Hope Church LV Sermons
Being Thankful
Well, over the past week, our nation has prepared for and celebrated a very special holiday. And I hope that you and your family had a very special Thanksgiving. And I hope even more so that in the midst of going to the grocery store and cooking meals and enjoying meals and having family over and probably some time off of work and enjoying some really, really good football and some afternoon naps that you had a moment in your week just to be thankful and to think about what Thanksgiving really means. And as a teaching team, we thought it was appropriate to take this weekend and talk about what it looks like for a Jesus follower to be thankful. How does that flesh out? What does that look like for us on a daily basis to be thankful? So I want to start with a couple of questions this morning. Here's the first question for you. Who is someone in your circle of influence? Maybe your family or your job, your coworker, someone you know who you would consider to be a thankful person? Someone you think about who has a lot of gratitude and who is very, very thankful. Who is that person in your life? Second question and don't point or say anything or send a text or a note. But who's someone you would consider not to be a very thankful person? I said not to look at them. Thank you guys for that. But who's somebody who you would say, you know what? They're not very grateful. Who comes to mind? Well in Luke chapter 17, Jesus gives some very clear characteristics of both of those groups. People who are grateful and people who are not. So if you would turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 17, that's going to be our text this morning. I'm going to start reading in just a moment in verse 11. And if you're here this morning and maybe you don't have a copy of God's Word or you just forgot it today, we're going to put this up on the screen for you so that you can read the scriptures along with us. Luke chapter 17, I'm going to start reading in verse 11. While he meaning Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, 10 leopress men who stood at a distance met him and they raised their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice and he fell on his face at his feet. Giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan, verse 17. Then Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, stand up and go. Your faith has made you. Well, this morning, what I want to do is I want to look at this story and kind of peel back all the layers so that we really understand what was taking place. And then I want to come back and pull out the biblical principles and some life applications for us to take away this morning. This is one of the most famous stories in all of the gospels. I dare say, you've probably heard this story before. You've heard a sermon on this story before. And this is taking place late in the ministry of Jesus. We are just six chapters away from Jesus being crucified. And so in verse 11, when it tells us that he is headed to Jerusalem, this isn't going to visit. This is going to Jerusalem for the very last time. And so you have to imagine as this story was taking place, the cross is already in the mind of Jesus. He's already thinking about this unbelievable sacrifice and this unbelievable invitation. He's going to extend a humanity through his death, burial and resurrection. And as he's walking towards Jerusalem, he's between two places, Galilean, Samaria. And it was common as this would happen that you would encounter people from different places. And Jesus does that. He encounters 10 individuals, but these 10 are different. It's not just your normal crowd that you would walk by because you see, these 10 men have a very, very bad physical disease called leprosy. And what is leprosy? Well, leprosy is probably the worst disease that a person in this day could have, apart from dying, of course, and it affected you internally and externally. John MacArthur, when talking about leprosy, says this, it causes the skin to lose its original color, to become thick, glossy and scaly. It causes dirty sores to form and ulcers due to poor blood supply. It caused fingers to drop off or to be absorbed, toes had the same effect. By the touch of a finger, one could feel that they had leprosy. One could even smell it for a leper emits a very unpleasant odor. This disease-producing agent even affected people internally, specifically their larynx, making it very difficult to talk. A very, very horrific disease. And the 10 men that Jesus saw had this. Now, there were many forms of leprosy, but we know that these 10 had the worst form possible because it says they met Jesus at a distance. Because you see, when a person was labeled a leper, they were not only stricken with a physical disease, but they were cast out of their city or their town. You see, lepers were not allowed to interact with everyday people, and there was even a law put in the book of Leviticus that said if a leper sees a clean person walking towards them, the leper was automatically supposed to begin to yell, "I'm unclean. I'm unclean." It was a horrible way to live life. They were absolutely disconnected from every form of society. I wrote this in my notes, religiously, as well as socially, lepers were defiled in every way. They had no family, no friends, no job, no hope. They were walking illustrations of outcasts. Every aspect of their life was in isolation. That was the life of a leper. That's what the experience day in and day out. And Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem and he sees 10 and they cry out to him. And here's what they say, "Jesus, help. Jesus, we have leprosy. Would you have mercy on us? We've heard about your miracles. We've heard about your power. Would you be willing to have mercy on us?" Now, people crying out to Jesus for help was very common. Sometimes if someone had a loved one who was dead or dying, or maybe someone who was blind or demon possessed or they were crippled, they would commonly call out to Jesus when they saw him. And Jesus' response was often to go and touch someone to heal him or to pray over someone to heal him or he would do different things. But in this story in Luke 17, Jesus does something that is very, very different and not typical for his ministry. He doesn't pray, he doesn't reach out to touch them, he gives them a command. When they cry out for help, Jesus says to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." Now, the priests in this culture were kind of like the city official and the health inspector. When a person was labeled a leper, the priests were the one to say, "I declare this person to have leprosy and I cast them out of society." So, in turn, when a person was healed of leprosy, the priests were the one to evaluate them, declare them clean and restore them to society. And the Bible said, "Jesus gave a command." Look, go and show yourselves to the priests and the Bible says as they were in transition, from seeing Jesus to going to meet the priests that they were cleansed. And one of the coolest miracles in the Bible takes place. You see, this wasn't the first time that Jesus healed a leper. If you look in Luke chapter 5, there's actually a story where Jesus reached out, touched a man with leprosy and he was healed. Well, this story in Luke chapter 17 is 10 times as miraculous because it wasn't just one person. It was 10 that the Son of God healed of leprosy. And as these 10 begin to rush towards the priests and they're healed, there is one. Out of the 10, there is one who stops and has a thought. And he thinks about Jesus. And he said, "I know everybody's kind of rushing back to society and their family and their job and normalcy, but there's something in me that wants to go back and say thank you. I've just been healed of the worst physical disease possible, and I want to go back and tell the person who healed me, thank you." And this is very significant that he would have that thought. First of all, because he was by himself, his crew, the other nine are rushing back to the priests and they're gone. And he stops all alone and says, "I want to go back and say thank you." But another reason it's significant is because he was a Samaritan. And you see, in this culture, Samaritans and Jews, which is what Jesus was, they didn't associate. And it wasn't just a little argument, they were very much at odds. There was actually a sign that was on the temple in Jerusalem that said this, "Let no man of another nation enter inside the barrier and the fence around the temple. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame that his death follows." That was for Samaritans. And so for this guy to even have a thought about going and associating with Jesus, who was a Jew, was a big deal. Because they didn't talk much less, go and express any form of gratitude or any form of emotion towards each other. But nonetheless, the Bible says that this Samaritans goes running to Jesus. Praising God, he falls down before him and says, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." He was probably crying, there was probably dust everywhere. And you can just imagine what must have stirred up in the heart of Jesus. To see someone he had healed, someone he had blessed and touched, be grateful. And then Jesus asks a couple questions. He says, "I thought there were ten. Where were the other nine?" And he shows the significance of the one and his boldness to come say, "Thank you." And then he says, "It gives me great joy. As the one who has healed you, not only to bless you physically, but to heal you spiritually and give you life for eternity." And that's the story here in Luke chapter 17. That's kind of what's taking place. And I think within this story, there are two characteristics for us this morning about what it looks like to be grateful. About what gratitude looks like in the life of a Jesus follower. And I want to give you those this morning as we kind of unpack this passage. Here's the first one. The first characteristic of someone who is grateful. A grateful person recognizes the gift and recognizes the giver. A grateful person not only recognizes the gift, but they also recognize the giver. And there's one of these that we are very good at. All of us are very good at enjoying and recognizing what we've been given. We love to celebrate the blessing. We love to celebrate the favor. We love to celebrate what we have received. But I think there is a disconnect, just like there was with the nine, in not only celebrating and recognizing the gift, but also recognizing the source of where it came from. And in this one Samaritan, we see a beautiful picture of not only someone who is amazed at the fact that they had been healed and they'd been touched. And they'd received a gift, but also a man who was overwhelmingly grateful towards the one who healed him. And that's the first characteristic for us this morning about what it means to be grateful. It means that we see past just the stuff that's in front of us, the stuff we've been given. And we give glory, honor, and praise to the source who has blessed us and given us the gifts that we enjoy. James chapter 1 says this, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." The town that I grew up in in Cleveland, Tennessee was a place that all of my family and my extended family lived in. And so when we had events like Thanksgiving, there was a lot of people there. And that was especially good around Christmas because everyone brought presents. And on Christmas Eve, every year, everyone would come over to my house. And I kind of had a tradition that I would work through and do every year on Christmas Eve. That's when we would exchange gifts. And what would happen is about the time that someone would get to my house, I would go to meet them at the door. And they of course would have a huge stack of presents and I would work through the presents really, really quick and find the one that belonged to me. And sometimes that was in a box, sometimes that was in a bag, sometimes that was in a card. And I would just take the one that belonged to me and run into our living area and begin to kind of set myself up a little pile of presents. And as my aunts would come in and my grandparents would come in and everybody would get there, I would pick out my presents. I would go set it in a stack where I knew exactly where it was when my parents gave me the green light and I would begin to open my gifts. And so we would do several things. We would eat and read the Christmas story. And then there came that moment when it was present time. And I had a huge pile because I had so many family members there. And my mom or my dad would say Travis, go for it. And I would absolutely begin to rip apart the gifts and the boxes and the cards and the bags and all of the gift wrapping and get straight to the heart of what the gift was that I had received. And once I had opened up all of my presents, I would put them all in my arms and run straight back to my room. And I would spend about 20 minutes playing with or trying on or enjoying the gifts that I'd been given by my family. And I'd spend some time doing that. And then later on in the night, there was always this really, really awkward moment because as my aunts would leave and my grandparents would leave and all that would go on, they would come and say Travis, did you like what I got you for Christmas? And every year I would lie to them because I didn't have a clue who got me which gift. I never looked at the card that said to and from. So I would just say, yes, grandmother, I loved what you got me. Or yes, aunt and uncle, I loved what you got me. But the whole time the thank you was hollow because I didn't care who gave me the gifts. The only thing I cared about is that I got presents at Christmas. And in this story in Luke chapter 17, there are nine guys who did the same thing. But from the one, we learn a very significant principle. That when a person is truly thankful, they not only love the gift, but they recognize and value the giver. And as we have another time of thanksgiving in our country, and as you walk through another time when you are being grateful, let me ask you this question. Do your actions align more with the nine or with the one? Are you a person who on a regular basis is very much enjoying the gift but neglecting to give gratitude towards the giver? William Barclay said this, "There is no story in all of the Gospels which so poignantly shows man's in gratitude. The lepers had come to Jesus with a desperate longing. He had cured them and nine never came back to give thanks. So often, once a man has got what he wants, he never comes back." And this is easy for us, especially in America because we live with so much blessing and so many gifts from God that we often drift towards a mindset that it's owed to us. And that somehow we've merited all the things that are around us and we begin to use sentences like, "Well, I deserve this, or I've earned this, or this is just the way I have to live." And our heart begins to tell us that, of course, I deserve a new car every few years. Of course, I need to have three extra bedrooms in my house. Of course, I need this membership or this status or this certain arena of luxury because it's what I must have to survive. But that's wrong. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get on an airplane and I'm going to fly to the other side of the world. And I'm going to be in two different locations for the next two weeks, training national pastors and leaders. And I guarantee you, this happens every year. I'm going to see some of the conditions they're living in. I'm going to see some of their means of transportation. I'm going to see some of the things they deal with, the clothes they wear on a weekend and week out basis. And I'm going to think in my heart, "Wow, I could never do that. I deserve way better than what you're living in." And here's the truth. I don't deserve better. And the only difference between me and them is that I was born in America and they weren't. Here's what we deserve. We deserve an eternity separated from God. And anything above that is a gift. And we must live with a heart attitude that reflects that. And a thankful person here this morning does not only recognize all of the gifts, all of the blessings that you've been given. You will acknowledge the source and where those gifts came from. A.W. Tozer said this, "Be thankful, but be careful that you don't become so enamored of God's gifts that you fail to worship the giver." You see, the nine thought that being restored into society was better, that seeing their family was better, that getting back to a normal life was better, but the one said those things can wait. Before I do anything else, I need to go and give credit and glory to the one who has healed me, to the source of the gift. And I hope for you that that's true, that you're not only looking at the gifts you've been given, and all of us have been given so many, but you are also acknowledging, like the Samaritan, the source that has given you those gifts. Here's the second characteristic of a thankful person. Gratitude always has an outward expression. Gratitude, a thankful person, will always express that gratitude on the outside. And here's what I believe, that when our hearts really are filled with the things of God, how He loves us, how He has blessed us and what He's given to us, there will be an outward expression in some form of that gratitude. People say all the time, "I don't know what I have to be thankful for." I want to read you a section of Scripture from Psalm 103, but I think if you will put yourself in this passage, you will understand just how much we have to say thank you for. Psalm 103 says this, "Let all that I am praise the Lord. May I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sin, and He heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for our sins. He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. For His unfailing love towards those who fear Him is as great as the heights of the heavens above the earth. He's removed our sin as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are. He remembers we're only dust. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him. His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to His covenant, of those who obey His commandments. Let all that I am praise the Lord. Let me encourage you to do something. This week in your time with God, maybe you just get along with that passage. Because there is a lot in Psalm chapter 103 that we can express gratitude for. A lot in us that should just boil up and it should express itself on the outside because the promises in that chapter of God's Word are true. And we should be thankful. But in Luke chapter 17 we see two tangible expressions of gratitude. And I want to look at those for a moment and then we'll be done. The first expression we see in this passage is that thanksgiving to God is expressed through our worship. Thanksgiving to God, our gratitude to God is expressed outwardly through our worship. You read the story. The Samaritan stops and says, "You know what, I'm not going with the nine. I'm going to go back and I'm going to say thank you." And the Bible says that He ran to Him glorifying God in a loud voice. We don't know what He was saying, but here's what we know, that it was glorifying to God and it was loud. And I think there's something here to be said for the consistency of the praise of God on our lips. There is something to be said for us who walk with God, who were thankful to God, expressing our gratitude to Him through our worship. And I think it happens on two levels. First of all, it happens publicly. We try to create an experience every week that you can come and you can forget about all the stuff. And you can have a time in your week where you truly worship God. And I hope for you that a part of that worship is fueled by your gratitude for what He has given you. And that the thanksgiving that is in your heart is expressing itself through your worship. But it not only happens publicly, it also happens privately. And I hope as you navigate through your week that there are moments when you are just alone with God, and His praise is on your lips and you are offering up your worship in a spirit of thanksgiving to say, God, thank you for what you've given me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for what you've done in my life. Thank you for what you've protected me from. Thank you for the ways you have guided me and led me to such a time as this. And our gratitude expresses itself through our worship. C.H. Spurgeon had a great quote and he said this, "Prayer is not so heavenly in exercises, praise. Prayer is for a time, but praise is for eternity." I believe for us, there should be a consistent demonstration of praise lifted up to God because we are so grateful for what He's done in and through us. Think about your life. Is your gratitude being demonstrated through your worship? Because if it's not, there are some things about God that you do not understand. Because if you're a Jesus follower in the room this morning, everything that I read in Psalm 103 is true of you and is a major region for you to be grateful. But there's a second expression that is found in Luke chapter 17. Not only does this American express his thanksgiving to God through his worship, but his thanksgiving to God is expressed through humility. His thankfulness, his gratitude to God is expressed through humility. It says he rushes to him glorifying God in a loud voice and it says he falls down on his face, probably in the dirt. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't clean, it wasn't proper, but the dude was so grateful that Jesus had healed him. He didn't know anything else to do but expressed the greatest form of humility possible and he fell down on his face in front of the Son of God and said thank you, thank you, thank you. Do we have those moments? Do you have those moments? Not as an act, not to say you did it, but do you have moments in your life because you are so thankful that you express that through humility before the Son of God? Because here's what I'm going to assure you, that when you detach from culture, you detach from your emotions and you really just think about yourself, and I think about myself, and the broken, weak, helpless, dark person that I am, to realize that a holy God in heaven would invite me into a relationship where I could experience life, hope, and purpose. That is humbling. And when we get our hearts around that, it changes everything. It changes the way we talk to people, it changes the way we treat people, it changes the way we approach our day, it changes the way we view ourselves, it changes the way we view God. And I'm just telling you, I need moments in my day where I sit myself down and tell my heart you're not as great as you think you are. And I just embrace the humility that I should have on a day in and day out basis. And if I'm guessing, the same thing is true of you. And one of the ways that our gratitude, our thanksgiving to God expresses itself, is through a life of humility. So let me encourage you with something. Maybe on Black Friday, you didn't get all the deals that you wanted. Maybe right now the budget isn't everything you're hoping it would be. You take all that away. We are still a very blessed people. And we have, amen. And we have a lot of reasons to express our gratitude to God through the way that we worship Him, that we praise Him, that we honor Him, and lay a life that demonstrates humility. And sees ourselves as the weak, broken people that we are, and Him as the good, all-knowing, all-powerful, huge God that He is. That's the way our gratitude expresses itself, because gratitude will always have an outward expression. I was thinking this week about this Samaritan. And he has the moment where he falls at Jesus' feet, and he says, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." And Jesus says, "I want you to stand up and go. Your faith has made you well." What was he thinking about when he was going back to meet the priest? He has this life-changing encounter with Jesus. And he's got to walk by himself all the way back to meet his family, to meet the priest, to be restored back in his society. What's the song that's going on inside of his heart at that moment? And the thought about him, and I don't know how many of you guys are familiar with the Baptist hymnal. But I'm a big fan. Amen, Teddy? And I want to reach the lyrics to a song that I believe was in the heart of that Samaritan. He had just been healed of a disease that he could do nothing about, and Jesus changed it. He had been given eternal life that he could never earn for himself, and Jesus changed it. And I believe this hymn really articulates what was in his heart. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. And I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. Not the stuff, not the gifts, not the blessings. Jesus made him glad. He was glad this morning. And are you thankful to the one who made you that way? We hear stories every week that are tough stories. And I know there are a lot of people in our church who are walking through some tough times. But here's the principle we believe as a church. That when there is no apparent reason for joy, we can still find great joy in the Lord. For eternity, he has made us glad. I want to ask you two evaluation questions and then we're finished this morning. First question, are you a grateful person? Are you someone who is thankful? Husbands and wives, are you thankful for your spouse? Are you thankful for the help made that God has given you? Parents, are you thankful for your family? Students, are you thankful for your parents or your grandparents or your aunts and your uncles, whoever it is that walks with you? Are you thankful for your job? Are you thankful for your health? Hope, are you thankful for this church? Are you a thankful person? Second question, how are you expressing that gratitude? If you're here in your travels, I'm a thankful person today. Well, how are you expressing that gratitude? First of all, to God, how are you expressing to God that you are grateful for the Samaritan? It looks like running and shouting glory to God and falling at his feet and saying thank you, thank you, thank you. What does that look like in your life? The praise of God on your lips because he has done so much to bless you. But then how are you expressing your gratitude to other people? I would challenge you, if you're thankful for your spouse, would you tell them? If you're thankful for your family, would you tell them? If you're thankful for the people in this room, this community of faith, would you express that to them in some form? Because gratitude always has an outward expression. I would challenge you with that today. In the last part of this story we see in verse 19, Jesus lets this man who's been healed, no listen, there's something greater than being healed of leprosy. And it's being healed of eternal death. And I hope for you this morning, if you've been rescued, that you would see yourself as an outcast who had a horrible disease and could never come near to God. But God in his grace said, I'm going to heal you. And I'm going to bring you close to myself and let you stay there for eternity. We have been invited to know him, to walk with him, and to worship him as a people. And I hope that is something you are very, very thankful for. Let's pray this morning. I do not know how the Spirit of God is stirring in your heart today. It may be that you're here this morning and you recognize that you are very good at enjoying the gift, but not at giving glory, praise, and honor to the giver. And maybe your time today, you just need to take a few minutes and do that. We're going to spend a few minutes now just kind of responding as a church family. And maybe you're here this morning and you don't have a relationship with God. We realize today for the first time that there's something that separates you from a love relationship with God called sin. Did you know that God made a way where there was no way? And he sent his son to the earth to wipe that sin, to pay for that sin. And he now invites you into a love relationship with himself. And in just a minute, we're going to stand and sing. And we've got some pastors and prayer volunteers around the room. And they're here because they'd love to talk to you this morning. If you need a relationship with God, would you just go to them and say, I need to be saved? And they would love to walk you through. Here's what that looks like. Here's how you come into a relationship with God and we will celebrate with you this morning. But for others of us, I want us to have some time just to evaluate, to look at our own heart. To look at how our gratitude is expressing itself through worship, how it's expressing itself through humility. How is that fleshing out in your life or is it? So I want to pray and then I want to invite you to stand and our team is going to lead us in a simple song. Just to spend a few minutes praising and adoring the Son of God. Lord, we are a grateful people today. And God forgive us for the times we don't express that. That we get so enamored with what you've blessed us with or the gifts that we fail to recognize you as the giver of all good things. So God, I pray in these next few moments as we're just still before you, that you would receive our praise. God, that you would speak to us. And we could have just a few minutes just like this Samaritan to just be at your feet and to say thank you. We love you today, God.