Readings from Scripture
- 1 Timothy 2:1-8
- St Matthew 6:25-33
Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus, the Christ.
Who speaks to us from our Epistle heard this evening saying,
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
In our rush to be thankful people, we have thrown out the word “thankful”. The only reason why Thanksgiving has not been cancelled yet, is because we can define “thanks” however we want, thereby redefining it into oblivion. We can even be thankful for “evil” and say that God gave it to us, that He made me this way, essentially calling evil good, and good evil.
It may surprise some of you to learn that when St. Paul or any of the Apostles preach, they are speaking God’s own words. That is how the New Testament gets its authority, as St Peter declares, “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21). These words carry God’s own weight behind them.
We make this statement, not just to reassert our belief in the inerrancy of holy Scripture, but also to call attention to the Holy Spirit’s work of “carrying”. As in, He has to be the person to carry you to God, to admit you into God’s presence, in order that you be able to pray and ask God as dear children ask their dear father and offer thanksgiving.
Lest we forget, doing that is humanly impossible. Ritual purity is the prerequisite for admission into God’s presence and receiving blessings from Him at His sanctuary. It was necessary in the Old Testament Temple and it still is today. Even moreso now that Christ has torn the veil in two and the Holy of Holiest places is wide open to everyone today.
As Psalm 24 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully” (v.3-4)
In the Old Testament, the Lord instituted a Thank Offering, which is why we’re talking about this today: God did it first, not the pilgrims or FDR. The Thank Offering was a part of the Peace Offering, which just means that on top of sacrificing a bull or lamb or goat for peace with God, a man would have to include leavened bread in the offering, not to be burned, but to be eaten.
A second uniqueness to the Thank Offering was that it was to be eaten on the same day that it was presented, thereby connecting the ritual with the presentation of the offering, and the performance of the song of Thanksgiving in the sanctuary. Meaning, the Thank Offering, and really any offering to God, was both spiritual and physical. You had to make the offering, but then participate in the Service also, or it was invalid.
In Jeremiah 33:10-11, the prophet had announced that when God restored his people, they would bring thank offerings to him. This is a prophecy of the messianic age. The age when all sacrifices would cease, except the offering of thanksgiving.
So, after Christ's great sacrifice of atonement, the church has no sacrifice to bring to God the Father except the sacrifice of praise. Melanchthon makes a similar affirmation in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (XXIV 9-77). There, in his discussion on whether the Mass is a sacrifice or not, he distinguishes the eucharistic sacrifices from the propitiatory sacrifices. He argues that since Christ has offered himself to atone for all our sins, we can only offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and nothing else.
The whole of the Divine Service is therefore an offering of thanksgiving and praise to God the Father as we receive Christ's body and blood. The heart of that service is our reception of the Lord's Supper; it is in itself an act of thanksgiving and praise, for as often as we eat that meal we rejoice in God's grace and proclaim Christ's death for our redemption until He comes (1 Cor 11:26; Ap XXIV 35-36).
Thus, it is our Mediator, Jesus Christ, Who makes what is evil, good. That is, He covers it with His Blood. Ourselves and our thanks are filled with sin, filled with evil, and only in Christ is our evil exchanged for His Good.
Those outside of the thankfulness of God, lead miserable lives. For them, there is always the next manufactured tragedy, just around the corner. For them, it is always a lack of resources, a lack of funding, and a lack of conformity. They realize that they are on their own to produce thankfulness artificially.
Thanksgiving in front of God is never cancelled, because Jesus is always giving thanks and all you have to do is pray for that thanksgiving to be among you also. We give thanks that we have been brought to faith in Christ. We give thanks that Faith that leads us to families, meals with them, and meals with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So yes, “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18), but let God be thankful for you and let Him offer His sacrifice of thanksgiving, Jesus, in His Divine Service, for you.
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