November 22, 1992
I do not know how it has happened
so soon, but here it is once again. This is the weekend before
Thanksgiving, so let us pause and be reminded what this is all
about.
To all of us, this season at the end of the year reminds us of
families and friends. It reminds us of eating too much and dieting.
If any people ever had a reason to be thankful, it is the people
of the US.
There is no way we can cover this topic in depth without many
hours, so let me just give a few simple thoughts about the day
coming up. As Christians we must keep Thanksgiving within a Christian
context, or we will become as ungrateful as the Sodomite. A proper
relationship to the Lord must start in thankfulness to Him. When
we forget this, we are on our way down, Rom 1:21.
The first thing we need to mention is that our thankfulness must
be to the Lord. Our thankfulness is not to the state, nor to any
person, nor to any institution. We must be thankful to other people,
but we must see them as a channel of God's blessings unto us.
The child of God, under the both the OT and NT economy, was required
to be thankful.
Ps. 106:1, 13 Ps. 107:1-2 Ps. 118:1 Then in the
NT, we have many commands to be thankful, with them summed up
by Paul in 1 Thes. 5:18.
As usual, the Lord is practical. He never leaves anything, such
as love, as just some abstract feeling or emotions. He always
explains and defines exactly what He means. We find the definition
of love and thankfulness in the law as given to Moses. As we have
mentioned many times, the NT only applies what is already in effect.
We know that love for God is defined by keeping His commandments.
Love toward our neighbour is defined by keeping God's commandments
toward that person. It is defined as treating that person as we
would like to be treated.
So what is meant by thankfulness? How do we show our thankfulness?
Now, I am not discounting an emotion here any more than I would
discount an emotion of love toward God or man. But just as love
must work out in action, so must thankfulness.
Naves Topical Bible gives us a clue by listing Pro. 3:9
under thankfulness. The tipoff is the word firstfruits of all
thine increase. This points us back to the law concerning the
giving of the firstfruits. Without doing harm to the Scriptures,
we could call this an offering of thanksgiving, and we will look
at it as such.
Some things about this offering: Deut 26:1-11,
gives us a detailed description of this thanksgiving offering
of the firstfruits. There are several other passages which speak
of this offering, but for time's sake, we will restrict ourselves
to this passage in Deuteronomy.
I. Deut 26:1, 2. The offering was not optional
for the people of God. It was separate from, over and above the
tithe. The tithe is mentioned invs. 12-15.
I well realize that Christ was the firstfruits of the dead and
the First Born of all creation, but we are giving an application
which is consistent with the word of God of the required offering
of Deut 26.
II. Deut 26:2. There were only two requirements
placed on this thanksgiving offering:
1) It had to be given and what was given had to be the best, Num.
18:12. The person could not pick up a piece of rotten
fruit and say, "This is the first off of the tree; therefore,
it is the first fruit even though it is rotten."
2) If the person owned an orchard, he had to bring in the first
fruits of the harvest. He could bring in only one apple, but that
one apple had to be the best. The size of the offering, which
was separate from the tithe, was determined by the amount of thankfulness
to the Lord of the individual. He could bring a small or big amount
and still be in obedience to God. The command was that he give
the offering, and that the offering would be the best he had.
The offering could be one piece of fruit per tree, or it could
be one bushel of grain per field, but it had to be the first of
the harvest.
Application: Steve remodels; the offering of the first-fruit would
be the first dollar which he receives from the job. That dollar
is given to the Lord for several reasons: 1) he realizes that
the Lord provided the job for him, 2) he is thankful that the
Lord allowed him to complete the job & 3) he is thankful for
the Lord giving him the ability and strength to accomplish that
project. And, of course, there are many other reasons which a
child of God could find to be thankful for a job completed.
III. Deut 26:3-10. The motive behind this offering
was thankfulness to the Lord. This passage lists several reasons
to be thankful. Each one is cause enough in itself to be thankful:
Ps 105: 1-6, thankfulness starts in the memory:
remember the good things of the Lord which He has blessed us with.
1) Deut 26:1, it spoke of God fulfilling His
promise.
2) V. 5, it spoke of remembering the pit from
which they were digged. It spoke of remembering how close they
were to perishing before He redeemed them.
The Lord rescued us from the jaws of death. We were ready to perish,
and if He had not intervened, we would have perished. In fact,
as Jeremiah said in the midst of God's judgment against Jerusalem
in Lam 3:22-26 [It is of] the LORD'S mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. [They
are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness. The LORD
[is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that]
seeketh him. [It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly
wait for the salvation of the LORD.
If we are alive today, we should rejoice because it is only by
the Lord's mercies that we are alive.
3) V.6, it spoke of thankfulness for redemption.
The Lord delivered us from bondage; from the bondage to our enemies,
the world, flesh and the devil. We are more than conquers through
Christ that loved us. We have been delivered through the work
of Christ; we are free in Him, but not free to do our own thing.
We are free to serve the Lord.
4) V. 7, it spoke of the Lord hearing and answering
prayer.
The Lord answers prayer. Every one of us can look back over this
past year and see places where the Lord clearly answered prayer.
5) V. 8, it spoke of the Lord showing Himself
strong in behalf of His people.
The Lord has done great things for us. Maybe those things did
not see so great at the time, but today as we look back, it is
obvious that they were great things.
But, thankfulness is not restricted to just thankfulness for spiritual
blessings, although they should be plenty of cause for us to be
thankful. We are to be thankful for God's material blessings upon
us.
6) V. 9, it spoke of the goodness of God toward
His people.
It is His divine providence which guides us and supplies our daily
needs. He gives us strength and health to gain wealth. All good
things come from above.
The original Thanksgiving was thankfulness over the blessings
of God. We must never forget that the prosperity which this nation
has enjoyed is the direct result of the blessings of God. Because
people now have the idea that the prosperity is the result of
their own effort, we are going downhill fast.
7) V. 10, it spoke of the worship of the Lord
God as the only true GodWho alone can supply the needs of His
people.
Are we thankful to Him. Do our actions show this thankfulness?
IV. And you might say, "If it was a required
offering, how could it express thankfulness to God?" The
answer is found again in the fact that love is not identified
as solely an emotion, but love is action. Love is summed up in
treating our neighbor as ourselves.
Thankfulness to God is not merely an emotion, but it is action.
We are commanded to be thankful to God, 1 Thes. 5:18.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Therefore, no matter what situation we find
ourselves in, we are required show thankfulness.
Illustration: Let's suppose that we go greatly
out of our way to do something special for someone. Then, in return,
they completely ignore us. The first thing that comes to our mind
is that they were not thankful. On the other hand, if they act
and speak like they are thankful, we take for granted that they
are thankful. Our thankfulness is shown by our actions just as
our love is shown by our actions.
VI. V. 11. We should like this
passage. Not only are God's people required to offer the first-fruits,
but they are required to rejoice in the goodness that their God
has blessed them with. The law teaches that God's people, either
Thanksgiving day itself, this Thursday, or at another time, set
aside a time of rejoicing and feasting. It is a requirement which
reminds us of the goodness of God upon His faithful people.
VII. V. 11. They were to share
their prosperity with the stranger and the teacher of God's word
which were among them. The stranger and the Levite has no other
income other than what the faithfulness of God's people provided.
Notice that the thought breaks after vs. 11.
The next passage deals with the required tithe of the third year
and other required tithing. It is not part of the thanksgiving
offering of the first-fruit in vs. 1-11.
God's people today are commanded to be thankful just as they were
commanded to be thankful to the Lord when Moses spoke these words.
We saw from Romans 1:22, that the failure to
obey the command to be thankful is one of the basic traps which
leads to open and gross sin. As we look at Thanksgiving, who are
we thankful to? What are we thankful for?
Thankfulness cannot be restricted to an emotion, but must include
action. When it comes to our actions toward the Lord, is it obvious
that we are thankful?