Saturday, November 26, 2011

THANKSGIVING
November 23, 24, 2011
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Daniel 4: 4-5, 24-25, 29-31, 33-37

“THANKSGIVING TIPS FROM NEBUCHADNEZZAR”
1. Don’t be a turkey.
2. Do thank the LORD for turkey.

Daniel 4:4-5, 24-25, 29-31, 33-37 (NIV1984) “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. 5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. 24 “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. 34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Nobody knows it all. Everybody needs help. Those who are wise regularly listen to others to find better ways of doing things. That’s why you have longstanding newspaper columns like “Hints from Heloise.” If you run into trouble making that Thanksgiving Turkey or just want some ideas on how to make it the best you can call the Butterball Turkey Talk Line. How about Christians for thanksgiving? Who could we turn to for Thanksgiving tips? I’m sure there are several obvious ones you could think of but today we turn to a not so obvious tipster. King Nebuchadnezzar.
You probably know him as the Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem around 600 BC. He’s the one who carried off the brightest and best of the Jewish people to Babylon. If you haven’t connected the dots yet he is also the one who built the 90 foot tall and 9 feet wide image of gold and commanded all the people in Babylon to bow down to it. He’s the one who then had Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace. That’s all in Daniel chapters 1-3. Then you get to chapter 4. It reads like a signed confession from Nebuchadnezzar. He had had a dream, a very terrifying dream. No one could tell him what it meant. No one, that is, except the prophet Daniel who had also been carried off to Babylon. He said, “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
Now why was this all going to happen? Well as it turns out Nebuchadnezzar was acting like a turkey. We have that phrase. If someone is being, well a jerk, proud, just kind of strutting around not thinking of anyone else, he’s a turkey. Here it was the Lord who had raised up Babylon and given the empire to Nebuchadnezzar for the purpose of chastening Judah and Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar was acting like he had done it all. He was proud and boastful, a turkey.
That leads to our first Thanksgiving tip from Nebuchadnezzar. Don’t be a turkey. On Thanksgiving Day, yes all year long, don’t be a turkey. Don’t become boastful and proud about your accomplishments, the things you have, the job you hold, your place in society. On Thanksgiving and always recognize God as the giver. Don’t be a turkey spiritually. We all have to fight that aspect of our sinful nature that really does think we are better than other people, that it’s just a little understandable why God would love and save people like us rather than other sinners. Don’t be a turkey.
Nebuchadnezzar was and so the Lord treated him that way. “Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.” Hair like feathers? Nails like claws of a bird? The turkey looked like a turkey. God was humbling him.
Now listen to how Nebuchadnezzar responded. “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” Nebuchadnezzar thanked the Lord for turkey, for humbling him.
That’s our second tip from him. On Thanksgiving Day and always thank the Lord for turkey. Obviously it is an easy and natural thing to thank the Lord for your Thanksgiving turkey just like it is an easy and natural thing to thank the Lord for other good things in life. It’s good for us to do that. If you have good health, more than you need, loving family and friends, good things happening in your life, thank the Lord for that. Those are blessings. They come from Him. But thank the Lord for turkey too.
Nebuchadnezzar’s kind of turkey. God’s humblings in life. We need them. Just like Nebuchadnezzar when God fills our lives with good things we can tend to take them for granted. We want to take credit for them or at least share the credit with God. If you read Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation made during the Civil War you see that the nature of man has not changed. We don’t want to admit to our complete dependence on God. But we are completely dependent and need to live that way. Lincoln looked at the Civil War as a humbling chastisement from God. Nebuchadnezzar saw his turkey episode as a humbling chastisement from God. We can and should do the same. Thank the Lord for turkey, for any humblings. They are for our good. They keep us reliant on Him for our earthly needs. They keep us trusting in Jesus for our salvation. That’s the worst form of arrogance, isn’t it? When we think we merit heaven on our own or help Jesus in some way. So much better to be humbled by having our sins exposed by God’s righteous laws so we know how much we need Jesus, believe in Him and are saved eternally.
That becomes the bottom line. We have learned some Thanksgiving tips from an unlikely source. Nebuchadnezzar. What we don’t know is if we will see him again in heaven. His confession isn’t clear. Did he simply acknowledge God’s sovereignty or know Him as the Lord who showed mercy and would send a Savior? We don’t know. Don’t do that to the people who will follow you. Let them know by what you say and do that Jesus is your Savior and have a blessed Thanksgiving. Amen.

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