From thanksgiving to life-giving sacrifice

Col 1:3-14

Key verse 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

“Thanksgiving” is not common word among other religions. Instead, words of sacrifice, worship   captures the mainstay of people’s expression in their relationship with their gods.  It is because people are compelled to appease their capricious gods. They are under intense pressure because of fear for gods’ judgments and in order to avert judgments of gods, they do their best. To do so, they must do everything to appease their gods in form of honor and sacrifice. Underneath is fear. So thanksgiving, a more friendly term than sacrifice is scarcely used.  One of the typical response of people to God is what we learned from Acts 16, when Paul healed a lame man, their response was to offer sacrifice to the god of Hermes or Zeus. There is no meaningful communication in friendly terms between their gods and men.

Thanksgiving for us is different from other words of honor and respect to their gods because it is to recognize what God has done for those who give thanks.

Thanksgiving is our response to what God has done. Whatever God did in and among us, including all hardships and sufferings, we believe that God’s will in those events was good and right. In this, we rely on God’s good will for us and are able to overcome ‘enemies or many life-threatening situations’ and eventually they were led to victory. In this victory, they were able to see God’s providence and perfect will for them then and time coming in future.

No thanksgiving is rooted in ungodliness and is the implicit expression of discontentment to the God who runs history. The prime example of this is the rejection by some people of Judah to God’s advice to go exile to Babylon. They would not accept God’s sovereign will to punish for the sake of salvation of them. Eventually, all those who rejected God’s advice perished in Egypt while those who accepted God’s direction survived and even flourished in exile at Babylon. This reminds us of what Paul said in Rom 1:21

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom 1:21 NIV)

This is evident when we examined how the first man Adam and Eve failed to honor God.

How many nations of the world celebrate the thanksgiving?

In my web search there are only seven nations celebrate national thanksgiving; Germany, Liberia, Grenada, Netherland, Norfolk Island, Canada and US. Japan celebrate thanksgiving. But not to God but to their hard labor—for themselves. Many other nations have ‘celebration of harvest of crop’ festivals. They are not to the God of creation but for the celebration of their hard labor or tributes to pagan gods.   Simply there is no clear cut people’s reciprocation to the work of God of creation.

In US, thanksgiving started from the beginning of the nation. The first settlers recognized God’s grace on them in this way; 1607 in James town Virginia,

The Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, after sailing for almost three months, 102 puritans arrived off the coast of what is now Massachusetts, in late November of 1620. On December 11, prior to disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they signed the “Mayflower Compact,” America’s original document of civil government and the first to introduce self-government. While still anchored at Provincetown harbor, their Pastor John Robinson counseled, “You are become a body politic … and are to have only them for your… governors which yourselves shall make choice of.”

Upon landing in America, the Pilgrims conducted a prayer service, then quickly turned to building shelters. Starvation and sickness during the ensuing New England winter killed almost half their population, but through prayer and hard work, with the assistance of their Indian friends, the Pilgrims reaped a rich harvest in the summer of 1621. Most of what we know about the Pilgrim Thanksgiving of 1621 comes from original accounts of the young colony’s leaders, Governor William Bradford and Master Edward Winslow W.B. (William Bradford)

On JUNE 20, 1676, the first thanksgiving proclamation  : “The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present War with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions.” Saving from the power of death or threat from the enemy…

They went through life threatening situations and many of them died. But God was with them and they were able to make through those sufferings. This was the thanksgiving theme. 

The thanksgiving continued by George Washington then president, during the revolutionary war (1777) and Lincoln, again during the civil war Oct 3, 1863 declared the day of thanksgiving for the nation. This tradition continued and it was firmly set on October 6, 1941, when both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday.  

We can see sufferings in the first thanksgiving of first settlers of America.  It was the similar situation in the revolutionary war, and the civil war of America. A nation as a whole were going through the most difficult times. In those times they gave thanks to the Lord. These recognized that despite of death of half of their members, or hundreds of thousands of men of the nation, God’s will and His causes prevailed in and among them that they gave thanks to the Lord. 

Here we can think about three things about this nation.

By giving thanksgiving to God of Christianity from the beginning of the nation and through difficult times by giving thanks to the God of Christianity, a firm relationship between God of Christianity and America is established and confirmed.

Second truthful thanksgiving came after hardships to do what was right in the eyes of God.

What do these tell us about US as a nation? She is built up as God’s nation and we are to uphold by giving thanks to the Lord.  Can we say that the blessedness of our country is rooted in our thanksgiving to the Lord as a nation? If there is no fear of the Lord and no thanksgiving to the Lord in this nation, then what would happen?

How can we give thanks to the Lord?

In the OT, thanksgiving offering appears in Lev 7:12. The original word is todah(תודה). It is better translated ‘acknowledgement’ or ‘praise’.(Ross) It is a response to what God has done with full appreciation.  In other word, thanksgiving offering is giving back to God the full honor and glory for what he had done in his or her personal life.  This offering was always preceded by burnt offering, like most of other offerings. Since burnt offering is for the forgiveness of sins, the key point of thanksgiving is saving one’s life by God’s grace. Like this, thanksgiving is the ending of series of offerings which began by burnt offering.

Also it is the beginning of one’s expression to honor God. It is a beginning in the sense that honoring God progresses further from thanksgiving to praise, adoration and to sacrifice.  This also teaches that all the rest of expression to honor God must be firmly grounded in thankful heart. Paul said that he poured out his life like a drink offering. (2 Tim 4:6) Like this, a life of sacrifice was the utmost form of thanksgiving to the Lord. So Paul in this letter prayed eagerly for the Colossians that they might grow to the point of giving thanks to the Lord. How could they grow to the point of giving thanks to the Lord?

Col 1:3-12

10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Here Paul began his letter with thanksgiving to God the father that He might fill them with the knowledge of His will for them. Also his end purpose was for them to give thanks to the Father. These two are interposed by one’ effort to live a life worthy of the Lord.  This is to say that they must make all-out efforts to live a life worthy of the Lord to the extent that they bore fruits! If we summarize; 

1.      We are to make effort to please Him every way; bear fruit in every good works.(v10)

2.      We are to trust him and taste his grace and power in life (v11) leading to the true and meaningful thanksgiving.

As we noted in the history of US, there were intense efforts to live a life worthy of the Lord, though it may involve real hardships of life. In the midst of such hardships we search God’s will and purpose from which we will be led to the understanding of God perfect will. Then we come to taste the victory, and come to see God’s perfect will for us and come to have sense of victory for our lives in the Lord and have hope for eternal victory in Him. And then their hearts will overflow with thanksgiving to the Lord.

This was what Paul was praying for the Colossians:

Co 1:9, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Through these processes of life, they were to KNOW the will of God. Eventually they were to see that all things happening in their lives must be seen and understood in light of God’s will for them. If suffering is sickness, if suffering is from financial hardships, if it is from loss of love dones or if it is from rejection from people, all these must be understood in and through the eyes of God’s will for us and we are to make all-out effort to live a life worthy of the Lord! Paul gave us a very encouraging word:

Romans 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

The heart of the knowledge of God’s will is embodied in Jesus’ work for us. It is the love of God who sacrificed his son Jesus for our sake. God’s will for us in this is to share the blessings of the kingdom of God now and eternity with Him.

What are we to do?

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

God qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He did this by sacrificing Jesus as ransom for our sins. This is foundational for our belief and faith which lead to obedience and realization of utmost will of God for us in thanksgiving which progresses to prise and adoration and commitment to life-giving  sacrifice which partakes in eternal inheritance with the Lord. We can put this in this sequence of events: God’s saving work—acceptance of a sinful man by forgiving sins àfaith, obedience to live a life worthy of the Lordàrealization of God’s perfect willà thankfulness àthanksgiving àpraise, adorationàlife-giving sacrificeàsharing in the enteral inheritance.

Jesus made willful sacrifice of himself in obedience to the Lord, knowing well God’s transcendent will. Likewise we are called to live a life worthy of the Lord, either by our willful decision and obedience or by being subjected to God’s loving chastisement. Only then we will come to have the full grip on God’s perfect will for us in which we will give thanks to the Lord in full joy and from which we begin to see the glimpse of the eternal inheritance in the Lord. Have thankful heart knowing God’s perfect will in and through all hardships of life and live a thanksgiving life that will lead us to the richness of the eternal inheritance in the Lord.

B. Thanksgiving is the way to open our relationship with God and with men.

There are several type of offering given to the Lord. We can divide those offerings into three group. One group is where the sacrifices are given wholly to the Lord.  The second ones are some part of the sacrifice was eaten by the priests only. Third ones are those offerings that are shared among the believers. They are thanksgiving offering and fellowship offering. The first two are related to ‘sacrifice to the Lord’ for the purpose of forgiveness of sins. The third ones are ‘thanks, and praise’ to the Lord for His grace mercy and grace, i.e. appreciation of God’s acceptance and blessing for his people. It is in return to God’s work in grace. Only on these, they share some part of the offerings with other people whether they are animal offering or grain offering.  So thanksgiving offering is communal. What does it mean to us? God did wonderful work for us that God opened a way to Him. Since then, God has been working for us so that we may be able to walk by faith and see the success in godly life through all hardships and difficulties of life. When we come to realize ‘utmost will of God’ we give thanks and that thanks goes out to others.

When we give a thanksgiving offering, we recognize God as the giver of our life and God is being honored in and through the act of thanksgiving.  It is to acknowledge that we are living by God’s grace and mercy. When we share ‘thanksgiving’ with others, we mean to declare among people God’s grace in our lives as well.

So thanksgiving is the beginning of our relationship with the Lord and is a godly way to relate with others.  The life of thanksgiving will lead us to the life of life-giving sacrifice to the Lord, the utmost will of God for us.