Good morning. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Tomorrow’s thought for the day will definitely be focused on Thanksgiving, but today’s thought, and Friday’s as well, will also share in the truth of being Thankful before the Lord. For today, I would like to have you consider with me what the apostle Paul had to say in his letter to his Philippian brothers and sisters in the Lord. He begins that part of his letter which we identify as the 3rd chapter with a listing of reasons that he could have confidence in the things that are typically admired in the world. Actually, his list could have been longer. In the letter to the Philippians, Paul focuses on his status as a Jew, and as Jews would measure themselves against one another, he had every reason to be confident and proud. He could have gone on to state that he came from a wealthy family, and that his education was not only as a Pharisee at the feet of the famous Pharisee teacher Gamaliel, but also that he received further education and training as a lawyer. He could have explained that in his life previous to knowing Jesus Christ he was a rising star in the realm of Jewish politics. He could have gone on to brag of many things that other people lifted up as a reason for personal pride and social standing, but he didn’t. Instead, Paul, after sharing his brief list of reasons for worldly confidence, he goes on in Philippians 3:7-16 to tell us why all of those things mean virtually nothing to him now. They have gone from reasons of confidence and pride to being placed into his personal “trash can” of things unimportant. Why? Because Paul had come to know Jesus Christ, and knowing Him made all other things pale into insignificance by comparison.
I encourage you to read this passage from Philippians from your favorite personal Bible or study Bible, but for today I would like to share the writing of Eugene Peterson in his Biblical paraphrase called, The Message.
The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
I think Peterson’s paraphrase catches the spirit of Paul’s intention as he wrote those words to his friends at Philippi. I think he really captures Paul’s feelings of overwhelming Thanksgiving. At one time, Paul had been thankful to be called a Jew. He had been thankful that he was a Pharisee. He had been thankful that he had been entrusted with the work of crushing that emerging sect that was the Body of Christ in its infancy. He had been thankful for his wealth, his status, and his power. But when he is writing to the Philippians all of that had changed. He had come to realize that the only true reason for Thanksgiving in his life was in knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Everything else, Paul writes, (as Peterson puts it) about as valuable to him as a pile of dog dung.
As we gather for Thanksgiving tomorrow, we will have many reasons to express our Thanksgiving to our loving, gracious, and caring God who provides for us in wonderful ways. But let us not forget that the most incredible reason for Thanksgiving is that God loved each of us so much that He sent to us Jesus. Knowing Jesus is more valuable, more worthy, more spectacular than anything else we could claim in our human experience.
So, give Thanks to the Father, to the Son, and to the Spirit of Truth for a love so mighty, so sweet, that God in His fullness left His throne of glory to become one with us. Thank you Father for Jesus!
Vern