November 24, 2002
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
It’s Thanksgiving week. Time to count your blessings.
If you have a frozen Foster Farm turkey in the freezer, decent clothes on your back, a modest house in the Bay Area, and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of the people in the world.
If you have at least the minimum in your savings for free checking, cash in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace waiting to take to the Coinstar machine at the supermarket to convert into grocery money…you are among the top 8% of the earth’s wealthiest people.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of political repression or the pangs of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend this worship service and sing, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessings,” without harassment, arrest, torture or death…you are fortunate. Billions of people in the world cannot.
It’s not hard for us to count our blessings. Most of us can easily start listing all of the things that we are thankful for. We are thankful for: a loving family, good friends, closets of clothes, cars, a home, a job, good health, freedom to worship, and most of all on Thursday, a golden roasted turkey stuffed with sticky rice, lop cheung and dried shrimp!
There was a family that sat down for their Thanksgiving dinner. The youngest child at the table, a four-year old boy, was asked to say the prayer. After everyone had closed their eyes and bowed their heads, the boy began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for his mommy and daddy, his brother, his sister, his grandma, his grandpa, his aunts and uncles. After that, he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the pies, even the Kool Whip. But then there was a pause, and everyone waited and waited. After a long silence, the little boy looked at his mother and asked, “If I thank God for the broccoli, won’t God know that I’m lying?”
Even with the things that we don’t necessarily like—even broccoli, we could still count them and be thankful. But if we follow this logic, can we be thankful when we lack these things? What if there are no things to count at all, would we know how to be thankful?
Paul’s Prayer of Thanks
The apostle Paul encourages us to give “thanks for nothing.” In fact, he offers us in the Ephesians passage the example of his own thanksgiving for nothing at all—not one physical, material, tangible thing.
Instead, Paul gives constant thanks for things that are not things—faith in the Lord Jesus, love toward the saints, a spirit of wisdom and revelation, the riches of God’s glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power.
None of these blessings can be seen, touched, purchased or possessed—like food, clothes, cars, gadgets or houses. And yet, these are the greatest gifts we could ever receive. To give thanks for things that are not things in our society when we are courted to spend to revive the sluggish economy is to recognize God’s blessings are more valuable than any department store can promise us.
After our Thanksgiving dinner is consumed and we have made turkey jook with the bones, we start to get ready for the biggest shopping day of the year. We study the newspaper ads for the best sales and biggest coupons and we begin our strategic shopping plan. This Friday begins the Christmas shopping binge.
As far as holidays go, Thanksgiving is a small nuisance—at least as far as the retailers are concerned. Most stores don’t like Thanksgiving. They are closed including Chinatown restaurants. After all, besides the supermarkets, who’s in a position to make any money from Thanksgiving?
But Christmas decorations have been up for a month or maybe longer before Halloween. There will again be Thanksgiving parades, but the focus of the floats and marching bands is not on the theme of gratitude. Instead those parades are sponsored by Macy’s and at the end of the parade comes Santa Claus with a sleigh of toys for you and me.
We call this Friday, Black Friday because it’s the biggest shopping event of the year. It’s not black because it’s bad, but rather merchants are hoping that their sales would be so good that their spreadsheets would show profits in black ink rather losses in red ink.
But Paul doesn’t give thanks for big screen TVs, leather jackets, computer games and DVDs. He refuses to focus his gaze on the things that can be seen, because he knows that these things are temporary. Instead he looks only at the essential and eternal things that are invisible to the eye. In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul said,
“We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what
can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”
When Paul counts his blessings, he lists absolutely nothing you can buy, and nothing you can own. Paul only focuses on those things that are eternal—faith, love, spirit of wisdom, a spirit of revelation, God’s inheritance, and God’s power.
We are Thankful
We too can be thankful today for the same things that are not things that Paul was thankful for. There are three that we can point to. First, when we gather as family and friends this Thursday, we can be thankful for faith and love. Paul said, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward the saints and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you.”
Since I have been your pastor, I have seen you trust Christ completely and love your neighbors consistently. We know that life is not always a slice of pumpkin pie with Kool Whip. When trouble comes to us whether it’s a threatening illness or a lost of a job or the death of a loved one, I have witnessed your unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus. You trust God with your life.
In your trust and faith in Christ, you love your neighbors without discrimination. Whenever we have visitors come to our church like when the ABSW seminarians come to observe and learn from our ministry, they all leave with a deep sense of God’s love. This is because you know how to love all of God’s saints. When visitors can have a free breakfast at Joe’s Café, we are saying that God loves you and so do we!
Secondly, Paul also gives thanks for a spirit of wisdom and revelation that he prays will come out of our ever-expanding relationship with God through Christ. This spirit of wisdom opens our eyes to what God is planning for us. There is nothing richer or more valuable than a life in communion with God, both today and in the life to come.
I have been amazed many times in the insights and competence that you have. We can say that as Americans we have a higher level of education and that’s what makes us competent. But it’s not about facts and figures. You have wisdom when you teach Sunday school or lead the youth groups. You have wisdom when you console and comfort as Care Ministry Partners. The Deacons have the spirit of wisdom when you interview those who are preparing for baptism and church membership. These are invisible to the eye.
God is continuously making his will known to us when we are in communion with him. God’s revelation helps us to understand and partner with God to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And when we have wisdom and revelation, Paul is saying that we can grasp the riches of God’s glorious inheritance. Inheriting God’s glory is far more valuable than all the things on our Christmas wish list.
And finally, Paul is thankful for the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. This is the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places. This power has put Jesus in a place of ultimate authority, far above every earthly ruler,
not only in this age but also in the age to come, so that everything on earth is now under the soles of his sandals. I am very thankful for this intangible thing from God.
When we come to Thanksgiving Day this Thursday, we cannot get away from the problems and uncertainties in the world. The college football games may give us a few hours to escape. Even the frenetic shopping spree on Friday might make us forget for a few hours what is happening elsewhere. But when there is a threat of confrontation and possible war, we are thankful that God has authority over Saddam Hessein, Osama bin Laden, the UN, and even George W. Bush.
I know that many of us feel that we have so little power to effect any change in the direction that our country and the rest of the world are going. We feel voiceless and helpless even when we voted. We are shell-shocked over the fear of yet another terrorist attack. But we also know that violence and retaliation are not God’s way for his creation. So we pray. And when we pray, we pray with the heart and soul and faith that God is listening.
I am thankful that regardless of what we might do–the immeasurable greatness of God’s power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places is the same Jesus Christ who rules today.
And the best part of God’s amazing power is at work in those of us who believe. This power is experienced as we take part in the life of the body of Christ—the church. It doesn’t matter how much wealth or power or prestige or personnel or inventory or square footage we control in this world, but rather what matters is our work as Christ’s disciples in the church. God’s great immeasurable power is given to us when we faithfully serve in the church!
Thankful for Church
When I was gone to Boston last Sunday, I miss being here. Now some of you might be saying, “This pastor is sick! He doesn’t know how to take a Sunday off!” Driving from Philly to Boston last Sunday morning, I was wondering how church was going. From 3000 miles away, what I was thankful for was the faith that God is working his great immeasurable power in each one of you and through this church.
We can’t see faith and love. We can’t touch wisdom and revelation. We can’t count the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. But we can experience with all five of our senses God’s power in the church. Although God’s power in Christ is “above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” it is something tangible that Christians can experience in the form of the church. The church is Christ’s body. Subordinate to Jesus Christ as its head, the church is God’s visible representative to live and act and work in the world.
Followers of Jesus Christ experience the divine life and power of God that fills all things.
Followers of Jesus Christ are able to endure incredible hardship and overcome personal obstacles.
Followers of Jesus Christ are able to share the love and grace and hope and peace and forgiveness of our Lord.
Followers of Jesus Christ are able to step out in mission and share the gospel in both our words and our deeds.
None of these is a “thing” in a material sense. But whether we are rich or poor, young or old, homeowners or homeless, working or unemployed, we all have access to this amazing collection of blessings to be thankful for. These are essential, eternal, and unseen treasures.
When you ask yourself on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday, “What am I thankful for?” We can say, “I am “thankful for nothing”—nothing that is physical, material or tangible.” But we are thankful for
our faith in Lord Jesus
our love toward the saints
our spirit of wisdom and God’s revelation
God’s rich inheritance
and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we are thankful today for the unseen treasures that you have blessed us with: love, faith, wisdom, revelation, and your mighty power in our world. Use us to serve you in your name as we bring hope and love to one another this week. In the name of the one who gave his life so that we may have everlasting life, Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.