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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Pastor Galler is on vacation, but, for our reflection this morning on today’s Psalm, Pastor Galler completed a sermon outlined by The Rev. Terry R. Forke, Montana District President and pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Harlowton, Montana. Rev. Forke’s sermon outline was published in the current volume of Concordia Pulpit Resources (29:3, pp.6, 33-35), to which publication Pilgrim subscribes primarily in order to supply sermons on occasions such as this, when our pastor is away and the congregation has not otherwise supplied the pulpit. The completed sermon reads as follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 19-92, Baptist pastor Dr. Gary Chapman published a book entitled The Five Love Languages. His thesis for the book was that people tend to show their love in one of five different ways. Perhaps similarly, in today’s Appointed Psalm, Psalm 100, the Divinely‑inspired psalmist reveals what might be called “The Seven Thanksgiving Languages.” The psalm’s focus on thanksgiving is reflected in its ancient ascription as “A Psalm of Thanksgiving”, which may even be guiding us to consider proper forms of thanksgiving. So, I ask, How do you give thanks? Is there a proper way to give thanks? As we this morning reflect on today’s Appointed Psalm, let us consider just one of the seven ways that Psalm 100 encourages us to give thanks, namely, knowing that the Lord, He is God. We will realize that we do not by nature speak God’s language, but through the work of Jesus, God has made us His people, so that we can know Him as God—a way of giving thanks. The Holy Spirit has worked faith in our hearts, and, through faith in Jesus, we know and confess God to be our maker and redeemer. In this way, we daily give thanks to God. In support of that general theme, we will have four major points.
First, we realize that God calls us to give thanks by acknowledging that He is God. In the Appointed Psalm, God actually calls us to give thanks to Him in various ways: in the Psalm’s first four verses, in fact, God gives seven commands. We are told to make a joyful noise, serve, come, know, come (which is repeated), give thanks, and bless. All of these commands can be thought of as godly elements of thanksgiving. But, one command stands out: God calls us to give thanks by knowing that He is God. This command to “know” stands out, both as the only command on the list that is performed internally (that is to say, no one necessarily can observe us “knowing”) and because knowing may be something else that motivates all the activities of giving thanks, like the attributes of God that follow in the Psalm, namely, His goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness.
But, as we consider all these commands, we should remember that we will not do any of them well, not even the one command to know that the Lord, He is God. The psalmist gives at least one specific thing to know about God that can also be considered a reason for giving thanks. We are to know that the Lord is God; He made us (both physically and spiritually) and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. But, we realize second that our thanksgiving is diminished by our refusal to know God as God. We prefer to “know” ourselves to be god. Of course, most Christians would never call themselves “god”, but we behave in ways that betray our true desires. Whomever we fear, love, and trust becomes a god to us, and that includes ourselves. We might say that our sin is a daily contention with God that we either are, or should be, in control of our own lives. And, being properly thankful to God is difficult when we are contending with Him that we are in control. In addition, we like to think of ourselves as self‑made. We are proud of what we have accomplished and of all the possessions that we have gathered to ourselves. While the psalmist says that we have not made ourselves, we receive the title “self-made” with great joy. And, being properly thankful to God is also difficult when we refuse to acknowledge that He has made us. In addition, we may be insulted by being called sheep. Though we may know little about sheep, being called the sheep of His pasture may not strike us as a compliment. The idea of needing to be fed, watered, guided, and protected—in short, being dependent—is a blow to our ego. And, being properly thankful to God is difficult when we refuse to acknowledge just how dependent we are, that all that we are and all that we have comes from our God, especially when it comes to our spiritual relationship with Him.
Our sin may prevent us from knowing God in a proper way on our own, but God certainly knows all about us. So, we realize third that, because God made us, He knows how to bring us to know Him. God created us by His almighty Word. As the Appointed Psalm put it, “It is He who made us, and we are His”. As we say with the Small Catechism, we believe that God not only made Adam and Eve, but that God also “has made me and all creatures”. So, God is not called Father without cause: He knows us as the Father Who brought us into being. Although God made us, our sin separated us from our Father so that we were not his people. But, God also knew what to do in order to make us His people once again, as the Appointed Psalm says: because the Lord is good, because His steadfast love (or, maybe better, His “mercy”) endures forever, because His faithfulness lasts to all generations, God sent us His Son in the human being Jesus. By Jesus’s holy life and death on the cross for us, in our place, He re‑creates us as the people of God. Through faith in Jesus, we are children of God, His own people, and the sheep of His pasture. And, also through Jesus, God has worked in us correct knowledge of Him. We know that the Lord is God, that it is He Who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Our sin would prevent us from knowing God properly, but Jesus, in His words and actions, reveals God’s attitude toward us and changes our attitude toward God. When we know God through faith in Jesus, we give thanks, and, while that giving thanks includes internal “knowing”, that giving thanks is not limited to internal “knowing” but also includes external behaviors: making joyful noise, serving, coming (apparently important enough to be repeated), giving thanks, and blessing (or, maybe better, “praising”).
So, fourth, knowing God rightly, the people of God are thankful for what He has done. Through His Word and Sacraments, God’s Holy Spirit has worked knowledge of Him and faith in our hearts so that we can be thankful. We did not come to know God on our own, but the Holy Spirit worked through the Word in all of its forms to work the knowledge of God and faith in Him into our hearts, and so God himself has made us His thankful people. Again, specifically we know that the Lord is God, that it is He Who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. We know that God has created us, and, when we call God “Father,” we are confessing this knowledge; He made us. And, by knowing and confessing that He made us, we give thanks to Him. Similarly, when we believe in the God-man Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are confessing this knowledge; in the forgiveness of our sin, He re‑created us. And, by knowing and confessing that we are His people, we give thanks to God.
We began by referring to seven languages of thanksgiving. Then we realized, first, that God calls us to give thanks by acknowledging that He is God; second, that our thanksgiving is diminished by our refusal to know God as God; third, that, because God made us, He knows how to bring us to know Him; and, fourth, that, knowing God rightly, we are thankful for what He has done. There might be more than seven languages of thanksgiving, but certainly there is this one: when we know Who God is—good and loving and faithful to us forever, always for us—and when we know what God has done for us—made us His people again by Jesus’ life and death—and when we know how God has done that for us—through His Word read and preached, applied with water in Holy Baptism, with the pastor’s touch in individual Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar—then, well, knowing all those things, we thank God, both now and forever!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +