PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: Jesus-A Poached Egg? Or Perfect Essence?

     C.S. Lewis found himself confronted with the claims of Jesus Christ.  After weighing the evidence about Christ he found himself giving in to those claims and with reluctance at first, turning from atheism to faith.  As he tried to share his journey with other scholars at Oxford he was often confronted with rejections that were followed with patronizing.  Many were telling him that they thought Jesus was a great moral teacher.  They loved his teachings and stories, but simply could not accept His claims to be God Incarnate!  Finally Lewis could no longer bear such patronage of His Savior!  This is what he said to such a reply-

     “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him.  They say, ‘I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but not His claim to be God’.  That is the one thing we must not say!  A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be A LUNATIC-ON THE LEVEL OF A MAN WHO SAYS HE IS A POACHED EGG-OR ELSE HE WOULD BE THE DEVIL OF HELL.  You must make your choice either the man was, and is the SON OF GOD, or else a madman, or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill Him, as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him LORD and GOD, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to…it is obvious to me that He was neither a LUNATIC nor a FIEND…however terrifying or strange or unlikely it may seem…HE WAS AND IS GOD!”  (Mere Christianity)

     One of the options that Lewis mentioned was “a lunatic…on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg!”  As we look at the Gospels we see that there were those who thought just that!  Jesus had been performing miracle after miracle.  He had forgiven sins!  The inference was that only God has that right.  Jesus was claiming His Divinity!  When he cast out demons His popularity sky-rocketed!  Then He began to say unusual things.  “If you save your life you will lose it!”  “The first will be last and the last first!”  “When asked to go one mile-go two!”  “When slapped on one cheek-give them your other cheek”.  “If you are asked for your cloak-give them your coat too!”  He said things like, “Before Abraham was, I Am!”  The Scribes and the Pharisees began to say things like-“You are a demon-you have a demon!”  “You are mad!”  “Insane!”  “You are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham?  Sure you have!” They had had it with his claims of being the Son of God who had come down from heaven.  In Mark 6:3; and John 6:42 they reasoned with one another “Is not this the Carpenter’s Son?  Is not this the Carpenter?  Is He not the son of Joseph?  Of Mary?  Is he not the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon??  Are not His sisters here with us?”  As anger began to rise over Jesus’ claims, Mark 3:21 tells us that his family, (those belonging to him in the Greek, came to “take Him home because He was beside Himself” i.e. “out of His mind!”  Even his own family, which John 7 says, “did not believe in him”-began to perceive Him as the rest of the Jewish leaders did, and see him as insane and in need of rest and removal from the public!

     There is another hint as to why Jesus was seen this way.  It is seen in John 6.  Jesus began to talk about “eating his flesh and drinking his blood!”  When he did that his popularity began to flag immediately.  Followers began to leave him in droves!  Paul Brandt, in his book In His Image, gives a new slant to this defection.  He writes “deep in every Jewish person’s consciousness laid a fundamental association of blood with life.  God himself had given it that meaning…God had commanded, ‘you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it’ Gen. 9:4; The Mosaic Law would prohibit ingesting blood too. (Lev. 3:17; Dt. 12:23)…Every good Jewish housewife checked her meat to see that no blood remained.  The rule was absolute:  do not eat the blood, for it contains life.  Kosher cuisine developed, using elaborate techniques to assure that no blood contaminated the meat.  Blood was not to ever be ingested!  Against that backdrop consider the shocking, almost revolting message Jesus brought to that culture:  ‘I tell you the truth that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you!…For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him…so the one who feeds on me will live because of me!” (John 6:53-57).  That was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back!”  Even his family began to see Him as insane!  But He was speaking spiritual things which they were taking too literally.  It was true that he was the Bread, (the Divine Sustenance from Heaven).  It was true that His broken body and shed blood would affect a New Covenant.  It was true that it could only transform and sustain those who partook of it.  Those who ate the manna in the wilderness perished.  Those who would eat and drink of the New Covenant would be cleansed and cured!  But the flesh could not see the things spiritually discerned!  They seemed crazy!  He seemed crazy. 

     Another thing that He said would seem crazy as well.  In Mt. 10:36 Jesus said, “A man’s foes shall be those of his own household”.  He talked about a family tie that exceeds “flesh and blood ties”.  Real family is the family that teaches you to “practice the will of God, and practice the Word of God”.  All other family ties are inferior that that.  That is the message today.  It may sound crazy…but not with spiritual discernment! 

     John Fawcett discerned the meaning of spiritual family ties when he wrote that great hymn-Blest Be the Tie That Binds.

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne

We pour our ardent prayers;

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one

Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,

Our mutual burdens bear;

And often for each other flows

The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,

It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

And hope to meet again!”

“These are my mother, my brothers, and my sisters!”

SERMON: Joshua: The Challenge of Filling Moses' Shoes

                                              Joshua 1:1-18

I.          SHOES OF A SLAVE

II.         SHOES OF A SERVANT

III.       SHOES OF A SPY

IV.       SHOES OF A SOLDIER

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “A MOST MISCHEVIOUS SUPERSTION”-“ROOTED IN HISTORY!”

     As we celebrate Christmas again this year there is a troubling trend that I think never quite gets addressed by Christians.  Christmas celebration each year is a mixture of fact and fiction that somehow neutralizes the impact that Christmas should have for each generation each year.  We celebrate the fact that Jesus was born into the world on Christmas day-(though even the fact that His birth may not have been on the 25th of December casts a fiction-like shadow of uncertainty about Christmas’ historical basis).  There are mentions in the Gospel narratives of Caesar Augustus, Herod the Great, Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph…all with historical relevance.  But then we add the visit of Three Kings of the Orient; The Angels from on High; The Shepherds-in such a way that it dramatizes the historical reality.  Then we throw Santa Claus into the mix; with the Christmas trees; and the Feast of Saturnalia; and the worship of the Evergreens as idols; and the fact that early Christians did not celebrate Jesus’ birth at first; and that even in America Christmas was outlawed during the early years of our nation, and suddenly Christmas and Jesus seem somewhat of a religious story…a nice one about the Baby Jesus; the Shepherds; the Innkeeper; and of course those Wise men…but come on did all of this really happen?  Like we have it in the Gospels?  Is all that historically believable?

     There have been those who have set out to investigate whether Jesus was really a real historical figure.  One of the most famous and prominent scholars to do that of course was Albert Sweitzer.  Sweitzer is best known as a great humanitarian who spent his entire life from 40 on as a medical doctor giving his life to aid the poor natives of Africa.  But before he did that, he was known for his magnus opus-his book entitled The Quest For the Historical Jesus, which he wrote in 1906. His book betrays Sweitzer as less than an historian or a theologian.  He concluded that book with a view of Jesus that was far from orthodox.  He stated that Jesus had brought about his own crucifixion; he also left Jesus without a resurrection.  Sweitzer taught that Jesus thought he was the Jewish Messiah, with a “messianic consciousness”, but thought that the only way to bring about the end of the world was by forcing his own death; and that, according to Sweitzer, was Jesus’ glory.  He died as a martyr to His belief in His “messianic character”.  Is that what history tells us about the Jesus story?  There are others who would have us believe that the only references we have to Jesus, in history, is the narratives written about Him by his own followers-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Can we trust them to give us an unbiased historical perspective of Jesus?  Is there anything written in secular history about the real historical Jesus.  Well…I not only majored in Pastoral Ministry at the University.  I had a double-major, and my second major was history, with an emphasis on Ancient History.  I am glad to report to you that there are some very reliable secular historical references to Jesus in the history books.  Unfortunately, they are not often referred to in our recounting the Christmas story; or in the study of the Life of Jesus.  Let me briefly share the three or four of the most significant ones. 

     The great Jewish historian Josephus makes two references to Jesus in his writings.  Josephus was a very important Jewish historian of the 1st Century.  When the Roman general Vespasian was taking the city of Jotapata by siege, and most Jewish colleagues of Josephus committed suicide, Josephus surrendered and volunteered to be a defender of the hated Romans to his own people.  Thus, he wrote his narrative concerning the Jewish-Roman War with a very defending view of Rome.  His most ambitious work was his The Antiquities.  This work was a history of the Jewish people from creation until his own time.  It is in this work that he makes his first historical reference to Jesus.  He describes how that the High Priest Annas took advantage of the death of the Roman Governor Felix, and had James killed.  He writes, “He (Annas) convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named James, the brother of Jesus, who is called the Christ, and certain others.  He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned”.  There you have his first reference to the historical Jesus.  He was the brother of James, who Annas had put to death.  That corroborates the historical narrative of the Book of Acts.  Then later, in Book 18, chapter three of the Antiquities, Josephus makes a reference to Jesus that has been called the Testimonium Flavianum.  This is what he writes, “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly.  He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.  He was the Christ.  When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him.  On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him.  And the tribe Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared”.  Concerning this reference to Jesus Christian historian Edwin Yamauchi says, “That passage in Josephus corroborates important information about Jesus:  that he was the martyred leader of the church in Jerusalem and that he was a wise teacher who had established a wide and lasting following, despite the fact that he had been crucified under Pilate at the instigation of some Jewish leaders.”  When you consider that Josephus gives us a very accurate account of the Jewish War that has been confirmed by the archaeological evidence found at Masada, and the parallel accounts of Tacitus, then his references to Jesus can be seen as accurate representations of the historical Jesus.  This was written probably around 93 A.D.

     Josephus is not the only secular historian to speak of Jesus.  Edwin Yamauchi says that the most important reference to Jesus outside the New Testament is the reference by the Roman Historian Tacitus.  Yamauchi says, “In A.D. 115 Tacitus explicitly states that Nero persecuted the Christians as scapegoats to divert suspicion away from himself for the great fire that had devastated Rome in A.D. 64”.   This is what Tacitus writes, “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.  Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius, at the hands of …Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome…Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty: then, upon information, and immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.”  (Tacitus-Annals).  What impact does this reference have?  Yamauchi explains, “This is an important testimony by an unsympathetic witness to the success and spread of Christianity, based on the historical figure of Jesus-who was crucified under Pilate.  It is significant that Tacitus reported that an immense multitude held so strongly to their beliefs that they were willing to die rather than recant”.

     Another reference to Jesus is found in Pliny the Younger.  He was Governor of Bithynia.  He was a close friend of the Emperor Trajan.  The reference to Jesus is a personal letter he wrote to the emperor.  He writes, in book 10 of his letters to the emperor, “I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of punishment awaiting them.  If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution…their stubbornness…ought not go unpunished…their guilt…they met regularly before dawn…to chat verses …in honor of Christ as if to a god, and to bind themselves by oath to abstain from theft, robbery, or adultery”.  This quote shows us that Christians worshipped Jesus…to the death. 

     One of the most fascinating historical references to Jesus from the first century is by a historian named Thallus in 56 A.D. (referenced by Julius Africanus in 221 A.D.)  In the third book of his histories, Thallus makes reference to the darkness that occurred at Jesus’ crucifixion.  He says it was caused by an eclipse of the sun.  Africanus, argues with Thallus’ claim given when the darkness occurred…at the Passover.  So, Jesus’ life, crucifixion, and resurrection, and even the darkness at his cross, has been rooted in the historical records of the first century.  Historian Paul Maier puts this all in perspective…”This phenomenon, (of darkness) was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Mediterranean cities.  According to Tertullian…it was a cosmic and world event.  Phlegon, a Greek author from Caria reported that in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad-(i.e. 33 A.D.)  “There was the greatest eclipse of the sun…it became night at the sixth hour of the day, (noon), so that even stars appeared in the heavens.  There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicea”.  (Pontius Pilate Paul Maier.  1968.)  So, this Jesus, born in Bethlehem really lived.  He really died.  He really rose again.  He is the central figure of history!  Don’t let anyone cause you to ever doubt that!  He still lives and impacts lives today as the first century.

     Chuck Colson tells of this reality when he visited a notorious prison in Brazil.  He went to visit the notorious Humaita prison in Brazil.  The recidivism rate for most prisons worldwide is 75 percent.  (recidivism means “returning to prison for further criminal activity when released”).  But this notorious prison had reduced it return rate to 4 per cent.  Colson said “I saw the answer when my inmate guide escorted me to the notorious punishment cell once used for torture.  Today, he told me, that block houses only a single inmate.  As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked, ‘are you sure you want to go in?’  ‘Of course,’ I answered, ‘I’ve been in isolation cells all over the world’.  Slowly he swung the door open, and I saw the prisoner in the punishment cell:  a crucifix beautifully carved by the Humaita inmates-the Prisoner Jesus hanging on the cross!”  ‘He’s doing time for all the rest of us’, my guide said softly”.  That was the secret of changed lives.  They had met Jesus.  He took their guilt to His cross.  He set them free from their sin.  They were new creatures in Him.  That is the key to their success in not returning to crime.  That is the historical message of the Christ born into history on the first Christmas.  That is the message of each new Christmas!  That is God’s footnotes on history.  It is indeed “His” “Story”.

SERMON: EPIPHANY: TALE OF TWO COMINGS

TITUS 2:11-14

I.    CHRIST OF CHRISTMAS-GIFTING US HIS GRACE

II.   CHRIST OF 2ND COMING: GIFTING US HIS GLORY

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “The unedited Christmas and the Perfect Tree”

     It’s the king of all classic TV Christmas specials: “A Charlie Brown Christmas“.  It first aired in 1965.  We know the familiar scenes of Charlie Brown looking for the real meaning of Christmas; receiving no cards from anyone; Snoopy decorates his doghouse; Lucy has her Christmas pageant; Charlie picks out a tree that is pitiful and is laughed at for such a choice!  Of course, Charlie cries out in frustration-“doesn’t anyone know what the true meaning of Christmas is?”  At that moment Linus Van Pelt takes center stage telling Charlie-“I can tell you what Christmas is all about”.  He then proceeds to quote the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke.  He not only describes the angelic visit, but then quotes how the angels said, “Be not afraid…for unto you is born this day, in Bethlehem, a Savior which is Christ the Lord.  This shall be a sign you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men'”.  “That is what Christmas is all about!” Linus affirms.  Recently I heard an interview of one of the creators of that show.  When Charles Shultz, the creator of Peanuts, Charlie Brown, and that particular Christmas special suggested that particular drama he was met with strong opposition, and objection to airing that because of the inclusion of the message centering around Jesus…the Savior.  The network wanted to edit out the part about Jesus being the central meaning of Christmas.  The network wanted to tube the show.  They feared there would be strong opposition to it, and it would result in loss of advertising.  You know what Charles Schultz did?  He stood his ground.  He said, “If we don’t do it who will?  We’re going to do it”…and the rest is history!  With his groundbreaking project on the line, Charles Schultz refused to “edit out Jesus!”  during that Christmas season in 1965.  It took courage!  God blessed him and us for that stand.  How about us this Christmas.  Are we willing to stand our ground and refuse to edit Jesus out of our Christmas pageants?  That is exactly what the devil wants us to do.  It is ok to celebrate the holidays!  Enjoy the festivities.  Just don’t get carried away with too much focus on Jesus.  His virgin birth.  His reason for coming.  Stay away from themes like Incarnation-God with us-Salvation as an unspeakable gift due to Calvary! 

     Charles Schultz was a master to have Charlie Brown find all the commercialization of Christmas leave him empty and confused.  He was a genius to make the center part of the pageant center around a little unattractive tree that everyone laughs at.  Then of course to answer Charlie’s question about the meaning of Christmas with God’s answer from Luke’s gospel, through the person of Linus!  Then Linus saying-“I never thought it was such a bad little tree at all really…maybe all it just needs is a little love!”  And Charlie Brown saying, “This little tree needs a home.  I think it needs me!”  The unattractive tree becomes a beautiful part of the Christmas story.  There are some subtle but significant messages in this pageant.  When Linus hears the angel say, “Be not afraid”…he lays his security blanket down!  Then that ugly tree seems to draw everyone to it to see it in a different light.  When they do…they give it a home and love…and find a home and love of their own! -Through that tree!  Subtle but significant message.  Makes me think of a song by Ray Boltz-called the Perfect Christmas Tree.  Listen to the words:

The ornaments are ready

The place has been prepared

Strings of lights and holly

Are draped across the chair

The family’s all together

I know where they must be

Everyone is searching

For the perfect tree

Mother wants a straight one

The children want it tall

Dad just hopes that somehow

He can get it down the hall

Soon they’ll gather round it

As proud as they can be

But when they look at it

I wonder if they see

The Perfect tree

Grew very long ago

And it was not decked with silver

Or ornaments of gold

But hanging from its branches

Was a gift for you and me

Jesus laid His life down

On that Perfect Tree

With all the celebrations

Sometimes the truth is lost

That every step this baby took

Brought Him closer to the cross!

That Perfect Tree needs some love and home.  If you embrace the one who died upon it, it will bring the real meaning of love and Christmas to your home this Christmas.  Don’t let anyone cause you to edit that message and that Savior out of your Christmas pageant.  Embrace Him and you too can turn loose of any and all of those security blankets that are fulfilling your deepest needs anyway.  That is the what Christmas means!

Sermon: THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE

GALATIANS 3:1-14

I.     THE TREE OF TRAGEDY

                       GENESIS 2:17.

II.    THE TREE OF TRIUMPH

                          I PETER 2:24

III.   THE TREE OF TRANSFORMATION

                         REVELATION 2:7

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:  “THANKSLIVING: It’s better than THANKSGIVING!”

     I am not sure when, where, or who first used the term “thanksliving”. Peter Gomes, renowned preacher of Harvard University in the 20th Century, (though not one I am particularly able to embrace the theology he embraced), wrote that he had a friend who kept an old Sunday Bulletin from the 1930’s because of the misprint it contained.  It was a bulletin printed for Thanksgiving Day Service-but a typographical error left the title on the bulletin exclaiming “Thanksliving Day”.  Gomes said, “What a wonderful mistake!  Thanksgiving, as an attitude, should lead to thanksliving as an action!” I was content to credit Rev. Gomes with being the author of such a magnificent metamorphosis:  Thanksgiving to Thanksliving.  Then, while reading a sermon by the Great Baptist Preacher of the 1800’s, Charles H. Spurgeon, I came across these words:  “I think that it is better than Thanksgiving: Thanksliving!  How is it to be done?  By a general cheerfulness of manner, by an obedience to the command of Him by whose mercy we live, by a perpetual constant delighting ourselves in the Lord and by a submissing of our desires to His will!”  That is the earliest reference that have found in reference to Thanksgiving/Thanksliving.  John F. Kennedy, though not using the words, certainly expressed the concept.  He wrote:  “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, (Thanksgiving), but to live by them, (Thanksliving)”.  Then, in further study, I came across an even more profound definition of the Thanksgiving/Thanksliving connection.  G.K. Chesterton wrote:  “I would maintain that Thanks is the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted, or with gratitude!”  Henry David Thoreau said:  “My Thanksgiving is Perpetual”-that pithy affirmation translates thanksgiving into thanksliving.  Clement of Alexandria, a Church Father from over 1900 years ago, said: “There is only one offering we can make to God-A Thankful Heart!”-that is the source of Thanksliving! 

     I love the Thanksgiving holiday!  I love the Thanksgiving history!  I agree with O’Henry-“Thanksgiving is ours-it is the only truly indigenous American Holiday”.   I love Thanksgiving poems.  One of my favorite is The Pumpkin, by John Greenleaf Whittier. But I think my favorite Thanksgiving prank was a St. Louis radio show host that told a call-in lady, (he was only joking), to try his special recipe of adding a cup of popcorn to the stuffing placed inside the turkey).  She took him serious!  She lost her oven and her turkey!  He lost his job!  My favorite Thanksgiving Story is told by Author/Pastor Chuck Swindoll.  In his book Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back, in the chapter on “Misunderstanding”, he tells the story told him by a friend who had a friend who was a young attorney in a sizable law firm in Texas.  Swindoll says, “This young lawyer worked for a traditional kind of boss who had a thing for Thanksgiving.  Every year the boss would go through a sort of ritual; at this large walnut table he would place a series of turkeys for each member in the law firm.  It was not just a pick one up if you need one kind of arrangement.  It was a formal setting where your turkey would be placed in front of you, and when the time came for you to receive yours, you would step forward to your turkey, express how grateful you were to work for the firm and acknowledge the gift of this sizable bird for your Thanksgiving.  But this junior lawyer was single.  He had no use for such a large turkey.  He didn’t know how to cook one, and if he did, he certainly couldn’t eat that much meat.  But every year, because it was expected, he received his turkey with gratitude, and then had to find a taker for his bird.  This year, his friends had pulled a trick on him.  They replaced his turkey, with a paper mache’ bird, loaded with lead, and wrapped just like the others!

     When his turn came, just like the others, he stepped up and received his bird, (not realizing its bogus nature), and left the office with his Thanksgiving Turkey!  He boarded the Transit System and headed home, with his bird on his lap.  What would he do with it?  As he contemplated his annual dilemma a man boarded the bus, and sat down in the vacant seat beside him. The man had recently been laid off; He had been job-hunting all day-no luck.  As he shared his sad story with the young lawyer, the lawyer realized that his problem had been solved.  This man, with no job, and a large family to feed for the holidays, would be a great candidate to give the turkey to.  But not wanting to embarrass him, he offered the turkey for the bargain price of a couple of dollars, (which was the last bit of money the man had).  As the man got off the bus, he thanked the lawyer for being so kind as to sell him the turkey at such a reduced price, to help him and his family have a blessed Thanksgiving.  He told him-‘I’ll never forget you!’  Nothing could be truer!  The stranger walked into his home and announced to his family that a nice man had made it possible for them to have turkey for Thanksgiving in spite of their recent circumstances!  Imagine their surprise as they unwrapped the bogus bird only to find a strange conglomeration of paper mache and lead!  The Monday, following the holidays, the rest of the firm was so anxious to hear about what the young lawyer thought of his Thanksgiving Turkey!  You can only imagine their reaction when they heard that he had sold it, to the stranger in need, on the bus.  Swindoll was told by his friend that the entire firm spent the next week searching the bus lines for the stranger who spent Thanksgiving wondering why a fine young lawyer would take his last two dollars and give him a fake turkey.  They never found him!”  That is a Thanksgiving experience all of us could be thankful to have never had happen to us!  Let me conclude this perspective with one of the most powerful quotes I have ever come across on the Transforming power of a grateful heart.  It is a quote by author Melody Beattie:  “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity; it can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow”.  That Attitude of Gratitude Transforms Thanksgiving into Thanksliving!

SERMON: How Can I Say Thanks?

Psalm 150:1-6 

I.          TO THE RIGHT PERSON
II.         FROM THE RIGHT PLACE
III.        FOR THE RIGHT PARTICULARS
IV.       WITH THE RIGHT PASSION

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “THANKSGIVING-The inner health made audible…praise in it’s complete enjoyment…it’s appointed consummation”.

     Ian McPherson, Scottish novelist (1905-1944), tells about traveling across England by train one hot summer day.  As the train rolled to a stop in a little village, through the open windows of his train car, McPherson could hear someone outside shouting, “Praise! Praise! Praise!”.  MacPherson said he stuck his head out the window expecting to see a bearded Hebrew chanter singing one of the Old Testament canticles- like Psalm 150.  He was surprised to learn it was the conductor calling out the name of the local station which was P-R-A-Z-E, England!  He later told the conductor, as he disembarked the train, “It must be a wonderful thing to live in PRAISE (PRAZE)”.  In Psalm 150 the very Hebrew Psalmist who wrote that Psalm encourages us to make sure that “our new address is living in praise”-Our Heavenly Father deserves it, and we definitely need it!  Can you think of anything we need to cultivate more than a grateful heart?  To live in an attitude of praise would make life sweeter and better for all of us.  Thanksgiving reminds us of three things-We have a PERSON to thank; We have PARTICULARS to be thankful for; and we should have PASSION in our Thanksgiving!

     First of all, Thanksgiving reminds us we have a PERSON to Thank!  October 2, 1940, the Scottish Trawler, the Theresa Boyle, was bombed by Nazi Bombers, and sank into the North Sea during WWII.  The ship went down quickly. The small crew escaped with their lives.  But the exhausted crew was so cold and weak they could not row anymore, after fifty hours!  All seemed lost.  They heard a droning plane coming, which did a low pass over their lifeboat.  It then headed back fifteen miles to lead to minesweepers back to rescue the crew.  After they were safe on the minesweeper, and the plane flew away, one of the crew asked to use the radio to contact the plane.  The pilot asked if anything was wrong?  He responded, “no we survivors just want to tell him-THANK YOU!”    Katherine Mansfield, a New Zealand writer and poet, wrote to a friend, “I have just finished my new book.  I finished it last night at 10:30. I said, ‘Thank God!’  Oh, how I wish there were a God.  I am so longing to praise Him!’ ”  As Christians longing to praise someone, have that SOMEONE WHO DOES EXIST…TO PRAISE!

     Thanksgiving reminds us we have PARTICULARS TO BE THANKFUL FOR!  November 6, 1620 The Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 100 passengers aboard.  As the boat lay in anchor in Cape Cod Harbor, Nov. 11, 1620 The Mayflower Compact was signed by 41 passengers under Governor William Bradford. for a permanent settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Three years later the Governor decreed a three-day feast beginning on Thursday Nov. 29, 1623.  In spite of severe losses, great grief, and innumerable hardships…they found much to thank their Heavenly Father for, and set a pattern for all the world to follow their tradition!  We need to be reminded of that today.  I love Andre Crouch’s song “My Tribute”- “How can I say thanks, for the things you have done for me, things so underserved!”  Amen?  The best Thanksgiving sermon I ever heard was by a Seventh Day Adventists named George Vandemann called…”I Wonder How to Thank Him?”.  Thanksgiving, counting our blessings, is a healthy thing to do!  Dr. A.J. Cronin, a British doctor who gave up his practice to become a writer.  He told of a fellow Physician who was known as the “Thank-you Dr.”  He made it a practice to prescribe to his emotionally disturbed patients six weeks of thanking anyone and everyone for any good deeds done to them or for them!  He found that to have nearly a 100% cure rate!  C.S. Lewis called praise “inner health made audible!”

     Thanksgiving reminds us to have a PASSION about our Thanksgiving.  C.S. Lewis, in his book Reflections on the Psalms, writes “The world rings with praise-lovers praising their misses…readers their favorite authors or poets, walkers praising the countryside, players their favorite games, praise of weather, actors, cars, colleges, countries, children, rare stamps, even politicians and teachers! Praise almost seems inner health made audible.  Men praise what they value, and urge us to do so also.  ‘Isn’t she lovely?’ ‘wasn’t that glorious?’ ‘don’t you think that is magnificent?’  We delight in praise because it not only expresses our delight…it completes it!  We are told in a confession of faith, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever!”  Thanksgiving does just that!  Change your address so that you are “Living in Praise!”

SERMON: OUTLINE STEPS TO A GENUINELY THANKFUL HEART

I.    HE SAW SOMETHING

II.     HE SAID SOMETHING

III.     HE SHOWED SOMETHING