Thankfulness: Saying Grace (11-16-25)
Overview
Saying Grace: Giving Thanks for the Father's Provision
The word grace, when spoken before a meal, comes from a Latin phrase meaning "the act of thanksgiving." Scripture shows this practice modeled by the apostle Paul, who "took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat" Acts 27:35. More importantly, it is modeled by Jesus himself. In John 6:1-11, before multiplying the five barley loaves and two fish to feed five thousand, Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. Before the miracle came the gratitude. Jesus said grace—giving thanks for the Father's provision.
When we say grace, we do the same, but the act of thanksgiving is far broader than the food on the plate. Reflecting on the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, Martin Luther taught that "daily bread" includes everything needed for this life: food and clothing, home and property, work and income, devoted family and orderly community, good government, favorable weather, peace and health, a good name, and true friends and neighbors. Every gift comes from the Father's hand, for "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" James 1:17.
Yet honestly, we often fail to say grace. Like Israel in the wilderness who longed for Egypt's onions while eating manna from heaven, like the unmerciful servant of Matthew 18 who forgot the enormous debt he had been forgiven, like the nine lepers of Luke 17 who never returned to thank Jesus, we grow accustomed to God's blessings as we are accustomed to the air we breathe. We are tempted to credit our own initiative, intellect, and hard work, or to fixate on what we lack rather than what we have been given.
Still, the Father keeps providing—most of all in his greatest gift. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23. Christ's cross and empty tomb meet our deepest need, reconciling us to God. So let grace shape the whole day, not just the moments before meals. As Luther prayed after eating: "We thank you, Lord, you are good to us and your love lasts forever. Thank you, Father in heaven, for all the good things you have given us through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Transcript
What you open your Bibles, please, with me for our time and gods were today to the gospel 2s
of John the sixth chapter. 7s
If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find the sixth chapter 9s
of the gospel of John on page 84. 14s
When you sit down for a meal before you begin to eat what do you do? 20s
Now grace can consist of obviously your own words, huh? 33s
That's always beautiful, but there's also some words that one can borrow. 37s
Some table prayers that are common and abounding. 42s
For example, be present at our table Lord, be here and everywhere adored. 47s
These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in fellowship with thee. 53s
Bless Father our gifts to our use and us to your service for Jesus' sake. 61s
Or. 67s
Thank you, Lord, for the world's so sweet. 69s
Thank you for the food we eat. 70s
Thank you for the birds that sing. 73s
Thank you, God, for everything. 75s
Perhaps some of those sound familiar. 78s
What you use yourselves? 81s
Well, it actually comes from a Latin word that means the acts of thanksgiving, this 84s
Latin phrase. 90s
And what we see in the Bible is we see, for example, Paul giving grace before a meal in 91s
Acts, the 27th chapter. 99s
It says, after he had said this, he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence 101s
of all, he broke it and began to eat. 108s
The apostle Paul said grace before he ate. 114s
We say grace before we eat. 119s
Here's my question. 122s
Did Jesus say grace before the ate? 131s
Jesus, when we come to the sixth chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus and his disciples are 140s
seeking solitude and solitude was evasive. 146s
Look, please, at verse 1, chapter 6. 153s
After this Jesus went to the other side of the sea of Galilee, also called the sea of 157s
Tiberius, a large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing 162s
for the sick. 168s
Jesus went up the mountain, sat down there with his disciples. 170s
Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews was near. 174s
When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said, to fill up, where 179s
are we to buy bread for these people to eat? 185s
Well, Philips already done the math here, right? 191s
And Phil up the response of verse 6, it says he said this to test him for himself knew 195s
what he was going to do, fill up and insert him six months, wages would not buy enough 200s
bread for each of them to get a little. 208s
Then you've got Andrew chiming in on the situation, highlighting the impossibility of this 213s
situation. 218s
Verse 8, one of his disciples Andrew, Simon Peters, brothers, said to him, there's a boy 220s
here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many people? 226s
Jesus, though, the story tells us miraculously multiplies the five loaves and the two fish. 238s
So miraculously multiplying it, the description tells us that the people were stuffed. 245s
And he's so miraculously multiplied it, that there were enough fragments left over to fill 252s
12 baskets full. 258s
And the people were thrilled about this. 261s
They were so thrilled about this that they wanted to make Jesus king and make him king by force. 265s
You see what's in there mind here, right? 278s
The king is going to give us all the things here. 281s
Look what he's just done with this meal. 287s
Let's make him king. 289s
Now, before he multiplies the five loaves and the two fish to miraculously feed the 295s
five thousand leftovers, what does Jesus do? 307s
Look at verse 10, please. 318s
Jesus said, make the people sit down. 321s
Now, there was a great deal of grass in the place so they sat down about five thousand and all. 325s
Then Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. 332s
So also the fish as much as they wanted before multiplying the five loaves and the two fish. 345s
Jesus did one. 360s
In our home over the years, a common prayer that we've used is the common table prayer. 371s
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. 381s
We've used that. 387s
All the kids grew up and now the grandkids coming and that's a common prayer that we'll 389s
often times say, it's a simple prayer on one level, but on another level, there's a lot going on in 394s
that prayer. 405s
When we pray, come Lord Jesus, we're inviting not only Christ to be at the table with us, 408s
but it also looks ahead to the end of Revelation where the cry is, come Lord Jesus. 416s
So in that grace that is said, we are also looking forward to and desiring the day for when Christ will 424s
come again. 434s
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. 435s
Think of a 19th century painter. He was a German Lutheran Fritz van Ude. 441s
He is beautiful, beautiful painting of this family with simple means. 446s
You can tell here that they've gathered around the table, but who has come into the room there, 453s
but it's Christ. 460s
And so they're standing, you can see that they're bowing the children, our little shy. 461s
Just a lovely, lovely reminder. 466s
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest and then the prayer and let these gifts, let these gifts to us. 468s
Be blessed. 486s
We're thanking God for that which He has provided. 489s
Look again, verse 11. 495s
Then Jesus took the loaves and when He had given thanks. 499s
Remember we're in chapter two here of that extended series, the Red Letter Words. 510s
Let's scripture, records Jesus is saying and we're in chapter two of that series. 517s
We're in the second sermon here of this series of these weeks leading up and then through 523s
Thanksgiving Eve in which we're asking the question, what did Jesus recorded in scripture? 529s
What did He give thanks for? 536s
So here's the second answer. 542s
He gave thanks for the fathers provision. 545s
He gave thanks for the fathers provision. 552s
When we say grace, we do the same thing. 561s
But here's the thing. 567s
Grace is more encompassing than the provision of the food. 572s
Martin Luther, in reflecting on the fourth petition to the Lord's Prayer, 584s
that petition give us this day, Artially Bread. 589s
He gets at this very point. 593s
Because he's asking the question, well, what is daily bread and Luther writes this, it includes 597s
everything needed for this life, such as food and clothing, home and property, work and income, 603s
a devoted family and orderly community, good government, favorable weather, peace and health, 612s
a good name and true friends and neighbors. 619s
Here what he's doing there? 623s
So this is what daily bread is. 625s
Grace then off that Latin phrase, the act of Thanksgiving, Grace then, 629s
well, yes, we associate it with the food that is on the table before us, but what you see in scripture 635s
is the act of Thanksgiving that grace. 642s
It's all encompassing. 649s
Now, this can go on and on. Luther here is just identifying a few things here that grace is all 652s
encompassing the depth of it and the breadth of it. 658s
When we say grace, we are acknowledging that all comes from the hand of God. 663s
We are thanking for provision in the wide swath of God's provision. 673s
But do we fall short in this? We fall short in this. 688s
I won't ask for a show of hands here, but if you ever sat down for a meal and you started to eat 695s
and somebody at the table says, did we say grace? Did we say grace? 707s
You see when it comes to the giving thanks for the totality of the provision of God, 715s
sometimes are saying grace in that sense, sometimes it can simply become wrote or an afterthought. 721s
And so the question, did we say grace? We must answer no. 732s
When it comes to giving thanks for the totality of God's provision that height and the depth and the 743s
expense of it, sometimes giving thanks can become muted. 750s
Because we can start to look at the things we have as that which we have acquired. 758s
And so then we start to think that what we have, well that is a result of 765s
my initiative and my hard work and my personality and my intellect and my stick totiveness. 771s
My dreams and my plans that I've brought about. 778s
And in the end we can start giving thanks for who we can thanks for ourselves. Right? 783s
So when the question comes and we say, did we say grace? 790s
The answer is no. No. 798s
When it comes to giving thanks for the totality of God's provision for us, 803s
we can come to realize that sometimes those pairs of thanks are lacking because we can be tempted to focus 812s
on what we don't have instead of what we do have. 821s
And if the question is asked to us, do we say grace? 827s
We have to say, well no. No. Thanks giving Eve, the congregation will sing. 833s
Calm youth, thankful people, calm it's a great hymn. It's perfect for Thanksgiving Eve. 841s
And it's so often we find in our lives that we, we aren't giving thanks. Right? 849s
If we're just really honest because the blessings of God, we've become a custom to them. 853s
Come a custom to them. Like air. We're just accustomed to the fact that as we breathe in, 860s
there's going to be air there for us to breathe. And so we can be accustomed to all of the blessings of God. 865s
And we can just kind of take them for granted. And so if the question comes, 874s
So often the answer is no, right? 883s
Old Testament tells us of the people of old God was feeding them with manna, a heavenly food. 889s
But then you read how they start harking back to their times in Egypt and remembering those as the 896s
good old days. Remember, they were under the hand of a ferro that was incredibly oppressive. 901s
They were enslaved free. They were treated as non-humans. And yet amidst God feeding them, 907s
as they're exiting out of Egypt to the promised land, as God feeding them with the manna, 916s
they look back as the good old days in Egypt. And they think, oh, remember the food there? 923s
Why, it's the account of the servant in Matthew the 18th chapter that's been forgiven as enormous debt. 931s
Enormous, it can even fathom a debt, that big enormous debt. And then he comes across another fellow slave 938s
who owes him just a little bit, 947s
but he doesn't forgive that slave, that debt doesn't show any mercy. It looks 17 where Jesus heals 949s
the 10 lepers and one comes back to say, thank you for it. And Jesus says, where's the other nine? 961s
It's Matthew the 19th chapter with the rich fool who Jesus gives words of wisdom and the 969s
rich fool just rejects them outright. They didn't give thanks. They didn't say grace 976s
for the totality of the provision. They didn't say grace. 986s
And us? 999s
Us? 1002s
Yet what does the Father do? But the Father keeps providing. He just keeps providing. 1007s
James tells us in the first chapter, every generous act of giving with every perfect gift is from 1025s
above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there's no variation or shadow do to change. 1038s
Everything that we have is a blessing from God. 1049s
To the times where we don't say grace, he just keeps providing. 1059s
And the greatest provision, the greatest provision is the Lord Jesus Christ. 1075s
Romans the 6 chapter, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life 1085s
in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Father sends the Son and on the cross, the Son pays our sin day. 1094s
We're reconciled, we're redeemed, we're restored into relationship with God Almighty. As with 1105s
Hannah today, he graciously comes and washes us in the victory of the cross and the empty tomb. And he 1113s
says, that's for you and your mind and I'm not letting go. God just continues to come with the good news 1121s
of the gospel continues to come with his provision for us. The provision for our greatest need 1130s
of how do we stand before God on judgment day. And in Jesus Christ we have that answer. 1140s
How grace, us, of God, how gracious. Martin Luther, not only said grace before the meal, 1151s
he also said grace after the meal. And one of his prayers of grace after the meal 1173s
gets at this expanse of the totality of the provision of God. And Luther would oftentimes 1184s
pray this. We thank you, Lord, you're good to us and your love lasts forever. 1194s
Thank you, Father and Heaven, for all the good things you've given us through Jesus Christ our Lord, 1206s
who lives and rules forever. Love it. Let's say grace all day, 1216s