Thanksgiving

Order of Service

• Announcements and Graduate Recognition
• Call to Worship — Psalm 134
• Hymn — O Bless Our God with One Accord
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8
• Scripture Reading — Acts 14:1-7
• Hymn — For All the Saints
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Speak, O Lord
• Sermon
• Hymn — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: Thanksgiving and the Faithfulness of God

Scripture: Philippians 1:3-8

I. Thanksgiving for the Faithfulness of the Church

A. Paul thanks God — not the Philippians — for their faithfulness, showing that the church is a supernatural product of God's work

1. To love Christ is to love his church (Ephesians 5:25)
2. Christ's charge to Peter — "Feed my sheep" — is a call to love Christ's body
3. Paul yearns for the Philippians "with the affection of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:8)

B. The church is Christ's greatest accomplishment

1. In John 14, Jesus promises the Spirit will produce greater works — the gospel expanding to the ends of the earth
2. In John 17, Christ's glory is bound up in giving eternal life to all the Father has given him
3. The Covenant of Redemption: the Father ordains, the Son redeems, the Spirit applies

C. The church universal is a sign of Christ's victory — redeemed sinners from every tribe, nation, and tongue

1. Giving thanks for the faithful church should be a regular part of the believer's prayer life

II. Thanksgiving for Faithfulness to the Gospel

A. The evidence that the gospel has taken root is that it is upheld in good times and bad (Philippians 1:5, 7)

1. The parable of the sower (Matthew 13): rocky soil joy is fleeting; good soil joy endures through trials
2. The Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1: true comfort is belonging to Christ alone, on the mountaintop or in the pit

B. Paul's letter to the Galatians offers a warning contrast

1. Galatians 1:6-9: Paul is astonished they are deserting the true gospel and turning to a distorted one
2. A church that abandons the gospel offers thanksgiving that falls on deaf ears before God

C. Application: may this church be good-soil gospel defenders, resting in Christ alone according to the apostolic doctrines of the faith

III. Thanksgiving for the Faithfulness of God

A. Philippians 1:6 — "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ"

1. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints: salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end
2. William Hendriksen: God carries out a plan; he never does anything by halves
3. Romans 8:30 — God is the subject of every verb: predestined, called, justified, glorified

B. The goal is completion "at the day of Jesus Christ" — the consummation of all things, not merely individual death

1. Ephesians 5:25-27: Christ gave himself for the church to present her to himself in splendor
2. Christ's glory is bound up in the redemption of his bride — he will not forsake his glory

C. Assurance of salvation rests not in the believer's ability but in Christ's covenant with the Father

1. Christ stakes his word and his glory on the completion of his redemptive mission
2. He will not lose one whom the Father has given him (John 17)
3. Where believers should look in doubt: to Christ and his eternal covenant, not inward to themselves