Thanksgiving is an expression of appreciation or gratitude for a gift received. Thanksgiving always entails two parties. In giving thanks to God, he is the superior party (since he is the creator), and we are the inferior party (since we are creatures). Everything we have and are comes from him. He is the consummate giver (James 1:17). The Bible bids us to express our gratitude to him in worship (e.g. Psalm 107:1). Our vocalized thanksgiving is to be the authentic overflow of our hearts for God's goodness to us.
In this post, I want to highlight all of the times the Heidelberg Catechism mentions the idea of thanksgiving. If you’ve never considered how often the Catechism mentions thankfulness, perhaps take the time to meditate on this excellent and historic pedagogue of the reformed faith as you approach the Thanksgiving holiday.
First, thanksgiving is built into the structure of the catechism (guilt, grace, gratitude):
2. Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort [of belonging to Christ]?
A. First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.
Second, thankfulness is connected to the doctrine of God’s providence:
28. Q. What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?
A. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love; for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.
Third, thankfulness is the fruit of union with Christ:
32. Q. Why are you called a Christian?
A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith and thus share in His anointing, so that I may as prophet confess His Name, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.
43. Q. What further benefit do we receive from Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross?
A. Through Christ's death our old nature is crucified, put to death, and buried with Him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice of thankfulness.
Fourth, thanksgiving is the fruit of sola fide:
64. Q. Does this teaching [of sola fide] not make people careless and wicked?
A. No. It is impossible that those grafted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.
Fifth, thanksgiving is connected with Jesus’s institution of the Lord’s Supper:
77. Q. Where has Christ promised that He will nourish and refresh believers with His body and blood as surely as they eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup?
A. In the institution of the Lord's supper: The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. This promise is repeated by Paul where he says: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Sixth, thanksgiving is a product of the sanctifying Spirit at work in our lives:
86. Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?
A. Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, and He may be praised by us. Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbors for Christ.
Finally, thanksgiving is united with the Christian life of prayer as the chief part of gratitude:
116. Q. Why is prayer necessary for Christians?
A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness which God requires of us. Moreover, God will give His grace and the Holy Spirit only to those who constantly and with heartfelt longing ask Him for these gifts and thank Him for them.
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