Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

by Wayne Dailey
Senior Pastor, Bethel Revival Center
43 Norwood St.
Everett, MA 02149

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Old Testament Verses

Psalm 95:2
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.

There is so much in The Book of Psalms about being thankful, so many insights on expressing our thanksgiving to the Lord.

Psalm 107:22
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

Our thanksgiving is tied with a sacrifice.

Leviticus 22:29
And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.

Now, it would appear to me from this verse that in offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving, God never would want it to be said that somehow He imposed this upon people.

What would praise mean if you only did it because you had to?

Oh, how people react when they do something just because they have to do something! How they murmur and complain, as though there was nothing meaningful to it! And, if we aren't careful, thanksgiving can be that way too. But God doesn't want our thanksgiving to be that way. He wants it to be freely expressed from the heart.

Psalm 26:7
That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Thy wondrous works.

I want to share it! I want to noise it abroad what the Lord has done for me! I want everybody to know! I want to tell of all God's wondrous works — and I want to do it with thanksgiving.

How can we convince anybody that God is good while we look like we just drank a cup of pickle juice? What does that really accomplish?

Psalm 69:30
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

I like the idea that comes out in this verse! There are two thoughts here: praising the name of God with a song and magnifying Him with thanksgiving.

Our thanksgiving should express that we know the goodness of God, that we are thankful because His goodness is manifested to us.

Psalms 147:7
Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.

Did you ever sing to the Lord with thanksgiving?

Psalm 97:12
Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness

Who should really thank God from their hearts? Sinners can't rejoice in the Lord. What do sinners have to rejoice in? It is the righteous who have much to rejoice about in the Lord!

Did you ever thank God for holiness? Some folks won't even mention that word, holiness.

II Chronicles 20:21
And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth for ever.

Do you think of holiness as something beautiful? Look at Christians who have been touched of God. The glory of the Lord lights up their faces and reflects His holiness.

We that are righteous ought to be able to praise God at the remembrance of His holiness . . . and be thankful.

Back in those days, to go to the house of God was a happy time! It was a joyous time! It was a time when they could sing, and rejoice, and worship God. It meant something to them! But today people have something better than going to the house of God — at least, they think they do. They can go to church in the comfort of their home, watching the service on their television.

Way back there in those days they didn't have a television. They didn't have radio. But one thing they did have: They did have the Lord, and they loved to worship with His people in His house. To them, that was a wonderful blessing!

Psalm 35:18
I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise Thee among much people.

New Testament Verses

Now, we want also to look at some New Testament verses about thanksgiving, taking note that praise ought to flow out of the hearts of God's people and so should thanksgiving!

II Corinthians 9:11
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

The abundance of blessing!

When you get blessed, don't you get happy? What is generally the first thing you say when you really get a good blessing? I'll tell you what the first thing ought to be! It ought to be: "Thank God! Thank you, Lord!" You should get excited because of the wonderful things that God so often puts in your hands.

Colossians 4:2
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving

Paul was encouraging the church to hang on, to continue to pray, and to watch in prayer. Note that he adds, "with thanksgiving."

When you go before God, go with thanksgiving. Be thankful for the prayer He answered last week, expressing your thankfulness to Him.

When we go into our prayer closet, what is the first thing we should do? We should praise Him and thank Him, glorifying Him before we ever look up to ask for anything. This ought to be the order of the day. We shouldn't just barge into His presence with a "God, gimme-gimme" attitude. If we do that, it looks like all we want God for is for what we can get out of Him!

Saints, here we are as a people whom God daily loads with benefits . . . and we don't have anything to thank God for? Does that sound right? Listen, we don't have to get a miracle yesterday in order to have something to thank God for today!

Give Thanks for One Another

Ephesians 1:16
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers

Here's another kind of thanks. Wouldn't it be nice to think that someone is actually thanking God for you? Did anybody thank God for you today? Well, let me reverse that: Have you thanked God for anyone today? Who was it? Why were you thankful for them?

You ought to be thankful unto God for all the people who have blessed you along the way. Think about the ones whom God used in showing you the way of salvation. Think of all the people who have helped you along the journey.

Have you thanked God for your wife today?

"Why, if you had my wife . . ."

Did you thank God for your husband today?

"Why, if you had my husband . . ."

I thanked God for my wife today. She's a blessing to me, and I thank God for her everyday.

Unthankfulness: A Sign of the Last Days

II Tim 3:2
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous . . . unthankful, unholy . . .

This chapter sets the tone of our generation in these last days. Here we note that people will tend to be unthankful. They will have nothing to thank God for and nothing to thank anybody else for!

This is an attitude that some people seem to adopt. They believe the world owes them everything. They believe that God owes them everything. That would put God in some place of obligation, wouldn't it?

God is so generous to us. God is so good to us. If we thank Him and praise Him, and ever keep a thankful heart, it will make a difference in His continuing to bless us. But I don't think God owes us anything!

Not everyone is thankful, though. Not everyone appreciates God's goodness to them.

Luke 17:12-14
And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

Jesus said to these ten lepers, "Go show yourself to the priest." They were full of leprosy when He said that, but as they went, as they just obeyed in faith, they began to notice they were being cleansed! The leprosy was being healed right before their eyes!

That would be exciting, wouldn't it! After such a long time! But, notice, only one of them came back to thank the Lord! Only one!!

Luke 17:15-16
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

There was something deep down inside that man. He was looking at more than just that he was being healed; he was looking at the Lord whom he knew healed him. His eyes were on Jesus. He wasn't concerned about what others would say. He just wanted to thank the Lord!

In this realm we can certainly see a true pattern of what anybody ought to do when they get a touch of God's power on their life!

The Scripture says he was a Samaritan. The Jews had little or no dealing with the Samaritans and vice-versa. We learn this from Jesus in the story of the woman at the well (see John 4).

Here, this man who was a Samaritan comes and falls down at Jesus' feet and really begins to worship Him, thanking Him for what He has done. Doesn't that set a precedent there somewhat for us? Shouldn't that really be something that we should take hold of? Should we stand by and watch somebody be healed by the miraculous power of God and not glorify God?

"Well, I'm not the one who got healed!" You may not be, but you are one who saw it happen! Therefore, you have every reason to glorify God for what He has done.

We ought to all have that attitude inside. It's our duty to glorify God. It's our duty to magnify God for what He does. And if God does it in our presence, my, that's all the more reason!

Did Jesus rebuke this man? Did He tell him: "You don't need to do this. You shouldn't do this?" Did He in any wise tell him that was the wrong route to go? "Hey, get up! I don't want you down there at My feet thanking Me!"

Luke 17:17-19
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Here is the mind of God expressed to us: "Did I not cleanse ten? Where are the other nine?" Seeing that He asked this, then, it must have been expected of all nine that they would return to glorify God and thank Him, before heading off and going to the priest to have him pronounce them clean.

We should stop and consider testimonies like this.

No Leaven!

Let's look at another story. This one is found in the Old Testament. This story may help us to understand a little more about making the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Amos 4: 4
Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years

Amos the prophet was chiding with a backslidden people because they were out of order. They wondered why they didn't get blessed. How could they get blessed? Look at what they were doing!

Amos 4:5
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

Offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving was fine, something they should offer. But should it be offered in Samaria at Bethel or in the temple at Jerusalem?

With leaven! As soon as I read that word leaven, my mind says that something is wrong: They are going to do something their own way, the way they desire to do it, a way that is contrary to God's way.

Leviticus 7:12
If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.

Unleavened! Notice that there is a difference: There is a discrepancy shown in Leviticus and Amos in the way things were to be done. It wasn't really Amos who was saying this. God was dealing about how they were doing things their way and not His way.

Here in Leviticus, God is telling the children of Israel about a thanksgiving offering. No leaven was allowed. The unleavened bread here represented Christ. He was always represented by unleavened bread: never by anything leavened, because leaven is a type of sin.

I Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

When Paul wrote this, he was dealing with the Corinthian church about fornication. He was letting them know that that old leaven, that sin of fornication, could surely have no place in a Christian's life.

We're in the place today where the feast of Passover (the Lord's Supper) should be had with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. That's spoken to us Christians: the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The True Peace Offering

Ephesians 2:13,14
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us

Always remember that Jesus made peace between God and us. He is the mediator. In the new covenant we're brought into a relationship where God sees us in Christ: Christ is our peace offering.

So, if we are going to thank God with a peace offering, we can't leave Christ out. We can't make peace with God on our own terms. We can't barter with God. We can't make conditions with God about making peace.

We have peace with God through the cross of Jesus. If we are going to stand in the right place with God, it will only be through Jesus. He is our peace offering. How could we make a peace offering to God? We couldn't be at peace with God without Christ, without His cross, without His blood.

Shouldn't we be thankful then? Shouldn't we thank Jesus? Shouldn't we really give thanks to Him? Shouldn't we come thanking God for the cross?

When you say the words the cross, that means a lot. The cross is certainly tied to Jesus and tied to us; rather, I should say that we're tied to the cross.

Remember, it was at that cross where Jesus not only suffered and died, but also it was at that cross where your sins and my sins were nailed. It was there where He took our place in death, where He shed His blood for our redemption. We should always bear in mind that it is for this we must be thankful every day.