Series Overview: The Glory of Thanksgiving
Introduction
I want to take some time during November to celebrate and give a few expositions of different passages in scripture that discuss the art of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving (Thankfulness, gratefulness, gratitude, etc) is a subtle yet profound theme throughout the Scriptures. The Christian life is grounded in it. We often associate thankfulness with the Thanksgiving holiday and we have images of turkeys, football, family, cornucopias, and pilgrims. While this isn’t bad, there is so much more to giving thanks than a national holiday. This holiday season is a great opportunity to remind us that thanksgiving glorifies God. The daily foundation of thanksgiving, as an attitude of the heart and action, deserves this type of celebration. Thanksgiving rearranges our thought processes and heart’s affections to the grace of God, which is the foundation of our every breath and the future glory that will be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).
I want to use this overview to present the passages that I will be expanding further in each individual post. Even from this short listing of passages, one can see that God wants His children to begin, continue, and finish with Thanksgiving overflowing from their heart.
Always and For Everything
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Ephesians 5:19-20 ESV
I always try to take special note of the all-encompassing words in Scripture like “all, every, never, nothing” etc. I try to wrap my mind around all the possibilities of circumstances this includes. In the case of the Christians in the time period when this was written, this would include harsh and brutal applications. We can still directly apply these commands to our lives and see the worthlessness of discontentment, grumbling, bitterness, anger, anxiety, and all other postures of the heart. Some, like myself at times, may read about thanksgiving and have a preconceived notion that it’s a chore. It seems like work to have to put an immediate end to my natural heart posture of focusing on the things that I dislike about my present moment, past, or future, and redirect it towards the opposite attitude and action of thanksgiving. It seems like we have to disregard reality to pretend things are good in our lives. This returns to a similar point made in previous posts. If we could see our circumstances from God’s perspective (or reality), we would understand that everything that comes to pass in our lives is a “hand-picked” trial or immediate blessing, both with accompanying promises guaranteeing it will be for our good. Taking this to its conclusion, I believe we will look back in eternity and be glad for every experience we had as a grace from God. Nothing is excluded.
Thanksgiving by Faith
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
Three aspects of receiving Christ and living the Christian life stand out here. The first is obedience. Paul encourages them to walk as they received. There’s continuity from how we received Christ to the way in which we continue in our walk with Him. As we do so, our lives are built up, our love grows, and He remains our source and cornerstone. He uses the word “taught” referring to learning new ways of life. The second aspect is the way in which we obey is by faith. It is not a rulebook alone. Following the rulebook will fail and why should we be thankful only for a set of do’s and don’ts? Faith establishes our obedience. It makes it possible. The third aspect is the overflowing thanksgiving that is happening when we realize our faith and obedience are gifts from God’s sovereign and loving hand.
An Antidote to Sin
“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”
Ephesians 5:3-4 ESV
The Bible never leaves us with prohibitions that don’t include a higher joy as a replacement. “You can’t fight something with nothing” is a common way of putting this. We need to aim at something, not just away from something to shoot aimlessly. The combination of sin that is listed before the replacement in this passage is astounding. “Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness” and “Filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking” are pretty inclusive of most sins. James says that if we control the tongue, we control our whole body. Let’s use a practical example on if I’m struggling with speaking harshly to others, instead of just considering praying for peace, I should pray to be more thankful. The Ephesians are commanded to resolutely defeat all of these things in their hearts, by replacing it with thanksgiving. This is one of the more surprising locations that I find thanksgiving in scripture. We typically associate fighting sexual immorality with “self-control” or by being “steadfast” in our resolve against it. Those are good things, but without thanksgiving, our efforts are in vain.
Aligned with Reality
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
One of the first times I recognized the subtle yet foundational theme of thankfulness in Scripture was when I was counseling concerning anxiety. Philippians 4:6-7 states “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God, and the peace of God, which surpassing understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” In my own words, one of the ways we battle anxiety is through prayer with requests, based on thanksgiving, resulting in peace. Thanksgiving rearranges our thought processes and heart’s affections to the grace of God, which is the foundation of our every breath and the future glory that will be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).
A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” Psalm 50:12-15, 23 ESV
"I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord." Psalm 116:17 ESV
This is a personal favorite of mine in the Psalms. God is directly telling the Isrealites before the advent of Christ that He was concerned with their hearts. It has never been by works of the Law that we obtain salvation. We “order our way rightly” by faith. The Old Testaments sacrifices were symbols of the coming Christ. God is saying the blood of the animals sacrificed in the Levitical priesthood was not a magic potion that pleased God’s need. God has the tone in this passage that He takes in Job 38-42. He sarcastic questioning is some of the most comforting we can receive from Him if we receive them with thankfulness that He is God. We are not. We need clean hearts, not purified animals to bring us in right standing with God. We need Christ as our perfect sacrifice once for all which gives us the clean hearts we need.
The Purpose of Ministry
“You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”
2 Corinthians 9:11-12 ESV
“Soli Deo Gloria” or all glory to God alone is one of the foundational pillars of the Christian faith in recognizing God works towards His own glory, because He is truth and He deserves all the glory. Since God accurately determines and appreciates everything precisely as He should, God rightly works for His own glory. This is shown throughout Scripture. Paul is discussing his ministry and it’s purpose as he writes 2 Corinthians. He was telling the church in Corinth that the ministry of their giving to other saints was not only in the physical needs being met, but also in the heart condition of those who benefited physically. He puts the physical and the spiritual side by side and declares that these two ends blend together in the work of the saints. God is the recipient of the glory in ministry through physical provision and hearts overflowing with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is paramount.
A Final Warning and Guard against Futility
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Romans 1:21-23 ESV
We have an example here of those who knew God was there, failed in the interesting way of failing to honor and give thanks. Failure to give thanks results in some pretty devastating outcomes. If we don’t fill our hearts and overflow with thanksgiving, our thinking becomes futile. Wisdom is not knowledge of the datum. The irony in this passage is that futile thinkers believe themselves wise. They are self-deceived. Their thanklessness and failure to honor God as God leads to delusion of intellect. A glorious recipe of honor and thanksgiving, and I would argue, a recipe that requires humility is the better alternative to futility and self-deception. We need to pray for these things as a guard against our own pride and keep us from the path that leads to foolish hearts into the dark. An aspect of this dark thinking is worshiping creation versus the Creator that creation points to. This aligns with the ten commandments. God alone is God and deserves our worship. The two greatest commandments are to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Thanksgiving to any other end other than to worship God is a futile thanksgiving.
