What is Thanksgiving For?

[Deliverd at the Dumas city-wide Thanksgiving Service]

I want to thank Jesus Rivera for being my partner in this sermon. And that’s a pretty good demonstration of how this Thanksgiving service comes about to begin with: minister from different congregations working together. Do we agree on every single issue of doctrine? Probably not. But we can come together in the name of Jesus—which we agree on—and in the name of the Father—which we also agree on—and give thanks—something we all believe in.

I draw a comic strip for two dailies, a bi-weekly and a couple weeklies. I also draw a comic book for an on-line comic book company. When people want something drawn up—a logo, a little cartoon advertising some local event, etc.—they come to me.

This leads to some people calling me an artist, and that’s starting to bug me.

I like art, but I am worried by anyone who talks about art as if they know what they’re talking about. Some of them are friendly, but too many of them are jerks.

If you think back to this time last year, we’ve grown as a church. And as much as my ego would like to take credit for that growth, I know I can’t. All the glory belongs to God! I’m very thankful to be a part of it, but it’s all God’s doing. (In fact, sometimes I can’t help but think I’m in the way of what God wants to do. So, like Lincoln said, I pray not that God is on my side but that I am on God’s side.)

Let me read you something and see if you have heard this before …

Matthew 7:1-2
Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. (Good News Bible)

We all have, right? Not only have we read it, we’ve probably had it quoted at us, too.

Like most people, I thought I knew the Brothers Grimm. Not personally, mind you, but I was familiar with their work, having read and heard their stories all my life. On the other hand, I had always been told that the versions I had read (and had read to me) were much more tame or sanitized than the originals.

Maybe you’ve seen this on a T-shirt or a sign somewhere: “Lord, please let me prove to you that winning the lottery won’t change me.”

After having told us about the blessings of having a “single eye” (our focus on one thing: God), Jesus wants to warn us about the danger of trying to focus on more than one thing:

Matthew 6:24a
You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. (GNB)

He doesn’t leave us hanging, wondering what the other thing we might be focused on is:

Matthew 6:24b