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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, be looking at the Old Testament reading for Deuteronomy as the text for the sermon. Please be seated.
I think most people like to be thankful. I mean, really, who wants to be known as a person who’s not thankful? But perhaps too often, giving thanks gets reserved for Thanksgiving Day only and Christmas. And now giving thanks on Thanksgiving Day is a good thing. I’ll admit that there’s a time on Thanksgiving Day when I really don’t feel like giving thanks. Or at least giving thanks for an extended period of time. And that time is meal time. When the people gathered together who are hungry, probably didn’t eat the rest of the day because they’ve been stocking up for this big meal. No. They’re sitting around the table and all of the food is prepared, sitting on the table in full view with the aroma of every dish permeating the entire house. The whole scene, all of that, the whole scene says, eat! And then the plan is revealed. Let’s go around the table and everyone say what they are most thankful for this year. And I’m like, no! No! Let’s eat! Or the pre-meal prayer goes on forever. And you’ve got your head bowed down right in front of the food and it’s just taunting you. Eat.
Now, don’t get me wrong, okay? Those are good things to do and if that’s what you plan to do tomorrow, don’t let me guilt you out of it, okay? Thanksgiving Day and the meal on Thanksgiving are great times for giving thanks. Especially if the Cowboys and the Longhorns win, that better happen, come on. But it also seems like just a great, it’s a great time to give thanks, but it’s a great time also to eat. That wasn’t even a joke, but that’s really good. High five, there we go, yeah.
And yet, when thanks is given, most times, not just only on Thanksgiving Day, but people give thanks for good things. Anytime we give thanks, the tendency is to give thanks only for good times and good things in life. We may not be so thankful in those times that are, let’s just say, bad. And you probably know what I mean, what bad times are. Tough times. Times when things aren’t going so well. Times when maybe you’re humbled. Times when you hurt. Times when you’re hurt. Times when relationships are bad. Times when your employment is of concern. Times when finances are tight. Times when you’re uncertain about things and they seem out of control. Times when you don’t feel like giving thanks, much less eating. Times when you just don’t feel thankful.
Those are bad times because they can take focus away. Off of the good that God is doing in your life. And there are bad times, like in that first reading from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy tonight, where Moses is reminding the Israelites of the bad times that they had. Times when they were in the wilderness for 40 years. Times when they were tested by God. When they were disciplined by Him. He reminds them of the times that they failed to keep God’s commands. But they were also reminded that these bad times were times when they were still provided for. They went through testing and discipline in the wilderness, but God brought them through it. They were hungry, but God still provided food. They had no new clothes, but their clothes didn’t wear out. And apparently their feet didn’t swell up.
Moses reminded them that they had sinned, that they had disobeyed and rebelled against God, but even in the bad time of their sinning, of disobeying God’s commands, even during the time of their testing and their discipline, times of their wandering, God still provided them with good things and good times. He promised to still bring them into a good land… With brooks of water and fountains and springs, with wheat and barley and all kinds of good crops to eat and be satisfied with. All of that happening in their bad times.
In other words, God promised a good place of good things and good times during their bad times. And a good place and good time that God was providing… It was even in their bad times, God was going to provide a good place for them, good times for them, and a place where he was going to say, eat, even in their bad times. And in reminding them of these bad times, God shows them that there’s still reason to give thanks in those bad times. Bad times are still times when God provides. I guess if you get anything out of this sermon tonight, it’s that line. Bad times are still times when God provides good times. Times when God says to you, eat, even in bad times.
Because we’re no different than the Israelites. We have bad times too. That’s because we also sin. We also disobey God’s commands and rebel against Him. We have times in the wilderness. We have times of testing. We have times when God disciplines us. There’s times when we seem to go hungry and don’t have new clothes. Times when our feet seem to be swelling, whatever that means for them. I really never figured that out. But we all do our part to make this world a bad place. We disobey God. We hurt others. We may even hurt ourselves sometimes.
But those bad times is still a place and time where God says, eat. It’s still times that God provides for you. Still times that He has good things and good times for you. He reminds us that even in the bad times of our sinning, of our disobeying God’s commands, of our testing, of our wandering in the desert, He still promises good things and good times. He promises things. To bring us into a good land with brooks of water, fountains and springs and wheat and barley and all kinds of crops to eat and be satisfied. In other words, a good place of good things and good times. A good place and time that God provides even in our bad times. A good place where God says eat.
God shows us that there’s still reason to give thanks even in bad times. Now this good place… And good time for the people of Israel was the promised land, where they eventually would end up at. But for us, that promise is a person. It’s the promised Savior, God’s Son, Jesus. Jesus is God’s good provision in our bad times. In Jesus, God the Father wants to forgive you when you create your own bad times. When your disobedience and your rebellion against God causes bad times for others and even for you, He wants to forgive that.
He wants to forgive when we disobey God’s command. When we wander in the wilderness disobeying Him, ignoring Him. In Jesus, we have the greatest opportunity of giving thanks in good and bad times. Jesus lived a good and even perfect life, teaching good things about the kingdom of God and showing the goodness of God by healing others. But bad times came to Jesus too. Perhaps you know that, that he got arrested, he was beaten, abused, spit on, and then crucified, nailed to a cross and died there. But we give thanks even in that badness.
We give thanks even in the badness of the cross that on that fateful and terrible day when he died, we still give thanks for Christ’s death because it’s for our good. It’s the payment for our bad times. It’s the payment for our sinning. God takes the bad time of Jesus’ death and makes it into a good time for us. That’s really why it’s called Good Friday, and I don’t want this to become a Holy Week sermon here, but it’s because of that goodness of Good Friday that we have the goodness of the forgiveness of sins, my sins, your sins, and the sins of those who have sinned against you.
In all of that bad is the good of Jesus. Really, just think. Even in your sins that cause your bad times or cause the bad times for other people, God still gives you the good of Jesus. Jesus’ death is a time when God says to us, eat, and a great gift of God that very graphically illustrates this is the good place and the good time of the Lord’s Supper. Where we have the privilege of receiving God’s good gifts of his death, of his body and blood, given and shed for you. He’s prepared the food, set it on the table. And yes, even the smell can permeate the room sometimes. And we gather around the food at the table and are given bread and wine. And Jesus says to us, eat. Eat. Take and eat. This is my body given for you and this is my blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins.
This is a great good time and good place where we receive goodness from the bad time of Jesus’ death. But of course, Christ’s death, that’s not the end of the story, is it? It’s not the end of God’s providing for us because three days after he died, he rose again. And in the time and place of His resurrection, Jesus defeated death and gives us eternal life. It’s like He makes our whole life a complete good time. Despite what’s happening in our earthly life, there’s always this promise of good eternal life that really should make all of our life good and that we can give thanks in at all times.
Again, on Thanksgiving Day, at the Thanksgiving meal, and perhaps most times that we give thanks, it’s usually for the tendency to give thanks for the good times and the good things. I mean, at the Thanksgiving meal, we’d rather give thanks for the cranberries and not the commands of God. We favor giving thanks for turkey and not testing. We tend to give thanks for the dessert and not the desert wilderness, but the bad times. They, too, are times when God says, I still provide for you. I still promise you good things and good times. I still forgive you. I still love you. The bad times are still times when God says, eat.
So maybe tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day, you’re gathered with your people there or wherever you are, and you can take the opportunity to give thanks for the good and bad times. In fact, maybe even totally throw everybody off at the table and ask them to give thanks for a bad time in their life. I dare you. But even if not, may you be satisfied in both good and bad times and give thanks and praise for the Lord our God for all that He gives for you. Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
