Thanksgiving Day – Pr. Anderson sermon
Psalm 67 “Blessings, Praise, and Fear”
November 28, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Praise and thanks be to our God for calling us of the Gentiles into the kingdom of His dear Son, and making us partakers of His grace and salvation. May He grant us grace to walk worthy of the Gospel whereby we are called, and to serve Him in joy and gladness all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 155).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 67th Psalm. We read it once more in Jesus’ name:
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who blesses us with His presence as He comes to us in the Means of Grace, who we praise and give thanks for all He has done, and we have the utmost fear because we can’t follow Him by our own reason or strength, dear fellow redeemed:
What makes a group exciting to be a part of? Maybe it is a group that has great ties to the community. Maybe being in the group allows you to climb ranks so that you are more noticed by your peers. It could be a group where likeminded individuals get together because they all have the same hobby. While today is the day that many will be getting together to celebrate all that they have, you decided you would begin this morning part of a smaller group. This smaller group that has gotten together will put the emphasis of thanks somewhere else. You have gathered here today, because not only do you see where your blessings come from, you know who deserves all the praise and thanks for what you have. Even if to the world it looks like you have nothing, you have blessings that are eternal, and with fear and awe you have come into the presence of your God where He brings you the most precious blessing of all, your salvation.
This psalm was written to be sung about such salvation. It begins, acknowledging where all blessings come from. “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.” There are some great truths listed here. The people singing this psalm are singing about whose presence they are in. As they dwell in God’s presence and have come before Him, they reveal their faith, that He is the God of all and He cares about all. If it sounds familiar, you don’t need to look any further than the end of our Sunday services where we hear the Aaronic benediction said over the people, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). What a great blessing for God to put His name on His people! To believe this means to take God at His promises and Word, that He is here with you right now.
As God comes down to bless His people, what kind of thanks is given to Him? The people sing, “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” As God was among Israel, they were able to sing this refrain because the promise they were given of the great blessing of salvation was not just for them, but for all people. They could trace this promise to their father Abraham. God promised him, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:18). Unfortunately, between this promise to Abraham and the refrain of this psalm there was some turbulence. From the psalm and the promise being kept, there was some turbulence.
As we hear the joy in this psalm, and look at the joy that we have in our lives, on paper there shouldn’t be any turbulence. As the people sang, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth,” the turbulence comes from this line. As God is among us, providing us with blessings, and guiding us, sometimes we don’t like or want His guidance. Of course, in this psalm we see the rejoicing for it, but they did not rejoice in it all the time. As they were blessed and knew that God was among them, their enemies had greater and better things. Why can’t they have that? Why would God not provide that? A simple replacement of ‘they’ to ‘I’ and suddenly we aren’t enjoying His guidance either. To question God is to doubt the blessings He brings. It’s hard not to when events take place in our lives and it looks like He has abandoned us. Whether we ignore His guidance to try and leave this group for one that looks to offer greater things or we look to leave this group because it looks like God has only abandoned it, this psalm is meant to guide us to a promise. A promise God has kept.
Since the fall into sin, many have waited through uncertainty and struggles for the greatest blessing of all. This psalm would be there for even the low times for people to sing knowing who was to come. And as the promise was meant for all they would continue to sing, “Let all the peoples praise you!” They could sing this because even when it looked like all was lost, they were blessed with an eternal future. There would be struggles and even as they failed, they would look to God’s guidance because of this great blessing that everything would be alright. As they waited, God would bless them. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:4). God would keep them alive from generation to generation and then in keeping His promise, the greatest blessing came for all.
His blessing of salvation for all comes through the life, death, and resurrection of His One and only Son. The reason for this psalm finally arrives. He had to live a perfect life and follow the guidance of His heavenly Father. As the Great Blessing, He praises the Father for His plan of salvation to all and He fears His Father knowing for Him to save everyone, He would have to take on the world’s sins, the very torment of Hell, and death. He is the only reason the world can rejoice and give praise to God for all they have. This is what all our blessings in our life point toward. This is the reason we are still alive even when at times we have mismanaged blessings or times have been hard. We are here because God provides us with the blessing to go on. A blessing that we are sure we have through the work of His Son.
Jesus’ perfect work did not doubt God’s promises or His guidance. He carried on to the cross because He was the only one who could. He carried on for the world and you. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-25a). You have been bought and paid for by the greatest blessing man will ever know. You can praise and worship Him as He brings the blessing of salvation to you when you come into His presence as you have done so right now. You can reveal your fear and awe to others, not worrying about what they might think. This blessing will protect you, be gracious to you, and bless you forever.
As you look and are thankful for all God has given you, you see that in fact, “The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!” In fear you see He has provided for you with goods and He has kept you safe from danger. He restores you with His peace. A peace of mind that only comes through hearing in His Word, He kept His promise and this promise is for all. The world can see the great things God does for them. His guidance reveals to all this blessing and the praise and fear due His name. That guidance will look tough. As they see you in this group take His guidance, and as you reveal His guidance doesn’t look like it makes life easier, it is through His guidance you point to your greatest blessing. In the cross of Christ through the Word and sacraments, you receive your salvation. You can sing the refrain, “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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