Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown, WI-WELS

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Thanksgiving Eve/Day November 24 + 25, 2004 Psalm 103:1-5

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul and forget not all his benefits. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases; he redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion. He satisfies my desires with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Did you see the White House photo op? Two turkeys—one named Biscuits and one named Gravy received presidential pardons. After a couple of turkey jokes—the most powerful man—humanly speaking—in this world—puts his hand on each turkey and pardons them. They will not be stuffed and cooked and carved and ladled with gravy! They will spend the rest of their lives at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Virginia until they die of old age or natural causes. The fact is—those turkeys will die. Living in this world infected by sin plants die, animals die and people die. A little grandma named Kamato Hongo—believed to be the oldest person in the whole world—116 years old died. This little grandma who used to sleep for two days in a row—then stay awake for two days in a row finally fell asleep—a sleep from which she would awake to see Jesus! This Thanksgiving time it’s important to thank Jesus for the precious gift of life. It’s important for us to remember—as long as we are alive—as long as Jesus gives us life—that we use that time of grace to thank and praise him. This Thanksgiving God’s Word encourages us:

Thank the LORD With All Your Heart

1. Don’t take his blessings for granted

2. But thank and praise—serve and obey him!

Psalm 103 and Psalm 104 go together. Psalm 103 praises the LORD for redemption from all our sins. Psalm 104 praises the LORD for his creation. King David understood from experience the pain of sin and guilt. King David understood from experience the greatness of God’s grace and unconditional love. The Holy Spirit breathed into David to write: “Praise the LORD, O my soul…” Praise the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel. This is the God who changes not! He doesn’t have mood swings. He doesn’t like you more on sunny days—and less on days when there is freezing rain and drizzle. Jesus doesn’t like you more when you sleep through the night and wake up refreshed and love you less when you toss and turn and have the flu! Jesus loves you the same right now—as he did when he died on the cross! Jesus forgiving love never ever changes! No matter what our outward circumstances—nothing can ever change Jesus’ love!

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. The LORD’s holy name is his saving reputation. To praise God—to give glory to him—means we are very careful what we say—how we talk about God! We were at the hospital the other day. We told the people riding on the elevator with us that our mommy just had a liver and a kidney transplant and we were so very thankful to Jesus. The people on the elevator said, “Praise the LORD!” And we thought—how wonderful is that? Someone who loves Jesus, too! A little bit later—we walked past these same people—talking on their cell phone—with a flood of the most horrible obscenities! If we do that. If we make it known we know who Jesus is—and in the next breath—we utter obscenities we ought not to be surprised! But we need to change. Two thousand years ago James wrote, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:9-12 Praise the LORD—glorify him with every fiber of your being!

He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases… Remember the difference between sin and sins. Sin is the problem—the sickness—the disease—the leukemia—the rabies—the blood poisoning. Sins are the painful horrible hurtful actions that are the symptoms of the sin that infects our hearts. Jesus died for every sin. Jesus died for the sins of racial slurs—when people stand around anyone—and shout horrible things at them—because their grandparents came from a different country. Racial slurs that show complete contempt for someone else because their skin is different from my peach colored skin—or their eyes are a different shape or they eat different foods with different sauces than I do. Jesus died for sins of people whose culture may not understand the concept of private property. Jesus died for sins of shooting people in the back instead of deer. Jesus died for professional basket ball players who throw punches and spectators who throw punches and beers and water and snacks. Jesus died for Palestinian children throwing stones and Israeli soldiers shooting children. Jesus died for people who look at pornography on the Internet—for people who have betrayed their spouse and shattered their marriage promises. Jesus died for people who have abused tobacco and drugs and alcohol. Jesus forgives all my sins! This Thanksgiving time—consider the price Jesus paid—to wash away all your sins. Consider the suffering he endured. Not just the scourge on his back—the punches to his face—the crown of thorns on his tender forehead. But the heart ache and conscience pangs he endured because of my sins! Know in your heart of hearts that Jesus has forgiven all your sins!

Jesus heals all my diseases. Spend even a little time at a hospital—and you are reminded of how breakable people are. If you have been feeling sorry for yourself lately—look out the window and watch the Flight for Life helicopter land and people run out from the Emergency Room—to roll a person cocooned in a sleeping bag into surgery. If you have felt sorry for yourself—go by the burn ward. Watch people walking down the hall—their upper body smeared with salve—saying—“Back to my room! Back to my room! The air is getting to my burns! I need more ointment!” Watch a little child—three feet tall—their mommy pushing their IV pole. Watch a little child—afraid to step on the crack between the floor and the elevator—on their way for treatment. See people painfully broken—and it becomes harder and harder to take good health for granted. See people deathly ill—restored to strength and health—and know that Jesus who made you is alone able to make you well again!

He redeems my life from the pit… The Hebrew word—sheol—means a pit—a hole. It can be a pothole—an occasion of stumbling. Jesus buys us back from stumbling and falling into sin. Jesus makes us strong so we can resist temptation. Again and again on the news they have replayed a terrible brawl at a basketball game in Detroit. As distressing as that was—you know what is really scary? People calling in to the radio saying—“You know—if somebody throws a cold beverage at me—you have to know—I’m going to take their head off!” We might think that too—until you stop and think! Stop and think what Jesus said. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, ‘Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.’” Matthew 5:38f What do you think? Do you say to yourself—oh, sure—that sounds good here in the land of stained glass. It just doesn’t work or make any sense in the real world! What do you think? Oh, sure—that’s nice—if you want to be a door mat! I’m gonna teach my kids—anybody socks you—you put them down! You learn to defend yourself! Jesus redeems your life from the pit! Jesus makes you strong—so strong—that you do not have to hit back. What is going to bring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians is not a new Secretary of State or the death of Yasser Arafat. What will bring a lasting peace between Jacob and Esau—and between people and their in-laws—is when someone can take a shot and not fire back. When someone—by the power of the Gospel can turn the other cheek—can be wounded and not wound back. When one can answer a hurt with the Gospel assurance—I forgive you!

He redeems my life from the pit… Sheol is not just a pothole in the road—it can also be the pit of a grave and the ultimate pit of hell. If you watch the commercials for the movies—again and again—there are movies that are horror films—films of unspeakable violence and evil. Why do people make movies like that—and why do people watch movies like that? In part I think it’s because of our sinful nature—a fascination with what is horrible—the way people drive slowly to stare at car accidents—to the point that rescue people sometimes have to hold up sheets to keep people from looking—to keep people from taking photographs. I think part of it too—is the evil that is human imagination. But I wonder, too—if part of it isn’t this. That we can watch a scary movie and say—you know—scary stuff is just a movie—just imaginary—just make believe. It isn’t real. But the horror of hell is real. It’s not imaginary. It’s not make-believe. It is real and it is unspeakable suffering. All the horrors of this life end when we die. The terror of hell will never ever end. It is only through Jesus’ tortured death that we are saved from this forever suffering.

He satisfies my desires with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Again if you have had an operation—they tell you for hours before—you can’t have anything to eat or drink. After the operation—you have to begin very slowly. At first they will give you a precious little Styrofoam cup of ice chips. You put that first little chip on your dry and chapped lips—then onto your parched tongue. Then—when that goes ok—you can have a cup of warm herbal tea—a cup of chicken broth that tastes incredibly salty. Then comes little cubes of Jell-O—maybe lime green, maybe strawberry or cherry. You can’t imagine something so delicious. And then—real food—a piece of pumpkin pie! Wow—is that good! It is a times like that—that we are reminded of God’s indescribably gift of good food. I’m afraid we take all the food we have—entirely for granted! My brother—took a bunch of cows the other day—down the Amazon River—as gifts from churches—to try and nourish the people who seldom live to 30 or 40 because they are so malnourished! How difficult is that—to move cows down the river? One of the helpers—in frustration—actually bit a cow on the tail—to get that cow where it had to go! Imagine if you had to go hunting for all your meat. If you had to raise all your own vegetables—you had to grow all your own vegetables—had to milk your own goats—make your own cheese—grow and grind grain to make flour to bake bread. If you had to gather firewood every time you wanted to bake anything. If all you had was river water to drink. Imagine that! The fact is—we have so much. And do we grumble and complain? Do we complain about having to eat leftovers? Do we complain to our mom—that we don’t want to eat this vegetable or this kind of meat? Do we waste food—leaving food on our plates—dumping now disposable Tupperware full of food from the back of our refrigerator—without even looking at the green and blue fuzz on food we are throwing out? Do we make sure we have lots and lots of food to eat—while our faith suffers from malnutrition? Do we watch weekends of sports on our big screen TVs but say we don’t have time to read our Bible? Do we thank the LORD for all our food—or mumble Come Lord Jesus—thoughtlessly or sometimes not at all? Only Jesus can give us truly thankful hearts—not just this Thursday but every day!

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. It has been five years now—since a little grandma named Jeanne died in France. She was so old—she was born just 10 years after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She was so old she met Vincent Van Gogh. When Jeanne was 85 years old she took fencing lessons. When she was 100 she could still ride her bicycle—although I would imagine she wobbled a bunch. Can you imagine living to be 122? Would you want to live to be 122? Most people say—absolutely not! But I don’t know! If you were the oldest person in the world—if you made a CD when you were 121 years old—you could chalk up your long life—not to Port wine, a diet rich in olive oil and your incredible sense of humor. You could give credit where credit is due. You could say—your long life time was a time of grace. It was a time Jesus gave you to practice to thank and praise—to serve and obey him—until his nail marked hands welcomed you into heaven. You could say—I thank him now. And I will thank him forever in heaven. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz