Psalm
100: 1-5 November 22,
2009
Thanksgiving
Sunday
Our scripture today is Psalm 100… & as
you’re finding that in your Bible’s let me say;
I’m
thankful for the opportunity to be your pastor.
I don’t know if I’ve told you that lately… But I am thankful for this church and I am
thankful for each of you… I want you to
know that I am blessed to be a part of this church and I give God the thanks
for it!
If you’ve found
our scripture, let us share the word of God that has been written for the
Family of Faith gathered here this morning…
(READ SCRIPTURE)
Let us pray…
As we look into
our scripture today, the 100th Psalm tells us what God expects from
His people…
Vs. 1 says to “Shout
for joy to the Lord…” That means
from the depth of your being you proclaim your praise… Just knowing how much God loves & cares
for us should be enough reason for us to “shout for joy…”
The psalmist is
saying that once we realize that God is good, we can’t keep it inside of us… and from the depths
of our beings, we should shout with joy to the Lord, for all to hear the good
news of Christ…
Vs. 2 calls us to
“worship the Lord with gladness…”
To worship is to serve… It
doesn’t say to serve the church… It
doesn’t say to serve the preacher… It
doesn’t say to serve our leaders… It
says to serve (who?) the Lord…
Today, I believe
that we have served the Lord… We have
come with hearts of thanksgiving, we have sang songs
of praise, we have lifted up God’s name in adoration & prayer, we have
shared God’s Holy Word… This is how we
serve & worship the Lord of Lords…
I have a
conviction to share with you… I’m
convicted to say that I believe this is kind of what heaven is going to be
like… If you’ll look around you, I think
you’re looking at a little bit of heaven today…
God calls us to worship Him with gladness, and I believe that’s what
we’re doing today…
The 3rd
command is to “Come into His presence with singing…” I’m thankful for verse one that calls us “to
make a joyful noise unto the Lord…”
That’s about all I can do – I don’t think my joyful noise classifies as
signing… Not all of us can sing but we
can all make a joyful noise unto the Lord…
But notice this,
in these first 3 commands, God is saying, “I want you to be happy…” Shout with joy, serve with gladness, &
come with joyful songs…
You can’t do
these things unless you are happy… Some
of us sing the song, “O How I Love Jesus…” with a frown on our face – We sing –
Oh, how I love Jesus like the worlds coming to an end… No!
God calls us to shout with joy & to sing joyfully… When we become thankful to who
we’re singing to, we will sing with joy…
And in verse 4,
the psalmist reminds us of who we are & whose we are… The command is “Know that the Lord is
God. It is He that made us, and we are
His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture…”
God is
our maker, & we are created in His image…
Therefore, give Him thanks for who you are… God made us & He me made us all a little
unique… Look around you – there are some
unique looking people here today… Be
thankful that God has made you the way you are – because He made you for a
divine purpose…
Then He says, “We
are His people, the sheep of His pasture…” Now most of want to be the shepherd… We don’t like being sheep… We think we’re smart enough to lead
ourselves… We don’t need a shepherd to
lead us…
But friends, we
don’t know where the still waters & the green pastures are… God is saying, “you
be the sheep, let me be the shepherd & I will lead you beside the still
waters & the green pastures…”
And the 5th
command is this – He calls us to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
& His courts with praise; give thanks to Him & praise His name. For the Lord is good &
His love endures forever. His
faithfulness continues through all generations…”
This is
what God expects from His children … He expects us to come before Him &
say, “thank you Lord…” He calls us to
enter His gates with thanksgiving – His courts with praise - & give Him
thanks – for He is good & His love endures forever – and He continues to be
faithful, even when we aren’t… What an
awesome God we serve…
Let me say that I
believe we are a people & a nation that has truly been blessed by God… God has been so good to us… His face has shown upon us… His grace & mercy has overshadowed
us… And, of all the people who give
thanks unto God, we should be on top of the list… But are we?
We are a blessed nation, but are we a thankful nation?
I was talking to
some of the children at church and they told me that they’re already working on
their Christmas list… You know, it’s not
uncommon to make a wish list for Christmas & some of us make up a list of
resolutions for New Years… But there’s
another list I think we would do well to remember… It’s our Thanksgiving list… The list of things that we are so thankful
for…
Well, sometimes
we forget about our Thanksgiving list, don’t we? And perhaps, it’s the most important list we
could make…
Friends, I don’t
have to stand here today & tell you how good God is, because we all know
first hand, from our personal relationship with the Lord, just how good God
is… (But I’m going to tell you
anyway…) Friends, God is Good… God is real
good…
Thanksgiving is a
distinctive holiday… Thursday, our
nation will pause to give thanks… It’s
not a day about a battle, or anyone’s birthday, or anniversary… It’s simply a day set aside to express our
gratitude to God for all those good & perfect gifts He has given us…
It’s a day in
which we should give thanks, but I’m afraid there are millions of people who
will miss this opportunity…
they won’t stop to give thanks – because they’re missing
something…
Jesus spoke of
this some 2000 years ago as recorded in Revelation 3: 17… It says, “For you say, I am rich, I
have prospered, and I need nothing. You
do not realize that you are wretched, and miserable, poor, blind and
naked… Therefore, I counsel you to buy
from me the gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to
clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and the
salve to anoint your eyes that you may see…”
Here
Jesus is talking to people who have been so richly blessed by God… These people had money… they had good health & clothes,
and many other things they could be thankful for, but they were missing one
thing – Jesus… Without Him, they were
poor… Without Him, they were blind… Without Him, they were naked & lost…
Isn’t that
amazing… these
people had so much, yet they had nothing…
Let me give you a
lesson in math…
Zero + something
= nothing…
Zero + Jesus = everything…
You see, you can
possess all this world has to afford… but without Jesus – you have gained
nothing…
You see, we can’t
truly give thanks to God until we have received His most precious gift, His son
Jesus… For without Jesus, we have nothing
to be thankful for… And with Jesus, we
have everything to be thankful for…
I think the 100th
Psalm was written to remind us of our need to be thankful… It was originally written for the people of
Israel… as they
made their new life in the land flowing with milk & honey, as they became
comfortable in the promised land… so they wouldn’t forget God…
They needed a
reminder & I’m afraid we need a reminder also… Perhaps this Psalm was written with us in
mind also… for
the first verse is addressed to “all the earth…” & the last verse says that it includes “all
generations…”
For a
Thanksgiving assignment, a school teacher asked her 1st graders to
draw something they were thankful for…
As she collected the drawings, she noticed one little girl’s paper was
blank… She asked the little girl why she
didn’t draw a picture & she replied, “I wanted to draw a picture of God,
but He was too BIG to fit on the page…”
The message of
thanksgiving is so deep & wide (it’s so BIG) that it applies to every person
in every stage of life…
Thanksgiving is
so important… We need the reminder… We need to pause every now & then to
recognize where all the things that we enjoy so much come from… It all comes from God… He is the giver of all good & perfect
gifts…
A little boy was
asked to say grace at the table… While
the rest of the family bowed their heads & closed their eyes, the little
boy eyed all the food that had been prepared & placed on the table…
Finally, he bowed
his head and honestly prayed, he said, “Lord, I don’t like the looks of it, but
I’ll still give you thanks for it…”
The Bible says, “the little children will lead them…”
James 1: 17 tells
us that “Every good & perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father…”
Sometimes, we forget,
don’t we? We often think that we are
responsible for all the things we have… But the truth of the matter is “We
have, only because God gives it to us…”
Alex Haley, the
author of “Roots” had an unusual picture hanging in his office… It was a picture of a turtle on top of a
fence post… Whenever Haley would start
feeling too proud of himself, he would look at the
turtle on top of the fence post & remember that it didn’t get there on its
own… It had a little help…
That’s the basis
of thankfulness – to remind ourselves that we didn’t get to where we are by
ourselves… we
too had a little help… God is our
provider – He is the One that helps us along the way…
When we think
about Thanksgiving, what comes to your mind?
Is it the table full of food?
Most of us can’t wait to go from “gobbler to cobbler…” If we’re lucky, we’ll get a little bit of it
all on Thanksgiving…
But let me remind
you… That’s not the way it was during
the first Thanksgivings… Even with an
abundance of food, the Pilgrims started a tradition that is quite the
opposite of what we do today…
The early
Thanksgivings were spent NOT with plates full of food, but rather, they would
place just five kernels of corn on their plates as a reminder of all the
blessings that God had given them & to remind them just how far they had
come…
Friends, we’ve
come a long way… When we came into this
world, all we had was the eternal soul that God gives us… Everything we have accumulated, all that we
have, are the good & perfect gifts which God has given to us… And we should
be thankful…
This Thursday,
millions of families will gather around their tables… and I suspect the day will very
traditional…
There will be
more food than any of us can eat (although we will try our best)… The ladies of
the house would have spent all morning preparing the meal… the family will gather & sit & watch
a ballgame & carryon some small talk…
and when its time, we will all take our seats around the table… someone will give the blessing… and then God will perform a little
miracle… He will turn us all into pigs
as we gorge ourselves on the food…
But the point is
this; how many of us will actually spend the day giving thanks to God?
You know, an
evergreen tree is always green despite the changes in the weather… It’s green in the heat of the summer as well
as the cold of winter… That’s the way
our lives should be when it comes to giving thanks to God… regardless of the changes around us –
regardless of our conditions, we should always be thankful…
Friends, it’s
time we count our blessing & give thanks to God, the giver of all good
& perfect gifts…
A housewife as
she worked around her house, began to think about her
blessings… Listen to her thoughts: “Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes,
it means we have food to eat… thank you
for the pile of dirty laundry, it means we have clothes to wear… & thank you for these unmade beds, it
means that we have a place to rest our bodies…
God has promised
that He will take care of His children – He promises to meet our needs – As I
look around today, you all look pretty well feed – you’re wearing nice clothes
- & I noticed some really nice cars in the parking lot – I think God is
taking pretty good care of us, isn’t He…
He has kept His promise - & now it’s up to us… Don’t you think we should thank Him?
Matthew Henry, a
famous Bible scholar, was once approached by thieves who stole his wallet… He wrote these words in his diary…
“Let me be
thankful first because I was never robbed before… second, although they took my wallet,
they did not take my life… third,
because although they took my all, it was not much… and fourth, because it was
I who was robbed, & not I who robbed another…
Today, my prayer
is that we as the family of faith, may realize just
how blessed we are… And having so freely
received from the hands of God…
May each of us
make a joyful noise unto the Lord… Let us worship Him with gladness… Let us enter His gates with Thanksgiving
& His courts with praise…
For
God is good all the time… and all the time, God is good…
May you &
your family have a thankful thanksgiving…
Rev. Mike DuBose,
Pastor
Newhebron United
Methodist Church
Newhebron,
MS