A Five-Piece Chicken Dinner

Text: Psalm 103 (not printed here due to length)

Introduction:

(I take out a small box) I brought a lunch box with me today. The older folks here probably remember your grandparents telling about the days when you brought your lunch to church with you and stayed all day. Don't get alarmed just yet. This is not a hint about how long my sermon is going to be today. I have brought with me, in this box, a five-piece chicken dinner.

You think I'm joking, don't you? You think it's got to be an awfully small chicken to be able to get all five pieces in this box. I assure you, your pastor knows what he is talking about. (I walk out to congregation) Beulah, would you look in this box and tell them that I'm not lying. (Beulah finds five kernels of corn in the box) That's right, and I think any chicken would find that to be a good, hearty dinner.

The fact is, what is in this box is not what you expected to find, was it? Similarly, what you're going to hear for a sermon is not exactly my usual sermon. As we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I want to use these five kernels of corn to remind us of five things we need to be thankful for.

 

I. The first kernel is very obvious. Corn is one of the most common of the foods we eat, and we need to thank God for the blessing of food.

A. William Brewster, one of the original Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, wrote in his diary of the discovery of corn. The Indians were cultivating it near their villages.

B. With advice and help from Squanto and Samoset, the Pilgrims learned to turn the soil, plant a hill of kernels with two fish, keep the weeds back from the mound and by the end of Summer each hill had enough corn to feed a family for the winter.

C. God used the knowledge of an ancient people to provide food for those making a refuge from religious persecution. This was one of the reasons a grateful Pilgrim colony decided to have the first Thanksgiving.

 

II. Our second kernel of corn should remind us of another great reason to be thankful. Corn is a grain, and it was the inspiration for poet Katherine Lee Bates to pen the familiar words..."O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, For Amber Waves of Grain..."

A. (I shared about two trips to Indiana) All the stories they tell about field after field of corn are true. When I was there in the spring, the corn was knee-high and you could see farms, houses and things everywhere.

B. The second time, the corn was topping out and you couldn't see anything beyond the road. God has given us a land...a good land that can support us all.

C. We need to remember that this land is a blessing, and a trust from God. He tells us to take the good of the land, but to remember the poor, the downtrodden and the weak and share of the goodness that God has given us here.

 

III. The third kernel of thanks that I would like to share with you is not so obvious, but nonetheless it is a gift from God, and rather enjoyable too. When we hear a joke or a funny story, how do we feel? We laugh. Some of these stories are so silly that we shake our heads as we laugh. We call such humor by an odd word. You may have guessed what I'm getting to...thank God for the corny stuff.

A. God mentions this in Scripture. Proverbs 17:22 Says "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."

B. Modern medicine is coming around to this viewpoint. They say it in a little more dignified way..."A patient's attitude is critical to the recovery process." They also realize that for us well folks, keeping a happy demeanor helps keep us well.

C. We have been blessed to have Carl Overcash as part of our church. He has often told me he considers humor to be part of his ministry, and we have been uplifted by the spirit in which he makes fun of things.

 

IV. Before we forget it, there is a fourth kernel of corn in here. We often think of a wise piece of advice as being a "kernel of wisdom." Let's be thankful for all those little things we learned the easy way rather than the hard.

A. About the time I turned six, Grandpa asked me late one summer to help him "pull the corn" in one of the lower fields. It had dried, and was ready for seed. Grandpa told me to dress up well, and bring some gloves.

B. I didn't think much of such hot attire, so I just came in my short sleeve shirt and Bermuda shorts. Grandpa just laughed. He was dressed in coveralls and wore big thick leather gloves. We went to the field, and I found out why he laughed. Before we finished, I had cuts on every patch of bare skin below my chin. It seems that as cornstalks dry, the leaves become razor-sharp.

C. If I had listened to the "wise counsel" of my grandfather, the experience of pulling corn would have been less painful.

D. Jesus shared many things with us in the form of little nuggets. In Matthew Chapters 5,6, and 7 we have a whole bunch of them put together for us in His "Sermon on the Mount" I treasure these things. The Lord has much advice put away in scripture, but it does us no good if we don't read it.

 

V. We're down to our fifth kernel, and we have much to be thankful for in this kernel. Christ said it best in John 12:23-25--"...The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

A. Let us be thankful for the corn that died...Jesus Christ...and came forth again bearing much fruit, including a promise that we can live forever with Him.

B. When we are thankful, we are in the process of giving glory to someone or something that means something to us. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to remember sacrifices...those of our forefathers, and our parents...but most importantly the ultimate sacrifice..."For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

Conclusion: Five kernels of corn...a very common sight, even in our "city-dweller" lifestyle. When you see corn this week, be it in a Thanksgiving display or cooked and served on your dinner plate, remember these things we need to be thankful for. Let me encourage you to use the holiday not just for an additional day of rest from work, but as a time of true thankfulness, giving glory to God for His many blessings given you, and for the ultimate gift of eternal life given through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. That is what will make Thanksgiving truly a purposeful holiday.