“Thanks Be to God”
Selected Scriptures

I. Introduction
“Thanks be to God!” “Thanks be to God” for what? Well, there is much for which we are called to thank God, but at this time of the year, we are called to thank God for the harvest. Thanking God for the harvest is how William Bradford, the Governor of the first Christian colony in America, began his proclamation of the first Thanksgiving Day in 1623.

It began, “To all ye Pilgrims – Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abun-dant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams…” Bradford’s proclamation ended with the call to proceed to the “ye meeting house…there to listen to ye pastor and ren-der thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings – William Bradford, ye Governor of ye Colony.” In between his opening and closing statements the Governor also thanked God for His protection from the dangers of hostile Indians and various diseases.

Someone may ask, “It’s all very good to thank God for the harvest of food, for shelter, for clothing, and for physical protection, but shouldn’t we be thanking God for Christ? Isn’t He the ultimate blessing for which we are called to be thankful?” The answer is, “Absolutely, yes!” In fact, 2 Corinthians 9:15 says, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” Isn’t Jesus God’s “indescribable” or, depending on your translation, isn’t Jesus God’s “unspeak-able” or “inexpressible” gift? Again, the answer is, “Yes!”

In 2 Corinthians 9 Paul is speaking about the principle of sowing a seed and reaping a har-vest. The more seed you sow, the more harvest you reap. The same principle applies to our giving. The more generous is the gift, the more abundant is the fruit. Thus the greatest gift produces the greatest fruit. And what (Who) is the greatest gift, the indescribable gift?
*2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
7 Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all suf-ficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
9 as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever.”
10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;
11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is pro-ducing thanksgiving to God.
12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.
13 Because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obe-dience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,
14 while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the sur-passing grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

God has given us the gift of His Son. The value of that gift is indescribable. We simply do not have the words to adequately express our thanks. But the lesson is clear. The seed of the gospel was sown among us and we are a portion of the harvest. Do you remember what Jesus said when He compared Himself to a seed?
John 12:24
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Here is the metaphor: God planted Christ as a seed and reaped a harvest of Christians. In this you can see the principle of sowing and reaping and the basis for thanksgiving. So we say, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
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II. Text
This coming Thursday will be a day of getting together with family, eating too much, and for some at least, watching too much football. But it should also be a time of prayer. Let me urge you to set aside some time to praise God and thank him for all that He is doing – even the so-called “bad stuff.”

This may be one of the hardest things Christians are called to do. It runs counter to human logic and our emotions to thank God for things like war, a collapsing economy, and the moral decay that surrounds us. It runs counter to human logic and our emotions to thank God for pain, or sorrow, or the loss of a loved one. In human terms they’re all tragedies of one degree or another. But we only see them through the limited vision of our human eyes. We don’t see them through God’s eyes. We don’t see the end from the beginning.

But we believe in God’s absolute sovereignty in all things. Thus we know that He sees all things with an eternal perspective. He sees what you and I do not see and He has promised that no matter what befalls us in this life, there is something infinitely better coming… if we will trust Him and put our faith and hope for our futures in Him alone.

Can you thank God for the “good stuff” this Thanksgiving? Sure you can. It’s easy. But can you thank Him for the “bad stuff” too? Sure you can. It’s not easy, but you can if you are willing to trust Him above all else.
*Romans 8:18
18 For I consider that the sufferings (the bad stuff) of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

That is our hope. Our physical eyes don’t see that, but if we believe God’s Word, we can see it with our spiritual eyes.
*Romans 8:24-28
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope (at all); for why does one also hope for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
26 And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groan-ings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

If you’re a Christian you can legitimately and sincerely praise God and thank Him for even those things that seem wrong to us, even those things that hurt us, and even the great suffer-ings of this world. Why? Because in all of it God is accomplishing His purpose!

So thank God for all the good things He has done this Thanksgiving. And then thank Him in advance for what He is going to do, whether “good or bad,” fully confident that He will bring you through every trial or tribulation. It may be in this life or it may be in the next, but He will bring you through it all. Romans 8:28 tells us to thank God for all things, doesn’t it? But that isn’t the only passage in the NT that says so. It isn’t an isolated concept.
*Ephesians 5:20
20 …always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…
*Philippians 4:6
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God.
*1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always;
17 pray without ceasing;
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

What will the results be as you do this? Your human pride will begin to melt away before God, you’ll grow in grace, you’ll become more like Christ, and in the end, He will be glori-fied – and you with Him. That’s all!
*1 Peter 5:6-11
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffer-ing are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This is why a Christian can even thank God for trouble, pain, sadness, and sorrow. You can cling to 1 Peter 5:10. This isn’t a promise for the best of times, is it? No, it’s a promise for the worst of times and for the worst of circumstances. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

How can you express your thanks for the inexpressible? Or how can you speak the unspeak-able? What words can you use to describe the indescribable? Yet 2 Corinthians 9:15 says that we are to “Thank God for His indescribable gift.” So we try. We sing things like…
“Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free.”

Sometimes we offer up what Hebrews 13:15 calls “a sacrifice of praise.” In Leviticus 7:12 Moses called that “a sacrifice of thanksgiving.” But I would argue that the clearest and most sincere form of thanks is seen when we obey Christ and His Word.

In 1 Samuel 15 King Saul rationalized that he could get away with disobeying God if he increased the number of sheep and oxen for the blood sacrifice. But Samuel confronted Saul.
1 Samuel 15:22-23a
22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sac-rifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sac-rifice, and to heed (is better) than the fat of rams.
23a “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.”

As Christians we don’t sacrifice animals and use their blood to cover our sin as did the Jews. That’s because the blood of Christ has removed our sin. Our sin isn’t hidden away – it is gone away. But we can (and do) offer up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Those are good things!
But we can learn a lesson from Samuel. Obeying God is better than sacrifice! So saying “Thank You, Lord” is good. But obeying God is better. It’s not what we say, it’s what we do. Shouldn’t obedience be the automatic response of anyone who has been rescued from hell and adopted into God’s family?

Listen, obedience leads to a richer faith. A richer faith leads to an increased trust. And increased trust leads to deeper conviction that God will see us through anything the world can do to us.

Sacrifice is good, but obedience is better. Here are just three of God’s promises and the sub-sequent blessings that accrue to those who obey Him.
*Exodus 23:21-22 (“Him” is the Angel of the Lord; the pre-incarnate Christ.)
21 “Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, since My name is in him.
22 “But if you will truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”
Jeremiah 7:23
23 “…obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.”
James 1:25
25 …one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it (obeys it), not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

So God will be an enemy to your enemies; He will be your God; it will go well with you; and you will be blessed. Such are the results of obedience. And how can you be sure you are obeying God? You must know His Word! You cannot do what God tells you to do if you don’t know what it is. That is why LBC was founded – “To Know God’s Word – To Do God’s Will.” May it be our prayer that we will always obey God, because obedience is better than sacrifice.

Yet we know that a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is still a good thing. So what are some of the specific ways we can praise God and thank Him? We can do so with our music and our singing. That’s one of the reasons music and hymn singing are so important in the history of the church. It’s why we sing choruses and hymns and play instrumental music.
Ezra 3:11a
11a And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.”

The Psalms are filled with exhortations to sing praises and give thanks. “I will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving (69:30).” “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms (95:2).” “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises to our God… (147:7).” There are many others, but you get the idea. We are to make a “joyful noise.”

Another way we can thank God is for each other. The Apostle Paul opens nearly every book he wrote by giving thanks for the local church and his brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen to some of the different ways he does so.

Romans 1:8a – “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.”
1 Corinthians 1:4a – “I thank my God always concerning you…”
Ephesians 1:16 – “(I) do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.”
Philippians 1:3-4 – “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy…for you all.”
Colossians 1:3 – “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, pray-ing always for you.”
*1 Thessalonians 2:13 – “…we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God…”
*2 Thessalonians 2:13 – “…we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation…”

There’s a great lesson for all of us here. Are we thanking God for each other? And are we thanking and praising Him that He chose us “…from the beginning for salvation.”? And don’t miss this. Thanksgiving and praise will be a part of our eternal worship.
*Revelation 4:9-11
9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You did create all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

You can readily see that such worship is not something you turn on and off like a light switch. It’s an attitude of the heart and a state of mind. True God-honoring thanksgiving can only come from one who has been changed by God Himself. Only then can someone really thank God for all things, regardless of whether human wisdom and experience calls them “good or bad.” Only then can someone say, “Thank you, Lord,” and truly mean it.

But how can we get to that point in our Christian lives. Here’s how…

Romans 12:1-2
1 I urge therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect.

Did you know that the lack of thanksgiving is one of the marks of people who are conformed to this world? A lack of thanksgiving in a person’s life is also a clear and unmistakable mark of an unbelieving and dark heart.
Romans 1:20-21 (Paul speaking about unbelievers)
20 For since the creation of the world His (God’s) invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

But you are not like that, Christian. God has opened your eyes and filled your heart with the light of Christ. Just think of some of the ways the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life enables you to thank God. For example, you thank Him…

when you spend time with Him in prayer and His Word.
when you serve Him by giving the best of your time, talent, and treasure.
when you tell others about Him.
when you reach out to hurting people.
when you forgive those who have hurt or offended you.
when you sincerely praise Him from your heart.

Is there any thanks more amazing or more powerful in its testimony to Christian and non-believer alike than the sincere praise and thanksgiving that is offered up in the face of pain, or sorrow, or tragedy? Listen as Paul summarizes his attitude about such things.
*2 Corinthians 12:10
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Look, the simple fact is that giving thanks is good for us. It takes our minds off the things that we do not have and reminds us of the things that we do have. By focusing on our bles-sings instead of on our needs or the things we want, we are just naturally more content.
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III. Conclusion
Theologian S. Michael Houdmann says,
“We are to be thankful not only for the things we like, but for the circumstances we don’t like. When we purpose to thank God for everything that He allows to come into our lives, we keep bitterness at bay. We cannot be both thankful and bitter at the same time. We do not thank Him for evil, but that He is sustaining us through it. We don’t thank Him for harm He did not cause, but we thank Him when He gives us the strength to endure it. We thank Him for His promise that ‘all things will work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).’”

How much do you have to be thankful for this year? Take the time to think about it. You might be surprised. On Thursday take time to thank God for the good things in life. But then take the time to thank Him for the bad things in life too. As you do, keep this one overarching truth in mind. In everything, everything, God is accomplishing His perfect will in your life and for your future. And in that, you are blessed.
Listen to these words from Charles Spurgeon:
“Consider this: If Jesus Himself promises to bring you to glory, and if the Father Himself promised to give you the Son as part of His infinite reward, what can happen to you? Unless God Himself is unfaithful, or unless Jesus goes back on His promise, you are utterly safe. So come, exult before the God of grace and leap with joy – because He has chosen you.”

For every Christian here, if you can praise and thank God for nothing else, you can praise and thank Him for this: You are among the elect. Jesus said, “I chose you out of the world (John 15:19).” You can praise Him and thank Him for that today, tomorrow, this coming Thursday, and forever! “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”

Please join me at the table…