Sermon for 11/22/06

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Sermon for 11/22/06 - Thanksgiving Eve
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN

Main Theme: One can only be truly thankful when we realize that everything we have is not ours. It is on loan to us by a loving and generous God. Our houses, our belongings, our loved ones and families – do not belong to us – they are on loan from God! We must settle the issue of ownership in our hearts and minds, before we can stand in awe on this thanks giving day and truly be thankful! For the truth is; that everyday and everything of this day is God’s gift to us!

1) ME/MY/MINE! I finally got to go fishing on Monday and when I returned to the boat ramp I discovered someone had “keyed” both sides of my truck. Having had stuff stolen from my truck there before, I suspect a thief discovered everything all locked up this time, and decided to take out their frustration on this missed opportunity. My first response was anger. How could anyone do this to my truck! It wasn’t theirs to do with as they pleased! It was mine! They had no right to mess with something that didn’t belong to them! Now, it’s not that I take great care of my truck to begin with, but no one had the right to abuse my truck but me! People just don’t seem to understand the laws of ownership! “That over there, is yours – this over here, is mine!” I worked hard and paid for it – you didn’t! My name is on the registry cards, the license, and the bank loan receipts!

2) OWN? Oh yeh, …the bank loan receipts. Oops… well OK, I’ll own the car in a couple of more months when the final monthly payments are sent in. True a bank did loan me the money… but I’ve just about paid it all back. Then - it’ll be mine. Kinda like my house. OK, so… perhaps many of us do joke a little about “The bank owns our house” – because technically they do until we finish paying it off in …20 or 30 years. But society still allows us to claim it as ours! We Americans know what we mean when we say we own something like a car or house even when we don’t.

3) TECHNICALLY! I guess there are a lot of things that we tend to claim are ours that aren’t technically ours. I suppose if I walked in here tonight and found someone sitting in that seat right there, I might wonder “Who’s sitting in my seat.” Lot’s of you have a favorite pew, and you tend to call it “my seat’! Sometimes strangers ruffle some feathers when they get here early and take seats that don’t “belong” to them! At work we may be a truck driver, and deliver products in a company truck – but after a couple of years, we might call it MY truck – and even get a little miffed if some other driver uses it one day. We may work with company computers but we tend to call it my computer, and don’t want other people messing with it. My computer! Though technically it belongs to the company.

4) OWNERSHIP! I suppose whether it is a pew seat in church, a work computer, or the company truck, there’s a tendency to say their mine, when they are not mine at all but are so to speak “on loan” to me while I attend church, or work for this or that company. Why am I raising this point of ownership with you on this Thanksgiving eve? Because I got to wondering this week about the connection of ownership in terms of thanksgiving. What do you think; can we truly be thankful in this thanksgiving season or in any season for that matter, if the question of ownership has not been clearly settled in our hearts?

5) THANK ME? After all, if we decide that everything around us is ours – that is, we earned it, we deserved it, we posses and own it – then why be thankful at all? If the turkey tomorrow is the product of MY sweat and labor, and the tables and chairs the family will sit around while eating pumpkin pie belong to me… then everyone ought to be… thanking me! If the lady I call my wife is truly the product of my romantic efforts and is truly mine, and our kids are a product of our love – who should I thank? The milk man? Heaven forbid! Maybe thanksgiving ought to be a time where those who belong to me ought to gather to thank me for what I did!

6) THE LORDS! Of course, Christians ARE called to look at everything around us a little differently – especially if we are to take what the scriptures say about ownership seriously:

Psalm 89:11
The heavens are Yours (O Lord), the earth also is Yours the world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
The north and the south, You have created them.

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
the world and those who dwell therein.

Who really does own those things you and I are surrounded by everyday? We tend to think and claim that we own our car, our home, our children, our clothing, our money, our hidden away collections of coins, guns, dolls, family heirlooms. Even when we can state that we our land “free and clear” – do we? …if what we just read is true? That everything and everyone belongs to Him? Is anything truly mine? Did I truly earn anything, buy it, or pay for it with my money? Not according to scriptures. It’s the Lord’s.

7) EVERYTHING BELONGS TO GOD! When I look at my newly keyed blue truck – scripture says it’s not really mine! Just like this pew, or my office desk, or the computer in there – those things are simply on loan to me while I work here. According to scriptures; everything belongs to God. Everything I have called my own is on loan to me while I walk this earth. He created it, He owns it all, He gives it to us - and until that perception is clear and bedrock to us, (that everything belongs to God), can thanksgiving be anything else than just “an exceptionally good meal on Thursday with the family?”

8) ON LOAN! Let me ask you: When God brought you into this world – what did you own? When you pass away, what will you be able to take with you? So everything you receive in between “birth and death”, is a gift! …from above! …on loan to you! My G. Loomis fishing rods – on loan! My blue truck – on loan! My house, land, and wealth – on loan! My job, my 401K, my boat, my cell phone – on loan! The air I breathe, the sun that shines down on me, the stars at night, my health – on loan! Everything good, everything wonderful, everything life-giving, finds its source in God!

9) THE LORD GIVES GOOD THINGS! The fact that these good things are available to me at this time in my history is because the Lord graciously lends them to me to use while I am here! When I understand… and appreciate these proper conclusions – then, and only then, do I have something to be thankful for! When the Spirit opens my eyes to the spiritual reality of “ownership” – then we can’t help but express joyous gratitude to God - because the Lord gives us these good things!

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof….O Lord God who is mighty as You are…You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise You still them…You cause the grass to grow for the cattle and plants for man to cultivate…these all look to You to give them their food in due season; when You (Lord) give to them they gather it up; when You open your hands (Lord) they are filled with good things. (Ps. 89, 104)

10) LOST AND RETURNED = THANKS! Hmmm… sometimes we take these blessings for granted. Did you ever notice that we have to sometimes come close to loosing something before we realize how important certain “blessings” are? Take our bodies and our health – have you ever severely sprained or broke an ankle, or temporarily lost your sight, or had serious medical problems that eventually resulted in healing? When something that was lost is returned to you – that’s when the greatest expressions of thanks seem to come bubbling up out of us!

11) OUR BODIES – ON LOAN! And yet, when these things are not returned to us – why is it that we get so angry! When our health is lost and does not return – did we forget; that our bodies and health are on loan to us? They weren’t indestructible or meant to last forever. Why do we get mad at God when death finds any of us? The chemicals and dust that made up our bodies were just given to us temporarily. These bones and muscles will again return to being dust eventually. These physical manifestations that our Spirits live in – our bodies - are on loan! Can we not be thankful for them while we have them?

12) LOVED ONES – ON LOAN! And is this not also true of our loved ones? To say that we own them – that they belong to us; are we forgetting who made them and brought them into this world? Do we not realize that they too are on loan to us? That they too are here for a limited time? When treasured love ones do leave this earth, our options are usually either bitterness or thanksgiving for the time we spent together! Which attitude you will express, most likely depends on how you understand the concept of ownership. If your loved ones belong to you, then the loss might result in an angry fist raised in the air towards God! But if we understand that they truly belonged to God, and He is the true owner of their souls, and had the right to bring His beloved children home, to heaven, to be with Him, then who are we to argue! Sure, until we are reunited, we will naturally miss them! But let us not forget - even our loved ones, our family, our friends are on loan to us from the Creator of the universe! While they are here can we not thank Him for another day with them, and display a sincere gratitude that comes from the heart?

13) GOD’S GIFT = JESUS, EVERYDAY, EVERYTHING! Scriptures tells us…

“When You hide your face (Lord) they are dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When You send forth your Spirit they are created; and You (Lord) renew the face of the earth.” (Ps. 104:30)

Do we have to keep loosing what we assume we own, before we realize the truth; that everyday and everything of this day is God’s gift to us? Let’s face it, some of us who have not surrendered our hearts fully to God, may still hold onto our pride – and that stubborn pride may continue to hamper our thankfulness until we discover the truth and the love revealed in the cross. Until God’s greatest gift of all to us, His Son, Jesus Christ, becomes our Lord and Savior, …and His Holy Spirit takes charge of our heart and mind, …until that conversion takes place daily; that precious gold pocket watch my grandfather gave me will always be mine instead of His. And the money I have will remain under my control instead of His. And there will never be a need for thanksgiving, because the illusion remains that everything I have been blessed with belongs to me. But thankfully the Holy Spirit continues to lovingly transform and mold our confused and broken hearts! That divine power comes to us in grace, leads us to the truth; that everyday and everything of this day is God’s gift to us! Praise God, AMEN

14) SHARE! This evening, I invite you now to take a risk and share with your church family the blessings, that you are thankful for this night… and whether they are physical or material blessings, relational blessings, or spiritual blessings, let us remember that everything and everyone who bring us great joy, (those possessions or relationships from which we draw life), are on loan to us from a loving and generous God! Are there any who are ready to share and would like to go first…?

What has God lovingly loaned to you, that you are truly thankful for?

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