Title Meaning of Thanksgiving / Deuteronomy 16:9-12
The meaning of thanksgiving
Deuteronomy 16:9-12, Acts 2:1-4
Today is the Thanksgiving Day and the anniversary of the founding of our church. The Feast of Harvest was originally the Feast of Firstfruits when the first fruits of the land were presented. The Feast of Harvest is derived from the worship offered by the Israelites when they entered the land of Canaan to cultivate and give thanks for wheat, the first grain they had harvested. What is the significance of Thanksgiving Day for people living in cities like us today, in this day and age when barley and wheat are scarcely farmed even in the countryside these days? What is the significance of keeping this feast?
1. The day of offering the firstfruits-- Feast of Firstfruits
After the Israelites left Egypt, they lived in the wilderness for 40 years as a wandering people. The Israelites had no land of their own to settle. Therefore, sheep and cattle that could move together were their only property and food. Then, when they settled in the land of Canaan and started farming, they got grain. The first crop of that first year was wheat. So, the first thanksgiving service was taken and it became the Feast of Harvest Festival.
It must have been a great joy to offer thanksgiving to God by gathering wheat, the first harvest, and the symbol of their victory, while feeling grateful and thrilled for the stable life that has just begun after 40 years of wandering. Therefore, the Thanksgiving Day does not have any significance for the harvest, but has a greater meaning for the firstfruits. It was only that the firstfruits were wheat. Giving the first fruits contains a confession of gratitude that it is God who gave the fruits, and the meaning of serving God first in life.
Faith is giving God the first place in my life. What does it mean to give God first place in your life and life? When you wake up in the morning and say, 'Thank you, Lord, for giving me this day,' it is giving the first place to God. When good things happen, believing in the grace of the Lord and giving thanks sincerely, giving the first place to God. Whatever you do, first discuss it with the Lord and start, and give the first place to God. In difficult times, the first thing to do is to run to the Lord and bow down and pray, isn't that the life of serving the Lord first?
Above all else, setting the standard of my life values in the Word of God-- Those who are in the Word of God are me, and those that are not in the Word of God are not me--A person who puts the first priority in my life to God. of the appearance.
Giving us the first fruits today has such a meaning. I bless you that you become a faith that gives the first fruits with sincere faith.
2. The day the church began-- Pentecost
The Israelites also called the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. The word five-sun (五旬) means fifty. It means that it is a feast observed on the 50th day of the Passover.
But didn't the church begin on this very day of Pentecost?
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all gathered together in one place...
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:1-4
The tenth day after Jesus' resurrection and ascension--It was the day of Pentecost, and on that day, the disciples gathered in the upper room to pray and received the Holy Spirit. And on that day the church began. In this way, it can be said that the Feast of Harvest is actually the birthday of the church.
The day the Holy Spirit came upon us, so the first day the church started, that day is the day of Pentecost, and that day is the Feast of Harvest. In that sense, the Harvest Festival is not simply a wheat harvest festival. It is the day when the first fruits were given in both the Old and New Testaments, and it is the day of God's wonderful blessing. Today is the anniversary of our church's founding. What a meaningful and good day. How grateful are you for the day when the first fruits were offered in the Old Testament, the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon us in the New Testament, and the Sunday when our church was also founded?
3. The first day of restoration of faith-- reading the law
God made sure to read the law and listen to it at every feast. Therefore, even on this Feast of Harvest Festival, the people who visited the temple must have read the Law and listened to it.
When all Israel gathers before the LORD your God in his chosen place,
Read this law so that all Israel may hear it... Deuteronomy 31:11
Why did God have the Law read on this day? It is to restore the first faith. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and received the first commandment on Mount Sinai, they were filled with joy and emotion. I decided to live as God's people. However, during the long life in the wilderness, my heart was disturbed and my faith was clouded, and I lost my initial passion and innocence. That is why he tried to restore the heart and faith of that time by reading the law every season. It is to restore our relationship with God.
How pure, zealous, and humble are you at first? If all couples continue to live with the same heart they had when they first got married, there would be no marital quarrels or divorces in the world. If all politicians were to do politics with the mindset they had when they first started, the world would already be a very clean world. If all office-bearers are faithful with the humility and determination they received when they first received their office, amazing fruits will be produced. At first he is humble, zealous, and innocent, but as he gets used to it, he becomes arrogant, hard at work, and loses his innocence.
The reason that the people of Israel must read the Law on the Feast of Harvest was in order to restore their first faith. While listening to the law, God's people repent that they did not live according to the law, and make a new decision to restore their relationship with God. All worship has the fundamental meaning of restoring our relationship with God. The essence of every sermon is to restore your relationship with God.
The reason we keep the Feast of Harvest is to restore our faith in the first place. It is a season when we, God's people, make a new resolution by repenting that we did not live according to God's will. That is the tradition and meaning of the Harvest Festival.
4. A day to share gratitude-- sharing
There are a few things to keep an eye on about the Harvest Festival.
you and your children and your slaves and your slaves and the Levites who live in your city and those who are among you
The stranger and the orphan and the widow together in the place the LORD your God has chosen
You shall rejoice before the LORD your God.
Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep these ordinances and do them. Deuteronomy 16:11-12
It's about taking care of your neighbors. Especially in verse 12 it says, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep these ordinances and do them.” Why did he say this because of the connection between slavery in Egypt and the Feast of Harvest? It is a message to remember the life of suffering, and not to forget those who are still living in suffering. It is a message to remember the years of suffering, neglect, and alienation when you were slaves in Egypt, and to take care of those in need around you even now. Remember when I was your servant. And don't forget those who are in that situation right now.
That is why it is meaningful that we use our donations every year on Thanksgiving Day and Founding Day for churches in need. When we were founded, we must have suffered because there weren't many church members and we didn't have enough finances. If I lived my life of faith in a small church, I would have felt like a small person. It is a beautiful image of faith to remember the churches that are still in such circumstances and difficulties now. It is the appearance of the church that God is pleased with. Remember when you were a slave. That is another meaning of the Harvest Festival. And it is also the meaning of our founding anniversary.
Thanksgiving-- It is not simply a repetition of the feasts of the Old Testament. It is not a season of thanksgiving for the grain harvest of barley or wheat. Rather, it is a season of giving the first place in my life to God. It is the beginning of the church, the feast of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the season to restore my first faith. It is a blessed season to share gifts with sincerity. I pray in the name of the Lord that this Thanksgiving Day will be a season of restoration and thanksgiving to restore your first faith, your first zeal, and your first love.