Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.

 

Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 2020

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  His lovingkindness endures forever.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 28:1-10  If you fully obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all his commandments that I am giving you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.  ²All of the following blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God: ³You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the fields.  ⁴You will be blessed in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your soil, and in the fruit of your animals: the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.  ⁵You will be blessed in your basket and in your kneading trough.  ⁶You will be blessed when you come in, and you will be blessed when you go out.  ⁷The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you.  From one direction they will come out against you, but they will flee from you in seven directions.  ⁸The Lord will command a blessing on you in your storehouses and in regard to every action of your hand, and he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.  ⁹The Lord will establish you as his holy people, just as he swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and you walk in his ways.  ¹⁰Then all the people of the earth will see that the name of the Lord has been proclaimed over you, and they will fear you. (EHV)

Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.

Dear elect and thankful friends,

            I wonder how many people are thinking this Thanksgiving is more a day of lamenting what we are missing than giving thanks for all we are given.  Anyone who spends much time watching the news, scanning social media, or reading the newspaper is sure to believe that 2020 has been nothing but tragedy, danger, isolation, turmoil, poverty, and death.  Thus, a good share of the populace might be wondering, “What do we have to be thankful for this year?”  Be that as it may, for the Christian believer the answer is always the same: Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.

            When you get home after the service tonight, I hope you will sit down with a highlighter and mark in this text every time you see the word, bless, blessing or blessed.  You will be stunned at just how often God’s blessing on His people shows up in just these few verses.  It is even more stark in the original language, because when the speaker wants to emphasize a particular thing or concept, he will often put that word at the very beginning of the sentence.  It doesn’t come across so much in English, but time and time again, Moses said emphatically to the Children of Israel, “Blessed you are.”

            Now, think about this fact, Moses was preaching to Israel before they crossed the Jordan into the promised land.  That people had been wandering through the wilderness for forty years.  They had faced a variety of hardships.  A whole generation had passed away before they got to this point in their journey.  They had eaten the same food day after day for forty years.  Whoever does the cooking in your family; will your spouse or children ever complain if you make the same meal over and over again for a week or two?  Try it for forty years.

            But here, Moses was pointing Israel to God’s promises and stating that they are as good as done.  This is what you and I need to remember as we give thanks to the Lord.  Everything God has ever promised to us is as good as done, even if we cannot see the whole fulfillment right now.

            Moses said, “If you fully obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all his commandments that I am giving you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.…The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you.”  Israel received a vivid demonstration of this when they entered Canaan.  When they obeyed God’s instructions for taking Jericho, total victory was theirs with great dispatch and their enemies were wiped out in a day.

            However, when a short time later, they went up against the second city in their way, the Israelites were horribly routed with many of their soldiers killed.  The difference?  One man’s greed brought the whole nation under God’s judgment.  All of God’s blessing hinged on Israel being faithful to the Lord.  The same is true for you and me.

            About now, you might be thinking, no wonder 2020 is so much trouble, our country has been living so recklessly and sinning so much, it is no wonder everything seems to be falling apart.  We might look at ourselves in the mirror and think, “Oh what trouble my sins have caused this year.”  But, we need to step back and realize that God’s promises are for His people, not the people of the world.  Furthermore, God is always faithful even when we fall short.

            Here, shortly before he died (because remember, Moses wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land), Moses said, “All of the following blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the fields.  You will be blessed in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your soil, and in the fruit of your animals: the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.  You will be blessed in your basket and in your kneading trough.  You will be blessed when you come in, and you will be blessed when you go out.”

            Consider our own circumstances this year.  The whole world is in turmoil with political stress and a virus causing havoc here, there, and everywhere, but in our little corner of the world, we are pretty much at peace.  For the most part, our fields have produced bountifully this year.  The spring and fall seasons were almost incomparable in the ease and speed with which most of the work was accomplished.  We have continued in our jobs and in our worship services even if it does have to be from a distance.  And though there is disease and catastrophe in many places, we have been spared from most of the worst of it.

            Yet, even if none of this was true for us, Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.  Yes, year after year, the Lord blesses us with seed time and harvest.  He gives food for the sower and bread for the eater.  He blesses the work of our hands as His beloved children.  Therefore, no matter what difficulties or dangers we might have to face in life, God’s chosen people can face this world’s troubles with bold confidence in our Lord’s loving care.  Jesus told His followers, “Do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?”  For the unbelievers chase after all these things.  Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

So much more than all the challenges, or even the material blessings, we receive in this world, we have much greater things coming for us in the future.  You see, God chose us out of the filth of our birth to make us His dear ones through baptism and the preaching of His Word.  Like Israel, we didn’t choose God, rather He chose to be merciful to us, and by choosing to rescue us out of the darkness of the human condition, God opened the gates of heaven for our eternal bliss.

By the gift of His Son, God redeemed the world from sin, death, and the devil’s control.  By the obedience of the Son, the Law was fulfilled so that it no longer holds us in captivity.  By the suffering and death of our beloved Brother, Savior, and Friend, our debt for sin was paid, the chains of Satan’s control over us were broken, and we were set free to serve our Creator and Redeemer in peace and thankfulness.  By Christ’s resurrection from the grave, death’s dark cloud was lifted from over us, for we have God’s promise that like Jesus we too shall be raised from the grave glorified for life immortal.

Moses declared, “The Lord will establish you as his holy people, just as he swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and you walk in his ways.  Then all the people of the earth will see that the name of the Lord has been proclaimed over you, and they will fear you.”  Moses was speaking to the Israelites, but he was speaking also to all who have the faith of Abraham, who “believed in the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)

Dear friends, in the true Christian faith, Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.  When you trust in God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation, He credits to you the holiness of His Son, and counts you as though you never sinned.  Therefore, He will also bless you, not merely here on earth, but especially in His heavenly mansions where there will never, ever, be any suffering, sorrow, loneliness, pain, or death. 

Though God is blessing His people in all things, we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking life in this world will always be pleasant.  Moses said, “Then all the people of the earth will see that the name of the Lord has been proclaimed over you, and they will fear you.”  When we display the true faith in God’s promises that was put on us, we show Jesus to the world.  We show the suffering and death Jesus endured to make us God’s dear children.  When we let the light of our Savior shine in the world, the darkness is exposed, and the people of the dark may lash out against those of the light. 

Israel often faced fierce opposition from its pagan neighbors.  Likewise, Jesus told His disciples, “They will put you out of the synagogues.  In fact, a time is coming when anyone who murders you will think he is offering a service to God.  They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me.” (John 16:2-3)  Jesus also said, “In this world you are going to have trouble.  But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  So, if you wonder why governors, and others around us, don’t always align with the ways of God, remember that this is just part of the troubled world in which we live. 

However, at the same time as we live in the kingdoms of this world, we are citizens of a better kingdom, a kingdom of peace between God and mankind, a kingdom where life doesn’t end when the body falters, a kingdom of grace, forgiveness, and every blessing, a kingdom where Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.  That is first of all why we give thanks to our great God again, not just that He has blessed us materially, though we certainly praise God for all those blessings too, but especially that even through the trials and hardships of life in this world, God is blessing us for eternity, an eternity of peace and righteousness with Him in the mansions of His glory.  Therefore, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, Blessed you are in the name of the Lord.  Amen.

The God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.