A PSALM TO THE LORD IN THANKSGIVING.
Psalm 136: 1
A Thanksgiving sermon by:
Rev. H.A. Bergsma
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(September 2006)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 292
Scripture Reading: Psalm 136
Text: Psalm 136: 1
Psalter 289: 1 – 4
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 304
Sermon
Psalter 378
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 49
Doxology: Psalter 413
Congregation of the Lord,
Today is Thanksgiving according to our calendar and our Church yearbook.
In other words, we do well to pay attention to this not only as citizens of this country, but also as people of this Church.
The Lord has brought us into His house of worship for the purpose of thanking Him.
And we shall do so, not in our own strength, but with the help of the Holy Spirit.
As one people … as one united body … we shall give thanks to the Lord, by singing songs of praise, by offering gifts of gratitude, by hearing His Word, and by lifting our hearts in prayer.
As the Apostle Paul would say in Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Yes, … “and be ye thankful.”
However, this might not be as easy as it sounds.
Some might be sitting here this hour and silently say within themselves … “What have I to be thankful for?”
Perhaps some are in Church this hour and think to themselves … “I just don’t feel too terribly thankful; I am troubled; I am rather upset; thankfulness is the furthest from my mind at this moment.”
Perhaps there might even be some in Church this hour who will say … “I am thankful all right, but I am thankful that I am not like some others … I have worked hard for what I have, I deserve what I have, and I can only thank myself for this!”
Well, whatever the mood or spirit or thoughts might be at this moment, I wish to leave it with the Holy Spirit’s power and persuasion to compel everyone to give thanks to the Lord.
May the text-Psalm prepare us for heartfelt and sincere thanksgiving, as I am called to declare to you … “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
(Psalm 136:1)
I have as theme and division, the following …
A PSALM TO THE LORD IN THANKSGIVING
1.The Occasion For Thanksgiving
- The Reason For Thanksgiving
- The Propriety For Thanksgiving
Congregation,
Psalm 136 is a unique Psalm.
You have no doubt sensed this already when we read it.
There is a great deal of repetition in it.
You are right; twenty six times, line after line, the words return, “For His mercy endureth forever.”
The only Psalm that comes close to it, is Psalm 118, where those same words are repeated five times.
Obviously, those words form a chorus to a hymn of praise.
Doing a little research about this Psalm 136, I discovered that it was a very popular hymn with the people of Israel … with both the young and the old.
It actually got people into some lively singing.
The practice was, so I gather, that a choir, or perhaps a group of Levites, would begin with singing, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good.”
Then the entire multitude would sing the chorus, “for his mercy endureth for ever” and the other group would take over again and sing “O give thanks unto the God of gods” and the multitude would respond again in chorus “for his mercy endureth for ever” and so on.
Apparently, it was Israel’s mode of singing this Psalm.
Now, we can also gather from Biblical history, that this Psalm 136 was sung at some very special occasions.
The first record of it is in 1 Chronicles 16, when King David brought up the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem … 1 Chronicles 16:34 … to the letter … “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
In 2 Chronicles 7 we discover that this Psalm was sung at the dedication of the temple during the reign of King Solomon … 2 Chronicles 7:3 … “And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
And then in 2 Chronicles 20, the armies of King Jehoshaphat sing it during their victorious campaign against their enemies … 2 Chronicles 20:21 … “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Finally, in Ezra 3, at the foundation laying of the second temple, the people were singing it, as you can read of it in Ezra 3:11 “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.”
These are then some of the examples of occasions when our text-Psalm was sung … all of them occasions when joy and thanksgiving could be expressed.
Notice also that every one in Israel could sing this Psalm, young and old, rich and poor, the instructed and the ignorant, the saved … but even the unsaved could sing it … especially the refrain … “For His mercy endureth forever.”
It is sometimes questioned if the unsaved and unconverted can express thankfulness to the Lord.
Well, Psalm 136 is so constructed and worded that the unconverted can also sing it.
There are verses in this Psalm that record the praises of God’s mercy for giving the sun to rule by day (v.8) and the moon and stars to rule by night (v.9), and of God’s mercy that He gives food to all flesh, (v.25).
Therefore, you who are still unsaved and unconverted … as sad and alarming as your state is … you too are called this hour to give thanks to the God of the Bible for the common mercies around you.
The fact that the sun and the moon and the stars are still in the sky and that food is still on your table is occasion enough for you to give thanks to the Lord.
I can proclaim to you that the Lord is good … as Jesus once said it in Matthew 5:45 that “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Our God is still very good to you.
But let me ask you, as the Apostle Paul once asked the unsaved in Romans 2:4 “are you still busy in spite of all this goodness shown to you, despising ‘the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”’
To see the sun and the moon and the stars shine and to see the rain fall, and to have your stomach full, should be occasions for you to give thanks to the Lord, and at the same time occasion for you to repent of your sins, and to turn from them to Lord in faith.
Our good-doing God summons you on this Thanksgiving day and says, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die – because I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11)
“O give thanks to the Lord for He is good.”
The occasion for voicing these words in Thanksgiving can be anytime and by anyone, even by those who are still presently not in tune with the Lord, and not right with God.
So you see, people, everyone of you here this hour is given the opportunity and the occasion to express thanksgiving to the Lord … whether you are believer or not.
The crops have done well again this season, have they not?
It appears that there will be a good harvest across the land.
Statistics Unemployment tells us that the percentage of unemployed is down; work availability is on the rise.
We may still enjoy moderate prosperity.
Our land and country is still relatively peaceful and united.
This is something to be thankful for, don’t you think?
It may not stay this way for long.
We are living in distressing times.
Calamities of various sorts have occurred all around us.
But we have been spared from much of it so far.
We are even able to help those who are in present distress.
Our peacekeeping soldiers are in various places of this world; our help-care packages are finding their way into needy hands, our medical expertise is bringing relief to many who are otherwise doomed to die.
We have enough prosperity amongst us that we are able to support such organizations as “Word And Deed” and “Come Over And Help,” and we have our missionaries in the field.
Moreover, we have our health and our strength … for some it is more than with others, but nevertheless it is there for most of us to enjoy.
We have our houses to live in, and families to gather with and friends to chum around with.
Our children can go to Christian Schools, and for socializing we have Christian organizations, and when we go on vacation, we can even go to Christian camps and Christian resorts.
It is all something to be thankful for.
It is enough to prompt us to say with the words of our text, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.”
God is good in His grace towards us.
He is good in providing us with many physical and material blessings.
This is why we have this occasion to express our Thanksgiving to the Lord.
Are you all with me on this?
Are you agreed that we have much to be thankful for?
Can you sing it with a bit more conviction now …“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good”?
Now, again, if you are still an unbeliever, you probably won’t think too often about these things, and most likely won’t take too many opportunities and occasions to express thankfulness to the Lord.
You might even be inclined to stroke yourself and tell yourself what good luck you have had so far.
But today this opportunity is given you, even pressed on you, and it is the right and proper occasion to re-focus your attention to where it should be … and therefore, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good.”
But, as you will understand, the most important part of our text has not yet been touched, namely, … the chorus and refrain … the words that the people of Israel had to repeat no less than twenty six times in this one Psalm … “For His mercy endureth forever.”
And this is really the great reason for Thanksgiving towards the Lord … not in the first place for all those wonderful physical and material blessings, but because His mercy endures forever.
I wish to consider this with you in the second place as The Reason For Thanksgiving.
Again, both the believer and the unbeliever should be able to recognize the primary reason for Thanksgiving, namely, that the mercy of the Lord is enduring (although the unbeliever might not be willing to admit this!).
Is there any greater reason to be thankful to the Lord than for His enduring mercy?
It is a rich word that our Psalm of Thanksgiving has accentuated here … one of the richest, most meaningful of Hebrew words, namely, the word … “Ghesed”… and translated as “mercy.”
“Mercy” means undeserved favour; undeserved loving kindness; undeserved goodness.
“Mercy” … it is what we all need … saints and sinners alike.
“Mercy” … we are always in need of it; always requiring it, and should always be praying for it.
And you know … we are always receiving it.
“Mercy” … it takes us far beyond what is physical and material.
“Mercy” … it takes us into the spiritual things.
“Mercy” … if I may say it this way … “Mercy is God’s specialty!”
The prophet Micah at one time could not keep quiet about “mercy”, but praised the very wonder of it as you can read in Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”
Do you hear that? God actually delights in mercy … He takes pleasure in showing mercy!
“Mercy”, you see, is therefore the great reason to be thankful to the Lord.
“Mercy” has kept the world from being blasted into perdition.
“How so?” you ask. Well, let me explain.
When our first parents Adam and Eve did that foolhardy thing of rebelling against God, while still in the Garden of Eden, God could have done away with the whole creation with one righteous curse.
But mercy saved the day.
God compassionately called after the hiding rebels … “Adam, Eve! Where are you?”
And when these same two people were first driven forth into the world of pain and sorrow and judgment, a sweet promise came from a merciful God … “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.”
And when in the days of Noah the whole world had perverted itself and the imagination of every man’s heart had become evil, God again could have sunk the whole world into perdition.
But mercy saved the day.
God allowed Noah and his family to get into a boat, which our boys and girls know as the Ark, and begin a new generation – a generation with a rainbow promise of God, “I will not destroy all flesh. My covenant is between me and you.”
But it seemed that sinful man had not learned a thing from those first two “close-calls.”
And for a third time sinful man took the world to the brink of total destruction, when on a dark and terrible Friday he took the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and hung Him on a cross to die the death of a curse.
The light in the sky turned dark in shame and the earth trembled in fear for had been done to the Son of God.
Then God the Father had reason aplenty to do away with mankind, and with all the world once and for all.
But the Son of God, on the cross, pleaded, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And for the third time, mercy saved the day.
Mercy saved mankind from swift and sudden destruction, and as a direct result, we are still here today, dear people, and the world still exists today.
Do you know why?
Because the Son of God prayed, and God the Father showed mercy.
Despite all the wickedness of man, God has maintained His mercy.
Despite all the rebellion that man has shown over the ages and years, God has continued to stretch out His reconciling arms of mercy towards man.
Up to this very day, the mercy of the Lord has not failed.
Dear people! Is it not true that the Lord’s mercies are abundant towards us?
Is it not true that He has been tremendously patient with us?
What haven’t we done in the past to grieve Him?
And aren’t we giving Him cause for grief even right now, if we are sitting in our pew with a careless spirit and with a hard heart?
But the Lord has not withdrawn His mercies from us.
The Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is still being declared to us.
Jesus Christ and His wonderful work of redemption stands as it were advertised during each worship service.
Calls of repentance continue to sound in our ears.
Sunday after Sunday you are summoned to hear and believe His comfort-laden Word.
Forgiveness and cleansing and renewing are being offered you without letup.
The invitation to be washed from your sins is clear and simple … Isaiah 1:18 … “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
The Lord has continued to get your attention; up till today He has warned you, and wooed you; He has berated you and beckoned you.
The Lord has been busy with you individually, and as a congregation.
Could the Lord not also say to you, “O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem” - O Free Reformed people, O Free Reformed people of … (and you name the city) - “how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings …?”
What has the Lord not done for us to this present day?
And what is the reason for it all?
Is it your and my faithfulness?
Is it the congregation’s faithfulness?
No, but it must all be attributed only to the mercy of the Lord.
The Lord has been tremendously good to us.