“Gratuitous Thanks Or Sincere Gratitude?”
Text: Deuteronomy 8:10-20
11-23-2023
In the name of our God who showers upon us every blessing, dear friends in Christ. Recently I became aware of a disturbing new trend that is supposedly common among the younger generation. Gayleen and I gave a wedding gift to a niece but never received a thank you. So I asked one of my sisters-in-law if they had gotten one. She replied, “Oh, haven’t you heard? This generation of young people doesn’t do thank you’s.” My response was, “Good! Now I don’t have to give them any gifts either!” Call me old fashioned but expressing gratitude is not and should not be a “generational” thing. {I sincerely hope one of our younger members will tell that my sister-in-law was wrong about this trend.}
Seriously, look at how much time and energy we invest as parents in teaching our kids to say “thank you.” There may be exceptions, but getting a kid to say “thanks” is like pulling teeth. I’ve witnessed the scene over and over again. A child gets a present from Grandma, he rips it open and before you know it, he’s off and running. But Mom and Dad catch the little rascal and set him back in front of Grandma and say “Now what do you tell her?” Even if the kid knows what to say, he’ll usually squirm around a bit. But in the end, he knows a quick “thank you” will get him out of that uncomfortable situation. Even though it’s the right thing to do, that kind of gratitude is not very sincere.
Sadly, we have to admit that all too often this is exactly how we say our thanks to God. It’s just a passing phrase. We do it in order to be polite to God. But there’s very little depth or meaning to it. We take so much for granted in this life and it’s easy to forget about all the simple blessings we receive from God daily. We overlook them and, in the process, we forget Who it is that gives them to us. Not only do we forget that God is the giver, but sometimes we foolishly give ourselves credit for our blessings.
God knows this is how the sinful human mind operates and He warns against this kind of an attitude. Let’s take a look at the reading from Deuteronomy 8. These words were spoken by Moses to the Israelites. They had left their slavery in Egypt, and wandered in the desert 40 years. It was God’s hand who had freed them and He had guided them through the wilderness. It was God’s hand that had fed them daily and gave them water to drink in a waterless land. Now, they were standing on the brink of entering into the Promise Land. They would face many enemies there, but by the hand of God the Israelites would conquer them all. Then, they would settle down in the land of Canaan.
As strange as it may sound, it was in all these blessings that the problem was arose. The dangers of war and starvation were nothing compared to the dangers of comfort. You heard that right. The dangers of war and starvation were nothing compared to the dangers of comfort. When their lives were constantly threatened, they turned to the Lord for help. They cried out to Him and trusted in Him. And when He saved them, they lifted up their hearts in sincere thankfulness. But now they were going into a land which was rich with blessings. In Deuteronomy 6:10-12 Moses warns the people about this. He says, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
That warning to not forget the Lord who gave them all these blessings is then repeated 3 times in our reading from chapter 8. As a matter of fact, that’s what was behind the whole Passover celebration. It was commanded by God so that the Israelites wouldn’t forget how God had miraculously rescued them from their slavery in Egypt. Generation after generation was supposed to celebrate it by remembering God’s rich blessings of the past. They were to tell their children and teach them to remember also. Passover for the Jews was much like our Thanksgiving Day. It was a time to pause and remember. So, did they remember? Did they listen to Moses when he warned them to not forget the Lord? Sometimes they did. But more often, when they were living comfortably, they did not. And when they forgot their gracious and benevolent God and turned their backs on Him, that’s when the destruction came that Moses had warned them about.
I don’t know about you, but that scares the daylights out of me. And the reason why is because there’s a direct parallel to us. Our country has been abundantly blessed by God in so many ways. Our countless blessings include our freedom and prosperity. And yet, we forget don’t we? We live in a free land that most of us didn’t have to fight for. We enjoy so much wealth that we didn’t have to work for. We’re comfortable. And in that comfort lies the danger for us too. Like the Israelites, we forget where all these blessings came from. We forget that it was by the hand of God that all these blessings came our way. In our pride, we think that we created this strong and bountiful nation on our own. The warning of Moses is for us too: Be careful or your pride will bring destruction down upon you.
But even more important than that, we tend to take for granted the much greater blessing of our salvation. Through Baptism, we inherited the freedom from sin and damnation which we didn’t have to fight or pay for. Jesus paid it for us on the cross. He suffered and died so that we would never have to. And He didn’t stay in the grave, but He arose on Easter morning. In doing so, He declared His victory over sin and death. Because of His victory we now have a place reserved for us in heaven.
But let’s be honest. Our Baptisms have lost their deep meaning for many of us. That day has become like any other day on the calendar. That’s because we forgot the importance of God welcoming us into His family. And we’ve forgotten who paid the price for our freedom from sin. We’ve forgotten the enormous sacrifice that Jesus made in order to save us. He died, not so that we could live in a free country, but so that we might be free from the bondage to sin. Yet, we forget about that and in our sinful pride we try to take credit for our salvation. We buy into the crazy notion that God chose us because we’re such good people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ that kind of sinful pride will only lead to eternal destruction in hell. But our loving Father doesn’t want to see us destroyed. He loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son so that we might live in peace with Him. He loves us and He wants to turn our hearts back to Him. It shouldn’t require a crisis for us to recognize all His blessings. All that it requires is remembering. And what better time to start doing that than at Thanksgiving? I encourage you to begin a habit of remembering. Why not right now? Think of one of the special blessings which God has given to you recently or within the past year. It can be something as simple as a timely rain or as marvelous as a newborn child or grandchild. Pause today to remember some of those wonderful blessings that God has given to you and then sincerely thank Him for those blessings.
But don’t stop there! As you leave church today, even if it’s cloudy out, remember Who it was that filled the sky with stars and who put the sun in its place and who sends us the rain and the snow to water the earth. Thank God for that too. But don’t stop there either! Take the time daily to remember all that God has blessed you with, especially your family. Let them know that you’re thanking God for them. One of my favorite things to hear is when my wife says, “I thanked God for you today!” The feelings are mutual. But most important of all, don’t forget to thank God for the marvelous blessing of Jesus as our Savior and for the faith in Him that we’ve been freely given. Remembering all those blessings, may you then have a very happy and joy-filled Thanksgiving celebration. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!