Give Thanks to Yahweh

Thanksgiving as a Theological Duty

If you'll turn in your Bibles, please, with me to 1 Chronicles, Chapter 16. 1 Chronicles, Chapter 16. And as we look to the Word of God, let us ask Him to bless our time together. Once again, our Heavenly Father, we truly ask that you would help us to understand what it means to be thankful.

To give thanks. To have as our attitude an attitude of thanksgiving. We do thank you for your Word. We thank you for this brief time we have together. May you, by your Spirit, cause us to understand your truth and make us better servants of Jesus Christ.

It is in His name that we pray. Amen. This morning I mentioned that in the morning sermon we would look forward to the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ and the issues surrounding that. And this evening we would look back.

Look back to just this past week and the celebration of Thanksgiving. A very unique holiday. One that, as I said, I think is slowly being pushed aside. One that has trouble resonating with many people.

People who are purposefully attempting to live consistently as secularists struggle with the idea of giving thanks. I listened to some. Saw some people, for example, in social media seeking to express what an attitude of thanksgiving would be without acknowledging their Creator.

Without acknowledging God. And they could say that they are thankful for their family and friends. They said they could be thankful for their health. But, of course, when you even say those words they beg a further explanation.

Because to give thanks requires an object. I am giving thanks to something or someone. It would be hard to give thanks to something. I mean, can you give thanks to, let's say, a rock that keeps your car from rolling down a hill?

Thank you, rock. You are going to look sort of silly standing there leaning over and say, oh, I thank you so much, rock. If you hadn't been here my pretty car would be all smashed up at the bottom of the hill.

That's rather odd. I guess there would be some people who would do that. But the giving of thanks is actually a very intensely personal thing. Now I realize that many of us, we will use the term thanks in a very perfunctory manner.

Sometimes even in a sarcastic manner. I remember I was, I forget even, to be honest with you, which airport it was. I think it was Heathrow, but after a while they all start looking the same. Especially the ones where you walk and you walk.

You walk so far you feel like you walked from where you flew from. I got caught in a rush of Chinese tourists. One thing is for certain, Chinese people know how to get in trains much more efficiently than we do.

I guess I just wasn't moving fast enough. I was trying to go forward, but they made me go backwards. I was left standing on the outside. This one guy just sort of pushed me out of the way. He was the last one in and he didn't want to look at me because he knew what he had done.

But I said thanks. Now I didn't really mean to express a deep heartfelt thank you to this man for pushing me out of the way. So sometimes we can say thanks in somewhat of a sarcastic way. But sometimes it's just, you know, someone doesn't slam the door in your face or holds it open for you for just a second and you say thanks.

And so we use it in a very surface level way. But then there are times we really want to say thank you to someone. We are truly appreciative for what they've done. They have done something and that's something we recognize its value.

We recognize how we've been benefited by it. And so we truly want to express with our words, thank you. I really desire that you know that I am deeply appreciative of what you have done for me. Now when you express it in that way, the deepest and most meaningful expression of the giving of thanks, it has to be personal.

And so the secularist is left with a very empty formality in thanking an impersonal universe. What can they be thankful for? Thank you for mosquitoes. Thank you for malaria. Thank you for floods and tsunamis.

And thank you that a random comet might come around and wipe out all life on planet Earth. And it'll all be for naught. Because there's no purpose, there's no guidance, there's no transcendent meaning.

We're all just cosmic dust banging into each other and that's just all there is. To say thanks to the cosmos is an empty thing. And so the more secular our society becomes, the less meaningful thanksgiving could possibly be.

Creation, Providence, and the Designer Behind the Universe

This past week I was listening to one webcast I listen to whenever it's on. It's called The Briefing by Dr. Albert Moeller. I've highly recommended it to many people. And before Thanksgiving he was talking about the fact that thanksgiving is a deeply theological thing.

That it demands of us a theology. And even the secularist is expressing a theology. It's a negative theology, but they're expressing a theology when they try to interact with the concept of the giving of thanks.

But he emphasized not only his personal nature, but the fact that when we talk about giving thanks to God, this is a theological thing. It is recognizing that God has done certain things that make it incumbent upon us as his creatures that we are to give him thanks.

That we are to recognize our nature as creatures. As individuals who every aspect of our being, every aspect of our being, we are upheld by his very power. At the very level of existence itself. He holds the universe together.

If you know anything about, for example, the fine-tuning of the universe that allows for our life to exist. How certain constants in the universe and gravitation and so on and so forth have to be extremely fine-tuned.

So that life as we know it might exist. Well, you know, we're giving thanks to the fine-tuner. And he upholds us at the most basic level. And then on other levels he gives to us grace and mercy. He's our healer.

He's the one who provides everything we have. And of course, as we become more and more influenced by a secular materialistic society. The less and less sensitive you and I are to recognizing the hand of God in providing these things.

And in fact, I listened to a program. We are going to read the text, don't worry. We're going to get there. Long introduction, I realize. But I listened to a program earlier this week where an Irish Christian scholar was interacting with an English atheist.

This was on the Unbelievable Radio program in London. And the Irish Christian scholar was basically arguing the point that science has not made God irrelevant. Because that is the argument you will hear from atheists all the time.

And it didn't come out as clear as I would like. But what I certainly understood to be part of what was being said. And I think it's very, very true. Is that for many people in our day, the more we learn about how the universe functions in our arrogance.

We come to think that means that we have it all figured out. And therefore we don't have to give thanks to God. I mean, we know about DNA. We know about DNA and we know about messenger RNA and transfer RNA and ribosomes.

And we understand DNA transcription and the formation of proteins. And it is just an incredible thing that goes on in the cell. And the amazing thing about mankind and his arrogance and his fallenness.

Is that we discover these things. We find out how these things work and go, ah, we don't need God any longer. And I just sit back and go, where did all of that incredible design come from? I mean, it's like, you know, most of you know.

One of the differences between Brother Fry and myself. Is that my text. Pastor Fry, can you read your Bible from this far away from the pulpit? I bet you can't. But I can. Because I don't have a paper Bible in front of me.

I have an iPad. Now I can guarantee you, Pastor Fry will never preach from an iPad. His eyes may get so bad that he needs fonts this big. He'll just simply find a Bible this big. Because I think in his mind there is just something unspiritable about using some kind of gadget like this.

But you know, this iPad, it's an amazing thing. It's got so many different programs on it. It can do so much stuff. And I'll tell you, I'm sort of tech geeky and stuff, but I don't know the languages.

I can't code this stuff. And it would be just as foolish for me if I learned how to code all this stuff. And I learned exactly how to write for iOS. And how to do all this stuff. And some of you, that's what you do.

But it would be just as foolish for me if I learned that to go, Ah, there was no design of that iPad because I know now how it works. No. Just because I know the mechanics hasn't gotten rid of the necessity of the designer that made the mechanics work in the first place.

And yet that's what we're facing in our society today. So many people, in the darkness of their minds, have come to the conclusion, Well, I know a lot about the mechanics, so I can get rid of the designer.

And as a result, thankfulness, the giving of thanks, is not something that people really understand. And yet it is one of the most oft-repeated elements of Christian character. That we are to be a content and thankful people.

David's Appointed Psalm of Thanksgiving

In 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, we have the story of the bringing of the Ark. And it is followed by the establishment of the giving of thanksgiving. Let's see what the Word of God has to say. And they brought in the Ark of God and placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it.

And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh. He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the Ark of Yahweh, even to celebrate and to thank and praise Yahweh, the God of Israel. Asaph, the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jael, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel.

With musical instruments, harps, lyres, also Asaph played loud sounding cymbals. And Benaiah and Jehaziel, the priests, blew trumpets continually before the Ark of the Covenant of God. Then on that day, David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to Yahweh.

And so here you have Asaph and he is set aside by David and his task is to give thanks to Yahweh. And then we have the Psalm of Thanksgiving which actually also occurs in the Psalter as well. It may look somewhat familiar to you possibly.

It is found in Psalm 105, at least a portion of it is. And here is what was given in the way of a Psalm of Thanksgiving. O give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him, speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name, let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad. Seek Yahweh in His strength, seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.

O seed of Israel, His servants, sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is Yahweh our God, His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

The covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statue to Israel as an everlasting covenant. Saying to you, I will give the land of Canaan as a portion of your inheritance.

When there were only a few in number, very few and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them. And He reproved kings for their sakes.

Saying, do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm. Sing to Yahweh all the earth, proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised. He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods, the peoples are idols. But Yahweh made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and joy are in His place.

Ascribe to Yahweh, O families of the peoples. Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him. Worship Yahweh in holy array. Tremble before Him all the earth.

Indeed, the world is firmly established. It will not be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. And let them say among the nations, Yahweh reigns. Let the sea roar and all it contains.

Let the field exult and all that is in it. And the trees, the forest will sing for joy before Yahweh. For He is coming to judge the earth. O give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good. For His loving kindness is everlasting.

Then say, save us, O God of our salvation. And gather us and deliver us from the nations. And give thanks to Your holy name. And glory in Your praise. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel. From everlasting even to everlasting.

Then all the people said, Amen. And praised Yahweh. So here indeed is a psalm of thanksgiving. Portions of which we find really in a number of places in the Psalter. Brought together here as an example, I think.

Of the kind of thanksgiving that was given to God. In regards to recalling the faithfulness that He had to Israel, yes. But also, even beyond that. The fact that He is the creator and sustainer of all things.

And that as a result, we are told to give thanks to Yahweh. To give thanks to Him. You might say, how could God be made better by our giving of thanks? Well, He is not, of course. God is perfect in all ways.

He is not made better or increased by our giving of thanks. But I think what we see when we consider some of the words that are found here. For example, seeking His face. Remembering His deeds. His marvels and His judgments.

Especially when we look toward the end. Where all of nature is brought in. The trees, the forest. The coming judgment. This is the phrase, He is good. Give thanks, verse 34. Oh, give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good.

For His loving kindness is everlasting. We have the discussion of salvation, deliverance. And then finally, those final words. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel. From everlasting even to everlasting.

Then all the people said amen and praised the Lord. The point is this. There is an attitude that is natural amongst the people of God. When they recognize who their God truly is. In other words, when we are not involved in idolatry.

When we are not involved in editing God down so that He is comfortable to us. This will result in an attitude on our part. As we have understanding of who He truly is. As we have understanding of what He has done.

As we have understanding of how He is completely other than we are. As we have understanding of His incredible power. His sustaining power. The fact that He is our creator. Our maker. When we no longer rebel against that.

But embrace the idea that we are creatures. We have been formed by His hand. And therefore He has complete and total right over us. To do with us as He will. When that attitude, those objects of knowledge are joined together.

With the spiritual work of God in the heart. The natural result will be a regular, deeply grounded attitude of thanksgiving toward God in all circumstances. In all circumstances. It will not just be when we are rejoicing and are happy.

And have experienced some kind of physical blessing from the Lord. But true, godly thanksgiving exists in every aspect of the believer's life. Even in the midst of trial and difficulty. Because you see, even in those situations we cannot help but continue to be thankful.

Because God has already given us so much. When you even consider the most difficult times in life. When we are parted from one of our beloved parents, siblings, friends. If we have a proper understanding of who we are and who God is.

There will still be thanksgiving for the fact that we even had the opportunity to express that love. And experience that closeness even in life itself. Even in life itself. Some of you will remember, I was here in the first few years of our attendance at this church.

I believe it was 1991. Is when I began working as a hospital chaplain. And only a few of you in this room were around back then. But you may recall that for that first year or so. I had the difficult charge of almost every Sunday doing the lost support group.

Up at what was then Thunderbird Samaritan. Then it became Banner and who knows what role it is now. Every hospital in the valley is on its fourth or fifth name now. So you can't tell which one is which.

But I would have to lead the lost support group up there. Wasn't supposed to do it every week. But it just turned out that first year I had it 48 out of 52 times. That's pretty much the whole year. And I discovered, and that's not a Christian hospital.

But I discovered in dealing with people in that situation of loss. That the one word that described whether those people would be moving toward wholeness. And toward continuing their lives. Or be going down into a spiral of depression.

And eventual very frequently even death. Was whether they had hope. Whether they had hope. And very closely connected in scripture. To a person who has hope. And that hope is whether they have an understanding of who God is.

And they are content. And their characters are marked by thankfulness. If a person was thankful for what God had done. And even giving them the relationship that they now have lost. They would be much less likely to be one of those people.

Who would turn upon God. Question God's goodness. Express an unfounded anger toward God. And remain steeped in that self-destructive juice. That self-destructive attitude. Now that's not an attitude of thanksgiving.

That you can just simply produce overnight. That's not something you can go. Well you know what I see from scripture that I should be a thankful person. So starting tomorrow that's what I'm going to be.

There's much more to it than that. Because as we see even in this text. As we look at verse 34 for example. Oh give thanks to Yahweh for he is good. Are you convinced of that? Are you convinced of that?

I would imagine if we had taken a quiz. When you were walking in the back this evening. And asked you is God good? Everybody would have said oh God is good. God is good. But as you look around the world.

As you look at what's happening in the world. Do you ever entertain doubts about the goodness of God? A lot of people in the world do. A lot of people in the world do. And if we do not know his character.

If we do not know his holiness. If we do not know that he is working out of purpose. If we don't struggle through those difficult passages we've been reading in Deuteronomy. I mean reading the blessings and cursings wasn't fun.

That wasn't easy. I specifically planned my entire year's travels. Just around making sure that brother Callahan had to read most of that. And I didn't have to do it myself. I mean Zurich, Kiev, everything.

I just sat there. Okay alright. We'll hit Callahan with that. I mean there are some tough sections there. But the reason we read all that aside from the fact that it's the word of God. Is that it gives us a grounding for being able to meaningfully approach the question.

What does it mean to say that God is good? Because you see so many of our brothers and sisters. So many within what's called evangelicalism today. They answer that question not by defining good from a biblical world view.

They define good from a human world view. And then do with the Bible what they need to do to maintain God as being good. And that doesn't work. That doesn't work. God was good when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

God was good when he brought judgment upon the Assyrians. After the Assyrians he brought judgment upon Israel. God was good when he destroyed the Amorite nation. Now the world doesn't have a foundation upon which to define goodness.

That also maintains holiness and justice at the same time. The world's good is always going to be a squishy, emotional, man-centered thing. And one thing Yahweh is not is squishy, emotional and man-centered.

That's not the God of the Old Testament. That's not the God of the New Testament. That's not the God of the Bible. If God was squishy and emotional there never would have been a cross. Because that's not a squishy, emotional thing.

Chesed, Covenant Faithfulness, and the Goodness of God

Oh give thanks to Yahweh for he is good. If you thought through why you believe God is good, what is goodness? What is the ground of it? His loving kindness is everlasting. That is one of the most beautiful words in all of scripture.

We've talked about it before. It's the Hebrew word chesed. Chesed. Whenever you hear someone say, Ah, you know, I really like the God of the New Testament. He's so loving. The God of the Old Testament seems to be so wrathful and angry.

You're talking to a person who has not been properly instructed in the things of God. You're talking to a person who is ignorant of the things of God. No New Testament writer would have ever understood that statement.

Would have looked at that person like, what? You think there's a distinction between God the Father and Yahweh of the Old Testament? No there's not. No distinction whatsoever. And when you think of how often this word, loving kindness, chesed, appears in the Old Testament.

And when you realize that it sort of embodies mercy, faithfulness, grace, kindness, covenant faithfulness is another translation. These are all bound up in this one word. And we are to give thanks to Him because His loving kindness is everlasting.

When you wake up in the morning and maybe you think of those words and lamentations. Grace is thy faithfulness, we put it into the hymn, you know. Mercies are new every morning. Are you thankful for that?

Are you thankful for the fact that God is unchanging? And therefore you don't have to worry that what yesterday was loving kindness today will be judgment. What if God was as fickle as you and I are? What if God was as changing as you and I are?

Oh one day we can be sky high and the next low as they come. That's not our God. His loving kindness is everlasting. It cannot be exhausted. That doesn't make Him some kind of grandfather in the sky that's just constantly winking at sin.

Because that Chesed, I love about it, yes there's grace, there's mercy, but there's covenant faithfulness. There's a consistency in God's loving kindness toward us. And so they say, save us O God of our salvation, gather us and deliver us from the nations.

To do what? To give thanks to your holy name. To give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. It's not focused upon them. It's not focused upon meeting their felt needs. Gather us, deliver us so that we might give thanks to your holy name.

I remember years ago when we used to go out to the Easter pageant at the Mormon church out in Mesa. I was talking to a young man, a very arrogant young man. And I remember a statement that he made. He wasn't the only one that made it.

It just happens to be that I remember this particular instance. He was talking about being exalted to the status of God. And how Mormonism promises that to faithful Mormon men. And how they can become gods.

And God himself was once a man and has been exalted to that status. And things like that. And he said, what do you think you're going to be doing for eternity? Because in Mormonism, God's basically siring children.

I mean the God of this planet has sired billions of children. That's what God of Mormonism is regularly engaged in doing. And he said, you're just going to be floating around in a cloud strumming your harp?

You know, the old mythical idea of that. And I said, well, I said, biblically, when we have visions of heaven, the inhabitants of heaven are focused upon worship and praise toward God. He's like, eternity?

Worship and praise toward God? I mean, how many times can you say thanks? And you know, I can understand, given the God that he has. I mean, given that his God is just a slightly advanced version of himself, I can see how that would be a bit of a less than attractive vision of eternity to come.

But when we think about God's power, when we think about the mighty expanse of this universe, and the power that is his in the ordering of that universe, and glorious things we have yet to even begin to understand, and then you combine that with the power that he has demonstrated in the ordering of the micro-universe within us, those little cellular machines that are working in each one of us right now, and the design that is involved there, and then his sovereignty over time, and his entrance into time to demonstrate his love in the person of Jesus Christ.

When we think of all of this, and how much greater he is than anything we could begin to comprehend, and that he wants us to be united to him in a special and intimate way, that we are united with the second person of the Trinity, so that his death becomes our death, and his life becomes our life, and we're going to have this uncorrupted existence in the future.

Our minds cannot even begin to conceive of the glory that is going to be revealed to us. I don't know what heaven is going to be like, because my mind is too small. My experience is too little to even begin to give me the categories.

But I know one thing. I will always be his creature. No matter how close I may come to him, and how intimate that relationship might become, and how much knowledge I might gain, and how much he might reveal to me, I will always be his creature, and I will always exist because of the goodness of his will.

And that means there will always be the giving of thanks. And in fact, I can only see that it will become more and more intense as we become more and more aware of all the things we've never given thanks for before.

There will never come a time when we stop being a thankful people, because we will always be a redeemed people. And I think we will only grow in our understanding of the tremendous condescension and grace that God has shown to us, which we can only begin to get a glimmer of in this life.

Eternal Thanksgiving and the Eucharistia of the Church

And so, slaughtered a lot of turkeys. A fair number of pigs. A few other animals along the way. And a lot of the gyms are a little busier today as people feel guilt over what they did on Thursday. But truly, when you think about what it means to give thanks, the people, the only people who can truly give thanks are those whose hearts have been changed, whose eyes have been opened, who've been given a new nature, who understand I am truly God's creature.

He has shown his love for me. He has proven his love for me. Therefore, I must give thanks for it is natural for me to do so. And it should never be that we need an only once a year reminder to be thankful.

The early church, long before Rome came along and messed everything up, had a word. It's a beautiful word from the New Testament. Eucharistia became the Eucharist. Rome stole it and messed it up. But Rome can't really steal it.

It's the giving of thanks. It's always been what Christian people are about. And let us pray that it will truly mark our lives each and every day. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, indeed, we are truly thankful.

Thankful that you are God, that you have revealed yourself, that you're merciful, that you're kind and loving, that you sustain us. We have so many things to give thanks for. And Lord, even as we have had opportunity this week to think upon these things, we are truly placed in awe of all that you have done for us and all you are.

Help us to understand how proper it is that we should give thanks, that we should give praise and honor and glory and blessing, no matter what our state in life is, simply because of who you are. May we understand this.

We know that only by your Spirit can we truly understand this. And only because your Son has entered into this world do we have a perfect revelation of your character. We thank you for all of this. We thank you for this evening.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen.