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Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is good... We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy endures forever. And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100)

True thanksgiving is not a single Thursday in November but a lifestyle dominated by gratitude to the God who made us and saved us.

A Difficult Climate for Giving Thanks

Have you ever found it difficult to give thanks? It's a rhetorical question, and most of us would answer yes. We've all known times when we didn't want to or didn't know how to give thanks.

This first decade of the 21st century has been full of difficulty. We've seen terrorism—not just in our nation but around the world. We've witnessed war, experienced an economic collapse, and endured earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, and fires. Some mornings you wake up expecting to hear something bad on the news. There are places in the world mostly unaffected by such things—not that they don't experience hardship, but they aren't bombarded hour by hour like we are. In such a climate, it sometimes is difficult to give thanks.

Yet America is one of only a handful of nations with a national holiday for giving thanks. Thanksgiving is distinctive: it doesn't commemorate a battle or remember anyone's birth or death. It is simply a day set aside to express thanks. As I thought about it this week, three questions came to mind: Are we giving thanks? Who are we giving thanks to? And what are we giving thanks for?

Are We Giving Thanks?

For some time, Thanksgiving has been more associated with turkey, football, and the start of the Christmas shopping season than with actually giving thanks. Many retailers wait until the week after Thanksgiving to see if they've met their benchmarks for success. Only in America is consumption a sport. Some people take Thanksgiving off to rest up for the day of shopping that follows.

It wasn't always this way. In 1789 our first president, George Washington—neither Democrat nor Republican—issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor... Whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

Things may have changed a little. He asked that all would unite in rendering unto God "our sincere and humble thanks."

Paul told Timothy:

I exhort therefore first of all, that supplications and prayers and giving of thanks be made for all men... For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. (1 Timothy 2:1, 3)

Notice two things. Paul says "first of all"—thanksgiving ought to play an important part in our lives, not just on one day a year, but as a dominating part of our lives as followers of God. And he says it is "good and acceptable to God." Hebrews 13 tells us that we New Testament believers are to offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. We often picture sacrifice as Old Testament lambs and goats, but our sacrifices are offered in thanksgiving and praise, and they are good and acceptable to the Lord.

In Everything Give Thanks

Paul writes:

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Notice he does not say for everything give thanks, but in everything. Many trying and difficult things come into our lives, things allowed of God that ultimately work out for good, even though they don't seem good at the time. We would find it hard to thank God for such things. But it is an important aspect of enduring tribulation that we learn to give thanks in them. In giving thanks during difficult circumstances, we are reminded of how good our God is, even if the circumstance itself is not good.

People often ask, "What is God's will for my life?" Here is one answer: it is God's will that we give thanks.

Who Are We Giving Thanks To?

A story is told of the 19th-century sociologist, writer, and atheist Harriet Martineau. One morning a lady visited her, and Harriet led her into a garden in full bloom. Waving her hands over the flowers, Harriet said, "Who wouldn't be grateful for blessings such as these?" The lady answered, "Miss Martineau, grateful to whom, according to your theory?" Harriet smiled and said, "Well, I guess you have me there."

I find it interesting that there isn't more outcry among secular atheistic groups against Thanksgiving. For years people have tried to remove Christmas and Easter from the public sector, but they haven't really addressed Thanksgiving—even though Christmas and Easter have pagan roots and Thanksgiving does not. Thanksgiving is wholly focused on giving thanks to Almighty God, and the president proclaims it every year. Why no outcry? I would suggest they recognize the need to be thankful, even though they don't know whom to thank.

We Christians know whom we thank. Psalm 92 says it is a good thing to give thanks to God. The Psalms repeat it over and over: "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks" (75:1); "O give thanks unto the Lord" again and again in Psalms 105, 106, 107, 118, 119, 122, and 136.

What Are We Giving Thanks For?

At this time of year, children young and old make lists—what we want for Christmas, who we're buying gifts for, who we're sending cards to. But do we have lists of what we're thankful for? Do we take time to consider it?

As is our tradition here at Calvary Chapel, every Wednesday before Thanksgiving we dedicate our midweek service to giving thanks, with microphones set up for the body of Christ to share. I hope to see you this Wednesday at 7 o'clock—bring a neighbor or friend. I'm always amazed, and it's one of my favorite services, how people get up and share difficult things and yet say, "I'm thankful to God." Why? Because it's in the midst of those difficult things that we find God is there, that He is near.

I'll save my full list for Wednesday, but I'm thankful for my wife, my children, my family, our extended family here in the church, and that we live in a nation such as ours.

God Is Merciful and Good

Psalm 106:1 says, "Praise ye the Lord, give thanks to the Lord," and adds, "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever." We should be thankful that God is good and merciful.

After Israel came out of Egypt, they came to Mount Sinai to meet with God. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the law, the people below departed from the Lord in their hearts. They made a god of gold, worshiped it, danced around it, and gave thanks to it for redeeming them out of Egypt. Praise and thanksgiving directed in the wrong direction is idolatry.

God then brought Moses a great test in the form of an offer: "I will destroy them and start over with you—they'll be the children of Moses." That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Moses passed the test by interceding for the people, and there he witnessed the mercy, grace, and goodness of God. In awe he said, "Lord, show me your glory." God replied that no one could see His glory and live, but He made provision, allowing Moses to see something of His glory as He passed by:

The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. (Exodus 34:6)

In Scripture a name is synonymous with character. The first attribute God puts forward is merciful. I am so thankful that the first thing He highlights is His mercy. He goes on: gracious, patient, good, full of truth, full of forgiveness. He is also just—He by no means clears the guilty—but His mercy is preeminent.

His Love, His Nearness, His Word

We should be thankful for God's unfailing love. Psalm 107:8 says, "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love." That love was demonstrated while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), while we were dead in trespasses and sins, when He made us alive together with His Son, because God is rich in mercy and great in love (Ephesians 2:4). Jeremiah 31 calls it an everlasting love: "Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love."

We are thankful because God is always near. Psalm 145:18 says, "The Lord is near to them that call upon him." Some of our nation's founders were deists who believed God wound up the clock and then withdrew to the far side of the universe, uninterested in the affairs of man. But that is not the God of Scripture. God is near to those who call on Him, and Psalm 118:21 tells us He hears and answers our prayers: "I will praise thee, for you have heard me, and are become my salvation." In Jeremiah 33 He says, "Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know."

We are thankful because God has given us His everlasting word. David said, "At midnight I will rise and give thanks unto thee, because of your righteous judgments" (Psalm 119:62). And we are thankful because God has given us everlasting life. Hebrews 12:28 says, "Since we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful."

Thanks Be Unto God for His Unspeakable Gift

Above all, we give thanks because God has given His only begotten Son. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That everlasting life is a gift: "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). Paul exclaims, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

We could make a list dominated by temporal things—our house, our car, even our dishwasher. All are good things to be thankful for, but they are passing away. The one who is truly thankful finds the enduring things of God in Christ, for that person is eternally grateful.

The Greek word for thanksgiving is eucharistia, a compound of eu and charis, grace. We have received grace, and therefore we are graciously thankful. Strong's defines grace as "the divine influence upon the heart and its result in the life," including gratitude. God working in us should make us a people of gratitude—and the world, when it sees Christians, should see a people dominated with thanksgiving, not just one day a year but every day.

What Awaits the Unthankful?

Consider Romans 1. Paul writes:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believes... the just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16–17)

That is something to be thankful for. But what awaits the unthankful?

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness... Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. (Romans 1:18, 21)

James 1:17 says every good and perfect gift comes from God. Whether or not a man follows God, he has received great gifts—God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Yet one sign of the last days, Paul tells Timothy, is that men would be unthankful:

In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy. (2 Timothy 3:1–2)

A judgment awaits those who are not thankful to God for the immeasurable blessings He has poured out. How could someone be unthankful? I would suggest four reasons: they're clueless, careless, callous, or covetous. Clueless—they don't realize they should be thankful or recognize God's blessings. Careless—they notice but don't bother. Callous—they simply don't care to worship. Or covetous—they feel shortchanged: "That guy has more than me, and that's not fair."

Plan to Be Thankful

Oh, that men would praise the Lord! Psalm 100 says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands." This exhortation is not just to Israel or one small group. It's to all nations, and verse 5 says it is for all generations, because the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures forever.

We worship and give thanks by making a joyful noise. Perhaps you say, "I don't sing well." God didn't say make a good-sounding song; He said make a joyful noise. A good friend in high school was the most tone-deaf person I've ever met, but every time we gathered for worship he sang at the top of his lungs—and I know God was pleased.

We also give thanks by serving the Lord with gladness. Your service to the Lord is worship; it gives thanks to His name when you serve Him gladly, not begrudgingly. Why should we do these things? "Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." We are not self-made. America thinks it's full of self-made people who therefore owe thanks to no one. False. God made you; you have what you have because God has been gracious, and that abundance gives you a responsibility to be thankful. He has made us His people and the sheep of His pasture; He is a good shepherd.

So we enter into His gates with thanksgiving. That means we must make it our aim to appear before Him and plan to be thankful—because thanksgiving just doesn't happen. It is my prayer that in my life people would see thanksgiving not only on the fourth Thursday of every year, but in every aspect of my life. I know that's not always the case, but I pray God would work that recognition in me—that He is good, His mercy endures forever, and He is worthy of our praise, our devotion, and our glad service to bring glory to His name.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you today. We bless your name for all that you are and all that you've given to us. God, we don't even fully comprehend the greatness of the blessing you have poured out upon us. We don't completely know how good we truly have it from your hand. But throughout eternity we will begin to grasp and understand the greatness of your love, your mercy, and your truth. God, even now, as we close this service and prepare for a holiday wherein we are to give thanks, help us, Lord, to recognize your goodness and to bless your name. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.