SPECIAL DAY: THANKSGIVING
TEXT: LUKE 17:11-19
TITLE: “DO YOU THINK TO THANK?”
INTRODUCTION: A. Rudyard Kipling lived from 1865 to 1936. He was British but born in Bombay,
India. He wrote poetry and authored books. You might now some of his stories:
Captains Courageous, Rikki Tikki Tavi, and The Jungle Book.
Kipling’s writings not only made him famous but also earned him a substantial
fortune. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and asked, “Mr. Kipling, I just
read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts
to over one hundred dollars a word.” The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled
out a one-hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, “Here’s a one-hundred-
dollar-bill, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words.”
B. On one person out of ten could come up with a hundred-dollar word for Jesus after He
healed the ten of their leprosy.
1. Jesus met these men while traveling in the border areas of the region of Palestine
that were called Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.
2. Jesus was going to Jerusalem but takes time out of His itinerary to meet the needs
of these suffering people.
3. Leprosy was the most feared disease during the 1st century.
--It was the AIDS of that day
a. It was a little different from what our medical community calls leprosy today
but it was a horrible skin disease that was highly contagious.
b. It basically ate away the skin a little at time and destroyed the regenerative
properties of the skin cells so they couldn’t reproduce.
4. Lepers were required by law to stay as far away from those who were not affected
by it as possible.
5. Those who claimed to be healed of this disease had to go show themselves to the
high priest at the temple in Jerusalem.
a. The priest had to verify the healing so that people could resume a normal life in
society.
b. Rarely, if ever, happened.
6. These guys had a lot to be thankful for: the horrible disease that had made them
outcasts has now been healed.
7. Only one who came back was a Samaritan
a. Jews despised Samaritans
b. Even though they had once been Jews, they had intermarried with other people
groups and were treated as half-breeds and traitors by most Jews.
c. Only this Samaritan came back to thank Jesus, praising God for the blessings he
had received that day.
C. We’re a people a look those nine who went on their way – never really considering
what God had granted them that day and never taking the time to say thanks for His
blessings.
--G.K. Chesterton was a voluminous and respected author who lived from 1874 to
1936. When he wrote his autobiography near the end of a long and useful life, he
set himself the task of defining in a single sentence the most important lesson he had
learned. He concluded that the most important thing he had learned in life was
whether one took things for granted or took them with gratitude.
D. Thanksgiving is something that should be done on a daily basis
--Not just one day a year.
1. We need to live lives full of thanksgiving.
--Paul tells us in Eph. 5:2- that we should “always giving thanks to God the Father
for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. But like the nine out of ten men in this scriptural account from Luke’s gospel, we
fail to think to thank.
3. There are barriers that we need to recognize and learn how to get around so that we
can life lives of thanksgiving.
I. The First Barrier to a Life of Thanksgiving: DISORGANIZATION
A. Our schedules are so hectic and so full that we just don’t take the time to consider our blessings.
1. Our English words “thank” and “think” come from the same root word: “to consider”
2. How many times do get so busy, we fail to take time to consider the blessings in our lives?
3. Many years ago, Coca-Cola had an advertising slogan: “Coke – the pause that refreshes.”
4. Taking time to pause and consider our blessings puts our life in perspective.
a. We don’t just see the difficult things but the things that benefit us.
b. We would probably be surprised at how the blessings outnumber the difficulties.
B. We’re such poor managers of our time that we never consider giving thanks.
1. We’ve let our lives spin our of control and actually fell controlled by circumstances instead of doing
the best we can despite the circumstances.
2. One of the main problems is that we have difficulty in establishing priorities
3. I’m that there are at least a few of us here today that have made the wrong things important but you
just can’t understand why your life is always in turmoil.
4. Without going into detail in this matter, suffice it to say that you need to consider the giving of thanks
one of the most important things you can do and pretty soon, everything else will begin to fall into
place.
C. When we fail to give thanks, we become like the young man at the turn of the 20th century who applied
for a job with a logging crew. The foreman asked to see the young man fell a tree. He picked up an ax,
went to work at the trunk of a nearby tree, and pretty son, with skill, felled the big old tree. The foreman
said, “You can start Monday.”
The young worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. At the end of the workday on
Thursday, the foreman said, You can pick up your pay on the way out today. We can’t use you any
more.” The young man asked, “Why?” The foreman replied, “You’re falling behind. On Monday, you
felled more trees than anyone on the crew. But everyday after that, you got worse. By today, you’re in
last place and not even anywhere close to the guy who is in second-to-last place.”
The young man, “But I’m a hard worker. I’m the first to show up for work and I’m the last to leave. I
even work through lunch. I can’t figure out the problem!” The foreman thought for a minute and asked,
“Have you been sharpening your ax?” The young man replied, “No sir. I’ve been too busy to take the
time to do that!”
--Don’t get so disorganized that you fail to give thanks.
II. A Second Barrier to a Life of Thanksgiving: DISAPPOINTMENT
A. We get disappointed because we expected something but we got something else.
1. Sometimes what we want is not good for us
--We think it’s okay but in reality it’s detrimental
2. Other times, what we want is good for us but it’s not what’s best for us
a. There comes a time when we have to choose from several good things and decide on the best thing
b. God wants us to have what is best for us.
c. It’s been said that God is like Hallmark Cards: He cared enough to send the very best.
--Jn. 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
B. We get disappointed because we didn’t know what to expect so we didn’t know when we got blessed
1. Our minds were in such a blur that we weren’t expecting anything and didn’t realize it when it came.
2. It was like that during the beginning of the 1st century
a. Throughout the Old Testament, God had made promises that there would be Someone very special
who would come and do great things and offer salvation to all who would believe.
b. Finally, that day came when this Promised One was born to a virgin, whose name was called
Jeusus and grew up in a little town called Nazareth.
c. He performed great miracles, and astounded and astonished all who heard Him with the force and
content of His teaching, then went to be executed for crimes He did not commit but instead paid
the penalty for our sins, was buried, rose again from the grave three days later, and after 40 more
days ascended back to heaven.
3. Guess what?
--Millions of people missed it! They were expecting something else or just weren’t paying attention
and missed it!
4. People are still missing it today
--They’re lives are so busy, or they’re looking in the wrong place, or they’re not paying attention at
all and they’ve missed out on one of the greatest blessings we can ever have – a relationship with
Jesus Christ.
III. A Third Barrier to a Life of Thanksgiving: DISCONTENTMENT
A. Ever meet someone that is never happy?
1. Always complaining?
2. Nothing’s every what they want or need?
3. Critical about everything?
4. Many years ago, a man just like that bought a small traveling circus. Nothing ever satisfied him,
the equipment never worked the way it was supposed to, and the performer were never good enough.
One day, the circus was setting up in a small town and had just gotten the main tent (big top) up
and ready to go when one of the local men came walked into the tent. He went up to the owner and
said, “I want to join the circus.” The owner asked him “What kind of an act do you do?” The man
winked at the owner and said, “Just watch!”
The man began to climb straight up one of the supporting poles till he got to the high wire.
Gracefully, he walked out to the middle of the wire and spread his arms (like this), and jumps, head
first. Just before he hits the ground, he pulls up out of the nose-dive and starts flapping his arms like
wings. He starts flying all around the big top, doing barrel rolls and loop-the-loops, and all kinds of
flying tricks.
After about ten minutes of this phenomenal act, he flies toward the owner, pulls up into a stall,
and executes a perfect two-point landing on his feet beside the owner. The man says (breathlessly),
“Well, what do you think?” The owner sneers and asks, “Is that all you do? Bird imitations?”
B. There is a HUGE difference between someone who has an attitude of gratitude and someone who gripes
about everything.
1. One has an attitude of faith and the other an attitude of fate
2. The thankful person believes that God is in control and the other believes he is a victim of
circumstances.
3. Norman Vincent Peale told about a man by the name of William Stidger who was on the verge of
a nervous breakdown. The man had been a very vital, dynamic person; but he had become an empty
shell of his old self.
A friend suggested the way for him to avoid further breakdown and to be healed was by the
therapy of thanksgiving and by the practice of what is the “attitude of gratitude.” His friend advised
Stidger to sit down and to make a list of all the people who had helped him through the years. Then
he was to fill his mind with thankfulness for all these people and for all they had done for him.
His friend asked if he had ever thanked anybody. Stidger replied, “No, I never really made much
stress on that.”
Next, his friend advised him to think of someone who especially had blessed his life and to write
that person a letter thanking him or her. He thought of a schoolteacher, who was now a very old
lady. Stidger sat down and wrote the teacher a letter telling her that he remembered the inspiration
she had given him, now he had never forgotten her across the years, and how much he loved her.
A few days later he received a letter written in a trembling hand. Using his boyhood name, it said,
“Dear Willie: When I think back over all the children I have taught in my lifetime, you are the only
one who ever wrote to thank me for what I did as a teacher. You have made me so happy. I have
read your letter through my tears. I have it by my bedside and I read it every night. I shall cherish
your letter until the day I die.”
This sense of encouragement did so much for him that he though of someone else to write and
then someone else and before he was through, he had written five hundred unexpected letters of
thanks. The therapy of thanksgiving had much to do with curing him of his depression. He was so
grateful for every new day, and he lived every day to the fullest.
C. The most important ingredient for an attitude of gratitude is contentment
1. Contentment is being satisfied wit what you have at the moment.
2. Contentment says, “I’ll take what I’ve got and do the very best I can with it!”
--Have to remember: Sometimes what we have now is preparing us for what we’re going to get
later.
3. While on a short-term mission trip, Jack Hinton from New Bern, N.C., was leading worship at a
leper colony on the island of Tobago. There was time for one more song, so he asked if anyone had
a request. A woman who had been facing away from him turned around.
Hinton said, “It was the most hideous face I have ever seen. The woman’s nose and ears were
entirely gone. The disease had destroyed her lips as well. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and
asked, ‘Can we sing Count Your Blessings?’”
Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by another team member who
said, “Jack, I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again.”
Hinton replied, “Yes I will but I’ll never sing it the same way again.”
4. Phil. 4:11b-12 – “…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to
be in need and I know what is is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and
every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
IV. A Fourth Barrier to a Life of Thanksgiving: DISCOURAGEMENT
A. Some of you here today have had the troubles and trials of this life beat you down
1. You feel trapped
2. You feel defeated
3. You feel hopeless
B. The lepers in our scripture passage this morning understood just how you feel
1. They felt trapped
--They suffered from a disease from which they could find no relief.
2. They felt defeated
--No one gave them any chance for any kind of victory over their problems
3. They felt hopeless
--There was no doctor who could cure their disease
4. However, they came into contact with the Great Physician and He had all the power and skill to heal
anyone of any problem.
C. The nine who left and never came back weren’t exactly all bad in their behavior
1. They had an incredible amount of faith
--Jesus never touched them, breathed on them, or got close to them like He did with many that He
healed.
2. Look what happened in v. 14: “When he [Jesus] saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the
priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.”
3. These guys turned and walked straight toward Jerusalem
a. Their faith was incredible but their attitude of gratitude stunk
b. By the way, the poor Samaritan had no place to go
(1). He was literally a “foreigner” to the temple and the priests in Jerusalem
(2). All he had was Jesus
4. The healing of these lepers came because they put their hope and trust in what Jesus could do for
them
5. That, my friend, is the heart of the Gospel message
a. We suffer from a spiritual disease called sin and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.
b. Our only hope is Jesus Christ and His plan for our lives.
D. Jesus Christ offer hope to those who wil trust Him
1. Mt. 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give your rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gently and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
2. Just a few minutes ago, I read a passage from Phi. 4:11-12
a. Paul spoke about learning the secret to being content.
b. Following those verses, in verse 13, Paul tells us what the secret to contentment is: “I can do all
things through him who gives me strength.”
CONCLUSION: A. Some very important things to think about this Thanksgiving:
WHAT IF?
What if God couldn’t take the time to bless us today because we couldn’t take the time to thank Him yesterday?
What if God decided to stop leading us tomorrow because we did not follow Him today?
What if we never saw another flower bloom because we grumbled when God sent the rain?
What if God didn’t walk with us today because we failed to recognize it as His day?
What if God took away the Bible tomorrow because we would not read it today?
What if God took away His message because we failed to listen to His messenger?
What if the door of the church was closed because we did not open the door of our heart:
What if God would not hear us today because we would not listen to Him yesterday?
What if God answered our prayer the way we answer His call for service?
What if God met our needs the way we give Him our lives?
O Lord, help us to be thankful that you have “not treated us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Ps. 103:10)
B. Listen to all the words of Ps. 103:1-12 – “1 Praise the LORD , O my soul; all my inmost
being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD , O my soul, and forget not all his
benefits- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life
from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with
good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The LORD works
righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his
deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as
high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as
far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
C. Are there any barriers between you and God this morning?
