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sadvent102
"Man Lives by Every Word That Comes from
the Mouth of the Lord"
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Text: Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Date: A Day of National Thanksgiving 
11/27/02
It is a salutary thing that we Christians gather
for the preaching of God's Word on a Day of National Thanksgiving
in the United States of America. It is salutary because this holiday
presumes giving thanks to God--an otherwise politically incorrect
thing, these days, in the estimation of some who would seek to project
their own atheism and unbelief on the founding fathers of our nation,
making them out to be as spiritually void as they themselves are.
It is a salutary thing for Christians to gather, furthermore, because
giving thanks to God presumes giving thanks to the only true God,
the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit--likewise an increasingly
politically incorrect thing in these days of hyper-sensitivity over
offending Muslims, Jews and the adherents of other false religions.
Under the influence of "multiculturalism," rather than reinforcing
our freedom to worship God, popular, American religion holds that
Christianity is the one religion that is to be held in check. The
"secular" government actually becomes a religion of its own. But,
while pointing out the dangers and false teaching around us, our
gathering on the eve of Thanksgiving Day is not to defend the founding
fathers or engage in an argument as to whether the U.S. is a Christian
nation or not, for, it's obviously not! In fact, we gather tonight
as Christians here in this place not even because this holiday is
an especially religious one. It's not on our Christian, liturgical
calendar. But we take this opportunity given us by the Constitution
and albeit generic religious tradition, to receive God's gifts again,
and to give him thanks and praise not only for ourselves but also
as representatives and on behalf of the citizenry of our country,
most of whom do not know the only true God, much less how to give
him thanks.
Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. means a lot of
different things from at least a tip of the hat to the deity, to
family, feasting and football. Like everyone else, many of us rejoice
in having the family gather--especially as sons and daughters leave
the nest, and the miles of separation afford only an occasional
reunion. Like everyone else we enjoy the feasting on the traditional
repast of moist turkey meat and all the trimmings. And like anyone
else, watching the passing of the pig-skin, cheering for that next
first-and-ten, makes for an enjoyable time of relaxation. In other
words, it's okay to enjoy the traditions of this national holiday.
Neither do we mean, however, by gathering here,
to recover some long-lost spiritual significance largely forgotten
by the masses, nor to add to this day any more meaning than that
for which it was established--except that we Christians see everything
through spiritual/theological eyes; that everything in God's good
creation is to be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
After all, it was real estate--"a good land,
a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out
in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and
fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land
in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will
lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills
you can dig copper…the good land" that was the promise of God for
his heretofore wilderness-wandering people Israel. Real estate!
Hardly what we would consider of deep spiritual significance. But
it was of spiritual significance, because it was the promise of
God and it called for faith.
It was and would be by the Word of God alone
that, not only would his people finally arrive in the promised land,
but that they would also have endured the lean times--forty years
wandering in the wilderness; the humility of hunger pangs satisfied
only by mysterious, Divine food. It was only afterward that they
would realize they didn't really miss J.C. Penney, for their clothes
did not wear out; or the podiatrist, for their feet did not swell.
But isn't that the way it always is? Hindsight sees, realizes and
gives thanks and praise. It's the faith required of foresight that
is always the challenge.
So when we gather here, ostensibly to give
thanks, are we thankful for God's gifts of past, present and future?
Or is our thanksgiving more like a huge sigh of relief merely that
we made it another year, that we're somehow luckier than others
or that life hasn't been as hard as we feared or as we've seen?
Deuteronomy 8 doesn't speak of America but
of Palestine. It doesn't say that restoring images of the Ten Commandments
in our nation's schools or courtrooms will necessarily make our
country any more moral or just (though, it couldn't hurt!). Still,
who can deny that this real estate on which our feet are planted
is any less the creation and gift of God than the eastern Mediterranean
of ancient story and times? The only question is, do we realize
it?
The failings, faithlessness and failures of
God's ancient people were just like ours: taking God's good gifts
for granted. For, as the apostle Paul wrote, "what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For
his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For
although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks
to him" [Romans 1:19-21a (ESV)]. Therefore God gives his commandments,
not as a magical cure to our ills, but in order "to know what was
in your heart," and "that he might make you know that man does not
live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from
the mouth of the Lord."
What is in our heart, by itself, is unbelief
and fear: fear over what tomorrow will bring, and unbelief that
God can actually do anything about it. The Commandments of God slay
us and disclose the hardness of our hearts. Even when we encounter
good times and receive good gifts, without the Word of God's Law
we lapse into the slumber of bloated satiety. But when the Law does
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