"A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving" Sermon: Psalm 50:1-23 (manuscript)

 

“A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving”

[Psalm 50:1-23]

November 15, 2020 YouTube

            The idea of sacrifice is a common one to us as we remember the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.  But the idea that we are to sacrifice in these days is not one we immediately thing of.

            We are familiar with giving thanks for things done for us and thanksgiving being offered up to God.  And we are familiar with the holiday of Thanksgiving when we break out our pants with the elastics in them and serve up giant birds with sides smothered in butter and desserts full of butter and sugar.

            What do we think of when we hear the phrase “a sacrifice of thanksgiving”?  Does that make sense to us?

            On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we are looking at Psalm 50 – a psalm of Asaph – as we consider what this means.

            And we see, first, God doesn’t need our sacrifices.

“The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.”

Who is our God?

God is the Being Whose dominion is total. God’s authority over and care for the Creation is total.  God is the “I AM” of Moses.  He is the One Who holds all might.  He holds all of Creation in His hands and causes all the laws of nature to function as He has set them.  He rules over the entire earth – and all of Creation from the rising to the setting of the sun – all times and in all places.

And in Zion – in Jerusalem and from the Temple – the perfection of God’s Beauty shines forth – God’s Glory shines forth – He is known for Who He is and what He has done through the Law and the Prophets and finally through the Incarnation of His Son.

As the author of Hebrews writes, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (Hebrews 1:1-4, ESV).

“Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.”

The author of Hebrews also reminds us, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29, ESV).

God is patient, but He never allows sin to go unpunished.  Either we take the punishment of His Fury upon ourselves, or Jesus takes it in our place – there are no other options.  It is important in our thinking about thanksgiving that we understand we should rightfully receive eternal torment for our sin against the Holy God.

Our God has utter dominion, beauty, glory, and He is Holy and will not stand unholiness before Him – all sin will be punished – one way or another.

And we see in the Scripture that all people will be judged on the last day – as Paul tells us:

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10-12, ESV).

And John writes, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:11-12, ESV).

“He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: ‘Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’ The heavens declare his righteousness,            for God himself is judge! Selah.”

God, our God, the God Who has dominion over all of Creation, the God Who is Sovereign over all things, the God of beauty, the God of Glory, the God of holiness and judgment, He will gather all people to Himself and judge those who are faithful to the covenant – to the agreement between them – and those who reject God outright and those who claim to have made a covenant but do not really believe.

God is not fooled – God easily judges between the real and the nominal believers – between those who embrace God and His Savior with their hearts and their mouths, and those who merely mouth the words but have no heart-belief in Jesus, the Only Savior. And God will judge on the last day.

Since all these things are true, we can see that God does not need our sacrifices.  Everything belongs to God, so God does not need anything from us.

Second, God wants a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

            “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.”

            God tells Israel that He is their God.  This is not some foreign god – this is the God Who brought them out of the land of Egypt – the God Who gave them the Law and the Prophets.  This is the God Who chose them out of all the nations of the world and loved them as a son.

            Yet, God testifies against Israel, His people, and He rebukes them.  But look at what God says:  “I am not rebuking you for not making the sacrifices that I require of you – you offer up the sacrifices that the Law says you are to offer up.  You offer up sacrifices constantly.  But I don’t want your bulls or goats – I won’t accept them.”

            Why not?  If they are offering up the required sacrifices, why won’t God accept them?

“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?’”

God tells them that they are not doing God any favors by offering up these sacrifices.  All the beasts already belong to God to do with as He pleases – and the birds, and everything that moves.  Their offering is of something that God already owns.

Not only that, but they also have a pagan understanding of what the sacrifices are for – God says He would never tell Israel He was hungry, because everything already belongs to Him.  Besides which, does Israel seriously believe that God eats the flesh of bulls or drinks the blood of goats?

They have made God into a creature Who needs their offerings to be able to survive – to have food and drink.

Similarly, God doesn’t need anything from us – as we have just seen.  God doesn’t need money.  He doesn’t need our buildings.  He doesn’t need our programs. (Don’t forget we talked about stewardship last week – but God doesn’t need any of these things to survive or flourish or to be able to fulfill His Will.)

Rather:

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

            Outward sacrifice is nothing without inner sacrifice – a heart-devotion – a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  God wants our hearts and souls to be longing for Him and reaching for Him, glorifying Him, thanking Him, recognizing who we were and who we are now in Christ.

            You can go to church every Sunday, you can serve on the board, you can volunteer to lead every group, you can clean the church, you can be a good person and an example of moral living, but if you don’t go beyond the symbolism to the higher things – if you don’t go beyond  to a true heart-devotion that is thankful every moment to God – believing savingly in Jesus, you will go to Hell.  Your greatness in the church is just dead ritual if you are not alive in Christ, directing all glory and thanks to Him.  We must have faith and life and gratitude for our sacrifice to be real.

            Jesus spoke about the Law of the tithe – which is good and right – and how the Pharisees perverted it:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24, ESV).

            If we present our gifts and our obedience as symbolic of our gratitude – of our thanksgiving – they wil be received.

            God wants a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

            Third, God hates unbelieving obedience.

“But to the wicked God says: ‘What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!”

God turns to those people who think if they say the right words and do the right thing – offer the right sacrifices – that God will receive them – no matter what they actually think or believe in their hearts – and whether they are thankful or not.

God says, “Who gave you the right to keep my commandments?  Who do you think you are fooling?  You love sin and encourage people to sin, even as you pretend to care and believe all that I have said.  Because I have been patient and not said or done anything, you think I am a hypocrite and sinner like yourselves.  You have not sought My holiness but have made Me in your own image.  Well, surprise, I rebuke you and charge you now, and if you continue in this path, I will tear you apart and there will be no one to help you.”

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for making everything look holy on the outside, but not dealing with the issues of the heart.  They performed all the right acts, but they had no heart-belief, and they were not thankful.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:25-28, ESV).

Knowing what is true and acting as though you believe what is true and follow it is not enough – there must be a heart-belief that produces holy living.  Holy living follows and is an evidence of true salvation.

God states one sin in particular in our text – that being the nineth commandment – you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  God says they are deceitful, they slander their brothers, and speak against them. 

Whether biological or those of the faith, God emphasizes the sin of lying about what your brother or sister is or did or said.  In doing this, you break the covenant with your brother or sister and the whole community.

God is longsuffering, but He does not approve of any evil or sin, and on the last day, He will gather all our sins together and we will have to give an accounting for them.  We who have believed savingly in Jesus will be forgiven.  Those who do not – and those who have not believed but pretended to be obedient – those who bear false witness against their neighbors – with be ravaged and tortured in Hell forever.

God hates unbelieving obedience.

What does God desire from His people?

“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

God says that those who genuinely believe will truly obey God and thank Him for all the blessings He has given – especially that of our salvation in Jesus – and God will be glorified in that thanksgiving.

As Thanksgiving approaches and Covid still looms large, we are tempted to think, “bah humbug” this year.  As those for whom God gave His Son for our salvation – whether we gather in small groups – following the advisories – or have Zoom calls, or telephone calls – let us be truly thankful to God.  Let us give a sacrifice of thanksgiving as those who genuinely believe and know we have so much to be thankful for and strive for holiness in our lives.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we live in a time of turmoil as our politicians fight and the Covid virus and the disrupted economy are ever before us and in our discussions.  Help us even now to look to You – to remember all that You have done for us – to believe with all our heart and mind and soul and strength and also strive after holiness, giving You sincere thanks.  And may You be glorified now and always in each of us.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.