Thanksgiving

SERMON

Text: 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In Christ Jesus, our blessed Savior and Lord, dear fellow redeemed:

In the recent Presidential election we heard a question asked rather frequently. That question was: “Are you better off now than four years ago?” The implication, of course, was that if you are better off now than four years ago, you should vote for the candidate of the party currently in power. On the other hand, if you are worst off now than four years ago, you should probably consider voting for the candidate of the party currently out of power. If you think about it for a moment that question and the conclusions it seeks to draw are based entirely upon selfishness. There are certainly many other things one should consider when voting for a President other than our personal fortunes. Unfortunately, I believe many people approach Thanksgiving in much the same way and with much the same question. “Am I better off today than say one year ago?” If I am, then I have something for which to be thankful. If not, perhaps not! Even then when we find people rejoicing in their good fortune, they often attribute it to themselves and their own hard work rather than the blessing of the Lord!

This morning I want to ask you a very different question, which I hope will help you think not just about the physical blessings you may or may not have enjoyed this past year. I hope that it will help you think about and pray for greater blessings! The question is: “Are you more content now than you were one year ago or even four years ago?” If you are like the vast majority of Americans, I would imagine you would probably answer, “Yes,” to the question concerning your financial or material well being. We are going through a very prosperous time economically here in the United States. Stocks have done well, inflation has remained low, real wages have gone up, unemployment rates have plummeted. Yet, at the same time I would imagine that the vast majority of Americans would have to answer, “No,” to the question concerning contentment. In spite of greater affluence, people are not finding true satisfaction in their lives! Money and the things money can buy really do not bring true happiness and contentment, for those things leading to contentment cannot be bought! Therefore, whether you have experience greater or lesser material blessing in this last year, LET US THANK GOD AND PRAY FOR HIS GREATER BLESSINGS!

I.

Yes, let us pray for His blessing of godliness! St. Paul writes, “Godliness with contentment is great gain!” We are rightly to be thankful each year for all of the blessings we have received from our God. They are, after all, blessings, which belong to God as we heard in our Old Testament lesson, and which He shares with us as a result of His abiding love and concern. A much greater blessing, however, than a new car, or a bigger house, or increasing investments is godliness!

While there are many components of godliness, I will mention only three this morning. True godliness, first of all, involves a right understanding. If we are truly to be godly, we need rightly to understand who God is. That would seem obvious would it not? Yet increasingly in our day people are embracing the error that there is only one god, who is known by many different names. You can call him Allah, or Buddha, or Krishna, or a Christ-less Jehovah, or the Holy Trinity and in the end you are talking about the very same thing. My dear friends, this is not true. There is only one, true God—one, true Redeemer. He is the LORD of the Bible, Who has revealed Himself to be Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you do not know and worship Him, you have nothing other than a creation of your own mind! In addition we need rightly to understand ourselves. We are all the special creations of God, each given individual gifts and talents by our Lord, each unfortunately born in the sinful image of our fathers and mothers. Consequently, while we are God’s creations, by nature the Bible tells us that we are God’s enemies doomed to destruction. What a humbling truth this is, but it is truth nonetheless! But we need not despair, dear friends, for the Bible reveals to us a right understanding of salvation. We do not achieve it by following the “five pillars” of Islam, or by striving to fulfill our “karma,” or by fulfilling to the best of our abilities the Mosaic Law. No, the Bible reveals the simple truth that, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Yes, when we are led by the Spirit of God Himself to understand and believe that Jesus, God’s Son, came into this world to live and to die as our substitute and thereby to remove our sins and to bestow upon us the gift of life everlasting—then we have the right understanding that leads to true godliness!

True godliness, however, involves more than right understanding, for the Bible tells us that Satan and his evil demons have a right understanding of the nature of God, but are lost and condemned creatures. The second component of true godliness is genuine commitment. Our God calls us to genuine commitment throughout Scripture—Noah was called upon to drop everything and build an ark. Abraham was called upon to leave everyone and travel to a new land. Joshua called upon the people of his day to “choose…this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). David wrote the world you found in the Pre-Service devotion this morning, “Serve the LORD with gladness” (Psalm 100:2). Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). All of Scripture cries out to us that right understanding is to be accompanied by genuine commitment. Even as Nicodemus first came to Jesus by night out of fear of the Jews, but later boldly confessed his faith by asking Pilate for Jesus body for burial, even so God would have us strive to “faithful until death” while He promises to give us “the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

Yes, true godliness involves right understanding and genuine commitment, but these two must be exercised in our lives with a third component—sincere love. Paul writes, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And thought I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love; it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Sincere love, having embraced the truths of Scripture and understanding the sacrifices of Jesus Christ, patiently and selflessly seeks to meet the needs of those around it with the goal of building them up in Christ and leading souls ever closer to Christ.

These, my dear friends, are the key elements of true godliness. Pray for such godliness, for with it will come many, many blessings both in this life and in the life to come. True godliness will bring us closer together in our marriages and in our families. True godliness makes creating a home a higher priority than having a larger house. True godliness seeks to heal and uplift rather than to promote self regardless of the cost to others. LET US THANK GOD AND PRAY FOR HIS GREATER BLESSINGS, in particular, His blessing of godliness!

II.

But also, may we pray for His blessing of contentment! True contentment is a blessing, which escapes the grasp of the vast majority of people in this world. As Paul points out to Timothy it rests upon the recognition of three things, the first of which is that we are but stewards entrusted by God for a time with our material possessions. Paul writes, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” We have had two funerals here at Immanuel this week. By the grace of God both Alma Hasse and Lenora Fischer placed their faith in their Lord Jesus and we can be confident that their souls are in the presence of God in heaven. But, as Paul here writes, neither one of them took any of their earthly possessions with them into eternity. Those earthly possessions, whatever they were, however abundant they were belonged to God, were bestowed upon them for use in this life, and were limited to this life. They were but stewards, that is caregivers as are we all! The question for each of us then is not how much can we accumulate, that we can call our own, but rather how might we best use that which God has entrusted to us to His glory and for the welfare of those around us! Such an attitude leads to true contentment!

Secondly, true contentment recognizes that God will provide for all of our needs. Paul writes, “Having good and clothing, with these we shall be content.” We heard in our New Testament lesson this morning that we need not worry, for our God knows of our needs, loves us, and will care for us. This is a truth that believers have experienced throughout history—it always has been true and always will be true. Our God is faithful, and He can be trusted! Knowing this leads to true contentment, because it frees us from worry and self-seeking and allows us rather to determine for ourselves and then pursue our God-given callings. The world tends to look out for “Number 1,” striving always to protect personal interests and seek personal security. Children of God will surely be busy fulfilling their duties in whatever calling God gives them, but they can do it with their eyes open to the needs of others and can direct their energy for the higher good. They know that their God will certainly not abandon them, but will care for them. Such an attitude leads to true contentment.

Finally, true contentment recognizes that the desire to be rich and the love of money will lead to destruction. Jesus once said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (that is, money)” (Matthew 6:24). In the end Jesus is here talking about idolatry—the love of God versus the love of gold! Guard your hearts and minds, dear friends, for the intense desire to become rich can ensnare your hearts and destroy your lives. How many people do you know whose marriages, families, and faith-life have been damaged or destroyed as they have pursued material success in this world. That is not to say that we should not be ambitious and determined to use the gifts God has given us to fulfill our callings and to do so with excellence. Jesus consistently commended the good stewards in His parables. But we are living in an age when people are seeking wealth in every greater amounts and assuming that if only they had more money and the things money can buy, they will find happiness. It has not happened, nor will it, and sadly to say, not only do such people bring upon themselves sorrow in this world, all too often they lose their hope of everlasting life as well. True contentment recognizes that one’s greatest desire must every remain a good and proper relationship with the Creator of this material world, for therein lies the understanding and the realization of the great blessing of contentment! LET US THANK GOD on this Thanksgiving for all of His gifts AND PRAY FOR HIS GREATER BLESSINGS OF GODLINESS AND CONTENTMENT! Amen.

—Paul D. Nolting