Rev Francisco BilogDeut.16:13-17
One day Pedro was hunting in the woods. It had been a slow day and he had yet to shoot any game. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around and saw a ferocious mountain lion only 20 yards away. Bill quickly raised his rifle to his shoulder, took aim and pulled the trigger. Click. The rifle didn’t fire. Click… click… click. Again, nothing – the gun was malfunctioning. By this time, the mountain lion had started toward Bill. In desperation, he threw down his rifle and ran.
Faster and faster he ran, with the mountain lion chasing him. The faster Pedro ran, the more the mountain lion gained on him Finally Bill came to the edge of a cliff. There was nowhere to go, so he dropped to his knees and began to pray. “O Lord, I pray that this mountain lion is a Christian.”
As Pedro looked up, he was surprised to see the mountain lion kneeling just a few feet away, praying, “Dear Lord, I pray that you’ll bless this food that I’m about to partake to the nourishment of my body…”
Thanksgiving is about the harvest… after a summer’s worth of work and waiting … the harvest is finally gathered and it is a celebration of the bounty that God has given. Credit belongs to God for the harvest in recognition of the fact that without His blessing we would receive no harvest. So the text my mind goes to is to Deuteronomy 16. Tells the command to celebrate the feast of weeks or Feast of Harvest (Ex.23:16) and the Feast of Tabernacles which is called feast of the Ingathering, which more appropriate for the time of the year (Sept.-Oct.)
Context tells of 3 feast to be celebrated, not one, not two, but three…
When something is repeated 3 times in Scripture it is there for a reason. What would the reason be? What is God saying through these 3 feasts? Why is he so adamant for the Israelites to carry it out? (16:16) MUST appear!! Three times a year…
They were commanded to celebrate 3 festival of thanksgiving every year to their awesome God who fulfilled all his promises of giving them land and blessing their animals and plants. (Deut 1:8), They no longer live in tents BUT have a home. So God kept His word, God moved powerfully and wonderfully (Deut.7:7-9).
Keyword #1 Celebrate. (V.10,11,13,14,15)
If our memory ever fails with regards to why we should remember to give thanks, remember this God loves a celebration.
If we can do this over and over again, it seems He does not tire of it. Look at Ps.136. of course Psalms is filled with celebration, most important is Ps. 100.
Keyword #2 Give.(V.10,… »17)
Celebrate by giving a freewill offering.in proportion to the blessing the LORD has given you. In other words, there is a recognition that God is blessing you. Basically, what is being said here is, I recognize that God by His loving and merciful hand has given me so much, and by giving up a portion of what He gave me, I am saying, He has blessed me. This means if I don’t give, I am insinuating that God has given me zero blessings, in fact He owes me, in fact He should cough up more. In fact, he is not a good God at all, He blasts me, rather blesses me. Have you held back giving, surely then, you need to look at your own heart and have you really count your blessings??? Live in country of abundance, with stuff coming out of our ears. Instead of remembering to give thanks we complain. Look at what the scripture says:
2 Cor.9:7 – give cheerfully… good work 1 Cor.16:1-2 set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, save it up ; in Acts 2:45 the early Christians sold their possessions and property and distributed the money to those in need, is that what we call sacrificial giving?
Some church bulletin prints monthly reminders for members to review giving, I wonder how many seriously looked at it and give, the church has agreed this is what is needed, that is why we have a meeting and approve a budget, challenging ourselves to give, BUT now need to challenge self to give and give because God has given you. Have we celebrate by giving… I don’t know what u earn, but base on stats from researchers it is well known that if God’s people were to even come close to giving 10% to the churches that they go to, most churches will be so full of money that they will pay off their debts instantly and won’t know what to do with the leftovers. To not give , is statement I choose not to believe in celebration, that God loves a celebration, that God has blest me so much. Which we know is not true… FROM day ONE reason Gen.1:27-28 image and blessed them!!! Gen.12:1-3 blessing the whole world. Choose not to give – refute message of Bible, that God is a God of blessing.
Next, what it means to give thanks is this word….
Keyword #3 REJOICE (V.11,14,15)
But you object, and say what’s there to rejoice about Thanksgiving … and what do you get?
Rejoice that there is a burden to carry, u will never know why He has given u burdens, which may turn out as the saying goes “a blessing in disguise”.
Last keyword: REMEMBER (V.12)
If God had not rescued you, you will be in no position to celebrate give and rejoice. Author of Deut reminds them of that.
Has not God rescued u? Saved u? Brought you out of slavery into freedom. This is why right now u can give freely in thanksgiving and not in mortal fear of your lives. With no freedom to move about, only exist to please masters of Egypt, what u labor for u don’t own, and you can’t give away what’s not yours.
Remember God brought you out with a mighty hand and He can do it again – that’ll be great reason remember to give thanks.
In what context do we hear words of Jesus that say “Do this in remembrance of me.” Deut 1:29, 2:7 See how God has been with you
Worship – re-experience God’s salvation today
Remember the grace, the love, the joy…
As you hear these four keywords today: 1. Celebrate; 2. Give; 3. Rejoice
4. Remember
Got lots of reasons to give thanks?
Will you follow carefully these words and let’s LIVE It UP?