Thanksgiving Hypocrisy Continues – Truth Ignored
An all-creatures Bible Message

Thanksgiving Hypocrisy Continues – Truth Ignored
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
25 November 2018
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-12
John 18:33-37
Revelation 1:9-20

Thanksgiving hypocrisy continues – truth ignored, and even while I was typing these words, I could hear the future grumblings of some people saying: how could you say this about a national holiday, what do you mean by hypocrisy, what hypocrisy, and so forth…
 
So, let’s begin by talking about the hypocrisy connected to Thanksgiving.
 
How can we give thanks for our nation and at the same time ignore the thousands upon thousands of Native Americans who were killed and displaced by our European ancestors…to do this is hypocrisy.
 
Did you know that the Jewish people have no prayer for eating animal flesh, because they knew that God doesn’t bless the killing and eating of any other living beings who He lovingly created?
 
Christianity adopted the Hebrew text as part of its own; yet most people asked for God’s blessing over their Thanksgiving meal, which in most cases included the roasted carcass of a turkey…this is hypocrisy.
 
All of us should know the horrible things that happen on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, and at the same time we ignore that while dining on a turkey’s corpse, and at the same time being thankful to be able to do so… this is also hypocrisy.
 
So what did you observe a few days ago?
 
Wasn’t it a continuation of the former hypocrisy?
 
And if it was, our opening statement is correct, isn’t it?
 
2 Samuel 23:1-7 is a psalm of David, in which we see his self-righteousness and an omission of his sins being expressed; for even if he was an important person whom God chose, we all need to face our shortcomings.

1. Now these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse declares,
The man who was raised on high declares,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
 
2. “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.

The Spirit of the Lord’s words was not upon David’s tongue, nor were his actions those of God when he had his affair with Bathsheba and had her husband killed.
 
David wasn’t perfect and neither are we, but we all need to remember that part of being righteous is to not pretend that we are something more than we really are; we need to be truthful.

3. “The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
 
4. Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springs out of the earth,
Through sunshine after rain.’

As we said, righteousness is something to live all the time, and a good thing to remember about being this way is not to praise ourselves and let others do it, if we are truly worthy of praise.
 
If we are truly living in the heavenly will of God, others will see that also, and speak about it; there is no need for us to tell others about these kinds of deeds.

5. “Truly is not my house so with God?
For He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Ordered in all things, and secured;
For all my salvation and all my desire,
Will He not indeed make it grow?

But just remember that most of David’s descendants turned away from God and did their own things; thus the historic house of David had a lot of flaws in it, which is very similar to the corruption in the world today where people have no regard for the pain, suffering, and death inflicted upon animals, such as just happened with this past Thanksgiving.

6. “But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns,
Because they cannot be taken in hand;
 
7. But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And they will be completely burned with fire in their place.”

Who goes to hell is really a judgement call that only the Lord can make, because only he can see the intent of the person’s heart and soul; we may suspect something about them, as we did with David, but as for us, we need to set the best Godly example we can as an unspoken witness against the corruption in the world that causes millions of humans and billions of animals to suffer and die every year.
 
While we are talking about a psalm, let’s take a look at Psalm 132:1-12, let’s see if we can detect anything that reflects our subject for today: Thanksgiving hypocrisy continues – truth ignored.

1. Remember, O LORD, on David’s behalf,
 All his affliction;

But we shouldn’t forget that David caused a lot of afflictions to befall other people and animals.

2. How he swore to the LORD
And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

3. “Surely I will not enter my house,
Nor lie on my bed;

4. I will not give sleep to my eyes
Or slumber to my eyelids,

5. Until I find a place for the LORD,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

This is true, but because of David’s bloody deeds, the Lord would not let him build the temple.

I can’t help but reflect upon the bloody deeds of people who raise and slaughter animals, such as the millions of turkeys who were served this past Thanksgiving; are they any worse than the sins of David?

What is the Lord going to do about their bloody deeds?

We just don’t know, and so we must leave such people and their deeds in the hands of the Lord, but we are fairly assured that such deeds will never be praised by the Lord.

However, to us, these were all Thanksgiving hypocrisies.

6. Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah,
We found it in the field of Jaar.
Jaar is most likely the same place as Ephrathah.

7. Let us go into His dwelling place;
Let us worship at His footstool.

The psalmist is talking about going into the Temple and there worship the Lord our God, but today the same kinds of things are taking place in our churches, and very little is being done to end the corruption of creation or the people’s indifference to ending the pain and suffering that is going on all over the world.

8. Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.

It’s really the people who need a place of rest and repentance for their indifference and corruption that has risen up to God, and definitely is not in His heavenly will.

9. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
And let Your godly ones sing for joy.

Relatively few priests or clergy appear to have been clothed in righteousness, for the world has not really changed since the time of David, except for the ever increasing corruption in the world around us.

10. For the sake of David Your servant,
Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

God never turned His face away from David, but on several occasions David did turn his face and deeds away from God.
We are not to be like David, we are to be like Jesus, and be the peacemaking children of God He called us to be.

11. The LORD has sworn to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.

12. “If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”

But as we said above, they did turn away from God and were removed from their thrones, that is, until the time of Jesus.

But even to this very day, we see Thanksgiving hypocrisy continues – truth ignored, for most of the clergy and people are following the corrupt ways of this world and not the heavenly will of God.

We need to stop being a part of that crowd.

In John 18:33-37, we definitely can see that a type of Thanksgiving hypocrisy and the truth being ignored.

33. Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

34. Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”

35. Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”

36. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

37. Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

But as we know Pilate ignored the truth and had Jesus scourged and crucified and most of the people present rejoiced, which is proof of the indifference and hypocrisy we are talking about.
 
In Revelation 1:9-20, John relates what he heard and saw when he was in the Spirit in heaven.

9. I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

In other words, John was exiled to the island of Patmos, because of the hardness of heart of the people in power who ignored the truth he was speaking and living.
 
So John continues…

10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,
 
11. saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

John most likely heard the voice of the Holy Spirit or that of Jesus, and he didn’t ignore it as did the people who sent him to Patmos; John did what the Lord told him to do, just as we should.

12. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
 
13. and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.

A son of man, in this context, is someone who looks human in shape, even if not in features, as we shall see.

14. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
 
15. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

Is this the voice that John heard in the beginning?
 
We are not told so just don’t know, but what this passage is telling us is that no matter what we hear, we need to truly listen.
 
If what we hear is in the heavenly will of God, we need to follow through with what we are told to do.
 
If what we hear is not in the heavenly will of God, then we are to reject it as not being from the Lord, for it could be from the devil, just as Jesus experienced in the wilderness.

16. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

This sure appears to be the Lord, but we need to be cautious because Satan was referred to as the Angel of Light, though in this case it is Jesus.

17. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
 
18. and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
 
19. “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.
 
20. “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Today, we should not need Jesus to speak to us in this manner, for His words have been recorded in our Bibles, even if in different translations.
 
What we need to remember is that we have the mind of Christ, as Paul reminds us, and as such, we should be able to at least tell our own churches, and perhaps others to follow the heavenly will of God, and dispel all the corruption and misinformation that makes human actions hypocritical.
 
In God’s heavenly abode which is also His will, we are told that there is no pain, there is no mourning, which is a form of suffering, and there is no death, so if we are living in God’s heavenly will, then we should be doing everything in our power to eliminate all pain, suffering, and death in this world that we possibly can.
 
The problem we face is that Thanksgiving hypocrisy continues – truth ignored is a reality that we should and must address head on, challenging it wherever and whenever we encounter it.
 
We can make a positive difference in this world.
 
We can!
 
Amen?
 
Amen.

Return to: Sermons Archive