“Give God All the Glory for All the Good Things He Gives Us”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“With voices united our praises we offer
And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
With You, Lord, beside us,
Your strong arm will guide us.
To You, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
785:3)
Old Testament Reading....................................................
Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (esp. 10)
10And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for
the good land he has given you.
Prologue: Information about the origin and development of
Thanksgiving Day tells us that “Most stories of Thanksgiving history start
with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Native Americans that
took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast
in celebration of a good harvest, and the local natives did participate,
this ‘first thanksgiving’ was not a holiday, simply a gathering. There is
little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern
Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863
when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day.
The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.
“George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789,
although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies,
many feeling the hardships of a few pilgrims did not warrant a national
holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea of having a
day of thanksgiving.
“It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually
led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials
championing her cause in her Boston Ladies’ Magazine, and later, in Godey’s
Lady’s Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and
letters to governors and presidents, Hale’s obsession became a reality when,
in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a
national day of Thanksgiving.
“Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The
date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who
set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer
Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the
president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later.
And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal
holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.” (The Thanksgiving
Story—History of Thanksgiving. http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm)
The historical presidential proclamations especially by George
Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, as well as all the ones
that followed theirs are heavily weighted with gratitude for national and
material blessings—Apostles’ Creed First Article and Lord’s Prayer Fourth
Petition things. However, we find only glancing references to the spiritual
blessings of forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life that Jesus
Christ gained for us with His Holy life, innocent suffering, crucifixion
death, and majestic resurrection from the dead. Nevertheless, what was and
continues to be a national observance has also become a liturgical church
year occasion to formally and publicly …
“Give God All the Glory for All the Good Things He Gives Us.”
Okay, in order to get the full impact of this national holiday as
it’s set in the liturgical church year context (even as we eagerly
anticipate tables overloaded with food items and hours of sleeping in front
of exciting football games) let’s review The First Article of The Apostles’
Creed and The Fourth Petition of The Lord’s Prayer with their meanings.
Please turn to page 322 in the Lutheran Service Book, page 322 … and join me
in reading The First Article and its meaning. “Creation I believe in God,
the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
“What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all
creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my
members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
“He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home,
wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily
provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
“He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all
evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy,
without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank
and praise, serve and obey Him.
“This is most certainly true.” (Lutheran Service Book. Copyright ©2006
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 322.)
Now please turn to page 324, page 324 … and read with me The
Fourth Petition and its meaning. “Give us this day our daily bread.
“What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone
without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition
that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with
thanksgiving.
“What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that
has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink,
clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband
or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good
government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good
friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” (Ibid. Page 324.)
In addition, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther gave us a Morning
Prayer that begins with, “I thank You my heavenly Father, through Jesus
Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and
danger …”; an Evening Prayer that begins much the same way, “I thank You my
heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have
graciously kept me this day …”; and two after-meal prayers that begin with
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” and “We thank You, Lord God
heavenly Father, for all Your benefits … .” (Ibid. Pages 327f.)
You see, Thanksgiving Day is all about giving God thanks … and
more. While it’s a day for celebrative thanksgiving, such celebrative
thanksgiving reminds us that thanking God is an everyday activity … not just
an occasional item. As we do so, let’s put everything in proper perspective
by realizing that …
I. God’s Word Is Far More Important Than His Physical Blessings. (1-5)
1“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do,
that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord
swore to give to your fathers. 2And you shall remember the whole way that
the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he
might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you
would keep his commandments or not. 3And he humbled you and let you hunger
and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know,
that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man
lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4Your clothing
did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.
5Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your
God disciplines you.
When Jesus was told that His mother and brothers were waiting to
visit with Him He declared, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear
the word of God and do it.” (St Luke 8:21 ESV) When an unidentified woman
in a crowd told Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts
at which you nursed!” (St Luke 11:27 ESV), He exclaimed, “Blessed rather are
those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (St Luke 11:28 ESV) Two of the
innumerable evidences of true Christianity are hearing (that includes
reading, marking, studying, learning, and taking to heart) and keeping (that
is, believing, confessing, and obeying) God’s Holy Word. After all, God’s
Holy Word “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may
be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17 ESV) In
addition, it’s “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Ps 119:105 ESV)
More important than all that, however, God’s Holy Word was “written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in his name.” (St John 20:31 ESV)
You see, the Book of Deuteronomy is “essentially a restatement of
all the commandments and statutes which the Lord had given to His people.”
In fact, “The book contains the last discourses of Moses, the man of God,
addressed to the children of Israel.” As Moses realized that his earthly
life was growing short, he “once more reminds them of all the mercies,
ordinances, and promises of God. The time is the beginning of the eleventh
month of the fortieth year after the exodus from Egypt to the seventh day of
the twelfth month in the same year … .” (Christopher F. Drewes in
Introduction to the Books of the Bible. Copyright © 1929 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 41.) In addition, “The Israelites
are stationed in the land of Moab on the east side of the Jordan river. The
book covers a period of forty days. Moses is preparing the Israelites for
their entry into Canaan … .” (Theodore Huggenvik in Your Key to the Bible: A
Presentation of Your Religious Concern with the Bible. Copyright © 1944
Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, MN. Page 21.)
In His divine omnipotence God knew the rich abundance that awaited
the Israelites in the Promised Land, that they were about to enter. He also
knew that they would remember the difficult times they had just experienced
on their journey there. With all that in mind, “Moses said that God led
Israel through the wilderness to test them. The purpose of his test was to
lead Israel to trust him more fully. The reason he provided such miraculous
physical blessings was to show his people that they needed, and that he was
capable of providing, far more than physical blessings. With his word the
Lord could meet all their physical needs as well as the still greater needs
of their souls. Without God’s word, physical blessings by themselves will
never be enough. Food alone won’t give life. Life has deeper dimensions
that only God can satisfy.” (Mark E. Braun in People’s Bible Commentary:
Deuteronomy. Copyright © 1995 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
Pages 81f.)
So it was for God’s covenant people then and for us His baptized
children today, physical blessings are certainly important as they sustain
and nourish our physical mortal bodies. However, God’s Holy Word is the
bread of life that sustains and nourishes our spiritual immortal souls.
While the physical food of our Thanksgiving feasts and daily meals is
essential for the welfare of our bodies, the spiritual food that God gives
us in Holy Baptism, the reading and hearing of His Holy Word, the
declaration of Holy Absolution, and Christ’s body and blood in Holy
Communion is far more vital for the welfare of our souls.
At the same time, however, …
II. God Provides Physical Blessings In Grand
Abundance. (6-9)
6So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his
ways and by fearing him. 7For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good
land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in
the valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees
and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9a land in which you will
eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose
stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
God’s amazingly gracious and generous nature is that He doesn’t
give us only what we need, He gives us abundantly more than we need! He did
so with the Israelites some 3,500 years ago and He still does so with us
today. God provided them with “everything … that was needed for comfortable
and even luxurious living,” (Paul E. Kretzmann in Popular Commentary of the
Bible: The Old Testament Volume I, The Historical Books of the Old
Testament: Genesis to Esther. Copyright © 1923 Concordia Publishing House,
St. Louis, MO. Page 318.) and He continues to do so with us today. He
takes care of us by giving us “food and clothing, home and family, work and
play, and all that [we] need from day to day.” As if that’s not enough, “He
defends [us] against all danger and guards and protects [us] from all evil.”
Why? “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy,
without any merit or worthiness in [us].” (Luther’s Small Catechism with
Explanation. Page 117.)
And that, my dear fellow children of the heavenly Father, brings
us to the heart and soul of this annual formal Thanksgiving Day celebration,
namely, response. That’s what the one leper exemplified about whom today’s
Third Reading informed us, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face
at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” (St Luke 17:15-16a) Also, it’s what we
prayed for in today’s Collect, “Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may
acknowledge Your goodness, give thanks for Your benefits, and serve You in
willing obedience all our days … .”
You see, our response of thanks, praise, service, and obedience is
how we …
“Give God All the Glory for All the Good Things He Gives Us.”
We do so with the words that we speak, pray, and sing. We do so
by conscientiously and faithfully fulfilling our duty to be good managers of
all that God has placed into our care. We do so “when we avoid polluting
air, land, and water; carefully dispose of waste; use rather than waste
natural resources; conserve rather than waste energy; recycle or reuse
materials whenever possible; and value and take care of all God’s creation.”
(Ibid. Pages 118f.) And, we do so when we “help and support our neighbor
in every bodily need;” when we are “merciful, kind, and forgiving towards
our neighbor;” and when we “avoid and assist our neighbor in avoiding the
abuse of drugs and the use of any substance that harms the body and the
mind.” (Ibid. Pages 80f.)
By and through it all, let’s ever remember and never forget that …
I. God’s Word Is Far More Important Than His Physical Blessings. (1-5)
At the same time let’s thankfully realize that …
II. God Provides Physical Blessings In Grand Abundance. (6-9) even as
today’s Psalm antiphon stated, “God shall bless us; let all the ends of the
earth fear him!” (Ps 67:7 ESV) and Saint Paul acknowledged in today’s Second
Reading, “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied,
having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a
sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need
of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and
Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Philippians 4:18-20 ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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