True Thanksgiving: Worshiping God Through Creation

God's creation is good and since God's creation is good we are free to feast to God's glory right well no not exactly there's more to proper God centered Thanksgiving than simply acknowledging the goodness of creation tomorrow in the States we celebrate Thanksgiving which makes it a great time to revisit John Piper's sermon on first Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 to 5 which he preached in 2013 at the D G National Conference on CS Lewis. [00:00:03]

so it seems to me here that the plainest thing so far about Paul's response is that you have three acts that relate to God in what to do with food and none of them is an act of the stomach or the tastebuds they're all acts of mind and heart one sang key to believing three knowing so the most obvious thing is to see that at least part of what makes eating worship is acts that are not eating right. [00:01:27]

thanking believing knowing are what make eating worship and without thanking believing and knowing what you need to know in order to thank and believe you're not worshiping when you eat eating food becomes worship by acts that terminate on God not food not merely on food get back to that in a minute thanking his food is for food to God right to God it's not thanks if it's just a vague sense of thankfulness with no object. [00:02:09]

Paul is certainly not interested in that kind of Thanksgiving like everybody in America is Thanksgiving they say some thanks they don't know who they're saying it to he's not the least interested in that kind of Thanksgiving this is the living Creator God being addressed by our souls with joyful dependents thank you thank you sake you believing and knowing believing is believing in God believing in his son believing in the cross believing that you're forgiven. [00:02:46]

everything created by God is good it's good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with Thanksgiving so it's good that's part of the argument it's good everything created by God is good and teaching of demons implies not so sure the physical sex stuff and eating that whole you know everything on the table there that's defective that's inferior that's not the best way to live it's good so easy it's eating is good because the creation is good. [00:03:56]

what makes eating good food good or at least let's be careful because I'm going somewhere with Lewis in a minute or at least one essential part of what makes it good essential part not optional part essential part of what makes eating good is the thankfulness of our hearts no words not words the devil can say thank you he can't feel it he cannot feel it and you can say thank you thank you grandmama for my black socks say thank you to your grandmama. [00:05:46]

the good creation must be sanctified ok now we're into verse 5 here we go for in this way fair to say I think everything God made I base that on the phrase nothing is to be rejected everything God made is made holy sanctified by the Word of God and prayer so the clearest thing that just leaps off the page to me is it's good and it must be sanctified or you can't worship with it that's the title of my talk the good creation must be sanctified. [00:07:16]

God's holiness is His infinite worth owing to his transcendent self existent uniqueness been about an hour on our last year his infinite value owing to his transcendent self existent uniqueness like there's a diamond and there's only one of them and therefore they're there their worth is off the charts my holiness is thinking and feeling and doing whatever chords without worth if I'm acting and I'm feeling and I'm saying things that make that worth look less valuable. [00:09:33]

a thing like food or gold becomes holy by being set apart for God as a means of expressing that infinite world the worth of God and I base that for example on the way Jesus talks about sanctifying things here's what he said for example in Matthew 23 17 which is greater the gold or the temple that has sanctified it or made it holy you got a temple it got gold which is greater the gold and he understands the temple is greater and that's how the gold gets sanctified. [00:09:59]

so sanctifying food or making food holy I think means setting it apart as a means of expressing the infinite worth of God this is how eating becomes worship this is how all things become pure to the pure that's another sermon over in Titus 1:15 to the pure all things are pure to the sanctified they know how to sanctify everything how then keep going how then do the Word of God and prayer make that happen because that's what it says in the end of verse 5. [00:11:17]

food is made holy by God's talking to me and my talking to him prayer is we talked to him his word he talks to us so my general answer then will get specific my general answer is that food is set apart as an expression of God's worth when we listen to what God has to say about food and believe him believe him believers did this we believe him when he talks to us about food then we speak back to him we affirm yes that's what food is that's who you are in relation to food. [00:12:35]

I'm telling you I'm thankful and I'm asking I think this is what prayer is when you're dealing with food I'm I'm affirming what you say about food how good it is how you give it to me as a means of Thanksgiving I'm affirming that I'm feeling gratitude rise up I'm saying it and I'm asking you I know my gratitude right now is inadequate and I'm asking you for Jesus sake he died for me love for me would you make me more thankful all those pieces are in prayer affirmation confession. [00:13:51]