Title: The Meaning of Keeping Thanksgiving
Main text: Deuteronomy 16:13-17
What it means to celebrate Thanksgiving
The Jews kept three feasts depending on the word of God. Those three are the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Passover is a feast kept to commemorate the grace of God who redeemed us from Egypt, and the Feast of Weeks is a feast that comes after 7 days and 7 weeks after the Passover. And the Feast of Tabernacles is the festival of going out and setting up booths for a week to commemorate the 40 years of living in tents in the wilderness.
It is also called the Feast of Ingathering because it is a festival celebrated at the end of the harvest and the harvest is stored, and it is the prototype of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day takes place when the Puritans who opposed British religion arrived in the present-day American New World on a ship called the Mayflower (Flower of May) on December 21, 1620 in search of freedom of religion, planting the first crop of that year and giving thanks. It has its origins in the celebration of Thanksgiving in 1621.
We, who received the Gospel from American missionaries, were influenced by the missionaries and kept Thanksgiving from the early days of our mission, but the date fluctuated a lot. All saints! Don't forget that the difference between believers and unbelievers is in "thanks".
I. Thanksgiving should be celebrated as a feast of joy.
Verse 14 says, “When the feast is celebrated, you and your children and your slaves and your slaves and the Levites who live in your city and the strangers and the orphans and the widows shall rejoice together…” You shall keep a feast before the LORD your God seven days in the place the LORD your God chooses, and the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you shall rejoice completely.”
So, Thanksgiving is a season of joy. It is a season to rejoice and rejoice not only alone, but together as God blesses all products and everything that he touches. And sometimes the harvest this year may be poor compared to other years, but our gratitude should be in our absolute relationship with God, not in comparative gratitude. And not just giving thanks for what you have in this world, but sometimes rejoicing for God like the prophet Habakkuk, giving thanks for the fact that you were saved, and going one step further and giving thanks for being saved by evangelizing others.
As Paul said in his first letter to Thessalonica, the saints should always rejoice and give thanks in everything. In other words, joy and gratitude are the attitudes of unified faith. Hopefully, on Thanksgiving Day, I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will not be offended by giving or volunteering, and that you will welcome the Thanksgiving Day with joy through a physical harvest and a spiritual harvest.
II. Thanksgiving should be celebrated as a feast of sharing.
During the feast of thanksgiving, God said, "You and your children, your slaves and your slaves, the Levites in the city, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows, keep in touch. That's right. He was told to rejoice not only with family members but also with strangers and the marginalized. We have not had any feasts for us alone, and no joys have been made for us alone. It was God's will to share with the marginalized neighbors whenever there is a festival or something joyful.
The saints of the Old Testament did not allow all the fruits of the trees to be harvested during the harvest, nor did they harvest all the grain. This was to leave it to the stranger and the poor. That's right. Thanksgiving is a season of sharing. It is not a festival to share and enjoy amongst ourselves, but a festival to share all the grace we have received. I pray in the name of the Lord that you all become members of the Seongsan family who share all the grace we have received.
III. Thanksgiving should be observed as a feast to God.
At the Feast of Tabernacles, everyone was told to offer their gifts according to their strength. The Bible says that all men over the age of 20 should not come to God empty-handed, but prepare a gift. It is blasphemous to come to God empty-handed. What will I give to God this Thanksgiving? Please try to ponder good thoughts according to God's will. The Bible taught that giving to God should be given with all sincerity, ability, and strength.
It is not right for those who have not to give, to give little, or not to give as much as one can, and it is also not right to give competitively so that those who do not have too much or forcefully end up in bankruptcy. That's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, "This is how he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." “Each one should do just as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
As much as we rejoice in the Thanksgiving season, we should give thanks to God to please Jehovah God. Hopefully, this year's Thanksgiving gives us thanks for God's grace, and I bless you in the name of the Lord that it will bear the fruit of evangelism and become the best thanksgiving.
I will conclude
How are you going to celebrate Thanksgiving today? We talked about the meaning of keeping Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is celebrated every year, but I hope this year's Thanksgiving will be the best thanksgiving by adding a spiritual harvest to a physical harvest. First of all, let's be thankful and rejoice in God's grace given to us. In the name of the Lord, I bless all of you in the Seongsan family that invites neighbors to share this thanks and joy with them and give God's sincere gifts to the Lord.