A Heart of Thanksgiving

Many people keep asking one key question, especially in this new dispensation of grace that we are in. Knowing full well that we are under grace and that Christ changed everything, including how God relates with man, we all have at some point wondered that if all that we are taught really changed, why do we still have the Old Testament? I mean, we are told that grace changed everything, and the way God deals with us is not the way He dealt with the people who were under the law, because “while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17 (AMP). So God does not deal with us on basis of the law, but of grace (God’s unearned, undeserved favor and blessing). So, why do we still have the Old Testament with us, and the law?

According to the scriptures, these things were written for our admonishing, so that we may learn from them. They were written so that we see what grace did for us. Many think that grace has never existed before. It did. The law is the opposite of grace. Under the law, God deals with you on basis of your merits, of what you deserve. You do, He does. Under grace, God deals with you based on His merits, on what you do not deserve. He has done, you do. Before the law was given, from Genesis 1 to Exodus 19, God was dealing with the children of Israel based on grace. I’ll show you the indicators of the same in a bit.

So, why did He introduce the law in the first place? The children of Israel came to a point of thinking that God did whatever He did, based on their goodness and obedience. In Exodus 19:8, they told Moses that whatever God commanded them to do, they will do. So God gave them the law to show them that they can never earn His goodness, and they can never by the law deserve His favor. This is why we are told that the law was introduced to us as our trainer [our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us] until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith. Galatians 3:24 (AMP). It was introduced to bring us to an end of ourselves, where we realize that we actually cannot attain God’s righteousness (right standing with God) and earn His goodness by keeping the law, that it had to be by grace (His unmerited favor). It was to bring us to a point where we see that we really need a Savior, God’s help in helping us find favor and a right standing with Him (2 Cor. 5:21). When the timing was right, Christ came and died for us all, thus re-introducing grace. That’s another lesson for another day, in depth.

Today, since we have learnt so far that whatever was written was done so for us to learn from, let us pick a few lessons from the children of Israel.

1 Corinthians 10:1-11

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. ⁵ But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.⁷ And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." ⁸ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; ⁹ nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; ¹⁰ nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

 ¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

We have all heard about the children of Israel, how God rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians and took them to the land of Canaan. God loved them so much and was good to them all through, despite their rebellious and complaining attitudes.

The first time they complained was when their sufferings in bondage exceeded (Exodus 2:23-24). God, in response, sent Moses (Exodus 3-4). The second time they complained was when Moses talked to Pharaoh and he wouldn’t let them go, and so increased their suffering (Exodus 5:20-21). In response, God reassured their deliverance, appointed Aaron as their spokesperson, and sent the plagues (Ex. 6-12:30). The third time they complained, they had come to the Red Sea, and thought the Egyptians would finish them (Ex. 14:10-12). In response, God reassured them and destroyed the Egyptians (Ex. 14:15-31). The fourth time was when they came to the bitter waters, and in response God made it sweet (Ex. 15:22-27). The fifth time was when they lacked food, and in response God sent them manna (Ex. 16). The sixth time was when they lacked water, and God gave them water from a rock (Ex 17:1-7).

All these times, they complained, and God did not punish them. Right after the law was introduced in Exodus 20, fear gripped the people (Exodus 20:18-21). From then on, if they complained, they were punished. What I’m I trying to say? Before the law was given, God was not dealing with them based on their goodness or merit, otherwise if they complained they deserved to perish. After the law, He started dealing with them based on their merits. Before the law, God was dealing with them based on grace.

In spite of all God did for them, they rebelled against Him, and complained. They had never earned whatever God did for them, and God was not obligated to, He only needed one man to fulfill His promise to Abraham, since that is why He was taking them to the land of Canaan. If he had picked Moses, He would have still made a great nation out of him, but He still put up with their complaining, because of His grace and love. They were never thankful.

We may be judgmental of them and criticize them, but are we any different? How many times do we complain to God and others, forgetting all He has done for us? How many times do we start our prayers by reminding God what we do not have, instead of thanking Him for what He has given us, knowing that we have done nothing to deserve His goodness and faithfulness, or what He has done in the past? How many times do we look back and reminisce the life we had before we accepted Christ, and wish we never got saved? All the while not remembering all God did to get us from that life, and what He has done since then, for us? How many times do we pray with an attitude of, “I deserve this God, why don’t I have it?” Or, “God, I have done all I could, by trying to keep your word, going to church, reading your word, giving tithes and offerings etc., and you still haven’t done this and that while you still do it for so and so, who never does any of these?”

How many times have we felt like we deserve all God has done for us, and if we do not what we need or good things, we are being deprived? Don’t we realize that God does not deal with us based on our merits, and we can never earn or deserve His goodness, it’s simply by grace? Don’t we realize that if God is going to do anything in our lives, it is not because we have gone to church, read the word etc., but because of His grace? Don’t we realize that God has already done enough, and will do much more, but even if He didn’t, what He has done to rescue us from the trap of the devil that we got ourselves in was more than enough? I’ve heard comments such as, “when I was in the world, I had everything I had, but now that I am saved life seems to worsen.” Others, many times, envy unbelievers and the way of life they lead. At the back of the mind, what one is saying is they are wishing they went back to where they were, same thing the children of Israel were saying, wishing they went back to Egypt.

Exodus 14:10-12

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.

 ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?  ¹² "Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."

Looking at their story, it is easy to hate them and wonder what kind of ungrateful and mean sort of people they were. But, are we really any different? Notice the first thing they did, before complaining: they lifted their eyes and saw the Egyptians, and were afraid. Every time we take our eyes off what God has already done and who He is, and on His word, fear creeps in, and we start complaining. Complaining is as a result of fear. Thanksgiving is as a result of faith. When they took their eyes off God’s word, having said they will enter the Promised Land, they focused on their present conditions, allowed themselves to be driven by the physical, and thus grew fearful and complained. If they had kept their eyes on God, His word and His faithfulness, then they would have marched on with thanksgiving, being guaranteed that they would make it through.

Rather than focusing on the greatness of their God who had performed numerous miracles throughout their journey, based on His goodness and grace, they focused on the greatness of their problems and hence complained. It’s like an insult to God! He did so much to get them out of slavery, but they still wished they could go back, it’s like telling Him, “you never knew what you were doing God.” Instead of trusting that He had a better plan for them, they thought that He had gotten stuck and His plan ended at the Red Sea. Don’t we behave the same way? Thinking that God brought us so far to leave us, and wish we were like so and so, an unbeliever? Wishing we were never saved when things get tough, and thinking of backsliding? That’s still like an insult to God, thinking that He is stuck at our problem, and telling Him that what He did and has done to bring us where we are really doesn’t count, we would wish to go back. Still, God is gracious.

It is easy to judge the children of Israel, knowing how the story turned out in the long run, and standing on the other side of the Red Sea. It will be easy for us to look back and wish we trusted God through the hard times, knowing that He always comes through, and is faithful and true, and that He always has a solution for our problems way before the problems existed. What if we approached every problem with that attitude, a thankful attitude, knowing that before the problem existed; the Problem-Solver had a solution, and will take us through? If only the children of Israel had this attitude, they would have taken less time in the wilderness, and enjoyed God’s goodness and grace all through, without having to take the 40 years with a heavy law on their shoulders. If you reject grace, you will suffer under the law (Hebrews 10:26-31), now and in the afterlife. Grace is there to be enjoyed, but only with those who choose to have a thankful attitude, trusting in God. If you do not go through the wilderness with a thankful attitude thanking God, you will go round and round the wilderness, not knowing that God has already provided the way out, and the only way to see it is to focus on Him and His word, not on the wilderness and what it presents.

Moses even said that God carried them on His hands like little children, yet they did not see this, rather they chose to focus on the physical:

“…in the wilderness… you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place… who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.” Deuteronomy 1:31-33.

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” Deuteronomy 2:7.

Still, they chose not to believe God’s word and promise to be with them and continue to be good to them, and instead doubted Him who had constantly been good to them:

“Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God…” Deuteronomy 1:32.

Further on along the journey, they started being swayed to worship other gods. You would think that after seeing the greatness of their God then they would fear Him and know that He is the only true God, but no; they went on after other gods. Instead of focusing their eyes on their one and only true God, they focused on gods they made by their own hands, that they could see. They were moved and led more by what they could see rather than what they could not see, and wanted to relate more to the physical, which is not what God wanted for them. God wanted them to focus on what they could not see, to trust Him:

‘… Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’  Deuteronomy 1:29-31.

They still would not believe Him, and chose to rebel.

But with most of them God was not pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. 1 Corinthians 10:5-7a.

They knew that God hated idolatry, but despite seeing all His goodness and faithfulness they still would not obey Him. He had said they should not have any other gods before Him nor make for themselves any carved gods (Exodus 20:3-4), and they did. Moreover, they knew that God hated adultery and sexual immorality as time and again He warned them of that (Exodus 20:14), but they still would not listen.

Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell… 1 Corinthians 10:8.

You would think that after seeing all that God could do and His faithfulness to them they would change and honor and fear Him, but they did not. It seemed they did not even care for their futures, knowing that only God could take them to the Promised Land, as He was the author of their deliverance and journey. The one thing that we all know them for was complaining, which they did right from the time they came to the Red Sea to the time most of them died in the wilderness.

…nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 1 Corinthians 10:9-10.

It seems unbelievable that they would do this, despite seeing all the goodness, mercy and faithfulness of God, despite experiencing His love and seeing all He could do. Yet, the Bible tells us that these things were written us as examples, so that we ourselves should not fall prey of the same circumstances:

Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 1 Corinthians 10:6.

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11.

Now again before you shake your head and pass judgment on the children of Israel for their obvious hardness of the heart, how many times do we do the same? I believe the story of the children of Israel is an imagery of salvation. By the end of this lesson you will see that no believer at all has any right to complain, nor to be unthankful. No matter what we go through, we should be thankful at all points and in everything, not based on our situations, but based on God’s faithfulness, His promises and word, and who He is. If we remain to be a people who are driven by what we see on the natural, we will always be swayed, walk in fear and always complain. If we remain a people who are driven by what we know (God, His word and His faithfulness), we will never be swayed, remain steadfast in faith and maintain a thankful attitude all through.

I’ve shown you the side of the children of Israel; now let us draw some parallels to ourselves.

For centuries, man complained and groaned on the inside after Adam fell, having fallen a victim of sin and death. Fellowship between God and man was broken through sin, and it seemed like hope was all gone for man to ever fellowship with God. This is the same position the children of Israel were in, in Egypt. They were slaves to sin, and so were we, before Jesus came as the Savior the world. The Bible tells us that,

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned – (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come… Romans 5:12-14.

Because of Adam, man was a slave to sin and death.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?  Romans 6:16.

By obeying sin, the whole of mankind became a slave to sin and death. By falling for temptation, Adam subjected man to the slavery of sin and death, an equivalent of the slavery the children of Israel were in, in Egypt. When they cried out to God, He sent them a savior – Moses. When mankind cried out to God due to the oppression of sin and death, He sent them a savior – Jesus, His Son.

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17.

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. Hebrews 3:1-2.

There are other scriptures comparing Jesus to Moses, and some even indicate that Jesus has more glory than Moses:

For this One [Jesus] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmusch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. Hebrews 3:3.  

Paul further makes the comparison between the deliverance of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to our salvation, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

•  They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Corinthians 10:2); we were baptized into Christ by faith in His name, through His blood (Romans 6:3-4, Ephesians 4:4-6, 1 Corinthians 12:13). 

• They all ate the same spiritual food (1 Corinthians 10:3); we ate the same spiritual food when we accepted Christ, which is the word of God: “…as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…” 1 Peter 2:24. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger…” John 6:35. “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:48-51. “’Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4, (also Deut 8:3). Jesus is the bread of life, and since Jesus is the personified word of God (John 1:1-3, 14), we find that the word of God is the spiritual food, the same we partook of when we believed in Jesus (John 6:53-58). In the desert when they ate the manna, they were partaking of the spiritual food, which was a symbolism of Christ. This is why when they complained against the manna and called it “worthless bread” (Numbers 21:5), Paul said that they were tempting Christ and were thus destroyed by serpents (1 Corinthians 10:9). 

• They all drank the same spiritual drink. 1 Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us, ‘…and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.’  We also drank the same spiritual drink when we put our faith in Jesus: “…he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35b. “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14. The spiritual drink is the Holy Spirit and what the children of Israel drank from the Rock (Jesus) was a symbolism of the Holy Spirit, symbolizing us receiving the Holy Spirit from Jesus. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:13. 

• The Rock they drank from was Christ, which is why God became angry when Moses struck the Rock twice; he was supposed to strike it once, and the second time speak to it. This symbolizes Christ being stricken (Isaiah 53:4) so that we could receive the spiritual drink, the Promise of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39, 14:16, 26, 16:7, 13-15, Acts 1:4-5, 8, 2:38-39). Jesus was never to be stricken twice, so when Moses struck the Rock twice he angered God. Moses was supposed to speak to the Rock to produce water the second time, which symbolizes us accepting Jesus, after that He was stricken on Calvary, to receive the spiritual drink, the Holy Spirit. Interesting to note that the first time Moses encountered the Rock was immediately after they left a place called the Wilderness of Sin (Exodus 17:1), to signify man’s thirst and desperate need for a Savior after being a slave to sin and Jesus being stricken so that man may never thirst again (John 7:37-39). The place where he struck the Rock was called Horeb, which means desolate. This is the state of man before accepting Christ, desolation in the heart. Moses struck the Rock with a rod, signifying Jesus being stricken and afflicted by the word of God for our sake (Romans 6:23, Galatians 3:13). God told Moses to smite the rock. “Smite” in this verse is from the Hebrew word nakah, which means to strike, wound, kill, slaughter, punish, stripe, wound; these are some of the words Isaiah uses to describe what happened to Jesus, according to Isaiah 53:4-5. The rod in the scriptures always represents the word of God.  You can read the whole story about Moses and the Rock in Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:2-13.

With the above similarities and comparisons between our salvation and the salvation of the children of Israel, we see clearly that God was good to them just as He has been good to us. What they went through was for our sake, as we have seen Paul say in 1 Corinthians 10:11, and were written for us to learn from them. Despite seeing the salvation of God and how He rescued us from the slavery of sin and death into eternal life through Christ Jesus, men continue to live in rebellion and intentional sin against God. In spite of the fact that someone died out of love for humanity in order to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13, 1 Peter 2:9), Christians continue to live in disobedience to God’s word and in hardness of the heart. Despite the fact that God has been faithful to humanity and especially believers despite our faithlessness (2 Timothy 2:13), we still continue to idolize other gods (money, people, internet, TV etc.). In spite of God proving to be mighty and great in our lives starting with creating us to saving us and sustaining us, we continue to doubt His ability to save and provide for us in times of need, and trust in our own efforts and man to help us in time of need, instead of running to the throne, to the one who sympathizes with our weaknesses and is always ready to give us grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). Despite God’s command to live in holiness, men continue to rebel and live in sin (1 Peter 1:14-16, 2 Peter 2:20-22).

All in all, God was angry at the children of Israel for complaining and being ungrateful after all He did for them. Since He has done the same plus much more for us, we should never complain, as it grieves Him.

No one has any reason to complain. Everyone has a reason to be thankful.

Amen.

-- Sam Gitonga. 



(16/03/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.)

Brother Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.