Where Are The Nine?

Where Are the Nine?

Theme: Thanksgiving

Chuck Sligh

November 26, 2019

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

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TEXT: Luke 17:11-19 (TO BE READ LATER)

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – One cold, wintery day in 1860, a crowded passenger steamer foundered off the shores of Lake Michigan. While others stood by, a man named Edward Spencer, threw off his coat, swam out through the heavy, icy waves 16 times and succeeded in rescuing 17 people. After collapsing in a delirium of exhaustion, Ed Spencer never completely recovered from that day’s exposure and exertion and lived the rest of his life in broken health. But the real tragedy of that story is this: In a notice of his death, one paper said that not one of these 17 rescued persons ever thanked him.

That reminds me of our text this morning: (READ NOW) – Luke 17:11-19 – “While he was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered…a certain village, he was met by ten men who were lepers who stood at a distance. 13 And they raised their voices, and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ 14 When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go shew yourselves to the priests.’ And as they were going, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, and glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 And he fell…on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, ‘Were…not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner? 19 And he said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made thee well.’”

Just as in the story of Ed Spencer, we see a shocking example of ungratefulness in today’s text. Ten lepers were healed, but only one gave thanks. Isn’t that sad?

Jesus asked, “Where are the nine?” You’d think that with something as life-changing as being healed of leprosy all ten of them would have returned to give thanks, but out of ten lepers, only ONE exercised what the writer of Hebrews called “the sacrifice of praise.”

Have you ever wondered why the other nine did not return? Let me speculate a little today and suggest to you some reasons the they didn’t….

I. Maybe one said, “I’d go back, but IT’S JUST NOT CONVENIENT.”

¿It’s never really convenient to be grateful, is it? That’s why the writer of Hebrews referred to it as the “sacrifice” of praise. A sacrifice is by definition something that costs something or is not convenient. So, to give thanks to God, or to anybody, is never really convenient.

We must make the effort to be thankful to God—even if it means inconvenience. For instance, it takes EFFORT and it’s not convenient to come to church and worship God in thanks. It takes EFFORT to spend time with the Lord in your personal Quiet Time with God, and to give Him thanks for His goodness and blessings and provision.

It will never be convenient, but God always blesses us when we take the time and effort to worship Him and show our gratefulness to Him.

II. Perhaps the former leper was TOO PROUD.

It takes a measure of humility to express thanks and appreciation, doesn’t it? That’s why a lot of people get all tongue-tangled when it comes to thanking someone for what they’ve done for them. It takes humility to say, “Thank you” because it shows that we need God and others—that we’re not sufficient on our own.

Many scriptures throughout the Bible stress how God puts a great priority on humility. Proverbs 22:4 says, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches,…honor, and life.” James says, “…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

We should never be so proud that we cannot show gratefulness and be thankful.

III. I wonder if the third one was TOO SELF-CONSCIOUS.

Maybe he thought, I wouldn’t know what to say. I wouldn’t know how to express myself.

Folks, we need to learn the language of thanksgiving. It ought to be such a part of our lives that it becomes an ordinary part of our vocabulary, both in our prayers and with others. How sad that we’re so negligent to regularly express thanks to God and others.

Were you taught the A-C-T-S method of a balanced prayer life?—