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We're gonna go ahead and begin our worship. (soft music) (soft music) ♪ Though the nations rage ♪ ♪ Kingdoms rise and fall ♪ ♪ There is still one king ♪ ♪ Reigning over all ♪ ♪ So I will not fear ♪ ♪ For this truth remains ♪ ♪ That my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ Though the dread of night ♪ ♪ Overwhelms my soul ♪ ♪ He is here with me ♪ ♪ I am not alone ♪ ♪ Oh, his love is sure ♪ ♪ And he knows my name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ Though I may not see ♪ ♪ What the future brings ♪ ♪ I will watch and wait ♪ ♪ For the Savior, King ♪ ♪ Then my joy complete ♪ ♪ Standing face to face ♪ ♪ In the presence of the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ - Well, good morning.

Welcome to Berean Community Church. If you guys are here for the very first time, we do have, under the canopies outside, there's a welcome table for you guys to just find out more information about the church. And we will connect you to people if you're interested in just getting to learn more about our core values and our community.

I do have a couple announcements for us before we actually continue with the service. The first one is regarding Thanksgiving dinner. Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. And we have regional dinners. You've probably already signed up for those. We are having a live stream service at 6.30 with praise and with a short message from Pastor Peter.

And so it's imperative that if you guys are going to the dinners, that you guys get there on time so that it starts at five, you're eating, and then you're done eating and you're ready to go because we can't necessarily wait for you. And so that's gonna start promptly at 6.30.

So please do prepare accordingly. If you are over the age of 50, we're not trying to discriminate, but it is a category that we can discern. November 27th, which is two Sundays from now, there's a lunch for you. It's a community called the Jubilee Fellowship. And so, and that's for our members and non-members who are over 50.

And so that's gonna be at 1 p.m. So kind of keep a eye out for that. I do have a very cool announcement. For the first time in like three years, I think, we're gonna be having communion kind of back to how it was, where we're actually coming up toward the front instead of the little wafer things.

And so that's December 4th. So please do prepare your hearts accordingly and be ready for that. And on that day, maybe try to sit in a way where we can squeeze more people to partake in the communion. There are a lot of holiday outreach events and things that are going on, and some of them are time-sensitive.

So please do look at our app, look at our website, and you'll see whoever you need to contact, whatever it is that you're doing. And there are also deadlines for the date. So please take note of that. We're gonna take a time of offering now. And if you've brought a physical offering, there is a box in the back.

Otherwise, if you've brought an offering that you're ready to send electronically, please do so, and we do prioritize just the Zell. And so we're gonna, let me pray for us, and then we'll take a moment to give our offering to the Lord. Father, we are very grateful this morning, and we're particularly thankful that we're able to gather here to focus on all the reasons why we ought to give thanks.

And we pray that you would cause our hearts to be reflective, that you would feed us, that we would give you the worship that you are due. And at this time, we are bringing you, Lord, our offerings, just as a physical symbol that everything that we have is yours, and we're giving back to you what you called us to steward.

And Lord, we are giving you thanks through these offerings as well. And so we pray that you would give us wisdom to know how to appropriate those well and wisely. And we pray that this morning that you would take center stage and that your word will be clearly preached and that you would be honored.

And we pray all of these things in Jesus' name. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) Church family, let's all stand together as we worship. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Shaper of the stars ♪ ♪ You alone ♪ ♪ The dweller of my heart ♪ ♪ Mighty King ♪ ♪ How beautiful you are ♪ ♪ How beautiful ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ The Father's gift to us ♪ ♪ You alone ♪ ♪ We're broken on the altar of love ♪ ♪ Precious lamb ♪ ♪ Our freedom's in your blood ♪ ♪ It's in your blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, holy one ♪ ♪ I sing to you ♪ ♪ Forgiven ♪ ♪ Savior ♪ ♪ I'm overcome ♪ ♪ With your great love for me ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Strength beyond compare ♪ ♪ You alone ♪ ♪ The darkness cannot bear ♪ ♪ Lord of love ♪ ♪ Your kindness draws me near ♪ ♪ It draws me ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Prophecy of old ♪ ♪ You alone ♪ ♪ Redeemer of my soul ♪ ♪ Come again ♪ ♪ And lead your people home ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Come ♪ ♪ Lead us home ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, holy one ♪ ♪ I sing to you ♪ ♪ Forgiven ♪ ♪ Savior ♪ ♪ I'm overcome ♪ ♪ With your great love for me ♪ ♪ You are worthy, Lord ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all my praise ♪ ♪ You are beautiful ♪ ♪ So beautiful ♪ ♪ I will lift up my hands and sing ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all my praise ♪ ♪ You are beautiful ♪ ♪ So beautiful ♪ ♪ I will lift up my hands and sing ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, holy one ♪ ♪ I sing to you ♪ ♪ Forgiven ♪ ♪ Savior ♪ ♪ I'm overcome ♪ ♪ With your great love for me ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ There is a fountain ♪ ♪ Filled with blood ♪ ♪ Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ♪ ♪ And sinners plunged ♪ ♪ Beneath that flood ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ And sinners plunged ♪ ♪ Beneath that flood ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ The dying thief ♪ ♪ Rejoiced to see ♪ ♪ That fountain in his day ♪ ♪ And there have I ♪ ♪ Though vile as he ♪ ♪ Washed all my sins away ♪ ♪ Washed all my sins away ♪ ♪ Washed all my sins away ♪ ♪ And there have I ♪ ♪ Though vile as he ♪ ♪ Washed all my sins away ♪ ♪ Dear dying lamb ♪ ♪ Thy precious blood ♪ ♪ Shall never lose its power ♪ ♪ Till all the ransomed church of God ♪ ♪ Be saved to sin no more ♪ ♪ Be saved to sin no more ♪ ♪ Be saved to sin no more ♪ ♪ Till all the ransomed church of God ♪ ♪ Be saved to sin no more ♪ ♪ E'er since by faith I sought the stream ♪ ♪ Thy flowing wounds supplied ♪ ♪ Redeeming love has been my theme ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ Redeeming love has been my theme ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ When this poor lisping, stammering tongue ♪ ♪ Lies silent in the grave ♪ ♪ Then in a nobler, sweeter song ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ Then in a nobler, sweeter song ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ ♪ Then in a nobler, sweeter song ♪ ♪ I'll sing thy power to save ♪ - You may be seated.

- All right, good morning. Just as a kind of a preface, I've been told by several people that I look uncomfortable sometimes when I'm preaching, and I realize, 'cause the pulpit's a little shorter for me. And then my eyes are going bad. And then I asked my wife about it, and she said, "Yeah, but if you keep stooping down, "the light's gonna be reflected off your head, "and people are gonna know that you're going bald." So I was like, okay, I gotta try something different.

And then I got here at seven in the morning, and I asked Rachel Wong, I put my iPad up, and she said, "That looks kind of weird." So then I printed it out, but then there's a black streak across my manuscript, so I'm just gonna go with the iPad, all right?

So that's just the preface. So hopefully it doesn't distract or hinder. But let me pray for us, and then we're gonna just hear the word of the Lord. So let's pray together. Father, we ask this morning that you would speak, that you would cause our hearts to be reflective, and Lord, that you would cause us really to know how to worship in spirit and in truth, and to give a thanks offering that is appropriate to this time, and to what you've done.

So I pray that you would feed your sheep this morning, for we are listening. I pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. The text comes from Psalm 100, and I'm gonna be reading all five verses, verses one through five. Psalm 100, one through five. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God, and it is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

For the Lord is good, his loving kindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations, amen. I'm going to spend a large chunk of this morning walking you through Psalm 100, but before I do that, I wanna take a little time to think through the word thanksgiving. I find it appropriate, since we are about four days away from the Thanksgiving holiday, according to a poll taken in 2021, Thanksgiving Day is America's favorite holiday, and according to that same poll, Christmas comes in second, and coincidentally, Valentine's Day, for obvious reasons, comes in very last place, and if I had to choose a favorite holiday, I think it would be Thanksgiving as well.

For starters, you have at least a four-day weekend, and nowadays people get like a whole week. There is special food, and I'm not a big fan of turkey, but Thanksgiving ham, cream of corn are two of my favorite foods, and I've always liked like the crispness of the air here in California around Thanksgiving, and I feel like there's almost a smell of Thanksgiving, where you have the cool air, the leaves, and the scent of food being cooked, and Thanksgiving weekend, for a lot of families, is when the Christmas trees go up and the lights go up, and you've got Black Friday, Cyber Monday, where you can find deals, and in our 10 years abroad, Thanksgiving was the only holiday that actually would cause some degree of homesickness.

Tradition has it that the first Thanksgiving was held by the pilgrims in 1620, and a century and a half later, the founding fathers declared Thanksgiving to be a day of prayer and fasting, especially during the time of the Revolutionary War. So interestingly, for a large part of American history, Thanksgiving was not a day of feasting, but of fasting, and Thanksgiving, for the most part of American history, it's been a uniquely Christian holiday, as Christianity is the only religion founded entirely upon the grace of God and not on man's efforts or religiosity.

Thanksgiving the holiday is a favorite of most Americans, but not necessarily because they enjoy the giving of thanks. And even for us in this room, my guess is that there are a lot of things that we're looking forward to about this coming week completely unrelated to the giving of thanks.

Now, why is that? I don't think it's necessarily because we're like an ungrateful or like a discontented people, though I'm sure there is an element of that, but maybe it's because of our culture. In our culture, saying thank you is like good manners. It's etiquette, and you don't have to really mean it.

Take thank you cards, for example. We write thank you in them, and we give them out, like after a wedding, you give them out, but oftentimes, we give them out more out of obligation than genuine gratitude, because it's rude not to say thank you when someone meets your expectations, or when someone is kind, we offer thanks.

We teach our kids to say please and thank you, and we don't always tell them that they have to mean it. Saying thank you is the polite thing to do, and I think this kind of politeness seeps into our churches and our worship as well. When God meets an expectation, we say a polite thank you.

We don't necessarily feel thankful, but it's still an acknowledgement that God has taken care of us as he's supposed to. So in many ways, ours has become a please and thank you kind of Christianity with almost a spiritual entitlement that's seeped into our Christian culture, and an entitled people are rarely a genuinely thankful people.

But more than that, a reading of scripture leads me to conclude that innately, you and I are actually hostile toward the giving of thanks. It's perhaps because a genuine posture of thanks is a very uncomfortable one. It's a posture of indebtedness, and as pride-filled, sin-tainted creatures, we do not like to feel indebted.

It makes us feel weak, and real thankfulness offends. Take a minute to think about it. Take a second to think about that with me. Real thankfulness often leaves us feeling inferior or somehow helpless. When someone treats us out or does something significant for us that evokes an attitude of thanks, don't we feel like we need to repay that kindness?

If someone serves us in some way, don't we feel obligated to return the favor? Thank you for having us over for dinner. Next time, come over, let us cook for you. Oh, thank you for this gift. You really shouldn't have. I didn't bring you anything. (audience laughs) Real thankfulness is offensive to the sin-corrupted heart because the heart is forced to take a posture of indebtedness and humility, and naturally, a genuinely thankful attitude, I find, is very, very short-lived.

So it's understandable that Thanksgiving Day here in America has devolved. I find that even amongst many of my church-going friends, it seems like there's more and more grumbling and less and less gratitude with each passing year, and that's problematic because the scriptures teach us that gratitude and thanksgiving are extremely important to the Christian life.

They are to characterize the Christian life. They are hallmarks of the Christian life, so it's important. And let me read 1 Thessalonians 5, 18 for us. In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You wanna know what God's will is for your life?

He doesn't address career or a spouse or decisions. It's that you give thanks. And I doubt Paul is talking about just a lip-service acknowledgement that God has met an expectation. Colossians 2, 6-7 reads, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Colossians 2 informs us that an overflowing of gratitude is evidence that a person has received Christ Jesus as Lord. It's evidence. Romans 1, 21, for even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

So Romans 1 alludes to the fact that a lack of thanksgiving is actually the root of folly and sin. The lack of gratitude, if you follow the thought flow of Romans 1, is at the heart behind idolatry. Lack of thanksgiving always leads to idolatry. Idolatry always precludes the giving of thanks, and it's not just a vicious cycle, it's also evidence of a lack of regeneration.

So just from these three passages, we see that thankfulness is God's will, it is evidence of salvation, and the absence of it leads to sin. So a lack of thanksgiving is sin. And thanksgiving that is only lip service is actually deception and false humility. This week we're gonna be celebrating the Thanksgiving holidays, and for many of us in this room, it starts tonight.

This week we'll be enjoying the gatherings and the feasting and the time with loved ones, and my hope is that we who understand the grace and the kindness of God will give to God an offering of real thanks, amen? So as I mentioned in the beginning, I wanna spend this morning feeding off of and examining Psalm 100.

Some of your Bibles may even have the heading A Psalm of Giving Thanks written above the psalm. Psalm 100 is known as the Jubilate, J-U-B-I-L-A-T-E, the Jubilate, which literally means, "Oh, be joyful." And it's traditionally been a psalm used for liturgical worship, and basically it's an instructional guide for the corporate giving of thanks.

So here's the outline for today's sermon that's based on Psalm 100, and I'm gonna just walk you through Psalm 100 in kind of a question form, all right? The first point, how do we express our thanksgiving? What's the prescription of the scriptures? How do we express our thanksgiving? Second, why do we express our thanksgiving?

And the most important, so that we ensure it's not lip service, the most important question is, what biblically is thanksgiving? And we're gonna have to jump out of Psalm 100 for that, but what is it? The first two questions will be answered in Psalm 100, the how and the why of thanksgiving, and they're easy enough to understand.

It's not that complicated. But Psalm 100 doesn't quite explain what it is. And defining what thanksgiving is is of supreme importance, because you're gonna see in both the Old and the New Testaments that the offerings of thanks were at times rejected by God. So someone goes and gives a thanksgiving offering, and there is a no thank you very much.

We don't wanna say thank you to God and get a divine you're not welcome in response. So it's very important that we understand biblically what thanksgiving is, and remember, the Bible says that thanksgiving is God's will, it's evidence of salvation, and the absence of it is sin. So for this third question, we're gonna leave Psalm 100 and take a quick survey of the last four chapters of Hebrews, and we're gonna see what biblical thanksgiving is and what it isn't.

So here's the first point and first question. How do we express our thanksgiving? How do we express our thanksgiving? And I'm gonna take a look at Psalm 100 once again. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God.

It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name, for the Lord is good, his loving kindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations, amen.

There are seven commands. We call them imperatives here in these four verses. Seven commands. And they are listed in a kind of chiastic order. A chi spelled C-H-I is the Greek equivalent of our ex. So a chiastic structure is where there are parallels between the beginning and the end, and then the second section, and then the second to last section, and so on and so forth.

It's a literary tool used in biblical writings. And the emphasis and the highlight of every chiasm falls right at the center, at the point, at the juncture. So in English, the main idea or the thought is found in either the introduction or the conclusion, the first or last sentence of every paragraph.

But in the chiasm, it's in the middle. So I'm going to make it a little easier for your eyes to track along. So the seven imperatives are there in chiastic structure from verses one through four. And the imperative found in verse three is the main point, the main emphasis and the hinge on which everything turns.

And then verse five serves as a summary, once again elaborating on the point of verse three, and it's an exhortation for all of God's people to know God and to be known by God. So notice also how most of the imperatives here have an attitude or some kind of emotion attached to them.

Remember, what's the question? We're trying to discern how we are to give thanks. So Psalm 100 says that God's people are to shout joyfully, God's people are to serve gladly, we are to come with joyful singing, we are to enter with thanksgiving and praise, we are to give thanks and we are to bless.

And so these are the imperatives, the instructions on how we are to give thanks. And this giving of thanks is to be expressive, loud and passionate. Okay, the Asians in the room are already like a little bit uncomfortable, right? Expressive, loud, passionate. And I'm going to help you visualize what this is supposed to look like.

Think of your favorite stadium, sports arena, and you're there, and you're watching your favorite team win the World Series, the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup, whatever it is, you are in attendance for that. The buzzer sounds, and your team has just won it all in front of the home crowd.

So even if you've never been to something like that, you can imagine the entire crowd erupting in loud cheers, dancing in celebration, high-fiving complete strangers, jumping up and down, and hugging it out. And this is the visual I get for Psalm 100. It's a global celebration, and the joy and the energy of it, it's not containable.

It's just raucous, it's loud. So God's people are to erupt into joyful shouting, into exultant singing and praise, and to serve God in such a way that he is at the center, that he is glorified, and he is celebrated. So the joy and adulation and the praises and the shouts, they're not forced.

They're not fake. They're only a natural response of celebration appropriate to the moment. So God's people are to just shout, serve, joyfully sing, cheer, dance, celebrate. And that is the how God's people are to give thanks. Now I'm not saying to do this tonight at your regional dinner, or on Thursday with your relatives.

It might not go well. And my advice, which hopefully is not a contradiction to my own sermon point, is that you should be careful not to be this expressive at dinner, read the room, okay? It might unnecessarily weird some people out, but take comfort in knowing that many read this psalm as prophecy.

Matthew Henry, a Bible commentator of the early 1700s, says this about Psalm 100. This song of praise should be considered as a prophecy and even used as a prayer for the coming of that time when all people shall know that the Lord, he is God, and shall become his worshipers and the sheep of his pasture.

Great encouragement is given us in worshiping God to do it cheerfully. If when we strayed like wandering sheep, he has brought us again to his fold, we have indeed abundant cause to bless his name. The matter of praise and the motives to it are very important. Know ye what God is in himself and what he is to you, know it, consider and apply it, and then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious in his worship.

So most of this will be future, but not all of our exuberance should be limited to only our worship in heaven. Hopefully we get a little taste of it this week, and hopefully we have real moments like this on this side of eternity. The main imperative of Psalm 100 is know that the Lord himself is God, and this is both an already and a not yet.

This knowledge of God was initiated when you genuinely put your faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross. At that moment, you were given a new heart and the spirit of God was deposited in you, and if that was done to you at some point in your personal history, you already have a growing knowledge of God.

On this side of eternity, our knowledge of God is going to be imperfect. It won't be a face-to-face kind of a knowledge. It's going to be limited, but if you've placed your faith in Christ, eternity has already started for you, and eternity spent knowing God has already started, and if you are a child of God, there will have been moments in this life that have been filled with wonder, awe, and praise, and you will have erupted in spontaneous worship.

You will have given thanks, not just for the material things that he has given you, but you've been awestruck by who he is, and you've been dumbfounded and utterly humbled that this God of the universe would draw near to you, so how do we give thanks in the present?

By joyfully and actively celebrating the growing knowledge of God. That's the how, and this brings me to my second point. Why do we express our thanksgiving? Why do we express our thanksgiving? The reasons why we are to give thanks are found in verse three and five. Verse three, the knowing of God is the main point.

Verse five is an elaboration or a summarization of this main point. Okay, so I wanna read verse three and five for you again. Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Verse five, for the Lord is good. His lovingkindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations. So there are basically six descriptions of God which make up the reason why you and I are to give thanks. Six reasons, okay? So we find in verse three, three descriptions of who he is, and then in verse five, three descriptions of what he is like.

Three descriptions of who he is and three descriptions of what he is like. So he is God, he is creator, he is the shepherd, and what is he like? He is good. His lovingkindness is everlasting, and he is eternally faithful. This is the why. The saint of God is to respond in exultant praise and thanksgiving because of who he is and what he is like, and that's what you and I have been created for.

A good and all-powerful God knows us, loves us, tends to our every need, and we have been created to give thanks. That's the very purpose for which we have been created, to give thanks. If I were to insert a Christian into Romans 121, it would read something like this.

For because they knew God, they honored him as God and gave thanks, and they grew in wisdom, and the light of Christ shined brightly in their hearts. And you notice here in Psalm 100 that there is no call to respond to what he has given or what blessing he has bestowed.

You guys notice that? The what has he done for me lately reasoning is nowhere to be found in the thankful Christian heart. It's completely unrelated to circumstance. He is creation, our creator, we are creation. He is sovereign, we are dependent. He is king of kings, and we have been chosen to be called his people.

He is the good shepherd, we are his sheep. He is fearsome and terrifying and all-powerful like Aslan the lion, but he is good. He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, he goes after the sheep even when it mathematically does not make sense. His loving kindness is everlasting.

You guys know what everlasting means? His loving kindness is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is eternally faithful, and his faithfulness to us is absolutely not dependent on our faithfulness to him, how much we've prayed, how much we've been giving and offering, how much we've done devotion, how often we've evangelized.

It is completely unrelated to our faithfulness. Second Timothy 2.13 says that if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. God is faithful, that is who he is. And we are his. We are, of course, to give thanks for what he does for us. But more than being thankful for what he does for us, we're supposed to be thankful for who he is to us.

When I give my kids a gift, I don't get them a toy that I know that they're not gonna like. If I go to Target, I'll pick out something that I know my kids will like 'cause I know them, appropriate to their age and situation. And when I get them a gift, I want them to enjoy it and I love it when they say, thank you, Daddy, for this gift.

I'm very happy about that. I don't reject it. But what gives me greater joy is when they say something like this on a cheesy card, you're the best Daddy in the world. Obviously, that's not objectively true. When they say, you're my favorite Daddy, I'm like, well, you have no other options.

But when they say, you're the best Daddy in the world, what they're saying is, I love having you as my Daddy, regardless of what I give him. We have been created, of course, to enjoy all the good gifts that the Creator gives. But we've been created to enjoy the Creator more than to enjoy the Creator's gifts.

Hopefully, you're tracking. We are to be thankful that we are His and that He knows us intimately. The people of God know their God. Take a look at how Psalm 100 in verse three describes the saints. We have been created. We are His people. We are His sheep. That's the description.

We have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God, but sin leads us to believe that He exists to love us, to serve us, and to do our bidding. Sin makes us think we have every right to elevate ourselves on equal plane with God and that we have every right to reject Him if He does not satisfy our needs.

That's what sin does to our thinking and causes us to be foolish and darkened. So why do we give thanks to God? Let me summarize. Because He is good, we're not. He is love, we're not lovable. He is faithful even when we are not. And this good, loving, faithful God has intentionally chosen a wicked, unlovable, and a faithless people to Himself for Himself.

He didn't decide only to be merciful, but in His grace, He chose to make us who were objects, technon, children, spawn, targets of wrath, and He elevated us to adopted children, judges of even angels, co-heirs with Christ. If you understand that, how do you not give thanks? He is a God who not only gives help and gives relief, I mean, oftentimes we seek Him when we need help, right?

He is a God who not only changes our circumstances, but who can and does change our nature. He takes a dead corpse and gives it newness of life. Happiness and approval over a favorable change of circumstance is not the same thing as thanksgiving. I'm gonna repeat that. Happiness and approval over a favorable change of circumstance is not the same thing as thanksgiving.

I wanna take a look at Luke 17, and this story may be familiar with many of you. Luke 17, 11 to 19. While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a distance met Him, and they raised their voices saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests, "and as they were going, they were cleansed." Now, I wanna pause there.

Jesus responds to the lepers' requests for mercy and for healing. He responds. They cry, and He responds. And remember, leprosy was an incurable disease. It separated you from all your friends, all your family, but most importantly, you felt separated from God because many viewed leprosy as a punishment for some sin.

But Jesus, He sends them to the priests so they could be examined according to Levitical law, and then socially accepted back into their communities, back at their work, back amongst their friends, and the text tells us that they were cleansed on the way. And for sure, this was a very favorable change of circumstance.

This changed everything. And I assume all 10 lepers were super happy. All 10 lepers would probably say to you that they are so thankful 'cause their lives are now improved drastically in every way. But verse 15 continues. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to Him.

And he was a Samaritan. And then Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.

The Samaritan leper turns back, returns to give thanks and glory to God. All 10 lepers are happy. All 10 are made glad by the change of circumstance, but only one returns in faith and gives thanks and glory to God. All 10 had their circumstances changed, but it appears that only one had his nature changed.

All 10, I'm sure, were ecstatic to be made well, but it appears that only one had been truly made whole, shalom, wholeness, being restored not just to his community and family, but to his creator. And perhaps this man had an advantage as a Samaritan, who believed themselves to be ethnically outside of the favor of God.

On the outside looking in, he knew he was unworthy at that time simply because of his ethnic makeup. But perhaps this gave him an insight into truly how unworthy he really was. Maybe the Jewish lepers felt entitled 'cause they had been told from the time that they were born that the messianic king of the Jews would one day come and redeem his people.

He would set everything straight for the Jews. So perhaps this Samaritan leper knew better than the other nine that all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He cannot compare laterally. Everybody's in desperate need of grace, and he can only cling, not to any earthly merit, but only to the mercies of this God.

There's a reason why Jesus has said in Luke 7 that those who have been forgiven much love much. Maybe when we fail to remember how desperately rotten we are we feel entitled to the kindness and favor of God. Pride kills gratitude. Pride kills gratitude. But when we are killed of our pride, we understand the grace of God.

And remember, that makes us incredibly uncomfortable because gratitude is an offense to the very core of our pride. This brings me to one more parable which is found in the very next chapter of Luke. Jesus tells this parable, Luke 18, nine to 14. And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, that they were religious and viewed others with contempt.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. I like to imagine Psalm 100 is being obeyed, so they're like, "Okay, we should go to the temple." All right, so they're there. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself.

"God, I thank you "that I am not like other people, "swindlers, unjust, adulterers, "or even like this, that tax collector. "I fast twice a week. "I pay tithes of all that I get. "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, "was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, "but was beating his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

"I tell you, this man went to his house justified, "saved, whole, well, healed. "That man went home justified, rather than the other. "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, "but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Remember, true thanksgiving is uncomfortable because it makes us feel indebted and helpless.

The text here says that the Pharisee gave thanks. Why? Because God made him so spiritually sexy. That's what he's thinking. I'm legit. I am a gift to the world. There's a phrase in Korean, I know most of you guys are not Koreans, like jal-la-suh, right? That just means like born of good stock, and it's kind of like a derogatory way of saying someone is proud and pompous.

This Pharisee was thanking God that God had made him so jal-la-suh. Maybe if we feel spiritually superior to those around us, we've been doing well spiritually, unlike that guy. It prevents us from giving thanks. Lateral comparison is always a surefire way to kill gratitude, and in our culture, there's a lot of it.

So why do we give thanks to God? Not primarily because he has given us good circumstances or material blessings, not primarily because he's met all of our expectations, not primarily because he made us better than other people. We give thanks to God mainly because he is good, he has been good, and he will continue to be good.

Luke 18, 19, if you keep going down the parable, someone says, "Good teacher," and Jesus says, "Why do you call me good?" Only God is good. Do you know what sorts of people cannot give thanks to God? Those who believe themselves to be worthy of God, those who believe themselves to be deserving of the blessings of God.

May we be those who humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may lift us up in due time. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, in everything, even if you are going through the gauntlet at the moment, in everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Third question, what then is biblical definition of thanksgiving? What is it? 'Cause it's still a little bit like vague. What is it? I was mulling over Hebrews 10 to 13, all four chapters, and I was just reading through it again and again, and then I put together this definition of thanksgiving.

And here are some of the elements. It requires faith. 'Cause Hebrews 11, six, "Without faith, "it's impossible to please God." It's based on a blood sacrifice. Abel is mentioned in the beginning and at the end of Hebrews 11. And then Christ's blood is compared to be better than Abel's, so there's a blood sacrifice that's given.

There's a bold confidence in approaching the throne of holy, holy, holy God. There is a perseverance and a joy, and a looking forward to a better city. There is nothing looked forward to in this life, in Hebrews 10 to 13. And that's always been the case. We praise God not because he's good to us in this life, but because he is good, and we will fully know face to face that he is supremely good when we meet him for all eternity.

Gratitude is founded and focused upon God's eternal throne of grace. So I'm looking through Hebrews 10 to 13, and I have like a six-sentence definition, so I narrowed it down to just like two lines. And here it is. You don't need to copy this down because it could change a little bit tomorrow, and it's on the slide, okay?

The virtue or act of blessing God by means of a faith-filled submission to his sovereignty and discipline, Hebrews 12, and a joy-filled reverence in being brought near to his throne of grace. That's Thanksgiving. And here's a summary verse, Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. And I was debating between this and Hebrews 13, five, which says, be content.

Do not be greedy for money, be content with what you have, because he has said, never will I leave you or forsake you, but I felt like this one kind of captured it better. Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Our God is a jealous God. He's a consuming fire. But interestingly enough, a heart of genuine gratitude appeases and pleases God. Why do we show gratitude? Because we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Everything on this side of eternity can easily be shaken. Some of you guys are being shaken right now in circumstances.

We've been learning in 2 Peter that everything on this side of eternity, the heavens and the earth are being reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men, everything. But because of the blood of Jesus, you and I, we don't have to worry about none of that.

Nothing that happens here affects us. This is just a blip. This is temporary. This is all crash and burn. This is thorns and thistles. But we're spending eternity elsewhere. So we don't worry about any of that, because we're inheriting a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We're good. 'Cause he is good.

My definition of Thanksgiving may have been a mouthful and probably you're not gonna remember, but let me emotionally simplify it for you. It's an exaltation in this truth. And this truth is gonna be easy to memorize because we sing this line. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.

To look on him and pardon me. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon a wretch like me. That's why we give thanks. If you go to a baseball game or a basketball game in the middle of the season, especially if it's like a bad season like the Lakers are having right now, why are you laughing?

It hurts. Sometimes in those games, when things get kind of dry and boring, the PA announcer has to try and hype up the crowd. You guys ever been to a game in the middle of a season? Everybody clap your hands. And then people do stuff, right? Let's make some noise.

And people, ah! It's fascinating. In many ways, every year, Thanksgiving Day is kind of like our spiritual PA announcer. Everybody clap your hands, right? Everybody gain some weight. Whatever it is, every year it comes to remind us that we need to, at the very least, give a lip service offering of thanks.

Every year, when things are kind of mundane and dry. But if a team has just won a championship, the ultimate victory, the season ended with the ultimate victory, the entire arena will erupt in celebration. No one needs to be told what to do. No further instructions are needed. Even the PA announcer is unnecessary.

He's too busy jumping up and down and cheering himself. He's forgetting that that's his work. He's a fan, and he's elated like everybody else. That's a, we get a taste of heaven even during the mundane parts of the year. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week filled with reflection.

And hopefully it whets your appetite for the Thanksgiving of all Thanksgivings, amen? For God, the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. To look on him and pardon me. And I'm gonna close with a familiar passage. May it remind you of the real reason to give real thanks this morning, Romans 8, 31 to 39.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect?

God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God. Who is also intercedes, present tense, for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress, persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, all that is in Hebrews as well, just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, hallelujah.

(congregation laughing) What are we thankful for? Let's pray together. I wanna give you a minute to just answer that question, what are you thankful for? And if you're having a hard time figuring out what to be thankful for, there is an impediment that is there. My encouragement to you is that you ask the Lord to draw near, to show his character to you.

And if you've tasted the kindness and the goodness of the love of God, offer him a genuine prayer of thanksgiving, not for what he gives, but for what he has done. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) Father, we give thanks, we bless your name, because you are worthy of all praise.

And we submit ourselves to our purpose, which is to give you glory. And to give you thanks. So thank you, Lord, for the blood of Christ, which has given us access to the throne of grace. And help us to be a thankful people, a joyful people, a compassionate people, so that the world will know that you are a good God by our testimony in our lives, amen.

Church family, let's go ahead and stand together as we close. (gentle music) Before the throne. ♪ Before the throne of God above ♪ ♪ I have a strong and perfect place ♪ ♪ Where I praise to whose name is love ♪ ♪ Whoever lives and prays for me ♪ ♪ My name is graven on his hands ♪ ♪ My name is written on his heart ♪ ♪ I know that while in heaven he stands ♪ ♪ No tongue can bear me thus defied ♪ ♪ No tongue can bear me thus defied ♪ ♪ When Satan tells ♪ ♪ When Satan tells me to despair ♪ ♪ And tells me of the guilt within ♪ ♪ Upward I look and see him there ♪ ♪ Who made an end to all my sin ♪ ♪ Because the sinless Savior died ♪ ♪ My sinful soul is counted free ♪ ♪ For God the just is satisfied ♪ ♪ To look on him and pardon me ♪ ♪ To look on him and pardon me ♪ ♪ In golden bed of risen lamb ♪ ♪ My perfect spotless righteousness ♪ ♪ The brave unchangeable I am ♪ ♪ The king of glory and of grace ♪ ♪ One with himself I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is purchased by his blood ♪ ♪ My life is given Christ on high ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior and my God ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior and my God ♪ ♪ One with himself I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is purchased by his blood ♪ ♪ My life is given Christ on high ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior and my God ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior and my God ♪ - Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each and every one of us who has tasted and seen the kindness and the goodness of the grace of God now and forever, amen.

♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ My Savior lived ♪ ♪ Because he lived ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lived ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lived ♪ - Amen.

♪ Still we are in the worst day ♪ ♪ 'Cause the world's broken up ♪ - Elder Joe, you sound like a problem. - It's hard, huh? ♪ I'm still in the worst day ♪ ♪ Feel the death so hard to bear ♪ ♪ Death, you die, the way time goes ♪ ♪ There ain't a way to go ♪ ♪ So where do you go ♪ ♪ Where do you go ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, I miss you ♪ ♪ I miss you ♪ ♪ I want all of you to be ♪ ♪ I miss you ♪