Where Thanksgiving Fits In
Day of Thanksgiving [Observed]
November 25, 2009
1 Timothy 2:1-4
Where does thanksgiving fit into your life?
Every year we celebrate national holidays. On the Fourth of July we
commemorate the freedom we have in this country. That doesn’t mean
it’s the only time we recognize or are grateful for our freedom. The
other holidays we celebrate also are not the only time we recognize
what we’re celebrating. That should certainly be the case with
Thanksgiving. If that’s the only day we actually gave thanks, we would
be truly ungrateful people.
As a church we have more to celebrate than a national holiday of
Thanksgiving. Having been inspired by the Holy Spirit Paul spells out
where thanksgiving fits into our lives as Christians. It fits in in
everything. Our prayers are to consist of “supplications, prayers,
intercessions, *and thanksgivings*.” These supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings are to be made for all people. We are
to pray on behalf of others, for their needs.
The first three words Paul uses are along the lines of what we usually
think of when we think of prayer: asking God to help us and others in
their needs. We have a lot of them, maybe that’s why Paul is
emphasizing the point. We have a lot of needs, so Paul uses three
different words for this kind of praying.
But there’s another kind, and that’s what he gets at in his fourth
word: thanksgivings. Thanking God is to go right along with praying
for the needs of others. We are to pray for all people, including our
leaders, and we are to give thanks in all things for others, including
our leaders.
Why? So “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and
dignified in every way.” There is a method to the madness, so to
speak. In other words, there’s a reason we pray. God knows what we
need. He knows what we need better than we know what we need. And God
blesses us and all people abundantly even without our prayers. But we
pray for others so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly
and dignified in every way.
I don’t know about you, but if I don’t pray, I tend to get pretty
ungrateful. It’s amazing how saying a simple “Thank you” to someone
can help you recognize how grateful you are that others help you out.
When you don’t say “Thank you” to others you easily take others and
their help for granted. It’s the same with God. When we give thanks to
Him we realize more and more what a blessing it is that He helps us in
our needs and that without His provisions through our leaders there is
a far greater chance of us not having a peaceful and quiet life.
I love the way Paul goes on to speak about this: “This is good, and it
is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.” Paul can’t help but speak
of the salvation of God. It is always in light of God saving us that
Paul exhorts his brothers and sisters in Christ to live in the way God
desires them to live. This goes for prayer, too. When we pray, it is
in the light of the salvation of God in His Son Jesus Christ that we
pray—that we offer up supplications on behalf of others, that we offer
our thanks to God for, well, everything.
This is indeed good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. And
if we’re still not convinced of why we ought to be thankful, Paul has
an answer for that: our God “desires all people to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth.” Why do we pray for all people?
Why do we give thanks in all things? Because God desires that all
people be saved. Because He desires that all come to the knowledge of
truth. We give thanks in all things because our minds and hearts and
desires begin to reflect the heart of God. His salvation. His love.
His grace. His mercy. His passion for the people He created. The
people His Son Jesus Christ died for. The people He offers His full
and free salvation to. The salvation we have received in Baptism. That
we partake of often in the Holy Supper of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
This is where thanksgiving fits in. In the love of Christ for the
world. In Him giving to us in a personal real tangible way in His
Supper where He breaks bread and gives thanks, where He pours out for
us His lifeblood, given for us to drink, His body for us to eat.
We know what our needs are, do we see that we need to give thanks in
all things? There is so much to be thankful for! We can’t quite see it
all now, but in heaven we will see in the fullness of glory all God
has given to us. Then there will be no question of thanksgiving. It
will be as natural as it is now for us to pray for our needs. We give
thanks that He helps us in our needs until that day He brings us to
heaven where we will have none. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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