Give Thanks

This is the manuscript of the third sermon in the "What Giving does for You" series of sermons on stewardship leading up to Thanksgiving.  

Luke 17:15‭-‬17 NLT One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?

There are two categories of people, 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 that they have.

In the story of the lepers, we see that only 10% of them were thankful and 90% appeared to be thankless. Is that an accurate picture of mankind?

Scripture

Luke 17:11‭-‬19 NIV 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.”

Psalms 100:1‭-‬5 NIV Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 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. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures frever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Introduction

Thanksgiving is an American holiday and a biblical principle. 

The philosopher Cicero, who was not a Christian said, “A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” Plutarch,  an early church leader, said, “The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart.” Another saying is, “God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in meek and thankful hearts.”

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag (wampanog) Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and state but It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day setting apart the last Thursday in November. For seventy-five years Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. In 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt changed it to the third Thursday. Congress ruled after 1941 that Thanksgiving Day would be the fourth Thursday in November. We complain about what we see happening in our country but if we are really honest we will agree that the USA is a great nation. So let all of us take our stand as good citizens. Let all of us pray that our country's greatest days are yet to come.

Text

Luke 17:15‭-‬16 NIV 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.

In the scripture that Jean read earlier from Luke there’s the story of Jesus' encounter with 10 lepers, and as out text tells us that only one came back to thank Him.  

That means that ninety percent of all the lepers in Luke 17 were ingrates, I know that's a harsh word, but they didn't even acknowledge their healer.  It was almost like they never met Jesus. 

What a shame! They were so completely healed that there was not a hint of their disease. They were healed, they could go back to their communities. They were free to run for office—any office they might imagine. They were free to return to their former bridge clubs, Kiwanis clubs, golf clubs. At one time they had to cry out, "Unclean" so others would not come near them, and become infected. Now they could say, "Give me five!" The untouchables were now embraceable. The infected had become respected. The isolated tomb-dwellers had become the officers at Toastmasters.

However, for all the joy of their cleansing, we never would have known about them at all, except for the 10 percent of their group who knew the art of gratitude. 

Luke 17:15‭-‬16 NIV 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.

Then Jesus asked a most perplexing question: 

Luke 17:17‭-‬18 NIV …“Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

In this story of the lepers we see that only 10% of them were thankful and 90% appeared to be thankless. Is that an accurate picture of mankind? Think about it. 

Here is something that C.S. Lewis, the great author and theologian said.  He said that an ancient man approached God out of a strong feeling that he was approaching a judge. "For modern man, the roles are reversed," Modern man is the judge and God is the one being questioned.  

Maybe therefore we feel we have no obligation to thank Him. This is what lies behind the reason we are developing a culture without a sense of thankfulness. There's an old definition of atheist as "someone who sometimes feels gratitude but has absolutely no one to thank for it!"

There are two categories of people, 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 that they have. 

Gratitude is an attitude, it's a lifestyle.  It has absolutely nothing to do with what we have.  

Is Jesus sorry He cleanses the ungrateful? Of course, not; it is God's nature to cleanse, heal and give; however, He does ask a fair question "Where are the other nine?" 

God is a giver. As I said last week God is the great giver.  He gave His best

John 3:16 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

And then Jesus said:

John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

 

I know God does not always provide us all the abundance we want and in the way we want, but let me remind you of what it says in;

Psalms 37:25 NIV I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

My guess is that this week most of us will sit down to a great Thanksgiving meal.  I know I will.  As you do I hope you will remember verse 4 of Psalms 100;

Psalms 100:4 NIV Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

There’s a story of a Missionary who was in Haiti who said that as he was eating a meal, he started to pick up his fork and eat when he glanced to the window, which was near his table, and saw the faces of little hungry Haitian children, faces pressed against the glass watching him eat, mesmerized.

"For a moment," he said, "I had the awful feeling of guilt and sat poised, not knowing whether to eat or not." Then the waiter stepped over and said, "Sir, don't let this bother you," and pulled the blinds.

Here’s what the missionary thought at that moment. "It's so like the American culture to forget to thank God for what we have, to pull the blinds and forget that we are part of the 6 percent of the world that has enough continually to eat again and again and again. We should always ‘Enter His courts with praise; enter His gates with thanksgiving.'"

While you are eating your Thanksgiving turkey, or ham or whatever you have on Thanksgiving, consider this: 600 people will die of starvation while you're eating that meal. On Thanksgiving Day, 12,000 people will die of starvation. Eight hundred million people in this world will not  have had enough to eat that day. One of every 10 babies born this week will die within the first week. Twenty-five percent of those babies will never reach age 5. There are people on the streets of Los Angeles, who may get a meal on Thanksgiving, but may not know when they will get another meal.  When you think about that you will understand what it means to be blessed and live in a nation upon whom God has rained His blessings.

We all sometimes complain that God is unfair, when things don’t go our way or that we are struggling to survive but I want to give you something to remember when we start to complain. 

Habakkuk 3:17‭-‬18 NIV Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Jesus' one leper is a picture of great gratitude, a picture of grace.  Don’t be part of the thankless 90 percent.

This Thanksgiving, enter His courts with thanksgiving and enter His gates with praise.

The real blessing of coming to faith is not just being rescued from a crisis. That is one of the fringe benefits, but the real blessing is knowing God and bringing Him glory. Yet so many people miss this. They want only what they can get from God, and when they’ve gotten it, they abandon Him. The greatest blessing of all is walking with God and knowing Him

We are truly blessed people. Let us express our gratitude. Let us give thanks!

Psalm 100:1‭-‬5 KJV Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.

"Were there not ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine?"

 Sermon Audio