Thanksgiving Living - Luke 17:11-19 - October 9, 2011
(Thanksgiving)
Ten men. Ten life changing experiences. One transformed life. Open your Bibles with me please to the Gospel of Luke. Luke, chapter 17, beginning in verse 11. We are taking a step back from the Sermon on the Mount this morning to look at Living with Thanksgiving. It seems appropriate that we do so, on this weekend of all weekends, as we consider all it is that we have to be thankful for, and how it is that we can live with an on-going attitude of gratitude.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV) Now that’s easy enough for us to do when things are going well; when the circumstances of our lives bring us joy. It’s far more difficult when the moments of our days are filled with grief, or trial, or despair; when the circumstances of our lives threaten to overwhelm us.
But, that verse makes it very clear that the gratitude we ought to be expressing is not dependent upon our circumstances at all. God’s will for us is this: that in all things we would give thanks to Him. Not for all things – but in all things – and there’s a very big difference between the two. We see that difference illustrated in the life of Pastor and Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, who, upon being robbed, wrote these words in his diary, “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” (www.crosswalk.com) His response to his circumstances, was not to give thanks for them, but to give thanks in them. He wasn’t thankful that he had been robbed, but, having been robbed he found much to be thankful for.
When I drive somewhere I like to set the radio on “scan.” That way when I hear something I like I can stop it and listen to it for a bit. The downside is that I rarely catch a whole song – usually I just get bits and pieces of it. Some time ago I caught the chorus of a song by David Lee Murphy. I didn’t hear any of the other lyrics but the chorus fit just perfectly into those few seconds before the radio tuned itself to another station. Now this is what I heard him singing, and bear with me if you’ve heard the song before, because you’ll know that what I heard, wasn’t the same as what he was actually singing. But this is what I heard, “There might be a little dust on the Bible, But don’t let it fool ya about what’s inside. There might be a little dust on the Bible, It’s one of those things that gets sweeter with time.” As I repeated the chorus to myself I thought, “What a great song. What a great message.” How many Bibles are sitting on book shelves today just gathering dust when inside of their covers is this rich treasure of God’s word! And the older we get the sweeter God’s word seems to be. I was so into this song and I kept singing the chorus over and over to myself thinking about this great message I was hearing.
Imagine my surprise when I heard the song again, this time in it’s entirety, and discovered that David Lee Murphy wasn’t singing about the Bible after all, but about a bottle – a bottle of alcohol. He wasn’t singing, “There might be a little dust on the Bible,” really he was singing, “There might be a little dust on the bottle.” One little word but it was enough to change my whole perspective of what was going on. Well that’s what happens when we seek to live out God’s will and give thanks in all things – our whole perspective changes.
When we practice gratitude in such a way as that it begins to change the way in which we see the world. Someone once said it this way: “When I change the way I look at things, the things I look at change.” That’s God’s will for us! That we would stop focusing so much on the circumstance – whether it is good or bad – and that we would put our focus back on to Him where it belongs. And it’s only then that we begin to discover that we can give thanks in all circumstances.
Now, folks, one of the things I’ve discovered as I’ve sought to teach and preach the word of God is that God will often give me an opportunity to put into practice in my own life the very things I seek to share with you. That was true this week. There I was, working on a message about giving thanks in all things, when in reality, thankfulness, because of some of the things that happened during the week, was about the furthest thing from my mind. Instead there was a mixture of anger, self-pity and frustration. And it was only as my focus shifted beyond the circumstances I found myself facing, and back to God, that I was reminded of all I had to be thankful for even in the midst of what was taking place. Focusing on God helps us to put things in a proper perspective and to cultivate that attitude of gratitude within our hearts.
So with those thoughts in mind, let’s take a look at Luke 17, beginning with verse 11 … “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”” (Luke 17:11–19, NIV)
Folks, leprosy was, and is, an absolutely horrible disease. Easton’s Bible Dictionary tells us that “This disease “begins with specks on the eyelids and on the palms, gradually spreading over the body, bleaching the hair white wherever they appear, crusting the affected parts with white scales, and causing terrible sores and swellings. From the skin the disease eats inward to the bones, rotting the whole body piecemeal.”
Folks, it was a disease that not only ate away at the body but which also ate away at the heart. Leprosy was considered as a terrible sign of God’s wrath being poured out against the sinner and because of that, and because of the fear engendered by the physical deformities caused by the disease, lepers were cut off from everything and everyone that they had ever known.
“In Christ’s day no leper could live in a walled town, though he might in an open village. But wherever he was he was required to have his outer garment rent as a sign of deep grief, to go bareheaded, and to cover his beard with his mantle, as if in lamentation at his own virtual death. He had further to warn passers-by to keep away from him, by calling out, ‘Unclean! unclean!’ nor could he speak to any one, or receive or return a salutation, since in the East this involves an embrace.”
“Leprosy was “the outward and visible sign of the innermost spiritual corruption; a meet emblem in its small beginnings, its gradual spread, its internal disfigurement, its dissolution little by little of the whole body, of that which corrupts, degrades, and defiles man’s inner nature, and renders him unmeet to enter the presence of a pure and holy God” (Maclear’s Handbook O.T). (Easton, M. (1996). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
In every sense of the word, these ten men were outcasts – they were cut off from their family and their friends and forced to live a lonely life exiled from everyone they loved. They could have no contact with anyone who did not share in their disease and that’s why they stood at a distance and called out to Jesus in a loud voice so that they could be heard because their disease had put them in a terrible position and cut them off from God.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and yet they were unable to approach Him. The Law had shut them out and so they stood at a great distance from the Son of God. What a picture of the effect sin has upon us! In our sin our relationships with one another are destroyed and our fellowship with God, sundered. And before we were reconciled to God, through the saving blood of Jesus, we too stood far off from God, unable to approach, unable to draw near, and in truth, not wanting to draw near because we rejoiced in our sin. And yet by God’s grace, at some point or another, the Holy Spirit began a convicting work in our hearts, revealing to us our sin, unveiling the depth of our need, and opening our eyes to our helplessness to overcome it on our own.
And then, like the lepers sensing our need for something beyond ourselves, we called out to God for help. And when they called out to Jesus they did not call Him, “teacher,” or, “friend,” or anything else we might expect them to. Instead they called Him, “master.” The Greek word from which it is translated is not often used in Scripture. It’s a word which emphasizes one’s authority. In Jesus they saw one with authority to heal the disease which had destroyed them, to make them whole, and to give them new life. These are the very things we need to see in Jesus before we will call out to Him for salvation from our sins. Matthew 28:18 … “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18, NIV) Folks, He is the one – the only one - with the authority to forgive and to make of you and me, new creations. For, as it says in the book of Acts, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12, NIV)
So why is it, that not everyone, calls out to God for salvation? Why did not every leper in Israel come for healing? Because they do not all, and they did not all, sense their need or know the one to whom they could, and can come, for deliverance.
But these ten had heard of Jesus and so they came, they came seeking something, hoping for something, longing for something, that would change their lives – and in Jesus they found what they were looking for. Jesus sends them on their way to show themselves to the priest, for when the priest declared them free of leprosy, they would be declared fit to return to their friends and their families and their homes and to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. And as they went they walked in obedience, and they walked in some measure of faith, for it wasn’t until they started on the journey that the healing came.
But look at what happened as they went. Ten men. Ten life changing experiences. One transformed life. All ten were healed but only one returned giving thanks and praising God. Each and everyone of these men had cause to give thanks and to praise the name of God. Only one took the time to do so. Only one’s life was truly transformed by the grace and mercy of God. All ten had been blessed but only one responded in gratitude.
There is a French proverb that says this: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” As we remember from whence we’ve come, how far we had fallen in sin, how high we’d risen in Christ, the heart is moved to gratitude. The psalmist declares that same truth with these words … “Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1–5, NIV) Gratitude truly is the memory of the heart and if we’re not expressing daily gratitude at the blessings we have received it’s because the memory of the heart is too short.
Swiss author, Henri Frederic Amil wrote, “Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist of merely words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” We can be thankful for many things, but, if we do not act on it, we have not expressed gratitude. And acting on it – expressing gratitude – has a transformative effect upon our perspective, upon our lives, upon our relationships with one another and with God.
Take two people, have one focus on all the trials, and hurts, and sufferings that she experiences over the course of a year. Have the other focus instead on being thankful in all things. At the end of the year those two women will be very different people. The one’s life will be coloured by negativity and despondency and bitterness and so will her perspective of God. The other’s will be shaped by joy and contentment and gratitude and she will see God as a loving Father. Which one would you rather be around? Which one would you rather be?
See, it is so very easy for us to get caught up in the trials of our lives that we lose that sense of perspective. We can be surrounded by blessings on a daily basis but the majority of people will choose to focus on that one thing which has caused their discontent, rather than that which they have cause to be thankful for. Daniel Defoe once said, “All our discontents about what we want appear to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.” And it was Benjamin Franklin who said, “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.” There is a lot of truth in those statements. Think of how many people you know, who appear to have so very much, but who are miserable, or discontent, or unsatisfied with life – why is it? Because they have failed to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and in doing so they have failed to acknowledge the hand of God at work in their lives.
But this one man, this one of the ten whose lives had been touched, was different. He came back and gave thanks and praised the Lord. And Jesus asked, “Where are the other nine?” They were healed too. Their physical disease was cured. They had been richly blessed. But they failed to give thanks to God.
Today God pours out His blessings on the godly and ungodly alike. In the book of Acts we read these words about God … “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (Acts 14:17, NIV) Those words were spoken to a people who did not know of Jesus. They did not worship the one true God. And yet Paul’s words to them were that God had provided for them still. And the proper response ought to be praise and thanksgiving an acknowledgement that God is God and that there is no other!
And Jesus says to this one man who had returned to Him, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.” Literally, “Rise and go, your faith has delivered you.” “Your faith has saved you.” Not only had he been healed physical but he was transformed spiritually. He fell to the ground and worshipped Jesus as Lord and his life was transformed. He was made a new creation – literally and spiritually the old was gone and the new had come! And his life was changed!
Many of our lives have been changed too and we ought to be living with thanksgiving – not just this one weekend a year – but in each and every day! In fact, an attitude of gratitude ought to distinguish the child of God from the rest of the world. We have been healed of, delivered from, something much worse than leprosy – we’ve been delivered from sin and redeemed from the wrath of God. We have received the Spirit of God and have become new creations in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christians ought to be the most thank filled people on the planet!
In 1 Timothy 6 the apostle Paul writes these words … “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:6–8, NIV) Pastor Steve Shepherd tells the story of a young man, a college graduate, who had just passed his certified public accountant exam with flying colors. The man’s father owned his own business and the son, filled with self-importance and puffed up with knowledge, began to criticize his father’s way of keeping books.
He said, “Dad, you don’t even know how much profit you’ve made. Over here in this drawer are your accounts receivable. Over there are your receipts and you keep all your money in the cash register. You don’t have any idea how much money you’ve made.”
The father answered, “Son, when I came to this country the only thing I owned was a pair of pants. Now, your brother is a doctor, your sister is an art teacher, and you are a C.P.A. Your mother and I own our home. We have a car and we own this little business. Now add that up, subtract the pants and all the rest is profit.”
ADD IT UP! That’s exactly what we need to do at Thanksgiving. Add it all up. We came into this world with nothing but the eternal soul that God gave us. Everything else is profit. We can never give too much thanks to God! (Steve Shepherd, Commitment to Thanksgiving, www.sermoncentral.com)
So how can we cultivate an attitude of gratitude? How can we practice living with thanksgiving? Well I read somewhere that our English words, “think,” and “thank,” are actually related. They come from the same root word. They are irrevocably connected to one another. And they’re irrevocably connected to one another in practice as well. To live with thanksgiving we need to think of God’s many blessings in our lives, to look for them, and to remember, and to name them, for gratitude is the memory of the heart.
Secondly we can give thanks for what we do have rather than mourning what we don’t. The heart grows discontent when we envy what someone else has, and when the heart is filled with envy, gratitude flees. We ought to learn to be content with what we have rather than constantly grasping after what others have. When we learn contentment we’ll be that much closer to living with thanksgiving in each day.
Thirdly we need to let go of our sense of entitlement. You and I might not be rich within the context of our society but we are already richer than the vast majority of the people in this world will ever be. And we’ve gotten so used to the plenty we have, that at times we live as though it were our divine right. And because of that we’re always running after something more because we have got this false sense of entitlement going. God has said He will provide for our needs. He does not owe us a bigger house, a newer car, a faster computer or whatever it might be and as long as we’re holding on to this sense of entitlement we’ll never truly be able to live with thanksgiving. God does not owe us a thing – He’s already given us the greatest gift possible in Jesus.
Fourthly, consider the blessings of God in each day rather than taking them for granted. When we sit down to a meal we give thanks to God for the food we’re about to receive. But how much of that is habit and how much is truly gratitude? Truth is most of the time we seem to rattle off a prayer of thanksgiving but it’s more out of habit than anything else because there’s always food on the table, isn’t there? Most of us don’t know what it’s like to not know where the next meal is coming from, or what we’re going to feed the kids the next day. If we really knew what it was like to do without we would be a much more thankful people. Remember this: if you have plenty it is by the grace of God who has enabled you to work, helped you develop the skills, maintained the health, or whatever it might be that has helped you to fill the cupboards with food. And if you have little it is by God’s grace that you have enough to meet your needs. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table if not in the cupboard, clothes to wear among many other things. Let us not take them for granted but let us truly give thanks for them.
Fifthly, look for opportunities to express gratitude. Thankfulness expresses itself merely through words but gratitude expresses itself in action. Nine men were thankful but only one expressed gratitude as he came back and worshipped the Lord. Let your response of gratitude be as a living sacrifice to the glory of God. Praise Him, rejoice in Him, proclaim Him to the world. Look for others that you can reach into their lives and help them as God has enabled you to.
Someone once said this, “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” (Author unknown, www.thinkexist.com) In your sermon notes this week there is a spot – right there towards the end - for you to write down three things going on in your life, or circumstances that you’re facing right now, where you’ve been focusing too much on what’s happening to you rather than on God who can help you in a time of trial or who has blessed you in a time of need. These are three areas of your life where I want you to, like Matthew Henry, start looking for things that you can be thankful for in the midst of them. This is where you’re going to start practicing Living with Thanksgiving, making sense of the past, bringing peace for today, and creating a new vision for tomorrow. There’s another section there where you will have the opportunity to make a list of some of the blessings that God has poured out into your life. Take time in the days ahead to make that list, to consider it, to give thanks to God, and to respond in gratitude. And as we do so we’ll be learning thanksgiving living.
Let’s pray …
