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THE
GIVING OF THANKS
Colossians
3:15-17
I. In plenty or in want.
A. Giving thanks in plague time.
It was 1636, in the midst of the
darkness of the Thirty Years' War.
A German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five
thousand of his parishioners in that one year.
This was an average of fifteen
funerals a day.
His parish was ravaged by war,
death, and economic disaster.
In the heart of that darkness,
with the cries of fear outside
his window, he sat down and
wrote this table grace for his
children:
'Now thank we all our God \ With
heart and hands and voices;
\Who wondrous
things hath done, \ In whom his world rejoices.
\Who, from our mother's arms, \
Hath led us on our way
\With countless gifts of love \
And still is ours today.'
Here was a man who knew
thanksgiving comes from love of God, not
from
outward circumstances.
B. Just fifteen years earlier the
Pilgrims had celebrated the first
Thanksgiving in America.
They, also, were acknowledging their
gratitude to God for his
"countless
gifts of love."
C. Whether expressed in the joy of
plenty or the agony of desperation,
it is
a good thing to give thanks to God. Psalm 21:1
1) God commands it. Colossians 3:15
2) Jesus often gave thanks to
God. Matt 14:19; 26:26
3) It is central to worship
(music & praise).
4) To enjoy Christian liberty we
must be thankful.
II. What God requires for true
Thanksgiving.
A. Costly thanks.
1) Thanksgiving often involves
sacrifice. Ps 116:17
a) Jewish offerings of
thanksgiving. Lev 7:12
b) According to giver's
resources. Lev 5:11-13
c) But no less. David & Araunah. 2 Sam 24:24
2) Our verbal praise is
sacrificial. Heb 13:15
a) Correct praise requires
effort.
B. Clean thanks.
1) Sacrifices must meet God's
conditions. Lev 22:29
a) No imperfections allowed.
1> He rejects those
that are imperfect. Lev 26:31
b) Give our best to God in
worship.
1> Do simple things
well rather than great things poorly.
2) Have clean hands and a pure,
obedient heart. 1 Sam 15:22
a) With sin in our life, God
cannot hear our thanks.
b) Genuine humility and
sincerity. Amos 4:5; cf Luke 18:9-14
c) Rejoicing spirit. 2 Cor 9:7
3) Reconciliation with fellow
Christians.
a) We cannot be close to God
if we are far from his people.
b) Is God blasphemed because
of our actions? Rom 2:24
C. Continual thanks.
1) Praise is a way of life.
a) "Without
ceasing."
Eph 5:20
1> King David offered
thanks day and night.
2> Levites had
round-the-clock shifts at temple.
b) Maintain a daily record of
what we are thankful for.
1> And not just a list
of what we are lacking!
2) Be a living sacrifice.
a) We are the only gift we
can give, because all else is
from
God. Jam 1:17
b) 17th-cent. English poet
Richard Crashaw:
"We ourselves
become our own best sacrifice."
III. What our
Thanksgiving reveals about us.
A. Thanksgiving is an evidence of
faith.
1) Lone leper gives thanks. Luke 17:11-19
2) Lack of faith and spirit of
ingratitude go together. Rom 1:21
B. Thanksgiving reveals the depth of
our fellowship.
1) NT word "eucharistein" implies intimacy with person
thanked.
a)
Used at last supper.
b) Root meaning is
"grace." (as in,
table grace)
2) We must have God's grace in
our hearts to properly thank Him.
a) Our willingness to offer
genuine sacrifices of praise is
evidence that we
consider the Lord worthy of all our
sacrifice
and thanks. Rev 4:9-13
b) Too often we take God, and
those around us, for granted.
IV. How thankful are we?
A. Thanks for hard times, in plague
times?
1) Do we take time to thank God
when it is easy?
2) Are we able to thank Him when
it is hard?
B. We should be thankful for the
greatest gift of all - salvation.
The sun had just risen on a hot
August day in 1944 in the small
village
of Plelo, in German-occupied France.
The 15-year-old boy did not know
why he and the other citizens
of Plelo
had been lined up before a firing squad in the
middle
of the town square.
Perhaps they were being punished
for harboring a unit of
Marquisards,
the French underground freedom fighters.
Perhaps they were merely to
satisfy the blood lust of the German
commanding officer who, the
evening before, had routed the
small
group of Marquisard scouts.
All the boy knew was that he was
about to die.
As he stood before the firing
squad, he remembered the carefree
days of his early childhood,
before the war, spent roaming
the
French countryside.
He thought about all he would miss
by never growing up.
Most of all he was terrified of
dying.
How will the bullets feel ripping
through my body? he wondered.
He hoped no one could hear the whimperings coming from deep in
his
throat every time he breathed.
Suddenly, the boy heard the sound
of exploding mortar shells
beyond
the limits of his little village.
Rapidly moving tanks could also be
heard.
The Germans were forced to abandon
the firing squad and face a
small
unit of U.S. tanks.
The twenty American GI's were led
by Bob Hamsley, a corporal in
Patton's Third Army.
A Marquisard
captain had asked Hamsley for help.
After three hours, fifty Nazis
were dead, and the other fifty
were
taken prisoner.
In 1990 the town of Plelo
honored Bob Hamsley on the very spot
where dozens of the town's
citizens would have died if not
for
him.
The man who initiated the search
for Hamsley and the ceremony
honoring him was the former
mayor of Plelo, that same 15 year
old
boy.
He had determined to find the man
who saved his life and honor
him.
It's hard to forget your Savior.
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