Sermon: Attitude of Gratitude!
Thesis: We either have an attitude of gratitude like the one leper or we have a an attitude of entitlement like the other 9 who could not even say thanks to Jesus for their miracle. It’s really a matter of our heart toward God!
Introduction:
1st Proclamation of Thanksgiving by William Bradford: 3 years after arriving in the new world date 1623:
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
--William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony
Our first Thanksgiving was issued after a few years of turmoil and heartache – over ½ the Pilgrims died the first year but even through the hardship they knew the importance of Worshipping and thanking God and having an attitude of gratitude for God’s provision.
Our first President of the US also knew the importance of having an attitude of gratitude:
President Washington’s declaration of Thanksgiving:
WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor;
WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
--George Washington - October 3, 1789
Our Founding Father’s knew the importance of giving God thanks for his blessings and provision! They knew the importance of having an attitude of gratitude to God. But I wonder if we have as a nations and even as the church forgotten the importance worship to God today. Really one of the best ways to worship and praise God is through an attitude of gratitude toward the Lord.
Jesus faced an attitude of gratitude problem even in his ministry so let’s look at a story from His life and ministry:
Scripture Text: Luke 17:11-21
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,
21nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
Observations from our Scripture text:
The following quoted and gleamed from sermons on sermoncentral.com on "Attitude of Gratitude."
I imagine this story looked something like this – 10 men hear of Jesus ability to heal and their body’s which are riddled with scabs and rotting flesh from the disease of leprosy. They hear of supernatural healing miracles so they go looking for Jesus to ask Him for a miracle! They find Him and yell out their request to Him from afar!
Leprosy is a horrible disease!
Also called Hansen's disease (also known as leprosy) is a long-lasting infection caused by bacteria.
The disease was once feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease. Now, however, the disease is very rare and easily treated. Early diagnosis and treatment usually prevent disability related to the disease.
The bacteria that causes Hansen's disease grows very slowly. It may take 2-10 years before signs and symptoms appear.
Symptoms mainly affect the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes (the soft, moist areas just inside the body's openings).
The disease can cause:
• Skin lesions that may be faded/discolored
• Growths on the skin
• Thick, stiff or dry skin
• Severe pain
• Numbness on affected areas of the skin
• Muscle weakness or paralysis (especially in the hands and feet)
• Eye problems that may lead to blindness
• Enlarged nerves (especially those around the elbow and knee)
• A stuffy nose
• Nosebleeds
• Ulcers on the soles of feet
Since Hansen’s disease affects the nerves, loss of feeling or sensation can occur.
When loss of sensation occurs, injuries (such as burns or fractures) may go unnoticed. You should always try to avoid injuries. But, if you experience loss of sensation due to Hansen’s disease (or another cause), you may not feel pain that can warn you of harm to your body. So, take extra caution to ensure your body is not injured.
Personal Story:
I once prayed for a man in India with severe Leprosy – I still remember the smell of his rotting flesh- it was so bad it would turn your stomach - his appearance was a sad sight to see – he was deformed missing fingers, toes, his face was distorted. His friends and family brought him to me in India and said please pray for his healing. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. We had just finished praying for thousands of people I had just got in the SUV to leave – I was tired and exhausted. But I got out to pray for him. The Bible tells me to lay your hands on the sick - so I did – I must admit within side my brain was this screaming which said “don’t touch him.” “That’s how you get it!” But I placed my hands on him in Bona Gona Poli asking God to heal him. I don’t know what ever happened to that man because it was our last night in India. But I remember the look of hopelessness in his eyes and his gratefulness for me getting out –touching him and praying for him!
So I do know a little about the disease and it’s devastating effects on the human body-soul-spirit.
The disease carries not only the physical impact of leprosy but it also carries the social impact of the deadly disease. When a person or even a child contracted it they were then banished to these leprosy colonies which were isolated from the rest of society. Yes, they were banished from their family and friends to live in a state of quiet agony as they slowly die from this horrible disease.
Notice in our story they stood at a distance from Jesus – why because they were not allowed near anyone else – could you imagine a life like this? Could you imagine the emotional trauma as well as the physical trauma? They cry out to Jesus from a far “Please have pity on us Jesus!” They looked deformed, broken and shattered – Maybe they cried “Look at our slow painful agonizing lives Jesus! Please help us – please heal us – please Jesus we need a miracle to get our lives back!”
T.S. – As you think of their request you see their cry of desperation – they are seeking a miracle from Jesus!
1. The Request: The cry for help from the 10!
a. Jesus does have a heart filled with love and this scene reveals it as 10 cry out for help. They are asking for pity for a miracle from Jesus!
b. In Scripture there are several instances when Jesus heals from a distance – all He has to do is say the word! Did you hear that all He has to do is say the words “Be healed!”
i. Love has the power to restore all that was once lost in our lives due to the disease of sin – this is why we should be grateful to Jesus and the Lord. This is why we should have an attitude of gratitude.
1. This is why we should praise Him and worship Him! It’s all about an attitude of gratitude!
ii. Jesus then spoke their healing into existence from a distance – “Go show yourself to the priest and he will confirm that you are healed and made whole again and able to enter back into society” They could be normal people again. No longer contagious or banished but embraced by their family and friends. Could you imagine a moment like this in your life – you are banished from others – isolated from family and friends and then the reunion – the love – the touch of love from another person! Jesus speaks it into existence from afar!
c. So 10 lepers are miraculously healed in our story – the priest confirms the miracle and only 1 healed leper comes back to Jesus to say, “Thank you!” How sad – how rude because the Bible says we need to give God thanks for His blessings.
i. Psalm 100 reminds us of this:
1. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
a. The people of Israel had been ones who were offering up two offerings of thanks to God in the temple each day saying - “Thank You to the Lord.”
b. These lepers would have known the importance of giving God thanks for a miracle – especially one of this magnitude on their personal lives.
ii. Hebrews 12:28 states, “28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe…”
1. You would have thought they would have all come back to praise the Lord and say “Thank You!”
iii. 1 Thessalonians 5:18: 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1. Scripture exhorts us to be thankful to God for His divine provision – but only 1 out of 10 can go back and praise the Lord for a divine miracle?
2. Did you catch the phrase in this Scripture – God’s will for your life is to give God thanks for all things!”
a. God’s will is to have an attitude of gratitude!
d. Quotes on having an attitude of gratitude:
i. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.” ~Charles Dickens
ii. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?'”
~William A. Ward
T.S. – I believe it is easy to get caught in acting like the nine ungrateful healed lepers today – the rarity in the Kingdom of Heaven is the person who has the attitude of gratitude toward God for His many blessings.
2. The Response: The 10 receive their divine miracle! 1 says “Thank You!” - 9 no comment – not thanks no attitude of gratitude!
a. Jesus seems offended that only 1 out of 10 came back to say thanks!
i. Would you not be offended? Does this surprise you to see Jesus response? What does that say to you and I when Jesus does a miracle in our life and we don’t have an attitude of gratitude for his blessing? Do you think He gets irritated with you?
b. Story: Northwestern’s Young Spencer
i. Northwestern University at Evanston Il. Had for many years a volunteer life-saving crew among its students which became famous. On September 8, 1960, the Lady Elgin, a crowded passenger steamer, foundered off the shore of Lake Michigan just above Evanston. One of the students gathered on the shore. Edward W. Spencer, a student in Garrett Biblical Institute, saw a woman clinging to some wreckage far out in the breakers. He threw off his coat and swam out through the heavy waves, succeeding in getting her back to land in safety. Sixteen times during that day did young Spencer brave those fierce waves, rescuing seventeen persons. Then he collapsed in a delirium of exhaustion. Ned Spencer slowly recovered from the exposure and exertion of that day, but never completely. With broken health he lived quietly, unable to enter upon his chosen lifework of the ministry, but exemplifying the teachings of Jesus Christ in his secluded life. He died in California, aged 81. In a notice of his death one paper said that not one of these 17 rescued persons ever came to thank him” (From Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, page 1460).
1. I wonder each day how many prayers are offered up to the Lord each day asking for a miracle and then God responds with the miracle but no word of thanks in return? I wonder in comparison how many prayers answered by God never get a response back saying “Thank You!”
2. I wonder how this impacts God’s heart?
c. The question for us to ponder today: “Are we in the 10% or the 90%?”
i. 10% with grateful hearts to God! 10% with an attitude of gratitude?
ii. 90% with ungrateful hearts to God even for our personal miracles from the Lord!
1. Miracles like health – salvation – financial blessings – great families - ?
d. Do you know you spot a person who is in the 10% - Ones with an attitude of gratitude - how about using this measuring stick? The next time you go out to eat watch and see how many people give thanks for their meal in the restaurant.
i. Share story of the café giving a break for praying and how they were sued so that they had to stop!
1. News report: Apparently if you go to Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and you pray before your meal you get a discount for “public prayer.” Now atheists are threatening to sue the restaurant to stop this private business from indulging its business practice (from http://rightwingnews.com/democrats/atheists-suing-restaurant-for-giving-discounts-to-diners-who-pray-before-meals/
a. Mary’s Gourmet Diner owner Mary Haglund says that the reports started to spread after Christian recording artist Dan Bremnes ate at the restaurant and, after praying over his meal with a record label promoter, was given a 15 percent discount. Bremmes decided to post the receipt to his Facebook page, and it quickly went viral. Haglund said she was unaware that the receipt was ever posted online until she got a message from someone asking if the discount was real. Now, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has begun to take action against the restaurant for what they say is a civil rights violation. Attorney Elizabeth Cavell wrote a letter to Haglund saying that it is “it is illegal for Mary’s Gourmet Diner to discriminate, or show favoritism, on the basis of religion.”
b. Can you believe this? But If you take the time to look our country as a whole there has risen an attitude of disrespect to the Lord not an attitude of thankfulness! We live in a world that does not have an attitude of gratitude to the Lord! As a matter of fact some are offended by it as we just learned!
ii. So what are you going to do though? This Thanksgiving will you go public and give the Lord thanks or get swept away in the run on the stores for more – will you yield to greed or gratitude?
e. Only 1 out of 10 come back to Jesus praising God and saying “Thank you” – did you hear that 1 out of 10!
i. Sounds like 90% of them still had leprosy of the heart! Spiritual leprosy of the soul!
1. Externally they are healed – physically made well – but spiritually – internally in the recess of their souls they are still infected with a disease that is causing them to rot away.
a. It will eat away at them from the inside – maybe they will not see it but it will rot them away spiritually. Why? They do not appreciate what the Lord has done for them! Yes, a miracle --- but no gratitude – no heart of giving thanks!
ii. Sounds like 90% of those were not appreciative to what Jesus had did for them!
1. What do you thinks the percentage is today?
iii. Sounds like 90% of them took Jesus words of life and healing for granted?
1. Maybe they thought he had to heal them and deliver them?
2. Maybe they thought they were entitled to this miracle. God owed them?
3. Maybe they were so filled with ingratitude they just could not take the time to praise God and thank God for restoring their lives.
f. So that 90% of those healed, delivered, saved from a life of misery, re-united with their family and friends, got their old jobs back, returned to their society never come back to say Thank You to Jesus!
i. How ungrateful – no wonder Jesus seems frustrated!
ii. Only 10% say to Jesus Thank You Lord for your healing and restoration while the other 90% could not be bothered, they cannot go out of their way to thank Jesus for his blessings and bounty.
iii. I wonder if this story of healing reflects all those who have been saved and healed by Jesus?
1. On average do only 10% really thank Jesus for his miracles and touch while 90% don’t even acknowledge what He has even done for them. They cannot even say “Thanks for restoring my life!”
g. We are here tonight – we gather of this Thanksgiving eve to say, “Thank you!” too Jesus for His provision and restoration of our lives.”
i. Yes, we are here and we are the 10% who say to Jesus “Thank you!” thanks for saving me, thank you for providing for me, thank you for healing me, thank you for delivering me, thank you for meeting my needs, thank you for blessing my life.
ii. We have so many things especially in this country to be thankful for and yet 90% never thank Jesus.
1. I think of all that the Pilgrims went through and even in the midst of all their hardship and loss they gave the Lord thanks for His blessings.
2. I look around at our overabundance in this country and see few who are thankful for what the Lord has done for them. Instead they shake their fists at Him, they ignore Him, they take Him for granted, they are apathetic to Him and even some disregard His provision and blessings.
3. Calvin Miller states, “There are two sides in the issue of all self-righteous abundance. These two categories are the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all they hold. The thankful believe that it is not how much we have or have not in life, but what we see as the source of what we have or don't have that is the real issue.”
h. I have over my years of ministry done many missions trips and seen people who had very little be so thankful to the Lord for His hand of blessings. Yet on the other side of the spectrum I have met people who have an over abundance and have a thankless attitude to the Lord. It just amazes me!
i. We need to be thankful for what God has blessed us with!
ii. We need to say it tonight and tomorrow why we are thankful!
iii. I need to say it to Jesus: “Thank you Jesus for giving me a nice deer last Saturday, thank you Lord for allowing me to sit out in the woods and gaze at your beautiful creation! Thank you Lord for my family and church! Thank you Lord for personally encouraging me and meeting my financial needs! Thank you for saving me and showing me the way to truth and true freedom in life.”
i. Jesus tells this non-Jewish man to rise and go because His faith in the Lord is what made Him well – whole – healed – able to be reunited with his family, friends and life. Jesus says your faith in me – you belief in me has made you well. Jesus saw the inside of this man’s heart – a heart of gratitude a heart of Thanksgiving!
Conclusion:
What do we need to learn from this message and story?
That we need to be thankful for the things Jesus does for us each and every day!
Why do we need to know this?
Because if we do not cultivate and attitude of gratitude we will offend Jesus if we never thank him for His blessings!
What do we need to do?
We need to live a life were we thank the Lord everyday and especially take the time at Thanksgiving to ponder all the things we need to be thankful for.
Why do we need to do it?
Because it’s a character trait of people who are part of the Kingdom of Heaven! It’s also an internal attitude that brings praise and glory to Jesus!
Action point: Reference the index cards to be filled out for Thanks Giving! Tell the Lord three things you are thankful to Him for!
