Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving should be more than just a time of year, it should be a lifestyle. For many of the faithful people we read about in the Bible, that’s exactly what it was. We have pages filled with praises for God and His wonders. We have verse after verse that remind us of the great things He has done in the great “story” of salvation. The mere but amazing fact that we are here at all is something to be indescribably grateful for. God is praised for His creation, His works, His wonders, His glories, and the revelation of His word and His will in the Bible itself as well as the Word became flesh, the man Jesus Christ.

Praise should never be on the backburner, but life is not so simple. These very same people that praised God in all these good times are also the ones that Praised God when things got tough. These are the people that praised God in the exile after being removed from the Promised Land. These are the people that praised God despite experiencing losses like David did. These are people that praised God like Peter and Paul did from their prison cells after being beaten and ridiculed.

It is often hard to praise, but it’s important.

Praising God in worship helps us in many ways. In so many ways, the world is working against us. Let us never try to fight these battles alone, or at all. Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us that it’s not our place to do the fighting or our place to do the winning. Instead, we are encouraged to surrender – not to the enemy, but to the Lord. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray.

The challenge with this approach is that we might have the wrong idea of prayer. If I could only think of the right words to say. If I could develop a really good argument. If I could make my case, make some valid points then I know my prayer would be answered the way I want it to be. This approach to prayer brings stress upon stress when we know we ought to pray but we don’t know what to say. But that’s exactly what’s wrong with this approach. We need to bring out broken hearts to God, not our fancy words and long-winded, empty prayers.

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray anyway.

Paul has been through a lot. He gave up a lot. He changed his whole life because of Jesus and because of that his whole life was forever changed. Better still, his life was eternally changed. Paul had the faith and humility to praise God even when it was hard or he didn’t know what to say. Now that’s hard to believe! The person who God used through the Holy Spirit to write so many of the books of the New Testament might not know what to say? Well, Paul gives us this wisdom in the book of Romans and he may even be writing from experience:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27).

Did you see that? When we do not know what we ought to pray for the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. So when you think you don't know what to say, pray anyway.

The best thing we can do, wherever we are in life, whatever is going on, is pray.

Peace in Our Time

There’s a great many blessings of God that are far off. We long for the day when there will be no more pain and no more tears. We long for the time when there will be no more night and the Lord will be the light for His people. We hope beyond hope for the death of death and for the final defeat of evil. We pray for relief from the burdens we carry, the fear of the future, and the worries of tomorrow. We cherish the forgiveness we find in Jesus. We cling to His promise of reconciliation and sanctification. We share the grace and mercy we’ve received with others so they can find in the Lord salvation and hope.

These will come. Some have in part, some will not come until the end. For these we wait in hopeful anticipation at the coming of the Lord on the last day. We know beyond knowing and believe beyond believing in these promises of God. But they are lacking. They are incomplete. They are not yet.

We need something for today. Jesus tells us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We need something not just in the distant future, but we need hope and assurance now. The beauty of the promises of God is that He doesn’t just give us something for tomorrow, but He gives for us today just what we need.

We know we’ve made mistakes. We know we’ve lived in sin. We know we’ve failed to obey. We know of ways we’ve failed to love. God doesn’t just give us promises for us to wait on, but in the promise of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we can have peace now. Jesus bears our burdens with us not just in the future but today. Peter writes, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7). In Hebrews we are reminded, “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5). These promises come from the word of the Lord in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

And Jesus Himself gives us the assurance, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Mt. 6:26). And Jesus keeps His promises.

So when we find ourselves in need, let us remember to pray. Let us remember the family we have here in our church that loves us and cares for us. When we are worried, let us bring our heart to God for comfort and strength. We have a great many things on our minds that work to bring us down. Our Lord builds us up and keeps us and protects us. He had made us many promises that we look forward to being fulfilled one day. But let us not neglect the blessings He gives us each and every day. 

Unity

When Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household” in Matthew 10:34-36, He may not have had in mind the same dividing factors that we might.

In today’s world, it seems we are ready to divide over just about anything. This, of course, has its roots in the current rejection of the word of God as relevant, powerful, effective, and authoritative in people’s lives. Therefore, each person is taking it upon themselves to construct for themselves a certain moral code or ethical standard by which they will live and also expect others to follow suit. Naturally, with the subjective nature of human perception, the limited view we have of others, the exalted view we have of self, and the inability to truly know what is good apart from God all of this hand-wringing serves only to create more division, strife, tension, and animosity even among people that claim to be following God.

The truth is that many people aren’t all that interested in being consistent, honest, or humble in their studies. The result is a different set of beliefs that work however strenuously but ultimately insufficiently to support a view that helps them the most. Worse still, these conclusions are often held up not before but in place of the standard of Scripture and therefore determine with whom we can fellowship and call a brother or sister in Christ.

The dividing factors Jesus considered had to do with His identity, His Gospel message, and His reign. But people are very good at elevating their own ideas to the level of division. In the early church, Paul was helped by the Spirit to write letters to the churches to help resolve these disputes and recalibrate the fellowship so that it would be a Christ-centered community.

In Ephesus, there were struggles with race, class, background, status, and even religious understanding. In Ephesians 4:3-6, Paul shows the importance we should place on unity: ”Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” The oneness that Paul reminds us of here should help us see that quite often, there are “bigger fish to fry” when it comes to division and our efforts are often made towards proving our argument right rather than striving to be unified before the Creator.

Paul in Ephesians describes Christians that should be marked by peace. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:13-18)

Let us then be very careful in what we elevate, exalt, and honor when it comes to the faith. Let our faith always be rooted in Christ and His teachings and the teachings of the apostles by the Holy Spirit. Let our thoughts and hearts be shaped and molded by the Lord as we strive every day to live up to our calling. Sometimes, division must come that the truth may be seen. Let’s just make sure it’s the truth about Jesus that is our standard.