He Is Our God, We Are His People
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A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that has become filled with traditions and nostalgia. We recall stories of Pilgrim immigrants finding a common hospitality among the native Americans in sharing their feast of harvest. Gratitude is not confined to any one culture or society. Being thankful and expressing gratitude is a quality that is shared and spread among many cultures and times and places.
It is no surprise, then, that we may all have our own unique patterns on how Thanksgiving is celebrated. Many of us may gather around a table with a Turkey meal—but I’m sure not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving that way. Some get together with a large community of friends. Some gather with extended relatives. Some spend the day quietly with just immediate family. Some perhaps get together with only a few close friends. Perhaps there are even some who prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving in quiet solitude with God. Thanksgiving is most definitely not confined to any one expression of gratitude.
And so, for just a few minutes here on this Thanksgiving Day, I would like us to consider what the Bible tells us about expressing gratitude. Sure enough, there is no one right way to celebrate Thanksgiving. But there are some common themes in our ways to express thanksgiving. I think Psalm 100 helps us recognize this. Take a closer look with me. I will draw attention to three movements which take place in Psalm 100.
The first thing we see in Psalm 100 is a call to worship. In fact, there are four expressions of worship mentioned in the lines of Psalm 100, placed together in pairs. The first two lines give us a call to worship – “Shout with joy to the LORD all the earth; worship the LORD with gladness.” The second pair is in verse 4b – “give thanks to him and praise his name.”
Simply put, gratitude requires an expression. I was talking about gratitude with a group recently, and one of the women in the group shared her blessings journal. Part of her quiet time of devotion with God each day was spent filling the pages of a journal with all the little things she could identify as blessings to be thankful for. That’s great. It is a wonderful habit to count our blessings and take the time to name them.
But that is only half of it. Counting and naming blessings is a great place to start. But gratitude requires an expression. It should not stop at the journal writing. Now the opportunity presents itself to give some sort of outward expression of thanks for these many blessings. Thanksgiving is not just naming what I am thankful for; it is naming who I am thankful to. I am thankful for blessings of family, friends, provisions. But I am also thankful to God for graciously giving these blessings. Thanksgiving is something that calls for expression. I try to maintain a habit of writing a note or two each week to simply say thank you or convey appreciation. I admit that I could do a much better job of expressing gratitude. Some of you here are so good at doing that. It is a lesson for each one of us. Thanksgiving calls for expression.
The next thing we see is an invitation. There are two invitations given in Psalm 100; they are both framed by the call to worship. In verse 2b – “come before him with joyful songs.” And again in verse 4a – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” Gratitude is something that brings us together. Gratitude finds its most powerful expressions when it is shared. And so, there is an invitation. This is why so many of us make a choice to celebrate a day like Thanksgiving within a gathering of people.
Psalm 100 makes clear that the invitation of thanksgiving is to gather in the presence of God. God himself invites us to come to him; to be with him. We do not need to buy a ticket; we do not need to submit an application; we do not need to find a key to a locked door. God has opened the way. And God has presented to us an invitation to simply come to him.
So often in our Thanksgiving Day meal gatherings, we all try to chip in. We ask the host, what can I bring? What can I provide? God’s invitation comes complete. Jesus Christ has provided everything that has been required for our invitation. All we have to do is come to Jesus.
And the third part of Psalm 100 points to covenant community. In verse 3 – “Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” And again in verse 5 – “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” These are reminders of covenant community.
You see, our gratitude does not float aimlessly in an empty void. It is anchored within a God of faithful love. It is grounded upon a foundation of the promise God has made. We are held together in community with God through the power of God’s covenant promise sealed forever in Christ Jesus. We are part of a family from which we can never be taken. We belong to a community of faith from which we will never be rejected.
This gives our thanksgiving gratitude a place to reside. You see, so often in this world our expressions of thankfulness depend on such momentary circumstances. I am thankful for reliable transportation—but only so long as my car keeps running well. I am thankful for favors provided by others—but only so long as others offer a favor. Often in our world, thankfulness finds momentary blips on a radar.
But in the everlasting covenant community of God, our gratitude finds a place to dwell. In God, our thanksgiving is given a place to flourish and grow as a consistent attitude. This is an indwelling of thanksgiving which molds us and shapes us as followers of Jesus to be more and more conformed into the image of God. This is thanksgiving which is more than one day of recognition once a year. This is thanksgiving which becomes part of who we are as people of God every day. He is our God; we are his people.