Sermon Illustrations for Thanksgiving Day (2022)
Illustration
Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 100
Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky in 1866. He received his education in a little country schoolhouse, and at age sixteen began teaching there. He became a Christian at the age of 27. With no college or seminary training, he was ordained to the Methodist ministry at the age of 36. He served as a Methodist minister for a year, but ill health made it impossible for him to continue. He then moved to Vineland, New Jersey, where he opened an insurance office.
Chisholm was always interested in poetry and wrote hundreds of poems during his lifetime. Lamentations 3:22-23 inspired him to write the text for one of the most famous hymns in the history of the church: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Those verses say, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Chisholm knew and experienced that faithfulness. He suffered ill health most of his adult life, and never made much money, but he said, “God has given me many wonderful displays of his providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”
Being “filled with astonishing gratefulness” is an important thing. In the text today, God’s people needed to be thankful for his goodness to them and celebrate his grace. As God’s people did long ago, we can sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Will we be thankful?
Bill T.
* * *
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Psalm 100
Moses tells the people that once they are settled in the land, “…you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket…” as an offering of first fruits. Now what exactly are they to bring? And how much? Later Jewish practice did not specify the amounts. As little as a grain of wheat or a clump of grapes will do.
But as for the specific crops, later Jewish practice specified the shiv’at hainim, the seven most common crops. They are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives or olive oil, or date honey. The last is a thick sweet syrup made from crushing the dates. The reason this is mentioned is because by the time of Jesus, bees were extinct is the holy land. However, archaeology is making it clear that during the time of King David, and therefore centuries earlier when the people began farming in Israel and Judah, traditional bee keeping, and therefore real, honest to goodness honey, was practiced.
So, while John the Baptist may have eaten locusts and date honey, the people who Joshua led across the Jordan River were more than willing to endure a few stings for that golden sweetness.
Frank R.
* * *
Philippians 4:4-9
English author Alduous Huxley had it right: “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” Giving thanks is good for you. Psychologist Robert Emmons did a survey indicating that adults keeping gratitude journals poll as happier and healthier than the general public (Robert Emmons, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier). Martin Luther nicely elaborates on this point:
This [thankfulness] is the virtue characteristic of real Christians; it is their worship of God at its best. They thank God and do it with all their heart. This is a virtue unattainable by any other human being on earth... To thank with all your heart is an art – an art which the Holy Spirit teaches. (What Luther Says, p.1352)
John Calvin offers similar reflections on thanksgiving:
As many often pray to God amiss, full of complaints or of murmurings, as they have just ground for accusing him, while others cannot brook delay, if he does not immediately gratify their desires, Paul on this account conjoins thanksgiving with prayers. It is as though he had said things which are necessary for us ought to be desired by us from the Lord in such a way, that we, nevertheless, subject our affection to his good pleasure and give thanks while presenting petitions. And, unquestionably, gratitude will have this effect upon us – that the will of God will be the grand sum of our desires. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, pp.119-120)
Mark E.
* * *
John 6:25-35
My sympathies are with those people who looked for Jesus after the feeding of the multitudes in the Gospel of John because they wanted more free bread. Theologically, I get what Jesus is saying about the Bread of Life being far more important and I understand that the whole point of miracles in John’s Gospel is that they are signs (and they’re called signs) that point to Jesus. The sign is not the point of the journey. The destination is what matters, and there’s no destination that matters more than Jesus!
But I love bread. Because I am a diabetic I limit the amount of bread I eat, but I will be honest – one factor in choosing which restaurant I want to visit is the bread or tortillas or pita they serve. And nothing is better than the illusion of free bread. I’ve read that buffets give unlimited bread because it cuts down on your appetite when it comes to more expensive high-protein buffet items. That makes sense. And most of us when it comes to that famous restaurant with unlimited breadsticks limit ourselves to one or two because we want to have room for the good food that is coming.
I recently saw a Facebook meme in which a person boasted of filling up on the free breadsticks at that restaurant and then taking their entre home as a second meal to be eaten later, thus getting two dinners for the price of one. Some of my friends were reposting that meme and admitting they do the same thing. So maybe you sympathize with those first-century Judeans who wanted unlimited free bread too. Before we make our appetites into a false idol, let’s make a point of giving thanks for the goodness of fresh bread of any kind, but as in all things, keeping Jesus first.
PS – this is a Thanksgiving reflection so, full disclosure, because there are so many good things on the table I almost never eat bread with the Thanksgiving meal. Of course, I don’t have to. I’m sure I end up eating half a loaf of bread when it comes to the stuffing that’s served with the turkey.
Frank R.
* * *
John 6:25-35
I am a fan of bakeries. It doesn’t matter what city I’m in, I will find the best bakery in town and frequent it often. I remember the bakery when I lived in Washington, Missouri. It was a German bakery, and it was fantastic. Donuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls; all of it was amazing. They were also well-known about town for their bread. The smell of fresh bread coming out of the ovens early in the morning was incredible. There was often a lengthy line at the bakery as people could not get enough.
I think that’s probably true of all places who bake bread. Fresh, warm bread is satisfying and good. There is a bread, though, that satisfies a hunger far deeper than that of our physical bodies. Jesus knew that people, in their souls, were hungering for something real and meaningful. They desired something that would genuinely satisfy. He said, “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). That bread is even more appealing than the fresh bread at the bakery.
Bill T.
Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky in 1866. He received his education in a little country schoolhouse, and at age sixteen began teaching there. He became a Christian at the age of 27. With no college or seminary training, he was ordained to the Methodist ministry at the age of 36. He served as a Methodist minister for a year, but ill health made it impossible for him to continue. He then moved to Vineland, New Jersey, where he opened an insurance office.
Chisholm was always interested in poetry and wrote hundreds of poems during his lifetime. Lamentations 3:22-23 inspired him to write the text for one of the most famous hymns in the history of the church: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Those verses say, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Chisholm knew and experienced that faithfulness. He suffered ill health most of his adult life, and never made much money, but he said, “God has given me many wonderful displays of his providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”
Being “filled with astonishing gratefulness” is an important thing. In the text today, God’s people needed to be thankful for his goodness to them and celebrate his grace. As God’s people did long ago, we can sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Will we be thankful?
Bill T.
* * *
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Psalm 100
Moses tells the people that once they are settled in the land, “…you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket…” as an offering of first fruits. Now what exactly are they to bring? And how much? Later Jewish practice did not specify the amounts. As little as a grain of wheat or a clump of grapes will do.
But as for the specific crops, later Jewish practice specified the shiv’at hainim, the seven most common crops. They are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives or olive oil, or date honey. The last is a thick sweet syrup made from crushing the dates. The reason this is mentioned is because by the time of Jesus, bees were extinct is the holy land. However, archaeology is making it clear that during the time of King David, and therefore centuries earlier when the people began farming in Israel and Judah, traditional bee keeping, and therefore real, honest to goodness honey, was practiced.
So, while John the Baptist may have eaten locusts and date honey, the people who Joshua led across the Jordan River were more than willing to endure a few stings for that golden sweetness.
Frank R.
* * *
Philippians 4:4-9
English author Alduous Huxley had it right: “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” Giving thanks is good for you. Psychologist Robert Emmons did a survey indicating that adults keeping gratitude journals poll as happier and healthier than the general public (Robert Emmons, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier). Martin Luther nicely elaborates on this point:
This [thankfulness] is the virtue characteristic of real Christians; it is their worship of God at its best. They thank God and do it with all their heart. This is a virtue unattainable by any other human being on earth... To thank with all your heart is an art – an art which the Holy Spirit teaches. (What Luther Says, p.1352)
John Calvin offers similar reflections on thanksgiving:
As many often pray to God amiss, full of complaints or of murmurings, as they have just ground for accusing him, while others cannot brook delay, if he does not immediately gratify their desires, Paul on this account conjoins thanksgiving with prayers. It is as though he had said things which are necessary for us ought to be desired by us from the Lord in such a way, that we, nevertheless, subject our affection to his good pleasure and give thanks while presenting petitions. And, unquestionably, gratitude will have this effect upon us – that the will of God will be the grand sum of our desires. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, pp.119-120)
Mark E.
* * *
John 6:25-35
My sympathies are with those people who looked for Jesus after the feeding of the multitudes in the Gospel of John because they wanted more free bread. Theologically, I get what Jesus is saying about the Bread of Life being far more important and I understand that the whole point of miracles in John’s Gospel is that they are signs (and they’re called signs) that point to Jesus. The sign is not the point of the journey. The destination is what matters, and there’s no destination that matters more than Jesus!
But I love bread. Because I am a diabetic I limit the amount of bread I eat, but I will be honest – one factor in choosing which restaurant I want to visit is the bread or tortillas or pita they serve. And nothing is better than the illusion of free bread. I’ve read that buffets give unlimited bread because it cuts down on your appetite when it comes to more expensive high-protein buffet items. That makes sense. And most of us when it comes to that famous restaurant with unlimited breadsticks limit ourselves to one or two because we want to have room for the good food that is coming.
I recently saw a Facebook meme in which a person boasted of filling up on the free breadsticks at that restaurant and then taking their entre home as a second meal to be eaten later, thus getting two dinners for the price of one. Some of my friends were reposting that meme and admitting they do the same thing. So maybe you sympathize with those first-century Judeans who wanted unlimited free bread too. Before we make our appetites into a false idol, let’s make a point of giving thanks for the goodness of fresh bread of any kind, but as in all things, keeping Jesus first.
PS – this is a Thanksgiving reflection so, full disclosure, because there are so many good things on the table I almost never eat bread with the Thanksgiving meal. Of course, I don’t have to. I’m sure I end up eating half a loaf of bread when it comes to the stuffing that’s served with the turkey.
Frank R.
* * *
John 6:25-35
I am a fan of bakeries. It doesn’t matter what city I’m in, I will find the best bakery in town and frequent it often. I remember the bakery when I lived in Washington, Missouri. It was a German bakery, and it was fantastic. Donuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls; all of it was amazing. They were also well-known about town for their bread. The smell of fresh bread coming out of the ovens early in the morning was incredible. There was often a lengthy line at the bakery as people could not get enough.
I think that’s probably true of all places who bake bread. Fresh, warm bread is satisfying and good. There is a bread, though, that satisfies a hunger far deeper than that of our physical bodies. Jesus knew that people, in their souls, were hungering for something real and meaningful. They desired something that would genuinely satisfy. He said, “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). That bread is even more appealing than the fresh bread at the bakery.
Bill T.
