It Is A Big Thing To Give Thanks To God Series

Introduction

HOW DO I STRUGGLE WITH THIS?

Saying thank you is hard! Look at young children, it is not a natural response for a child to say thank you. Children are expecting; they are not appreciating. Children are expecting when they go with you to Wal Mart and you past the toy aisle that you are expected to buy them a toy. There is very little appreciating that you are buying them that toy. Appreciating must be taught to the child by the parents. How many times have you heard a parent say to their child, “Now, what do you tell them”? And the parent is hoping their child will say “thank you”? Some parents don’t leave it up for chance. They ask the child, “Did you say. ‘Thank you’?”

Parents, there is some good news. The older we get, the more we begin to understand that there are times people invest in our lives with either their time, their money, their words of encouragement or their talents and they deserve a thank you. But it is still a struggle to say thank you, but it is done.

Now, I am a full-grown adult; in fact, a full-grown Christian adult (having given my heart to the Lord in 1976), and I struggle with thanking the Lord. There is a Scripture in James 1:17 (NKJV) that states:

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

And then I started thinking to myself of some scenario in my life and do I really remember to thank the Lord. Let me give you a couple of them and see if you thank the Lord. I got to admit on these examples I fail more often than I succeed.

1. I stop off at the gas station, and I fill up my gas tank, do I remember to thank God for the ability to fill up my tank? That is a good gift and I just read every good gift is from God.

2. When I get in my car and turn on the radio and listen to the Message on Sirius Radio and hear all those talented artists touch my heart with song, do I thank God that I can be blessed as I am driving down the road? That is a good gift and I just read every good gift is from above.

3. When I can go to bed and do not toss and turn for hours but immediately go to sleep and wake up fresh, do I thank God as my feet are hitting the floor for a peaceful rest. After all, that is a good gift and I just read every good gift is from above.

You say, why is it such big thing to you that you forget to say “thank you, Lord” for some normal everyday activity? It is because Jesus tells me that it is a big thing to Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)

18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

So, today I want to look at a guy who did the big thing and returned to give God thanks and see what I can learn from him.

2 SCRIPTURE

HOW DOES GOD'S WORD SAY?

Luke 17:11-19 (NKJV)

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

3 POINT #1

THE ONE LEAPER COULD BE THANKFUL BECAUSE HE COULD REMEMBER WHAT HIS LIFE WAS LIKE BEFORE CHRIST PASSED THROUGH HIS VILLAGE.

Luke 17:11-12 (NKJV)

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

This one man with leprosy didn’t forget where he was when Christ came walking through the village. He was in a leaper’s camp. Leapers had to be separated from all their family and their friends and could not live within the community. They lived on the outskirts of town. The Jewish rules of not touching a dead body were the same rules that were applied to the leaper. They were in the minds of the Jewish religious leaders the living dead. And if someone accidentally got too close to them, the leaper had to yell out “unclean”. It was a horrible life of isolation. The best way to describe a leaper’s life is to say it is as bad as it can get and still be alive.