A Recipe for Thanksgiving
In late September, my wife and I were visiting in Canada and our relatives mentioned that they were looking forward to their annual Thanksgiving Day. If you’re one of our Canadian listeners you’ve already your day of thanks on October, the 9th. Those of you listening in the US will have your day of thanks on November 23rd. So, here we are between these two national holidays, and I will share my teaching, “A Recipe for Thanksgiving.”
In North America, there are certain foods that are often associated with Thanksgiving Day. Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, are all things that are found on many tables on Thanksgiving Day. And there are also dishes that are unique to certain communities or individual families. If you’re planning to serve mashed potatoes as part of your Thanksgiving dinner, let me read something for you I came across in my files.
“For some people, mashed potatoes have the power to improve memory within minutes of eating them. A University of Toronto researcher reported a study in October 1999, of 20 healthy, elderly people to whom they fed mashed potatoes or barley. The researchers found that memory was significantly improved within 15 minutes. But they caution that it may be only the elderly and those with bad memories who have the most to gain from eating such foods.
Mashed potatoes have high glucose content. Glucose is believed to help brain function because it aids production of a neurotransmitter, a chemical substance that enables one neuron to communicate with another. More research is needed, the report said.
Interesting food for thought! As North Americans, we seem to have faulty memories when it comes to remembering the multitude of blessings we receive from our heavenly Father. I have a hunch that mashed potatoes in the stomach will do little to help us remember to give thanks. The problem is in the heart.”
I invite you to turn in your copy of the Scripture to I Thessalonians 5:16-18. The title of the message is, “A Recipe for Thanksgiving.”
Let’s take a moment to look at the setting of this text. One thing we know from this letter is that the Christians in Thessalonika were facing persecution for their faith. It’s in this context that Paul gives his teaching on thanksgiving.
Now, I’ll read these verses and you follow along in your Bible, I Thessalonians 5:16-18.
One of the traditional things we associate with Thanksgiving is a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. To prepare all the food, you need recipes. And each recipe calls for certain ingredients.
I want us to look together at three essential Ingredients in “A Recipe for Thanksgiving.” And incidentally, one of them is not mashed potatoes!
First, we have, The Ingredient of Joy.
This is verse 16, “Rejoice evermore.” What does it mean to rejoice? Strong’s concordance defines it as “cheerfulness” or, “calm delight.” And the same Greek word is translated into two of our English words, joy and rejoice.
Joy is an essential part of thanksgiving. Notice, I didn’t say happiness. Why not? Because happiness depends on happenings. Remember, the people to whom Paul was writing were experiencing persecution. So, Paul didn’t say, “Don’t worry, be happy.” Instead, he said rejoice.
How could they have joy in suffering? For the same reason we can have joy in suffering. Because we know that this life is not all there is to our existence! There is a glorious future for the children of God and any hardship or trial we face cannot compare to our future glory.
In Romans 8:18 Paul says, “for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” So, the marketing message of “you only go ‘round once, so get all you can” doesn’t apply to us. We’re looking for something better. Something that will endure beyond this life.
Joy was the reason Jesus could face the experience of the cross. Hebrews 12:2 says we should , “[Look] to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He is our example.And in James 1:2 we read, “…count it all joy when you fall into a variety of trials.”
But let me point out that if you’ve never acknowledged that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace and forgiveness, and if you’ve never accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only acceptable payment that can bring you into a right relationship with God, then this concept will seem ridiculous to you. And you cannot experience this kind of joy. Jesus is the only one who can bring real joy into your life.
Some people say well, I just don’t feel joyful. What difference does that make? Being joyful is an act of your will, it’s a choice. We Christians get things mixed up sometimes. We think we must have a feeling of joy before we can really experience it. Joy is an emotion, but it’s more than that. We make a conscious decision whether or not we’ll be joyful. If we do that, the feelings will often follow. So, joy is one of the essential ingredients in this recipe for thanksgiving.
Second is, The Ingredient of Dependence.
In verse 17 we read, “pray without ceasing.” We will never learn to obey this command if we do not recognize our total dependence on the goodness of God! And we will never be truly thankful people until we understand that all that we have comes from His hand!
Let me show you from some other Scriptures how dependent we are upon God and His mercy. In Genesis chapter 2, God told Adam that he could eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told him, “in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.” Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from that tree. And what happened. Did they die immediately? No. Why not? Only because of God’s mercy!
But they died spiritually. Their fellowship with God was broken. They went and hid because they were guilty. Because of their sin, God barred them from that beautiful garden He had prepared for them. That was an act of mercy too. If they had eaten of the tree of life, they would have lived forever in the fallen state of sin. So, physical death actually brought to them the hope of something better.
In Ezekiel 18:4 we read, “the soul that sins, it shall die.” Not maybe, not perhaps. No, God said, the soul that sins it shall die! Now in order to show mercy, God, in the Old Testament, prescribed the sacrificial system. An animal had to be sacrificed to “cover” the sin of the guilty one. God made it clear that without the shedding of blood there could be NO forgiveness of sin. That concept ultimately led to the sacrifice of Christ as the perfect Lamb of God.
We usually think of the Old Testament as Law and judgment, but you can trace this concept of mercy all the way from Genesis to Malachi. In Lamentations 3:21-23 the prophet Jeremiah writes, “This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope. Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.” What keeps us from immediate Divine Judgment? The Lord’s mercies. One of the first things I do when I wake up each morning is thank God for the gift of life and for a new day. I don’t deserve it, He doesn’t owe it to me, it’s a gift. I am completely dependent on Him.
We often forget that without God’s mercy we couldn’t take another breath! What keeps your heart beating? God’s mercy. When you get sick, God is the one who brings healing. Sometimes, it’s miraculous, other times he uses man’s knowledge of medicine to accomplish it. In any case and no matter what He uses, God does the healing. Remember we’re talking about the ingredient of dependence as part of the recipe for thanksgiving.
Take a moment to think about those who’ve invested time and energy in your life. Start with your Mom. She carried you for 9 months before you were born. Have you ever thanked her for not aborting you like so many were in the past 50 years? What about your Dad who worked hard to provide for your needs, have you ever thanked him for giving some of the best years of his life for you? You were completely dependent on them for the first years of your life.
My Dad was born with a vision condition that bordered on legal blindness. But he didn’t take a government handout. He believed he should do what he could, the best he could, and that’s what he did. He took the responsibility God gave him for his family seriously. I never heard him complain or say life wasn’t fair. Today, I’m deeply grateful for his example. My Dad’s qualities of character and his bedrock faith in God have made a lasting impression on me and my family.
There are all kinds of people who’ve invested in your life. Teachers, Scout leaders, Little League coaches, aunts and uncles, grandparents, a neighbor, an employer. You’re the only one who can compile your list. Have you ever thanked them? Do you realize that you are what you are because of what others have invested in your life? And above all the people and circumstances of your life stands God, ordering and directing your circumstances to make your life what He wants it to be. You are completely dependent on Him.
So, we have the first ingredient in the recipe for thanksgiving which is joy. And the second ingredient is dependence. And that leads us to our third and final ingredient.
The Ingredient of Obedience
Notice verse 18 is a command. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” In everything, you mean literally everything. These aren’t my words. This is a command of Scripture! I know it doesn’t sound logical, but God’s knowledge and wisdom far surpass any human logic.
This third ingredient is extremely important. The issue here is the Sovereignty of God. God is in all the circumstances and relationships of our lives wanting to accomplish the purpose for which He created us. Notice, I didn’t say God causes all that takes place in our lives, I said He is present in every circumstance, and He wants to use the events to mold and shape us for His purposes. Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
God does nothing evil. He is absolutely Holy and just in all He does. However, he permits evil. First, as a result of man’s original sin in the Garden of Eden. And second, the choices He allows us to make as free, moral creatures. That God permits evil we see clearly in the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Was it God’s plan for Jesus to die? Yes, it was. Did God hold those who crucified Jesus accountable for their actions? Yes, He did. So, we can say, “that God uses the free choices of men to accomplish His will and holds them accountable for the results.”
So how does this work out in daily living? Does it really work to give thanks even when we don’t feel thankful? Some of you know that my wife, Joyce, and I walked through her cancer journey a couple years ago. She went through a number of chemo treatments and then surgery. When you first get the diagnosis of “cancer,” it can be quite unnerving. But we were committed to thanking God for this experience, knowing that there were things He wanted to teach us.
Now maybe you’re saying Mark, that wasn’t such a big deal. It’s not like losing a loved one in some tragic accident or something. You mean God can use even those kinds of things for His glory and our good? Yes, I do mean that. I readily admit, sometimes it’s difficult to see good in a situation. In fact, there are some situations I believe we won’t understand until we get to Heaven.
In a period of 9 years, my wife, Joyce, lost both her parents and all 3 of her brothers. We don’t know why God chose to let this happen this way, but what’s the alternative to thanking God in times like these? It’s blaming God. And that leads to bitterness. Hebrews 12:15 warns us, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Bitterness will destroy you spiritually and physically.
So, if God is all-powerful, and He is, and if He doesn’t prevent a tragedy from occurring, then that means He has a purpose in it. We could spend a long time on this, but I must bring this to a close. Let me encourage you to study this concept further, it is so important. Let’s review the three ingredients in the recipe for Thanksgiving. First, is joy, that commitment to have a calm delight in God’s working in our lives. Second, is dependence, the awareness that without God we’re finished. That without the investment of others in our life, we would have nothing. And third, obedience, the knowledge that God is using every circumstance of our lives to accomplish His purpose in us for His glory. Those are the ingredients are the recipe for a thankful heart. Oh, and don’t forget the mashed potatoes!