Autumn is my favorite time of year for multiple reasons. For one, the weather is that lovely in-between—not too hot, not too cold, but just cool enough to wear your sweaters, jackets, and boots. (Actually, this year may be an exception to that general rule.) Another reason I love this time of year is that it gives us a chance to look back on all that has happened in the last year and consider where we want to go in the coming year. I also love it because you have two major holidays to look forward to—Thanksgiving and Christmas!
This is where the Thanksgiving vs. Christmas debate kicks in! When is it acceptable to break out the Christmas decorations and crank up the Christmas music? I’ll admit I have been one to get my Christmas on in late October! However, more recently, I have enjoyed relishing the Thanksgiving season and saved the Christmas décor and music for the day after Thanksgiving…mostly.
Wherever you may fall in this debate, I think we can all agree that these two holidays are quite complementary. Without Christmas, there would be no Thanksgiving. Sure, Thanksgiving is tied historically to the pilgrims’ first harvest in the new world. On the first Thanksgiving, they gave thanks to God for their newfound home, freedom, and provisions. However, neither the pilgrims nor any of us would have anything to be eternally thankful for were it not for Jesus’ Christ’s birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection.
This is the truth highlighted in I Corinthians 15. This passage contains one of the earliest Christian creeds—that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again. The entire rest of the long chapter (58 verses) is about the gravity of the resurrection and what it means for us. While this passage begins with a despairing thought: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,” it ends with thanksgiving, saying in verse 57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is this victory for which we are to give thanks? Well, we can give thanks for at least three victories.
First, we can give thanks for victory over who we once were. Paul’s story is a case in point. In verses 5-8, Paul describes the many eyewitnesses to the risen Christ, of which he is one. He says in verse 9, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul is an example of what we might call “an impossible case.” Before he was the apostle Paul, he had been the religious zealot Saul who dragged Christians to prison. This Saul had stood by while the first Christian martyr, Stephen, was killed. Then, he was confronted with Jesus Christ and accepted Him as his Savior. What a radical change! If there is hope for someone like Saul (Paul), then there is hope for anyone.
Like Paul, we owe our status as a child of God to the grace of God. Romans 6:4-14 describes our transformation: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life…knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 4:17 that “God be thanked” for this. This victory over our old selves is a reason for thanksgiving!
A second reason for thanksgiving in I Corinthians 15 is victory over death. Behind every fear is the ultimate fear in all of us—the fear of death. Behind the fear of sickness, disease, and crime is the fear that it will usher in the uninvited visitor—death. Most people fear death because it is the ultimate unknown in life. Everyone that you or I may know who has experienced death cannot come back to tell us about it. We don’t know what it’s like, really, and we are afraid of the experience. But what if death has been defanged? What would we really have to be afraid of? Christ’s birth, death, burial, and resurrection gives us victory over that great enemy called death. I Corinthians 15:22 reminds us, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Verses 25-26 continue, “For he [Jesus] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Jesus Christ destroyed that enemy when He said, “It is finished” on the cross (John 19:30).
What use would it be to thank God for the bounty of food, friendships, or finances we have if we could lose it all to death? The good news is that we can enjoy good gifts because we will lose nothing of value to death. If death should come for us before Jesus does, we need not fear that because death is merely the gateway from this life into eternal life, and we know that Jesus will walk through that corridor with us (Psalm 23:4). We were made for light, for salvation, and for life with God forever. This is our future, this is the inevitable end to our story, and this our ultimate reality.
But wait . . . there’s more! In this present life, we will still wrestle with the works of the flesh and the devil. Yet we do not have to be victims; we can be victors. We can give thanks for victory over Satan’s attacks. I Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye that steadfast unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” The concluding verse begins with “therefore,” pointing us back to everything that has proceeded. This verse is saying that because of victory over our past and over death, we can have victory over Satan’s attacks on this earth. We can stay strong (steadfast) and unswerving (unmovable) in our faith, and we can pursue lives of eternal significance (always abounding in the work of the Lord). On our own, we are no match for Satan and his devices. But Jesus’ resurrection dealt the death blow to Satan’s head. When we are in Christ, we have all the power we need to resist the devil and stay steadfast, unmovable, and abounding in the Christian life. I John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in you [the Spirit of Christ], then he that is in the world [Satan and his minions].” Even if no other blessings were sent our way, victory in Jesus over sin, death, and Satan would be cause enough for thanksgiving this season.
The gift God gave us in the person of Christ at Christmas is the cause for our gratitude at Thanksgiving. As the apostle Paul put it in II Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” So, whenever you break out the Christmas lights, don’t skip over Thanksgiving! And whatever else you’re thankful for this year, don’t forget the unspeakable gift that makes all the others significant.