Psalm 138:1-3 - Thanksgiving Service, Isaiah Greely

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

138 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

    before the gods I sing your praise;

2 I bow down toward your holy temple

    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

    for you have exalted above all things

    your name and your word.

3 On the day I called, you answered me;

    my strength of soul you increased.

By the Spirit, these words are inspired and by the same Spirit, he will teach us the will and mind of God. Let us pray.

Father, thank you for the Psalms that teach us how to speak to you. Whether there is laments that we wish for you to hear, or prayers of thanksgiving, we can always go to the Psalms for guidance. Give us a fuller understanding of you within these verses and guide our minds away from error. Help us all to gain a better understanding of you, and guide my lips as I share your insights with this beloved Church. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen.

It is a privilege to be here in front of you. There is a sense of obligation that I have to present this sermon to you. During the busyness of school and life, I did consider to turn the offer down to preach today. But I took it anyway, and I chose this text. I wanted to focus on the theme of thanksgiving not only because it is appropriate for the occasion but I also needed to think of thanksgiving for myself. Like Martin Luther and Augustine and many others before, I tend to learn when I teach. But my sense of obligation only grew stronger when I found out that our very own Byron Elder had these verses memorized. I had no idea myself, and I only chose these verses out of what seemed like a desire of my own. Pastor Chris made me aware of this reality last week, and I had this text in mind for almost a month now. So, considering that God providentially had me chose this text of which Byron had memorized, I am now eager to present to you my thoughts and insights.

I decided to go through each verse one by one. Here is the general outline of the sermon. First, I will attempt to show you the importance of having a fully devoted heart towards the Lord. Second, when we consider the steadfast love of the Lord with his faithfulness and his exalted name and word, we will see why this is a reality that is so important to the Psalmist, and consequently us. Lastly, we shall consider how God, in relation to the preceding two verses, gives us strength and soul. All these points are to produce in us much thankfulness to the Lord.

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

138 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

    before the gods I sing your praise;

The first line shows how David’s worship is wholly directed to the Lord. It is not out of a partial heart that David thanks the Lord, but a whole heart.  Several things can already be noted here. First, to be half-hearted in thanksgiving seems to suggest that we do not appreciate all that the Lord has done for us. In the trials of life, we may often forget the mercies he has given us. He first gave us salvation in Himself and will give us all that we need until He brings us home. We see David boasting about what God has and is doing for the people of Israel. The care and guidance the Lord provides is surely in David’s mind. Therefore, thanksgiving is to recollect what has been done for us. We who have come after Christ’s death have even more to be thankful for because we are now reconciled to God and receive all the benefits from him.

Second, a half-hearted thanksgiving to God may suggest that we have someone, or something, other than God to be even more thankful for. Ultimately, we can be thankful for someone or something, but when we mistake that person or thing for the source of our benefits, then we fall into idolatry. To be thankful to the Lord is to see that every good thing comes from him. It is an acknowledgment that we are dependent upon Him and Him alone. Like I said earlier, through Christ we have all good things given to us by God. Paul reminds us of this reality in 1 Corinthians 4:7, which says: “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” The Corinthians evidently had a problem understanding how they received their gifts, even boasting of them without acknowledging that God gave such gifts to the Corinthians. This is not David’s problem. He is completely undistracted in his worship, because he knows that all good things come from God, and he is thankful. I can say for myself that I tend to forget that God is the one who gives me good things. This can even occur to me when I neglect tending to my spiritual life and instead distracting myself with something trivial. This may not look like the opposite of thankfulness, but I might as well tell God that this distraction is giving me what I need, more so than God does. This is not to suggest that all things that gives us pleasure is sinful in itself. But something that takes away our thankfulness to God, or make him seem irrelevant, is dangerous. To be thankful to God is to humbly acknowledge that I as a creature am dependent on him.

Finally, we are able to be fully thankful to the Lord for what he has given us. I want to stress that this is a privilege that we have as Christians, to give thanks to the one who changed us and is ever changing us. It is our privilege alone, and David is able to sing it before the gods. This covenant was exclusively for the Israelites, but in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 7:7-8, Moses makes it plain that the Lord chose the Israelites out of love. God did not choose Israel because they were numerous or because of some feat they performed. Rather, God took these people because he loved them. I bring this up because to be thankful is to acknowledge the love that God has given his people, and we engage our whole heart towards God because he without fail loves us even more perfectly. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we as Gentile people are now the object of God’s love. We as sinners are now able to worship the Lord, to give him our praise.

In regard to the setting of this Psalm, it is no accident that this Thanksgiving is in front of the gods and directed towards the temple of God. Some commentators understand these gods to be people, while others interpret the text to see the gods as referring to the idols of the neighboring nations. The point is not so much who it is done in front of, however. Of course, depending on who is watching us worship, we can act as evangelists, showing our thanksgiving as a form of evangelism. But again, since we do not know entirely who these gods are, this is not the main takeaway of this Psalm. Rather, the fact of the matter is that this is a public declaration. This Psalm is thanking God in front of others. Although we can and should worship God by ourselves when we are alone, the context here is that of public declaration. Indeed, the Psalms often assume that the speaker, when giving his praise to God, is in the public eye.

Again, an application comes out of this one verse. Because it is so important to praise God in public, we must do so with our full hearts. If we do not bring our full heart into worship, we risk bringing ulterior motives into our praise. To illustrate this point, consider the parable found in Luke 18:9-14. Jesus is teaching about the power of prayer in various parables. This particular parable shows a tax collector and Pharisee praying together. Verses 11-12 show the heart of the Pharisee: “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” What makes this verse interesting is that it appears that, on a surface level, he is indeed giving thanks to God. His prayer starts with “God, I thank you.” But Jesus makes it plain in verse 14 that it was the tax collector, the one who felt so much unworthiness, was the one who went away justified, not the Pharisee.

Why? Jesus explains in the second part of verse 14: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” If thanksgiving is meant to be an activity of acknowledging your dependence on God, then this parable clarifies further what it means to be thankful. Jesus is essentially saying that the Pharisee only gave thanks to exalt himself, to make a show of words and deeds. He is not showing dependence upon God but upon himself. He fails to give thanks to God with a whole heart. Therefore, let us strive towards a worship that is of the whole heart. Let us stop thinking that we are completely sufficient in ourselves, and look to the one who is self-sufficient, who gives us what we need in our times of distress.

Of course, we will and have failed on Sunday mornings or any day of the week to worship God with a fullness of heart. That is why it is so important to have further revelation of the New Testament, to show us that the God-man Jesus died for our sins and did so that we may enjoy communion with the Trinity, though we were not worthy. He died for us while we were still sinners, according to Romans 5:6. His death and resurrection are of first importance, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3. Because he lived in this world, he is the man acquainted with our griefs, according to Isaiah 53:3. And because of all this, and much more, Jesus is our High Priest, sympathetic with our weaknesses, and gives grace to those who are in need, according to Hebrews 4:15-16. Therefore, as we strive to be thankful to the Lord, as an expression of our dependence and worship, the same God who we worship is the same God who is patient with us.

The Puritan Richard Sibbes had this encouragement for us: “Obedience is most direct when there is nothing else to sweeten the action. Although the sacrifice is imperfect, yet the obedience with which it is offered is accepted.” In other words, though we do not have a fullness of heart in our worship, Sibbes saw that the sacrifice of praise is still acceptable in the eyes of God. In fact, what an effort it is put in to come and worship even when our hearts are not fully committed to God. God is working in those who struggle to worship him with a fullness of the heart.

Speaking for myself again, this is something that I must be constantly reminded of. I cannot be fully thankful to God in my sinful estate without Christ’s help. Therefore, I must constantly come to the same God whom I worship and ask for his assistance in my worship. My actions can lie about my intentions, and I can make a show of worship. But God is the one who breaks the heart of stone and is the one who aids me in worship. This is something to be thankful for indeed, that God aides us in being thankful. On to verse 2 of this Psalm:

2 I bow down toward your holy temple

    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

    for you have exalted above all things

    your name and your word.

In this verse, David’s worship is thanks specifically to his steadfast love and thankfulness. There is so much to be thankful for when it comes to God, but the occasion here is specifically what he has shown to David and the Israelites,. Steadfast love and faithfulness, though similar, are distinct in this passage.  When the Old Testament speaks about steadfast love, the Hebrew word usually means an action shown to someone rather than a feeling. Throughout the Old Testament, God shows his steadfast love in many ways. In Genesis 39:21, we are told that Joseph, though imprisoned wrongfully because of Potiphar's wife, found sight in the eyes of the prison warden. The Hebrew word used here in Genesis describes God giving that favor to Joseph as an act of steadfast love. Even in our greatest distresses God acts towards us in his steadfast love. Further, God is faithful to do so. He is faithful to show us his steadfast love. We can be thankful to God for the small blessings he can and will give us. This is an act of steadfast love. Joseph, though he was in jail, received God’s act of love towards him. Until we come home to heaven, God will bless his saints with what is needed. There is daily bread that God will give. This is a cause of much thankfulness indeed when these blessings come.

But there is a specific reason David is praising God for his steadfast love and faithfulness. In this Psalm, David praises the Lord for exalting his name and words above all things. Although it is good for us to receive and be thankful for the small blessings in life, there is a greater blessing that David praises God for. It is above all things, and God himself exalted it. This is, namely, his own name and word. This is God’s own doing. Why is this important? Consider what Jesus says about those who exalt anything: “And [Jesus] said to [the Pharisees]: ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.’” (Luke 16:15) Jesus, like the previous example I gave, was rebuking the Pharisees. This time for their lust for money. They attempted to justify themselves and make it seem like they were not as sinful as Jesus made them out to be. But it is clear by this verse why Jesus condemns them. They tried to flaunt their righteousness. They tried to work out their merits on their own. They were utterly unable to exalt anything, much less themselves.

For our purposes today, this verse shows that God abominates anything that is exalted by itself. God’s name and word, according to the Psalmist is exalted by God, not by man. God is solely responsible for upholding his name, and he will use any means necessary to uphold his name. We see this reality most explicitly in the days of Elijah. Elijah had just fled from Jezebel after the challenge on Mount Carmel had resulted in the death of the prophets of Baal. He was overwhelmed by the fact that no one else was left to worship God except him. Or so he thought. But God gave him this corrective: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18) God is faithful to uphold his word and name. We partake in the glory of his name being upheld, but it is God’s responsibility and his ability to make his name exalted. And because of this reality, we are able to be thankful to the Lord that he is able to give s something that will never parish, something that will endure beyond any earthly blessing we have now.

Of course, we are thankful for God when he gives us other blessings along with God’s name and word. But Augustine, the 4th century saint in North Africa, had this warning in his book The City of God. He wrestled with the fact that good men suffer, and bad men thrive. He said this as an answer to this problem:

In this present time we learn to bear with [temperance] the ills to which even good men are subject, and to hold cheap the blessings which even the wicked enjoy… [A]s it is, since we not only see good men involved in the ills of life, and bad men enjoying the good of it, which seems unjust, but also that evil often overtakes the evil men, and good surprises the good, the rather on this account are God’s judgements unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. (XX.2)

Augustine saw that all the small blessings that the Christian enjoys can be enjoyed by the wicked. Therefore, to possess such blessings does not entail that you are saved, as Augustine aptly pointed out. Again, we should be thankful to God for every blessing, small or great, but the greatest blessing that we posses is the presence of God. Every blessing is considered under the greatest blessing of God’s exalted name. In a sense, to be a Christian is to enjoy what no one else can enjoy unless they worship God. God’s name and word are the highest above all things, and only those who are saved can enjoy this reality.

This is a reason for much thankfulness since God exalts his name. He shows his steadfast love to those within the covenant. He is faithful to continually show his steadfast love. And he shows us all his love and faithfulness by exalting his name and word. We partake in his glory, as God’s chosen instruments. But God is the one who will see his own exaltation through. This is an encouragement for the one who strives to evangelize, but this reality touches every aspect of our lives. How? We turn to the 3rd verse of this Psalm for an answer:

3 On the day I called, you answered me;

    my strength of soul you increased.

Let me briefly summarize the preceding verses. David’s heart is fully directed to God. He is thankful in front of others for the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. God has exalted above everything his own name and word. It should be of no surprise, then, that David is able to find strength from the Lord on the day he calls. If my heart is directed away from God, I am trying to find strength elsewhere. If I do not acknowledge God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, why should I expect it when I call? If I do not acknowledge that God’s name is above everything, I only give lip service to his power and ability to help me, without believing it fully. These are the symptoms of not only an unbelieving heart but also an unthankful heart. Charles Spurgeon had this to say about this verse in regards to the prayers of saints:

Our heavenly Father is able to interpret tears, and cries, and he replies to their inner sense in such a way as fully meets the case. The answer came in the same day as the cry ascended: so speedily does a prayer rise to heaven, so quickly does mercy return to earth. The statement of this sentence is one which all believers can make, and as they can substantiate it with many facts, they ought to boldly publish it, for it is greatly to God’s glory. Well might the Psalmist say “I will worship” when he felt bound to say “thou answeredst me.”

Spurgeon saw this verse as referring to a certain type of strength. Since this is a strength given in the soul, then we can be strong even if the burdens of life are not removed. I wrestled with this verse the most because how am I supposed to describe such a phenomenon? Even when I am unaware of it, Christ sustains me through the burdens of life. As Spurgeon pointed out, to pray for strength is always an answered prayer because God is always present in the trials. More than that, God has given us grace through such trials. Paul struggled with the thorn in his flesh and pleaded that it would be taken from him. And Christ gave him this answer: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) This verse shows that God’s grace is not only sufficient in weakness but God is glorified within our burdens and struggles.

            Frankly, I can only think of examples instead of trying to describe what this strength is. Of course, my mind went to Byron in his last year here. No one doubts that he had an extremely thankful heart. The joy of the Lord was his, and he allowed it to sustain him through this final trial, and no doubt many other trials in his past. I remember one story that he told me of how this last bout of cancer would often cripple him. Sometimes he would be able to make it to a bed or couch before his physical strength gave way. But on one such occasion, he ended up on the kitchen floor. He needed to rest, but no doubt he knew that the Lord gave him strength even when he had none. I cannot fully describe it, but I think I can point to it and especially point to Byron. His testimony is something to be thankful for. Even when we cannot see prayers answered or think that we have no strength, we can at least look to other saints and see how God sustained them. Of course, I have many other memories of the members here who shared their stories. These memories are a cause of thankfulness to me as I struggle with my own burdens. In God’s covenant love towards the church, he ensures that nothing is wasted in the hands of the redeemer Jesus. All the trials of the church are a testimony of God’s strength to his beloved church and an encouragement to all who struggle. This is something to be very thankful for indeed.

            As I close, I would like to encourage all of you to consider Christ, the one who deserves our entire hearts and devotion. The one who we worship in public because we are so thankful. The one who continually showers us with his steadfast love and faithfulness. The one who strengthens our soul when the burdens of the world are ours to bear. All of this is a cause to be very thankful. Let us pray.

Father, thank you for your inspired word. Thank you for not leaving us without guidance. Now. Lord, we earnestly plead to have these words become a reality in our lives. Do not let these words be only a psychological effect upon us, but an inner reality that touches every fiber of our being. Sanctify us, Lord, and bring our hearts more into conformity of your character. Thank you for the patience you have given us in the meantime, and thank you for the work in us that will be brought to completion. There will be a day, and we wait for that day expectantly. Let it be so. In Jesus name, amen.