Thanks Giving and Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving.  Our culture has taken us to a place where we jump from Halloween to "the Holidays" aka Christmas and New Years.  I heard today through a friend that there were people already setting up a tent in the Best Buy parking lot next to his house.  They were of course doing this so that they could hit the Black Friday Sales.  My question is, "Are these people celebrating Thanksgiving?"  Our culture has become so consumed with the next best sale and buying the best gadget, that they are missing out on one of our calendar's best holidays, Thanksgiving.

There are many texts in Scriptures that talk about Thanksgiving.  The one that I get hung up on every time comes from Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Give thanks in all circumstances."  Now, I don't know about you, but I have a hard time swallowing that verse.  Paul is saying that no matter what life throws at you, be thankful.

Jesus is a prime example of someone who understands this admonishment.  Any passage you read that records what took place at the last supper in the upper room, with Jesus and His disciples, tells us that Jesus gave thanks before He administered the first communion.  At the last supper, Jesus is getting ready to fulfill His purpose for coming to earth, ultimately to die.  He was getting ready to be betrayed.  He was getting ready to face mockery and beating.  He was getting ready to face crucifixion which meant being nailed to a cross.  He knew this was coming, and yet on the night He was betrayed, He paused and gave thanks.

I could think of a hundred reasons why it would be difficult to give thanks in all circumstances.  Our sister church in town lost their church building in a fire last week.  A friend of my wife and I lost her son, who was 12 years old, to a battle with cancer last week.  Another friend of ours is asking the Lord to heal his mother who was badly injured in a serious car accident last Friday.  This last year, when my son fell into a fire, that was a time when it was difficult to give thanks to the Lord.

The Greek words used for give thanks, as recorded in the gospel account of what Jesus did at the last supper, is the same as the Hebrew word barak which means "to kneel down, to bless or praise God as an act of adoration."  Giving thanks is synonymous with worship.  Jesus took time to praise God even though He was about to face death.

In light of this, the reason Paul challenges us to give thanks in all circumstances is because of the fact that even when life is bad, God still deserves our thanks and praise.  No matter how difficult life may be, Jesus is still worthy of our praise because of who He is and what He has done for us.  Jesus paid the price for our sins.  He was sacrificed for us so that we might receive salvation.  Because of that, He is worthy!

Let me encourage you, no matter what you are going through right now, take time to praise the Name of Jesus.  Take time to consider His goodness and faithfulness. He is good and His love endures forever.  God is good, all the time!

Jesus and Politics

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the political adds and the candidate bashing that has gone on. Because this race is so close and the last 4 years have gone so poorly, both parties have received their share of stomach punches. People are calling this the election of the century. I'm absolutely ready for this election to be over and recorded in the history books.

However, with that being said, what takes place tomorrow is of utmost importance. Four years ago, President Obama promised change and was himself change as our country has never elected an African-American President. In the last four years, our country has experienced change alright, change for the worse: a failure to protect unborn babies, a failure to defend historical marriage and healthy families, the national debt is higher, more people are out of work, a failure to deal with Islamic terrorism, and a failure to preserve freedom of religion with governmental involvement in churches. There are other issues, but these are the main ones. If we don't confront these issues in the next four years in a biblical and Christ-centered way, we will continue our downward spiral away from being one nation under God. If we desire to be one nation under God and seriously strive to see God bless America, then how can we put people into governmental positions who will not uphold biblical values?

As I have prayed and studied Scripture the last month, leading up to this election the Lord has put three tangible "things to do" on my heart as we face this election and as we face the next four years: PRAY, VOTE and DISCIPLE

The Lord has used 1 Timothy 2:1-6 in my life to direct me in this election season. We read of Paul's teaching to Timothy that prayer should be at the center of all worship. Specifically that prayer be made for all of those who are in authority. At the time of this writing, Nero was the ruler of the Roman Empire. His name makes me cringe as he was a killer of Christians. Imagine Timothy being challenged to pray for such a man. The message is the same for us today. We need to pray for those who are elected whether we agree with their politics or not. My prayer is that God will raise up godly politicians within my church. I shared with a few of our children's Sunday School teachers last week, what a shame it is that we don't have a born-again Christian on this year's ticket for president. I said, maybe the future council members, senators governors and perhaps a president will come from their Sunday School classes. Our country needs more elected officials who will rule and make decisions according to biblical and kingdom values.

The Roman world at the time of this writing was not a democracy, so the only thing Timothy could do was to pray. However, I believe if they were able to vote, Paul would have challenged Timothy to do so. As Americans, God has given us the privilege to vote. Praying allows us to share our desires with God. Voting allows us to share our desires with the government. I want to align my desires with God's desires. Jesus gave us a mandate as we call the Great Commission before ascending into Heaven, "Go and make disciples." It says in 1 Timothy 2:4, "Our Savior desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." This is God's agenda and should be our agenda. We must vote for Jesus. This means voting for the unborn, voting for the family, voting for the church, voting for a balanced budget, etc.

I have friends who are not voting at all this election or are writing in Ron Paul or someone else. They site various reasons, but the one I hear most often is because neither candidates are born again Christians. This is true as one claims to be a Christian and doesn't act like it, and the other candidate is a devout Mormon. My answer to this is that we must look at their convictions and platforms. Will they uphold biblical values? Also, a no vote or a vote for a third party is just the same as voting for the worst candidate. So, the answer is this, get out and vote for one of the two candidates. Vote for the candidate who will do their best to bring God's blessing to our country.

The final word that the Lord has challenged me with as it involves our election is disciple. As I mentioned above, Jesus has commanded us to reach the nations, starting in our own backyard. As a pastor, it is my role to lead my church in leading our neighbors, classmates, and co-workers to faith in Jesus Christ. Then it is our role to see those people brought into fellowship and walk with them to become established in their walk in making Jesus Lord of their lives. This is what the church is called to do. This is not the government's job. The government's role, as we read in Romans 13, is to encourage what is good and discourage what is evil. That is all. However, it is not their role to do the churches job. In addition, it is not the government's role to tell churches what they can and can't do. The government goes beyond it's responsibility when they try to keep the church from doing what God has called the church to do. As a pastor of a local church, I have felt the government breathing down my neck in different ways in the last couple years and it's beginning to get scary. God has called me to make disciples, and I don't want any restrictions in doing so.

With all of that being said, this election, I'm voting for Jesus. I want to cast the vote that He would be most pleased with. I plan to vote for the unborn, the family and the church. I realize that ultimately this election is in God's hands. He already knows the winner. He is in complete control. As I vote, I hope to see God bless America once again. Psalm 33:12 says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." This election, I challenge you to weigh the issues, not from the perspective of a donkey or elephant, but weigh the issues from the very Word of God. Please join me in casting a vote for Jesus.