Trinity Baptist Church

Give Thanks!

Giving Thanks to God

1 Chronicles 16:8-36

 

Through the month of November, I want to focus our attention on giving thanks.  I’m afraid, that to a large degree, we are a very thankless people who tend to take for granted the many rich blessings God has given to us.

 

Certainly that is true of our physical blessings.  How often have I found myself casually sitting down to a meal without offering thanks to God or getting dressed in the morning and going off to my day without acknowledging God’s blessings of health and clothes and cars?

 

But perhaps it is even truer of our spiritual blessings.  When was the last time, for instance, you thanked God for your salvation or expressed your gratitude for your Bible or church family?  Or even more importantly, when was the last time you thanked God for being God?  Or when did you last thank Jesus for your salvation or the Holy Spirit for His work in your life?

 

So what I want to do for the next four weeks is seek to help us learn to give thanks for the spiritual blessings of life and in particular the presence and power of God.

 

Now obviously there are a lot of places in the Scripture we might go to find a model or example for giving thanks to God. But I want to take you to a place that you might not think about.  It’s found in 1 Chronicles, chapter 16.

We don’t know for certain who wrote I Chronicles, but it was very likely Ezra.  And through the book there are numerous references to praise.   But in chapter 16, we actually get to witness the people of God offering Him their praise.  And to understand the praise they are offering, it is helpful to have a little bit of history.

 

First and Second Chronicles and 2 Chronicles are actually a history of the Jews that was written about 450 years before Christ and about 500 years after David’s reign and it tells the story of God’s work of redemption from creation all the way down to Israel being taken into captivity in Babylon.

 

It was written primarily for the Jews who came back from the captivity.  They had returned from Babylon and they were facing the reality that their nation was nothing like it used to be. It was a far cry from its great history under David.  When they returned, the city of Jerusalem lay in ruins.  They had no walls of   protection until Nehemiah came to help them in rebuilding the wall.

 

They had no temple until Zerubbabel helped them reconstruct a temple that was very plain and common, nothing like the glorious temple Solomon had built.

 

And even after they had reconstituted themselves in the land, they were small and weak and vulnerable.  And the latter kingdom was nothing like the former kingdom of glory and power and influence and they wondered if they would ever have again the glory days that once were theirs in the time of David and Solomon.

 

And as they thought about those days glory days 500 years earlier, when Solomon reigned and before him his father David, they knew that all of this was a result of judgment and they wondered if there would ever be any hope for them to become anything great again.

 

So this history was written to encourage them and remind them that God had been faithful in the past and that God is faithful and He had made some promises to them that were yet to be fulfilled.  And no matter how bleak it looked, God could be trusted.

God’s faithfulness in the past is the foundation and the basis for our trust in His faithfulness in the future.

 

Now, to me, the highlight of this history is chapter 16 where these returning exiles are reminded of a great day in Israel’s history.

 

Now just to understand the setting of the chapter it is important to know that during the reign of Saul, the Ark of the Covenant, that symbol of the presence and power and provision of God was not in Jerusalem.  And that absence, in and of itself was sort of a symbol of God’s displeasure with Israel.

 

So when David became king, one of the very first things that David wanted to do was get the Ark of the Covenant and bring it back to Jerusalem. And so David, who was now king, had a tent prepared to house the Ark of God.

 

And what we have in chapter 16 is the return of that Ark to Jerusalem as it is placed in the place prepared for it.

 

 

verses 1-7

 

They were saying, in effect, we want God in our midst. We want His presence, we want His care, we want His power.  And in typical Baptist form they had a wonderful meal and they had loud praise with a full orchestra. And the people were offering sacrifices to God.

 

And for all intents and purposes, I suppose we could say this is the prototypical Thanksgiving Day because God is back, His presence is there and the people are rejoicing and giving thanks to God.

 

Then starting in verse 8 and continuing through verse 36 you have this Psalm they sang that was written by David, led by Asaph, the chief musician and the congregation sang.

 

By the way, if you have any cross-references in your Bible, you will notice that the first half of this psalm comes from Psalm 105 and then there are a whole lot of other references to pother psalms scattered throughout it.  So this is sort of like a summation of some of the most beautiful Psalms of thanksgiving.  We might call it a medley of psalms and the theme around which they all revolve is thanksgiving.

 

Now the psalm has three verses.  Each one begins with a command to give thanks and then follows up with reasons to obey the commands.

 

 

 

 

The first verse of the psalm is found in verses 8-22 and between verses 8 and 12 there are ten imperative verbs used to express ten different commands.

 

 

So just that opening set of commands, those ten imperatives, let us know what praise is really all about.  It is to extol God. It is to honor God. It is to thank God. It is to praise God. This is worship and this is what should happen as we give thanks.  This is a great example of what it means to offer thanksgiving to God.  The ark was back. Enemies had been subdued. David was the new king. God is the One Who did it and He is to be praised and thanked.

 

The Reasons for obeying the commands are given in verses 13 and following.

 

Verses 13-23

 

First, David reminds them to thank Him because He chose them.

He goes into great detail regarding the covenant God made with Abraham and then reconfirmed with Isaac and Jacob.  It was a forever covenant.  And in that context He just brags on God.  He’s not a local deity. He is the judge of all the earth.

 

And he reminds them of God’s protection on them.

Through all the wanderings and journeys of His people, God had protected them.   In fact, they could go all the way back to their deliverance from Egypt and the drowning of Pharaoh’s army and remember that God had been with them.

 

And that’s why we should be thankful as well.  If you’re a Christian, it is only because God chose you also.  He initiated the process that brought you to repentance and faith.  And He secured and established your salvation through a covenant of blood.  And as a part of the family of God, you’re safe and protected.  He will keep His promises!

 

The second verse of the psalm is found in verses 23-24 and once again, it begins with commands.

 

And in particular, we are commanded here not only like in the early part to focus on God and give thanks to Him and sing to Him, but to “Proclaim the Good News of His salvation from day to day.”

 

And I’m afraid, very often we forget that true worship is more than just thanking God and singing songs and offering our praise.  It includes telling of His greatness to all people.

 

And the reasons for that are found in verses 25-27.

 

There’s a marginal note in my Bible for verse 26 that translates “idols” as “worthless things”.  Others say “non-essential things”.  That’s true. All the nations surrounding Israel had all their deities and they were all nothing.

 

In contrast, “the Lord made the heavens” and because of that is worthy of our praise and honor.  All glory belongs to Him and no one else because of who He is, because of His splendor and His majesty, His strength and His joy.

 

We ought to be more than willing to not just come to church and not just sing and worship, but to take every opportunity we have to brag on our God and tell His story day by day.

 

Verse 3 follows the same pattern.  First we find the commands

 

Verses 28-33a

 

You can almost feel the praise and worship building to a crescendo as the writer continues.  In verse 13 he speaks to the “seed of Israel, His servant, you children of Jacob, you chosen ones.  And the application seems to be individually.

 

Then in verse 28, he addresses the families of the peoples.  Then in verse 30 it is the whole earth that is to tremble before Him.  Let the seas roar and the fields rejoice and even the trees of the forest are included.  Then in verse 31, the heavens rejoice

And by the time he has finished all of heaven and earth and all of creation are called upon to join in the praise of this great celebration of thanksgiving to the one true God.

And why should that happen?  Verses 33b-34 give us the reasons.

 

And if they knew that, how much more do we know that? They knew what it was to have a God that was merciful and loving and what they knew was in an Old Testament awareness of His character.

 

And for us those of us who are not the people of God by birth, physical birth, but rather the people of God by spiritual birth, should we not offer the same kind of praise and worship and thanks and even much more?  In fact, we, more than they are the true worshipers who worship in Him in spirit and in truth.

 

So, as the people of God celebrated Him, they sang these three verses filled with commands to worship followed by the reasons for the worship.  Then after this  crescendo of praise, comes

 

 

verse 35

 

Here we find a great model for worship. They offer all this praise and thanksgiving then submit an humble request.

 

That’s the model and it is echoed by the Lord in response to the disciples request to learn how to pray.  He said, “Pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed is Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.”  Notice it was praise before the petition.

 

 

First we are to offer God our praise and worship, not only because He commands it, but reason tells us to.  We should be so overwhelmed with His power and glory and majesty that the most natural thing in the world would be for us to praise Him.

 

Then we cry, “O God of our salvation, save us, protect us, deliver us from the nations around us so that we can give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise.”

 

I think we sometimes forget that the testimony of the people of God then, and the testimony of the people of God now in the world, should be that we are of all people on the planet the most grateful.

 

After all, how could we not be? Whatever you might think about what’s going on in the world, economically, politically, materially, whatever you might think about your circumstances relative to somebody else’s circumstances, whatever you might think are the issues in your life that steal your joy, you better get over it because you, of all people on the planet, have the most to be thankful for.

 

All of this is just temporary stuff.  You have been chosen and you are being protected until the Lord will hear and answer that prayer. He will deliver you. He will bring you that final salvation and forever in His presence you will give thanks to His holy name and you will glory in Him.

 

Verse 36

 

That’s real praise. That’s real worship the way it should be.

 

The exiles who were reading this history needed to do that. Forget your circumstances, forget the fact that it doesn’t look the way you’d like it to look now. Forget the fact that once it was all glorious with David and Solomon. God will not change and His promises will not change. All His promises will come to pass and that’s why this last point is so important because there we see

 

 

16:43 – 17:2

 

We have to admire David’s heart.  He was under conviction because he was living in a beautiful luxurious home while the Ark of God was sitting under a tent and he realized how ought of balance that was.

 

And remember, he’s coming out of this tremendous experience of praise and he has just written and sung of the amazing realities of God and it dawns on him that God’s in a tent while he’s living in a palace.

 

So he goes to his pastor and tells him he want to build God a house and Pastor Nathan thinks it’s a great idea.

 

Verses 5-6

 

Just a little reminder that before Nathan affirms something, he probably ought to check in with the boss. Before you say yes to building Me a house, you might want to check with whether I want one.

 

 

Verses 7-14

Our ears should really perk up at verse 11 and following when God begins to speak of a “Son” Who will follow David.  Who is that Son?  Well we know it wasn’t Solomon.  His kingdom didn’t last very long and wound up fragmented and split into two pieces.

 

But of this Son, God says, “I will be His Father and He will be your descendant, David, but I want you to understand,, He’s My Son and this Son is going to build a house that will last forever.”

 

And one day, some 2,000 years ago, according to

Luke 1,verse 26, “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David. The virgin’s name was Mary, also a direct descendant from David.

 

 “And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.” She was very perplexed at this statement, kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. “The angel said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you’ll name Him Jesus.

 

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and 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 have no end. And He will be called the Son of God.’”

 

Christ is the one promised in 1 Chronicles 17. Will God fulfill His promises to Israel? Yes, in the glorious Kingdom of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And He earned the right to that Kingdom through His death and by that death, He provided our salvation.

 

And the saved shouldn’t need any commandment to order them to worship the God Who loved them enough to send His Son to die on a cross in their place.

 

According to 1 Chronicles 16:35, we’ve been saved to give thanks to God.  May we be found faithful in doing it.

 

Let’s pray.