191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

The Thanksgiving holiday gives us an opportunity to consider what giving thanks is. The first thing that might come to mind is a tradition that some people have for this holiday. It’s where each person at the table, in turn, mentions the things they are thankful for. Because of this tradition and others like it that have been attached to this holiday, some people might think that giving thanks is kind of stuffy and formal and artificially pious. Invariably, the stock answers are given, like “family” or “good health” or the memories that have been enjoyed the past year. Some people answer these questions sincerely and whole-heartedly—and God bless them. Other people find it rather burdensome to go through the whole rigmarole. It can kind of be like having to thank your grandma for the socks she gave you instead of getting the toy that you actually wanted. Here the mouth is not in agreement with the heart. The mouth is saying what is social acceptable. The heart may very well be saying the opposite. This is not giving thanks. It is just hypocrisy.

Genuine thanksgiving, rather than hypocrisy, is not burdensome and forced. It is a natural response to good things that make the heart glad. Happiness and contentment are the driving force behind it. If this mindset should be translated into words that others can hear, then that’s all well and good, but giving thanks doesn’t need to be spoken. The attitude of the heart is what is important.

We, however, aren’t really in control of our heart. Telling someone to be more thankful is like telling someone to smile more. Such demands are likely to have the opposite effect of what the words are asking for. But if the right, happy attitude is in the heart, then thanksgiving is something that is very pleasurable. It is not stuffy at all. It is jubilant and boisterous.

This kind of thanksgiving is a rare guest. With our cold hearts it often takes a surprise to squeeze it out of us. When someone does something unexpectedly, or gives us something unexpectedly, and that thing is something that we really wanted—then we can get that good feeling. It rushes upon us, but, have you noticed: it dissipates very quickly. In a matter of minutes we are basically back to our normal equilibrium.

Note, here, though, that I’m not even thinking about thanksgiving towards God, but rather thanksgiving for the stuff that has been given. Those two things are not the same thing, even though both have to do with thanksgiving. The difference is in what is being worshipped.

In order to conjure up some kind of thankfulness you will sometimes hear people say that we should count our blessings. This might produce some kind of thanksgiving, but thanksgiving to whom? It is entirely possible—in fact, it is natural for us—to take delight in counting and enjoying our wealth. Like Scrooge McDuck, we’d like to dive off a diving board into a swimming pool of our own money and swim around in it. Desperate, usually poor, people spend hundreds or thousands of their hard earned dollars on lottery tickets, hoping to have a swimming pool of money of their own. I don’t care who a person is, if money rolls in, then we can’t help but be a little happy, a little joyful, a little thankful. It’s mine! It’s all mine!

But what is being worshipped here? It isn’t the Lord God. The thing that’s worshipped is the mountain of money. Look what we have here. We are hardly able to give thanks to idols, to say nothing about God!

Our sinful hearts are dreadfully diseased. When it comes to giving thanks to the true God, it only becomes harder for us. In fact, we are so bad that genuine thanksgiving towards God can only happen by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a little thought experiment for you, that I think will prove my point to you. Think of when you are stepping away from the communion rail. The true body and very blood of God, the creator of the universe, has just been given to you as a gift. How are you feeling? Compare that feeling to the feeling you would have if a thousand dollars were slipped into your pocket. Over which would you be happier, more thankful: Communion or a thousand dollars?

This thought experiment, which I’ve taken from Martin Luther, by the way, who understood the depth of the evil in our sinful nature—this thought experiment shows that if there is to be even an ounce of proper thanksgiving towards God it is going to have to come from the Holy Spirit. We have the ability to give thanks to idols. That is when we look at that thousand dollars or whatever other stuff we have and our hearts are gladdened. We are capable of that, but even here, strangely, our hearts are quite cold. But when it comes to thanksgiving to God himself—that requires a miracle. It requires us to be converted from believing that our blessing is found in our wealth to believing that our blessing comes only from God. The eyes must be raised above the stuff to God as our only hope.

This is a struggle. The Bible has many examples of God’s people losing heart when their wealth or other resources are taken away. The good things that they can see are gone. The good One, who is not seen, is still there, but they’d rather have the stuff that God gives rather than God himself. The forty years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land was a veritable pressure cooker of tribulation. They were always lacking. They didn’t have food one moment; another, they didn’t have water. Now they are without strength; then, they have powerful enemies bearing down on them.

Without faith, the only possible reaction that anybody could have in such desperate situations is that they were in a bad spot—that it stunk to be them. And that is how they so often felt too. Their unbelieving flesh caused them to hate Moses who spoke God’s Word to them and they wanted to go back to Egypt. The promises that God had given them of their own land, but more importantly, the special relationship of them being his nation and he being their God was worthless in their eyes. They wanted cucumbers and garlic and leeks instead. They wanted to count their blessings. As they were, stuck in the wilderness, they didn’t think they had very many blessings to count.

But that is a delusion that the god of this world, the devil, is always trying to foist upon us. Instead of being thankful, he wants everyone to be envious. Instead of people sighing to God, he wants them grumbling. With our envy and greed we become blind to the daily bread God gives day in and day out. Daily bread is more than just food. It is also our 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. Our souls have been so terribly poisoned by the fall into sin. This is perhaps nowhere as pronounced as in the way that we are blind to God’s generosity and do not give him thanks. The only thing we are capable of by nature is a half-hearted thanks to idols when our envy has been satisfied by getting more stuff. Soon, we turn envious towards something else. We are never satisfied for long. Those who become rich only want to become richer still.

This poor, miserable condition of ours should cause us to turn away from any hope in ourselves, lift our eyes to God, and ask him to open our eyes and open our mouths, so that they may show forth his praise. It is not possible for our old selves to praise God. A new heart is required. But that is what God gives us when he creates faith in his Gospel. No amount of hounding and demanding can ever make anybody thankful towards God. And so, instead of beating a dead horse, God steps towards us with even more goodness than he already supplies with our daily bread. He tells us that he has reconciled us to himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. We are his people now. He is our God. Come what may, God will bring us to the promised land.

Like the Israelites of old, we will continue to have to be urged to lift up our eyes beyond what we have or don’t have to the God who determines everything. We still have our flesh. Our flesh would rather sing praises about cucumbers, garlic, and leeks than to sing praises to the true God. But that is foolish. We can see that better than the Israelites could at the time, because we have a better perspective. We know that God brought the Israelites into the land that he promised them when the time was right. In the midst of their tribulations, however, it was difficult for the Israelites to see that.

The same thing is true for us. Perhaps not everything is perfect this Thanksgiving. Perhaps your hearts are weighed down with worries or sorrows. Does that mean that you can’t give thanks? No. Put your trust in God. St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. We just don’t have the proper perspective yet to see where we are, and that the promised land is just around the corner for us. From the perspective of heaven, we would see that these difficulties that God gives us are just part of the story of his salvation. Our thanksgiving is not dependent upon our comfort or discomfort, our wealth or poverty, our sickness or health, or any other earthly thing that can be here today and gone tomorrow. Our thanksgiving is dependent upon our God whose promises never fail. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. The Lord is good, and his steadfast love endures forever.

So here’s a thought that I’d like you to take with you into the observance of this holiday: It is possible to give thanks to the gifts rather than to the Giver. It is possible to count your blessings, but still have a heart that is a million miles away from God because the stuff you are counting is regarded as the source of your blessing rather than God. Not only is this possible, but it is likely, because of the way that we are. Don’t give thanks to stuff. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord. Lift them up. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is meet and right so to do. God is no stranger to you. He has come to you, baptized you, made you his own. Your future is not tied up with whatever stuff you have or don’t have, but with this God who has chosen you. When you are aware of that, then you can give thanks in sunshine and rain, in good times and bad, in life and in death. The time is coming and is now here when the renewal of our sinful hearts will be complete. Then we will know the splendor of giving thanks to God with our whole heart. Our sinful flesh won’t be able to get in the way anymore.