The Way of Thanksgiving

The Way of Thanksgiving
Philippians 4:4-7
It is amazing that we are coming close to the end of another year. The leaves are down, the Christmas decorations are going up, and we come to Thanksgiving Day, a unique day where we celebrate God’s goodness toward us. It is one of my favorite times of the year. But 2005 has been a tough year.

I. It’s tough giving thanks.
When we start thinking about 2005 there is a lot that makes it hard to be thankful. We started the year off with the tsunami in Southeast Asia that killed so many people. We have had terrorist attacks, people dying in conflicts, and then the hurricanes that caused so much havoc in this country. When we look at Michigan it seems that tough times abound for many people. Some of our number had to find new jobs this year. Some have been successful and others have not. Some families have faced illness; injury and even the loss of loved ones. Some workers have had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs and many people are worried about the economy and where it is going.

I have learned to limit my news intake just because of the unrelenting negativity of the news we receive. I heard an idea floated for a new news service, BNN, the Breaking News Network, with the logo “All disaster, all the time.” I don’t think our age or our world is worse than those of the past, it is just that we know more about what is going on and as a result people worry and are consumed with anxiety. The result is that people sometimes have difficulty in being thankful to God. After all we tend to blame God for many of the bad things that happen.

Of course the good in the world we take credit for. One study showed,
The Percentage of senior corporate executives with a high net worth (defined as having a net worth of $1 million or more, not including primary residence) who credit their current financial status to
Hard Work — 99Intelligence and good sense — 97Higher-than-average I.Q. — 83Being the best in every situation — 62Luck — 32[1]
No mention of God in the list. We might think that such thinking just applies to rich executives but too often we fall into that kind of thinking.

Too often our thanksgiving can take on the tint of thanksgiving seen in Luke 18:11-12, “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'” Jesus didn’t include a traditional part of the prayer thanking God that he wasn’t a woman but you get the idea. I’m glad I am an American and that I live in this land but my thankfulness is not based on that or on how prosperous I feel at the end of the year.

II. Paul and Thanksgiving
That is why Paul is so amazing as he writes these words in Philippians. He is in jail, under house arrest at the very least. He has no monitoring collar but instead is chained to a Roman soldier. It must have been difficult for someone who had been constantly on the move for the Lord. And yet joy is the theme of Philippians. There seems to be plenty of indication that joy was one factor that attracted non-Christians to Jesus. Joy as an evangelistic strategy in seen in the start of the church in Philippi. Paul and Silas were in prison and singing praises to God while recovering from beatings and in chains. Is it any wonder that the jailer asks how he can share in the joy, Acts 16:16-40. While it is not mentioned often I believe that the faith of early Christians was very winsome in the face of the spiritual darkness that most people lived in. How could those early Christians be so joyful, so thankful in the midst of such suffering and oppression? How can we find that kind of heart in the midst of our trials and a dark world that needs our joy?

III. Becoming Thankful
I believe that it takes more than just counting up our blessings. We need to do that but we need something more. One thing we need to do is to reclaim eternity. Hurriedness is one of the great curses of modern life. You may have plenty of money, a comfortable house, a wonderful family but you probably don’t have enough time. We rush to get everything done on our “to do” list and we feel constantly under pressure. In fact when we come to times where the pressure is off for a minute we collapse; it is almost like the pressure keeps us going and without it nothing is there. It is much like the inflatables we see in people’s yards, monstrous in size one day and flat on the ground the next. I can understand people in the world being like that but Christians are to have a different perspective.

It is the perspective of eternity that Jesus came to give his people. Jesus wants us to live our lives in light of eternity, not the constant present. This is not an easy thing to do. The world, through media and other ways is constantly telling us to rush. One thing that helps me is what I call the 100-year question, “Will this make a difference 100 years from now?” In one sense this is impossible to predict, who will even remember our names 100 years from now? But who knows what a word of encouragement will do in the life of a child? Or what sharing your faith will do in the direction a person will take? A view of time from eternity may help us to quit stressing and hurrying over things that are really insignificant. When we realize we do have time, we can do things that make a difference.

Paul had the perspective of eternity. He wrote the following words several years before he wrote Philippians,
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal,” 2 Cor 4:16-18.
When we have this view of life suddenly all the things that distract and weigh us down seem less intense, less threatening. Paul’s words, “Do not be anxious,” seem like a natural consequence of such thinking. Thanksgiving then focuses on what God is doing, our true blessings in the midst of trials, troubles, sickness, and loss because those things don’t amount to much viewed from eternity.

True thanksgiving leads to peace, the peace of God. Do you think God worries? I think God hurts and suffers with his creation, but worry? I don’t think so. So let’s celebrate Thanksgiving and let God’s peace reign in us.

Livonia Church of Christ: November 20, 2005
[1] 2000 Phoenix Wealth Management Survey; USA Today "Snapshots" (11-13-00), B1