Rev. David Holwick ZK Thanksgiving Sunday
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 20, 2011
1 Thessalonians 5:18
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I. Times are tough.
A. At least we don't live in Greece, or Spain, or Italy...
1) These countries have grave economic problems and could
go into default on their national debt.
a) Italy has a debt-to-Gross National Product ratio of 118%.
b) Their deficit is 9.8% of the national budget.
2) But our national debt is not much better.
a) Our debt-to-GDP ratio is 98 percent.
b) And our current deficit is 36% of total spending, more
than three times worse than theirs.
c) Eleven years ago our nation had a debt of $5.7 trillion.
Today it is $14.9 trillion and going up, up, up. [1]
d) Doesn't that make your family finances sound better?
B. There have always been problems.
1) The Pilgrims had it tough, too.
In July 1620, a band of English religious separatists known
as Pilgrims left Holland and sailed to England.
Their boat was a cramped wreck of a ship named the
Speedwell.
It wasn't very speedy and it did not ride well in the open
seas.
In Plymouth, England, the Pilgrims rendezvoused with the
much larger Mayflower.
Together the two ships headed for the New World.
Shortly after sailing, the Speedwell sprang serious leaks.
Both ships limped back to Dartmouth for repairs.
At the end of August they started again.
After sailing only 300 miles, the Speedwell sprang more
leaks and both ships headed back to England a second time.
About 20 of the 120 would-be colonists gave up and headed
back to Holland or London.
Though the future looked grim, the remaining 102 Pilgrims
boarded the Mayflower again.
For the next 66 days they encountered many storms.
At one point, a main beam in the ship cracked and had to be
repaired using a large iron screw.
They barely rescued one man who was swept overboard.
They had to listen to another man die of a very painful
disease on the ship.
Finally, on November 9, 1620, they caught sight of land.
It was Cape Cod. They were in the wrong place.
They were supposed to be in Virginia.
Food and water was low, so they made do with the current
location.
They built a crude settlement and barely made it through
the next year.
But in the autumn of 1621 they gathered with about 90
Indians to give thanks to God with a feast.
2) Before the meal it is said they prayed this prayer:
"Thanks be to God
for the strength which He has given us
and the blessing He has provided
in bringing us to this hour
which is laden with possibilities for the future."
#63416
C. What is your attitude this Thanksgiving?
1) Do you focus on the problems more than the blessings?
2) Can you be thankful to God no matter what happens?
II. Thanksgiving comes in two flavors. #63175
A. You can be thankful for what you have received.
1) Life, health, home, family, freedom, a cold lemonade...
a) An attitude of active appreciation for all good gifts.
2) This kind of attitude can be very powerful.
According to Chuck Colson, a few years ago university
psychologists conducted a research project on gratitude and
thanksgiving.
They divided participants into three groups.
People in the first group were the control.
They didn't have to do anything.
At the end of the test period, they were assessed for their
attitudes and happiness.
A second group practiced daily exercises like writing in a
gratitude journal.
When good things happened to them, they were told to wrote it
down.
The third group kept a griping journal.
All the bad things that happened to them, all the frustrations
they experienced, were written down for posterity.
What were the results?
The grateful group reported higher levels of alertness,
determination, optimism and energy.
They also had less depression and stress than the control
group.
Which group was the least happy?
You guessed it - the griping group.
One of the psychologists concluded that though a practice of
gratitude is a key to most religions, its benefits extend to
the general population, regardless of faith or no faith.
He suggested that anyone can increase their sense of well-being
just from counting their blessings.
Christians can certainly agree that gratitude is a good thing,
for everyone.
But counting our blessings and conjuring an attitude of
to-whom-it-may-concern gratitude is not enough.
What do we do when cancer strikes or when loved ones die?
When we find ourselves in the midst of brokenness and real
suffering?
To survive that, gratitude has to get radical.
#63175
3) This is a secondary sort of thankfulness.
a) Early American theologian Jonathan Edwards called this
"natural gratitude."
b) There is nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't work
too well when things go badly.
c) To paraphrase Jesus, even pagans can give thanks when
things are going well.
B. There is a thankfulness that is more primary.
1) It gives thanks not for goods received, but for who God is.
a) Jonathan Edwards called this "gracious gratitude."
b) We are thankful for God's grace, for his character of
goodness, love, power and glory.
c) The favors we receive - the good stuff - don't factor
into it.
d) That is why Paul says we can give thanks in all
circumstances. 1 Thess 5:18
1> It is not that we are thrilled with the disasters.
2> It's just that the disasters don't define us.
A> God's will does.
e) Gracious gratitude is the real evidence the Holy Spirit
is working in our life.
2) Gracious gratitude is relational rather than conditional.
a) Even if our world falls apart, we are secure in God.
b) People who are filled with such radical gratitude are
unstoppable and irrepressible.
c) C.S. Lewis called it "the good infection" - the
supernatural, refreshing love of God that draws
others to him.
III. Gracious gratitude isn't always appreciated.
A. It is considered a little too sappy for our modern times.
1) Tim Tebow's unforgivable sin.
Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow has a habit of dropping to
one knee after a touchdown or field goal.
He already gets a lot of mockery because of his faith
but this habit has become a lightning rod.
Some of his opponents perform "Tebowing," dropping to
one knee in fake prayer at inappropriate moments.
Fox Sports columnist Jen Floyd Engel wrote a column
suggesting the problem is more with us than Tebow.
She says Tebow makes many people uncomfortable.
He is a reminder that the liberal-conservative fight over
taking God out of everyday life is dishonest.
Tebow is proof that God goes comfortably into whatever
arena of your life you wish to take Him.
The Broncos trounced the Jets this week, so maybe she is
on to something.
#63403
2) Where do YOU wish to take God?
a) Saying table grace in public restaurants.
b) For some, even Christians, it is a stretch to say
grace in your own home, even for Thanksgiving.
B. The public embarrassment is not the worst part.
1) It is the personal acknowledgement that we are not in
charge, God is.
a) Americans don't like that.
b) We value self-sufficiency.
1> We are proud people.
2> Those who have to acknowledge a higher power are
weak.
2) It is not wrong to admit you are weak.
Baptist leader Albert Mohler says a spirit of thanksgiving
is the best antidote to a false sense of self-sufficiency.
In giving thanks to our Creator, we admit that we cannot
take care of ourselves, protect ourselves, or even direct
our own lives in a competent manner.
Thanksgiving is the honest expression of a heart shaped by
the knowledge of who God is and what He has done for us.
In his Thanksgiving declaration of 1863, President Abraham
Lincoln said:
"It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged,
as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people."
#33919
IV. Keeping God in the picture is liberating.
A. The grim stuff ends up not so grim.
A Christian writer named Keith Manuel once had a friend
named Ricky.
Ricky told him how his father was battling cancer, and Keith
was quick to say he didn't ever want to go through that
with a family member.
But Ricky said he viewed the issue differently.
Ricky said his father's cancer was the greatest blessing
of his life.
For the first time, he and his father had man-to-man
conversations, instead of father-to-son talks.
The two spent hours during the chemotherapy, telling each
other the things that they had always wanted to tell.
Their love for each other grew deeper.
Instead of sadness, there was great joy.
A Christian can be thankful for that.
It may not be a circumstance you would choose, but you can
discover God's will in it.
#34934
B. What gritty areas do you find hard to be thankful in?
1) Our era seems a lot like the 1930's.
a) It is easy to be depressed.
2) But even in "good times" there is plenty of evidence of
the brokenness of our world.
a) There is always disease, and heartbreaks, and
unanswered prayers.
b) How can we bear up under it?
V. The key is being thankful "in Christ." 1 Thess 5:18
A. This is one of Paul's favorite phrases.
1) It means more than you probably realize.
2) To be "in Christ" means you have a real and living
relationship with him.
3) Because of your salvation, you can appreciate things from
Christ's eternal perspective.
B. Are you "in Christ"?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "Supercommittee's frightful view," by Phil Balboni. Star-Ledger
newspaper (Newark, New Jersey), November 16, 2001, page 15.
#33919 “Giving Thanks To Whom, Exactly?” by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
President Of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Baptist
Press, <http://www.baptistpress.org>, November 22, 2006. (It
first appeared in November 2004 on R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s
website at <http://www.albertmohler.com>.)
#34934 “Giving Thanks, With Cancer,” Keith Manuel, Baptist Press,
<http://www.baptistpress.org>, January 8, 2008.
#63175 “Radical Gratitude: Grateful For God In Tough Times,” by Charles
Colson, BreakPoint Commentary, June 29, 2011.
#63403 “A Football Player Is Mocked For Giving Thanks,” Illustration
Exchange, <http://www.IllustrationExchange.com>,
November 8, 2011. Original source: “Why the heck do we hate
Tim Tebow?” by Jen Floyd Engel, FoxNews.com, November 2, 2011.
#63416 “Giving Thanks In Grim Times,” by Dr. Jack R. van Ens,
<http://yourhub.denverpost.com/arvada/giving-thanks-grim-times/
JD12j3zsPUM2PjahWWfIAJ-ugc>, November 13, 2007.
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