Enter With Thanksgiving

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 21, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 95.

            What was your attitude when you came to church today?  What was on your mind when you walked through the door?

            If could’ve been a lot of things, and I don’t think any of them were bad.  But I’m sure it varied.  Some of us may have been tired.  Some of us may have been looking forward to seeing people.  Some of us may have been thinking about what we’re going to do after the service.  Some of us may have had nothing in particular on our minds.  We were just coming to church because it’s Sunday morning and that’s what we do.

            Again, there’s nothing particularly wrong or bad about any of that.  All of those things are very natural, human things to have on our minds.  But here’s the thing.  Psalm one hundred, which we read responsively this morning, says we should enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and enter God’s courts with praise.

            How many of us did that this morning?  How many of us walked through the church door with giving thanks to God on our minds and in our hearts?  How many of us entered the sanctuary with praise this morning?

            Now, I could tell you that I did that this morning, and it’s kind of true, but only because I had written this sermon and so had it on my  mind.  On a normal Sunday, do I have thankfulness to God on my mind as I walk through the church door?  Do I have praise to God in my heart when I enter the sanctuary?

            No.  I’m no better than anyone else at this.  I have things on my mind, too.  I’m hoping I did not forget something I need, I’m focusing on keeping the service running relatively smoothly, I’m trying to deliver this message in a way that will keep people interested and that they will find meaning in, all kinds of things.

            Now, that does not mean that we do not feel thankful to God.  It does not mean we don’t praise God.  But it does mean that those things may not have been at the forefront of our minds when we came to church today.  And that’s too bad.  It means we are probably not giving God the respect God deserves.  And just as importantly, it means we are cheating ourselves of experiencing God’s love as fully as we should when we come to church.

            The psalm we just read, psalm ninety-five, really says it better than I can.  It tells us to “sing for joy to the Lord”, to “shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.”  We should “come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.”

            And then it tells us why.  “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.  In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.  The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.”

            When we come to church with an attitude of thankfulness and praise to God, we when we sing for joy in the presence of God, that means that we recognize who God is.  It means we acknowledge that God is “the great God”, that he is “the great King.”  We declare that everything was created by God and belongs to God.  From the mountain peaks to the very depths, the land and the sea.”  It all belongs to God.  We may be allowed to take care of a little bit of it for a while, for a brief time, but none of it is every really ours.  It all belongs to God.

            The psalm goes on to say what our response to that should be.  “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.”

            When we recognize who God is, when we realize that God created everything that is, when we acknowledge that it all belongs to God and not us, when we live with an awareness that we would not even exist if not for the great love and mercy of God, it seems like that response would become automatic.  When we think about how great, how powerful, how awesome, how beyond our comprehension God is, we will automatically bow down before God.  We will automatically kneel before God.  In fact, I suspect that whe we go to heaven and are in the presence of God, that’s the first thing we’ll do.  We’ll do it without even thinking about it.  When we see God for who God truly is, we’ll be so in awe that we’ll immediately kneel before Him.

            But then, I think God will tell us to stand up, and we’ll feel God’s loving embrace.  Because, as the psalm also says, “we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.”  We will feel the incredible love of God more strongly than we ever feel it while we’re on earth.

            That last part is why it’s important for us to come to church with thanksgiving and praise to God.  God is indeed awesome, and God deserves our thanksgiving and praise.  That would be reasons enough to come with that attitude.  But giving God that thanks and praise helps us to feel God’s love with us in a way that we won’t otherwise.

            When we’re kids, at least if we’re fortunate enough to grow up in a loving home, we know that our parents love us.  But we don’t really think about it very much.  We really kind of take it for granted that our parents will love us because, well, they’re our parents.  They’re supposed to love us.  And so we don’t really appreciate their love the way we should.  And we also don’t think about how special it is that they love us.

            Because, you know, they would not have to.  Our parents would not have to love us.  Parents make a choice to love their children.  Now, maybe you say that’s an instinct, that there’s something inside parents that leads them to love their children.  And I agree with that.  I think it’s something put there by God.  But at the same time, we know that there are parents who don’t love their children, for whatever reason.  So there still has to be an element of choice involved in the love parents have for their children.

            That love is shown in lots of ways.  It’s shown in the things parents do for their children.  It’s shown in the things parents give up for their children.  And when I say “things”, I don’t just mean material things, although that’s part of it.  Parents give up their time.  Parents give up their privacy.  Parents give up doing things they’d really like to do.  Parents do all these things for their children, because they love them.

            But sometimes, it’s only when we get older that we realize that.  And so, a lot of times, we don’t appreciate the love of our parents as much as we should.  But more than that, we don’t feel the love of our parents as much as we should.  When we don’t think about the sacrifices our parents make for us, we miss out on truly knowing how much love they feel for us.  We miss out on understanding how complete and total their love really is.

            In that same way, God the Father makes a choice to love us.  A choice God would not have to make.  We know God loves us.  But unless we have an attitude of thanksgiving and praise, we won’t really think about God’s love for us.  We’ll take it for granted that God loves us, because, well, He’s God.  He’s supposed to love us.  And we don’t appreciate God’s love the way we should.  We don’t think about how special, how incredible, it is that God loves us.

            Because God would not have to love us.  That love is shown in lots of ways.  It’s shown in the things God does for us.  It’s shown in the things God has given up for us.  And of course, the biggest thing God gave up for us is His son, Jesus Christ.  God sacrificed His divine Son so that, through our faith, we can have salvation and eternal life.  We can go to be with Him in heaven.

            We know that.  But too often, we don’t think about it.  And so, we don’t appreciate God’s love as much as we should.  And more than that, we don’t feel God’s love as much as we should.  When we don’t think about the sacrifices God made for us, we miss out on knowing how much love God feels for us.  We miss out on knowing how complete and total God’s love for us is.

            We should be thankful for God every day, of course.  And of course, we should praise God every day, too.  But when we enter God’s house, we should be especially thankful.  And when we enter God’s sanctuary, we should always feel praise for God in our hearts.  When we do, we will know how awesome, how beyond our understanding God really is.  And then, we’ll know what an incredible thing it is that God loves us.  We’ll feel God’s love in a way we’ve never felt it before.

            And then, we’ll have even more to be thankful for.