Where Are the Nine?
Theme: Thanksgiving
Chuck Sligh
November 26, 2019
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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?—
A to remind you to ADORATION and worship of God;
C for CONFESSION of sin;
T for THANKSGIVING;
S for SUPPLICATION, or making requests of God.
That’s a good acrostic to remember so your prayer life is balanced. We instinctively know we should confess our sin before coming into God’s presence. And we have no problem with SUPPLICATION because that’s usually the main reason we pray—to ASK God for things! Our problem is ADORATION and THANKSGIVING.
Include in every prayer ample time for thanksgiving and adoration.
Thank and adore Him for your BLESSINGS.
Thank and adore Him for your FAMILY.
Thank and adore Him for your HEALTH and your JOB.
Thank and adore Him for the FOOD on your table and the roof over your head.
Thank and adore God for your TRIALS.
Illus. – Matthew Henry, the great 17th century scholar famous for his Bible commentary, was once accosted by thieves and robbed of his purse. He wrote these words in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” Even in a trial, Matthew Henry had a true heart of thanksgiving.
And finally, thank and adore God for EVERYTHING
Illus. – We used to have a soldier in our church in Wiesbaden who was a Russian language wiz in military intelligence: He was a genius, yet he could be extremely simple—almost childlike. When he prayed, his prayer sounded like this: “Dear Jesus, thank you for the grass, and for the trees and for the houses, and for our cars and our coats that keep us warm…” The first time I heard him pray, I opened my eyes during his prayer and thought, Is this guy serious?—and realized he WAS.
But then I looked at my own prayer life. How easily I took all these things for granted and went straight to the throne of grace with a “gimme this and gimme that attitude.” I can’t help but think that God delighted in Jeff’s prayer because he was so full of praise and thankfulness for even the LITTLE things.
Learn to be EFFUSIVE with praise to God—even for the little things in life!
IV. Perhaps the fourth man said, “NO USE TELLING HIM MY THANKS; HE KNOWS IT ANYWAY.”
Illus. – We’ve all heard of the lady who asked her husband, “Billy, do you love me?”
“Of course, I do, Elly May,” her husband replied.
“But you never tell me.” She said.
“Elly May, I told you forty years ago when we got married that I loved you and if I ever change my mind, I’ll let you know.”
Yes, the truth of the matter is that God DOES know whether or not we’re grateful—but He desires to us to express our thankfulness to Him verbally. Don’t we resent being taken for granted? Don’t we appreciate it when someone expresses gratefulness to us? Doesn’t it bring joy to our heart? Don’t you think God received joy when we express our thanks to Him too?
Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that God NEEDS our thanksgiving and praise. God has no needs whatsoever. But He DESIRES it for two reasons:
One, thanksgiving brings glory and honor to whom it is rightfully due.
Second, thanksgiving brings a sense of joy and peace to OUR hearts.
Worship and thanksgiving from the heart always edifies US! God knows and loves us and wants us to experience the joy of worship.
V. Maybe the fifth man GOT TOO BUSY WITH LIFE’S CARES.
Too many today are caught up in the materialism of our age. Today we have cars and money and furniture and all kinds of material things. But we seldom pause to give thanks and praise to God. We just work harder and neglect God more to get more, more, more.
Sometimes we’re like campus organizers who avail themselves of the welfare checks, food stamps, free clinics, and subsidized healthcare the government provides, and then protest against that same government whose largess they imbibe from.
We daily load up on all the benefits God has for us, but then we’re ungrateful and unthankful. God help us to be THANKFUL! God help us to take the time and thank God for His goodness and generosity to us!
VI. Perhaps the sixth man DIDN’T KNOW WHY he didn’t go back.
For some reason, he just wasn’t excited about his healing. Why?—Maybe because he was more consumed with bitterness against a brother who rarely visited him and his rabbi who failed him when he had leprosy.
Bitterness and resentment will rob you of your spirit of joy and peace. In fact, bitterness and thanksgiving cannot coexist in a person’s life; one will always overshadow the other. Show me a bitter person, and I’ll show you an ungrateful person. Show me someone full of thanksgiving, and I’ll show you someone free of bitterness and resentment.
VII. I wonder if leper number 7 didn’t return because he didn’t think he needed to because HE WAS WANING IN HIS AWARENESS OF ALL GOD HAD DONE FOR HIM.
He quickly forgot God’s blessings. He was the kind who only calls on God when he has a problem. And then he cries, “God, I’ve got a problem…HELP!” Graciously, God comes to the rescue, but then God doesn’t hear from him again until he has another problem.
Illus. – How would you feel if a friend of yours never came by to see you except when he had a financial crisis and needed money? Every time he came, you’d help him, and every time he’d leave, with hardly a nod of appreciation and then you’d never see hide-nor-hair of him again until next time he fell on hard times and needed to be bailed out. I think that’s how God must feel sometimes, and we ought to be ashamed of it!
VIII. It could be that number 8 JUST DIDN’T FEEL LIKE IT.
He’d been a long-time awaiting Jesus. His healing was a very traumatic experience. Now he had already traveled far to see the priest like Jesus had instructed, so why bother to go back? He was controlled by his feelings instead of by what was right.
Listen, one of the greatest truths you can learn in the Christian life is to do right because it’s right to do right—regardless of your feelings. If you wait to thank God when you feel like it—you might never get around to it. Remember, praise is a SACRIFICE. God help us to thank God EVEN WHEN WE DON’T FEEL LIKE IT!
I don’t know how many times in my Christian life I haven’t FELT like doing something, but I did it anyway, and in the process, my feelings changed. Sometimes I don’t feel like reading my Bible, but if I’ll just start, because it’s the right thing to do, before long, I FEEL like doing it.—My feelings change. Sometimes I don’t feel like praying or going to church, but when I do it anyway despite how I feel, before long, I’m into it and enjoying it.
Expressing gratefulness to God is one of those things you should do. You should do it whether you feel like it or not! Do it when you’re HAPPY; do it when you’re SAD. Thank God when you get a promotion and when your car breaks down.
Paul says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Rick Warren said, “In happy moments, PRAISE God. In difficult moments, SEEK God. In quiet moments, WORSHIP God. In painful moments, TRUST God. In EVERY moment, thank God.”
IX. It could be that the ninth man FELT SORRY FOR HIMSELF.
Maybe he’d had leprosy for 22 years, while one of the others had had it only 2 years. “Why didn’t God heal me twenty years ago like him?!”
So many times, we get to feeling sorry for ourselves and we fail to see our blessings. We count our blessings on one hand but need a calculator to count our complaints.
Illus. – Roy Campanella was one of the first African Americans to play in the US Baseball Major Leagues. In a distinguished career he won the Brooklyn Dodgers Most Valuable Player award many times, and in 1955 was in the team that won the World Series.
But in 1958 his career was cut short after a car crash left him a quadriplegic. After he was injured, he spent a lot of time in the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City.
One day he stopped to read a plaque on one of its walls, and for someone who so blessed with such athletic gifts, it resonated deeply within him. It said:
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey…
I asked for health that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity that might do better things…
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of others.
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among men, most richly blessed!
Oh brethren, how truly blessed we really are! The Bible teaches that our trials are actually blessings in disguise! God help us to stop pitying ourselves and realize how truly blessed we are!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!”
CONCLUSION
May I ask you a question: Which of the ten people I portrayed today best describes you? Are you one of the nine ingrates, or are you like the one man who returned to God—grateful for God’s goodness in his life? Are you guilty of not having an “attitude of gratitude”? If so, you need to confess it as sin before God. Christians ought to be the most grateful people in the world because we, more than anyone else, know whom to thank and why.
May God help you to thank God in ALL THINGS in your life; to thank Him daily in your prayer time; to thank Him all during the day for ALL of His blessings in your life; and to express gratefulness to people, as well as God, for their contributions in your life.
That’s hard to do on a sustained basis…so I’m going to give you an assignment for a whole year! I want all of you to pull out your smartphones and tablets that have cameras on them. With that device, I want you to take a picture every day of something you are thankful for. This will revolutionize your life.
Illus. – Hailey Barholomew shares in a TEDx talk how she was so blessed but found that she wasn’t enjoying life, describing herself as feeling lost and stuck on a treadmill. On the advice of a nun to look for something every day to be grateful for, she launched on a project to take a photo of something she was thankful for every day.
It changed her outlook forever! Hailey had always thought of her husband as unromantic. One day, she snapped a photo of him serving dinner, her “grateful photo” for that day. Viewing the photo later, she saw that he had given her the biggest piece of pie. She began to take notice that he always did that. It was one small but profound way her husband showed his care for her.
Someone asked him how it had changed their marriage and he said that for the first time in their marriage, he was enough; she wasn’t always trying to change him anymore. Thankfulness will do wonders for your marriage.
Hailey had found mothering a “boring job,” but as she took photos of her children holding out their hands to her, playing and exploring, laughing and listening to storybooks, she discovered how much joy and wonder there was in her world. Through the art of gratitude, Hailey found herself lifted out of her rut and celebrating life.
I challenge you to join me in this adventure and share with me through the year the ways you are learning not to just be thankful one time a year, on Thanksgiving, but to cultivate an “attitude of gratitude” the whole year through.
