The First Article: My Duty To Thank And Praise
Sermon
What's That Supposed To Mean?
Using The Catechism In The 21st Century
Object:
The Apostles' Creed -- The First Article
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; also clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life; that He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil; and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which it is my duty to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
How many times have parents told children, "Now, don't forget to say thank you"? Grandma gives little Junior some cookies and he starts to walk away. Mom says, "What do you say?" Junior turns around and says, "Thank you." Don't parents teach their children that saying thank you is a duty? Why would saying thank you be a duty? To answer that, think of those children who never learned to say thank you. They usually grow up unthankful complainers. People who learn to say thank you also learn to depend on others and trust them. It's a duty to say thank you because when we say thank you, we are forced to remember that someone else was good to us. The Bible teaches that it is our duty to say thank you to God.
This was acted out by the priests in the Old Testament times. Priests were professional thankers. At least twice a day the priests performed a thank-you ritual. The priests also did these rituals at every holiday burnt offering sacrifice. You can read about that in chapter 23 of 1 Chronicles. The people were also taught to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. God got half the offering as it was burned up on an altar, and the priests got the other half, as God's representatives. The people of God have always made sure that we set aside some of our worship time to say thank you.
That's because we believe we have a heavenly Father who generously provides for us. Christians have always believed that it is our duty to thank God for all the good things we enjoy. And because God doesn't need flowers or cards or anything else, God's people have always believed that the proper way to say thank you to God is to invest some of their time, skills, and property in passing on the good news of salvation. This usually means time and money given in church service, especially money, because money buys time where you can't spend time yourself.
How about you; how thankful are you? A family sat down at the dinner table following church one Sunday. "The sermon was boring today," said the teenage son. "Yeah, could you believe how the pastor stumbled over the reading of the Scripture?" his sister chimed in. Mother said, "And the choir was terrible." Finally, father, showing his leadership, said, "Hush, you guys. Quit complaining. What did you expect for a buck?" Now, while this story illustrates how many Christians are cheap saying thank you with their cash, it also illustrates how Christians are cheap with giving of their time and talents in grateful service to Jesus as well. I believe that modern Christians have forgotten that it is their duty to support the work of their church richly -- even at personal sacrifice of comfort and pleasure. I believe that too many Christians take Jesus Christ for granted. Too many Christians are like the husband who expects his meals to be cooked and his laundry to be washed and the house to be kept clean, but hardly ever gives of himself in gratitude to his wife.
Now, what kind of thankfulness shall we show? To answer that, ask yourself what the heavenly Father has done for you. Let's say that green is the color of thankfulness. Green shows life. Shall we be like the mighty maple or the humble pine? The mighty maple is green as long as it is warm. The humble pine is green all year long, even in the cold and dead of winter. Paul wrote to the Corinthians asking them to be generous in their green season to those who were in the winter of poverty, so that when the winter of want would come on the Corinthians, others would share their greenness with them. The more money you give for church work, the more your thank you matches the generosity of our heavenly Father. The more time you spend telling others about Jesus, the more your thank you matches the sacrifice of Jesus' whole life for you. The more you use your abilities to praise God, the more your thank you matches the creative power of God that made all your life possible. "Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly." May we be more like the grateful Samaritan leper Jesus cured than the nine Jews who didn't do their simple duty of saying thank you.
Prayer: Thank You, heavenly Father, for all the good things You send our way, especially when You sent Your Son Jesus to bear our sin and be our Savior. Forgive us for the cheap and grudging way we have said thank you, as well as all the times we have taken You and Jesus for granted. Give us generous hearts like Yours so that we can be part of Your generous hand in providing for the needs of the world around us, both the physical needs, as well as the spiritual needs. Amen.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; also clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life; that He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil; and all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which it is my duty to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
How many times have parents told children, "Now, don't forget to say thank you"? Grandma gives little Junior some cookies and he starts to walk away. Mom says, "What do you say?" Junior turns around and says, "Thank you." Don't parents teach their children that saying thank you is a duty? Why would saying thank you be a duty? To answer that, think of those children who never learned to say thank you. They usually grow up unthankful complainers. People who learn to say thank you also learn to depend on others and trust them. It's a duty to say thank you because when we say thank you, we are forced to remember that someone else was good to us. The Bible teaches that it is our duty to say thank you to God.
This was acted out by the priests in the Old Testament times. Priests were professional thankers. At least twice a day the priests performed a thank-you ritual. The priests also did these rituals at every holiday burnt offering sacrifice. You can read about that in chapter 23 of 1 Chronicles. The people were also taught to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. God got half the offering as it was burned up on an altar, and the priests got the other half, as God's representatives. The people of God have always made sure that we set aside some of our worship time to say thank you.
That's because we believe we have a heavenly Father who generously provides for us. Christians have always believed that it is our duty to thank God for all the good things we enjoy. And because God doesn't need flowers or cards or anything else, God's people have always believed that the proper way to say thank you to God is to invest some of their time, skills, and property in passing on the good news of salvation. This usually means time and money given in church service, especially money, because money buys time where you can't spend time yourself.
How about you; how thankful are you? A family sat down at the dinner table following church one Sunday. "The sermon was boring today," said the teenage son. "Yeah, could you believe how the pastor stumbled over the reading of the Scripture?" his sister chimed in. Mother said, "And the choir was terrible." Finally, father, showing his leadership, said, "Hush, you guys. Quit complaining. What did you expect for a buck?" Now, while this story illustrates how many Christians are cheap saying thank you with their cash, it also illustrates how Christians are cheap with giving of their time and talents in grateful service to Jesus as well. I believe that modern Christians have forgotten that it is their duty to support the work of their church richly -- even at personal sacrifice of comfort and pleasure. I believe that too many Christians take Jesus Christ for granted. Too many Christians are like the husband who expects his meals to be cooked and his laundry to be washed and the house to be kept clean, but hardly ever gives of himself in gratitude to his wife.
Now, what kind of thankfulness shall we show? To answer that, ask yourself what the heavenly Father has done for you. Let's say that green is the color of thankfulness. Green shows life. Shall we be like the mighty maple or the humble pine? The mighty maple is green as long as it is warm. The humble pine is green all year long, even in the cold and dead of winter. Paul wrote to the Corinthians asking them to be generous in their green season to those who were in the winter of poverty, so that when the winter of want would come on the Corinthians, others would share their greenness with them. The more money you give for church work, the more your thank you matches the generosity of our heavenly Father. The more time you spend telling others about Jesus, the more your thank you matches the sacrifice of Jesus' whole life for you. The more you use your abilities to praise God, the more your thank you matches the creative power of God that made all your life possible. "Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly." May we be more like the grateful Samaritan leper Jesus cured than the nine Jews who didn't do their simple duty of saying thank you.
Prayer: Thank You, heavenly Father, for all the good things You send our way, especially when You sent Your Son Jesus to bear our sin and be our Savior. Forgive us for the cheap and grudging way we have said thank you, as well as all the times we have taken You and Jesus for granted. Give us generous hearts like Yours so that we can be part of Your generous hand in providing for the needs of the world around us, both the physical needs, as well as the spiritual needs. Amen.
