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Thanksgiving for the Protection of the Soul

Jim Butler · 2013-10-13 · Deuteronomy 6:10–16 · 1,201 words · 7 min

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Summary

Expository

Sustained thankfulness to God is a God-appointed spiritual safeguard that protects the soul from the three dangers of forgetting God in prosperity, forsaking God through idolatry, and testing God in difficulty.

Deuteronomy 6:10–16 warns the people of God against three soul-destroying dangers that prosperity and idolatry produce: forgetting God, forsaking God, and testing God. Preached on the eve of Canadian Thanksgiving, this exposition argues that a sustained disposition of thankfulness is not merely a cultural courtesy but a spiritual safeguard — one that guards the heart against each of these three dangers in turn. The sermon draws a careful typological connection between Israel on the plains of Moab and the new covenant community today, pressing the hearer to cultivate thankfulness as a constant frame of the soul rather than a seasonal occasion.

Key quotes

It's hard to forget God when you're thanking Him. It's hard to commit idolatry and apostatize from Him when you are thanking Him. It's hard to test him when you are thanking him.
Thankfulness ought to frame the soul in such a way that it will protect us from departing from the living and true God.
Thanksgiving is not just a day in Canada or in America where people eat turkey and gravy. It is a disposition that ought to be constant in the heart of the believer.

Applications

  1. Cultivate thankfulness as a daily, constant disposition of the heart rather than reserving it for a national holiday or season.
  2. In times of material blessing and prosperity, actively give thanks to God so that you do not forget that every good gift comes from Him.
  3. Guard against the idolatry of the surrounding culture by maintaining a heart oriented toward God in gratitude, which makes departure from Him more difficult.
  4. In seasons of difficulty, resist the temptation to test God by demanding He prove Himself, and instead recall His past faithfulness as the ground for present trust.

Questions this sermon answers

Why does Deuteronomy 6 warn against forgetting God?

Moses warns Israel that entering a land of prosperity they did not build or cultivate creates a spiritual danger of attributing their blessings to themselves rather than to God, leading them to forget the one who brought them out of Egypt.

What does it mean that God is a jealous God?

God's jealousy means He demands exclusive worship and devotion from His people, and that turning to the gods of surrounding nations would provoke His anger against them.

How does thankfulness protect a Christian from spiritual danger?

A heart actively giving thanks to God is oriented toward Him in a way that makes it difficult to forget Him in prosperity, to pursue idols, or to test His faithfulness in difficulty.

Does Deuteronomy 6 apply to Christians today?

While the specific mandate of holy war and land possession does not carry over directly, the new covenant community faces the same spiritual dangers Israel faced — forgetting, forsaking, and testing God — and the same call to fear and serve the Lord alone.

What does the Bible mean by testing God?

Testing God, as illustrated by Israel at Massah, means demanding that God prove Himself rather than trusting His character and His past acts of faithfulness, particularly in times of hardship.

May I turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 6? Deuteronomy chapter 6, our focus this evening will be verses 10 to 16.

Introduction

I've entitled this message as Thanksgiving as Protection for the Soul. Thanksgiving, as I've already mentioned, is tomorrow, at least in Canada, as people gather around and eat turkey and hopefully express some degree of thankfulness to God, but thanksgiving for the Christian ought to be a vital part of our lives, not only as a response to God's grace in having delivered us from our misery, we respond in thankfulness and in gratitude to Him, but there is a protective element necessary with reference to thanksgiving. There are three dangers indicated in verses 10 to 16, which the children of Israel would be likely to face when they entered into the land. We find ourselves in a similar situation.

Now it's not directly parallel. We are not tasked with engaging in holy war here in Canada. We are not called to go and dispossess the land of the enemies. But there is a similarity in the sense that God has been good.

God has been gracious. God has been merciful to His new covenant community in bestowing on us good gifts. And one of the problems here that Israel would face is that when they went into the land

Forgetting God Through Prosperity

they would have the danger of forgetting God because of prosperity. That'd be verses 10 to 13. Second danger would be

Forsaking God Through Idolatry

forsaking God because of idolatry in verses 14 and 15. And then the third danger was

Testing God Through Difficulty

testing God because of difficulty in verse 16. And it seems to me that at least one of the means or preventative means that we ought to employ so that we don't fall prey to these dangers is that very idea of thankfulness. It's hard to forget God when you're thanking Him. It's hard to commit idolatry and apostatize from Him when you are thanking Him.

It's hard to test him when you are thanking him. I'm not saying it's impossible because we have sinful hearts and our inclinations are bent in such a way. But

Thankfulness as Spiritual Protection

thankfulness ought to frame the soul in such a way that it will protect us from departing from the living and true God. So thankfulness is not just a day, or thanksgiving is not just a day in Canada or in America where people eat turkey and gravy. It is a disposition that ought to be constant in the heart of the believer. As you study the New Testament epistles, you will see everywhere this emphasis on thankfulness as a virtue enjoined upon the people of God.

Well, I do want to read the chapter as I think it helps us to put ourselves on the plains of Moab where this message was originally delivered. So beginning in chapter 6 at verse 1.

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 6

Now this is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you. That you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. That you may fear the Lord your God. to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So it shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities, which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn out wells, which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant. When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.

You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him and shall take oaths in his name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you. For the Lord your God is a jealous God among you. lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massa.

You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his testimonies and his statutes which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord. that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. When your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then he brought us out from there that he might bring us in to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes. to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us.

Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this, your word. We pray again for the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would guide us and direct us in our consideration of these dangers. And God, do fill our hearts with thankfulness.

Grant us grace to respond to you as is fitting, giving thanks in all things to the Lord for all of your blessings and all of your mercies to us. And we pray through Jesus Christ,

Scripture References

Study notes

Theological terms

  • Holy War
  • Idolatry×2
  • Jealousy of God
  • New Covenant Community
  • Typological Connection