Sermon 11/23/03 pm

Jim Huskey, The Giving of Thanks

This week our nation will be celebrating a time called Thanksgiving

in remembrance of our forefathers who suffered through their first

winter here, gathered together to observe a feast of thanksgiving for

God's blessings upon them, allowing them to endure a painful winter

with many deaths and very great difficulty. Yet they realized the

fact that it was through God's providence that they had survived.

In Colossians, chapter 3, the apostle Paul wrote, beginning in verse

14 wrote, "And above all these things put on chariy (love), which is

the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,

to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

Col. 3:14/15. I don't know if there is a characteristic that more

defines our people sometimes in this country than that of ingratitude.

I remember on one occasion Jesus told of ten lepers who came to him

and they were all healed. Only one of the ten returned to thank him

for what he had done. His question was, 'Were not ten healed, where

are the nine?' Passage after passage in the scripture emphasizes the

fact that the people of God ought to be a people who are thankful,

full of thanksgiving. The apostle Paul would write to the young man

Timothy in I Timothy 2 and say, "I exhort therefore, that, first of

all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be

made for all men." Paul, writing to the brethren at Philippi, in a

passage we looked at a few short weeks ago, chapter 4, beginning with

vers 6, said, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer

and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto

God." Over in the book of Revelation, we find those beasts in chapter

4 before the throne, worshipping. In verse 9 of that 4th chapter

begins, "And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him

that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and

twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship

him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the

throne, saying, Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour

and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they

are and were created." Rev. 4:9-11.

So not only does it appear that man here on earth have the

responsibility of being thankful, but even the creatures that were

created in heaven give thanks. I remember a long time hearing

something I believe I'll always remember. The story is told of an

old man from the farm who went into the city to buy goods. He

happened to be in the city at lunch time and he went into a restaurant

to order a meal. When the meal was brought to his table he bowed his

head and started praying. Some smart mouth in the restaurant thought

he would be-little the farmer and he said, "Mister, does everybody out

on the farm do that when they eat?" He said, "Naw, the pigs don't."

That, I guess, made his point pretty well. Intelligent beings give

thanks, the pigs don't. It would be difficult for us to take a sheet

of paper and sit down and write a out a list of all the things for

which we have to be thankful, if we would be honest. Now we may not

live in the fanciest house, drive the fanciest car, or wear the

fanciest clothes. We may not make the most money. Have you ever stopped

to think that compared to an awful lot of the world's people, we're

living in a society that was unimaginable when I was a boy. We could

not have imagined that my old use car I'm driving cost me more than

the house I lived in from the time I was about six months old until

Mother and Dad died. Can you imagine a half worn out automobile

costing more than a house? I couldn't imagine that. I couldn't

imagine that some years ago I walked into a dealership and bought one

out of the showroom for far less than I gave for that old use car I'm

driving today. Our society has vastly changed. Techonology is

unreal. You can sit in your living room and watch events take place

on the other side of the world. It's just unreal. You can sit down

at a computer and communicate worldwide, instantly. But, have you

ever thought that also there are parts of the world today where

women bring children into the world and they likely will not live to

reach their teenage years. They will die of starvation because they

do not have food; they will die of disease because they do not have

medicine; they will live in filth because they do not have the

facilities for good hygiene. You know, you could have been born there

just as well as having been born in this country. There but for the

grace of God all of us are. There are places in the world tonight

where people have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those

people will die most likely without ever knowing what God has done for

them, because there are people who don't have computers, radios,

televisions, newspapers. They can't read, at least not the languages

in which the scripures are made available. They may not have anybody

there who can interpret for them. So you see, we live in a place

where we can go into any dime store and buy a copy of the Bible. You

don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to be able to read the language in

which it is written. That's because we live where we live. I

remember just a few years ago in the area where Brother Barvicks and

others are preaching the gospel now, if you got a Bible into that area

you had to smuggle it in; and if you were caught with one you'd go to

prison there. See, we're so blessed in so many ways, in so many

areas. Sometimes we fail to remember to thank God for that.

I remember an acquaintance once whose children came to house often.

They were just like pigs at the trough. Our kids had been taught that

when we sat down to eat we have thanks for what we had before we ate

it. We asked them, "Don't you give thanks for your food at home?"

They said, "No." So I asked their father. "Don't you give thanks

at home?" It bothered me because he was a deacon where I was preaching.

His reply was "Well, God knows we're thankful." I said, "Well, I tell

you what you do. You quit telling your wife you love her. If she

asked you about it just tell her 'well I told you once, if I change

my mind I'll let you know' and you see how that goes over." See, we

understand that it's not wise to do people that way, yet we don't

think a thing in the world sometimes about doing God that way. "Well

we told you thanks once, if we ever change our mind we'll let you

know." You know, if there was ever a person that seemed to be

characterized by prayer, it was the apostle Paul. In every epistle

he wrote, he touched on it - on every single one of them. He prayed

for those people to whom he wrote. He thanked God for what God had

done for him. He thanked God for the christians, for their faith,

for the works they had done, always giving thanks. Yet, if there

ever were a person who could have just turned his eyes heavenward

and said "God you know I'm thankful by what I'm doing; I don't have

to tell you every day." But he did. He see, one of the things we

fail to remember is that the giving of thanks is more for our benefit

than it is for God. He knows what's in our heart, that's true, as my

good brother said. God knows - yes he does; but let me remind you of

something. Remember back yonder in the book of Genesis when God told

Abraham 'Take Isaac thy son, thine only son, and offer him yonder on

a mount.' Didn't God know what was in Abraham's heart? Sure did.

Well why put Abraham through all that? Was it for God's benefit? No!!

It was for Abraham's benefit!!!! Same principle. The giving of

thanks is for our benefit because it helps us remember from where our

blessings come. I know we have to work for them. I know we have to

do without some of the things we'd like to have sometimes in order to

get some of the things we need. I understand all that. Just suppose

for a moment we took God out of the picture. Every good and every

perfect gift comes down from above, James said. Well, that's God's

part. Now let's take him out of the picture. If every good and every

perfect gift comes from above, what's that going to leave us with if

we take God out of the picture? What it will leave us with is what

we don't want. Well, realizing that, and for our own benefit,

expressing it helps keep us from becoming ingrates. One of the things

that has always amazed me is that over the years some of the most

thankful people I've known really had very little of this world's

goods when we compare them to a lot of the people around them. But

they were grateful for what they had. With that gratitude and

understanding that they were blessed, they lived far happier lives than

a lot of folks with a whole lot more than they had, because they were

grateful, they were thankful and they always expressed it. The

scriptures tell us that one day every knee is going to buy to the

Lord and every tongue is going to confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of

God the Father, but if we wait until that day, it's too late to do

any good. The same thing is true with giving of thanks. I just

imagine there'll be a lot of folks come judgment day that are wanting

to talk about a lot of things to God. I'm using this in the manner in

which we usually few things. There won't be any questions and

answers on judgment day, I don't think. It will be a vindication of

God's righteousness and God's judgment. The problem is, then it will

be too late. 'You know, God, I was thankful for that.' 'Well, why

didn't you tell me?' It wouldn't take that much effort or time.

Be ye thankful. I'm glad in a way that our country has a holiday we

observe called Thanksgiving. At least, maybe for a few hours one day

during the year a lot of folks who at no other time during the year

may even think of that concept have it refreshed in their minds. So

in that, it is good. The christian has 365 thanksgiving days a year.

The christian has more to be thankful for than the richest man who

ever lived. He has a father in heaven, he has a hope that's reserved

in heaven that fades not away, he has a God who loves him and who

cares, upon whom he can cast his care, knowing that He cares for us.

Sometimes we think God doesn't hear our prayers; sometimes the answer

He gives just isn't the one we wanted. Maybe one of the reasons it

appears he doesn't hear some of our prayers is because they are all

"gimme's"; they're not mixed with thanksgiving, with the giving of

thanks, which is just as important.

Those are a few thoughts as we approach this holiday seadson.