An Attitude of Gratitude
Luke 17:11-19
ILL.- A Sunday School teacher asked her class what they were thankful for. One little boy said, “My glasses.” When asked why he was thankful for his glasses, he said, “Because they keep the boys from fighting me and the girls from kissing me.”
-Today I want to talk to you about having an attitude of Gratitude
-In this passage this morning Jesus came into a village and he was met my ten lepers. Leprosy is a disease mentioned throughout the Bible and is still around today and is also called Hansens disease. Its an infectious disease where you get sores on the skin and it also affects the nervous system so you loose feeling in certain parts of your body.
Under the law in the Old Testament God gave specific commands for those who had leprosy
Lev 13:45 "The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip [fn] and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.'
Lev 13:46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
If you had leprosy you were to announce it as you walked down the street so that people could get away from you they would shout “Unclean, Unclean” This was all done to stop the spread of the disease
In order to stop the loneliness that came along with leprosy the people who had this disease would all hang out together which is why Jesus encounters 10 lepers walking together in this passage
To help us understand this passage today we also need to know that under the law the priest were the health inspectors which is why Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest
Lev 14:2 "This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,
Lev 14:3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,
Lev 14:48 "But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed.
So Jesus tells these ten lepers go show yourself to the priest. He never told them that they would be healed , and he didn't heal them before they left. They were healed on the way. Which means that all 10 had faith enough to go to the priest they must have believed they would be healed. It is quite possible they had heard about Jesus and his power to heal.
But here is the remarkable thing........vs 15-17
Luk 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
Luk 17:16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
Out of 10 only 1 had an attitude of gratitude towards Jesus. They were all healed from a disease that had separated them from their families and society . A disease that made them an outcast and only one came back to give God praise and thanks
The Bible says that God is worthy of our praise and that we are to come to approach him giving thanks
Psa 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psa 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psa 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name.
Today I want us to see from God's Word how we can have an attitude of gratitude in a world where the giving of thanks is a lost art. I also want us to see that it is Gods will that we be different than the rest of the world, thanksgiving for us is not only one day a year but everyday of our lives, and its more than just words that we say its an attitude of the heart
Counting our Blessings
vs 15 says, “Ten one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back...”
the one who came back stop and realized what just happened to him. To have an attitude of gratitude we must count our blessings
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
If God never answered another prayer that I pray He has still done more in my life than I will ever have time to thank him for
Most of the time we fail to count our blessings because we are focused on our problems or we are focused on other peoples blessings. You get a new car and it looks real good until you see someone that has a newer car. Or your house looks real nice until you see someone that has a bigger home.
Let me give you a bible example
The children of Israel were on their way to the promise land while they were in the wilderness God literally rained manna down from heaven, it was a light flaky food that tasted sweet like honey
Exd 16:31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it [was] like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it [was] like wafers [made] with honey.
God was providing for them, what a blessing but listen to what their attitude was about it
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Num 11:6 But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes.
You see counting your blessings starts in our minds by putting everything in the proper perspective
All they remembered about Egypt was the fish, the cucumbers and melons but they were slaves in Egypt!! It wasn't the easy life. Yes Manna everyday may have gotten old but the proper perspective would have been to thank God for the manna because at least we aren't starving and praise God he is taking to a place far much better than Egypt
Turn to the book of Philippians I want you to see this
Phl 4:8 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.
Paul was writing to the church and telling them how to have joy
and it stated by counting their blessings, through putting everything in the proper perspective. Sure we can find things to complain about and sure there are people that have more money and fame than us and even bigger homes and better cars.
But Paul writing from prison said, “thing on the things that are pure, lovely, of a good report, if there be any praise think on these things
What we allow to enter into our minds will control our attitudes about life. Think on bad news and sad things and your attitude will not be one of gratitude. You will be like the nine lepers that never came back. They probably came up with excuse
“I really didn't have leporsry”
“I was already getting better”
there was probably even on the lepers who said, “Great now that I don't have leprosy I don't have an excuse to stay away from everyone else.”
There was
"A lady known as an incurable grumbler constantly complained about everything. At last her preacher thought he had found something about which she would be happy, for her farm crop was the finest for miles around. When he met her, he said with a beaming smile, `You must be very happy Mary. Everyone is saying how healthy your potatoes look this year.’ `True they’re pretty good, but what am I going to do when I need bad ones to feed the pigs.’"
we need to take the time to count our blessings by putting everything in the proper persepctive
then we need to
Trust God
To have an attitude of Gratitude we must put all of our trust in Christ alone. Jesus told the ten lepers to go show themselves to the priest. On the way they all were healed. One turned back and never made it to the earthly priest because he put his full trust in Christ as the one who healed him and the Great High priest who can declare him clean
see he didn't break the law by not continuing on his way to the earthly priest, he came to the one and only sinless priest Christ Jesus and he feel on his face at Jesus' feet giving him thanks and at the same time Praising God, acknowledging the full deity of Jesus Christ as God in Flesh and putting all his trust in Him
We become ungrateful during times when we feel like the circumstances and situations in our life are not going the way we want them to or they don't appear to be going in our favor
but I want you to see what the Bible has to say
Eph 5:20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
That includes the things that seem to be in our favor and the things that we don't understand
an example of this from Gods Word is Job, he had just heard that he had lost everything he ever worked for including his children and he stood up from the table where he had been sitting and he said,
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
He doesn't understand it, it doesn't appear to be in his favor but he chose to put all his trust in God and give him thanks in the good times and in the bad
in everything give thanks always for everything to God
God ultimately has the best planned for us, which is why the Apostle Paul was confident that all things work out for the good to those who love the Lord we just need to learn to trust God
If Abraham and Sarah had trusted God they would have not gotten in the mess that they did
if the spies who went to look at the promise land would have trusted God they would have been in the promise land 40 years earlier
We must trust that God knows what we need and what we have is what God has given us so be thankful for it.
Some people say if I only had then my life would be better but God knows how much we can handle and we just need to thank him for what we have instead of spending our lives wishing for more
Phl 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
That's a verse we need to learn if we are to have an attitude of gratitude
even before there were shopping malls there was coveting which is why God made it one of the ten commandments (exodus 20:17)
Coveting is saying to God I don't trust that you will provide. Coveting is what got David in trouble when he called Bathsheba to come to his palace. He wasn't thankful for what God had already given him because he wasn't trusting God
When Nathan confronted David over his sin listen to the message from God to David
2Sa 12:8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
To have an attitude of gratitude we need to stop and count our blessings and we need to trust God
Then we also need to
Learn to be content
It is impossible to have an attitude of gratitude without being content because you will always be wanting something more. Who knows why the 9 didn't come back maybe they were a lot like us sometimes maybe they thought that God should have healed them sooner or maybe they were upset that they had to suffer at all, that “Why me” mentality. But one thing we do know and that is that contentment is something that can be learned and without contentment you will never truly be thankful.
The Apostle Paul said
Phl 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
Phl 4:12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need
This was a church that he was writing instruction to about joyful living and rejoicing in the Lord
the next verse after these two many us can quote
Phl 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me
it is possible to learn to be content. We just have to be thankful with what God has already given us to enjoy
This is not a popular message in a country where we are bombard with 3,000 advertisements a day on billboards, the Internet, the radio, television, bumper stickers and peoples t-shirts
in a country where the greatest concern among many is that their clothes are in style and that they have the latest gadget.
But look at what the Bible says
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
The reality of this passage today is that everyone of us have been just like these lepers, dying from a disease that we can't do anything about, the disease of sin and the only one that can heal us is Christ. The question today is are you going to be like the 9 or like the one who came back
will you live with an attitude of gratitude, or will you always find something to grumble and complain about?
Be content, trust God and count your blessings
