SERMON for Thanksgiving Eve: November 26, 2008
"Real Food for Real Thanksgiving"
You can hear this sermon as
preached from the pulpit here at Trinity by going
to http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=1116 and clicking on the MP3 link
therein.
Have a most blessed Thanksgiving Day and feast as God's redeemed in Christ.
Rev. Kurt Hering
Layton, UT
TEXT: Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink
indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who
feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from
heaven__ not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this
bread will live forever." (John 6:53_58, NKJ)
Now that's Real food for Real Thanksgiving. That's food that doesn't just
stick to your ribs, but that gives God to you and unites you with Him now
and for eternity.
Imagine a Thanksgiving feast of cardboard cutouts and photographs instead of
real people gathered around real food.
Imagine what how that would have gone over if that is what the Pilgrims had
offered the natives to thank them for their neighborliness.
This is exactly what many settle for, what many even desire and clamor for
in the church today.
However, God has gathered you here today, as always at this altar - to
receive real food for real thanksgiving. You do not have a thanksgiving that
proceeds from you as a matter of making offerings to God, whether by word or
deed, as in so much of what passes for worship. Here you do not gather to
participate in a mere re-enactment or representation of what once happened.
You are gathered in the presence of the real Christ to receive His very real
body and blood.
And that allows you, no even more, causes you, to overflow with real
thanksgiving.
As our Lord Jesus Christ says: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Matthew 9:16
That is, we can in no way hope to appease God and make good for our sins
based upon our sacrifice, no matter what it might be. He only desires to
have mercy on us according to His steadfast and abounding love.
Again our Lord, in response to the people's question, "What shall we do,
that we may work the works of God?" . . . answered and said to them, "This
is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." John 6:28-29
Therefore, to live in thanksgiving, means first and foremost to acknowledge
and rely on Him as the giver of all things, especially the forgiveness of
sins.
Thus fed with the true bread of life, we are free to serve our neighbor
according to his need our calling.
This is all God wants from and for us in our relationship with Him. To
believe in His Son, Jesus the Christ, who gave His life for us on the cross.
Living in repentance, confessing our sin and receiving his absolution, his
forgiveness is the life of highest thanksgiving. We have nothing to offer
Him in thanksgiving that He hasn't first given to us - except for our sin.
So He simply calls on us to believe in His Son, so that He might continue
being your God and supplying your every need forever. This is why the Lord's
Supper is also called the Eucharist, the Greek word for thanksgiving.
Receiving His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins is to offer our
sins to him in thanksgiving.
This thanksgiving is explained in the first three commandments, summed up by
Christ, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and
with all your mind.
You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and
trust in God above all things.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We
should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts,
lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray,
praise, and give thanks.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should
fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold
it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
And our Epistle lesson speaks of what it means to live in thanksgiving to
God among our fellow man.
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1
Timothy 2:1-4
Since God provides everything we need, we are to live lives of thanksgiving
to our neighbors by serving them in our own vocations, i.e. our callings as
pastors or hearers; authorities or citizens; Husbands or wives; parents or
children; employers or employees; teachers or students; in service one to
another no matter one's station.
This is what the 4th - 10th Commandments are about, or again as Christ sums
them up, "love your neighbor as yourself."
Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and
love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other
authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.
You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so
that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support
him in every physical need.
You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean? We should fear and love
God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do,
and husband and wife love and honor each other.
You shall not steal. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so
that we do not take our neighbor's money or possessions, or get them in any
dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and
income.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this
mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our
neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him,
speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.
You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. What does this
mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our
neighbor's inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears
right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it. And also so that we
do not entice or force away our neighbor's wife, workers, or animals, or
turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty.
The life of thanksgiving is lived in simple obedience to God's Word and in
simple service to all of those around us, not in order to earn anything
before God, but because He already has given us everything we need.
When we realize this fundamental truth, we can live in thanksgiving, much
like the Apostle Paul, who writes in Phil 4:11_13, I am not saying this
because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to
have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every
situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (NIV)
Let us, therefore, come before the Lord, the giver of all things -- the
Father, our creator, as the giver of everything visible and invisible; the
Son, our redeemer, as the giver of salvation, the forgiveness of our sin
unto eternal life; and the Holy Spirit, our sanctifier, as the one who
delivers that forgiveness to us through the Holy Christian Church that we
may live in faith today until the resurrection of the body when we will live
forever in the full and glorious presence of God .
And let us come into His Presence with thanksgiving this night - let us come
to the Holy Eucharist, the true and Godly Thanksgiving feast, to receive
real food His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. And let us
depart in his peace quietly and humbly to serve our neighbor. For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And in this way we bring
real food for real thanksgiving to all people through Him who loved us, gave
His life for us, and gives life to the world through us -
in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
____________________________________________________________
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