The Best Reason to Give Thanks

Two attitudes toward thanksgiving:

· Blessings are seen as coming from us, not God.

Bart Simpson's Thanksgiving prayer: “Dear God, we paid for this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.”

Prayer by the character Charlie Anderson (Jimmy Stewart) in the movie Shenandoah: “Lord, we cleared this land by the sweat of our brow. We tilled and prepared the land. We planted and weeded and harvested by our own hard work. We have taken no charity from anyone, and if we hadn’t done it ourselves it wouldn’t have been done…but we are thankful to you anyway, Lord. Amen.”

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord you God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” (James 1:17).

Governor William Bradford of Massachusetts is believed to have made the first Thanksgiving proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:

"Inasmuch as the Great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at yet meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of nine and twelve in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty-Three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."

Those early Pilgrims recognized that the blessings they experienced came from God.

· Material blessings are valued more than spiritual blessings.

People make Christmas lists, but we should also make Thanksgiving lists—a list of things we are thankful for. When people are asked on Thanksgiving what they are thankful for, the most common answers are their family, their home, their job, health, etc. That list is good, but it’s incomplete. We who are Christians should also thank God for all of the spiritual blessings we have because of Christ.

What is the best reason to give thanks?

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34).

In the original Hebrew, there is no word for “endures.” It has been added by the translators. The Hebrew really reads, “His love forever.”

The Big Idea: Give thanks because God’s love for us is eternal. It didn’t have a beginning and it will not have an end.

1. God’s Love in the Past

“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:22-24).

The crucifixion was planned before the creation of the world.

The entrance of sin into the world through Adam and Eve was not an event that somehow caught God by surprise. It didn’t cause God to begin to ponder what He should do to correct it. God knew everything from the beginning. So before He even set the universe in motion, He determined to send Jesus Christ to die for the salvation of our race.

2. God’s Love in the Present

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Eternal life is given to whoever will receive it.

Eternal life can be offered to us because of the death of Jesus Christ.

· Jesus is the “only begotten” (KJV) Son.

In the fourth century, a misunderstanding of “only begotten” caused a disagreement in the church called the Arian Controversy. It began with a man named Arius, who reasoned, “If the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not.”

Actually, the primary meaning of the Greek word for “only begotten” is one of a kind or unique. That’s why the NIV translates it “one and only.”

· Jesus is God incarnate.

He is God in human flesh. Remember that the Father and Son are one God. When God gave us Jesus, He gave us Himself.

There was once a minister who was talking to a married couple who were having marital difficulties. At one point the husband spoke us in obvious exasperation. “I’ve given you everything,” he said to the wife. “I’ve given you a new home. I’ve given you a new wardrobe. I’ve given you a new car. I’ve given you…” The list went on. But when he had ended the wife said quietly, “That much is true, John. You have given me everything…but yourself.”

God gave us the greatest gift. He gave us Himself.

3. God’s Love in the Future

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Revelation 21:3-4).

The presence of God will be enjoyed by all of His people.

Some people don’t like the NIV’s translation of John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (not “mansions” as in the KJV). But what’s more important: what kind of house it will be or who (God) will be in that house with us. I’d rather live in a shack with God than a mansion by myself.

In Luke 17 we read that Jesus once healed ten lepers. Of the ten, only one returned to thank Him. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (vv. 17-18).

Jesus was displeased that the other nine didn’t return to thank Him. God wants us to give Him thanks.

How can we do that? Here are a few ideas:

· As you admire nature (the colorful fall leaves), remind yourself that the One who created the earth is the One who loves you.
· If you are asked this weekend what you are thankful for, say a spiritual blessing.
· The next time you are about to complain about something, think instead of God’s blessings in your life.
· Make a Thanksgiving list.
· Make every day a thanksgiving day.

My Thanksgiving List

Many of us make Christmas lists every December (or earlier). This past Sunday I suggested to my congregation that we also make a Thanksgiving list--a list of the things that we are thankful to God for. So here's my Thanksgiving list:

10. I am thankful that the Red Sox finally won the World Series.
9. I am thankful for the time and place (Canada) in which I live.
8. I am thankful for not being in want of anything I really need.
7. I am thankful for good health.
6. I am thankful for my church.
5. I am thankful for my two sons.
4. I am thankful for my wife who loves me in spite of my faults.
3. I am thankful for the gift of God's Word, the Bible.
2. I am thankful for the hope I have because of Jesus Christ.
1. I am thankful that God loves me.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever" (1 Chronicles 16:34).

Books Used for 1 Peter Sermons

I thought I should credit the authors of the books I have been using in my preparation for my sermons on 1 Peter (Life.101).

Peter H. Davids
“1 Peter” in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 4

Peter H. Davids
The First Epistle of Peter
The New International Commentary on the New Testament

Wayne Grudem
1 Peter
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

Karen H. Jobes
1 Peter
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Scot McKnight
1 Peter
The NIV Application Commentary

Life.101 (Part 3)

A Life of Love
1 Peter 1:22-3:3

There are two commands in this passage:
(1) “Love one another deeply, from the heart” (v. 22).
(2) “Crave pure spiritual milk” (v. 2).

1. We should love one another because we are a family.

We tend to think of our new birth (being “born again,” v. 23) as an individual matter. But we should view it as something that places us in a new family with a new Father and new brothers and sisters.

a. We are to sincerely love our spiritual brothers and sisters.

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers…” (v. 22a).

b. We should strive for a deeper kind of love.

“…love one another deeply, from the heart” (v. 22b).

c. We will be a family forever because our “birth” was produced by the “imperishable” Word of God.

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (v. 23).

In the beginning, God generated life through His word (Genesis 1; John 1:3). Now He regenerates through His word.

Our earthly families are temporary because they are produced by “perishable seed.” But our spiritual family is eternal because it is produced by the “imperishable” word of God.

French writer and philosopher Voltaire once said, “Another century and there will be not a Bible on the earth.” The century is gone, and the Bible continues to be the world’s best-selling book. On December 24, 1933, the British government bought Codex Sinaiticus (an early manuscript of the Bible) from the Russians for half a million dollars. On that same day, a first edition of Voltaire’s work sold for eleven cents in Paris bookshops.

“For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the stands forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you” (vv. 24-25).

2. Our love will grow when we crave the right kind of spiritual food.

a. We must get rid of junk food.

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (v. 1).

(1) “Malice”
(2) “Deceit”
(3) “Hypocrisy”
(4) “Envy”
(5) “Slander”

These are sins that destroy Christian fellowship. They show us what love is not. They harm instead of help. Sadly, these sins are often tolerated by the modern church. (We are quick to condemn sexual sins but often willing to tolerate relational sins.)

b. We must crave good food.

“Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk…” (v. 2a).

(1) Our “spiritual milk” is the word of God.

Although elsewhere in the NT milk is used as a metaphor for teachings suitable for immature or worldly Christians (Hebrews 5:12; 1 Corinthians 3:1), such a negative connotation is not found here. Rather, Peter sees milk as that which all Christians need in order to nurture their spiritual life in Christ.

The translation “the sincere milk of the word” (KJV) does not seem to be supported by known uses of the Greek word logikos, and is apparently based on a mistaken assumption of similarity in sense to the related word logos, “word.” The only other use of this word in the NT is found in Romans 12:1—“spiritual” (NIV), “reasonable” (KJV).

As both seed and milk, God’s word initiates and sustains new life in Christ

(2) Our craving should be to know and obey it.

(3) Our craving for God’s Word should be like the craving of a newborn baby for milk.

(4) Our spiritual growth depends on our craving of God’s Word.

“…so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (v. 2b).

Good food promotes healthy growth. Spiritual growth is really increasing in love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love…” (Galatians 5:22).

Once a baby has tasted that the milk is good, he/she will continue to crave for it. In the pages of Scripture we “taste” or experience what the Lord is like. As we discover that the Lord is “good” (kind, gracious), we crave to know more of His will for our lives. And His will is basically: “Love Me with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” Knowing and obeying God’s Word will result in deep love for my brothers and sisters in Christ.

A few years ago, there was an advertising slogan for milk that said, “Milk: It does a body good.” We could say, “Milk (God’s Word) does the body (the church) good.”

OTHER SERMONS ON THIS TEXT

Cultivating a Hunger for God’s Word – John MacArthur
The New Nature – Charles Spurgeon
The Withering Work of the Spirit – Charles Spurgeon
Love One Another Deeply – Ray Pritchard
Got Milk? – Ray Pritchard
The Seed of the Word and the Fruit of Love – John Piper
Long for the Pure Milk of the Word – John Piper