James 1:17-18 * Thanksgiving 2007 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Some things make no sense unless you have the whole picture. To separate the inseparable results in an incomplete thought at best, and at worst, sheer nonsense (according to the literal meaning of the word, meaning “makes no sense”).

Take Christmas, for example.

Historically, traditionally, and commonly understood for centuries, Christmas is an observation of the birth of Jesus Christ. No matter how much anyone may try to camouflage it or explain it away in terms of Santa Claus or a winter festival or a time to put up “holiday” trees, it simply cannot be properly understood outside its historical and religious meaning. Anything else ends up literally being nonsense.

The same could be said about our holiday and corresponding worship service today. Interestingly enough, Thanksgiving is not a church holiday that in time was incorporated into the state; rather it is a national holiday that has been incorporated into the church. It came as the result of a presidential decree by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Nevertheless, it cannot be properly understood outside of its historic and religious meaning. To try and understand it outside of that is nonsense.

We are here today because we do understand. In fact, we could say

THANKSGIVING = UNDERSTANDING

The Apostle James lists three things in particular that lead to a proper understanding of what, for the Christian, is not only behind this holiday celebration, but behind the Christian’s ongoing life of thanksgiving. This is what we understand:

1. God is the Giver of all good things

2. God’s goodness to us does not vacillate

3. God’s greatest gift to us is the word of truth

Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

A moment ago I mentioned that trying to separate the inseparable leads either to a gaping state of incompleteness or something that makes no sense. Allow me to expand on that for just a second as it applies to how many view the holiday we observe today.

From just about every angle in the media we will be encouraged to be thankful today. We will be reminded that this is the day to stop and give thanks. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

But that’s only half the story, isn’t it? Who are we to thank? You see, “thank” is what English teachers call a “transitive” verb. Do you remember what that means? It means it calls for a subject and a direct object. Without a direct object – in this case, someone or something to thank – it is incomplete and makes no sense.

In other words, to say “I thank” is incomplete. To complete the thought we must also determine who it is we thank. For the grateful non-Christian that may pose a problem. But it doesn’t for us. We know exactly who to thank: God, who James describes in rather transcendental terms as “the Father of heavenly lights.”

Not only do we know who to thank, but we know what to thank Him for: everything. Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

Let’s break this passage down. God gives us gifts; that is, the things we need. Not necessarily everything we want or desire, but everything we need. And every gift he gives us is described as “good and perfect.” So another way of looking at this means God perfectly provides and apportions to each of us what we need for our own good.

This terminology presents us with an interesting thought, and may even mean we have to readjust our way of thinking. Because most of us think of Thanksgiving in terms thanking God for what we have, and think of ourselves as perhaps lacking in some areas because of what we don’t have. But this passage suggests whatever we have – as well as whatever we don’t have – is right and perfect for us, customized to our needs and coming to us from the hand of God.

This was impressed upon me – and now I’m sharing it with you – by an article I read years ago in a newspaper. The writer told the story of a conversation he had with a man who had just recently become a father. The new father was, as expected, talking about his child. He mentioned that the most important thing to him was that his child was healthy, and then concluded the conversation by saying: “I guess I’m just blessed.” Which, of course, was true.

However, the man who wrote the article was also a father. But his child had some physical and developmental disabilities that placed his child outside the range of what most people consider a “healthy” child. After the conversation he got to wondering, “Does this mean I am not blessed because my child has disabilities?” And the conclusion he came to is that he was not any less blessed, just blessed in a different way.

The point I’m trying to make is that too often we define blessings in rather narrow way. We generally see blessings in the form of the “positive” things we’ve been given and in terms of success and achievements. And this is true.

But blessings also come to us in what we have not been given. There are great blessings that come only from our struggles and our setbacks and as we deal with things the Lord brings into our lives that we would not choose for ourselves. Among them are the blessings of a deeper reliance on God or a stronger life of prayer or the calm acceptance that the Lord is in control. Such “hidden” blessings also come from the hand of God.

And that is why James wants us to also understand that God, the giver of all good and perfect gifts, is not a fickle or moody God. Perhaps that is also why James refers to God as the Father of the heavenly lights. In distinction to the light of the sun and moon which shifts and changes due to external circumstances like cloud cover and time of day, God and His grace to us is constant. He, indeed, is the One “who does not change like shifting shadows.”

It’s like the story told about a seminary professor who was taking a drive in the country and saw a weather vane on a farmer’s barn. On its arrows were inscribed the words “God is love.” This intrigued – and troubled – the professor enough to where he turned in at the gate and asked the farmer what was behind the inscription. “Do you mean to suggest,” he said, “that God’s love is changeable; that it veers about as that arrow turns in the wind?” To which the farmer replied, “Oh no. To me it means that whichever way the wind blows, God is still love.”

What that farmer said is what our text says – that God’s love for us and his blessings to us do not vacillate. Sometimes those blessings are quite obvious and on the surface. At other times those blessings may be more hidden and below the surface. But all are blessings, because God is not wishy washy. And for that quality of divine constancy and consistency we are most thankful.

Thus far James has reminded us that God is the giver of all good and perfect gifts, and that his goodness to us does not vacillate. In the first phrase of the second verse of our text James reminds us of the greatest gift He has given us, and, in turn, our greatest reason for thanksgiving today and everyday. “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”

God’s greatest gift to us is our understanding of “the word of truth.” And “the word of truth” is the Gospel message.

Of the many healing miracles recorded for us in the pages of the Gospels, one of the more memorable ones is found in Luke chapter 5. It is the account of Jesus healing a paralyzed man. What makes it memorable is the determined and inventive way that the friends of this paralyzed man made sure he appeared before Jesus.

You might remember that they were unable to gain an audience with Jesus because the house in which He was teaching was so crowded. Rather than giving up and going home, they became creative. They went up to the roof of the house, took off some of the roof tiles and lowered the paralyzed man right in front of Jesus.

What happened next is most significant. Do you remember the first thing that Jesus said to this man? He didn’t say, “Be healed.” That would come later. Instead, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” In other words, He met this paralyzed man’s greatest need – a spiritual need – first. He assured him of his forgiveness. And we can surmise that if this was as far as Jesus chose to go – even if no physical healing had taken place – this man would have gone home happy.

Because the forgiveness of sins is mankind’s greatest need. It is our greatest need. We can do without a lot physically and still do well. But without the forgiveness of sins, we are doomed spiritually. Without the forgiveness of sins we may, in the words of Jesus, gain the whole world; but in the end we will lose our soul. Because sin is serious. It disqualifies us from the eternal life that lies beyond our brief, temporal life.

Sin locks the door of heaven to us, but forgiveness opens it. And that forgiveness has been provided for us by Jesus Christ. His sinless life as our substitute. His sacrificial death in our place. His glorious resurrection as proof He is the Savior He claimed to be means the defeat of sin’s power to condemn and replaces it with the red carpet that leads to eternal life.

And this blessing brings all kinds of other blessings in its wake. It brings warmth to our soul and peace to our hearts. Paul calls it a peace that passes all understanding, and the prophet Isaiah equates it with a river that flows wide and deep and long. And this peace is ours because God has brought us to an understanding of the “word of truth.”

We’ll conclude by recalling our opening thought. Some things make no sense unless you have the whole picture. Thanksgiving as a holiday is part of the picture. Understanding it properly completes it.

Today we have come together because we understand who to thank: God.

And we understand why to thank Him: For his constant and consistent blessing upon our lives.

And we understand especially what to thank him for: His word of truth in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Understanding those three things leads not only to a proper perspective on the holiday that comes around every fourth Thursday of November, but to a life of ongoing thanksgiving. Now thank we all our God. Amen.