God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

 

Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, November 26, 2025

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.  Amen.

James 1:16-18  ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my dear brothers.  ¹⁷Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.  ¹⁸Just as he planned, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creations. (EHV)

God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            When Moses gave his final instructions to the Israelite people before his death, he summarized how richly the Lord God would be blessing them, and then he warned them against falling prey to arrogance in connection with prosperity.  He said, “You might say in your heart, ‘My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.’  But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

In our text this evening, the apostle, James, does much the same thing.  He reminds us that every good thing that comes our way is only ours because of the mercy and love of our God who provides them for us.  He reminds us, again, that God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

A few moments ago, in our confession of faith from Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we repeated the truth that God “richly and daily provides me with … all that I need to support this body and life.”  Again, this year, we have been blessed with weather that provided a rather bountiful harvest.  Perhaps, it wasn’t a record crop, at least not a record for everyone.  Yet, all the signs indicate that it should provide plenty for us all for the coming year.

Now, if we should fall prey to our sinful nature, we might credit ourselves for the hard work we did, the investments we made to put a crop in the ground, the inputs purchased and our decisions in choosing those things.  For the student or businessman, we might be tempted to imagine that whatever success we have is solely because of our labors, diligence, and intelligence.  Our natural flesh finds it very easy to succumb to these temptations, and certainly the devil would have great glee if he gets us to forget that all these gifts come from God.  Paul Harvey used to say, “Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”  Soil, sunshine, and rain are all precious gifts of God’s providence.

Remember also, God gave us the breath of life that allows us to live and move and have our being.  St. Paul in his letter to the Roman congregation reminds us “That all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  This doesn’t happen by chance for it is God working all those things for our benefit, because He loves us and wants us to come through this life to be joined with Him in His kingdom for eternity.  Just as God gave the whole Garden of Eden for the man and his wife to enjoy and prosper in, so God provides all we need to live.

We must mention, also, that God continues to do this for both the good and the wicked.  Jesus said, “He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)  Therefore, the question before us this evening is do we always give credit where credit is due?  Do we always thank and praise God regardless of how richly He blesses us, or do we fail to thank and praise whenever we feel like we drew the short straw?

James encourages us, “Do not be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.”  The evil in this world does not come from God.  Our creator never tempts us to sin, that comes from within us and by the wicked encouragement of the devil.  However, as St. Paul reminded us, God can and does work through even the many wicked actions of sinful man to turn those deeds for our good in the end, and God works also through the curse of sin which is death to bring about His eternal good.  Please don’t misunderstand me here.  The curse of sin, and death as well, are not the good.  Rather, even in these things, God is working in us to help us recognize our need for a Savior.

And that brings us to the best gifts.  Because we all fall far short of the glory of God and we all have failed at some point in our lives to give all credit where credit truly is due, therefore, we all deserve to be banished from His presence forever, which God never desires.  Therefore, He sent His own dear Son, Jesus, to live perfect gratitude on our behalf.  This is the greatest gift God has given us.  On the night Jesus was born, the angel announced from the sky, “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you.  He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

Before mankind even fell into sin, God had this plan prepared.  He knew that mankind would fall.  Still, that wasn’t what God desired, so in order for our relationship with God to be one of faith, our first parents had to be created with a free will.  But, as you all know, they blew that free will by choosing to listen to the devil’s temptations, and because of that our will has never been completely free since.  Always, we are born bound under the devil’s chains by sin.  But, I repeat, God had a plan.

James wrote, “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.”  God created a perfect paradise for His people, but His people failed to keep that perfect.  Still, God did not change.  He continues to desire a relationship with us.  He continues to provide for our daily bread.  He continues to bless us in every way still these thousands of years later.  Most importantly, God provided a way to salvage the relationship between us and Him.  Jesus came to reconcile the world with His Father.

Naturally, this greatest gift wouldn’t do us much good if we never learned about it, never received its blessing, nor were ever wrenched from the devil’s control.  Certainly, Satan wouldn’t give us up without a fight, yet that was a fight we couldn’t win on our own, so God provides.

James wrote, “Just as he planned, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creations.”  Before He created the world, God had a plan in place.  In that plan, by which our reconciliation with God was accomplished by Jesus with His holy life and then His sacrificial death in our place.  Another of God’s great gifts—that He took all the sins of the world and charged them to Jesus so that by the death of His Son in our place, the Father could count us innocent.  Still, what good would that do if we never heard about that rich grace?

Thus, again, God has a plan and you and I have received further tremendous gifts through the faith the Holy Spirit works in us by His holy word and the Sacraments Jesus instituted.  God gives His holy Gospel to teach us all He has done through Jesus to rescue us from the devil’s grasp.  By the power of the Gospel, God fulfils the promise He made long ago:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances.  Then you will live in the land I gave your fathers.  You will be my people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your impurity. (Ezekiel 36:26-29)

While we once were dead in sin, God has renewed us and given us life everlasting through faith in Jesus.  While we once had no hope, God has given us a sure and certain future so that even though death will take us out of this world, we will live with our Lord in heaven forever.

Therefore, what are we doing here this evening?  We are again giving thanks and praise to our Creator, Savior, and King, because God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.  We are here shouting praises to the hilltops because God provides for all we need for body and life.  Of course, this isn’t the only time we do that.  Praise God that by the gift and power of the Holy Spirit given to us in the Gospel, we live our earthly lives giving thanks to God for all His great mercy and providence.  But along with many others in this world all too often unthankful, we give thanks and praise that God has never forgotten His people. 

For as long as this world has existed, God had a plan to save those He calls to faith.  You and I couldn’t find that plan.  We had no idea how it might be accomplished until we heard the Gospel.  Likewise, God has His plans to provide everything we need in this life, as well.  The men and women of this world have been blessed with great creativity and genius that has brought us many great technological gifts and conveniences; for these and for all the other rich blessings He gives us, we give thanks to God as well.  Yet, as we do every Sunday, and I hope every day of our lives, we give thanks especially, that God has called us to faith in His Son, and given us the sure hope that because Jesus lives, we will live also.  In everything that is life, God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen.