Sermon Tone Analysis

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

If your thanksgivings are anything like mine, you know there is going to be a lot of food.

Several casseroles, several options for mashed potatoes or sweetpotatoes, depending on how many family cooks are in the kitchen.

Stuffings, salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, greenbean casserole…and then you finish and just about ready for the food coma to follow, and then Gramma or Nanna is bringing out the homemade pumpkin, or cherry, or apple pies, watching you as to which one you will choose....Maybe you have uttered that thanksgiving prayer.

Dear Lord, “Stretch me”

Introduction: At the Thanksgiving lunch junior gorged himself on all of his favorite dishes: green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, turkey and dressing with gravy, cranberry sauce, homemade biscuits, followed by pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cherry pie and vanilla ice cream.

Five hours later, the family gathered to eat again and the table was laden with the leftovers.

Junior wasn't the least bit hungry.

He was still full from that unbelievable lunch.

But these were all of his favorites and he wanted to eat something so he bowed his head and uttered this simple prayer, ''Lord, STRETCH ME.''

I love leftovers, depending on what is leftover.

Not everyone enjoys eating leftovers but I always have.

One of my wife and I’s guilty pleasures is streaming and watching cooking shows.

One time they had this show on where three chefs were competing against three of the shows frequent judges in a cook-off and the ingredients they had to work with were, Thanksgiving Day leftovers.

It was pretty interesting to see how those experts rearranged, recombined, and reconstituted all of those wonderful leftovers into brand new tasty dishes.

When it comes to Thanksgiving leftovers all I need are a plate, a fork and a microwave.

I know we haven’t yet had thanksgiving, so its not quite time for leftovers, but I’m quite sure each of your homes will be filled with them soon.

Like I mentioned, I love thanksgiving leftovers.

No one at thanksgiving is going to eat the bare minimum, nor if your table if full, will you be provided the bare minimum.

God doesn’t provide for us the minimum either.

He gives us ample provisions and blessings.

Today I want us to thank God for leftovers.

Before we get going this morning, lets take a moment to pray.

I. THANK GOD FOR HIS LEFTOVER INCLINATIONS

''When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over.

Let nothing be wasted.'

So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.''

You recognize this as coming from the account of the feeding of the five thousand.

In fact, let's look at the whole passage

''When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Philip answered him; 'Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!' Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.'

There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.

He did the same with the fish.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over.

Let nothing be wasted.'

So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.''

In this familiar account, Jesus fed a crowd of thousands.

Five thousand men were counted.

If you add in women and children you're going to have many more than five thousand.

Starting with five loaves of bread and two fish, (think five Ritz crackers and two sardines), Jesus gave thanks for the food and had his disciples break it up and distribute it.

As they broke it up and distributed it, Jesus miraculously multiplied it so that everyone had ''enough to eat.''

But notice today the little detail that says not only did everyone have enough to eat that day but they also gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers, enough for each of the disciples to warm up dinner in the microwave later on.

Our God is a God of leftovers.

What I mean by that is that He is a God of abundance and generosity.

God doesn't just provide us what we need.

He doesn't give us the bare minimum requirements so that we can scrape by.

God gives us what we need, and then some.

Just think about food for a minute.

We need food to survive.

We need protein, carbs, sugar (not too much) and liquid.

So God provides those things.

But notice that God COULD have met those needs with one item for each category: some sort of meat, or veggie meat, a cauliflower, a cherry and a cup of water .

We could be living a life in which every day we had fri-chic, cauliflower, cherries and water - and we'd never know the difference.

Instead, in each category God created and provides a variety of tastes, textures, flavors, and combinations.

Think of the varieties of protein: even just from vegetables and think of the varieties within each of those choices, or from veggie meats or from you non-vegetarians, theres plenty of variety in meat choices also.

God has provided the same variety for your carbs and your sugars and the different options for quenching your thirst are practically endless.

That's how we're able to have fourteen different food shows and chef competitions my wife and I can be entertained from.

GOD makes that possible!

Now I understand we may not have ACCESS to all of the choices all of the time but my point is that God CREATED things that way because that's the kind of God he is.

He is a God of abundance and generosity, a God of leftovers.

He had YOU in mind when He set it up that way.

II.

THANK GOD FOR LEFTOVER GRACE

''But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.''

Grace is God's unmerited or unearned favor.

Grace is God treating us better than we deserve.

Grace is God granting us love, mercy, forgiveness and eternal life when what we deserve is wrath, condemnation and eternal punishment.

God is not selfish with His grace he is lavish with it.

God doesn't dispense His grace with an eyedropper he sloshes it around with a bucket.

You have not been ''barely'' saved by God's grace you are well and truly saved, saturated and covered by God's grace.

And if you're a Christian today you have not out-sinned the grace of God.

''But where sin increased, grace increased all the more''

EXAMPLE: Last week I drove from Vero Beach to Melbourne.

In the span of about two hours, I saw the following: A woman driving with a child on her lap.

The kid looked to be about two and, yes, there was an empty car seat in the back.

A motorcyclist weaving in and out of traffic on I-95, going well over 70 miles an hour (because I was driving 70 and he flew past me) with his helmet strapped to the back of his bike.

EXAMPLE: In the span of about two hours, I saw the following: A woman driving with a child on her lap.

The kid looked to be about two and, yes, there was an empty car seat in the back.

A motorcyclist weaving in and out of traffic on the interstate going well over 70 miles an hour (because I was driving 70 and he flew past me) with his helmet strapped to the back of his bike.

A young woman pumping gas into her car while smoking a cigarette.

I was tempted to walk over to the smoking gas pump and kindly inform her that she was one tiny spark away from incinerating herself, her passengers, and probably the entire station, but two things stopped me.

One, it's printed plainly on the gas pump that you should never smoke while gassing up your car.

(Everyone knows this, right?)

And two, I just really didn't want to get that close to someone who could explode any second.

As I was driving away (and watching in my rearview mirror just in case there was a big boom and a mushroom cloud), a verse of Scripture came to mind: ''The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.''

() Then another thought quickly followed.

What must God think when he observes the way we live our lives?

I was appalled by the senseless behavior of three people.

Three.

How many times a day is God appalled?

How many times a second is he appalled?

Millions?

Billions?

(I probably contribute two or three reasons for him to shake his head and roll his eyes before lunch everyday!)

I don't know who the first person to attach the word ''amazing'' to God's grace was, but I doubt that a more perfect adjective could ever be found.

With mountains and mountains of human sin and foolishness dropped at his feet every second of every day, God just keeps on loving mankind and forgiving those who know him as their Lord.

And he even has grace left over!