Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:1-5,11-20
When I was planning this sermon series, I didn’t choose today’s scripture because of its proximity to Thanksgiving this week, but it’s surely God’s providential timing that I did. Because I believe that we can learn some principles for living as thankful people from today’s scripture. So that’s what this sermon is about.
And I want to make three points: Point Number One: God always gives us, his children, what we need. But Point Number Two: He does so even when it seems like he isn’t giving us what we need. And Point Number Three: We need faith in order to see this.
But Point Number One, God always gives us, his children, what we need.
Last week, Facebook reminded me of a photo that I posted exactly one year ago: It’s a photo of my daughter, Elisa, sitting on the couch with our English springer spaniel, Ringo. I captioned the photo with some funny words that Elisa spoke about our beloved dog at the time—and these words remain true one year later. Elisa said: “I love when [Ringo] sighs from a hard day of worrying about absolutely nothing.”
I love when Ringo sighs from a hard day of worrying about absolutely nothing.
And make no mistake: Ringo sighs a lot. But why? His only job in life is to let us, his human masters, care for his every need, to let us love him and adore him and pet him… to let us give him all the affection he craves… to let us feed him and water him and play with him to his heart’s content. Not exactly the hardest life, you’ve got to admit.
Maybe Ringo takes after me. Because, like Ringo, I sigh a lot, too. I mean, a lot. I always have. But unlike Ringo, you see, I usually think I have perfectly good reasons to sigh: I sigh in frustration, for instance. Or in anger… Or when I’m afraid… Or when I believe that things aren’t going my way. And maybe you do too.
And yet… Maybe, like Ringo, I also sigh too much. Because if God is telling the truth in his Word—and he is—we who are God’s children through faith in Christ are no less loved and cared for and provided for than my dog Ringo—except by Someone who is infinitely more powerful than Lisa or my kids or me, or any other human! And that’s putting it mildly!
Consider these words of Jesus from Matthew 10:29 to 31:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Sparrows were considered practically worthless birds in Jesus’ day. They had a tiny bit of value only because people in Jesus’ day did eat sparrows for food. But each sparrow provided only the smallest morsel… You’d have to cook a lot of them together before you’d feel satisfied.
So from a worldly perspective, sparrows weren’t worth much, as Jesus well knows. Yet, he asks us to imagine Someone who loves—I mean, who really loves—these no-account birds… Because our heavenly Father loves sparrows… He cares deeply about the lives of each one… He pays attention when each one falls from the sky… In fact, not one of them falls to the ground without his knowing it and willing it. Because—as incomprehensible as it seems to us—the life—a single life—of even the tiniest, most insignificant bird is also part of God’s plan for the world.
Okay, maybe that’s clear enough… but what about verse 30? Is Jesus changing the subject when he talks about hair on our heads? First he’s talking about birds, then he’s talking about the hairs on your head. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. What’s the connection to sparrows?
Well, the hairs on our heads—like sparrows—also fall to the ground—as many of us know from painful experience. And by our reckoning a single hair falling to the ground should matter far, far less than even a sparrow falling to the ground, right? Hair is pretty worthless… We can live without hair on our heads! Just ask [Matt Miller]! Some people—some men at least—even choose to live without hair, because they look cool! Hair on our heads is dispensable; it’s about the least significant thing about us, right?
And yet… God even cares great about that!
And if our Father cares so much about the least significant thing about us… just imagine how much he must care for the whole person—that is, each one of us!
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus means these words as an understatement, by the way. And he’s using humor: we should imagine Jesus saying these words with a big smile on his face! “Fear not… if the life of each sparrow is incredibly precious to your heavenly Father, think how precious you are to your heavenly Father!” That’s the thrust of Jesus’ words here!
Listen, if you doubt how valuable you are to God, please remember this: it’s as if God has put a price tag on you—because the Bible says you were bought with a price—1 Corinthians 6:20. And that price was what? That price was God himself, in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, dying for us on a cross. God’s Son Jesus is of infinite worth to God the Father—and that’s the price God paid for each one of us.
Therefore guess what?
You are of infinite worth to your heavenly Father!
Consider what this means! Let me give you an analogy.
Back in 1989, a man in Pennsylvania was shopping at a flea market. He saw a crummy looking painting inside a gilded, ornately carved picture frame. The painting was ugly, but he liked the frame itself, so he bought the painting and frame… When he got home, he planned on replacing the ugly painting with a picture that he liked. And the picture and frame only cost him four bucks. So he bought it. Later, when he took the frame apart, he saw that… behind the crummy painting… inside the frame… was a folded-up, first-run printed copy of the Declaration of Independence… one of only 24 copies printed on July 4, 1776. 1 They didn’t have Xerox machines back then, much less email and social media; these copies were the means by which our Founding Fathers’ announced to the world that these British colonies in America were now the United States of America. So you can imagine that owning one of only 24 original copies was pretty special.
Suddenly, that $4 flea market purchase was now worth one million dollars—which of course would be millions of dollars 30 years later!
Now think about the poor guy who owned this seemingly cheap painting and picture frame… before this flea-market shopper bought it and sold it for for a fortune… Do you think that if the previous owner had known the true worth of this painting and picture frame, he would have so easily discarded it—such that, at some time later, it would end up at a flea market and be sold for four bucks? Of course not. If the previous owner had known this painting and picture frame was worth millions, he would have taken the utmost care of it! It would have been his most valuable possession, and he would never have let it get away from him in the first place.
But what about us, dear brothers and sisters? If we are Christians, we have been redeemed—we have been purchased—by our heavenly Father through the infinitely costly and precious blood of his Son Jesus. And we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit 2—a seal in in the ancient world was a mark of ownership. So we’ve been purchased by God at an infinite price. And we are now owned by God. We belong to him—and he considers us his precious treasure!
Do you think our Father, having paid an infinite price to purchase us, is going to fail to take care of us? Do you think that our Father is going to let us come to harm, or ignore us, or discard us, or lose us?
By no means!
And that’s Point Number One: The first and most important principle for living as thankful people is understanding this: God will take care of us… God will always give us what we need…
Point Number Two… God will always take care of us and give us what we need… even when it seems like he’s not taking care of us or giving us what we need.
Because here’s the problem I mentioned earlier. By all means, Jesus and the rest of scripture make some amazing promises about God’s providential care for his children, but what about when it seems like he doesn’t care for us? And of course, as we’ve already seen in this sermon series, there were plenty of times over the past 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that the Israelites doubted that God was taking care of them.
So in today’s scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 8, which is a small part of Moses’ farewell sermon to his fellow Israelites, Moses says that there are only two occasions in our lives on which we will be tempted to think that God isn’t taking care of us. Only two.
The first is when life is hard… The second is when life is easy… Otherwise, we’ll never doubt that God is taking care of us! But I’m serious…
Moses warns the people about a coming day when life will be far, far easier for the people than it’s been for the past 40 years. And what happens then? They will be tempted to forget that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” 3 Listen to verses 17 and 18:
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Prosperity tempts us to forget about God. It tempts us to think that it’s not God who’s providing for us or caring for us; instead, we believe that we are taking care of us… that we areproviding for ourselves… that we are making ourselves successful through our own hard work. Instead of depending on God for every good gift we enjoy, we begin to think that we’re self-sufficient. Scripture warns us elsewhere about this, for instance, in Proverbs chapter 30. A man named Agur prays the following in verses 8 and 9:
[G]ive me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?” 4
I think we all know from personal experience that few of us ever grow closer to God, few of us learn to overcome sin in our lives, few of us learn to trust more deeply in the Lord, few of us become more sanctified by the Holy Spirit when we are in the midst of prosperity… and life is smooth sailing… and everything seems to be going our way. Prosperity can be spiritually deadly to us. Because it tempts us to believe, as verse 3 suggests, that we can live by “bread alone,” rather than by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Years ago, before he died—by suicide—actor Robin Williams gave an interview in which he was talking about the elusiveness of happiness…
Hold on… The elusiveness of happiness? What would Robin Williams know about that? I mean, here was a talented actor and comedian who won an Academy Award, multiple Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys. He had a number one prime-time TV show. He starred in some of the most financially successful and critically acclaimed movies ever made. He lived in mansions. He dated supermodels. He was beloved by millions.
Yet listen to what Robin Williams said: No matter what dizzying heights of fame and fortune you achieve, he said, “You bottom out… People say, ‘You have an Academy Award.’ The Academy Award lasted about a week. Then one week later people are going, ‘Hey, Mork.’”
Many of us might be tempted to think that we could live off that kind of “bread”—that kind of worldly success! We’d sure like to try! I mean, if you’re a Hollywood movie star, it would be tempting to think you could live off the industry’s most prestigious honor: an Academy Award. Yet here we have someone who won it, yet he says that it “lasted about a week”; it satisfied him for about a week. That Academy Award, which seemed like everything to him at one time, sustained him, nourished him, made him feel good about himself, for about a week. And then, he said, you bottom out…
The greatest treasures our world can offer will never satisfy our souls! Only a saving relationship with God can do that… through his Son Jesus Christ… Only the treasure we have in Christ can do that.
Perhaps Robin Williams never learned this; I sure hope he did, even in his dying moments… But you know someone who learn to be satisfied by the treasure we have in Christ? The apostle Paul… For an ambitious and religious young man living in the first century, Paul had every treasure that his particular culture said was important. These would have included the best education, wealth, fame, the respect of his colleagues, a reputation for being righteous, a good name… Maybe that’s not an Academy Award, but in the life of young Saul of Tarsus, close enough.
Yet, later on, this same man, who later changed his name to Paul, was able to say, “Whatever gain I had”—in my former life before I knew Christ—“I now count as loss… I count everything [besides Christ] as loss… For [Christ’s] sake I have suffered the loss of all things”—including every treasure that the world tells me will satisfy my soul—“and I count them as rubbish” compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” 5
And not only did Paul lose everything that he had… he also received something from following Christ that he didn’t even want: he received a lot of pain and suffering!
Listen to just a few of the things that Paul endured for being a disciple of Christ, which he describes in 2 Corinthians 11: Five times he received 40 lashes minus one; three times he was beaten with rods; once he was stoned and left for dead; three times he was shipwrecked; once he was adrift at sea for a night and a day; he was in constant danger from his enemies; he was hungry, thirsty, cold, and naked. He was imprisoned on multiple occasions.
So… Paul lost every treasure he had in his life before Christ; and he received a world of pain and suffering in return; and he knew—he just knew, when he wrote those words in Philippians that I quoted a moment ago, that he was going to be martyred because of his faith… which he eventually was.
Yet he still could manage to say, “It has been completely worth it for the sake of what I’ve gained in Christ! Totally worth it! A small price to pay!”
Why did he say that? Because he found that knowing Jesus Christ was of surpassing worth! He found that it was worth everything he could give and more! He found that it satisfied his soul’s deepest longing!
Listen, I am cowardly and wimpy and desperately afraid of suffering; I’m not like Paul, and I never want to suffer like Paul; yet even I have learned—as I will continue to learn—that through suffering God teaches me to treasure Christ more and more. And for that I can and should be thankful.
[Reflect on Ephesians 5:20… Give thanks for everything…]
And that’s Point Number Two…
Nothing impedes our thankfulness, by the way, like breaking the Tenth Commandment… and coveting what someone else has. And if we fail to appreciate Point Number Two—that our Father is always giving each one of us precisely what we need to treasure Christ more—then we will sigh a lot… Because we will often feel bitter and angry and disappointed and frustrated that God isn’t instead giving us what someone else has.
I’m tempted to covet what someone else has, but guess what? That person I’m tempted to covet is a different person from me. I ought to trust that God is giving that person whatever combination of good times, bad times, and in-between times that they need to treasure Christ more. That’s their business, not mine; that’s between them and God.
Meanwhile, I ought to trust that God is giving me whatever combination of good times, bad times, and in-between times that I need to treasure Christ more!
And so do you! And that’s hard to do… But if we are going to live as thankful people, by God’s grace we need to try!
So here’s a good principle for thankfulness: God is giving you whatever combination of good times, bad times, and in-between times that you need in order to treasure Christ more!
And here is Point Number Three: It takes faith to see things this way.
In 2 Kings chapter 6, the prophet Elisha was introuble with a powerful king—the king of Syria. Syria was an enemy of Israel. And every time the king of Syria would plan an attack against Israel, God would reveal details of that plan to Elisha. Elisha would then turn around and pass this intelligence to the king of Israel. So Israel would be prepared and thwart every enemy attack.
This happened many times before the king of Syria found out that the real problem here was the prophet Elisha. So he sends an army to go and apprehend Elisha, imprison him, maybe kill him. And Elisha’s servant finds out, and listen to what 2 Kings 6:15 to 17 says:
When the servant of the man of God [that is, Elisha’s servant] rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” [Elisha] said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha knew that there was an unseen reality that was far greater than anything he could see, feel, or hear. Even though he had a visible enemy in this Syrian king and his army, and even though he had an invisible enemy, the devil, behind the scenes, pulling strings, these enemies were no match for God… and no match for these unseen angelic forces God had arrayed against Elisha’s enemies.
Elisha knew that, and that gave him great peace of mind. And if it’s true for him, it’s true for us! “[H]e who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 6 We have the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, living within us. And we have angels surrounding us and fighting for us!
If God would only lift the veil separating this world from the heavenly realm, and we could see what was really going on, we would never be afraid! [See reflections on 1 Chronicles 11:9 and p. 504 from journaling Bible… Jesus says, “Fear not,” and we think, “But Jesus doesn’t really mean have no fear at all. But he does!” Brothers and sister, I’m preaching to myself here, too… But I believe the Lord is telling us at Toccoa First Methodist, “Y’all are too afraid… We are too afraid… Too fearful… Too anxious… And this kind of fear—like the covetousness I mentioned earlier—is preventing us from being more thankful, more joyful, more faithful, and more satisfied in Christ than we ought to be!”]
It takes faith to believe this… And God gives us reasons for faith, and strengthens our faith, through God’s Word. Remember: “[M]an does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” This amazing book is the main way we hear God speak his Word! And that’s why I quote so much from this book!
As I said earlier, I sigh a lot out of fear and frustration and anger… a belief that things aren’t going my way… I need to remember the experience of Elisha’s servant… I need to remember the apostle Paul’s experience… I need to remember the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness. And be encouraged and strengthened and refreshed and renewed by the remembering what God did for them.
We simply aren’t living by “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” if God’s Word, the Bible, isn’t at the center of our lives!
But it takes faith to see beyond the appearances of things and remember and believe that God is working in powerful ways.
And finally, most importantly, it takes faith in Christ… Notice the warning in verses 19 and 20:
And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
There are many other, similar warnings throughout the Book of Deuteronomy. And we know from the rest of the Old Testament that Israel would fail to be faithful to God… and they suffered the consequences of their sin.
And the Bible gives us their story of failure and faithlessness in part to convince us that we are no better and no more righteous and no less deserving of God’s judgment and punishment than they were. We’re in the same boat as ancient Israel, at least apart from God’s grace! Like them, we deserve to perish because of our own sin and idolatry.
But here’s the Good News: Because of God’s love for us—because he wanted to save us from this curse that Deuteronomy describes—God came into this world, through his Son Jesus, and took our curse upon himself… and He… God himself… suffered the penalty for it, in our place… so that we can have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 7