God Gives Thanks

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, November 26, 2011

(This is an unusually long manuscript for a sermon. I will try to cut it before tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll have to try cutting it on the fly.)

I was checking out at the grocery store last week and making small talk with the cashier. She bragged about her son. He is an amazing cook. He watches shows on the food channel and tries all kinds of recipes. His master piece is a spinach lasagna. It's fantastic.

When I asked about clean up, she acknowledged he's not so great in that department. When he's done every surface in the kitchen is cluttered and the sink is piled full. But the food he produces is superlative! She's proud of him.

A friend of mine has an amazing daughter. She used to work with him. He has his own business and she acted as his business manager and bookkeeper. Eventually they had to split up. She was too bossy, too much of a driver. Her dad tells me this with a gleam in his eye. He loves her toughness, her brilliance, her drive. Every time I talk to him, he talks about his girl, pleasure and pride written all over his face.

For most parents, at the top of our list when it comes to giving thanks is our children.

Which makes us a lot like God. God delights in his children. He brags about his children.

The book of Job opens with a conversation between God and the devil. The devil claims he's been wandering the earth. I'm guessing the devil makes this comment like a talk show host or a gossip. He's been out collecting information – and it's all dirt. Like some human beings, the devil relishes bad news. He loves collecting it and repeating it. There's a reason why his nickname is “the Accuser.”

The devil announces his bad news: “I've been traveling around the earth.”

God responds with good news, “And did you notice my servant Job?”

God's next words sound just like a proud Mama or Papa: “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

It's easy to understand God being proud of Job. After all, he is a blameless and upright man. What parent wouldn't be proud? But what about God's his lesser children? How does God regard his children who are not blameless?

Consider this passage in 1 Kings 15:

Abijah became king of Judah, and reigned in Jerusalem three years. . . .

Abijah committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his great grandfather had been. Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

There was war between Judah and Israel throughout Abijah's lifetime . . .

Abijah died and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. . . .

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his Father David had done. He expelled the male prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maacah as queen mother because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it. Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles he and his father had dedicated.

At one point in his reign, Asa paid the king of Damascus to help him retake a strategically important city named Ramah which was located on the northern border of the kingdom of Judah. After they captured the city, Asa drafted every able-bodied man in the nation. They hauled off all the stones and timbers of the city of Ramah and built a two garrison towns to protect the northern border. The book of Kings comments, “As for all the other events of Asa's reign, all his achievements, all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

Abijah was not perfect. “His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.” Instead of taking after his great grandfather, David, he mirrored his father Rehoboam who was a weak king and tolerated all sorts of idolatrous practices in the nation. But even though “his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God,” still, because he was the great grandson of David, God showed him favor. God blessed him with military victories and the continuation of his dynasty.

EVEN THOUGH his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, God regarded Abijah as part of the family. God claimed him. God blessed him. God showed him the ultimate honor. He allowed him to pass the throne to his son. He allowed his dynasty to continue. God does not need perfect children in order to give out blessings. He needs children like you and me.

There is one sentence in this passage that trips me up every time I read it:

For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

David was perfect except for the Bathsheba affair. Yeah, but the Bathsheba affair was huge. It involved adultery with the wife of one of his senior military officers, then arranging for the extra-judicial killing of the officer in an attempt to cover up the affair. This is hardly a minor exception to his otherwise perfect record!

And to this exception, we could add his census-taking which caused the death of 70,000 Israelites.

And then there was his mishandling of the rape of Tamar which set the stage for a civil war. At least 20,000 rebels died.

Still God's affection for David shines through repeatedly in the Bible. God constantly cites David's devotion as the gold standard. Objectively, David was not morally superior. On occasion, he demonstrated wonderful moral backbone. On other occasions he was less than admirable. But God looked at him through the rosy glasses of a loving Father and bragged about his son.

Over and over, the prophets remember the special relationship of God and David and compare later kings to that ideal.

Notice the details of the next character in this passage.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his Father David had done.

The passage goes on to outline some of the specific policies of Asa's administration. Asa was an activist. He eliminated a variety of idolatrous practices. He was so determined in his opposition to idolatry that he even removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as Queen Mother because she had set up a shrine for pagan worship.

Asa did right like his father David. God was proud of his son David. God was proud of his son, Asa.

I like the sentence, “Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life” (verse 14). Asa was not flawless. An objective, outside observer could see room for improvement in his administration. But God is not an “objective, outside observer.” God is a Father who looks at his children through love-colored glasses. “Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.”

Many Christians think every failure to meet or exceed every conceivable notion of moral and spiritual excellence is somehow proof that we are not yet quite in tune with God. This kind of thinking is corrected by the story of David. The Bible says about David, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not fail to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”

God announces to the world about you, “She has done what is right in the eyes of the Lord and has not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of her life—except that one time . . . . . . .” You fill in the blank. What have you done that sinks to the depths of David seducing Uriah's wife, then having Uriah killed?

We are God's children. He looks at us through love-colored glasses. He tells his friends about us, “They have done what is right. They have not failed a single time . . . well, there was that one time, but other than that, not a single time.”

God has a memory colored by a father's love, by a mother's love. He introduces his son Asa this way, “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his Father David had done.” This in spite of the fact that near the end of his life he blew it big time. God does not specialize in the failings of his children. He specializes in our successes.

This is highlighted by another feature of the stories of Abijah, David and Asa.

When we go to the version of these stories in the Book of Chronicles, we find some interesting differences from the details of the stories in Kings.

The record in Kings says that Abijah's heart was “not fully devoted to God,” but that God blessed him anyway. Telling the story this way highlights the privileges of family. God blesses his kids out of the riches of his heart, not out of the purity of their performance.

In 2 Chronicles 13, we read an outline of a sermon Abijah preached to an invading army and of God's subsequent routing of that army “because the men of Judah relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.” So Abijah was not “fully devoted” to God, but his devotion was real enough that the book of Chronicles records a sermon he preached.

God treasures the successes of his children, even when those successes are not uninterrupted, even when those successes are not “the whole story.”

The story of Asa begins with these words in Chronicles: “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” Not a bad commendation.

The writer then describes Asa's policy achievements. He repeats what we read in Kings about getting rid of idol worship, then adds something extra. Kings says about Asa: His heart was fully committed to God, but he DID NOT remove the high places. Chronicles says he DID remove the high places. Kings writes that Asa was involved in perpetual war with Basha the king of Israel. Chronicles writes, “the land was at peace . . . No one was at war with Asa because the Lord gave him rest.”

Chronicles was written later than Kings. In the Bible, with the passage of times, the failings of God's people become smaller. They vanish from memory. This reflects the heart of God.

Just as in a healthy family, the failings, the fights, the disappointments and disagreements of the past slowly get swamped by the goodness of shared life and love, so in God's kingdom the failings of his children get lost in the larger story that God is writing going forward. God takes great delight in his children. He treasures every evidence they value him. He remembers every effort they make in the direction of goodness and righteousness. He buries their transgressions in the abyss of the ocean.

So in the check out line, what he tells passing customers is how skillful they are in cooking. He does not recite their failings to clean up. He does not mention the fact that they have been out of work for a year. He does not mention they flunked out of school. He celebrates their cooking, their fantastic spinach lasagna.

The glasses through which God regards us are no less intensely love-colored than are the glasses worn by the most doting parent or grand parent among us.

This Thanksgiving, God is giving thanks for you. If you are like Job, he needles Satan, by asking, “Hey have you noticed?” If you are like Abijah, whose heart was not fully devoted, he still makes sure the records of heaven record your best moments, the times when you did God proud.

If you are like Asa, he celebrates your real achievements. He acknowledges your failures. He has to write down the fact that late in your reign you became too infatuated with yourself. But that failure does not erase his pride in your genuine accomplishments, his gratitude that you are his son, his daughter. If you are like David, he continues to brag about you and to celebrate your extraordinary love even if it was followed by an extraordinary failure.

God delights in you. He takes pleasure in the slightest evidence you give of a sensitivity to him.

One more story for those who might be tempted to think I'm exaggerating the parental affection of God. (See 1 Kings 21).

Ahab is notorious as one of the most wicked kings ever. Nearly every anecdote we have from his reign details some moral failure on his part. Then at the end of his reign, after he has allowed his wife to arranged for the extra-judicial killing of the owner of a choice piece of real estate, and after God has sent him a message of condemnation and doom, Ahab puts on sack cloth and gives at least the appearance of contrition.

You and I, reading the story, assume this is merely regret for getting caught. We presume Ahab is sorry for the consequences of his actions, not for the actions themselves. But how does God respond? God says to Elijah, “Have you noticed Ahab? How he has humbled himself? Let him know I'm going to delay the doom I predicted.”

“Have you noticed Ahab?” Almost the same words God spoke to Satan about Job. And for the same purpose. God has caught someone doing something good.

Have you noticed? When God asks that question, he's leading up to good news. He's leading up to thanksgiving. He's leading up to bragging about his kids. About you.

You are here this morning and God gives thanks. Even if you've been gone from God's family a long, long time, when you come home, God is pleased. If you've been gone a really long time, I imagine he shouts to the heavenly court, “Hey, have you noticed So-and-so?” And he is not pointing our direction in scorn or condemnation. He is delighted. He gives thanks.

When we give thanks for our children, we are merely repeating the habits of heaven. When we magnify our children's accomplishments and minimize their failings, we are practicing for heaven. When we welcome one another, when we help one another believe we are treasured in heaven, we are cooperating with God. We are engaged in the very highest spiritual work.

Since it's Thanksgiving, let me add my voice to God's. You, especially you saints of North Hill (and before that, the saints of Akron, Advent Hope and Babylon and Huntington, you have carried me these years we have lived and worked together. I was called by God to preach his amazing grace. To the extent that I have fulfilled that calling it is largely because of your encouragement, correction, affirmation, and admonition. Thank you.

God gives thanks for children like you. He invites us to share in his joy by learning to treasure one another.