Living a Life that Matters: Thanksgiving
Do you want to live a life that matters? Of course you do. That is one of our greatest needs. To live a life that matters. Over the next several weeks leading into Christmas, we are going to look at some things we can do that will matter, not just for today, but for eternity.
We live in an anxious, uneasy world. We wonder how long our good health will hold out. H1N1 is still out there, there seems to be more and more cases of cancer, and of course, none of us is getting any younger. And what about health care? Insurance prices? Government run? We worry about our money – will we have enough to retire? And will our jobs survive? Is our country going to hell in a hand basket? And that doesn’t even take into account the things that keep each of us awake at night, those so personal details that we don’t dare share out loud.
In the midst of all of this turmoil, we’re asking, “Do you want to live a life that matters?”
Of course we want to live a life that matters. When you come to the end of your life, do you want to realize that you missed out on life because you were too worried about what might happen? Paul tells the church in Philippi “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
I love this: in the midst of worrisome situations, Paul tells us to pray about it. By prayer and petition, present your requests to God. We get that part. There are no atheists in foxholes. When we’re in trouble, we pray. But Paul didn’t just say that. He said, “with thanksgiving.” This is a whole ‘nother story.
The Greek word that we translate as thanksgiving might sound familiar to some of you: it is eucharistos, which comes from the prefix eu: good, well + charizomai [from charis: grace] to freely give, to grant as a favor, deliver, forgive.
God freely gives us his grace and delivers us from bondage, from the bondage of sin and guilt and from the punishment in Hell that comes from sin. Is it any wonder that Paul tells us to present our prayers with thanksgiving? We have everything to be thankful for – and I mean everything.
I wonder if sometimes we just go through the motions when it comes to prayer. We pray over something for a few days, weeks even, and when we don’t see any results, we come to the conclusion that God isn’t listening. But the kind of prayer that Paul tells us to pray includes thanksgiving. Even in the worst situations, there is something to be thankful for. Like: your parents keep hounding you and they are driving you nuts: be thankful that you have parents – and even more, be thankful that they care. You drive an ugly car: be thankful that you have transportation. You’re struggling in school: be thankful that you have the opportunity to go to school. You don’t like your job: be thankful that you have a job. In every situation, you can find something to be thankful for.
I want to bring this a little closer to home. Unless you’re visiting with us this week, you know that Tara and I are foster parents. We have shared personally with many of you about Baby J, but some of you don’t know, so here’s the situation: the county department of job and family services’ goal for Jason is reconciliation with his birth parents. They have been very attentive to come to their weekly visitation with Baby J and are taking some parenting classes and have an evaluation set in December to hopefully reunite them.
Our entire family loves Baby Jason very much, and we would love to keep him. Initially we were given the indication that this would be a foster-to-adopt placement, that we would most likely get to keep him. But that doesn’t look very likely. Many of you have expressed to us that you could never do that: you would end up loving that baby so much that you could never give him back to his birth parents. I can relate to that feeling, and when that day comes, our entire family is going to need your support, encouragement, and love.
But to say that “I could never do that” is short sighted at best. As a foster parent, I am thankful for every moment with Baby J. And in all reality, it’s not a whole lot different from Jonathan and Andrew. We are not guaranteed tomorrow with either of them. Even if we were, it goes awfully fast. Anyone with grown children: how long ago does it seem that your kids were my kids’ ages? It went pretty fast, didn’t it? They were little, in your arms. Then they were “big boys” and “big girls” and then all of a sudden they were driving, then graduating, then getting married…
We all know it’s going to be like that. But did that stop us from having children? Did we ever say, “We’re only going to have these children for 18 years and then, poof, empty nest… that will be too hard. We shouldn’t have kids at all.” Or did any of you, in your teens or twenties, in the midst of young love, say to your beloved, “I would love to marry you, but one day you might die, and I couldn’t stand the loss. So I’m not going to put myself out there.”
That would be ridiculous. Absolutely pointless. No, instead you spend your time thankful for the moments you have together. You thank God for each and every smile, each and every fond memory. That’s what being a parent is all about. It’s what being married is all about. And it’s what being a foster parent is all about.
There are people who just don’t seem to be grateful. I remember once having a homeless gentleman come to my church to ask for money. It’s just not a good policy for a church to keep or to give out cash, but we did have food available, so I brought him to choose some food. Someone had donated a coat, and I gave it to him. He was the most ungrateful person I’d ever met. He acted as if he was doing me a favor by taking the coat off my hands. He wouldn’t even let me pray with him before he left. I’ve also given gifts to people who just didn’t care about them. Gift-giving occasions were tough when we were dirt poor, because there were some people on our lists who had expensive tastes, and we didn’t have much money at all.
On the other hand, there are people like Ival Hunsucker. In 2004, I went to Appalachia with a group to serve. We were assigned to Ival, a 72 year old woman who lived alone in a completely run down house. Our team did a lot of work for her, and through the eight weeks, her house went through a transformation. We worked really hard, but we felt like we were the real beneficiaries. She had so little – her house was rotting around her, but she was grateful for everything. She took us in and loved us as if we were her own children or grandchildren. And this wasn’t the exception to the rule: we found that even when a family had absolutely nothing, they were grateful for life itself.
And once we start to gain, especially materially, we often begin to lose our gratitude, we take our eyes off God, and we lose our way. This is one of the problems that we see repeated in the Old Testament. King Amaziah, for example, started out doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Chronicles 25:2), but he wasn’t wholehearted. He went to war against his enemies and brought back the spoils of victory, including Edomite idols, which he set up to worship. His successor, Uzziah, “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success” (2 Chronicles 26:4-5). But when he became powerful, his pride led to his downfall (v. 16) and he became unfaithful to God. This is frequently what happens when we get too much. Is it any wonder that Jesus proclaimed “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24).
Our riches, our power, and our situation tend to blind us to everything else. It’s like walking into a dark room and stumbling around. After a while, we get used to the darkness. Then what happens when someone finally turns a light on? It’s overwhelming, and our eyes can’t handle it.
This is kind of how I felt when I began hearing information about human trafficking right here in Ohio. Did you know that every year, between 500-750 children here in Ohio are victims of human trafficking. Ohio. I was shocked and overwhelmed when I began hearing the data. But my eyes are getting accustomed to the light that God is shining into the darkness, and I am determined that we are going to be a church that makes a difference in the lives of these young victims of human trafficking. The statistics are horrible, but we can do something about it. This is as good a time as any to remind you that Christmas is not your birthday. You can celebrate your birthday on your birthday, but on Christmas we’re going to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. During this Christmas season, I challenge you to give Jesus a birthday gift by supporting Gracehaven House. Gracehaven seeks through Christian love to provide shelter and rehabilitation to girls under the age of 18 who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and to raise awareness among young women about the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) in order to educate and equip them so that they can avoid becoming victims themselves. I challenge you to match whatever you spend on yourself, your family, and your friends, and give that to Jesus. Remember that this is above and beyond your regular tithing and giving; if your boss gave you a “Christmas bonus” instead of your monthly paycheck, you’d be plenty mad. And doesn’t Jesus deserve more?
Remember how I defined thanksgiving earlier? Part of the definition was “to deliver” – we can offer deliverance to young girls who have been bought and sold.
You can think of it as a thanksgiving offering – in Old Testament times, there were all sorts of offerings and sacrifices that the people were to make, including a thanksgiving offering. This was part of being the people of God; when His people received from God, they gave thanks. And we don’t serve a grumpy old god who just can’t wait to see us beg and grovel at his feet. We serve a God who tells us to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). God gives us good gifts – the best gift. Do you want to have the things that matter? Ask God for them. Seek them. Because God gives, and when God gives, He gives freely. God gives us Himself. Jesus Christ came in the flesh and gave himself for us. The Holy Spirit comes and lives within us.
Living a life that matters begins with thanksgiving.
We live in an anxious, uneasy world. We wonder how long our good health will hold out. H1N1 is still out there, there seems to be more and more cases of cancer, and of course, none of us is getting any younger. And what about health care? Insurance prices? Government run? We worry about our money – will we have enough to retire? And will our jobs survive? Is our country going to hell in a hand basket? And that doesn’t even take into account the things that keep each of us awake at night, those so personal details that we don’t dare share out loud.
In the midst of all of this turmoil, we’re asking, “Do you want to live a life that matters?”
Of course we want to live a life that matters. When you come to the end of your life, do you want to realize that you missed out on life because you were too worried about what might happen? Paul tells the church in Philippi “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
I love this: in the midst of worrisome situations, Paul tells us to pray about it. By prayer and petition, present your requests to God. We get that part. There are no atheists in foxholes. When we’re in trouble, we pray. But Paul didn’t just say that. He said, “with thanksgiving.” This is a whole ‘nother story.
The Greek word that we translate as thanksgiving might sound familiar to some of you: it is eucharistos, which comes from the prefix eu: good, well + charizomai [from charis: grace] to freely give, to grant as a favor, deliver, forgive.
God freely gives us his grace and delivers us from bondage, from the bondage of sin and guilt and from the punishment in Hell that comes from sin. Is it any wonder that Paul tells us to present our prayers with thanksgiving? We have everything to be thankful for – and I mean everything.
I wonder if sometimes we just go through the motions when it comes to prayer. We pray over something for a few days, weeks even, and when we don’t see any results, we come to the conclusion that God isn’t listening. But the kind of prayer that Paul tells us to pray includes thanksgiving. Even in the worst situations, there is something to be thankful for. Like: your parents keep hounding you and they are driving you nuts: be thankful that you have parents – and even more, be thankful that they care. You drive an ugly car: be thankful that you have transportation. You’re struggling in school: be thankful that you have the opportunity to go to school. You don’t like your job: be thankful that you have a job. In every situation, you can find something to be thankful for.
I want to bring this a little closer to home. Unless you’re visiting with us this week, you know that Tara and I are foster parents. We have shared personally with many of you about Baby J, but some of you don’t know, so here’s the situation: the county department of job and family services’ goal for Jason is reconciliation with his birth parents. They have been very attentive to come to their weekly visitation with Baby J and are taking some parenting classes and have an evaluation set in December to hopefully reunite them.
Our entire family loves Baby Jason very much, and we would love to keep him. Initially we were given the indication that this would be a foster-to-adopt placement, that we would most likely get to keep him. But that doesn’t look very likely. Many of you have expressed to us that you could never do that: you would end up loving that baby so much that you could never give him back to his birth parents. I can relate to that feeling, and when that day comes, our entire family is going to need your support, encouragement, and love.
But to say that “I could never do that” is short sighted at best. As a foster parent, I am thankful for every moment with Baby J. And in all reality, it’s not a whole lot different from Jonathan and Andrew. We are not guaranteed tomorrow with either of them. Even if we were, it goes awfully fast. Anyone with grown children: how long ago does it seem that your kids were my kids’ ages? It went pretty fast, didn’t it? They were little, in your arms. Then they were “big boys” and “big girls” and then all of a sudden they were driving, then graduating, then getting married…
We all know it’s going to be like that. But did that stop us from having children? Did we ever say, “We’re only going to have these children for 18 years and then, poof, empty nest… that will be too hard. We shouldn’t have kids at all.” Or did any of you, in your teens or twenties, in the midst of young love, say to your beloved, “I would love to marry you, but one day you might die, and I couldn’t stand the loss. So I’m not going to put myself out there.”
That would be ridiculous. Absolutely pointless. No, instead you spend your time thankful for the moments you have together. You thank God for each and every smile, each and every fond memory. That’s what being a parent is all about. It’s what being married is all about. And it’s what being a foster parent is all about.
There are people who just don’t seem to be grateful. I remember once having a homeless gentleman come to my church to ask for money. It’s just not a good policy for a church to keep or to give out cash, but we did have food available, so I brought him to choose some food. Someone had donated a coat, and I gave it to him. He was the most ungrateful person I’d ever met. He acted as if he was doing me a favor by taking the coat off my hands. He wouldn’t even let me pray with him before he left. I’ve also given gifts to people who just didn’t care about them. Gift-giving occasions were tough when we were dirt poor, because there were some people on our lists who had expensive tastes, and we didn’t have much money at all.
On the other hand, there are people like Ival Hunsucker. In 2004, I went to Appalachia with a group to serve. We were assigned to Ival, a 72 year old woman who lived alone in a completely run down house. Our team did a lot of work for her, and through the eight weeks, her house went through a transformation. We worked really hard, but we felt like we were the real beneficiaries. She had so little – her house was rotting around her, but she was grateful for everything. She took us in and loved us as if we were her own children or grandchildren. And this wasn’t the exception to the rule: we found that even when a family had absolutely nothing, they were grateful for life itself.
And once we start to gain, especially materially, we often begin to lose our gratitude, we take our eyes off God, and we lose our way. This is one of the problems that we see repeated in the Old Testament. King Amaziah, for example, started out doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Chronicles 25:2), but he wasn’t wholehearted. He went to war against his enemies and brought back the spoils of victory, including Edomite idols, which he set up to worship. His successor, Uzziah, “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success” (2 Chronicles 26:4-5). But when he became powerful, his pride led to his downfall (v. 16) and he became unfaithful to God. This is frequently what happens when we get too much. Is it any wonder that Jesus proclaimed “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24).
Our riches, our power, and our situation tend to blind us to everything else. It’s like walking into a dark room and stumbling around. After a while, we get used to the darkness. Then what happens when someone finally turns a light on? It’s overwhelming, and our eyes can’t handle it.
This is kind of how I felt when I began hearing information about human trafficking right here in Ohio. Did you know that every year, between 500-750 children here in Ohio are victims of human trafficking. Ohio. I was shocked and overwhelmed when I began hearing the data. But my eyes are getting accustomed to the light that God is shining into the darkness, and I am determined that we are going to be a church that makes a difference in the lives of these young victims of human trafficking. The statistics are horrible, but we can do something about it. This is as good a time as any to remind you that Christmas is not your birthday. You can celebrate your birthday on your birthday, but on Christmas we’re going to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. During this Christmas season, I challenge you to give Jesus a birthday gift by supporting Gracehaven House. Gracehaven seeks through Christian love to provide shelter and rehabilitation to girls under the age of 18 who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and to raise awareness among young women about the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) in order to educate and equip them so that they can avoid becoming victims themselves. I challenge you to match whatever you spend on yourself, your family, and your friends, and give that to Jesus. Remember that this is above and beyond your regular tithing and giving; if your boss gave you a “Christmas bonus” instead of your monthly paycheck, you’d be plenty mad. And doesn’t Jesus deserve more?
Remember how I defined thanksgiving earlier? Part of the definition was “to deliver” – we can offer deliverance to young girls who have been bought and sold.
You can think of it as a thanksgiving offering – in Old Testament times, there were all sorts of offerings and sacrifices that the people were to make, including a thanksgiving offering. This was part of being the people of God; when His people received from God, they gave thanks. And we don’t serve a grumpy old god who just can’t wait to see us beg and grovel at his feet. We serve a God who tells us to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). God gives us good gifts – the best gift. Do you want to have the things that matter? Ask God for them. Seek them. Because God gives, and when God gives, He gives freely. God gives us Himself. Jesus Christ came in the flesh and gave himself for us. The Holy Spirit comes and lives within us.
Living a life that matters begins with thanksgiving.
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