Sermon for 11/24/22: Day of National Thanksgiving

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“Forget Not All His Benefits”
Psalm 103:1-5

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

We know all too well how prone we are to forget the Lord and His blessings. We forget because we are wrapped up in our own little worlds. We forget because we are tempted to think that it’s to our own credit that we have gotten where we are in life. It is as Moses warned Israel: “Beware, lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.” Then Moses counsels us: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.” In other words, don’t be so wrapped up in the things of creation that you forget the Creator. Honor Him as the source of all that is good.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Do not forget material gifts God has granted you. In the Small Catechism, we confess that our Father gives us daily bread—“…everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” All of these and more are gifts from God.

God has given you all that you are and all that you have. No doubt you have worked hard for what you have. But who gave you the ability to work? Who gave you your ability to think and speak, to see and hear? Who continues to sustain your bodies in such a way that you can enjoy these blessings? It is your Father in heaven. He does all this for you—not because you have earned or deserved it, but simply because He is good and merciful. He is your Father, the God of love who delights in giving you His good gifts.

Again, we confess in the Catechism, “God gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people. But we pray...that God would lead us to realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” God doesn’t ask us to pray as a condition for receiving our daily bread, or as a threat that, if we don’t pray, He will take it all away. God asks us to pray for daily bread so that we will be reminded where it comes from and whom to credit and praise for it. But God even sustains and cares for those who don’t recognize Him as the Giver. There are plenty of unbelievers out there who are doing as well as, and many even better than, Christians in the daily bread department. That is because God is unfailingly good. He even provides for the needs of those who reject Him. And He does this so that, in seeing His kindness, perhaps they might come to repent of their sin and believe and be saved.

But then, the question arises: What about those times when it seems that God’s kindness has been taken away? What about when the job situation doesn’t look so good? What about when the vision and hearing fail and health deteriorates? What about when people turn against us? Do we still have reason to give thanks to God? Can we still say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits?” And the answer to that question is, undeniably, yes!

To be sure, in this fallen world we are bound to experience troubles of various kinds. Temporal blessings are just that: temporary. Sin ruins everything in the end. The fact that God restrains the effects of evil as much as He does in this world and protects us and allows us to enjoy anything is a sign of His mercy. But the greatest and truest sign of God’s kindness toward us, the greatest benefit for which we give thanks to the Lord, is that He has granted us every eternal blessing in His Son, Jesus Christ. Sin may eventually ruin everything in this world, but our Lord conquered sin in His death on the cross; through His resurrection He has made all things new. Jesus has redeemed this fallen creation from the curse by bearing that curse in His own body. He broke the curse on Good Friday, and set us free to live in a never-ending Easter of life and immortality.

And so, in Jesus we have not only daily bread, but the living Bread from heaven, His life giving flesh and blood which He offered up for the world. In Him we have not only earthly clothing, but the robe of his righteousness which we were given to wear at the baptismal font. In Him we have not only a temporary house to live in, but an eternal home which He is preparing for us even now.

That is how St. Paul, when held in prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel, still could say: “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Even when Paul was beaten and deprived of everything but the clothes on his back, he still had Christ. And the truth is that, if we have Christ, we have everything. For all things belong to the risen Christ, and through Christ, the Father will graciously give us all things.

Is there no peace in this world? In Christ you have the peace that passes all understanding, the peace that guards your hearts and minds, the peace that comes from the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. Does financial difficulty threaten you? In Christ you are rich with heavenly treasures that will never pass away. Are there those who harass you or make you fearful? In Christ you have deliverance from all enemies by His crushing of Satan’s head at Calvary. Is your health failing? In Christ you have perfect health in the resurrection of the body. Has death separated you from a loved one? In Christ you have the promise of a joyous reunion with those you love who have departed in the faith. If you have Jesus, you have it all—by faith now, and by sight when he comes again.

The Samaritan leper understood this. Like him, let us bow down before Jesus in faith, thanking Him for daily bread, for family and friends, for this good land, but above all, for the holy cross, for His saving Gospel and life-giving Sacraments, and for the real and everlasting life we have in Him. Truly, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.