Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

The Threads Of Thanksgiving

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The Jewish people were just finishing a feast, not terribly unlike our thanksgiving feast here in the US…. Different foods, same camaraderie of friends and family. Their feast was called pasach… Passover…. celebrating the whole deliverance from Egypt and God’s miraculous provision to release them from Egypt’s domination…again, not unlike our release from England’s domination.

Before the Jewish people ate their thanksgiving, Passover meal… their custom was to offer a prayer of thanksgiving. In this case, they actually sang the before-meal prayer, which was prewritten for them in Psalm 113,114. After the meal, with a much fuller belly, they would belt out another song of thanksgiving fr0m Psalm 115-118. (Hillel)

Let me pull out just one verse from Psalm 116, their after-meal song of thanksgiving:

Psalm 116:17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

I. A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Exhorted

What is Thanksgiving?___________________________________________

We can figure our what thanksgiving is by going to the dictionary:

Thanksgiving- an expression of gratitude or grateful acknowledgement of something we have received or something that has been done for us.

We got a handle on that, but the Psalm says that they were offering a sacrifice of Thanksgiving.

What is a sacrifice of Thanksgiving?

What did the term mean to them?

What does the term mean to your life?… if anything?

If we can figure it out:

When was the last time you offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving?

Let’s go to one of the great thankers of the Old Testament for some insight into what a sacrifice of thanksgiving is.

II. The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Explored

The place is Gath…land of the Philistines.

The person is David.. running for his life from King Saul. The prophet Samuel had anointed David to be the next king of Israel… instead of being honored he is running around like a rabid dog through the Judean wasteland, while the king who should be honoring him and taking care of affairs of state is giving his valuable time to hunting down his successor.

David thinks if he can get out of the wilderness and into the Philistine city of Gath he can melt into the crowd and Saul will give up chasing him…. But he makes an immature tactical error. When he shows up in Gath, he is wearing the sword of Goliath, the Philistine giant that he had killed. The Philistines take one look at this little guy with the oversized sword and say…we recognize that sword…we know this guy…If Israel has it’s way he will become their next king and lead armies against us.

David is scared…. He may not get out of this mistake, to get back and elude King Saul to become King. His mind begins to churn…. He says hold it right their guys, anybody have a pen and some paper…my god is talking to me and I need to jot this down…its really good.

Psalm 56:1-4, 12-13 (NIV) Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

12 I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you.

For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

What is an offering of thanks? This term shows up a lot in the O.T.

-is it an actual sacrifice

-or is it a Psalm sung

The Jewish people had, what appears to us to be a very complicated sacrificial system. Each sacrifice had to be exactly right.. the animal perfect…it’s presentation perfect.

Along with the sacrifices God gave the opportunity for offerings… there is a subtle difference between the two. One was to cover sin, a necessary duty. The other was a privilege. A person would bring an animal, or cereal, or wine offering…give it to God in a special ceremony. The priest would use only a small part of the offering, then give a large amount back, and the family would feast on the rest.

One such offering in Leviticus 7, though never commanded by God was simply made available to anyone who wanted to participate. It was called________, you guessed it…a:

Thank offering!

When all the obligation sacrifices and offerings were out of the way, God left room for men and woman to pour out their heart-felt thanksgiving for what God had provided on their behalf. Remember, God did not demand this one… he opened the opportunity and waited to see who would respond.

Notice….After their voluntary peace/thank offering, they would take the balance of the offered items, make a big meal, invite family and friend, along with the Levites/Priests and have a big blowout thanksgiving meal…sound familiar?

So who, in Scripture took advantage of this opportunity and practiced this wonderful privilege of giving thanks to God for His great provision?….. Apparently nobody!

I didn’t find one reference to anybody actually taking God up on this offer…. until David mentions it at Gath.

Psalm 56:12-13 I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

David finally catches on to this great opportunity… when? When everything in his life is going perfectly, when the sailing has finally smoothed out?…. NO!

David is in one of the most horrible situations in his whole life

He’s running from one huge, life threatening problem in his life, and runs full tilt into another, even bigger, life threatening problem in his life. The Ladies of Grace were talking, Wednesday evening about the valley’s and mountain tops in our lives. David was in the bottom of a valley then fell into a crevasse in the bottom of the valley…

Some of you in this room may feel like you have fallen into a crevasse in the bottom of a valley… you can’t even see the mountaintop from your vantage point any more… all you can see are the crevasse sides leading up to the bottom of the valley.

You know from biblical history that David’s life went on after this low point…. In fact he became the greatest king Israel ever had. He had many very high mountain top experiences in his life… and a few more very low valleys!

But what he caught on to here was a life key… that shows up in his Psalms later on.

No matter what despicable situation he found himself in…

It was Gods faithfulness that had carried him that far!

It was God’s loving kindness that had kept him from being destroyed by all the adverse situations he had faced.

It would be God’s graciousness that would carry him through the impossible situation he was now facing..

The same God who had carried him to this point in life would most assuredly carry him on to the purposes for which he was put on this earth!

All those statements are true about every person whose life portrait God included in the Bible for us to learn from.

In fact every Christian who has ever lived has come through a similar cycle of valleys crevasses, with the graciousness, loving kindness, and faithfulness of God carrying them through to victory.

Is there any logical reason to believe God is not going to do the same thing in your life?

The only logical response to a gracious God was to be gracious in return!

There is actually a positive, eternal, benefit to be gained from a selfless expression of thanksgiving to the GOD who made all things in your life possible.

Though we are not told directly… it seems clear to me that David set out to transmit what he had learned to the people of Israel. He sets up national practices that are a constant reminder to the children of Israel to thank God even in the darkest of circumstances:

1 Chronicles 16: 4,7-11 (NIV) And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel:

7 On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the LORD: Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!

By Hezekiah’s time thanksgiving had reached an all time high… it had become a vital part of their worship…

2 Chronicles 29: 27-32 (NIV) Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped. Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

III. The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Extended

With the ending of the Old Testament and the coming of the New… the old sacrificial and offering system is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

A simple faith in Christ death and resurrection to atone for all our sins accomplishes everything that every sacrifice previously accomplished…

Gone is the need to sacrifice animals? ___________

Gone is the need to bring cereal offerings?____________

Gone is the need to be thankful? …. Right? ____________

An interesting incident in Jesus life gives us an answer:

Luke 17:11-19 (NIV) Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosymet him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

I’m convinced that day:

There were 10 who were healed on the outside.. But only one who was changed on the inside!

Here’s a secret of life for you.. at no charge to you:

The act of thanksgiving to God changes the thanker on the inside!

I’ve shown this to you before… but when I first saw it. It was new to me:

1) Grace…. “charis”…. Un-asked-for favor

2) Thanks…. “charis”…. Un-asked for gratitude

Add a prefix and suffix to it and you get:

3) “Eucharisteo”…. to give thanks.

I find it interesting that in many traditions that word is used (correctly) to describe Holy Communion which defines God’s grace to us, and allows us to show genuine gratitude back to him.

When you give something to a child, if you don’t get a positive response, you might ask,

“What do you say?”

Up to this point in scripture God has not demanded that you thank him. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that he is not waiting for a response. He’s not looking for a canned “thank you” out of duty.

He’s looking for you to extend thanksgiving back to him as a gift from your heart!

By the time the Apostle Paul writes the Epistles, he gets a bit more specific about what is appropriate behavior for the Christian:

1Thess. 5:18 (NIV) Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3: 15-17 (NIV) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.