Thanksgiving

“Let us give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

The Importance of Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving festival took place in America at Plymouth on December 13, 14, and 15 in 1621. One hundred and two Pilgrims had arrived on December 11, 1620 from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower, seeking religious and civil liberty. By the spring of 1621, half of them died. The rest persevered in prayer and worked hard, and God gave them a bountiful harvest. So with their Indian friends, these Pilgrims thanked God by holding a Thanksgiving festival that lasted three days.

When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of my mother, who always thanked God in every situation by saying, “Stothrum, stothrum, stothrum,” which means “Praise the Lord” in the Malayalam language of Kerala, India. Even now, she is joining with us, praising the Lord in heaven.

The acronym ACTS stands for the various elements of Christian prayer: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Prayer without thanksgiving is not a complete prayer to our triune God. It is a demand note presented to the Lord of the universe.

God does not thank anyone, but we his creatures and the redeemed of the Lord thank him for everything. Jesus taught about this in Luke 17:9: “Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”

Thanksgiving is taught throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, the thank offering is the most frequently mentioned type of offering. Yet many people do not thank God or others. I recently sent a check to help someone. I never heard from the person, so I inquired to see whether the check was cashed, and it was. But I never received a thank-you note. Most people do not thank God for the favors we receive from him. Let us resolve this day to thank God and those who graciously help us.

We Thank God for All Things

All people, believers and pagans, are to thank God. First, we are to thank God for our very being, because being is better than non-being. We are also to thank God for common grace. Paul declared to the people of Lystra, “He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17). We all must thank the true and triune God for life, parents, food, clothing, health, and protection. We must thank him for answered prayer and for God-ordained sufferings that work for our good. We must thank God for our spouses, children, church, jobs, country, and above all, for the grace of God that brings salvation in Jesus Christ and the knowledge of our election.

People Do Not Thank God

Though all people ought to thank God, non-Christians do not thank him. Some thank their idols, but most thank only themselves. When things go well, they give themselves credit. When things go wrong, they curse Jesus Christ. The devil also curses God, as do backslidden Christians. They major in murmuring, as Israel did in the wilderness: “So the people grumbled against Moses. . . . In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses. . . . For the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses” (Ex. 15:24; 16:2; 17:3).

Whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, socially powerful or not-pagans do not thank God. They know God, for God has given them knowledge of him. But, as Paul says, “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him at God nor gave thanks to him. But their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). Their destination is hell, a place of weeping, gnashing of teeth, and great cursing of God.

Some Christians are also unthankful because they do not like the way God is preserving and governing his creatures. So they murmur, argue, and complain against God and others.

Self-sufficient Pharisees also do not thank God, primarily because they think they need no Savior. Listen to the words of a Pharisee: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get” (Luke 18:11-12). He was saying, “I thank you because I don’t need your help. I am my own righteousness and savior.”

Nine lepers who were healed did not see any need to return to Jesus to thank him. They saw the Samaritan returning to thank Jesus, who healed them. But the nine Jewish lepers refused to return to give thanks because they thought they deserved to be healed. Jesus rebuked them for not returning and thanking him. Of the ten, the only one who returned to thank Jesus was a foreigner. Likewise, it was a Syrian leper, Naaman, who returned to thank God and Elisha his prophet.

Such unthankfulness is also true of many Christians. They receive daily favors from God, but they, like the nine lepers, refuse to thank God. They maintain that they deserve to be taken care of. They also do not thank their parents or pastors.

Blessed Are Those Who Give Thanks

What a blessing these unthankful ones were missing! Look at what happened to the Samaritan leper who returned to thank Jesus when he knew he was cleansed of his leprosy. He was filled with thanksgiving. And in the Greek text, it says he was continuously praising God with a mega-voice. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Praise God, I am healed! Praise God, I can now go back home! I am no longer an outcast. Now I know this Jesus is not just a prophet, a teacher, or a healer. Jesus cleansed my leprosy. He is God himself!”

This leper realized Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, promised in the Old Testament, as Jesus himself told the messengers of John the Baptist. “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Luke 7:22).

This Samaritan fell before Jesus at his feet and continued to thank him: “Thank you, Jesus, oh, thank you, for cleansing me, a Samaritan leper, who did not deserve anything.”

Jesus appreciated this thanksgiving and received this man’s worship, because he is God. There were nine others who were healed of their leprosy. They received physical healing but nothing more. But this Samaritan who returned to thank Jesus received not only healing of his body, but also eternal life. His soul was healed. So Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has saved you forever” (Luke 17:19).

Most people look to Jesus only for physical healing and material wealth. They are not interested in eternal life. But Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28).

An Old Testament Thanksgiving

There is a story of great thanksgiving in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 20). When Jehoshaphat was king, a vast army of Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites came to attack Judah and destroy her completely. When we read this account, we notice first that there was a great problem: this was a vast army, which is stated four times (2 Chron. 20: 2, 12, 15, 24). Second, we see Jehoshaphat calling for a great prayer, with fasting. All Judah came together-men, women, children, and infants-to fast and pray. It was a national day of prayer because the problem was so serious. As King Asa said in a similar situation, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you” (2 Chron. 14:11).

Jehosphaphat’s people also cried out as they fasted and prayed. “O LORD, you are almighty; we have no might. We are weak and helpless; help the helpless. We rely on you.”

Then there was a great prophecy. The Holy Spirit came upon a Levite, Jahaziel, and God spoke repeatedly through him: “Fear not.” In other words, “Don’t fear at all, for you will not fight this battle. The Lord alone shall fight this battle and he alone will give you victory, as he did for Israel on the shore of the Red Sea. It is going to happen tomorrow. God is with you.”

This great prophecy resulted in great thanksgiving: “Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. . . . “˜Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever'” (2 Chron. 20:19, 21). Jehoshaphat and his people believed this prophecy and began to thank God before victory came. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever.

God is love, and God alone is good. He loves us with everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). The truth is, he loved us from eternity and chose us to salvation. His love for us shall never end. We cannot trust people who say, “I love you,” because human beings may change their minds. But God’s love never ends.

Jesus Christ loved us and died for us on the cross for our eternal salvation. So true believers love him with an undying love (Eph. 6:24). We love God with the love he has shed abroad in our hearts. Paul says, “If anyone does not love the Lord-a curse be on him [anathema]. Come, O Lord! [Marantha!]” (1 Cor. 16:22). May God help us to love God with an undying love, because he is good and his love endures forever.

So we must give thanks to God always for all things because our God is good and his love is everlasting, because he loves us and saves us. If God is for us, who can be against us? He is with us as a warrior. He is with us as a Savior. He is with us as our shepherd who gives his life for the sheep.

So there was a great victory. Jehoshaphat and his men spent three days gathering plunder before making their way back to Jerusalem. They entered the temple and all together gave thanks to God who saved them from the vast army who came to wipe them out.

The Basis of Our Thanksgiving

Why are we thankful? Because Jesus Christ by himself defeated all our enemies on the cross. This is the reason for our thanksgiving both here and in heaven. We did not fight the devil; we could not fight the devil. Jesus alone fought and won. (PGM) Now we can exercise dominion over the flesh, the world, and the devil. We have the power to resist the devil and the devil shall flee from us. We can say “No” to sin and have victory over it.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Paul says God’s purpose was “in this one body [of Jesus Christ] to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Eph. 2:16). God was against us, and we were against God. But Christ by his death destroyed all hostility, and now God has reconciled us to himself.

John writes, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). In Hebrews we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15). Elsewhere Paul says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15). Again, John writes, “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith,” that is, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 5:4). Finally, we read, “They [God’s people] overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). What is the basis for our thanksgiving every day? Christ died for our sins on the cross. Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14). We deprive ourselves of great blessings when we do not thank God for his mercy and his grace.

Jesus, Our Thankful Example

Jesus always thanked God. Before he broke the five loaves and two fish to feed about twenty thousand people, Jesus looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God (Luke 9:10-17). Before he raised Lazarus from the dead, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard my prayer” (John 11:41). When revealing the gospel to his disciples, Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the [smart people] and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Matt. 11:25-26).

Above all, Jesus thanked his Father for his body that was about to be crucified for our salvation: “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. “˜This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for [huper] many,’ he said to them” (Mark 14:23-24). The word huper means “in behalf of.” In Luke 22:19 we read, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “˜This is my body given for [huper] you; do this in remembrance of me.'” Paul writes, “And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “˜This is my body, which is for [huper] you'” (1 Cor. 11:24). In Ephesians 5:25 Paul instructs, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for [huper] her.”

Saint Anselm wrote a book entitled Cur Deus Homo (Why God Man). God became man to die for our sins because the wages of sin is death. Jesus embraced the will of God, and now we too thank God for his body in which he took away the sin of the world by his sacrifice on the cross, so that repentance and forgiveness of sins may be proclaimed to the whole world. What a costly Thanksgiving! Paul declares, “[God] . . . did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for [huper] us all” (Rom. 8:32). Nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God, which is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So do not fear. Do not worry. Do not be anxious. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church that Christ is building.

God Counsels Us to Thank Him

Have you ever wondered why many of our prayers are not answered? It is because we did not thank God. Rather, we ordered him. We submitted a demand note.

What should we thank God for? We can thank God for everything, especially for the special grace he gives us in Jesus Christ. Paul says we are to be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20). A Spirit-filled person will thank God for everything. May we give thanks to God the Father for undeserved grace, always, for everything, including suffering, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul exhorts, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:18). We are to pray continually, and in every situation give thanks, for this is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus. God wills us to thank him-not just submit a demand note.

Elsewhere Paul says, “Don’t be anxious in anything” (Phil. 4:6). That is a divine prohibition. He continues, “But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,” meaning thanksgiving for past blessings received, and thanksgiving for the answer that is going to come because of this prayer, “make your requests known to God.” This is a divine command. And what is the result? “And the peace of God that passes all [our] understanding will guard your hearts and your [thoughts] in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). This is a divine guarantee.

If we don’t pray with thanksgiving, we have not prayed. But how much thanksgiving? Paul says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7). It is not just a little drop of thanksgiving. The idea in the Greek is overflowing (perisseuontes en eucharistia), banks-busting thanksgiving.

Knowledge of our infinite sin and knowledge of our infinite Savior and knowledge of his infinite eternal love will produce overflowing thanksgiving. Why don’t we thank God? Because we think our sin is small. Jesus said, “Little forgiven loves little” (see Luke 7:47). And I would say, “Little forgiven thanks little.”

Let Us Thank God!

May God help us as true believers learn to give thanks to God the Father always in everything with overflowing thanksgiving for our great salvation in Christ Jesus! Rest assured, this life of thanksgiving will result in greater spiritual blessings to all of us in the years ahead. Imagine what will happen when we pray with thanksgiving-overflowing thanksgiving in everything, especially for Christ’s death in our behalf on the cross.

May God also help us to thank God’s people who show kindness to us. Paul says, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them” (Rom. 16:3-4). We must thank God, but we must also thank those who help us.

When we get to heaven, what will we hear? Songs of thanksgiving. “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen! . . . We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign” (Rev. 7:12; 11:17). Therefore, if you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world, I beseech you to surrender to him today. He is God, Lord, Savior, and Creator. Confess him as Lord and Savior. The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Then begin to thank him for his great salvation, now and always.