Giving Thanks

(from a Family talk of the same name by Rev. Ethan McCardell)

We’re all here together today to celebrate.  When we celebrate something, its like having a party.  In ancient times, people had parties with music and singing.  When David came back from fighting Goliath, the people celebrated, and the Scripture says there was music and singing.  In the story of the prodigal son, when the son returned, his father threw a party, with lots of food, and music.

We sort of have a party on Thanksgiving, too, don’t we?  We get together as a family and we eat and we tell stories, and we have a good time together.  Why do we do that?  Well, the whole point of Thanksgiving as a holiday, is its supposed to be a time when we “remember” the Lord, and all that He has done to care for us, and protect us, and lead us to heaven.  And one of the ways we do that is to get together with our families and remember as a family all the good things the Lord has done in our life.  So, we’re here today because we want our God to know we love Him too, and thank Him for His love.

And how best do we thank Him?  We love other people as He has loved us.  We help other people, because when we do that, we are really loving the Lord.  Did you know that?  So every time you do something kind, every time you show love to somebody else, you’re experiencing something of what heaven’s like.  In fact, you brought all your food and fruit offerings up here, because when you offer to the Lord like that you aren’t just showing love for Him, but for other people too.  Everything that’s up here today will go to people who need food to eat because they can’t get it for themselves.  That’s showing love to others like He has loved you.

There are the two things the Lord cares most about in our lives.  That we are willing to listen to Him with our ears and follow Him in our hearts.  We can’t love the Lord, we can’t do good things for Him and for others if we don’t know how.  In order to learn how to ride a bike, we all had to learn how.  Most of us probably learned from our carers.  But if we hadn’t stopped and listened, and done what they told us, we probably wouldn’t be very good riders.  Would we?  We’d fall down a lot.  So the Lord needs us to listen to His Word because He knows that’s what will lead us to useful and happy lives.

But sometimes that’s hard to do, isn’t it?  We don’t always want to listen, do we?  Sometimes we think we know better.  When you were little, and mom told you not to touch the stove, or not to put things in the electrical outlet, or not to be mean to or hurt a little brother or sister, would you do it?  If you were listening, you would.  Because you’d know that the reason she asked you not to do that was you’d get hurt.

Sometimes though, we don’t listen, and we get hurt.  Did you know that every time the Children of Israel didn’t listen and obey the Lord, the got hurt?  Every time they were selfish, or weren’t following what the Lord said, they got hurt.  They had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, lose battle after battle with their enemies,

turn to kings instead of the prophets who didn’t always lead them the right way – all because they didn’t listen and follow the Lord.

In the New Testament, the Lord during His life on earth went through the same thing.  Jesus would say, “happy are those who hear the Word of God and do it” – and the scribes and Pharisees would try to convince people that He was wrong.  But it didn’t work.  Over time, people DID begin to listen to the Lord again, and it DID begin to change their lives.  In fact, the more they listened, the better their world got.

Today, the Lord has come to us in the Word to tell us that the way to the kingdom of heaven isn’t through the things that the world offers.  Things that the world tells us will make us happy.  But it’s through loving and obeying Him, and honoring the spiritual goals He has in store for our lives.  In the passage we read from Divine Providence today it said “the purpose of creation was a heaven from the human race.”  WE WERE CREATED FOR HEAVEN.  You and I were made to go to heaven.  That’s what God wants for all of us.

But we have to believe it, and we have to live it in order for it to become a reality.  So as we leave today, let’s celebrate, let’s have a party and remember what a more heavenly life could look like.  That its real.  And that the Lord Jesus Christ, the one God of heaven and earth, love and life itself is offering it to us, if only we are willing to accept His offer in our hearts.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.  In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also.  The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.  (Psalm 95:2-6)

AMEN.