Returning THANKS
Luke 17:11-19
When I was little, we didn’t go to church much. I don’t remember anyone ever “asking the blessing” around our table. I guess we just ate like hogs, with no thought of thanking God for his provision. The only times I recall “grace” being said before a meal was when we were at Granny’s table. I had my seat, conveniently next to mom. And when Granny set the table, I always got the “hollow” knife. It had something loose on the inside of the handle and would rattle if you shook it. Which I always did!
Before meals at Granny’s table, Papaw would “return thanks”, as he called it. I never quite understood what that meant (it never happened at our house), but it always happened at Granny’s table. On those special occasions, when all my uncles, aunts, and cousins were present for dinner, Papaw would call on Uncle Albert or Uncle Ray to return thanks. I remember that whenever we ate at one of their homes, someone always “returned thanks”, but never at my house.
What does it mean to RETURN THANKS?
Did you ever say to your kids or grandkids, “What do you say?” when they received some kind of gift? Did they ever have to be prodded to say, “Thank you”?
The desire to return thanks comes from LOVING GOD, not just from LIKING THE GIFTS received. When we return thanks, we recognize who God is. He is our Provider, Protector, and our Peace. When we return thanks, we recognize, like the Psalmist:
Psalm 100:3
3 “… it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves… ‘
(NKJ)
James 1:17
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
(NIV)
Please recognize that you can still return thanks before eating too many tacos and still wind up with Montezuma’s Revenge! Returning thanks does not unspoil SPOILED FOOD, but it will change the SPOILED BRAT in us!
1 Timothy 4:4-5
4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
(NIV)
Returning Thanks is a LEARNED Trait.
We are not born grateful creatures. Take a baby for just a little while and you’ll probably hold in your arms what could be best described as a schizophrenic! One minute cooing, the next crying; one minute silent, the next screaming; one minute friendly looking into your eyes, the next flailing every limb with bowed back and blood-red face; one minute smelling sweet, the next…well, you know!
Babies are not born saying, “Thanks”. It is not even the first word they learn. In order for children to learn to return thanks, they must be taught.
The year 1636 was unbelievable for German pastor, Martin Rinkart. Amid the darkness of the Thirty Year War, Pastor Rinkart is said to have buried 5000 of his parishioners, including his wife, in the year 1636, an average of 15 per day. In the heart of that kind of grief and pain, his parish ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster, with cries of fear outside his window and the constant demands to offer comfort, Pastor Rinkart did not forget to teach his children to return thanks. If you turn to page 36 in our hymnal, you will find the “table grace” poem he wrote to help his children return thanks.
Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
2. O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.
3. All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given;
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven;
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heaven adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
Turn with me to Luke 17 and find the account of nine men who would not return thanks. They were so excited to have received an unbelievable gift that they forget to return and thank the giver.
Luke 17:11-19
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."
(NIV)
Leprosy, ‘naga’, in the Hebrew, means “to strike”. One who was diagnosed with such an affliction was separated from the rest of the population. Because leprosy was so highly contagious, the leper was quarantined from people.
Leviticus 13:45-46
45 "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ’Unclean! Unclean!’
46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.
(NIV)
Anyone healed of leprosy was required to pay the priest who had found him clean two male lambs, a ewe, three quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, and a log (2/3 of a pint) of oil.
Leviticus 14:10
10 "On the eighth day he must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil.
(NIV)
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast, rod-shaped bacillus. It has a long incubation period, anywhere from four to eight years, making it extremely hard to diagnose. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, and mucus membranes of the upper respiratory tract. One of the most dreaded diseases in the world, leprosy is characterized by a chronically stuffy nose and nodules that spread, causing loss of sensation and deformity. Also, leprosy bacteria attack the nerves around the eyes causing the loss of blinking reflex (which protects the eye from injury and moistens the surface). The eyes become dry and infected, and blindness may result. Because of numbness of the eye, the person cannot feel dirt or scratches in the eye. Damage to the internal lining of the nose causes scarring and eventual collapse of the nose.
All forms of the disease eventually cause peripheral neurological damage (nerve damage in the arms and legs) which causes sensory loss in the skin and muscle weakness. People with long-term leprosy may lose the use of their hands or feet due to repeated injury resulting from lack of sensation. One limb after another would decay and waste away. The loss of sensation in your fingers and toes could cause you to touch something hot and not know you had been burned.
People believed it to highly contagious and hereditary, as well as incurable. Nothing could be medically done for the leper. His only hope was the merciful, miraculous touch of God. No one else would touch him. The Jews considered the leper already touched by the finger on God. Sometimes they even called leprosy, the “stroke”, indicating that the disease was punishment by God and only God could cure it! Rarely was any leper verifiably cleansed. Outcast from society, no longer welcome among family and friends, the leper’s only social hope was the finding of others of like ailment.
Luke 17:12
12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
(NIV)
(Verse 12) – The lepers stood afar off. The legal distance was 100 paces.
Luke 17:13
13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
(NIV)
(Verse 13) - One of the symptoms of leprosy is the almost total failure of VOICE. They called with a loud voice. They mustered all their might and gathered their withered vocal chord to scream the loudest whisper they could: "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
Luke 17:14
14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." (NIV)
As the ten hobbled away in hope of healing, their faulty steps found new strength. As they made their way to the priest to verify that they had received a touch from God, there was cleansing. The whitish, scaly, leprosy afflicting the skin disappeared, dry, cracked sores closed, limbs once wasted and withered were made new and once foul flesh took on tints and tones of health. Their raspy voices suddenly returned and the recognition of restoration bought shouts of joy. Hands restored to movement and life clapped with excitement. Tripping feet began to run, and dance, and sprint to the first priest they could find.
The moment we get what we have longed for is a TESTING moment. What we do at that moment speaks of our true character.
Luke 17:15
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
(NIV)
Suddenly one stopped in his tracks. He looked down at his new feet, his new hands wiped the tears from fresh flesh on his cheeks. While the other nine ran on toward town, this one, a Samaritan, turned back and began to shout praise to God and ran toward Jesus. When the Samaritan reached the King of the Jews, he fell at His feet and thanked Him.
Luke 17:16-18
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?"
(NIV)
Did Jesus give the ungrateful cleansed lepers their leprosy back? NO! Jesus was obviously disappointed, but not revengeful (Once again, He proves He is God and I am not!). And, by the way, even though they did not show gratitude, they did display obedience.
But what blessing is found when we RETURN THANKS!
Luke 17:19
19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
(NIV)
We need to return to returning thanks.
An old man showed up at the back door of the house some college students were renting. Opening the door a few inches, the students saw that the old man’s eyes were glassy and his furrowed face glistened with silver stubble. He clutched a wicker basket holding a few unappealing vegetables. The old man bid them good morning and offered his produce for sale. Feeling uneasy about the whole situation, they made a quick purchase to ease their consciences and hurry the old man on his way.
The old Man returned the next week, introducing himself as Mr. Roth, carrying an armload of vegetables, and saying that he lives in a shack down the road. As he continued to make his weekly sales run, Mr. Roth would shuffle in wearing two mismatched right shoes, a dirty sport coat, his vegetables and an harmonica. As he played the harmonica, the conversation focused on religion and a future glory.
On one occasion, Mr. Roth exclaimed, “The Lord is so good. I came out of my shack this morning and found a bag full of shoes and clothes on my porch.”
“That’s wonderful, Mr. Roth,” the boys exclaimed, not wanting him to know that they were the culprits who put the bag on his porch.
“You know what’s even more wonderful?” Mr. Roth asked. Just yesterday I met some people that could really use them!”
