Thanksgiving Can Serve A Purpose

Thanksgiving as More Than Avoiding Ingratitude

Take your Bibles and turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 34. Before we look into God's word, let's pray. Father of heaven, our glorious God, we come to you now and ask that you would work in our hearts.

Lord, we come to this part of the service, we're used to it, we hear the preaching of your word, it's part of our tradition every Sunday, but I pray, Father, that this would be more than tradition, that we would have the attitude that we will now hear the voice of God as he speaks to us.

And by that, stir up our hearts to greater obedience, greater dependence, greater joy because of you. Please open your word to us today, please teach us. Lord, don't let this just be another sermon on another Sunday, but let this be something that would change us, that would cause us to think, that would cause us to truly look at you in a different way and to look at our circumstances differently.

Help us to see this is the living word of God that gives us the proper view of our life and gives us the proper view of you and gives us the proper response to you. Help us now, we pray, we need your help.

May your spirit work, in Jesus' name, amen. Tommy's a kindergartner and he has a special place in your heart. He and his parents have come to see you and he's been playing with this little matchbox thing while you and the parents talk and then it's time for them to leave and Tommy's handing you back the matchbox car and you say to him, no, you know, Tommy, keep it, it's yours.

And Tommy looks with delight at it and holds onto it and he's really glad he's got it. It appears and his parents say to him, Tommy, Tommy, you need to say thank you. Well, Tommy's so enthralled he doesn't even hear.

He's just sitting there and he's looking at it and they say, Tommy, you need to say thank you. And he still does not respond. So Tommy's dad says, Tommy, you say thank you or we're going into that bathroom and you're gonna get a spanking.

Well, what does Tommy do? He looks up at you and he says, thank you. And the threat of punishment is removed and we are all glad for that. Now, what does Tommy learn from that whole exchange? He learns that when someone does something for you, you thank him.

He's beginning to learn that ingratitude is a sin that deserves punishment when it is not forthcoming. And all that is right.

That's true.

But the problem is that sometimes we think that exhausts the whole meaning of thanksgiving, right? When someone, including God, does something nice for you, thank him. And if you don't, you're ungrateful and that's a sin.

And that's where a lot of us go. That's about as far as we go. But as you mine the riches of the scripture, you begin to see that the purposes for praising God go deeper than that. That giving thanks to God has more purpose than avoiding ingratitude.

I gotta give thanks for I'm guilty of ingratitude. It goes deeper than that. It's more than just each individual ought to thank God for his kindness and his gifts. And thanksgiving, although expressing gratitude, goes beyond that.

Now, David expresses some of those deeper purposes here in Psalm 34. This is a psalm of thanksgiving that David has left for us, that God has given us. It can be divided into two parts. Verses one through 10, in the first part, he gives thanks.

And then in verses 11 through 22, he gives instruction. So he gives thanks, and then he gives instruction. Now, we wanna look at the first 10 verses this morning. We want to see what kind of purpose there is in thanksgiving.

Because as David gives thanks, we can gain some perspective on thanksgiving, and we can see that the purpose of thanksgiving goes beyond just thanking you when someone does something nice and avoiding the sin of ingratitude.

It goes beyond that. It's deeper than that. So you follow as I read these first 10 verses of Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Now here's what David says to us. He says, praise God with me, verses one through three.

Praise God and learn God, verses four through seven. Praise God and believe, verses eight through 10. Here is what we learn about the purpose of thanksgiving. First he says, praise God with me. Now you've heard the statement innumerable times.

You get tired of hearing it. You know it's true, but yet you get tired of hearing it. Thanking God should not just happen at thanksgiving. We should be thankful to God all the time. Yeah, we get that, but David makes that commitment here.

He makes that commitment here. No matter what happens in my life, he says in verse one, I will praise the Lord. My mouth will always be ready with thanksgiving. He essentially says what God commands us in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse 18.

This was a verse we used to quote to our children all the time. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ for you, right? Give thanks in all circumstances, says the Apostle Paul.

Well, David is saying the same thing here. He's saying I'm committed to that, but you protest. How can anyone do that? There are so many circumstances in life where I don't feel like giving thanksgiving.

It's difficult to give thanks. How can anyone do that? How can anyone be ready to give thanks no matter what the circumstances are? And you know what the answer is? It's always the answer, it's Jesus.

It's Jesus. You have something more than David even had. You have seen clearly the work of God for you in Jesus, and that gives us the springboard for being thankful in all circumstances, what God has done for us in Christ.

What do you face that tempts you to ingratitude? What is it, what are the things in life that tempt you to ingratitude or to neglect thanks to God? Are people against you? Are there people who are against you?

Are they making your life hard? Listen to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter eight. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

God is for you. Who can be against you? God's for you. How do I know that? He did not spare his own son. How do I know God's for me? Because he even went so far as to give his own son for sinners. When people are against you, making your life hard, you remember God is for you.

You're tempted to ingratitude when others start pointing out your faults, sometimes justifiably so, your faults, or maybe even making false accusations. What does God say? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies. You're tempted to ingratitude when people are pointing out your faults or making false accusations. It's God who justifies. You don't have to be justified with other people. It's God who justifies you.

Maybe you're tempted to neglect thanksgiving to God because your conscience or even Satan condemns you. What does God say? Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised.

Who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? Yes, maybe your conscience condemns you, maybe Satan does, maybe others do. Jesus died for you, he was raised for you, and he lives for you in heaven to make intercession for you.

Maybe you're tempted to be ungrateful when circumstances right now are so hard for you that the last thing on your mind is thanksgiving. What does God say? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God has an undying love for you, and those circumstances cannot be divorced from his love. If you are going through hard times, remember, remember, those hard times come to you from a loving hand of a loving heavenly Father.

Nothing, I remember reading this, Jerry Bridges, I'll give him credit for this. Everything that comes to you in your life comes from the hand of a Father who loves you. There is nothing in your life that is divorced from the love of God.

Everything in your life comes to you from the hand of a God who is your Father and who loves you. So circumstances can be unbearable, it seems, and yet nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ.

God will never cease loving you. In all those times when we are tempted to neglect our thanksgiving to God, when it seems like there is no reason to thank God, you can always say, look at what he's accomplished in Jesus, and I can always be thankful to the Father.

No matter what happens in life, you will always have reason to give thanks when you look to the Lord Jesus. Now, do you know that in order to fulfill that commitment, you need to get good at boasting?

That's what he says in verses two and three, right? My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. David describes this praise or this thanksgiving as boasting, magnifying, and exalting God.

Don't you love to boast about your children? Well, you do, other people aren't so crazy about you boasting about your children, but we do it all the time, right? Yeah, like my son made it to the state tournament this year.

Yeah, he's good, right? You know, my son did this. My son is, you know, my son is a nurse that flies in helicopters, yeah. I know your daughter's a nurse, but he flies in helicopters, right? I mean, we boast about our children.

It's something we boast. You talk them up, you tell about their qualities, you talk about their achievements. So thanksgiving is talking up God's achievements. Boast about him. You talk about, you talk up his achievements.

We magnify him, right? We magnify him. Don't you love these smartphones now when someone sends you something, a picture, a text, and you just go, right? And it magnifies it. Oh, that's what he said, right?

When you get like my age and your bifocals aren't working real well, you just, right? There it is in big letters. You can read it. You magnify it. You enlarge it. Thanksgiving is making God look big to magnify him.

Thanksgiving is magnifying, making God look big. We can't add to his glory. There's no way we can add to his glory. But our responsibility isn't to add to his glory. Our response is to make God look big.

Others don't think he's important. Let's make him big. That's thanksgiving, magnifying God. It's exalting God. When you go to an auction, what happens? The auctioneer's helper holds up the item so everybody can see it, right?

Exalts it, puts it up there so you can see it. Thanksgiving is holding God up so that everyone notices him. Okay? And so, thanksgiving is boasting. Thanksgiving is exalting. Thanksgiving is magnifying.

Someone said this. Thanksgiving is your selfless enthusiasm and pure joy at God's triumph and achievements. Isn't that good? Thanksgiving is your selfless enthusiasm and pure joy at God's achievements, at God's triumphs.

And who gets the most out of thanksgiving? Notice our text.

The humble. The humble.

These are the ones who boast and magnify and exalt someone else other than themselves. You know how hard that is, don't you? It's really nice when people come up to you and say, wow, thank you for saying that.

You know, you can't believe how much that helped. And you're feeling pretty good, right? You're feeling pretty good. What we need to do is to boast in God, to magnify God. Not me. The humble are the ones who are gonna be the most thankful.

You have greater joy when God gets all the credit and thanks. I have a friend who emailed me yesterday who essentially said to me, you were right and I'm broken. I am broken at the pain I've caused, right?

And the easy thing to do is to say, wow, look at what I did. But the more joyful thing is to say, wow, look what God did. Look what God did in his life. I sure wasn't expecting that. I sure wasn't expecting that.

Lord God, you're to be praised. You're to be exalted. I wanna boast about what you can do. As in humility, you will have greater joy when God gets all the credit and thanks. But when it's all said and done, thanksgiving must be a continual boasting in God from a humble heart.

It's gotta be that. But David says this. Note, my praise will not be complete. My thanksgiving will not be complete unless you join me in that thanksgiving. Isn't that what he says? Praise God with me.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. That's where he ends up. He says, join with me. Praise God with me. The purpose of thanksgiving is it's not complete without you, right?

Thanksgiving's not merely a time for everyone to show everyone else how grateful they are. No, your thanksgiving should call everyone else to join you in magnifying God. You see, thanksgiving serves the purpose of deepening our fellowship.

Bottom line, thanksgiving serves the purpose of deepening our fellowship. When we gather together and we exalt and we boast about God and we magnify him together, ah, you see, then thanksgiving strengthens the bonds of our fellowship.

It serves that purpose. Praise God with me. He says, praise God and learn God in verses four through seven. I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. David's praise to God is an occasion to look back and to see all that God had done and particularly how God had delivered him.

Now, we're not sure to which particular deliverance David refers. There's a superscript at the very top of the psalm that was probably penned by a scribe many years after David. It's really not part of the inspired word of God.

It gives us a hint, maybe, that that's what he's referring to. But what we do know is that in his praise of God, David recounts God's intervention and rescue. David recounts, you know why I can thank God?

Because of who God is. He's a rescuer. He rescued me. He rescued me. And in his thank, David points to a God who hears. This God heard me. He heard me in my distress. This is a God who hears his people.

How do you think of God? Too many of us have that picture of a bearded old man sitting on a throne far away. Banish all those kinds of images from your mind. How often do you think of God, not as your father, how often do you think of God as this far away deity?

He's far away and he's kind of looking over stuff and moving the pieces so everything in the game turns out right. Is that how you see God, this God who's far away? That's not how David sees him. That's not how David sees him.

He doesn't see a far away deity sitting on a far away throne who's apathetic to us. He sees a God who is near, who hears us. That's how David sees him. And if you see God as near you, as your father who is near you, then you will cry out to him.

You will cry out to him, right? You'll be in the habit of seeking him. It'll be natural for you just to say in moments of difficulty, oh, Father, help me right now, I need your help.

Right?

He says this poor man, this man who had no resources, who was at the end of his rope, there was nothing more he could do. He was trapped. He sought God. This is the God who hears. And because he hears, he's a God of mercy.

He sought the God who cares. He sought the God who takes a vital interest in his people. He sought the God who hears. Do you think God listens to you? He does. God will always hear those who come to him in Jesus.

He will never turn his ear away. He will always hear those who come to him in Jesus. In fact, in John chapter 16, verses 24 and 25, what does he say? He says, truly, truly, this is Jesus. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name,.

He'll give it to you.

Until now, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. God hears everybody who comes to him in Christ. In giving thanks, God points to the God not only who hears, but the God who rescues.

He was in trouble. He was near death. He was in great distress. He was in a tight spot, and God rescued him from danger. In his thanksgiving, he recalls that the God who rescued him is the merciful, powerful, sovereign God who hears and then rescues.

But God doesn't stop there. He rescued him from his fear and his shame. He rescued him not just from the difficulty and the distress. He rescued him from the very fear of it, and he rescued him from his shame.

As David recalls rescue, he remembers that God delivered him from the terrors of that difficulty and that God transformed him from shame. Notice, from shame to radiance, the face of those who belong to this God who rescues, their face is radiant.

Not shame, but radiance. But you say, how can this be my thanksgiving? I've been in many scrapes through the years. I've cried out to God to deliver me from it, and I went through it anyway. In fact, I could say, how can this thanksgiving be mine so whenever I go through difficult times, I cry out to God, deliver me from this, and he doesn't seem to answer.

How can this be my thanksgiving? Again, I say to you, this can be yours through Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and pastor who stood against Hitler. He died at the hand of the Nazis.

He was a guy who once said, read the Psalms as the prayer book of Jesus. So put these words into Jesus' mouth. Put these words into Jesus' mouth in the Garden of Gethsemane. Did God rescue him? Lord, if there's any other way, let's do it.

Did God rescue Jesus? Is that an unanswered prayer on Jesus' part? What'd you find? Here's what you find. God delivered him from the terror of that, did he not? He got up off his knees after agonizing before God, and he said, come, let's meet the ones that are coming for me.

Delivered him from his terror. You say, but wait a minute. How did he deliver him from his shame? He hung on the cross naked in open shame. God didn't deliver him from his shame. God didn't deliver him from dying.

How is this our prayer? Simply this, God delivered in a way that you would never have expected. Was he hung in open shame?

Yes.

Did he die?

Yes.

But what else happened? He was raised from the dead and vindicated. His face is now radiant with the glory of God. Did God answer that prayer? Absolutely. Not in the way that we would have anticipated, but God answered that prayer, and that's how we, that prayer is ours then.

You see, God always delivers, but oftentimes in a way that we don't anticipate, and in a way that's better than we could possibly have anticipated. Yes, you go through hard times, and you know what? Maybe you go through hard times and you won't see glory till Jesus comes, but you will see glory.

In 1 John, the apostle John writes that we are treated badly because people don't know who we are. We're the children of God. They don't see it, but someday Jesus is coming, and we will be revealed as the children of God, and everyone will see it.

God delivers us from difficulty and terror and shame. He rescues us from those things, oftentimes in ways that we don't anticipate, but again, David says this is for your benefit. Verse five, those who look to him are radiant.

Verse seven, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. You see, God is full of mercy. He takes a vital interest.

He cares. He hears.

He rescues from danger and shame and fear. As you look back, you can see that thanksgiving then serves the purpose of deepening our theology, does it not? When you look back and you see how God has been faithful to hear and to rescue, to be merciful, to do all those things, we see those things now of God, and as we give thanks, it deepens our theology.

It deepens our view of God. Listen, I can look back over my years, nearly 40 years here as a pastor. I can look back over many things now, and I can see wonderful things about God, and I know him better.

Thanksgiving has deepened, can deepen our theology. You see, now the basis of this testimony of thanks, David calls you to respond now to God in faith. He says, praise God and believe, verses eight through 10.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Praise God and believe. Here's what he says. If all this is true, then taste God. If all that I've said up to this point is true, then taste God. Now here's a scene I don't expect to see this afternoon.

I don't expect to see one of you go through that line, the biggest line that we ever have in any of our, the biggest, deepest, weightiest line we ever have in any of our dinners here, right? I don't expect to see any of you, not one of you go through and get like about that much mashed potatoes.

And I don't see you sitting down, taking a spoon and eating those mashed potatoes and then laying back and going, ah, man, I can hardly breathe. Oh man, that was incredibly good. That's not gonna be the way it happens.

I know, I've seen this happen. I've seen it a number of years now. You're gonna pig out, that's what you're gonna do, right? You're gonna eat a lot and you are going to taste a lot of good stuff. And this is what he says.

You must give yourself completely to God if you would taste him. Not sampling, okay? You give yourself completely to God and you will taste him. This is what Peter had in mind when he quotes this in 1 Peter chapter two.

1 Peter chapter two, verses two and three. If you wanna look at that, 1 Peter two, verses two and three notice what Peter says. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. He says, like an infant, long for that milk.

You should long for that milk. I'm telling you, long for that milk. And by the way, babies never sample.

Do they?

They eat until they're so full that within the next half hour they're spitting up all over you, okay? And so he says, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

He said, if you've given yourself to Jesus, right? You've tasted the kindness of God who saves you in Christ. You taste God as you give yourself entirely to Jesus. You give yourself entirely to Jesus to save you.

He is your savior. You don't hold back, you give yourself entirely to him. And thus, through Jesus, you enter a lifetime of feasting on God. You're tasting, you're feasting on God. You do that through the reading and believing his word and its promises, through participating and believing the promises here at this table.

You taste of God when you come to Christ. And now the feast of God himself is open to you. You ever think of God as someone who gives himself to you so that you can enjoy him? Just like at the tables, those food is out there so that you can enjoy it.

It's given to you to enjoy. God gives himself to you so you can enjoy him. I think that's one thing that we really need to lay hold of. Do I read the Bible so that I just get my Bible reading done or do I find God there and I can enjoy him?

You know, here's a homework assignment I give to a number of counselees. In fact, I just gave it to a fellow that I'm working with. I said, I want you to read these passages. I gave him a number of Psalms as well as Isaiah 40.

I said, I want you to read these three times in a day and at the end of the day, here's what I want you to write. What is in this passage that I can, what does this tell me about God? What's the truth about God that I can delight in, that I can delight in, right?

I remember doing this exercise many years ago. I was dry. I was, in fact, I'd read this passage, taste and see that the Lord is good and I said, I'm not seeing it.

What do I need to do?

Well, I need to then go and I spent time in one of the prophets and just read. I would read three chapters a day and then say, what here, what is in here that I can delight in? What is so delightful about God in this passage?

See, God gives himself for us to enjoy him. The greatest gift God can give you is himself. And we need to learn to feast on him and to taste him and to see that he is good. And when we come to Christ, we taste the kindness and the benevolence of God.

How could he be any kinder than to give us his son? That's always the springboard for us. And as you taste God, as you feast on him, you will see that he is good. You can praise him and thank him for his kindness and his benevolence.

And then he says, in light of who God is, what? Take refuge in him. Take refuge in him. Where do you find refuge and safety? That is, when life is difficult and troubling and hard and driving you to give up, where do you seek comfort and confidence and well-being?

Is it in entertainment? You just distract yourself from all the worries of life by just throwing yourself into binge-watching some series. Or maybe you do it through drugs or drink, or maybe you just throw yourself into work.

Anything that will distract you from all the hardships of life. And he says, no, take refuge in God. How do you find refuge in God? How do you find refuge in God? Well, let me give you kind of a way you can do it.

Number one, believe his analysis. Find refuge in God by believing his analysis.

Life is hard.

Why?

Because of sin? Because this is a broken world?

Right?

Because God is bringing hard things into your life so that you know the joy of holiness and the peace of righteousness. He's got that intention for you. Believe his analysis of where the issue is, right?

Here's part of the analysis. I need to grow. The only way to grow is hard times. I can thank God for that. But I take refuge when I first believe his analysis. Then I take refuge by believing his promises.

He's made abundant promises to me. Is he not working all things for my good?

Yes.

Is he not intent on bringing me to glory?

Yes.

Is he not intent on giving me everything through Jesus, all the glories of a new earth, a new heaven? Yes, I got to believe those promises. So you believe his promises. You believe what God says about himself.

He is merciful, powerful, sovereign, loving, and he is your father who brings nothing into your life but by his loving hand. You take refuge in God then by believing his promises. God becomes your refuge when you say, I believe what you're saying.

I think I've mentioned this before. I don't know, but I remember this coming really, really home to me a couple weeks ago, a month ago, when little Oliver was born and lived 10 minutes, you know? And we're sitting in that waiting room, that little tiny waiting room, just Beck and I.

How can God do this? This is so hard.

And I said, you know what? God intends these things to strengthen our faith, to make us trust him more. And you know what? He says to us, I am good, I am good. Are we gonna believe that now, right? It's brought into our life so that we actually believe, God, you say you're good, I have to believe that because you said it, right?

And so we believe what God says about himself. What does he say about himself? I'm your father. You're my child. You're not my slave, you're my child, right? Look to me, come to me. I gotta believe what God says about himself.

And then the last thing I would say, if you're gonna take refuge in God, believe his analysis, believe his promises, believe what he says about himself. And lastly, believe that God is always for you, always for you, he is never against you.

Always believe that God is always for you and never against you. Then you will give thanks because you will be blessed. He says, fine, take God as refuge and be blessed. And then because of what God does, you must fear him, not cringe in terror, dreading to be in his presence.

He says, you should fear him. It means to hold him in reverence and awe, even to love him. Now remember, the one who's saying that you ought to fear God is the same one who just earlier had said, come and brag with me about how wonderful God is.

Is this the God to whom I, this is the God to whom I ran when I was in trouble. If you do that, you will never lack any good thing. Now here's the basis of thanksgiving. If you fear God, you will never lack any good thing.

And David says, the young lions, the great warriors I have known, who had great confidence in their abilities, what? They're lacking. You remember Lawrence Taylor? Some of you do. Some of you are going, who's Lawrence Taylor?

Lawrence Taylor's one of the best outside linebackers in the history of the NFL. In fact, he is said to be the best defensive player ever in the NFL, in the history of football. He's the best defensive player, okay?

What happened to Lawrence Taylor? Guy made millions of dollars. He ended up a broken, broke, in debt, in debt. His life is shambles. Nothing like the guy he was when he played football, right? He says, what does David say here?

The young lions suffer want and hunger, but not those who fear the Lord, all right? God ultimately determines what you have and what you don't have, but that does not mean, he's saying it doesn't mean you won't be sick or get injured, it doesn't mean you'll always have money, but you'll never have to worry about what you need.

You will have every good thing that you need. You have every good thing. What does thanksgiving do? Thanksgiving serves the purpose of deepening our faith. All right, David has spent quite a bit of time this morning today thanking God in our congregation.

Can you see just beyond gratitude now? I hope you can. Your thanks to our God serves a greater purpose than proving your gratitude. It's not avoiding the sin of ingratitude. Giving thanks should deepen our fellowship.

Giving thanks should deepen our theology. Giving thanks should strengthen our faith. All of those things happen in giving thanks. We need to give ourself to that so those things can happen. It's more than just avoiding ingratitude.

It's more than doing your duty. It's accomplishing the great purposes of God. Father, thank you now again for your mercy to us. Thank you for this example of thanksgiving. Help us, Lord, to be thankful.

Lord, help us to be thankful because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. Because of all that he has done, we always have grounds for thanksgiving. Help us to see that. Help us to see him. Help us to give thanks.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.