Greg Laurie - A Theology of Thanksgiving (11/27/2017)
- Watch
- Donate
- Become Partner
Pastor Greg Laurie delivers a Thanksgiving message from Acts 16 titled "Give Thanks to the Lord: A Theology of Thanksgiving." He shows how Paul and Silas praised God in prison despite suffering, leading to an earthquake, freedom, and the jailer's salvation—teaching that true thanksgiving flows from knowing God is sovereign, loving, and wise, even in hardship.
Thanksgiving: A Day of Food, Family, and Gratitude
Well, we are going to go to the book of Acts chapter 16. And I thought we would have a little Thanksgiving message since tomorrow is the big day. So the title of my message is "Give Thanks to the Lord: A Theology of Thanksgiving".
And it is almost here. Thanksgiving. And you know I really like this holiday because there is not a lot of pressure to go and buy stuff. Well you have to get food of course. But apart from that this is not about shopping and all that. This is more about getting together with family and friends and doing what most people love to do. Eating.
How many of you love to eat? Raise your hand. How many of you don't really like to eat that much? Raise your hand. No. I won't mock you. I don't understand you though. I don't. I don't.
Well listen. It is a day of eating. I don't know what your Thanksgiving tradition is but in our home we have fish sticks. That is how we roll fish sticks. No we don't. I am making that up. Here we basically have the Turkey. Cornbread stuffing is our preference. Of course mashed potatoes. And my wife makes them fresh. And they are amazing. And of course gravy on everything. And then you have green beans. And we have sweet potatoes. This is making you hungry right now. Sweet potatoes with the little melted marshmallows. And then the fresh cranberry sauce. Not the kind in the can with like the rings around it. I don't. You know I like the fresh cranberry because you know you have got all this stuff going on. And then you have got to bring in the cranberry to kind of take it to the next level. And then I think there is actually a law that says you must eat pumpkin pie. So we finish it off with pumpkin pie.
The Turkey Coma and Holiday Realities
And then what happens? After you eat this meal you basically go into a Turkey coma. Right? I just read an article where they are questioning if it is really the tryptophan, the active ingredient in Turkey that makes you sleepy. And they are saying it probably isn't that as much as it is all the stuff you are eating together. You know. I mean you are just eating all this food.
Here is what amazes me. I will take a nap. I will say I am never going to eat for days. And you know about six o'clock I am hungry again. Right? Am I the only one? So what do you do? Time for a Turkey sandwich. You know I think I like the Turkey sandwich as much as I like the main event. You know then you kind of milk that Turkey for all it is worth. And on it goes.
Now in our home my wife likes dark meat. I like white meat. So it works out very nicely. Some like the Turkey leg. I don't prefer that so much. I did hear about an industrious Turkey farmer who was experimenting with a way to breed a better Turkey. Reason being everyone in his family preferred the Turkey leg. So he worked away for a while in his laboratory and came up with a Turkey that had six legs. This is a true story. So someone asked, how did it taste? He said, I don't know. We could never catch the thing. You know it. Six legs would make it very fast. Right?
But the real purpose of this day, or at least it should be, is to give thanks. We can enjoy the food. We can enjoy our family. We can enjoy our fellowship. But it is a day where we are focusing on giving thanks.
A Theology of Thanksgiving: Giving Thanks Always
Now as Christians we give thanks all year long. For the Christian every day is Thanksgiving. Hopefully minus the Turkey. And why? Because the Bible says in Psalm 136:1, Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercies endure forever.
Now that is easier said than done. Right? Sometimes it is easy to give thanks. When things are going reasonably well. When the bills are paid. When you have a roof over your head. When your health is good. It is easier to give thanks say at the birth of a baby. But it is not so easy to give thanks at the death of a loved one. In fact when times are hard we don't want to give thanks at all.
But here is what the Bible says in Psalm 106. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever. Notice that verse does not say give thanks unto the Lord when you feel good. But it says give thanks unto the Lord for He is good.
Now listen. If God ceases to be good. And I suppose you can cease to give thanks. But since that will never happen. Scripture is commanding us to give thanks always.
Think about poor Job. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. And one day Job lost his seven sons and three daughters. It is really unimaginable. And yet we read after all of this calamity befell the servant of the Lord. He worshipped the Lord and said, Naked came I into this world. Naked go I out. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
How could he do that? Because he was giving thanks to the Lord for He is good. Not just when things are going good. But give thanks to the Lord because He is good.
You say, Well Greg, what if my heart is not in it? Should I still give thanks? Yes you should. I don't know how easy it was for Job to offer praise on that day. I am sure it was a sacrifice. And many times when we offer our worship to the Lord it is just that. A sacrifice.
Hebrews 13:15 says, By Him let us therefore offer the sacrifice of praise of God. A praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips. Giving thanks to His name.
The Bible doesn't just command us to give thanks regardless of circumstances. The Bible commands us to verbally give thanks to God. Some people say, Well I don't have a good voice. So when the band is leading us in worship I don't sing. Well you know what you should sing anyway. Because the Bible says make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And of all you can muster up as a noise that is okay. Because you are offering the sacrifice of praise. God wants to hear it.
It would be like a husband never telling his wife He loves her. She needs to hear it from you. And of course the husband needs to hear it from her too. Now God knows all things. He knows you love Him. However He still asks for you to give Him verbal praise. That is what the Scripture says. Hebrews 13:15, reading the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Far too often we fail to give God what is due to Him. And Psalm 29:2 says, Give thanks to the Lord and the glory due His name. Worship the Lord and the beauty of His holiness.
You know it is just not polite to not give thanks. Children sometimes forget this. They take for granted everything that their parents do for them. It seems in this day and age that common courtesy is lacking. Have you noticed that? You know like I will hold a door open for a person. And you know I don't want a lot. I don't want them to hug me. I don't want that at all actually. I don't expect a long word from them. Just thank you. You are more than welcome. But if you hold a door for someone. Maybe if you hold for a while and they walk through and then they don't even say thank you. It is kind of like, Idiot! I mean you don't, you think it. You don't say it. But you know sometimes I will be a little rude and I will say, You are welcome. Like you know.
You teach a child to give thanks. Because you give something to a child and you say, Remember to say thank you. You are just teaching them manners. That is all. And sometimes we lack in manners.
The Bible tells us that the people failed to glorify God. Or to give Him thanks. And their foolish heart became dark. And that can happen to us as well.
Oh we are so quick to cry out to God in our hour of need. But are we as quick to call out to Him and offer thanks after He responds to our request?
The classic example of this is the story of the ten lepers. Leprosy was incurable. Deadly. You would be isolated from friends and family. Whenever you approach someone you would have to yell out the words, Unclean! Unclean! So they would steer clear of you.
And these ten lepers came to Jesus and asked Him to heal them. And He did. He told them to go to wash themselves. And they would be healed. And we read in Luke 17, 15. One of them when he saw he was healed returned with a loud voice and he glorified God and fell down out of his face and giving thanks to the Lord.
It is interesting because ten were healed but only one came back. And to this guy is eternal credit. The phrase that is used there for him using a loud voice is from the same Greek words we get the words megaphone from. So this guy was as loud with his prayer, with his praise rather, as he was with his request. And that reminds us that we should do the same.
Reasons for a Theology of Thanksgiving
So why should I give thanks? Why do I need a theology of Thanksgiving? Let me give you a few reasons. You might want to write these down.
Number one, to give thanks I must first realize that as a Christian God is in control of my life. To give thanks I must realize that as a Christian God is in control of my life. Sometimes it makes sense. Other times it doesn't. We have our plans but God will always have His way. God is in control.
Proverbs 16:9 says, We make our plans but the Lord determines our steps. Jeremiah 10:23 says, I know Lord that a person's life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course. Then we are told in Proverbs 20:24, how can we understand the road we travel. It is the Lord who directs our steps.
So this verse is basically saying God is in control of your life. The phrase we often use to describe this is the sovereignty of God. What does that mean? That means that God is able to do what He pleases with whomever He pleases whenever He wishes. Let me say that again. When we talk about the sovereignty of God this means that God can do what He pleases with whomever He chooses whenever He wishes.
Psalm 115:3 says, Our God is in heaven and He does whatever He pleases. Chuck Swindoll speaking on the topic of the sovereignty of God made this statement. And I quote, To say that God is sovereign is to say that He is supreme. He is in full control of all things. All. He is almighty. He is a possessor of all power on earth, above earth, below earth, and all matters pertaining to all existence, over all nature, over all events, over all blessings, over all disasters, over all calamities, over all humanity, all life in the realm of the seen and the unseen, good and evil. No one can defeat His purpose. No one can thwart His plans. He is never surprised. He never learns. He is never frustrated. Nothing is ever an afterthought.
God is in control of your life. As I have often said the word oops is not in God's vocabulary.
You say, Well Greg I understand that when things are going well. But what about when things are going badly? What about when crisis hits? Or tragedy strikes? Is God still in control? Yes. As a matter of fact He is. And God can take bad things and bring good despite them.
Romans 8:28 of course says, We know that all things are working together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.
And sometimes the things we may think are bad things may turn out in time to be good things. And some of the things we think are good things we may realize with the passing of time were not as good as we thought. But just remember this. God is in control of your life. God is sovereign.
God Loves Us and Works for Our Eternal Good
Number two. Because if I don't get to this. Well God is sovereign. Yeah. But what is His plan? And what is His agenda? Okay. Number two. God loves you. And He is always looking out for your eternal benefit.
It is one thing to say God is powerful. God is in control. God knows. But I need to also know God loves me. And God loves to bless me. And He is looking at the big picture and conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.
I already quoted Romans 8:28. And right after Paul tells us that all things work together for good to those that love God, He says, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestined to be conformed into the image of His own dear Son. God's ultimate goal is to make you like Jesus.
So God is in control. Second Corinthians 4:17 says, Our present troubles are quite small. They won't last very long. Listen to this. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory. That will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we see right now. Rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen. The troubles we see will soon be over. But the joys to come will last forever.
See we tend to think of the here and now. God is more interested in the by and by. And the ultimate conclusion. And when we get to heaven a lot of things are going to be explained.
I came across an atheist website that was mad at me. This is a good thing. If they liked me I am doing something wrong. And they read an article that was written after one of our crusades where I was quoted. And I will say accurately. And on this atheist website they have this quote from me. And here is what I said. When a Christian dies it is a direct flight to heaven. There are no stopovers. The moment we take our last breath on earth we take our first breath in heaven. We go into the presence of God.
So that is the quote. And here is what they said in response. Going to heaven after death is assumed. Not only does He start with the unsubstantiated and onerous assumption. But then goes on in more detail about the precise state of affairs that take place in heaven once you arrive. And what evidence is offered to bolster these claims? Nothing at all. Just a bunch of Bible quotes. That is right. You got that right. Just a bunch of Bible quotes. Guilty as charged. That is called faith. We place our faith in God and we believe that the Bible is true. And I believe that our very faith in the midst of crisis is an evidence of the truthfulness of what we believe.
Hebrews 11:1 says, What is faith? It is a confidence assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
So number one, God is in control of my life. Number two, God loves me and is looking out for my eternal benefit.
God Is Far Wiser Than We Are
Number three, to give thanks I must realize God is far wiser than I am. You know it is hard for us to believe that. I was with my granddaughter Stella the other day and she was telling me how strong she is. And she felt my muscle. And she said, Well, Papa, that is what she calls me, your muscle is harder than mine. She says, But I am stronger. And I said, Okay then. You know I did not argue. Why argue with the five year old, you know? What if I say, No I am stronger. Let us arm wrestle right now. Come on I will show you. Am I stronger than her? I hope so. Am I smarter than her? Well I think so. Though she did tell me on another occasion, I am smarter than you, Papa. So she has a very strong self image, doesn't she? But she isn't. But she thinks she is. We will humor her. One day she will be smarter than me, when I am drooling out of the side of my mouth. I push her around in the stroller. She will be pushing me around in the wheelchair. And she can say, See I am smarter than you. Hey. Yeah so.
But here is the thing. She isn't yet. Well God is smarter than I am. Sometimes I don't really believe that. I will say it. Oh yes. God is smarter than me. But do I really believe it? Because sometimes when things aren't going the way that I planned or the way that I hoped I might question that.
But I need to remember what is immediately good is not always eternally good. Well what is eternally good is not always immediately good but painful. But in the end we will see. Okay. So this is sort of the groundwork. The theology of Thanksgiving if you will.
Paul and Silas: Praising God in Prison
Now let's see how it plays out in a great story from the New Testament. Acts chapter 16. This is the story of Paul and Silas who went to the city of Philippi to preach the gospel. The crowd turned against them. They were arrested and thrown into a Roman prison.
So we pick the story up in verse 23. And I am reading from the New Living Translation. It says they were severely beaten. Then they were thrown into prison. And the jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So he took no chances but put them in the inner dungeon and clapped their feet in the stocks.
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken to its very foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off.
And the jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped. So he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted out, Don't do it. We are all still here.
And the jailer, trembling with fear, the jailer fell down and called for lights and fell before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with your entire household. Then they shared the word of the Lord with him. And all who lived in his household, that same hour the jailer washed their wounds, he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. And he brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
I love that story. What a turn of events. I mean they get up one morning and they go and preach the gospel. Next thing they know they have been beaten, whipped, and thrown into the inner dungeon. And their feet are fastened in these stocks. And there is no hope of getting out or of rescue. This hardened, cruel jailer treated them without any concern.
So what did they do? What would you do? Would you start singing praises to God? Well that is what Paul and Silas did. That comes back to our sacrifice of praise. I don't think the jailer had ever heard anything like this before. He heard a lot of groans. He heard a lot of curses. He heard a lot of weeping. I don't think he had ever heard anyone sing.
And maybe Paul and Silas kind of harmonized a little bit you know. Got a little groove going. I don't know. But you might say they brought the house down. That is for sure.
You know when you are in pain the midnight hour is not the easiest time for a worship service. But God gives songs in the night. Psalm 42:8 says, Through each night the Lord pours out the unfailing love upon me. And through each night I sing His songs praying to God who gives me life.
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night? Just period. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night? Yeah. That happens. But sometimes I wake up and I have a praise song just going to my head. I just think I love that. You know I just wake up and there is that little song. And sometimes when you wake up things scare you. Maybe you had a bad dream. Maybe something startled you. And these thoughts start rushing in. And you just, you just right there. Just Lord I thank you that you are watching over me. I thank you that you are in control of my life. And you remind yourself of the things of God. That is what they were doing. And the others were listening.
Verse 25. The word used here for listen is significant. It means to listen very carefully. Even a better translation would put it this way. They listen with pleasure. Sort of like the way you listen to our Harvest worship band. Right. With pleasure. They are a pleasure to listen to. But then there are some people when they sing they are not a pleasure to listen to. You are thinking how long will this last. When will they stop. And I want to do another song. No. No. It is not a pleasure.
But the people who are listening with pleasure. This just shows that nonbelievers watch believers in times of crisis. They think oh yeah you and your Christianity. You and your faith in God. We will see what happens when something bad happens.
So something bad does happen. Because the rain falls on the just and the unjust. And believers have bad things happen to them just like nonbelievers do. And now they are going to watch you. OK Christian. Let's see how you fare in these circumstances. They are going to watch you with great interest. And quite frankly they are expecting you to fail. And when you come through your time of trial with your faith intact and sometimes even stronger it blows their mind. And it earns you the right to speak out for Christ. Because they say, well you know what. They just preached a sermon by the way that they lived.
You are being watched in what you are going through. So this gave Paul and Silas a platform for evangelism. Because they had undeniable authenticity. And it reminds us that worship can be a powerful evangelistic tool.
That is why corporate worship is important. Corporate worship meaning when we come together and worship God as believers. It is great to, you know, drive in your car and listen to praise music. That is fine. Do that. But it is something special when God's people get together and we start singing His praises. Don't you think? Because the Bible says the Lord inhabits the praises of His people.
I really love it when we do it in a stadium. You know. When there is 40 or 50,000 of us. And people are singing out God's praises. And I think when a nonbeliever walks into that they are like, you know, what is this? You know why? Because the world doesn't have anything like that.
A lot of times in the church we are trying to replicate whatever the world has. Well if they have that then we will do our version of it. And we will have our version of this. Okay you know there is a place for that to a point. But I say play to our strengths, not our weaknesses. Here is what we have that the world doesn't have. We have the Word of God. So you know we can get together. We can have skits and drama in this production, that production. I think all those things are great. But listen. We will never produce things of the same quality that culture does for the most part. There might be some exceptions to that. But they don't have the Word of God.
And that is why when we get together as Christians let's not waste time. I don't want to waste your time. I want you to get into the Word of God. And the world is nothing like worship. They can't touch it.
What is the closest thing to a worship song out in the world when they sing what? The Star Spangled Banner maybe? And that is good. Everyone tears up and hopes whoever is singing it hits the high note. Right? They hope Roseanne Barr is not singing it. And everybody will kind of stand there. And it is kind of the closest culture might get to worship.
Years ago I went to a Paul McCartney concert. And you know he busted out Let It Be. And all the aging baby boomers go up. And they are holding up lighters and things. And I thought this is kind of icky. But still it is kind of the closest this culture gets to worship.
But when we come God inhabits the worship of His people. And that is what happened here with the apostles as they sang to the Lord. It earned them the right to be heard by others.
You know we are going to have our times of blessing and we should enjoy those. But really we can live on the mountaintop of blessing forever. The fact is we come to worship to get refueled, refocused and re-strengthened to go back into the valleys of the world.
So the church is a place where we gather together to get focused. To see things correctly. You know sometimes when we come to church we see things a certain way. And when we leave church we see them another way. It is not that our problems have gone away. We have just gotten perspective.
You know if you have a big God you will have relatively small problems. And if you have big problems perhaps you have a relatively small God. Or you are not viewing God as you ought to.
Asaph was grappling with the age old question, Why do the wicked prosper? And he wrote in Psalms 73:16. A modern translation. I like this one. When I tried to figure it out all I got was a splitting headache. Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture.
I don't understand why things are the way that they are. Until I came into God's presence to study His word with His people. Then my questions came into a proper perspective. So it is not that my problem went away. I just saw it differently.
Yeah you know what. God is in control. Maybe that is happening for you. You came in here. Oh these problems. Problems. I go. Oh wow. God is in control of my life. That is right. I forgot that. Oh yeah. God loves me. Sometimes I forget that. Oh yeah. I should praise Him even if I don't feel like it. It is a theology of Thanksgiving. It is a recognition that God is in control.
So Paul is praising the Lord in a prison. Did he ever have to do that again? As a matter of fact he did. He went to prison again. Three or four years later Paul is again in prison. This time writing to this jailer and the believers in Philippi. And in the book of Philippians he writes these words. Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Don't worry about anything. Instead pray about everything. And the peace of God will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
So Paul lived it out. And this is important because he says rejoice in the Lord. And by the way that is a command. It is not a suggestion. Paul is not saying if you can bring yourself to do it rejoice in the Lord. He is saying I am telling you right now rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. I order you to do that.
And you know what. Here is what he is saying. Look guys if I can do it you can do it. Alright. I am writing this from a prison cell. So if I can rejoice in a prison cell you can rejoice in your difficulty and your adversity as well. Realizing that God is in control.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 says even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vine. Even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren. Even though flocks die in the fields and cattle barns are empty. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.
Let me paraphrase that verse for modern times. Even when business is slow and there are no prospects in the immediate future. Even when my investments have evaporated and the car won't start I will rejoice in the Lord.
The words of a crazy man. No. The words of a man that knew that God was in control.
The Power of Praise and the Jailer’s Conversion
So back to our story. Here is Paul and Silas singing praises to God. I want you to notice something. We don't read that they prayed for God to deliver them. Now if they had prayed that that would have been a legit prayer. An understandable prayer. Lord help us. Get us out of here. But we don't read that. We just read that they sang praises to the Lord and the other prisoners. We are listening.
You know it is great when the miracles come. And sometimes they do. The earthquake comes. And the walls come down. And you pray for God's touch. And it comes immediately. And we say thank you Lord.
But you know what? Sometimes the earthquake doesn't come. And deliverance from our circumstances doesn't come. Sometimes he delivers us from our circumstances. Like Daniel in the lion's den. Though he did have to still spend a night with them. And sometimes he delivers us in our circumstances. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He walked with them through the fire.
So we will pray Lord I am sick. I pray that you will take this sickness away. And God may say I am going to do that for you. Boom. It is gone. Another time you say Lord I am sick again. I pray you will take this sickness away. God says this time I am not taking it away. But I am walking with you through it. You are not alone. I am here. And I am going to reveal things to you that you would not learn otherwise.
Yea though you walk through this valley of the shadow of death you do not have to fear evil. For I am with you the Lord would say. And so they didn't pray for deliverance. They just praised God. And then the walls come down.
Well why is the jailer going to kill himself? Because when you were put in charge of guarding someone and that person got away you would be put to death. So this guy thought I might as well just do it myself. And he has got the sword out. He has got it up to his chest. He is going to push it in.
Paul says whoa whoa whoa. Stop. Don't kill yourself. We are all here. He couldn't believe it.
And I want you to notice how this man changed. Now this jailer he was hard. He whipped them. He didn't wash out their backs. He didn't offer them a word of kindness. He threw them in the inner dungeon. But when he saw this faith they had rejoicing despite their circumstances and the fact that they did not run when they could and in many ways should have he said, Sirs what must I do to be saved?
Well Paul knew a little bit about being a hard man too. Don't forget Paul used to be Saul of Tarsus and hunted down Christians. He could relate to a guy like this. He says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And this goes for all of your family as well. And this man believed. And this family believed. And they were baptized.
So here is what we need to do. We need to get perspective. God is on the throne. He is in control of our life. I should rejoice in the Lord whether I feel like it or not. I don't rejoice in my circumstances but in the Lord. Again give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever.
Closing Communion and Worship
So we come now to the communion table. And this is a place where we give thanks. And why do we give thanks? We give thanks because Jesus Christ the Son of God went to a cross and died for our sin. In fact when Jesus celebrated the last Passover with His own disciples we read, and when He had given thanks.
It is amazing. I mean Jesus being omniscient, all knowing, knew what was ahead. He had already identified the fact that Judas was His betrayer. He already spoke in detail about the fact that He was going to be beaten and whipped and crucified and everything else. But yet He gave thanks.
How could He give thanks knowing what was coming? He could give thanks because He knew His Father was in control. And He knew He was in the will of God. And He knew that great things would come as a result of His sacrifice.
So as we come to this table we want to do the same. Give thanks. And then we will receive communion. And then we will have a time of worship at the end. To just sort of put into practice what we have learned.
Lord. And I would like to see this be one of the loudest praise services we have ever had here at Harvest. As we say, man I don't care what my problems are. I don't care what I am going to do. I am going to give the sacrifice of praise to God.
Let's pray. Father thank You for Your Word to us. Thank You for Your gift to us. Thank You for Your plan that You have for each of us. And thank You that You are indeed in control of our lives and all circumstances that surround us. And there are times we don't understand. But we come back to the Word of God and we put our faith in You.
And I pray that You will offer comfort and strength to everyone here. And as we receive communion and as we worship You that You will be exalted. And we will see our problems for what they are. As we see You for who You are.
We commit this time of worship and communion to You now. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.