Beacon Sunday Service: November 24th, 2024

Rise for the reading of God's Word. I'll be reading from Psalm 100 today. And the entirety of it. Just five verses. And it reads, make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth, serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For Yahweh is good, his loving kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness generation unto generation. Would you join with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we're very grateful to first and foremost to have the grace to be here in relationship with the person of Jesus Christ.

And we're so thankful that you bring us together this day, Lord's Day to celebrate together, to learn together and to fellowship with one another. As your word goes forth, I pray that you would feed just the hunger in our hearts to know you, to know about you. And would you equip us thoroughly really to help others to know about you as well? Would you speak? And as you minister to us, grant us uh just a great compassion for the lost around us as well. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Go ahead and be seated. Well, happy early Thanksgiving to all of you. We're gonna be taking a brief break from our Titus series and then focusing today on the topic of giving thanks. And I'm gonna spend a large chunk of this morning walking you through this Psalm uh up here, the Psalm 100.

But before I do that, I want to take a little time to think through the word Thanksgiving, and I find it appropriate since we're about four days away from the Thanksgiving Day holiday. According to a poll uh taken in 2023, Thanksgiving Day is America's favorite holiday. And according to that same poll, Christmas comes in second. And coincidentally, Valentine's Day comes in last, and for very understandable reasons. If I had to choose a favorite holiday, Thanksgiving Day would be mine as well. For starters, you get a four at least a four-day weekend. Some people, like my wife and my kids, they get the entire week off. There is a special food.

But Thanksgiving ham and cream of corn are two of my favorites. I've always liked the crispness of the air and the almost cold weather of Thanksgiving weekend. I think that Thanksgiving Day has kind of like a smell, and it's a very comforting smell. For many people, uh, my family included, Thanksgiving weekend is when the Christmas trees go up, the Christmas lights are put up, and then for the consumers, you've got Black Friday, you got Cyber Monday, and every now and then you can find a good deal. Our families lived abroad uh for about a decade, and Thanksgiving was the only American holiday that would actually make us feel homesick. Tradition has it that Thanksgiving was first observed by the pilgrims in 1620.

A century and a half later, the founding fathers declare Thanksgiving to be a day of prayer and fasting, especially during the time of the American Revolution. Interestingly, for a large part of American history, Thanksgiving was not a day of feasting, but of fasting. And thanksgiving for most of American history has been a uniquely Christian holiday as Christianity is the only religion founded entirely upon the grace of God and not on man's efforts, not on man's worth, not on man's religiosity. So Thanksgiving the holiday is a favorite of most Americans, but not necessarily because they enjoy the giving of thanks. I went on a long explanation as to why people like Thanksgiving, but none of that is centered on the giving of thanks.

Even for us in this room, I guess is that there are a lot of things that you're looking forward to this week that's completely unrelated to the giving of thanks. And why is that? I don't think it's necessarily because we're trying to be an ungrateful or a discontented people, though I'm sure there is an element of those things. But maybe it's because in our culture, saying thank you is just good manners, it's good etiquette, and you don't have to really mean it. You guys have written thank you cards before, I would assume. We write thank you in them and we give them out, but oftentimes we give them out more out of obligation than genuine gratitude. Why? Because it's rude not to say thank you, right?

We don't want to be judged as being ungrateful or privileged. When someone meets our expectations or is relatively kind to us, we offer thanks. We teach our kids to say please and thank you, and we don't always tell them that they have to mean it. Saying thank you is a polite thing to do, and I think this is kind of politeness has seeped into our churches and our worship as well. When God meets an expectation, we say a polite thank you. We don't necessarily feel thankful, but it's still an acknowledgement that God has taken care of us as he's supposed to. So in many ways, ours has become a please and a thank you, Chick-fil-A kind of spirituality, where we're almost spiritually entitled, and that spiritual entitlement had seeped into our Christian culture, and that's dangerous because an entitled people are rarely ever a genuinely thankful people.

That's just my observation. But more than an observation of our generation, the reading of scripture leads me to conclude that innately, you and I are actually hostile toward the giving of thanks. I want you to think about this. You and I innately are hostile toward the giving of thanks. Perhaps it's because a genuine posture of thanks is a very uncomfortable one. It's a posture of indebtedness. As pride-filled, sentient creatures, we don't like to feel indebted. It makes us feel weak. Real thankfulness offends. I want you guys to think about this with me. Real thankfulness often leaves us feeling inferior or somehow helpless. So when someone treats us to a meal, does something significant for us that evokes an attitude of thanks?

Don't we feel like we need to repay that kindness? If someone serves us in some way, don't we feel obligated to return the favor? Thank you for having us over for dinner. Next time, you come to our house and we'll cook. Oh, thank you for this gift. You didn't have to. Oh, I didn't get anything for you. Thankfulness, real thankfulness is offensive to the sin-corrupted heart because the heart is forced to take a posture of indebtedness and humility. And naturally, a genuinely thankful attitude I find is often very, very, very, very short-lived. Because real gratitude is uncomfortable. The giving of thanks is uncomfortable. It is humbling. It's actually humiliating. So, how does one give thanks?

You guys know that song give thanks with a great full heart, right? Well, how do you do that? And I want you to really think about this with me. How does one give thanks? It's understandable that Thanksgiving Day has devolved here in America, and I find that even amongst most of my church-going friends, it seems like there is less and less gratitude with each passing year, and that's problematic because the scripture, the scripture teaches us that a heart of gratitude and the active giving of thanks are extremely important to the Christian life. They are to characterize a Christian life. These are hallmarks of the Christian life. So, how does one give thanks? And that's a question of supreme importance.

And I want to read 1 Thessalonians 5.18 for you. In everything, give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do you want to really know what God's will is for your life? More than the specifics of a job, a school, a spouse, whatever significant thing, his will for you is to give thanks. If you don't give thanks in everything, you are living against God's will. And I doubt that Paul is writing about offering up God only lip service. Now, the giving of thanks isn't just God's will for the Christian, it's actually the evidence of his Christianity. A Christian will give thanks. Colossians chapter 2 informs us that an overflowing of gratitude is evidence that a person has truly received Christ Jesus as Lord.

Colossians 2 verses 6 to 7. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and being built up in him and having been established in your faith, just as you were instructed, you receive Christ. So one of the evidences is that you are abounding with thanksgiving. And this is not an ideal. This is a command. So what does a Christian look like? It's a person who doesn't just occasionally thankful or overall positive. It's a person who is abounding in thanksgiving. Ungratefulness is the hallmark of the unbeliever.

Unthankfulness is the mark of the condemned. Romans 1 alludes to the fact that a lack of thanksgiving is actually the cause of all folly and the root of all sin. Romans 1 21, for even though image bearers of God, they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. So the lack of gratitude, if you're following the thought flow of Romans 1, is the heartbeat of idolatry and false religion. Lack of thanksgiving always leads to idolatry because idolatry involves manipulation of the gods to have them give you what you want, right? Idolatry and worldliness always precludes thanksgiving. It's not only a vicious cycle, but it's actually a lack, an evidence of a lack of regeneration.

So just from the three passages that I pointed your attention to, we see that thankfulness is God's will. It's the evidence of salvation, and the absence of it leads to sin. An absence of it is sin. You guys, you guys are tracking with me, right? Thanksgiving that is only lip service is deception and false humility. If it's meant only on the lips as a spiritual politeness, it's false humility. So this week we're going to be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. This week we're going to be enjoying the gatherings and the feastings and our time with loved ones, but my hope is that we who understand the grace and the kindness of God will give to God an offering of real thanksgiving. Amen. So as I mentioned in the beginning, I want to spend this morning feeding off of and examining Psalm 100.

Some of your Bibles, if you have it open, may even have the heading, a psalm of giving thanks.

Psalm 100 is known as the jubilate, J-U-B-I-L-A-T-E, which literally means O be joyful. That's the meaning of the Psalm. Okay, the jubilate, O be joyful. It's traditionally been a psalm used for liturgical worship. And it's basically an instructional guide for the corporate giving of thanks. So here's the outline of today's sermon based on Psalm 100, and I'm going to give it to you here. The first one, the first thing that we're going to be looking at is how do we express our thanksgiving? How? Secondly, why do we express our thanksgiving? A lot of times we don't know the why, so we can't produce the what. Right? So why do we express thanksgiving? And third, what biblically is thanksgiving.

So the first two questions are going to be answered in Psalm 100. The how and the why of Thanksgiving are easy enough to understand through the Psalm, and they're not complicated. But Psalm 100 doesn't quite explain what thankfulness is. And defining what thankfulness is of supreme importance, and you're going to see, because you're going to see in the old and the new testaments that the offering of thanks given to God oftentimes was rejected by God. We don't want to say, thank you, God, and get a divine, you're not welcome. Right? So we want to make sure our offering of thanks is acceptable to the Lord. So it's very important that we understand biblically what thanksgiving is. Remember, the Bible says that thanksgiving is God's will.

It's evidence of salvation. Colossians 2, 6 to 7, and the lack of it is sin. So for the third point, I'm gonna have to leave Psalm 100 briefly for you to give us a quick uh survey of a few gospel accounts and the end of Hebrews to see what biblical thanksgiving is and it isn't. So the first point in question, how do we express our thanksgiving? Let's take a look at Psalm 100 once more again, and I want to actually read this one more time the whole the entirety of the Psalm. Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth, serve Yahweh with gladness, come before him with joyful songs, know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him, bless his name, for Yahweh is good, his loving kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, generation unto generation. Amen. There are seven commands here, or what we call imperatives in those first four verses. I've highlighted the seven commands for you, and they're listed in what is called a chiastic structure. Okay. A key, it's spelled C H I is the Greek X. You guys follow? Key is an X, like alpha, beta, gamma, delta. So key is X. A chiastic structure is where the parallels between the beginning and the ending, the parallels between the second point and the second and the last point, and so and so, they they match up.

Okay? It's a literary tool used in biblical writings. A lot of the scriptures is written in a chiastic form, and the point is in the middle. Okay. So the emphasis and the highlight of every chiasm falls right in the middle at the center at the point and at the juncture of that middle section. When we're writing something in English, the main idea, the main point is usually written either in the first sentence or the last, right? You can do either one, but in a chiasm, again, where most of the scriptures follow kiassic structure, the point is right smack in the middle. So I'm gonna make it a little easier for you guys to track this thought with your eyeballs. The seven imperatives there are in a chiastic structure from verses one to four.

Basically, the mouth is involved in the first and seventh commandments. You guys see this? Okay. The hands are involved in the second and the sixth. The feet are involved, the whole body is involved in the third and the fifth commands, or the the, I guess the second and the fourth commands, but at the very or at the very center, the main point, the main emphasis and the hinge on which everything turns is know that Yahweh. The know that Yahweh, that produces everything else. So verse five at the bottom, there is no single command there. I'm hoping you guys see that. There's no command. It's a summary verse, once again, elaborating on the point of verse 3. So all of this is an exhortation to all God's people to know God and to celebrate being known by God.

I hope you guys are tracking. Okay.

So notice how almost all the imperatives here have an attitude or some kind of emotion attached to them. Remember, we're trying to discern how are we to give thanks. So Psalm 100 says that God's people are to shout loudly. God's people are to serve how? Gladly. God's people are to come with joyful singing. We're to enter with thanksgiving and praise. And this kind of giving of thanks is supposed to be expressive, loud, passionate. I'm going to help you visualize what this giving offense is supposed to look like. Okay? Think of your favorite stadium or a sports arena, and you're there to watch your favorite team win the NBA finals, the World Series, or like your favorite country in the finals of a World Cup match.

Think of that scene, but you're there in attendance for that. Okay? The buzzer sounds, and your team has just won it all in front of the home crowd. Can you imagine that? The raucous noise. This wasn't the final game, but I had friends who were at game one of the World Series this year. And if you guys follow baseball, the Dodgers in game one of the World Series this year were down to their last out. They were behind. And a man named Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam. They won them the game, and the crowd went berserk. How many guys have seen a clip of that? The fans went nuts. Now, even if you haven't seen something or been to something like that, you can imagine the entire crowd erupting in loud cheers, dancing in celebration, high-fiving complete strangers, hugging everybody around them, jumping up and down, smiling.

That's the visual of Psalm 100. The raucous, up and down, jumping, pulsating of the crowd, loving each other, smiling at each other. That's Psalm 100. It's a global celebration. It's a loud, raucous, super emotional, super passionate celebration. And that joy and the energy of that crowd, it is not containable. So God's people, according to the Psalm, are to erupt in joyful shouting. I don't even know what that, I don't want to try it. I don't know what that sounds like. Right.

And we're supposed to serve, not begrudgingly, but with just so much energy that God is glorified and celebrated. The joy, the adulation, the praise and the shouts, they're not forced. They're not fake. That's the only natural, uncontainable, uncontrollable response of a celebration that's appropriate to the moment. God's people are to shout, serve, joyfully sing, cheer and dance, and celebrate with passion. So that's how God's people are to give thanks. That's the first point. Don't do this on Thursday, though. Okay? So a celebration like this on Thursday night with your relatives, it won't be well received. Especially if you're Asian. We're all Asian. That's not gonna be well received with your harmony there, right?

It's not gonna be go, it's not gonna go down well. So this kind of exuberance, you're gonna weird people out. That isn't the best application, though not inappropriate of this week's sermon. So if you're gonna try that, give thanks at your own risk. Okay, so I'm not contradicting myself here because Psalm 100 is actually looking at a future day. Psalm 100 is to be actually read as a prophecy. Matthew Henry, a Bible commentator of the early 1700s, he says this about Psalm 100. This song of praise should be considered as a prophecy and even used as a prayer for the coming of the time when all people shall know that the Lord He is God shall become His worshippers and the sheep of His pasture. Great encouragement is given in us, or given us in worshiping God to do it cheerfully.

If when we've strayed like wandering sheep, he has brought us again into the fold, we have indeed abundant cause to bless his name. The matter of praise and the motives to it are very important. Know ye what God is in himself, what he is to you. Know it, consider and apply it. Then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious in his worship. And this is something that is gonna happen when we are sin free. Okay. So the first point, how do we express our thanksgiving? Most of this is gonna be future. But not all of our exuberance should be limited to only our worship in heaven. Hopefully, we get a taste of this week. And every Sunday when we gather. Each Sunday we gather is supposed to be passionate, little appetizer tastes of heaven.

And hopefully we have real moments like this on this side of eternity when whenever we gather with the saints. That's how we're supposed to worship. Worship that is drab, dull, lifeless, and boring is just lip service. It's just like on a Chick-fil-A. You ask them something, they give it to you, and they say, Oh, my pleasure. You know that my pleasure thing? It's actually kind of irritating. It's like so fake, right? Oh, thank you. My pleasure. No, you're you know, you're a force to serve me. Lip service thanksgiving is not thanksgiving, right? I said earlier that there are seven commands, seven imperatives in this psalm. And the main imperative of Psalm 100 is right in the middle. Know that Yahweh the Lord is God.

This is both already and not yet. This knowledge of God was initiated when you genuinely put your faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross. At that moment, when you were given a new heart and the Spirit of God was deposited in you, okay. If this was done, you already have a growing knowledge of God. On this side of eternity, our knowledge of God is gonna be imperfect. It won't be face to face. It's kind of like when you're engaged, you know your future spouse. It's a very different knowledge after you're married. So we're in this engagement period, and the knowledge is obviously incomplete. So if you're a child of God, even in this period, there should be moments where you're filled with wonder, with awe, with praise, where you'll have erupted into spontaneous worship, you will have given thanks, not just for the material things that he has given you, but because you've been awestruck by who he is.

You've been dumbfounded and utterly humbled that God of the universe would draw near to you. If that has never happened, if you've never had this dumb, like founded, awestruck moment where you're just celebrating in spontaneous worship, that's actually a very alarming sign. How do we give thanks in the present? For the Christian, it's to joyfully and actively celebrate the growing knowledge of God. And that brings me to my second point. Why do we give thanks? And that's found in verses three and five. The chiasm begins in verse one and ends in verse four. With verse three, the knowing of God is that's the main point. And verse five elaborates on that main point. There's no command again in verse five, it's simply a summarization.

So I want to read verse three in its entirety for you. Okay, it can contains the central command. That's the most important one. Okay? And it's hard to apply. It's like, know this. Okay. Like saying, I could. Shout, I can, but to know, it's a very difficult command to apply. So you gotta have to pay attention here. It reads, know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. For Yahweh is good, his loving kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness generation unto generation. So in verses three and five, the psalmist gives us six reasons why we're supposed to give thanks. Why do we give thanks? One, he is God. Two, he is creator.

Three, he is the shepherd. The first three in verse three are descriptions of who he is. Those are his identity markers. In verse five, they're descriptions of what he is like. So he's not just God, he's creator, he's shepherd. The non-elect won't care. Okay, big deal. What has this guy done for me lately? But that's who he is. And what is he like? He is good. His loving kindness is everlasting. And that's what it says in verse 5. And he is eternally faithful. And that's the why. The saint of God is to respond in praise and thanksgiving. Why? Because of who God is and because what he is like. You and I have been created for this. A good and all powerful God knows us, loves us, tends to our every need.

He is not just a shepherd, he's a very detailed-oriented, passionate, warm, good shepherd. And we've been created to give him thanks. That's the very purpose for which we have been created. I read for you Romans 121 in the beginning, and I said that ungratefulness is a direct result of the fall of man. Gratitude is foreign to the unregenerate man. Because the unregenerate man is all about equality and transactionary like justice, right? It has to be fair. But the regenerate man, the saint of God, is characterized by thankfulness because there's nothing we can do to make things fair. There's zero we can do to appropriately like receive the benefits of the transaction. So when we looked at Romans 1 21, I said that a lack of thanksgiving is actually the root of all folly and sin.

But if I were to change the wording a little bit to make this a Christian, okay, to make this a guy a Christian, this is what it would read. Because they knew God, they honored him as God and gave him thanks. And they became wise, and the light of Christ shined brightly in their hearts because they knew God. So God is creator, we are creation. He is sovereign, we're dependent on him. He is king of kings, and we've been called his people, his beloved people. He is the good shepherd, and we are his sheep. He is fearsome and terrifying and all powerful, like Aslan the Lion and Lion the King, Lion the Witch in the wardrobe, right? But he is good. He's a good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

He goes after 99 to go after the one. But when he leaves in 99, he's not abandoning them. He leaves them in good care and goes after the one lost one. That's the shepherd that he is.

What does that mean? He won't not love. Right? Parents. Will you ever stop loving your child? No. Sometimes you want to throw them into the ocean, but you don't. Why? Love. Your delight is in that child. And that's a description of God. He is love. He's also eternally faithful. His faithfulness is not dependent on our faithfulness to him. 2 Timothy 2.13, even in the event we are faithless, he remains faithful because that's his characteristic, he cannot deny himself. So God is faithful, that's who he is, and we are his.

What do you say, Caris? Thank you, Daddy for this gift. Like I mean, I don't, I don't reject it. But when I see that they're excited, and they say something like, you're the best daddy in the world. Have you guys ever heard that before? Ah, you got me this. You're the best daddy in the world. Obviously, I am not the best daddy in the world. That's not objectively true. But I love what they just said. Because in their broken language, what they're saying is, I love having you as my daddy. Right. We've been created to enjoy the creator's gifts, but we've been created to enjoy the creator more than we enjoy his gifts. And we're supposed to be thankful that we belong to this creator. We're supposed to be thankful that he knows us, our name, the number of hairs on our head.

When we cry, he knows why, and he has affection for us. The people of God are to be thankful because this God will never stop knowing and caring and loving on them. Take a look at Psalm 103. This is a description of the saints too, okay. The saints have been created. The saints are God's people. The saints are God's sheep. The saints have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. But what sin does is it kind of dilutes our thinking and makes us think that he exists for us, to love us, to serve us, to do our bidding. Sin makes us believe that we are in the place of God. So why do we give thanks to God? I'm gonna summarize. Because he's good, because we are not. Because he is love, and we're there's nothing lovable in us.

Why do we give thanks to God? Because he is faithful even though we are not. And this good, loving and faithful God intentionally chose a wicked, unlovable, faithless people for himself. He didn't decide just to be merciful to you. But in his grace, he chose to make those who are objects of wrath and elevate them to adopted children, to judges of angels, to co-heirs with Christ. How do we not give thanks to him? Part of the problem is we don't really understand what it means to be a Christian. The benefits of having a restored relationship with God. If we understood it, we can't but just ah what? What? Like he loves me, he knows me. He is a God who not only gives help and gives relief, he's a God who not only changes the circumstances, but he is a God who changes your very nature and gives you newness of life.

Happiness and approval over a favorable change in circumstance is not the same thing as thanksgiving. Now repeat this. Happiness and approval over a favorable change of circumstance is not the same thing as thanksgiving. And I want to have you guys look at Luke 17, and this is a familiar story to many of us. 11 to 14 reads, and it happened that while Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing through Samaria in Galilee as he entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met him. Raise your hand if you know this story. So pay attention to the details then, okay. These ten raise their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. We're diseased, we're ostracized, we're itchy, we're burning.

We haven't had a hug or a handshake in years. Whenever a loved one comes by, we have to yell out unclean, unclean. Our friends and our family cannot come near us because we are visible representations of sin. So they're crying out, Jesus have mercy. And when Jesus saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it happened that as they were going, they were cleansed. So Jesus responds to the lepers' requests for mercy and for healing. Okay? Remember, leprosy was an incurable disease. It's viewed by many as a judgment and punishment received for sin because Leviticus describes why people get leprosy. Jesus sends them to the priests so that they can be examined and then socially accepted back into their communities.

More than the disease, I'm sure that they want to be restored to their mom, their dad, their husband, wife, son, and daughter. So they were cleansed as they were what? As they were going. Now, is a cure for an incurable disease a favorable change of circumstance? Oh, for sure. That changed everything physically, socially, spiritually, emotionally, that changed everything. It's like having a fat pimple on your face, and that's gone. If you had a fat pimple on your face, you would be embarrassed to come out of your house. Right? I would. But it's gone. So it's a favorable circumstance, and I'm assuming all ten lepers were super happy. All ten lepers would probably say that they are thankful. Their lives have now improved drastically in every way.

They are thankful. Verse 15 continues. One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and then he finds his way back to Jesus, falls at his feet giving thanks to him. But what's interesting is he's a Samaritan. And then Jesus answered and said, Huh.

But the nine, where are they? Was there no one found who turned back to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, stand up and go. The other night didn't hear this, but he hears, your faith has saved you, not just healed you, your faith has saved you. The Samaritan leper turns back, returns, gives glory to God. Give thanks to God. All ten lepers are happy. All ten are glad at the change of circumstance. Only one returns in faith, gives thanks, and gives glory to God. All ten had their circumstances changed, but appears that only one of them had his nature changed. All ten, I'm sure were ecstatic to be made well, but it appears that only one had been truly made whole.

The text doesn't say this explicitly, but I won't be surprised if only this person, this one leper, received salvation. And I actually thought through, like, why only this guy? The text doesn't say, but perhaps he had an advantage as a Samaritan. Because the Samaritans believed themselves to be ethnically outside the favor of God, on the outside looking in. He knew he was unworthy at all times, because his race made him unworthy. Maybe the Jewish lepers felt entitled because they had been told from the time that they were born that God loves them, has a wonderful plan for their life, and that the Messianic king of the Jews would one day come and receive, redeem his people. They were entitled to this.

But this Samaritan leper, perhaps, knew better than the other nine, that man, we've all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we all are in desperate need of grace. He gave me grace.

Let me go and give him thanks.

Maybe when we fail to remember how desperately rotten and hopeless we are, we actually feel entitled to the kindness and the favor of God because we walked down an altar because we raised our hand because we gave tithe. Pride kills gratitude. Pride kills gratitude. Pride before people causes us to make them acceptable or unacceptable, based on what they've given us or not given us. Pride before God excludes grace. Pride kills gratitude. And remember, gratitude is not just God's will. It is not just evidence of salvation. But without gratitude, you're left in sin. But when we're killed of our pride, and when we're humiliated, then we understand the grace of God.

And we bow to genuine gratitude, no matter how great the discomfort. Because remember, real gratitude is hostile to our innate sense of pride. So when we are humbled is actually when we're genuinely thankful. And there's one more parable I want to point your attention to. Jesus tells a parable in the next chapter. He also told this parable to some people who what are those words? Who did what? Trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Pause. How many guys know this story? Okay, pay attention to the details then, okay? The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself.

God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, beating his chest, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. Do you know what sorts of people cannot give thanks to God? Those who believe themselves worthy of God. Those are the ones who complain. How dare you, God, not give me this. Aren't you a vending machine?

I put in the right capital. Why isn't the blessing coming out? Those are people who can't give thanks to God. Those are people who believe themselves to be deserving of the blessings of God. Who believe themselves to be in the place of God? Look at verse 11. Who is a praying? Who is the Pharisee they're praying to? The man is praying. He's not praying to God. He's mouthing words of false religion, of superstition, of wishful thinking, of self-righteousness, self-pride, exalting, a swagging words. It's like a spiritual pep talk. He thinks it's reaching the ears of God. So going back, how do we give thanks to God? With tons of expression. Why do we give thanks to God? That's the second point.

Not because he has given us good circumstances or material blessings only. Not only because he's met all of our expectations or kept all his promises. We give thanks to God not only because he made us better than other people, because he did. The light has shined into your heart, and you are a new creation. That is better than someone who is unsaved. We give thanks to God because He is good, He has been good, He will continue to be good. As Jesus says later in Luke 18, 19, only God is good. Why do you call me good teacher? Only God is good. We give thanks because he is not only God, but because he has chosen us to make us good before the creation of time. Are you guys following this? You are a despicable human being, sin-tainted and corrupted.

But he has just not only been merciful, but he's elevated you to the position of sonship, of daughtership. That's why we give thanks. So what then is the biblical definition of thanksgiving? I was uh mulling over Hebrews chapter 10 to 13. The last four chapters, we're not going to touch on most, all of it, okay? Uh, in putting together this definition of thanksgiving. Hebrews chapter 10 to 13, there's a lot in there. The writer talks a lot about like faith, things requiring faith, that thanksgiving is based on like blood sacrifice. There's almost a reckless, bold confidence approaching the throne of God. We approach the throne of grace with confidence. There is a perseverance and a joy, right?

Therefore, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfection of our faith. So there's there's perseverance, and there's a looking forward to a better city. The saints of God never, a lot of them didn't receive the promises of God on this life. That's Hebrews 11. They were looking forward to heaven. So the saints in the hall of faith in chapter 11 of Hebrews understood that there's nothing to look forward to here. And that's always been the case. Gratitude is founded and focused upon God's eternal throne of grace. So the celebration we see in Psalm 100 is future. So here's my definition of thanksgiving based on the last four chapters of the book of Hebrews. The virtue or act of blessing God by means of a faith-filled submission to his sovereignty and his discipline.

That's Hebrews chapter 12. If you're loved, he's going to discipline you. He's gonna apply the spiritual memes stick whenever you need to grow. When you're incorrect. Because a loving father corrects his kids. That's Hebrews 12. And it's also a joy-filled reverence in being brought near to the throne of grace. You didn't get there by your own merit or worth. You were brought there. You weren't just spared punishment. You were elevated to adopted child status. There's nothing that you and I can give to God to benefit God. Right? Let's say you were supposed, you were to scrounge and to save, and you gave God a 10,000 dollars. Does he need that? Psalm 51. Do you think I drank the blood of goats?

I take no pleasure in that. It's the heart that he's after. There's nothing you can do to bless God. That should be humbling. There's nothing you can do to benefit God. God has no need of us. Amen. God has no need of anything that we can bring to him. So if you're thinking, God, I am a gift of Christendom. Thank you for me. Let me serve the church and bless the church. God doesn't need you. Thanksgiving is the only thing we can offer God back to bless him. My kids have no money that was that they earned.

They earn nothing. It's completely grace. On my birthday or whatever, they use the money I gave them to buy me a gift. And they write me these silly cards. They're not here. They write me. The drawing is not something I would purchase with money. The message has typos or that they wrote. The drawing doesn't even look like me. One time they drew me a picture of me, and I look like a walrus. I was like, that's jagged up. But they say, I love you, Daddy. And early on, it was I love you, Babby. Because it was backward. But that expression is plenty for me. The honest cry of you are the best daddy in the world is the appropriate cry of our hearts to God. Amen. You I am gonna give you a clumsy gift.

Everything I give you, I know you gave it to me. But I'm gonna give you my heart. You are the best daddy in the world. I'm gonna give you that. Here's a summary verse of Hebrews chapter 12. We didn't earn salvation, but we received all of this through the kindness of God, and we are inheritors of an unshakable, imperishable, eternal kingdom. Home is not here. Amen. So this is Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. Gratitude has no monetary value. It's all heart. It has no time value. It's all heart. Our God is a jealous God because He's worthy of it.

God is a consuming fire, but a heart of genuine gratitude not only appeases God, but it pleases God. And why do we show him this gratitude? Because we're receiving, we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, where we're not just citizens, where we're children, we're co-heirs with holy, holy, holy, second person of the Trinity. My definition of thanksgiving was probably a mouthful, but I want to just emotionally simplify it for you, okay? We sang about this. For God the just satisfied to look on Christ and to pardon me. That's enough right there to evoke in you exaltation. God has satisfied his own wrath. This was promised from the time of the fall. This is what the saints of the Old Testament were trusting and hoping in.

This is what Jesus came into the world to do to satisfy the wrath of God. God the just to take away the sins of the world. Thanksgiving, not the holiday, but the act of thanksgiving is living in light of this. In an appropriate response to that, whether you get fired from your job, whether God doesn't give you children, whether you go bankrupt, whether you get a disease that will take your physical life, this evokes thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is delighting in the creator and not just giving a lip service thank you for things he has created. I want to leave you with a picture, okay? If you go to a baseball game or a basketball game in the middle of the season, or if it's like a sporting event of no significance, sometimes a PA announcer has to pump up the crowd.

Have you guys you guys have you been to a game? Right? And they do something like this. Everybody clap your hands in the whole. You guys, you guys, right? Let's make some. And it was like, ah! It's so strange. People are weird creatures, right? It's just like why do we do that? The PA announcer is almost like the conductor of a bunch of stupid sheep worshiping at the center of this game. All right. In many ways, every year's Thanksgiving day is like a PA announcer. Everybody thank your God. And oh yeah. Right? Let's make some noise. Thank you. We're just like, okay. Like we understand it, but we don't quite feel it. That's every year's Thanksgiving. One day, there's gonna be a time where you don't need any reminders.

The team has won a championship. The whole stadium, the entire arena is gonna erupt in celebration. And nobody needs to be told. Nobody needs to be told to jump up. Nobody needs to be told to scream and shout. Make a loud shout. Come before Yahweh with fear and break forth in joyful song. No one's gonna have to be told this. So the team has won a championship. No instructions are needed. There's an explosion of emotion. Even the PA announcer is unnecessary. Every pastor, unnecessary, every prophet, unnecessary. The PA announcer is jumping up and down, right? The PA announcer at that moment becomes a fan. And then he has to remember to do his job. The PA announcer is just thrilled at what just happened.

He doesn't need to direct nobody. One day we're gonna see the Lamb of God take center stage. And we're gonna be there when Psalm 100 happens. Amen. Psalm 100 is gonna happen. We are going to know that Yahweh, he is God. It is He who created us, and not we ourselves. And we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. And we're gonna come before Him and we're gonna serve Him and we're gonna bless God with our worship. That's gonna happen, and if you are a child of God, you will be there. So, my hope is that this will feed your Thanksgiving. And it wets your appetite, hopefully, for the thanksgiving of all Thanksgivings in heaven. Amen. Nothing else is gonna matter. It's all gonna be just like, who cares?

I didn't eat my snack today. Who cares? We've won. And we don't need to re-win it next year. Because this winning is permanent. The Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world, and we are gonna spend eternity in this long old, like passionate parade forever and ever. Every Thanksgiving is just a little bit of a sample of it. I'm gonna ask the worship team to come back up. Today we're gonna be doing a time of communion. And I feel like it's appropriate. And I wanna, before we partake in the elements, uh, I'm gonna give you guys a few instructions. The communion table is a must for baptized believers. If you are genuinely a child of God, and if you've turned from your sins, cleave yourself to Christ, you have to take it.

You just can't take it in an unworthy manner. But if you're not a believer, this is not something that you should partake in. But if you are a believer, I'm gonna invite you in a little bit to come up. Um, grab the packet of elements, and then you're gonna return to your seat, but you're gonna remain standing and just hold on to the packet of elements uh for a moment without opening it. I'm gonna walk us through a passage of the scriptures, and then we're gonna take the we're gonna peel the thing, take the wafer together, and then I'm gonna read another passage, and we'll partake in the cup together. Uh, but please join me in a time of prayer. Lord, we thank you for this reminder that you are God, that you are creator, that you are not just a shepherd, you are the good shepherd, and that we are your sheep.

We are the people that are in your care. And so we pray that we would be filled not just with a lip service gratitude, but that you would fill our hearts really with awe and wonder and a thankfulness that is appropriate to every child of God. So would you remind us this day? We love you, and we pray for just a blessed time as we remember the body and the blood broken and shed on our behalf to make this all possible. We love you, Lord, and pray this in Jesus' name. When you're ready, go ahead and come up with the case.

First Corinthians 11, 23 to 29, or 23 to uh twenty four reads, for I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you, and do this in remembrance of me. As we appreciate and remember the body of Christ broken for us, let's peel back this thing and let us take uh of the wafer together. His body was broken, not because you deserved his forgiveness, but because simply of his grace and compassion. Verse 26 goes on and reads.

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks, judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. Amen.