[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THANKSGIVING EVE 25 November 2009 "Thanks Be to God" Philippians 4:6-20 LSB Series B Vicar Jeffrey M. Dock Soli Deo Gloria!

In the name of Jesus + Amen.

I know it's a cliché and overused statement… but Thanksgiving really is a good time to remember all those things we have to be thankful for. It gives us an opportunity to do something which we should do every day, but too often do not- and that is an opportunity to sit back and be thankful. To survey all that we have and marvel at just how blessed we truly are. That's easier said than done. Mankind always seem to either be devoted to getting more, or to securing what they have, to ever really appreciate the gifts they've been given. And likewise, the things we don't have always seem to loom larger and seem more important than being thankful for the things we do have.

So… perhaps it's of benefit to look at some of the things which we have, which we should be thankful for. And let us do it not for the purpose of patting ourselves on the back about how lucky or successful we are or to get some sort of warm fuzzy feeling, for I could never compete with self-help seminars and hallmark movies in that regard. But let us instead praise God for all our gifts, recognizing Him as the giver of all good things. For that is where true thankfulness lies. Not in just being generically thankful for some good thing we have, but in being thankful to the one who gave us that good thing.

So, let's begin on the most basic level there is- you exist. Think about that for a second. You exist. There's no need for you to exist. You didn't in anyway help yourself into existence. The unique personality & genetic makeup that define you aren't random accidents, nor are they the result of evolutionary chance as some would say- they are gifts. The things that make you unique, that make you who you are, are gifts; gifts given to you by God. The very fact you exist is because of God. You are a created being, given life and existence by the Triune God. For that is what the Holy Trinity does. God creates. God gives life. In Luther's explanation to the Apostles Creed, we rightly confess that God had made "me and all creatures." He made us. As gifts to be thankful for go, that's a pretty significant one. Your very existence- body and soul, reason and feeling, biology and genetics (or whatever terms you wish to use) are freely given to you. That is what it means when we confess God as creator. He creates. He gives life. He loves you enough to create you out of nothing. Every joy or moment of happiness you've ever experienced find their origin in the fact that, first and foremost, God created you to enjoy these things.

And let's not stop there. Too often, that's as far as Christians get when they talk about God as creator. They stop at Him creating things. But there's more than that, for God now sustains this life we have. He sustains all of creation, everything around us which we have to be thankful for. The One who brought the world into existence with a word now continues to uphold creation by His word. Were He to stop speaking, we would cease to exist. True life always flows from God. We cannot exist without Him. There is no life outside of Him. In the midst of all that is wrong in the world, of all the suffering around us, and in the turmoil of our own lives- Christians will often find themselves wondering if God is really in control. But the proof that He is lies no further than the world around us. The fact that the sun continues to rise every morning is proof that God continues to direct and sustain His creation. The earth orbits the sun. Rain falls. Plants grow. Babies are born. All the things we take for granted because they happen all the time are proofs that God is active, and caring for His creation. And ironically, these great miracles are often the first ones overlooked. When you ask people what they're thankful for, you almost never hear them say these things. We instead take them for granted. Martin Luther noted this and wrote "But why does the creation of Adam and Eve seem so unbelievable and miraculous, while man's propagation, which all men know and see, does not seem miraculous? Undoubtedly because, as Augustine says, miracles become commonplace through their continuous recurrence… Thus it is a great miracle that a small seed is planted and that out of it grows a very tall oak. But because these are daily occurrences, they have become of little importance, like the very process of our procreation.¹" Luther then continues talking of the miracle that is the conception, birth, and life of children… in terms perhaps a little too graphic for a sermon. But he raises a worthwhile point. Isn't it interesting how the most basic necessities of life are the ones most often taken for granted? Those who deny the existence of God do so with the mind and mouth God gave them and yet never stop to wonder at the miracle that they can construct coherent sentences and find the breath they need to survive from moment to moment.

Instead, the things that people are most thankful for are material things. Whether these things will get mentioned at Thanksgiving dinner or not isn't the point. Perhaps people recognize that it is somehow wrong to boast about these things, but in our own hearts and minds we all do. Things like money, investments, and possessions are at the top of that list. The term Jesus used was mammon, and included the warning that you cannot serve both God and mammon. The recent economic crisis has hit most people close to home because it targets these things that we all time and again place our trust in. None among us is immune to the sin of wanting more money in our saving account, or a more secure job, or a better car, or whatever it might be. Jesus' command to us to "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things (food, drink, clothing, and house) will be added to you" seems like the worst advice you could imagine in the midst of a worldwide recession. Now is the time to hoard our money and possessions, and fight tooth and nail against those who would take them.

And so we find ourselves trusting in our possessions more than in God. To seek our security in what we own or have rather than in the God who loves us. When you hear it phrased like that, it seems obvious which is more important. Yet this is one of the hardest Christian truths to believe. For the things we can hold in our hands, and the mammon that the world tells us is so important, seem much more vital to our lives than God ever does. To quote yet another clichéd phrase, "You can't take it with you." You bring nothing into this world, and you'll leave it with nothing no mater how much stuff you have at your death. And yet it is this 'stuff' which occupies our minds. Concordia Publishing House, the publishing arm of our synod, recently came out with a Bible study entitled He Who Dies with the Most Toys Still Dies. The title reveals a fundamental fact of human existence. And we know this. And we confess it. And yet it is so hard for us to believe.

So what do we do? Do we recognize that our lives are so driven by material things that we sell everything we have and become destitute? That is the approach some have taken. But does it really help? Jesus said that if you eye causes you to sin, you should gouge it out… but sadly people who've tried that find they still end up sinning. Giving up everything you have won't somehow remove the temptation to trust in material things. The material things you trust in will just change. Perhaps you'll even start to rely on your own work of giving things up. As pastor is fond of saying, the problem lies in your heart. Changing the outward circumstances may change the form the sin takes, but does not remove the sin itself.

So what should our attitude be toward possession and income? Remember what I said at the beginning of this sermon. You have to see God as the giver of all good things. Having things is not wrong. Being given children, having a job, owning a house, setting money aside for retirement- these are not sins. They are gifts. They are given you by God. There is no reason to feel guilty of having them. What we're called to be though is content. We're called to be content with what God has given us. We're called to see that we are not worthy of these things, but that they are all gifts graciously given to us by our Heavenly Father. We are not to put our trust in these things, but in Him who stands behind these things- namely God. We're also to use them to serve our neighbor, even as God has served us by giving them.

So the Lord gives us all these good things. Yet He also takes them away. If there's one thing this recession has taught us, it's that the things people thought so secure and worthy of their trust really aren't that secure, and weren't all that great to place their trust in. Riches are fleeting. Or as Jesus said "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal."

Instead we're called to be content with the things of God. The forgiveness of sins. Eternal life. Salvation. Earthly pleasures and treasures will pass away. Some of you have seen this happen all too quickly before your very eyes. But there is something better than that. Something that will never pass away. Something won for you by the Son of God upon the cross. Something given to you freely in the Divine Service. To complete Christ's words "…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This is where our hope lies, in eternal things given to us freely which shall never perish or disappear. It is what allowed Paul to say in our epistle reading "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

May God grant that we also can say those words along with Paul. That we may be thankful for all God's gifts, and content in everything He has given to us. That we may neither fruitlessly covet more nor despise what we have. That we may recognize chiefly all the good gifts given in the Divine Service. Gifts like the preached Word of God and the Lord's Supper. Gifts like the forgiveness of sins and the washing of Holy Baptism. Let us treasure these gifts, for where our treasure is- there our heart will be also. In so doing, let us be thankful that God's word is fulfilled in us. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

¹ 1 AE 1:126 "Lectures on Genesis"