Five Kernels of Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Why am I thinking about Thanksgiving in the Spring? I'm not really sure but I do know that for most of us thanksgiving is when we get out the turkey, prepare a huge meal, stuff our faces, sit back and watch a football game and fall asleep. Is there something missing here?

Paul urges us to be thankful in every situation and circumstance we encounter. This isn't restricted to just one day in the Fall but EVERY day and EVERY circumstance. Yes, even the tough situations? Why? Because we can truly see God at work in all things, even if we have to wait to realize what He is doing through our trials.

Have you ever read the accounts of the first Thanksgiving?

The pilgrims came to America in 1620. They spent 66 days in the hold of a ship called The Mayflower, arriving on Nov. 21. One month later, on Dec. 26, all 102 passengers set foot on land and began to establish the colony of Plymouth. Through the course of the winter 46 died, nearly half their original number.

One day in mid-March a pair of Indians appeared, one named Samoset, he had learned to speak English from the sea captains that sailed up and down the coast, and was friendly. The other named Squanto. Squanto had been captured and taken to England and lived there for 15 years. He had returned to America six months earlier only to find that his tribe had been massacred. When he learned that this colony of English were struggling to survive, he adopted them as his own, teaching them how to plant, fish, hunt, and trade with their Indian neighbors.

The following is adapted from The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall, and David Manuel.

“That summer of 1621 was beautiful. Much work went into the building of new dwellings, and ten men were sent north up the coast in the sailing ship to conduct trade with the Indians. Squanto once again acted as their guide and interpreter. It was a successful trip, and that fall's harvest provided more than enough corn to see us through our second winter.

We pilgrims were brimming over with gratitude, not only to Squanto and the Indians who had been so friendly, but to our God. In Him we had trusted, and He had honored our obedience beyond our dreams. So, Governor Bradford declared a day of public Thanksgiving, to be held in October.

Massasoit the chief was invited, and unexpectedly arrived a day early-with NINETY Indians! Counting their numbers, we had to pray hard to keep from giving in to despair. To feed such a crowd would cut deeply into the food supply that was supposed to get us through the winter.
But we had learned one thing through our travails, it was to trust God implicitly. As it turned out, the Indians were not arriving empty-handed. Massasoit had commanded his braves to hunt for the occasion, and they arrived with no less than five dressed deer, and more than a dozen fat wild turkeys! And they helped with the preparations, teaching the women how to make hoecakes and a tasty pudding out of cornmeal and maple syrup. Finally, the Indians showed us a special delicacy: how to roast corn kernels in an earthen pot until they popped, fluffy and white - POPCORN!

We in turn provided many vegetables from their household gardens: carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, radishes, beets, and cabbages. Also, using some of the precious flour, we took summer fruits which the Indians had dried and introduced them to the likes of blueberry, apple, and cherry pie. That Thanksgiving Day was extended for three days.

One month later, in November, another ship from home dropped anchor in the harbor leaving off a cargo at Plymouth: thirty-five more colonists. In the air of celebration that followed, no one stopped to think that these newcomers had brought not one bit of equipment with them-no food, no clothing, no tools, no bedding.

In the cold light of the following morning, a sobering appraisal by Bradford, Brewster, and Winslow was taken, and a grim decision was reached: that we would all have to go on half-rations through the winter, to ensure enough food to see us into the summer season, when fish and game would be plentiful.

That winter we entered into a time of starving, much like the starving that took place at Jamestown that killed 8 out of 10 of our people. With all the extra people to feed and shelter we were ultimately reduced to a daily ration of Five Kernels of corn a piece.

In contrast to what happened at Jamestown, where they were driven to despair, the people of Plymouth turned to Christ, and not one of us died of starvation. When spring finally arrived (1623), we were well aware that we needed at least twice as much corn as our first harvest. The first planting would be for common use while the second planting would be for private use.
After the first planting, a dry spell set in that turned into a 12 week drought. The crops withered - along with our hopes.

In the words of Edward Winslow:

"These and the like considerations moved not only every goodman privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before Him, but also to humble ourselves together before the Lord by fasting and prayer.
To that end, a day was appointed by public authority, and set apart from all other employments.
But, O the mercy of our God, who was as ready to hear, as we were to ask! For though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet (our exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides.

On the next morning distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days [!] and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God!"

The yield that year was so abundant that the Pilgrims ended up with a surplus of corn, which they were able to use in trading that winter with northern Indians, who had not had a good growing season.

That fall a second Day of Thanksgiving was planned, and the Indians again were the guests of honor, and this time they bought 120 braves! Fortunately they again brought venison and turkey, as well. The occasion was described by one of the Adventurers, Emmanuel Altham, in a letter to his brother:

"After our arrival in New England, we found all our plantation in good health, and neither man, woman or child sick...... the fishing that is in this country, indeed it is beyond belief ... in one hour we got 100 cod .... We had about twelve tasty venisons, besides others, pieces of roasted venison and other such good cheer in such quantities that I wish you some of our share. For here we have the best grapes that ever you saw, and the biggest, and divers sorts of plums and nuts ... six goats, about fifty hogs and pigs, also divers hens ... A better country was never seen nor heard of, for here are a multitude of God's blessing."

What Altham neglected to mention was the first course that was served: on an empty plate in front of each person were five kernels of corn ... lest anyone should forget.

Sitting here in the middle of March thinking about Thanksgiving is probably a bit crazy but, as a Christian, I think I need to be a little bit more thankful than I am.

Five kernels of corn….. So, lest I forget, I wanted to let you know that I am thankful for each one of you.

Blessings,

This is a shot of a perfect wave. Its the kind of wave that makes regular visits into a surfer's dreams. There never has been, nor ever will be, another one just like it. It appeared for a brief three minutes of life and then faded into eternity. As I was pondering how my life would have been different if I had only gotten out there a few minutes earlier I noticed that not one person had caught this wave at all. This wave was left unridden! For most people, this would have been THE wave of a lifetime. I look back on that day now and then and search for applications to my life. Do I wish I could have a do-over? Sure, and I try and comfort myself with "there's always another day" but the reality is there is never going to be that same wave ever again. None of us can go back and start over with a new beginning but any of us can start today and make a new ending.

Becoming

The miracle of spiritual metamorphosis from a new-Christian caterpillar to a mature Christian butterfly does not happen through an unconscious chemical processes while inside a cocoon (church), but only through the conscious consideration and meditation of truth. Becoming is not automatic, it requires effort and determination. The Scripture is full of men and women, who are immature in their capacities for spiritual “flight” and yet are spoken to as responsible persons. The messengers of God speak to them with persuasions, evidences, exhortations, commands, warnings, promises and incentives—that they should be mature and flying! Becoming is simply the process of maturing in Christ – changing more and more into His image. This change is not an option but is commanded in scripture (Hebrews 6:1).

Christian maturity takes place when the people of God learn to treasure Jesus Christ above all things thus bringing God the greatest glory. Even the reality of our pain and losses in this life are always a test of how much we treasure the all-satisfying God in comparison to what we have just lost (See Dt 8:3 and Ps 66:10-12). This treasuring occurs as we “taste and see that the Lord is good”. The most important issue for our day is: how do these perfections and truths of God come to be known and loved by His people? The answer is that the perfections of God are to be known by the mind and relished by the heart. Therefore, if God is to receive all the glory, all becoming —all conversions and changes—must come about by addressing the mind and the will of new-Christians with the compelling truth and beauty of the person of Jesus Christ.

It is not enough to simply think right thoughts. Being a Christian does not mean merely believing with our head that Christ died for us. It means "being constrained" by the love shown in that act. The truth must press in on us; it grips and holds; it impels and controls. It surrounds us and won't let us run from it. A Christian is a person living under the constraint of Christ's love.

But that constraint comes from a "judgment" that we make about Christ's death: "When he died, I died." Since the sin of Adam was legally and effectively the sin of his race; so the death of Christ was legally and effectively the death of his people. And since our death has already happened, we do not bear the condemnation of our sin (Romans 8:1-3). That is the essence of the love of Christ for us. Through his own undeserved death, he died our well-deserved death, and opened his future as our future. That truth must move from the head to grip the heart. That can only happen through a personal encounter with the one who has done it. How shall we not live for the one who died our death that we might live by his life! Hodge puts it like this:

“A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our redemption; and who is so affected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for which he lives.”

This change of heart and life is the essence of what it means to “become”. It means becoming all that Christ died to free us to be. It means finding our greatest satisfaction and joy in being what we were made to be. It is a new affection powered by a transformed mind. It means serving Him from delight and not from duty. Duty without delight is the essence of being a Pharisee.

1. The necessity of “becoming” does not nullify grace.“Becoming” is based squarely on the pardon of grace. “Becoming” demonstrates the power of grace. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, "By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain but I worked harder than any of them. Nevertheless it was not I but the grace of God which is with me." Grace is not only the pardon that passes over our sin; it is also the power that produces our becoming. Yes my effort is required but it is “He who works in me to will and to do for His pleasure.” Anything else is simply a work that will produce nothing.

2. The necessity of “becoming” does not contradict justification by faith alone.
Justification is on the basis of Christ's work alone. This is the foundation of sanctification--not the other way around. The only sin we can fight against successfully is a forgiven sin. Without a once-for-all justification through Christ, the only thing that our striving for change produces is despair or self-righteousness.

The work of God in justification does not make the work of God in sanctification optional. The Bible doesn't say that forgiveness makes holiness optional. It doesn't make it optional, it makes it possible. The God who justifies also sanctifies. The faith that justifies also satisfies--it satisfies the human heart and frees it from the deceptive satisfactions of sin. “Becoming” is fueled by the power of a new affection. That is why justification and the process of sanctification always go together. They both come from the same faith. “Becoming” finds satisfaction in Christ and so is weaned away from the satisfactions of sin.

3. The necessity of “becoming” does not destroy assurance.
The immature Christian might reason like this: if some measure of holy living is required and if it cannot be precisely quantified--if you can't tell me exactly how much is necessary--then that requirement will always leave me unsure if I have enough. So any requirement for holiness, change or obedience at all destroys my assurance.
This is not the reasoning of the Bible. The Bible states that there is a "holiness without which we will not see the Lord" and we are told in Hebrews 12:14 to "pursue" it. This does not imply that this pursuit/change destroys assurance. The reason it doesn't is God's commitment to sanctify us--to make us as holy as we need to be in this life--is as sure as His work in saving us. What gives us assurance in this matter is not primarily focusing on the measure of our holiness, but on the measure of God's faithfulness to do the sanctifying work he promises to do.

In conclusion: I will “become” all that He wants me to be as I yield my life and abide in Him (John 15). I will become as I take His yoke and learn from Him and am transformed by the renewing of my mind. I become as I encounter God in such a way as I find Him irresistible and He becomes the reason I live. All change must occur in the affections or it will not last nor glorify God. Anything else falls short of His design.