The View From 1776

Pastor Dan Gardner at the Cohocton (New York) Assembly of God Church reminded us this Sunday of some of the things about which all of us can feel joyful. (My embellishments regarding the malign influence of the detestable doctrines of liberal-progressive-socialism are not necessarily to be attributed to Pastor Gardner).

Be thankful for God:

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.” (Revelation 11:16-17)

Be thankful for God’s Creation:

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.  In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.  (Psalms 95:1-5)

Be thankful for God’s word:

Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!  Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.  I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.  (Psalms 119:5-7)

In today’s troubled world, and in our own kulturkampf between emissaries of the secular political state and witnesses for the kingdom of God, it’s comforting to know that we can turn for sure guidance to God’s word.

Be thankful for God’s promises and blessings:

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.  Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.  (Psalms 107:21-22)

Be thankful for family - our own, the local church family, and the great world family of the Christian church:

Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD — and rejoice before him.  A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.  (Psalms 68:4-6)

Be thankful for other believers:

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Philippi, begins with personal expressions of gratitude:

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3-6)

Like Paul, we today need, and can be grateful for, mutual help and support that is found most fully among other believers in the church.

Be thankful for our salvation:

As revealed in the Old Testament and the New Testament Gospels, we can thank God for His grace that liberates us from Satan’s grasp and gives us salvation through Jesus Christ.

O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.  I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.  (Psalms 116:16-17)

Be thankful for whatever talents God has given us and for his calls to us to use them:

In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to ‘Timothy my true son in the faith,’ he writes:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  (1 Timothy 1:12-13)

God gives each of us some gifts, some talents.  We are to be prayerfully listening for the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our consciences to follow Jesus, using those talents to glorify God by doing good for others.

Be thankful for our church:

Our church is both a refuge of comfort in our times of need and a source of truth to lead us into the path of salvation.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Colosse:

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.  (Colossians 3:14-15)

Paul was particularly concerned about false teachings of gnostic doctrine, which involved belief in secret knowledge available only to an elite, hence “admonish one another with all wisdom.”

Paul’s concern is particularly apt today, when, on all sides, we are belabored by the French Enlightenment’s manifestation of gnosticism, liberal-progressivise-socialism, which preaches salvation via purely material things through the secular political state.

Be thankful for God’s provision:

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.  He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.  He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.  (Psalms 147:7-9)

As He did when leading the Israelites out of Egypt, God will provide for us.  The secular welfare state gives only material things, administered by bureaucracies bound by the formality of rules that would have put the ancient Pharisees to shame.  The love and spiritual sustenance our souls hunger for come only from God Who made us. 

We are not creatures of the political state.  However important any President of the United States may be, he is not the creator of society nor the source of truth.  We must look to our Creator and praise Him for the blessings he showers upon us.

Be thankful for a free nation:

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Persons entrusted by the voters with political authority are not always the ones we want.  Regardless of our apprehensions, we should pray for those leaders and honor the offices they hold.  We should pray that they will be guided by the Holy Spirit and not by the secular gospel spewing from the depths of university sociology departments.