Happy Thanksgiving

GREEK WORD WITH ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION: ευχαριστεώ  (eucharisteo)

PRONUNCIATION:  yoo-khar-is-TEH-oh

STRONG’S CONCORDANCE #: 2168

MEANING: to give thanks; to express gratitide;

ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM: Eucharist (communion)

BACKGROUND OF WORD (ETYMOLOGY): Greek word ‎eucharisteo‎ is a compound of the words ‎eu ‎and ‎charis‎. The word ‎eu ‎means good or well and charis meaning grace; literally it means "to extend grace".

HOW TRANSLATED IN KJV, NASB AND/OR ESV:  give thanks

# OF TIMES USED IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT: 39

KEY VERSE IN THE BIBLE WHERE GREEK WORD USED:

Ephesians 5:20 - "Giving thanks (ευχαριστεώ) always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

    

The word “thanksgiving” that Paul uses in this verse is the Greek word ‎eucharistia‎, which is a compound of the words ‎eu ‎and ‎charis‎. The word ‎eu ‎means good or well. It denotes a general good disposition or an overwhelmingly good feeling about something. The word ‎charis ‎is the Greek word for grace. When these two words are compounded into one, they form the word ‎eucharistia‎. This compound word describes an outpouring of grace and of wonderful feelings that freely flow from the heart in response to someone or something.

By using this word, Paul teaches us that when we earnestly ask God to do something special for us, we must match it with an earnest outpouring of thanks. Although the request has only just been made and the manifestation isn't evident yet, it is appropriate to thank God for doing what we have requested. Thanking Him in advance demonstrates faith.

    

In Greek culture, before prayer was verbalized and offered to a “god,” a commemorative altar was set up and thanksgiving was offered on that altar. Such offerings of praise and thanksgiving were called votive offerings (from the word “vow”). These votive offerings were similar to a pledge. The person would promise that once his prayer had been answered, he would be back to give additional thanksgiving to God. These votive offerings of praise and worship were elaborate and well-planned. Giving thanks to a deity was a significant event, so it was done in a serious and grandiose manner to outwardly demonstrate a thankful heart.

People may have one of three possible attitudes about thanksgiving. The first is that it is unnecessary. Some people are not thankful simply because they think they deserve every good thing they have — and more. The rich farmer of Jesus' parable who was presumptuous about his future prosperity was also ungrateful for his past prosperity. As he looked around and realized his land was so productive that he did not have enough room to store all his crops, he decided to build bigger and better barns. After that he would say to his soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19). He did not take God into consideration. Because he gave God no credit for his blessings, he saw no reason to give Him thanks. And because of his thankless presumption, God said to him, "You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?" (v. 20). Within that judgment lay the truth that the farmer could no more protect his possessions by his own power than he had produced them by his own power. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. Not feeling the need to thank God is much worse than ingratitude; it is rank unbelief. This attitude is a form of practical atheism that fails to acknowledge God.

A second attitude about thanksgiving is that of the hypocrite. In another parable Jesus told of a self-righteous Pharisee who stood in the Temple and "was praying thus to himself, "God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get" (Luke 18:11-12). As Jesus made clear in the words "praying thus to himself," although the man used God's name, his thankfulness was to himself and for himself. The Pharisee used God's name only to call further attention to his false piety. And because God had no part in that prayer it was totally worthless. The humble, penitent tax-collector "went down to his house justified" whereas the proud, self-righteous Pharisee did not (v. 14). Like the rest of his life, the Pharisee's prayer of thanksgiving was hypocritical sham and pretense.

The third attitude about thanksgiving is that of the truly thankful person. Of the ten lepers Jesus healed on His way to Jerusalem, the only one who returned to thank Him was a Samaritan. But his thankfulness was genuine, and Jesus said to him, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well" (Luke 17:19). The other nine lepers had sought Jesus' healing only for their own benefit. The Samaritan also sought it for God's glory (v. 18). His thankfulness was an expression of his trust in Jesus, his recognition that he was helpless in Himself and that his healing was undeserved and entirely by the Lord's grace. As a result, he received salvation. That is the thankfulness, the only thankfulness, that pleases God and that the Spirit-filled saint will offer.

A medieval legend tells of two angels sent to earth by the Lord to gather the prayers of the saints. One was to gather the petitions and the other the thanksgivings. The angel responsible for petitions was not able to carry them back to heaven in one load, while the angel responsible for thanksgivings carried his back in one hand.

That legend developed from the sad fact that God's children are more prone to ask than to thank. The Psalms are instructive in this regard, in that they contain more praise than petition. Believers come into their Father's presence through thanksgiving. We "enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise" (Psalms 100:4). William Hendriksen picturesquely commented that "when a person prays without thanksgiving he has clipped the wings of prayer so that it cannot rise" In Ephesians 5:20 Paul tells when, for what, how, and to whom the Spirit-filled believer is to be thankful.

When are we to be thankful? — always. To be thankful always is to recognize God's control of our lives in every detail as He seeks to conform us to the image of His Son. To be thankless is to disregard God's control, Christ's lordship, and the Holy Spirit's filling. Nothing must grieve the Holy Spirit so much as the believer who does not give thanks. In King Lear (I.ii.283, 312) Shakespeare wrote, "Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend! ... How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" When God brings trials and difficulties into our lives and we complain and grumble, we question His wisdom and love as well as His sovereignty.

Just as there are three attitudes toward thanksgiving there are also three levels of thankfulness. The first is to be thankful when we are blessed. When things are going well or God grants an especially welcome benefit, we are happy and grateful. When getting a job, being delivered from sickness, being reconciled with our spouse, or experiencing other such pleasant things, it is easy to be grateful to the Lord.

It is right to be thankful for blessings, as the Bible continually commands us to be. The song that Moses and the children of Israel sang after being delivered from Egypt (Exodus 15:1-21) was a beautiful and genuine expression of gratitude that pleased the Lord. That song will one day be partly repeated in heaven as a testimony of thanksgiving to Jesus Christ, the Lamb, for delivering His people from the beast (Revelation 15:1-4). But thankfulness for blessing is easy and requires little maturity.

The second level of thankfulness is that of being grateful for the hope of blessing and victory yet to come. The first level is after the fact, the second is in anticipation of the fact. Thanking God before a blessing is more difficult than thanking Him afterward, and requires more faith and spiritual maturity. This second level is where faith and hope begin, because it involves the unseen and the yet unexperienced. As He stood over the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me" (John 11:41-42). Because He knew His heavenly Father always heard and answered His prayers, in total confidence He thanked Him in advance for what He knew would be done.

The believer at this level of thankfulness looks forward to victory before it is achieved, knowing that he will "overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). He looks forward even to his own death or the death of a loved one and gives thanks to God, knowing that His grace is sufficient for every sorrow and every testing (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that glorious resurrection awaits those who die in the Lord. He lives in hope.

As Judah was about to be attacked by the more powerful Moabites and Ammonites, King Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast and prayed before all the people, earnestly proclaiming the Lord's power and goodness. He acknowledged Judah's weakness and their sure defeat if the Lord did not help them. "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on Thee" (2 Chronicles 20:1-12). Then the king led his people out into the wilderness of Tekoa and instructed them to put their trust in the Lord and His prophets. At that point he commanded the Levitical singers to go out before the army and "'give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.' And when they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mt. Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed" (vv. 20-22). Judah thanked God for victory before the battle was even begun.

The third level of thankfulness is thanking God in the midst of the battle, while we are still undergoing trouble or testing — and even when it looks like we are failing or being overwhelmed.

When Daniel heard that King Darius had signed the decree forbidding the worship of any god or man but the king himself, he immediately "entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously" (Daniel 6:10). Though his life was at risk, Daniel thanked God because God deserved his thanks, regardless of his threatening circumstances.

Even the prejudiced and disobedient Jonah ended his prayer from the stomach of the fish with these words: "But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord" (Jonah 2:9). Nowhere in the prayer does the prophet ask for deliverance. Instead he praises God for past deliverance, acknowledges his own sinfulness and unfaithfulness, and closes with a declaration of thanks for the Lord's goodness.

After Peter and some of the other apostles in Jerusalem had been flogged and ordered not to speak again in the name of Jesus, "they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name" (Acts 5:41). In his prison cell, probably in Rome, Paul awaited trial and possible execution. While there he wrote his letter to the Philippian church, in which he gave thanks for their faithfulness and for the work God was continuing to do in them (1:3-6).

If we can only thank God when things are going well, our thankfulness is on the bottom rung of faithfulness. If we can thank Him in anticipation of what He will do in the future, we show more spiritual maturity. But to thank God while we are in the midst of pain, trials, or persecution shows a level of maturity that few Christians seem to know but that our heavenly Father wants all His children to have.

Being thankful is not a Christian option, a high order of living that we are free to choose or disregard. As Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic author, has observed, "Giving thanks is not a matter of feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience."

CHALLENGE FOR THE DAY:

Being thankful is not a Christian option, a high order of living that we are free to choose or disregard. As Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic author, has observed, "Giving thanks is not a matter of feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience."

    

For what are we to give thanks? — for all things. The greatest gift we can give to God is a thankful heart, because all we can give to Him is simply grateful recognition that all we have is from Him. We give Him thanks for all things because He has given us all things and because giving thanks in everything "is God's will... in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Understanding "what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17) includes understanding that He wants His children to be thankful. The Spirit-filled heart sees God's gracious hand in every circumstance and knows "that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). The spiritual believer sees God's wise and loving care in the difficulties and trials as well as in blessing and prosperity. He thanks God for a job even if it is demanding and unfulfilling. He thanks God for his health, even if it is far from being what he would like it to be. He thanks God even when his dearest loved ones die, saying with Job, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

In Christ, all things are for our sakes, in order "that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:15). The ultimate goal is the glory of God, the means of giving Him glory is thanksgiving, and the reasons for thanksgiving are all the things He has done in the believer's life. To glorify God is to thank Him no matter how much we may hurt or be disappointed or fail to understand. The Spirit-filled Christian is "overflowing through many thanksgivings to God" and continually gives thanks to Him "for His indescribable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:12,15).

As God's children we are to be thankful first of all for the Lord Himself, for His goodness, love, grace, salvation, and every other blessing He gives. We are to be thankful for all men, for blessings and difficulties, for victories and defeats.

The only person who can genuinely give thanks for all things is the humble person, the person who knows he deserves nothing and who therefore gives thanks even for the smallest things. Lack of thankfulness comes from pride, from the conviction that we deserve something better than we have. Pride tries to convince us that our job, our health, our spouse, and most of what we have is not as good as we deserve. Pride was the root of the first sin and remains the root of all sin. Satan's pride led him to rebel against God and try to usurp God's throne. The pride of Adam and Eve led them to believe Satan's lie that they deserved more than they had and that they even had a right to be like God.

Believers are still subject to the temptations of pride. The only cure is humility, which comes with being filled with the Spirit, since being filled with the Spirit is to die to self. When we cease with selfishness, the consequence is to put Christ and His will above all else. Humility dethrones self and enthrones Christ, and in doing that it thankfully acknowledges that every good thing — including many things that do not at the time seem to be good — are from His gracious hand.

How are we to be thankful? — in the name of Jesus Christ. To give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is to give thanks consistent with who He is and what He has done. We can give thanks always and for all things because no matter what happens to us it will turn out not only for our ultimate blessing but, more importantly, for His ultimate glory. When we sing, it is Christ singing through us, and when we give thanks, it is Christ giving thanks to the Father through us.

Were it not for Christ, it would be foolish to be thankful for everything, because apart from Him all things do not turn out for good. But because we are in Christ, the good things and the bad things all have a part in God's conforming us to the image of His Son. A person who is not a Christian does not have Christ interceding on his behalf at the right hand of God or indwelling his life. He does not have the promise of heirship in God's family and citizenship in God's kingdom — or any other of the wonderful promises of Christ. He does not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and cannot have His filling. He cannot be thankful for everything because for him everything does not give a reason for thanks. He sees only the present, not eternal glory.

But the child of God is indwelt by Christ, is a joint heir with Him, and does have the Son interceding for him at the Father's right hand. He has all of Christ's promises made certain through the Holy Spirit who indwells him. And as the Spirit fills him, he is cleansed from sin and made more and more into conformity to Christ.

The mature Christian, the Christian who is filled with the Spirit, becomes thankful as Christ Himself was thankful. Jesus was continually saying thanks to His Father. Before He multiplied the loaves and fish to feed the four thousand, "He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them" (Mark 8:6; cf. Matthew 15:36). As mentioned above, He gave thanks before He called Lazarus from the grave (John 11:41). Even as He instituted the Lord's Supper, in anticipation of His soon-coming crucifixion, He thanked His Father for the bread that would become a memorial of His sacrificed body (Luke 22:19).

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Great and Almighty God, on this Thanksgiving Day I want to thank you for ALL that you have done for me and through me.  Might I never lose sight of your sovereignty.  Might those around me see me as one with a grateful heart in all that I do and say.  Today I choose to be thankful, even amidst any trials and tribulations that you allow to come my way.  Thank you for my friends and family.  Thank you for my health.  Thank you for my freedoms.  But most of all, thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for my sins and for your eternal salvation.  I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus.  Amen.