Sermon manuscript:
The steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is
your faithfulness.
Our country has been celebrating the National Day of
Thanksgiving since 1863. In October of 1863 President Lincoln called upon the
nation to consider its good fortune. It had been blessed with bountiful harvests,
with healthful skies, with productive mines. The president declared that these
things came from a generous God. He acknowledged that there were troubles too.
The country had been in the civil war for about a year and a half. But,
President Lincoln said, things could be worse. Thus he set aside the last
Thursday in November as the National Day of Thanksgiving.
For our observance of Thanksgiving Day we could do something
similar to what President Lincoln did in his Thanksgiving proclamation. We
could consider how things have been with us. God has given us a bountiful
harvest. This is true nationally as well as locally. President Lincoln spoke of
healthful skies. We, too, have had good weather. The mines are still being
mined. Our grocery stores are all fully stocked. We’ve had our problems just
like President Lincoln had his problems, but things could be worse.
It is good for us to try to see what is good in life and to
give thanks to God for that goodness. The inability to see what is good and our
coldness towards God are from our fall into sin. Before the fall into sin Adam
and Eve had a free and easy relationship with God. After they fell into sin
they were afraid of God. They were suspicious of what he might do to them.
We are like them. We’ve lost the ability to see what is good.
Unfortunately, we very often don’t see how good something is until it’s gone.
We don’t see how good health is until we are sick. Since we don’t see how good
it is, we don’t thank God for it like we should. We haven’t had a famine for well
over a hundred years. This has made many people believe that famines, food
shortages, hunger—these are all things of the past. We do not see how
extraordinary the abundance we enjoy is. We don’t give thanks to God for it.
And these are just the most intimate of our needs—our
health, our food and drink. There are so many other good things that God heaps
up on us day in and day out. He makes the sun shine. He makes the rain fall. He
gives us the precious gifts of the members of our family. He gives us our
community. He gives us the opportunity to serve with good and honest work. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.
But maybe as I mentioned just those few blessings that God
gives you’ve wanted to raise some objections. The weather’s kind of cold. I
hear it’s only going to get colder. The precious gifts of the members of your
family? They’re not always easy to live with. The community? It’s not like it
was years ago. Good and honest work? Maybe you don’t like your work. Maybe you
don’t like your coworkers.
But let me remind you of what I just spoke about. It is
natural for us fallen sinners to be blind to what is good. It is always easier
for us to be dissatisfied with what we have and to want something better. Thus
we do not give thanks. Not only is this what comes naturally to us, but the
devil and his demons want to spur on these thoughts and attitudes as well.
These enemies of God don’t want us to be thankful.
The devil would like it best if none of us would receive our
daily bread at all. But, barring that, since God is the way that he is, and he
gives his daily bread to everyone, the devil would then like it if we would not
be content with what we are given or to give God thanks and praise. Instead of
being content, he wants us always to be on the lookout for something better—maybe
that something that somebody else is enjoying. If only I had what they have,
then I would be happy.
This is called coveting. The ninth and tenth commandments
say, “You shall not covet.” God gives us these
commandments for our good, and we truly would be better off if we never coveted,
but coveting comes naturally to us. Coveting is also a very powerful spiritual
problem, and so the devil wants us to covet. The first step to coveting is to
be dissatisfied with what God has given to you. This dissatisfaction can be
about all kinds of different things: Your spouse isn’t good enough. Your
parents aren’t good enough. Your job isn’t good enough. Your friends aren’t
good enough. Your personality isn’t good enough. Your body isn’t good enough.
There are two things I’d like to point out about this
poisonous spiritual fog the devil is always wafting our way. First of all, it
is useful to understand that these things could be true—at least certainly
theoretically. Could you have a better body? Yep. We all even know how we could
do it too. Could your job be better? Theoretically. If we are considering
dreams and ideals, then I suppose anything is possible.
In fact, this is just the reverse of something I’ve already
said a few times tonight: “Things could always be worse.” Conversely, things
could always be better. Both statements are truisms. Things could always be
worse. Things could always, at least theoretically, be better. So that’s the
first thing—there’s truth, theoretically at least, mixed in with the
dissatisfaction and covetousness.
The second thing I’d like to point out is that this evil
spiritual fog makes people miserable. Thinking about how you don’t measure up
with various aspects of your life is practically guaranteed to make anybody who
does it sad. This, of course, is what the devil would like for all of us. The
devil likes it when others are made sad. He’d like it if we would all be sad
and miserable eternally.
So the devil will waft his nasty, poisonous fog towards us
to destroy any contentment and thanksgiving towards God that we might otherwise
have. The devil would like nothing better than for all of us to hate everything
we have in our life, and then for us to be angry at God for making our lives so
miserable. But truly it is not God who has made our lives so miserable. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Great is his
faithfulness. It is not God who makes us so miserable. It is the devil.
The way he does it not even so much by depriving us of what we need for this
body and life. Instead he bewitches us so that we are dissatisfied, covetous,
and thankless.
Shame on the devil for bewitching us so thoroughly. What dreadful
misery he manages to inflict upon us. But the good news is that you can fight
back. Not only can you fight back, but the real truth is on our side. That’s
how it always is with the devil. The truth is actually against him. He has been
defeated. It is only by lies that he holds on to any power.
So when the devil cooks up a lie that you should be
miserable and ashamed at how bad things are for you, know that he’s wrong. The
truth that the devil will probably try to use is that things could always be
better. But the real truth is that things are already good now. We don’t need
any potentialities or idealism. Things are already good.
To say that, however, requires faith. We must believe that amid
all the things that can happen and do happen in this life that Jesus is Lord
and God. He reigns at the right hand of God the Father almighty. He has
redeemed us poor, fallen, covetous sinners. He sends his Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of truth and gladness, to fight against all lying, evil, and sad spirits.
Things are already good now and the truth is that the future
is as bright and cheerful as we could ever hope for so long as we remain
faithful to Jesus. What we know about the future is that there is nothing that
is currently wrong that Jesus will not set right. There is nothing
dissatisfactory about us or in us that will not be healed and perfected. Perhaps
God will do this to some extent for his children already in this life, but even
if he doesn’t, do not be afraid. He will surely do it when we are resurrected.
Now somebody might object: What about all those things that
I still don’t like about my life? I want those changed now. My spouse, my job,
my health, my wealth, my body—these haven’t suddenly changed in these last few
moments have they? I want my best life now!
This brings to mind the kinds of things that the devil said
to Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. He said, “If you are the Son of God, then change these stones into
bread. Why be hungry? Fix it now.” Or, he said, “Bow down and worship me and all these kingdoms will be yours. Why
go through that cross and trouble?” The devil, it seems, is a fan of the quick
fix. Don’t put up with anything. Get it changed right now.
But supposing, even, that the goods could always be delivered—supposing
that all your wants could be satisfied—what would that ultimately profit you?
Jesus once asked, “What would it profit a man to gain
the whole world, but to lose his soul?” The reason why even gaining the
whole world would not ultimately profit us is because we were made in the image
of God. We were made for fellowship with God. Not even all the world’s goods
and accomplishments can satisfy what can only be satisfied with a relationship
with God.
So do not throw away the goodness of God that is renewed for
you every morning by being dissatisfied, by chasing after some ideal. Be
thankful instead. What is now, what is present, is good. And even if there is
something that isn’t good, it is without doubt passing away. That is what is so
marvelous about what Jesus has accomplished for us. Anything that is evil,
unfit, unworthy, sad, what-have-you, will not go on forever. It cannot go on
forever. After the cross is the resurrection.
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