Christ. But as your pastor, I must ask the question nonetheless – because there is always a chance that someone here has never truly availed himself or herself of Christ’s gift.

 

So, have you asked Jesus to cover your sins with His blood; To wash them all away, as if you’d never committed them? AND are you now living for Him day by day? Are you now forsaking your own will and lifestyle for His will and lifestyle?

 

If you are not sure, then you need to BE SURE. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to make changes in your life.

 

Let me close with this last reminder. Health, family, friendships, a warm home, good food, and so forth – all those gifts of God are transitory. They are fleeting. Like that puff of smoke I mentioned earlier that evaporates like smoke from a candle in a hurricane.

 

But there are things God gifts to us that NEVER change or disappear. We looked at only three of those gifts this afternoon: The Bible, the remission of sins, and the mission, the purpose God has gifted to all His children born through faith in Christ.

 

I encourage you to remember those things, not only when you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal, but from this day and every day for the rest of your life. Oh, and may God the Holy Spirit remind us all of His indescribable gifts.

 

Amen.