Thanksliving - Becoming the Kind of People for Whom Others Are Thankful

As we approach Thanksgiving, it would seem natural for us to think about all the reasons we have to be thankful. Now this is both right and appropriate. I believe it's impossible to be grateful to God if we're not willing to recognize that we've been blessed. But having said that, I don't think we should stop at just listing our blessings. At some point, it's necessary for us to consider how we might express our thanks. In other words, after we offer God our gratitude, how are we going to respond to the blessings that we now have? Put another words, how can we move from thanksgiving to thanksliving? During the month of November, we'll work to answer that question. You see, during the Sundays before Thanksgiving Day, we'll consider four simple ways to express our thanks to God.

During this last message, we considered how we might express our thanks to God by becoming the kind of people for whom others are thankful.

Do you remember how, during the message last Sunday, I said that Thanksgiving was less than two weeks away and that there were thirty-seven days before Christmas? Do you remember when I said that? Well, let me give you an update. In five days, Thanksgiving will be a turkey carcass and in thirty-one days, Christmas 2019 will be in the books. And since this is the latest Thanksgiving can be, expect a wild ride from Black Friday to the halls being as decked as they’re going to be. That’s what I call life in the fast lane.

But I’ll tell you, if I had to choose between those two special days, I actually prefer Thanksgiving to Christmas, and to be completely honest, I always have. Of course, that’s not to say that Christmas isn’t great. I mean, the music alone makes it all worthwhile. But Thanksgiving, well, when you combine all the food mom used to make and all the family who’d come over to gorge themselves and all the football played back when men were still men and the Jets were decent, I’m telling you Thanksgiving was hard to beat.

Of course, since we’re on the threshold of a tryptophan high, that means we ready to stick a fork into what we started three weeks ago, and I’m talking about this series on how we might integrate a little more thanks into our daily living. And during the first three weeks, we’ve talked about how we can direct our thanks to God by returning to him some of the stuff and talents and time he’s given us. And after that, we considered how we can thank him through our worship and our prayer. And then last week, we looked at how we can actually show our gratitude to God when we thank those special folks he’s led into our lives. Now that’s been the kind of stuff we’ve covered so far.

And this morning, we’re going to finish it up with what I think you could call the pumpkin pie of thanksliving, and now I’m talking about how we can show our thanks to God by becoming men and women for whom others are thankful, in other words, how we can become the kind of people we talked about last week. And to do that, we’re going to consider three steps we might want to consider taking: one, accepting that there are folks who need our help; two, acknowledging that we have the power to address their needs; and three, acting to make a difference in their lives.

And this first thing about accepting that there are folks who could use our help, well, I think you’d have to be blind, deaf and/or stupid not to know they’re out there. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you have to look beyond the City of Weirton to see them, if, that is, we choose to open our eyes and ears and hearts. I’m telling you, they are right here. Of course, this kind of thing isn’t new. The reality of human need is all over the place in the Bible. For example, as the Hebrews looked at themselves right before they entered the promised land, they said this, “The Egyptians were cruel and had no pity on us. They mistreated our people and forced us into slavery. We called out for help to you, the Lord God of our ancestors. You heard our cries; you knew we were in trouble and abused. Then you terrified the Egyptians with your mighty miracles and rescued us from Egypt.” [Deuteronomy 26:6-8, CEV] And just listen to Job: “God rescues the needy from the words of the wicked and the fist of the mighty. The poor are filled with hope, and injustice is silenced.” [Job 5:15-16, CEV] And this wasn’t just in the Old Testament. You see, according to Luke, “Jesus looked at his disciples and said: ‘God will bless you people who are poor. His kingdom belongs to you! God will bless you hungry people. You will have plenty to eat! God will bless you people who are crying. You will laugh! God will bless you when others hate you and won’t have anything to do with you. God will bless you when people insult you and say cruel things about you, all because you are a follower of the Son of Man. Long ago your own people did these same things to the prophets. So when this happens to you, be happy and jump for joy! You will have a great reward in heaven.’” [Luke 6:20-23, CEV] Now that’s what it says, and since Jesus said “you people” and not “those people,” I think we can assume that some of his own disciples were poor and hungry, crying and hated. In short, there have always been folks in need. And right now, we’ve just talked about physical needs. If you add those who are sad and lonely right along with those who feel empty and lost, I’m telling you, throw a dart at a crowd. There’s a better than even chance you’re going to hit someone with a whole bunch of needs.

But that’s going to be pretty hard to accept if we don’t open our eyes and ears so that we can see and hear them or if we don’t open our minds and hearts so that we can understand and feel. And I’ll tell you, I think that was the problem in this parable Jesus told. He said, “There was once a rich man who wore expensive clothes and every day ate the best food. But a poor beggar named Lazarus was brought to the gate of the rich man’s house. He was happy just to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. His body was covered with sores, and dogs kept coming up to lick them. The poor man died, and angels took him to the place of honor next to Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.” [Luke 16:19-22, CEV] Now I think it’s really important for us to understand that, according to Jesus, the problem with the rich man wasn’t that he was wicked or personally immoral. The problem was that he just didn’t care. I mean, even though Lazarus was at his gate for crying out loud, the rich man did nothing to relieve suffering that was right at his front door. He just didn’t care. And if we have any desire to become the kind of people for whom others are thankful, that can’t be us. We’re got to accept that we’re surrounded by human need; that’s the first thing we need to do.

But I’m sorry, accepting that it exists isn’t enough; we also need to acknowledge that we can do something about it. In other words, we have the ability to address the needs that we can see and feel. And that’s really the second thing we need to do. And I’ll tell you, what we do is going to be based on who we are and what we have. Let me give you a few examples. We saw just a minute ago that taking care of the poor was a pretty big deal in the Old Testament. Just listen to something God told his people they could do in order to relieve hunger. “When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don’t pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God!” [Leviticus 23:22, CEV] And listen to this, also from Leviticus: “If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. Don’t take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live. Remember—I am the Lord your God! I rescued you from Egypt and gave you the land of Canaan, so that I would be your God.” [Leviticus 25:35-38, CEV] You see, even those who don’t have much still have a responsibility to those who have nothing. And for those who have a lot, there’s always the story of Jesus and the rich man. “As Jesus was walking down a road, a man ran up to him. He knelt down, and asked, ‘Good teacher, what can I do to have eternal life?’ Jesus replied, ‘Why do you call me good? Only God is good. You know the commandments. “Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Do not cheat. Respect your father and mother.”’ The man answered, ‘Teacher, I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man.’ Jesus looked closely at the man. He liked him and said, ‘There’s one thing you still need to do. Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come with me.’ When the man heard Jesus say this, he went away gloomy and sad because he was very rich.” [Mark 10:17-22, CEV] Now just like it was with the other rich man we looked at a little while ago, there’s no indication that this guy wasn’t right in what he said much less that he was a bad person. He just had a priority above selling his property, giving his money to the poor and following Jesus. 

And you know, if that applies to me... I mean, as I think about the stuff that I believe that God has given me and as I think about the talents that I believe that God has given me and as I think about the time that I believe God has given me and since I know exactly what Jesus said to a person who also had plenty of stuff, now if I consider all that but still won’t use some, not all but some to help those in need because I might have a little less than I want, if that’s what I’m thinking, then maybe my priorities are a little off as well. Right after accepting that we’re surrounded by human need, we need to acknowledge that we, either by ourselves or better with others, that we can do something about it. And that’s the second step.

But I’ll tell you, if we don’t take the third step, steps one and two ain’t worth a bucket of spit. You see, some time down the line we need to act. We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to put our money where our faith is. You see, it’s right here where the rubber hits the road. And believe me, it always has been. I mean, this was what the Prophet Amos wrote: “I, the Lord, hate and despise your religious celebrations and your times of worship. I won’t accept your offerings or animal sacrifices—not even your very best. No more of your noisy songs! I won’t listen when you play your harps. But let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry.” [Amos 5:21-24, CEV] Now that’s what Amos wrote. It’s really about what you do to help others. And in the New Testament, I don’t think there’s a better example of this kind of thing than what we find in James. You see, right after talking about how, at their meetings, Christians shouldn’t give special attention to the rich, James wrote, “My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, ‘I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.’ What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!” [James 2:14-17, CEV] I’m telling you, if we don’t take some kind of action, although God will still love us because his love isn’t conditioned on what we do, our lack of active concern is going to become a pretty big obstacle to us ever experiencing it. 

But this changes when we decide to act. You see, when we decide to help others, and I’m talking when we decide as individuals and as a faith community and even as a nation, I believe we’ll be moving closer to what Jesus called us to be. Remember he said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.’ Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, ‘When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?’ The king will answer, ‘Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.’” [Matthew 25:31-40, CEV] I ask you, what national goal should be higher than being judged as righteous by the Son of Man? After accepting the needs and acknowledging our ability, some where down the line we need to act, and that’s the third thing we can do.

And I’ll tell you, that’s really what thanksliving is all about. You see, it’s about our willingness to return to God some of the blessings he’s given to us and to thank him when we worship and when we pray. And it’s about intentionally thanking those men and women God has led into our lives and by becoming the people for whom others are thankful. And you know, if we make the decision to work these qualities into our lives, not only will this be a life-changing Thanksgiving, I believe it’ll result in a new and exciting life all year round.