The Feast of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving begins with the Pilgrims making their voyage across the ocean on a ship called the Mayflower. The Mayflower was an old wine-ship, used to transport barrels of red wine from France to London. She had been hired by a group of Calvinists to take settlers to the New World. The bulk of the colonists were Puritan Nonconformists, dissenters from the Church of England. They were going to America to pursue religious freedom. These were families. This is an important factor. The Spanish conquistadors, in contrast, were adventurers who left their families in Spain. Rarely did they come across as a household like the Pilgrims. What else do we know about the Mayflower and the people on it? Miles Standish was the Captain of the ship. The settlers as a whole were grouped into forty-one families. Most carried books with them, in addition to a Bible. There were enough beds, tables, and chairs carried on board to furnish about twenty family huts; plus dogs, goats, sheep, chickens, and quantities of spices, oatmeal, dried meat and fish, and turnips. After a long voyage, they landed at Plymouth Rock in the fall of 1620, and immediately had to prepare for a bleak winter. Half of the Pilgrims died of cold and starvation that first winter. In spite of the unbearable conditions, when the Mayflower returned to England that spring virtually no one wanted go. They all resolved to stay on in the New World.

Our Old Testament passage from Deuteronomy 8 begins with a command: "Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him" (v. 6). It immediately offers a reason: "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills..." Read in context, God was about to give to Israel something fantastic and undeserved: control over the Promised Land.

As the Pilgrims and Puritans of England contemplated making their voyage to the New World they discerned numerous parallels between their own circumstances and those of Ancient Israel. Just as God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and offered them the chance to take the Promised Land, a land of babbling brooks, verdant valleys and fields, so God was offering the Puritans the opportunity to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to a wilderness, a wilderness with the potential for becoming a paradise. For them the colonization of New England would be a Biblical episode -- a new flight from Egypt into the Promised Land.

Thus, the single most important formative event in early American history, was the landing of the first settlers from the Mayflower. Other pioneer types had come earlier; adventurers, and explorers. They came with a desire to better themselves socially and financially in the New World. The Mayflower men -- and women -- were quite different. They came to America not primarily for gain or even livelihood, but to create a small slice of God's kingdom on earth. They were no doubt zealots and idealists, but in a good sense: energetic, persistent, and courageous.

On this Feast of Thanksgiving we will examine some of the circumstances surrounding the founding of our Country, combine that with our Old Testament text and bring out the Thanksgiving Day themes implicit in it. We begin with the motivations of the colonists.

Religion, or the quest for freedom of religion, was the biggest single motive in getting people to hazard all on crossing the Atlantic. After the Mayflower, more expeditions arrived. The convoy that sailed in 1630 was huge. It was a fleet of 1,000 settlers under the leadership of John Winthrop. He was the outstanding figure of the Puritan voyages, (according to Paul Johnson) the first great American. The original Pilgrim Fathers of Plymouth Rock were separatists. They thought the church back in England was doomed, irrecoverably corrupt, and they wanted to escape from it. They came to America in the spirit of hermits, leaving a wicked world to seek their own salvation in the wilderness.

John Winthrop saw things differently. He did not wish to separate himself from the Church of England. He thought it redeemable. But in his thinking the best place and the best way to reform the Church would be in New England. Therefore the New England colony was to be a pilot church and state, which would create an ideal spiritual community, a biblical commonwealth whose example would in turn save the Old World. Sailing on board the ship he preached a sermon to his shipmates on the global importance of their mission. In the course of that sermon he uttered a striking phrase, a phrase that would be repeated over and again among the Puritan fathers. He said, "We must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us." The reference was obvious. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told His followers, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." (Mt. 5:14)

Nowadays, our thinking is so individualistic that we assume the city on the hill Jesus refers to is our single, solitary witness to unbelievers. Granted, our lives should show forth the light of the truth to those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death. Winthrop interpreted the city on a hill in corporate terms. A Church and a nation can radiate the same light to hell-bent cultures and nations, showing them the light of cultural redemption and sanctification. John Winthrop was convinced that, if covenantally faithful and obedient to the LORD, their experiment in the New World would be a shining city on a hill, whose rays would illuminate the whole circumference of the dark earth, stirring up worldwide revival and godliness.

In accordance with this sense of divine destiny, Winthrop set down in his diary the many indications of godly favor that attended their voyage. Near the New England coast he wrote, "there came a smell off the shore like the smell of a garden." Again he wrote, "There came a wild pigeon into our ship, and another small land-bird." Many more such remarks could be listed. In his mind, these reminders of Paradise and Noah’s Ark were providential signs and encouragements from the Almighty.

Verses Deuteronomy 8:7-10 bring out the covenantal principle. [Read them.]

These are wonderful promises of God to His covenant people: land for their own, blessing and bounty. The people were to respond in love and gratitude. In New England, the settlers cleared land, erected houses, and grew crops to feed themselves. They found maize, or "Indian Corn," a godsend. It yielded twice as much food per acre as traditional English crops. It was the ideal cheap and easy food for an infant colony and it is no wonder the corncob became a symbol of American abundance -- as did the turkey, a native of North America that the Puritans found much to their taste. The settlers also discovered chestnuts, walnuts, beech, hazel, and hickory nuts in abundance, and also wild plum, cherry, mulberry, and persimmon. In addition to maize the colonists consumed pumpkins, squash, beans, rice, melons, tomatoes, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries, and grapes, all growing wild or easily cultivated. With sweat and struggle, faith and discipline the Puritans were able to carve out a crude but ever more civilized existence. Hence, the Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings is a fitting reminder of God's blessed and bountiful provision. The first feast of Thanksgiving lasted three days. We should picture that classic scene of the Pilgrims and Indians eating together, each dressed in their typical attire, turkey and stuffing on the table, along with gray and mashed potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Verse ten captures the spirit of that banquet. It says, "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you."

This is the heart of a Christian's attitude -- gratitude. Gratitude to God for all that we have received from His providential hand. Gratitude for our friends and family, vocation and livelihood, health and salvation, food and drink, home and possessions! People who are always complaining and demanding their rights are to be feared. Not only are they miserable in their self-pity, they make others miserable, degrading society. We ought root out the ingratitude from our hearts. Thankfulness is the foundation of holiness and happiness.

Was America a Christian nation? There has been an ongoing debate in recent years over that question. We must admit that there was a bit of Deism in the thinking of a few people such as Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine. But if you look at John Adams and the vast majority of the population it was pure Christian. Go back to the first centuries of America and it cannot be denied that Christianity, specifically Calvinism is the key that unlocks the meaning of colonial history as a whole. It pervaded not only the religious life and thought of most of the early colonists, but their political, social and economic life as well. Puritanism was no mere Sunday religion that had little influence on the daily life of those who professed it. The direct opposite was actually the case; a Christian worldview permeated colonial life to an amazing degree, not only in New England but in the colonies to the South as well where Anglicanism was strong. Some people today overlook the fact that the Anglican Church during the first century was thoroughly Evangelical and Reformed.

Greg Singer reveals how theologically saturated American Colonial life was. He writes, "For the Puritans the biblical doctrines of God, creation, man, sin and redemption were not regarded as simply vehicles for the salvation of the individual soul, important as that was, but they spoke to the whole of life. In Puritanism the doctrine of God was not merely a philosophical necessity, the final step in a finely worked out metaphysical system. God was a Being who was to be worshiped on the Sabbath, and to be reckoned with on the other six days of the week as well. In their theology, God was a Sovereign Being who had not only created the Universe and man, but who continuously governed his creation as well. His sovereignty was not only expressed in the decrees of redemption, but in his complete control of his creatures and all their actions. Thus, the Puritan was to live every aspect of his daily life in the constant consciousness that God was sovereign and that he was responsible to him. This consciousness of the sovereignty of God must be reflected in all that man thinks, says, and does. His political, economic and social life was to be consciously fashioned in the light of this truth, for it spoke to him concerning the form which government should take, the conduct for his economic activities, the kind of education he should provide for his children, and the proper social relationships he must have with the fellow-citizens of this biblical commonwealth." [unquote] {A Theological Interpretation of American History, Craig Press, 1969, p. 10.}

What were the ramifications of a thoroughly Christian worldview in America? How did it play out? We know the story. Reformed theology and piety created first-class colonists: law-abiding, churchgoing, hardworking, and democratic; anxious to acquire education and to take advantage of self-government. The Thirteen Colonies experienced, on the whole, overwhelming prosperity. It was not just farming and agriculture either. Shipbuilding, fishing, whaling, tobacco, and manufactures of all sorts, started out slowly then flourished. God showered blessings on the land because of the obedience of the people. By the 1700's, with the exception of slaves, prosperity was reaching all classes of the population.

It seems as though everything was working in America's favor. The rate of expansion was about 40 percent or even more each decade. The availability of land meant large family units, rarely less than 60 acres, often well over 100, huge by European standards. Couples could marry earlier; a wife who survived to forty gave birth on average to six or seven children, four or five of whom reached maturity. Living standards were high, especially in food consumption, males ate over 200 pounds of meat a year, and this high-protein diet meant they grew to be over two inches taller than their British counterparts. By 1750 a typical Connecticut farm owned ten head of cattle, sixteen sheep, six pigs, two horses, and a team of oxen. In addition the farm grew maize, wheat, and rye, and two-fifths of the produce went on earning a cash income, spent on British imports or, increasingly, locally produced goods." [unquote] {A History of the American People, Paul Johnson, HarperCollins, 1997, pp. 94-95}

The American colonies, with their booming economy and high living-standards, became one of the fastest-growing and richest nations in the world. Again, Scripture is clear in explaining long-term blessing and prosperity: the primary reason for this bounty was not owing to natural resources; nor was it due to race, or climate, or economic gimmicks, or governmental policy. The French, Portuguese and Spanish all had the same opportunities the English had in their colonization, and nothing even close to America was forthcoming for them. The Roman Catholic worldview was no match for the Bible-centered faith of the Puritans. This explains the poverty of Latin America. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth." The primary reason God rains down His blessings on a land has to do with the corporate covenantal obedience and faithfulness of the people. Let us read (vs. 10-14; 17-20) [read it]

Here is a perennial dilemma. Wealth is both a positive and negative sanction. On the one hand it pleases God to prosper His people if they are faithful to Him in all they do. (Parenthetically, we should qualify covenantal blessings. Of course God's blessings do not fall mechanically on us in exact proportion and timing to every good deed done. God cannot be manipulated. The health and wealth gospel is surely a heresy. Numerous saints through history have been perplexed by the way the ungodly prosper. (Psalm 73) Nonetheless, in a general sense, those families, churches, and societies that maintain long-term faithfulness to the Triune God are eventually rewarded with spiritual as well as material blessings.

Here is where a paradox appears: those who reap riches tend to forget God. They put their trust in their own efforts. Deuteronomy 8:18-19 is relevant here. The prosperous and blessed people are prone to think, "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." (vs. 17) And what is the consequence of such forgetfulness? Verse 19 is to the point. "Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."

Blessing, rest, peace, prosperity -- the very things that should lead us to ever greater thankfulness and faithfulness to our Lord can be the factors that lead us astray and cause God's wrath to fall upon us. The Puritan theologian Cotton Mather fretted over this phenomena in his day. He could see it coming. As he put it, "Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother." In other words, there is a danger that the enchantments of this world may devour the soul. Religion at its best is a mother who gives birth to daughter-wealth, but in time the daughter destroys the mother.

Think about that. Not merely in the abstract, but personally. Are you allowing the enchantments of the world to weaken your faith and worship? Food and drink, TV and computers, sport and entertainment; have consumerism and self-gratification become idols to you? If there are enticements that are causing you to forget God, to neglect His means of grace, and think less of the life of the Church. Crucify them! Destroy them, before they destroy you! The Psalmist warns us that if we turn our back on God, He will send "leanness into our soul." (Ps. 106:15). A condition of emptiness and misery may prevail in the very midst of affluence. Just as the drug-addict or partygoer feels lonely and hollow in the middle of a merry-making crowd, so the soul of an affluent society loaded down with materialism may languish and die.

Which seems to be the crisis of America today. As a nation we are suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness. The Christian influence of the past is being blotted out. We must fight to recover the Christian principles that made this nation great.

Also let’s be thankful. Have you been plenteously rewarded? Enough with the complaining and grumbling! Don't let the spoiled behavior of our culture make you ungrateful! Think of what you have. If all we have is food and clothing, St. Paul says that we are to be completely contented. Most of us have much more than the Christian basics. Indeed, our Father-God has plenteously rewarded us.

I hope you will let out all the stops this Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is a great holiday. There is a unique joy in sitting around the table with family, glad hearts, good food, and a big appetite. This is a Christian celebration. Of all people in the United States, believers are the ones who express the most thankfulness -- we have been saved from sin and God’s wrath by the Blood of Christ. The cooked and dressed turkey set on the table as a symbol of the blessings our nation has enjoyed, the blessings you and your family have benefited from. This week may we remember and meditate upon the bounty we continually receive. And more than that, remember the Giver of that gracious bounty.

The Lord's Supper is also called the "Eucharist," a Greek word that means, "thanksgiving." Let us begin the Thanksgiving banquet right now. Unworthy sinners that we are, our Holy God nevertheless allows us to come and be spiritually nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Come and offer your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Come with grateful hearts to this thanksgiving meal.

Let us pray. P. 281.

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