C198 11/22/59
© Project Winsome International, 2000
A WORTHY THANKSGIVING
Dr. John Allan Lavender
2 Sam.24:18-24; Rev. 5:12
Two widely separated passages, one from the book of Second Samuel and the other from the
Book of Revelation, form the Biblical basis of this teaching. The first give us our theme. The
second develops that theme and suggests our title: "A Worthy Thanksgiving."
In the Old Testament portion, 2 Samuel 24:18-24, we have one of those beautiful stories about
David which mark him as a man who was every inch a king. A man full of inner fineness. A
man after God's own heart.
One day King David was moved to do a good and generous thing, like the good and generous
things we hope to do for Christ through our march of progress.
He had been guilty of a grievous sin against the Lord. Having found forgiveness, David felt
compelled to raise an altar before which he could worship God and offer up a Thanksgiving
sacrifice. Out in the countryside he found a place that seemed suitable. It was the barn of a
farmer by the name of Araunah, or Ornan as he is called in the Chronicles' version of the story.
Because that's easier to say, I'm going to refer to him as Ornan.
Well, Ornan was busy threshing his wheat when David approached him requesting the use of his
threshing floor as a place of worship. It isn't everyday that the King comes visiting a humble
farmer's premises and Ornan is overwhelmed by this honor.
Bowing low before the King he eagerly offered him anything he wishes --
Of course, the King may have his barn for a church. Nothing would thrill him more. If the King
desires it, here's an oxen for sacrifice. Wood for the fire. Wheat for the offering. And, with
another gesture of humility Ornan says, "I give it all."
It is then that David comes back with one of those beautiful and charming touches that shows
why he was a man after God's own heart. In response to Ornan's warm hospitality and generous
offer to provide without cost all the necessities for the sacrifices, David says,
"Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt
offerings unto the Lord my God of that which has cost me nothing"
( II Sam.24:24).
What a refreshing response! What a happy contrast to the current idea of getting something for
nothing. A philosophy that has even slipped over into our religious life. Here was a man who
refused a cheap and costless religion. A man who would have nothing to do with a faith that
made no demands upon him. A man who simply would not be a hitchhiker to heaven, riding into
glory at another man's expense. He refused to make an offering to the Lord that cost him
nothing. He was determined that his should be: "A Worthy Thanksgiving".
Now this may not be the traditional emphasis for a Thanksgiving sermon, but I'm quite sure it's
the real spirit of this season. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving at all if it is just a kind of
"choked up feeling" as you begin to count your blessings. Gratitude does not become gratitude
until we put "give" into Thanksgiving, until it carries with it a sense of personal indebtedness to
the God from whom all blessings flow.
What is "A Worthy Thanksgiving?" What does God consider to be an adequate response on our
part to his incredible generosity? John gives us the answer in the second half of our scripture
lesson when, in Revelation 5:12, he says,
"Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."
Here we have in simple, common, everyday language an explanation of what God considers to be
"A Worthy Thanksgiving." I want you to note that this seven-fold expression of gratitude
touches every area of our life, and in case after case, calls for a costly re-evaluation of our
relationship to Christ.
Power
It begins with a spiritual response "Worthy is the Lamb" . . . "to receive power." What does that
mean? Has not all power in heaven and earth already been given into the hands of Christ? What
possible power could we give to Jesus as an expression of our Thanksgiving to God?
I was stumped by those questions myself until I took time out to discuss the matter with "Peck"
the other day over lunch. He came up with this interesting suggestion:
"I think this refers to our need to recognize the Lordship of Jesus, his sovereign
right to reign and rule over us. I think he is calling upon us to make our
Thanksgiving an act of full surrender."
"Peck" was right. The only thing that can hinder God's omnipotence is our unwillingness.
Believe it or not, we have it within our power to thwart his power. By an unyielded and
unyielding spirit, we can actually make it possible for God to do in us and to us and through us
what he wants to do. The apostle John is saying, if we are truly grateful to God for the manifold
blessings he has bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ, part of our Thanksgiving must be a spiritual
response. We will give him the power, the right, the authority to reign and rule over us and to do
with us what he wills.
An old Nebraska farm wife put it this way,
"There is no such thing as a pretty good egg. It's either good or it ain't."
The same thing can be said of Christians. For in the last analysis there is no such thing as a
"pretty good" Christian. We either are or we aren't. Our Savior is either Lord of all or is not
Lord at all. We cannot call him Lord and then say "no" to him in certain areas of our life where
we prefer to remain in control.
I wonder how it is with you? Have you really let go and let God be God in your life? If not, why
not make that part of your expression of Thanksgiving this year, for "Worthy is the lamb to
receive power."
Riches
But Christ is not only worthy of a spiritual response, he is worthy of material response, too.
"Worthy is the lamb", says John, "to receive riches," and here we come back to that old bugaboo, money.
There are some people who are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good! They're so
spiritual they can't be bothered with so mundane a thing as money. As J. Wallace Hamilton puts
it,
"The collection plate seems to jar their sublimer emotions."
Unlike David, who was not willing to give God that which cost him nothing, these dear souls are
so spiritually minded they would be quite willing for Ornan (or anybody else for that matter) to
build the altar, pay the bills, underwrite the expenses, take care of the money matters, so they can
devote themselves to more "spiritual" concerns. Money to them is a kind of crass, crude,
unspiritual something that hasn't anything to do with religion.
It must be nice to be so spiritually-minded, but where folks get such ideas I'll never know.
Certainly not from the Bible. The Bible is very realistic about money. It makes it quite clear that
what a man does with his money is one of the surest tests of the sincerity and depth of his
religion.
Jesus was so interested in how people use their money that one day he went to the temple and sat
down beside the treasury to watch people as they put in their offering. This wasn't just a general
observation. It was personal! You might say Jesus got 'nosey" about it. As people came by with
their offering he watched them, one by one, and reacted to what they were doing. (Pantomime
several typical reactions of approval, questioning, disappointment, etc. With the use of eyes or
shaking of head and hmmmmm).
I wonder what kind of a reaction each one of us would have gotten this morning, if Jesus had
been sitting beside us as the offering plate passed by.
"Worthy is the lamb to receive riches." But unlike our spiritual response which must be
wholehearted and complete, full surrender, God does not expect us to give all of our worldly
goods to him. Instead he asks only a tithe. The first ten percent of what we possess. Surely
that's not asking too much when you consider the many wondrous blessings he has bestowed
upon us. Blessing which no amount of money could every buy. How it is with you? Have you,
out of sheer love for God, given him that part of your riches which is his? If not, why not make
your's a material response this Thanksgiving by agreeing to tithe. For, "Worthy is the lamb to
receive riches."
Wisdom
John goes on to say that Jesus is also worthy of wisdom, which is your intellectual response. And
oh, how grieved he must be at times when he sees how little we know about the Bible. How
fragmentary our understanding is of the Christian faith. How inept we are at expressing what we
really believe. How hard put we would be to give a reason for the hope that is within us.
I tell you, my friend, our Lord is worthy of something better than the poor, shabby, shallow,
response we give to the great truths of the Christian faith.
Worthy of wisdom!
He is worthy of the best of our mental abilities!
He is worthy of a people who know what they believe, and why, and are able to express this
clearly to their floundering fellows.
He is worthy of wisdom!
And again I ask, "How is it with you?" You say you know very little about the Bible. Well, how
much time do you spend in the study of it? You say you would be hard put to write out a
statement of your beliefs. Well, have you ever tried?
Why not make that part of your expression of gratitude to God this year by committing yourself
to a program of regular Bible study. By putting the hour of power and Sunday school you have
in a place of real prominence in your planning.
Why not make yours "A Worthy Thanksgiving" in the sense that it is an intellectual response, as
well as, a spiritual and material one, for "Worthy is the lamb to receive wisdom."
Strength
Then John says, "A Worthy Thanksgiving" includes a physical response for he writes "Worthy is
the lamb to receive strength." God cannot work through disembodied spirits. He wants our
hands and feet as well as our minds. That's why Paul said,
"I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service."
He was calling upon us to be living sacrifices. To stand for a living task. To proclaim a living
truth about the living Christ. So that all may come into a living relationship with the living God.
In other words it is not enough to go around saying what Jesus did, we must go around doing
what Jesus said.
Annie Flint Johnson comes at it this way,
"Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work today.
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in his way.
He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men how he died.
He has not help but our help to bring them to his side."
He needs our physical response, for "Worthy is the lamb to receive strength." Yes, he is worthy
of power and riches and wisdom and strength, he is also worthy of --
Honor
This is our ethical response. This means allowing our Christian life to spill over into the
work-a-day world of our job and school and home. I don't suppose there is any greater argument
for the claims of Christ, or any more irrefutable evidence of the truth of the gospel, than an
ethical life lived in the name of Jesus Christ, who is worthy to receive honor.
Glory
And then John suggest Jesus is worthy of glory which is our moral response. That is, a perfect
willingness to give all credit to him for any progress made or victories won. First we pray:
"Thine is the kingdom Lord, and I want to live in it." Then, "Thine is the power Lord, and I want
to draw from it." And last, but not least, we pray, "Thine is the glory Lord, and I want to
contribute to it."
Blessing
Finally, to complete our seven-fold expression of gratitude to God for his merciful kindness, we
must make a vocational response for John says,
"Worthy is the lamb to receives blessing."
What has that to do with one's vocation? Well, do you remember the old gospel song, "Make me
a blessing, out of my life may Jesus shine?" That's what it means. It means being a Christian, in
every sense of that word, in your vocation.
It means making the real reason for your existence witnessing for Christ. Whether you work in
an office, teach in a school, care for a home, or labor in a factory, thats the way you pay the bills.
But your business, your vocation, is being a Christian. And believe me, when you live life on
that level you are a blessing. A blessing to God, to Christ, and to everyone you meet.
"Worthy is the lamb to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing."
Here, indeed, is "A Worthy Thanksgiving." A Thanksgiving that demands our first and our best,
instead of our last and our least. A Thanksgiving that touches every area of our life and enables
us to share the spirit of David when he said,
"I will not give to my Lord that which costs me nothing."
"Laid on thine altar, o my Lord divine.
Accept my gift this day, for Jesus sake.
I have no jewels to adorn thine shrine
Nor any world-famed sacrifice.
But here, within these trembling hands,
I bring this will of mine,
A gift that seemeth small.
And thou dost know, dear God,
That when I give thee this,
I give thee all."