Title: Two Sides Thanksgiving / Luke 1:46-55
If we were to pick a blessed woman among women, it would be Mary who gave birth to Jesus. He was blessed not because he gave birth to Jesus, but because he believed and obeyed the word of God. Mary was very surprised and terrified at first when the angel told her that she had become pregnant without a man even knowing it. I realized I was wearing it. Maria was so grateful that she could not sit still. She gives thanks to God, and there is something very meaningful about it.
In particular, autumn is a season to look back on the year and give thanks to God, and next week is also Thanksgiving Day. How do we give thanks in this season of thanksgiving? I know it's important to think about it.
Gratitude is a reward for giving grace, but if you do it wrong, giving thanks can put a lot of pressure on the person who gave you grace. .
Of course, we all know that it is not right to give thanks with sincerity and heart, and it is not right to force it, and there is no need to discuss it again.
Last year, when I talked about how much I would give thanks to the Thanksgiving offering, I said, "If you are a Baptist or higher, do this. A year is 12 months, so please do it with the mindset that I will provide at least one meal to God every month. The menu is for everyone. For example, if you say, ‘I will serve a bowl of Jajangmyeon to God for my circumstances!’, it will be 2500 won × 12 months = 30,000 won. Also, if you say I will serve a buffet meal at the hotel!, then it will be 15,000 won × 12 months 18 Or, I will pay 48,000 won for 4,000 won soup, 72,000 won for 6,000 won samgyetang, and whatever menu you choose. If you say you should have at least two meals a month, multiply by 2. But those who have not yet been baptized You don't have to do it because you don't know much about donating silver, and I hope you will be blessed by listening to today's sermon."
I think I did it with my own thoughts and sincerity. However, this year too, you can make a thank-you offering with your heart and sincerity. My heart rejoiced in God my Saviour, because he took care of the lowliness of his maidservant. Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed."
In this content, Maria is giving a very high level of gratitude, and it can be found that she is doing so-called double-sided gratitude.
Let's see what double-sided auditing is and why it's so high-level
1. I am grateful for taking care of my servant girl, and I am grateful for what she has done for me so far.
I am thankful that God took care of my humble self and made me a happy person to be used in God's great work now. Meaningful means low and lowly. Of course, Mary is a descendant of David, but she is a descendant of the fallen David. It was a village of Nazareth in Galilee, where the poor lived because of the poor, uneducated and had no clear income. Mary was neither the daughter of a landowner nor the daughter of a rich family. But one day the angel Gabriel came to her and said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus. He will become great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:30-33).
Mary speaks to the angel. "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
Said the angel, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
Everyone! Mary gives birth to Jesus, the Holy Son of God, who will save everyone on the earth from their sins! God uses Mary the best! How grateful I am to God for the best use of a humble country girl. I thought she was a little girl, but God gave me grace and made me a happy woman now. So Mary is so grateful for the grace she has bestowed on her.
But what about Maria? You and I have been blessed as much as Mary. After God gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and forgave all the sins of mankind, He saved us through believing in Jesus, made us children of God, and gave us the mission of saving lives through the church. And he protected me with grace this year as well.
So we should rejoice like Mary and give thanks to God.
2. In future generations, it was gratitude for what will be given in the future, thanks to what will make me happy for all ages.
"My soul praises the Lord, and my heart rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has cared for the lowliness of his maidservant. Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed" (46-48).
Mary is grateful for the grace she has given so far, but it does not end there, and she is grateful for the blessing that will be given after this, and for being called “blessed is me from now on forever.”
Please believe that God's grace is getting greater and greater. Once caught in the field of God's grace, that grace grows day by day and extends into eternity. The grace to be given in the future is greater for God's grace, so we should be thankful.
When Abraham obeyed the Lord's command to sacrifice his only son, "I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that in this way you have done so and have not withheld your son, your only son, so I will bless you and increase your seed greatly. I will make you like the stars in the sky and like the sand on the seashore, and your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies” (Genesis 22:16-17)
He makes us see the blessings that will be given us in the future and makes us feel grateful when we see those blessings. Joseph also lived with gratitude while looking forward to the blessings that would be given to him in the future.
A Christian who knows God properly can be thankful even in the present hardships because he has faith in anticipation of future blessings, and furthermore, he lives while looking forward to the eternal kingdom of heaven.
In this season of thanksgiving, saints, the grace of forgiveness of sins, the grace of salvation, the grace of eternal life, the grace of calling God Father, the office I received at the church purchased with the blood of Christ, and the graces that have been given to me so far are all in the streets. How can you not be thankful for being bigger and bigger than the countless leaves and the countless stars in the sky! You should be thankful.
And since we can't even imagine how many graces will be given in the future, we should be even more grateful.
Among the gags that are popping up these days, there is a thing called 'Right to Go', and it says, "My gag is a comic book! If it's not fun, pass it on!" "My gag is jachisaeng! Do it all by yourself!" That causes laughter.
But we can say this. "Christians are thrilled! Looking forward to the grace that will be given to you!" Believe that unimaginable blessings have been prepared and give thanks.
Genuine gratitude is not only for what is given, but also for the grace to be given.
How will you be grateful in the season of gratitude? May you be grateful on both sides, like Mary.