Be thankful in a thankless generation Luke 17:11-19

Introduction

Thankfulness is a way we worship God. All throughout scripture we read about being thankful last week we looked at 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” that tells us that giving thanks in everything is the will of God for us.

Psalm 107:1 “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.”

Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”

Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

We could go all Sunday school hour looking at verses telling us to be thankful, but this morning I want us to look at a man who was thankful in a thankless generation. I believe we can learn some lessons from this man whom we don’t even know the name of.

Lets look at Luke 17:11-19 this morning and see what God will show us about being thankful in a thankless generation.

The setting vs. 11-12a

Here we find Jesus and His disciples on the way to Jerusalem

They pass through Samaria and Galilee

Remember the Jews didn’t like the Samaritans but none of those prejudices mattered to Jesus as he would go out of his way to go through Samaria as long as it meant he was about his fathers business.

As they are passing through they come to a village.

The situation vs. 12b-13

As Jesus is coming to this village he sees off in the distance 10 men

The Bible tells us these men were lepers

Leviticus 13:46 “All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”

In the Bible times leprosy is one of the worst diseases you could have. It was a disease that attacked almost every part of your body. The longer you had it the worse it got. You could lose fingers, toes, arms, legs from the disease. Your skin would literally rot away, and it could take anywhere from 20-30 years to run its course through you.

As a person with leprosy they would be shunned and have to live outside the city. They wouldn’t be able to interact with anyone. If they were close to someone they would have to cover their face and cry “unclean, unclean”

They were outcast because of the disease they had.

Even from a Distance they knew who they were talking to they lifted up their voice and cried out “Jesus, Master”

Leprosy is a picture of sin, as sinners, the only thing that can save us is Jesus. These men knew that Jesus could heal them, and he can heal us from our sin as well

Then the lepers cried out for mercy.

Aren’t you thankful when we cry out for mercy Jesus has mercy on us.

Jesus is merciful to us even when we don’t deserve it.

The Solution vs. 14

As they are crying out, Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests.

Leviticus 14 tells us how a leper could be deemed clean after having leprosy. They would have to go to the priest and go through the cleansing ceremony to be restored into the city.

Here we see that all 10 lepers were cleansed outwardly. Their leprosy had been healed, but they were still spiritually a leper.

They were outwardly clean, but the inside was still dirty.

Jesus is still in the cleansing business, and he is still saving from sin as well.

The thankful one vs. 15-16

As Jesus sends the lepers away to go show themselves to the priests, nine of them head that way.

One of the 10 turns around and with a loud voice glorifies God

Luke 5:25 “And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.”

Luke 18:43 “And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.”

He fell on his face at the feet of Jesus and gave thanks

Notice while the rest of the Lepers went to the priest so they could go back to their normal life after Jesus had cleansed them from their leprosy, one of them stayed and praised the Lord for what he had done.

When God blesses us with something that we have prayed for the first thing we should do is thank him, but most of the time its either the last thing we do or we like the 9 lepers never thank him at all.

One of the signs of the last days is unthankfulness

2 Timothy 3:1–7 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

We need to be thankful for everything that happens in our life.

The unthankful ones vs 17-18

After the one came back and fell on his faith in thankfulness, Jesus asks some questions.

Were there not 10 cleansed? Jesus already knew the answer, but was making a point to his disciples with the question.

In a thankless generation we should be the thankful one.

Where are the nine? Again Jesus knew the answer to this question, but was making a point to his disciples.

Jesus then answers his own question

None of them returned to glorify God except this stranger

I think sometimes Jesus used the Samaritans to break the prejudices that even the disciples had toward them

The one thankful ex-leper was a Samaritan

the one caring traveler was the good samaritan in Luke 10.

Jesus went out of His way to speak to the samaritan woman at the well in John 4.

Jesus instructs the Apostles to witness to the Samaritans in the great commission in Acts 1:8.

The result of the Lepers faith and thankfulness vs. 19

Jesus tells him to arise and go his way.

Notice he doesn’t tell him to go to the priest so he can be deemed cleaned but instead tells him to go his way.

Jesus tells him his faith has made him whole.

The one leper was made whole; the other nine were cleansed outwardly, but the grateful Samaritan had saving faith as he was healed inwardly as well.

Notice it wasn’t his thankfulness that made him whole but rather his faith. His thankfulness was out of the overflow of being whole.

Conclusion

As believers we have so much to be thankful for:

Our salvation

Our Bible

Our family

Our church

Our home

Our car

Heat/ A.C.

Our country

When is the last time we just stopped and were thankful?

When is the last time we spent our whole quiet time with God just thanking him for what he has done without asking for anything?

A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer's trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer's heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord." –John MacArthur