The Carpenter's Apprentice Archives

Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving!

The Architect's Plan

     "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done."  Gen. 8:20-21

     Here we have the first Thanksgiving celebration recorded in the Bible.  It comes from the end of the story of the great flood.  It is indeed a pivotal point in the biblical story.  Noah had found favor in God's eyes and because of his obedience, he and his family were spared destruction.

     To imagine the scene that must have been around him after the flood receded is almost impossible, but it must have been a major mess after six months of inundation.  Yet Noah takes the time to show his gratitude by offering sacrifices to God, and God is pleased. 

     Thanksgiving should be the ready response of our hearts as we witness the many ways that God makes provision for us.  Our praise still pleases Him.

     Part of God's purpose in this creation was to have a people who desired to worship Him because of His
righteousness and goodness.  We know there had been a rebellion in heaven and the rebellious spirits were consigned to eternal destruction.  God planned for a better outcome with us.

     Not to be outdone, Satan is allowed on the scene to tempt man to also reject God and worship him.  Indeed, that is the last ditch effort he makes with Christ in His temptation.  If a liar can be believed, Satan promised Christ that he would give Him the world if only He would worship the Fallen One.

     Christ didn't buy it and neither should we.  We are created to the praise and glory of God and our lives should resound with echoes of His praise.

     As we enter the Thanksgiving season, it is easy for us to become distracted.  Our tendency is to be thankful for the gifts almost to the exclusion of being thankful to the Giver.  He is worthy to be praised, not for what He gives but for Who He is.

     A lack of thankfulness betrays a heart that has not learned the contentment there is in Christ alone.  Such a heart may utter a perfunctory "Thank You" at the appropriate moment, but all the while it is forever desiring more.

     God want us to desire Him more.  If we are to have any discontentment, it should be with our own failure to desire Him more fully in our lives.  Our world is full of people who are rich beyond measure and yet their lives are empty because they do not know the power of thanksgiving.

     Thanksgiving frees us from our tendency to focus on ourselves and turns our hearts to God.  When we praise Him, we recognize the source of our blessing and at the same time we frustrate the Enemy.

     The Enemy is always pleased when we are not satisfied with what God has provided.  He will diligently strive to make us believe that we deserve more than we are getting.  If we look only in material terms, it is easy to be convinced that we are being shortchanged.  Of course that concept is abetted by our willingness to only consider those who have more than we do.  We would rather not look at those who have less.  When we do, we frequently blame them for not having more: "If they worked like I do ...."

     As judgment fell upon Israel, we get a clear picture of the thanksgiving that God requires: "I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.  Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream." (Amos 5:21-23)

     The thanksgiving that God ordains is that which is offered by those whose lives are marked by righteousness and justice.  Anything else is offensive to Him: the fragrance of the gift is determined by the heart of the giver.  We cannot support and take counsel with those who promote injustice and then come to the Thanksgiving table and expect God to accept our praise.  It is impossible to bring an acceptable sacrifice of praise to our Holy Lord from a life that is compromised in this way.

     In closing, consider the following quote from "The Prince of Preachers," Charles Spurgeon.  "The Holy Spirit makes no promise to bless compromises. If we make a treaty with error or sin, we do it at our own risk. If we do anything we are not clear about, if we tamper with truth or holiness, if we are friends of the world, if we make provision for the flesh, if we preach half-heartedly and are in league with errorists, we have no promise that the Holy Spirit will go with us. If  you want to know what great things the Lord can do, as the Lord God Almighty, be separate from the world, and from those who apostatize from the truth. The man of God will have nothing to do with Sodom, or with false doctrine. If you see anything that is evil, give it the cut direct.  Have done with those who have done with the truth." 

The Carpenter's Corner

     "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."  (Luke 22:19-20)

     This passage goes to the heart of Christian thanksgiving.  The word for thanks here is eucharisteo from which we get the word "Eucharist" as a reference to the Lord's Supper.  All our thanksgiving proceeds from our resurrected position in the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is a position that should not be taken for granted.  "To whom much is given, much is required."

     Perhaps you recall Samuel's response to Saul when he disobeyed God's command to utterly destroy the
Amalekites and their possessions: "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."  (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

     Samuel's message is clear: thanksgiving without obedience is rebellion.  It is rejecting the very position to which God has appointed us.  Right relationship with God demands obedience in all things.  

     Jesus reiterates this important teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matthew 5:23-24)

     Here, Christ compels us to consider our relationships with one another.  Our relationship with God cannot be right, unless we have done all in our power to assure that our relationships with others are right first.  This is a matter of personal discipline and one in which we must exercise great diligence.

     I suppose if Jesus walked among us today someone would probably publish a book of His prayers.  There would surely be a section on "Prayers of Thanksgiving."  What does scripture record in this regard?  Surprisingly little.  Jesus offered thanks at meals and at the Last Supper.  Beyond that, we have the prayer of thanksgiving prior to the raising of Lazarus and, most notably, the "garden prayer" of John 17.  Take the time to read it now.

     If you study  that prayer, I believe you will discover it to be a prayer of thanksgiving..  Though Jesus does not use that word, it is His delight to have fulfilled His calling, and His desire was for His church to do the same.

     Often, Jesus prayed alone and away from the crowd.  His public prayer was devoted to magnifying God's name.  While we should certainly be thankful that God provides our daily needs, may we learn to see how His faithfulness to us is related to our being His instruments.  And, may the response of our thanksgiving never cease to bring glory and honor to the Father. 

 The Foreman's Forum

     "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.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." (Romans 1:21-23)

     Among the many things that the introductory verses of Paul's letter to the Romans contains, is this serious
warning; the absence of thanksgiving in a life will destroy it.  The evidence is all around us.  As a culture, we have come to believe that all things are possible if we dedicate ourselves to the task and believe in ourselves.  On the other hand, the Ohio state motto, "With God, all things are possible" has been stricken by federal judges who find it to be unconstitutional.

     We are a nation which has forgotten God.  That is certainly an indication of the kind of people which inhabit this land, and sadly that includes many professing Christians.  Christians who have decided that overcoming evil is not in God's plan for the church.  Christians who sit complacently in their pews while evil overcomes every aspect of their lives.  Yet they will gather this Thanksgiving Day and perhaps even thank God for the "religious freedom" they enjoy.

     Sometimes I wonder what it will take for Christians to see how that freedom has already been greatly
compromised and how very close we are to losing it altogether.  It is a sacred trust that the church in America is failing to keep. 

     We need to understand the process Paul describes above.  To forget to honor God and give thanks, is to turn elsewhere for direction. Sadly, we have come to rely on civil government.  When faced with a difficulty, our first thoughts quickly turn to what government program we can utilize to meet the need of the moment.  We try not to think about how that benefit we receive was extracted unjustly from our neighbors with the threat of force.  But our complicity further darkens our minds.

     The end result is the exchange of God's glory for the glory of creation and more specifically the glory of man.   Trust in God and thankfulness toward Him are safeguards against such usurpations of His rightful place.  We should never think for a moment that God condones the plunder of our neighbors to meet our needs.  That is sin and He will have no part in it.

     His plan is for His people to care for one another, out of thankful hearts.  By trusting Him to provide for all our needs through our riches in Christ, we become a testament to the faithfulness of God instead of a worshiper of the state.

     Thanksgiving toward God is founded upon our trust in Him.  When we allow anyone or anything else to have that place, our thanksgiving suffers.  Dependence upon God rewards us with the confident knowledge that He will provide, and that His provision will be just, rather than coerced.

     "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  (Philippians 4:6)

The Carpenter's Toolbox

     "I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High."  (Psalm 7:17)

     This verse concludes the chapter and I invite you to turn there as we consider what brought David to this
conclusion.  The psalm is called a Shiggaion which means a rambling poem.  David's rambling fits my own well at this point so let's consider what he has to say.

     This verse is more than just a clue, it is the heart of the matter of thankfulness: God's righteousness.  We need to spend a lot more time thinking about God's righteousness.  We accept the fact that He is righteous (could He be any less and still be God?) but we move on to other things much too quickly.

     David didn't do that.  He is living under persistent threat to his very life.  His petition to God is based upon his own claim of his just dealings with others but his betrayal of Uriah is yet to come.  Notice the claims he makes.

     He has not rewarded his friend with evil nor has he plundered his enemy unjustly.  His dealings with his fellow man have been above reproach.

     Because of his righteousness before God, He claims God as his shield.  He recognizes that God is a righteous judge whose indignation falls daily upon those who refuse to repent of their folly.

     In 1781, Thomas Jefferson made this statement in Query XVIII  of his Notes on the State of Virginia.  If you have been to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. you've seen this excerpt from his remarks: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever...."

     Justice and righteousness are foundational to thanksgiving.  Our most moving expressions of worship and praise are empty and meaningless, unless our actions are holy before God.  That is our first priority in thanksgiving.

     The only way we can claim righteousness before Him is through the redeeming blood of Christ.   Thanks be to God, we are His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Every facet of our thanksgiving issues from our position in Christ and we should acknowledge that fact before God and man alike as we express our gratitude in this season as well as day by day.

     God continues to be patient with America and with its anemic churches.  I do not know why except for His grace.  For that grace, I am most thankful.  I pray that more and more His people (myself included) will find the courage to do justice and love mercy more than convenience or popular sentiment.  The standard of our Lord does not change.  It is unwavering, and so we should be as well.  May we faithfully and thankfully inhabit the righteous state that is ours in Christ alone.

The Chronicles of Christian Skywatcher

     By now, Skywatcher's character should be coming into focus: his life lacks focus!  He has yet to decide to make a clean break with the ways of the world (ouch!).

     He attempts to serve two masters and Jesus didn't say that was difficult, He said it was impossible.  Still, many Christians try and most of us have a tendency to do the same.

     Intellectually, Skywatcher believes there is a God.  Indeed, an honest evaluation of the created world leaves him with no other possible conclusion.  Even though this fact is evident to him, he fancies the idea that he is somehow a special case and that he may do as he pleases with impunity.

     He gives lip service to the Lordship of Christ, but the reality  is that there are many areas of his life where he
chooses to remain sovereign.  We all have closets where we hide the things that have not yet been given to the Lord.  They may have been there for so long we are no longer conscious of fact that they are being withheld, but there they remain waiting for us to surrender them.

     Thanksgiving is a good time to do that.  As long as we retain lordship of those areas, our thankfulness to God is diminished.  We will not and cannot praise Him fully as long as we cling to the illusion that He does not demand lordship over every aspect of our lives.

     Years ago, the Lanny Wolfe Trio produced a song titled, "Jesus Be the Lord of All."  It began with these words:

          In my heart are kingdoms of a world that's all my own. 

 Kingdoms that are only known to myself and God alone.

          In the past when I tried to rule my world, it just seemed to fall apart.

  So please Jesus be the ruler of all the kingdoms of my heart.

     So, before we gather to give thanks to God later this month, let us agree to beam the remnants of Skywatcher out of our lives so that with grateful hearts we can proclaim Christ as Lord over all.

The Apprentice's Journal

     William Law, in his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life writes, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."

     Does that observation challenge you as much as it does me?  Take a few moments to think about it.  What
message does it speak to you?  It calls to my mind Paul's words in 1Thess. 5:18, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  I think you will agree that the challenge is here, and Paul tells us how to meet it.

Our ability to give thanks to God in everything lies entirely in the work of Christ our Lord.

    The message of this verse always comes to some who are wrestling with situations which, from the world's perspective, could never produce thanksgiving.  God provides what the world cannot.

     At many family gatherings this Thanksgiving, there will be an empty seat that wasn't there last year.  That's
hard.

     It's harder still for those who grieve for loved ones that never surrendered their lives to Christ.  But even in times of such loss, we can learn to thank God for the opportunity we yet have: the opportunity to reach others of our families who still need to yield to the call of God's love.

     This Thanksgiving our extended family mourns the passing of our son-in-law's father.  He was a man who knew both the blessings and difficulties that worldly success brings.  Whatever he did, he gave it everything he had and then some.

     In recent years, his life experiences fanned the flames of his faith to new heights.  He relished the taste of things eternal more than the transient things of this life.

     His family is a testimony to the Life that lived within him.  The Hope with which he lived, is the Hope that
sustains them now, in spite of his physical absence.

     His wife has lost her dearest friend, but his faith allows her to walk on through her confidence in Christ that he lives.  His children have lost a friend, confidant, and mentor.  But they share the blessing of the Father's love because of a father's love.

     His extended family and friends have lost the company of a dear man but we savor the gifts his life has left us and we thank God for the memories we share.

                           In Memory of
                          Boyd Read King
               November 20, 1939 - November 1, 2000

©Copyright 2000 ~ Permission to reprint for personal, non-profit use is hereby granted, providing that the context of the quote is maintained and credit is given to The Carpenter's Apprentice.

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