Developing an Attitude of Gratitude
Luke 17:11-19
Pre-Sermon Icebreaker:
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. This time next week we’ll all have a new determination.... a determination to lose the 10 pounds we put on in one week!
I have a "Top Ten List" of ways you can know you overdid Thanksgiving.
10. Paramedics bring in the jaws of life to pry you from your Lazy-Boy Chair.
9. Your after-dinner moans are loud enough to signal Dr. Kevorkian.
8. The "Gravy Boat" your wife set out was a real 12’ boat!
7. The potatoes you used set off a famine in Ireland.
6. You received a Sumo-Wrestling application in the mail.
5. You set off the earthquake seismographs while on your Friday morning jog.
4. The rash on your stomach turns out to be a steering wheel burn.
3. Representatives from the Butterball Hall of Fame call ... twice.
2. You consider gluttony your patriotic duty.
1. The leftovers are gonna last until Christmas!
How appropriate it is that we set aside one day as a national holiday to give thanks to God for his protection and provision. I think you will find this passage from Luke 17 to be appropriate.
[11] Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
[12] As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
[13] and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
[14] When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
[15] One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
[16] He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him —and he was a Samaritan.
[17] Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
[18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
[19] Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Can you imagine what the Lord feels like when we show so little gratitude? Jesus healed ten people of leprosy. Out of the ten only one person returned to give thanks.
What did Jesus think about that?
God invites us to be grateful and to express thanks.
Cultivating thankfulness is essential to developing a positive attitude and spiritual passion.
May I offer a few tips to help us develop an “Attitude of Gratitude”?
(I) AN ORIENTATION TO THE GOOD
Pessimism is as much a choice and a learned behavior as optimism. As I have told you before, some people remind me of Eyore the donkey of Winnie the Pooh fame. There default setting is “woe is me.” That makes gratitude almost impossible.
Philippians 4:8 (KJV)says:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Choosing gratitude as a way of living is a choice we make.
How to Observe Thanksgiving
Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.
(I) AN ORIENTATION TO THE GOOD
(II) THE BELIEF THAT LIFE IS A GIFT NOT AN ENTITLEMENT
One stormy night in Lake Michigan, a side-wheeler steamboat was rammed by another boat. The steamboat sank just a mile offshore from the village of Winnetka, Illinois. Out of 393 passengers on board, 279 drowned.
A man named Edward Spencer plunged into the lake and swam to the drowning people. He towed one person to safety and went for another. In all, he rescued seventeen people. However, the strain on this young man caused him to collapse. The nerves in his legs were so completely destroyed that he could never walk again. He was an invalid wheel chair victim for his entire life.
On his eightieth birthday, someone asked him to relate his most vivid memory of that dreadful day. He replied, "Not one of the seventeen returned to thank me."
That’s hard to believe isn’t it? But some people go through life with an entitlement mentality and, in doing so, fail to grasp the goodness and pleasure that exists in gratitude.
(I) AN ORIENTATION TO THE GOOD
(II) THE BELIEF THAT LIFE IS A GIFT NOT AN ENTITLEMENT
(III) THE ABILITY TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT WITHOUT UNDUE EXPECTATION
I am not very good at living in the moment … savoring time. I tend to think about what should be happening in the “moments to come” and seldom take the time to celebrate what this moment has indeed wrought. It is a flaw that robs one of joy.
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said “Relax. God is in control.” I liked it. It was a corrective and I need that from time to time.
I think that is why I enjoy hunting so much – it forces me to live in the moment … to use all my energy in the here and now.
I think that I why I enjoy children too … they are not shackled by tomorrow and they immerse themselves in the present experience and opportunities. It gives life a sense of wonder.
Learning to savor the moment without undue expectations gives life a sense of exhilaration and joy that I believe God intentionally embedded into time. Jesus was a master of savoring the moment without loosing focus. Celebrating in such a manner is indeed Christian.
I suspect I am not alone in failing to revel in the present. I also suspect I don’t want to be the only one to come to my end on earth and realize I was always living for the future – thinking for and planning for the future – only to realize that there is no guarantee of a future.
Jesus tells his disciples to:
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:25-33 (KJV)
(I) AN ORIENTATION TO THE GOOD
(II) THE BELIEF THAT LIFE IS A GIFT NOT AN ENTITLEMENT
(III) THE ABILITY TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT WITHOUT EXPECTATION
(IV) A BIAS TOWARDS LEARNING AND GROWTH.
Seeking to be transformed, and are allowing God to help you become whole as humans, is an ideal platform for gratitude. In fact, without such a perspective gratitude is probably unrealistic.
Life is pre-destined towards change. Change is inevitable – growth is optional.
An Attitude of Gratitude requires a new perspective on life and living. I like what one unknown author wrote:
* Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire, if you did, what would there be to look forward to?
* Be thankful when you don’t know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
* Be thankful for the difficult times; during those times you grow.
* Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
* Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.
* Be thankful for your mistakes; they will teach you valuable lessons.
* Be thankful when you’re tired and weary, because it means you’ve made a difference.
WRAP-UP
(I) AN ORIENTATION TO THE GOOD
(II) THE BELIEF THAT LIFE IS A GIFT NOT AN ENTITLEMENT
(III) THE ABILITY TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT WITHOUT EXPECTATION
(IV) A BIAS TOWARDS LEARNING AND GROWTH.
Nine of the lepers failed to understand the provision of Christ and, hence, had no gratitude. Some one has listed nine reasons why the nine did not return and give thanks.
* The first waited to see if the cure was real.
* The second waited to see if it would last.
* The third decided that he never had leprosy to begin with.
* The fourth said he would have gotten well anyway.
* The fifth gave glory to the priests.
* The sixth said "Jesus didn’t do anything, why should I thank him?"
* The seventh said he would thank Jesus later.
* The eight decided that any Ol’ Rabbi could have done it.
* The ninth figured he was already much improved before Jesus ever arrived.
I have a polo shirt in my closet that I no longer wear. It is a Disney shirt – it has one of the Seven Dwarfs on it … Grumpy. I don’t want to be Grumpy and I don’t want to wear a moniker that insinuates I am.
I want to encourage you to join me in seizing the day and the awareness that the Thanksgiving season brings. I want to continue to grow towards developing a disposition that is grateful and thankful.
I don’t want to be an “Eyore.”
I don’t want to have the reputation of a “Grumpy.”
I want to be the minority that returns to gives God thanks.
I trust this closing video challenges you to develop an Attitude of Gratitude.
God Bless you this week.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
