Message by Pastor John Culp :  October 26, 2008

“Thinking of Thanking”

Text – 1 Chronicles 16: 7-13; 23-27; 31-36

     Well, it’s just nine days away. 

     You know what I’m talking about.  The 2008 Presidential campaign (which I’m sure has been going on for at least ten years now) is almost over.  I certainly hope you plan to vote!  And this close to Election Day, I feel sure that know for whom you plan to vote for President.

     Here’s a good question: What are your main reasons for choosing your candidate? 

     Probably you have lots of reasons, of course.  For some, party affiliation is primary.  Some of us, I’m sure, in every single presidential election in which we’ve voted over the years, have cast our ballot for the Democratic nominee, or for the Republican.  Maybe you plan to vote this time around, or have voted in the past, for a third party candidate.  But since most don’t, I’m thinking here mainly of the two major party candidates.

     Maybe in deciding how you’ll vote this year one particular issue that stands out, whether it’s immigration or abortion or the economy or the war in Iraq.

     Taxes are always a big concern.  Conventional wisdom would hold that, if you want to keep taxes down, you should vote for Republican Senator McCain.  At least that’s the conventional wisdom according to the Republicans!  But I think it’s very interesting to note that in this campaign, both candidates have been promising that they’ll give tax cuts to more of us than will the other guy.

     According to similar conventional wisdom, if you feel the country is really headed in the wrong direction, if you see a great need for change, you should vote for Democratic Senator Obama.  The Democrats, of course, are historically fond of saying that theirs is the more progressive party.  Conservatives, after all, tend to conserve things, including the status quo.  But it’s been interesting again to note that each of our two candidates has been insisting that he’ll bring about more real change than will his opponent.

     One thing on which I think we can all agree: We’re glad that this interminable campaign will soon be over!  And may God bless our nation through the election and the days that follow.  But we all have our reasons for choosing which lever we plan to pull on Election Day.

     How many reasons can you think of . . . for thanking God?

     Gratitude to our loving heavenly Father should of course be a constant refrain in any believer’s life. 

     But I’m thinking of thanking today in particular in the context of stewardship.  We’re starting today what we plan will be a three-week emphasis on stewardship.  It is surely a topic well worth study for the Christian!  Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul has written a book whose title gives us a pretty clear idea of its contents: Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow.  The essential things Dr. Sproul identifies are worship, Bible study, prayer, service – and, you guessed it, stewardship.  Fail to grow in any one of the five, Dr. Sproul would say, and you can’t grow as you should as a believer.  I heartily agree!

     A simple definition is in order.  A steward is one who manages something for someone else, who is the owner.  If you’ve been in the church for many years, you probably know that stewardship is generally associated with money.  That connection is fair enough!   But stewardship really encompasses much more.  Stewardship is a life attitude that recognizes that what I tend to think of as ‘my’ money isn’t really mine.  It belongs to God.  But the same is true of ‘my’ possessions; ‘my’ time; ‘my’ abilities; ‘my’ opportunities; even ‘my’ body, and indeed all of life itself.  Stewardship reminds me that the eternal Owner of all those things will one day expect of me an account of what use I have made of them.

     But that sure reality should never make us bitter or resentful!  Here’s where thankfulness comes in.  You probably know that gratitude is a recurring theme throughout the Bible.  Nobody expresses thanks to God more powerfully or more beautifully than does David, the great psalmist of Israel.  And David is surely at his grateful best in the glorious hymn of thanksgiving recorded in 1 Chronicles 16.

Christian stewardship is never a burden for us

when we remember, as David reminds us in his great psalm of praise,

the many reasons we have to thank our good God.

     I trust that you have good reasons for choosing the candidate for whom you plan to vote on November 4.  You know that you always have abundant reasons for giving thanks to God!  In 1 Chronicles 16, we see three primary areas: who God is; what God does; and how He saves.  Let’s look at each.

     Think first with me about who God is.

     David writes: “For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.”  (1 Chronicles 16:25-26 NKJV)

     In that simple statement (“For the LORD made the heavens…”), David lays a firm foundation for our worship, adoration, devotion – and our thanks.  The opening verse of the Bible passes so easily under our eyes and through our lips.  But if we really think for even moment about all we affirm in saying, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), we must know that those few words alone give us abundant reason to spend our entire lives in a constant hymn of thanks.

     God’s unimaginable creative power gives Him greatness beyond anything we can even imagine.  Now when we think of greatness, that description is immediately tarnished by the great people we know – either by reputation or in person.  So we associate greatness with arrogance, with self-importance, aloofness and distance.

     But God’s greatness is so completely different!  In Jesus Christ God is not only the almighty Creator.  He is also God-with-Us, Emmanuel, the One whose power is matched by His love; He whose majesty is equaled by His mercy; the One whose glory is no greater than His goodness.  So He is fully deserving of not only our worship, but also our loving thanks.

     Alanus de Rupe was a late medieval Dominican theologian renowned as a preacher.  Charles Spurgeon, the great 19^th century British pastor, loved to tell story about him.  According to the story, one Lord’s Day Alanus told his congregation that the following week he would preach a sermon that would unravel for them the mystery of the Trinity.

     That week one day as he was studying by the seashore in preparation for that task, he saw a young boy very busy trudging back and forth between the sea and a small hole he had dug in the ground.  Alanus asked the boy what he was doing.  The boy replied, “I intend to bring the whole ocean into this pit.”

     Alanus was a bit taken aback: “Why do you attempt such impossibilities, and waste your time?”

     The boy answered, “So do you, Alanus.  I will as likely bring all the sea into this hole as you bring all the knowledge of the Trinity into your head.  They are equally possible.  We have begun together, we shall finish together.  But of the two endeavors, mine is more hopeful.”   (quoted by Thomas Adams in The Quotable Spurgeon, [Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990])

     We can’t begin to get to the bottom of God’s amazing greatness.  But we can spend our whole lives on our faces before Him, in constant prayers of praise and thanksgiving.

     David teaches us as much in the powerful poetry of his psalm.

     So having begun by thinking about who God is, we go on to remember what He does.

     In his great hymn, David bids us: “Make known [God’s] deeds among the peoples! … Talk of all His wondrous works! … Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth…” (1 Chronicles 16:8-12)

     For David those were not mere words, surely not just some nice religious thoughts!  The king could readily think on the national level, remembering God’s rich blessings to Israel.  He could think of the Lord’s having chosen Abraham to receive the rich blessings of His eternal covenant.  He could recall God’s having spared His people through four centuries in the furnace of Egyptian slavery.  He would surely remember the way God brought them out in a mighty, miraculous Exodus, and how the Lord revealed Himself and His holiness to them in giving the Law through Moses, and then spared them through the grueling conquest of the Promised Land.

     But David no doubt also thought of God’s great blessings to him personally.  His Lord had spared him through numerous brushes with danger as a young shepherd.  He had chosen him above all his people to be anointed as king, and then protected him through years as a fugitive from the murderous wrath of a rejected King Saul.  God had guarded David as well through his years as warrior – all the way back to his youthful defeat of Goliath, through his ongoing battles with enemies on every side of Israel.

     Would we be so foolish as to claim that God has done any less for us?  He has given each of us life, and delivered us through pain and hardship in many forms across the years.  He has placed us in this land of unprecedented freedom and prosperity.  In the fullness of time He has revealed Himself to us more completely than ever He did even to David, in the life and teachings of His Son Jesus. 

     Do we really need any more reasons to give Him heartfelt thanks?

     This fellow was hired as the new Chief Executive Officer of a large tech corporation.  The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes.  “Open one of these if you ever run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” he said.  The new chief thanked him and shoved the envelopes in a desk drawer.

     Things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and the CEO was really catching a lot of heat.  Almost at his wit’s end, he remembered the envelopes.  He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope.  The message read, “Blame your predecessor.”

     The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO.  Satisfied with his comments, the press – and Wall Street – responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

     About a year later, the company was again experiencing a dip in sales, combined with some serious product problems.  Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope.  The message read, “Reorganize.”  So he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

     After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times.  The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.  The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

     Sometimes it may seem that people – even people like us – are not any more creative or productive on the job than was that guy!  Of course you could never say the same about God.   Throughout our days we breathe deeply the air of His grace.  He blesses us moment by moment.  One of best ways we have to express profound gratitude for all He does for us is to gratefully cultivate lives of faithful stewardship before the One who is the Source of all those blessings, the real Owner of all we have.

     So David reminds us to think about thanking God for who He is, and what He does.  But he also reminds us of the glories of how He saves.

     The shepherd-psalmist is, of course, quite clear about that as well.  He cries out, “Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day…The trees of the woods shall rejoice before the LORD, For He is coming to judge the earth.  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.  And say, ‘Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.’ ” (1 Chronicles 16:23; 33-35)

     Again, David would be thinking here largely of physical deliverance – from dangers, from enemies.  But his words translate readily enough to our context as New Covenant believers in Christ – especially when he bids us to “Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day…” (16:23).

     The Apostle Paul is no doubt thinking of that salvation when he declares (in the words of today’s New Testament lesson), “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him” (2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV).

     Earlier I shared an illustration that was a favorite of Charles Spurgeon’s.  Spurgeon also told the story of a sailing ship that was once making its way along the northern coast of South America, when it came in sight of other vessel.  The first ship hailed the second, and then by the elaborate system of flags used in those days, signaled, “Dying for water!” 

     The reply came back: “Dip it up then.  You are in the mouth of the Amazon river.”

     There was fresh water all around them, and all they had to do was to dip it up, but they were dying of thirst because they thought themselves surrounded by salt water.  (The Quotable Spurgeon, [Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990])

     That story serves as wonderful metaphor, both of the mortal need we all have for a Savior – a need greater even than that of a man dying of thirst – and of the abundance of God’s saving grace for us in Christ.  Many of us have heard the Good News so often that both of those life-giving truths can be lost on us. 

     May God give us the grace to be struck daily by the wonder of His saving mercy, and to respond by not only accepting His gift of Christ, but also by pouring out thanks to our Savior God through lives of faithful stewardship.

     I’ve heard that there are believers who stay away from worship if they get wind in advance that the focus will be on stewardship.  I suppose that’s largely because they know that when we talk about stewardship, we will be thinking a lot about money.  They probably know that the biblical notion of stewardship teaches us that, in the final analysis, none of it is really ours – that it all truly belongs to God.  Folks who don’t like to hear about stewardship probably remember that when we talk about stewardship, some of that talk might well include the biblical principle of the tithe, that first ten percent of our income that God expects us to gratefully return to Him.        

     What a shame, that they feel that way!  I really love to preach on stewardship, no doubt for a lot of reasons.  But the primary one is that I know that stewardship is a deeply spiritual matter, one that’s intimately bound up with our faith in, our relationship to Jesus Christ.                                                                                        

     Anne Keegan wrote for the Chicago Tribune for nearly a quarter of a century, often telling tales of the fascinating people who make up the Windy City.  Her series “Blue Christmas” was a collection of Christmas stories told by Chicago police officers.  One was the story of George White.

     George lived in a rented room at the YMCA.  He had one set of clothes, shoes wrapped in rubber bands to keep the soles from flapping, and a threadbare black overcoat.  He spent his mornings napping in an old metal chair by the heater in the back of the 18^th District office.  Two officers, Kitowski and Mitch, took an interest in the old man,   occasionally slipping him a few bucks.  They found out that Billy the Greek over at the G&W grill gave George a hot breakfast every morning, no charge.

     The two policemen and their families always shared Christmas dinner, and one year they decided to invite George as their guest.  They gave him presents, which he unwrapped carefully.  

     As they drove him back to the Y, George asked, “Are these presents really mine to keep?” 

     They assured him that they were.  “Then we must stop at the G&W before I go home,” he said.  And with that, George started re-wrapping his presents.                          

     When they walked into the restaurant, Billy the Greek was there as always.  “You been good to me, Billy,” said George.  “Now I can be good to you.  Merry Christmas!” 

     George gave away all his presents on the spot.                           

     (Chicago Tribune Magazine [12/24/95].  Fresh Illustrations for  Preaching and Teaching 

         [Baker], from the editors of Leadership.)                                                                    

     Billy the Greek was a fallen mortal.  God is, well, God.  Billy gave George breakfast every day.  God has given you no less than everything you have, all that you are.  At little cost to himself, Billy saved George from having to look elsewhere for his morning meal.  At the cost of His beloved Son, God has saved you from eternal condemnation, if you trust in Christ alone, and in Him has given you new life, abundant life, eternal life.

     King David reminds us that we always have plenty of cause to give God thanks.  George’s example teaches us that the way to embody that thanks is to live lives of faithful stewardship.  May we each do so, joyfully giving as we have received.                   

     Let us pray.  Every time we think about it, dear Lord, we know that You have given us all that we have.  And in doing so You have blessed us extravagantly, sparing not even Your beloved Son.  So many reasons to give You thanks!  Please forgive us when we hold back.  And please teach us to be good stewards, ones who faithfully use all that You have entrusted to us, living out our thanks by giving – freely; abundantly; joyfully.  We pray in the name of the One who is Your greatest gift to us, even Christ our Savior.    Amen.