Thankful Rememberings
A meditation for the celebration of the Lord's Supper on Sunday 11/27/05:
As we near the end of Thanksgiving weekend, consider with me what we have just celebrated. In Thanksgiving we have a holiday, much like communion, designed to set aside a period of time, a celebration and a feast to remember God and proclaim our thankfulness to him. We pause, remember, and say to God that everything that we have is not from us, but is from him. As Abraham Lincoln said it on his Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863:
"...No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November...a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens...1"
Now what have we stopped and thanked God for this Thanksgiving? While I give a small sampling of my list, you think of yours: Life, health, my wife, my family, my smallgroup, my church, my house, the excellent food that I over-ate, the Broncos' win over the Cowboys, my safe trip to Tucson, and more seriously my faith, my salvation, and the forgiveness of my sins. Some of these may seem superficial but it is right to give thanks for these things, Ephesians 5:20 says that we are to give "thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." What an excellent holiday, designed to allow us a chance to pause and say "Thank you" to God, recognizing, like James 1:17 says, that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above."
And ultimately, you know what Thanksgiving forces me to remember? It forces me to remember that all of these gifts that I enjoy came at great cost to God. It forces me to remember that they all are gracious gifts from God, for I deserve none of them. You know what I deserve? Death. The truth is that so often I have demonstrated through my actions, words, and thoughts that I really don't want God around, in fact I would dethrone Him if possible and set myself up in His place. I have committed high treason against the God of the universe today. I have no defense; I am guilty. Therefore, all that I have earned through my life is eternal death in Hell, separate from glorious God. So when I get, and you get, and anybody from the best Boy Scout to the worst mass murderer enjoys a breath of air or another second of life, that's grace. Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 that when the sun rises and the rain falls, God is demonstrating His loving grace. Your heart just beat, pumping oxygen to your brain: Grace! You have a family: Grace! You are not in hell in agony at this moment: Extreme, undeserved, unasked-for, tender, loving GRACE! And that grace is not free. The only way that God, being a just Judge, could give us that grace was because Jesus Christ, God the Son, stepped out of heaven and died the death that we deserve. That is what we remember right now as we participate in the Lord's Supper; that is what we give thanks for.
But we have missed something very important in our thankfulness. We have thus far thanked God for His gifts, but have you yet thanked Him this Thanksgiving for the gift of Himself to us? There is a great danger in considering all the gifts that God has given us; the danger is that we forget the Giver of the gifts. We have said already that Jesus' death that we celebrate and proclaim with this Lord's Supper has purchased us all things here on earth as well as our eternal home in Heaven. However, I need to ask you a question that you must consider carefully. Would you be content with salvation if it purchased only a heaven filled with family, food, friends, and comfort, but God was not there?2 Are you more grateful for God's gifts than you are in God's gift of Himself?
1 Peter 3:18 says that "Christ suffered once for all for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." Consider that last part, "That he might bring us to God". The goal of Christ's sacrifice was that we would be with God. Being with God, enjoying Him, praising Him, loving Him, and being loved by Him in such a way that He would die to make Himself available to us: That is the greatest gift for which we must give thanks this Thanksgiving.
For those who cannot wait for that day, this time is one to celebrate and remember Him, whose return we long for, whose sacrifice on the cross purchased everything we give thanks for, especially the gift of Himself. If you do not have this hope, please let the cup and the bread pass by and consider that even the breath you continue to rebeliously breathe is a gift from God; I beg you to turn from your sins and embrace Him who died to give you life.
So as you take the cup and the bread, consider the love of God, that the Creator would become a creature of flesh and blood. Confess your sins to him and rejoice in the forgiveness that He has secured by His blood. And give thanks to him for everything you enjoy, especially your greatest Joy, God Himself.
Matthew 26:26 describes how Jesus instituted what we practice today. What we are doing right now looks forward to that great day where we will feast at the table with Him in God's kingdom. Jesus said, "I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." What a great day that will be when we are together with God!
"As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.'" Take the bread. "And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Take the cup. "I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
1 Thanks to Tim Challies for directing me to this Thanksgiving Proclamation2For more read God is the Gospel by John Piper