Remembering to be Thankful

As we continue to look at Bible passages dealing with giving thanks, we come to a New Testament passage where Paul is instructing Timothy on dealing with some false teachers. In this passage, he tells Timothy of things that are to be received with thanksgiving.

¹The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. ²Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. ³They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. ⁴For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

• The false teachers that Paul warns Timothy of are in part telling people what they shouldn't eat. But Paul tells Timothy those things should be received with thanksgiving.
• The Greek word used here - eucharistia - means to freely give thanks.
• The English word Eucharist - which refers to Communion is derived from this Greek word. So, when we have Communion, we should remember to give thanks to God for what Jesus did for us.
• Paul goes on to tell Timothy that "everything from God is good." The Greek word here is kalos which means beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable.
• Because the things we receive from God are good, we are to receive them with thanksgiving.
• Furthermore, the things we receive from God are also consecrated - hagiazō - set apart and dedicated to God.
• 
  
• What are some things that you have received from God?
• Have you thanked Him for them?

Thank You For Saving Me

Today, we continue on the theme of giving thanks. Yesterday, we looked at Psalm 100 and how giving thanks and praise are tied together. We looked at some of the things to be thankful for: mainly for God's love and faithfulness to us. Today, we are going to look at the story of Anna, one of the people who got to see baby Jesus, when Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple.

³⁶There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38

• The original language for the New Testament is Greek (not the Hebrew we're used to from the Old Testament. The word used in verse 38 for giving thanks is anthomologeomai. This word means "to acknowledge fully, to celebrate fully in praise with thanksgiving." This long word is actually a compound word in the Greek - anti and homologeō which itself is a compound of homou and logos - which in it's parts mean "because of," "together," and "word." homologeō by itself means to agree, to praise and to celebrate. The prefix anti (though in other cases it could mean what we think of in English) means "because of." In other words, as Anna is giving thanks and praising, she is recognizing that it is because of Jesus that she is giving thanks.


• What is Anna thankful for? the redemption of Jerusalem


• The word for redemption - lytrōsis - means "deliverance, esp. from the penalty of sin"
• Jerusalem can be taken to mean the people of Israel, God's people
• Anna recognized that baby Jesus was going to deliver God's people from the penalty of their sin. She had been waiting all of her life for this and was excited that it had finally arrived.
• Are you thankful that Jesus has delivered you from the penalty of your sin?
• Are you glad you didn't have to wait all of your life for it?
• If we know that Jesus has delivered us from the penalty of our sin, what should we do?

Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving

This Thursday, we will celebrate the holiday Thanksgiving. As we gather with family and eat lots of good food, we will also remember to thank God for the many blessings that He has given us.

A psalm. For giving thanks.

^{1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.}

^{2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.}

^{3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.}

^{4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.}

^{5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.}

Psalm 100

In particular today, we are going to focus on verses 4 and 5. In this verse, we see the concepts of thanksgiving and praise coupled together twice. So let's look at those two concepts a little.

• What does it mean to give thanks? the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God
• What does it mean to give praise? the act of expressing approval or admiration; commendation
• The Hebrew word for thanksgiving - towdah - means give praise to God or thanksgiving in songs of liturgical worship, hymn of praise
• The Hebrew word for praise - tĕhillah - means praise, song or hymn of praise or praise, adoration, thanksgiving (paid to God)
• The Hebrew words for give thanks - yadah (hiphil) - mean to give thanks. (Well, duh) But it's interesting to note that the verb here by itself can also mean to shoot as in shooting arrows. To me this implies that giving thanks is active not passive and that there is a target for giving thanks.
• The second word we see translated as praise - barak - means to praise or to bless.
• So from this verse we can see that thanksgiving and praise go together. The thanksgiving can be in song and it is active and directed towards God.
• What, here in this Psalm, is the Psalmist thankful for?
• God is good - in Hebrew towb - meaning good, pleasant, excellent, right
• His love - checed meaning goodness, kindness, faithfulness - endures forever
• His faithfulness - 'emuwnah meaning firmness, fidelity, steadfastness, steadiness - continues to all generations.
• What are you thankful for?