Thanks&Giving: Developing a Heart of Gratitude

Intro

The lost art of thanksgiving. The well-known preacher C. A. Spurgeon, through a sermon preached on October 7, 1886, stated that we should seek more gratitude to God.

He states that although "we receive a continent of blessings from God, as believers we give the Lord only a small island of thanks".

While God renews his compassions every day: It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. 23 It is new every morning. He is so very faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23 - NLV), sometimes we make the years go by without dedicating a day to thank the Lord.

Paul also reminds Timothy that ingratitude will characterize the last times: People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,... (2 Timothy 3:2 - NIV).

Lord help us develop an attitude of gratitude towards you.

Why should we be grateful? I have so many reasons and I don't know where to start: Because I see, hear, walk, for my family, for my wife, for my children, for my Church, for the trials I had overcome and for the defeats I had experienced, but more than anything else I am grateful for Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior.

Sermon's Outline. This morning, through this man's experience, we wish to encourage ourselves to develop a thankful heart for Jesus.

This is why we will consider:

The Reasons To Develop A Grateful Heart (Luke 17:12-14 - NIV);

The Challenges To Realize A Grateful Heart (Luke 17:15 - NET);

The Blessings That Proceed From A Grateful Heart (Luke 17:15-18 - NIV).

N.1-The reasons to develop a grateful heart

The condition of that man. I wish to briefly recall the condition this man was in before receiving healing from Jesus:

He was sentenced to death. Leprosy was a disease that left no hope. There was no cure!

Once infected by leprosy, the disease would have slowly disfigured the infected to the point of killing him.

He was deleted from the society. The leper had to keep at least 100 steps away from those who were healthy.

For these unfortunates there was no longer any family or friends, but only the sad company of other sick people.

This was a typical day for a leper: “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp (Leviticus 13:45-46 - NIV).

This was our condition too. This morning we all have many reasons to be grateful to God.

First of all we are grateful for Jesus who removed the condemnation of sin from our lives.

Like leprosy, sin was attached to our hearts and there was no more hope for us, but Jesus cleansed us from all sin: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7 - NIV).

Because of sin we were all alienated from our dearest affections, and above all we were far from God, but in Jesus we were brought closer to the Lord: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13 - NIV).

Before we were condemned, now we are Redeemed!

Before we were distant and alone, now we are hidden with Christ in God: For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:32 - NIV). I think we have enough reasons to thank the Lord this morning!

N.2-The challenges to realize a grateful heart

It's not that easy! Even though the behavior of this man thanking Jesus seems so natural and immediate, I can assure you that he had to face some challenges in order to achieve a grateful heart.

I want to consider at least some of these challenges:

He faced the challenge of fatigue. Being grateful to God comes with a price to pay.

In this case a distance to travel. In fact, this man was willing to return to Jesus, thank Him, and then present himself to the priests.

The other 9 instead estimated that the journey was too long, that's why they decided not to go back to thank Jesus.

He faces the challenge of postponing. Although that man had so many plans to carry out after his recovery from leprosy, he decided not to postpone his thanks to Jesus: Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice (Luke 17:15 - NET).

C. H. Spurgeon said: "whoever thanks immediately, thanks twice but whoever does not thank immediately, will never thank you".

The King Xerses' story reminds us that sometimes we spend years (5 years) before thanking the One who saved our lives: That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2 It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 3 “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered (Esther 6:1-3 - NIV).

Whatever it costs, thank Him now. No matter how much time and energy it takes us to thank Jesus, let's do it now, let's do it today!

N.3-The blessings that proceed from a grateful heart

The treasures that proceed from gratitude. I want to consider at least 3 benefits that come from exercising gratitude to God:

1. Distinction. When the man runs to Jesus to thank Him, Luke tells us that he was a Samaritan (Luke 17:16 - NIV).

For the gratitude shown to Jesus, Luke makes him emerge from that group of lepers and distinguishes him from the others.

Gratitude to God takes us out of anonymity and draws God's approval upon us.

2. Self-control. The mouth remains closed. Jesus asks the healed Samaritan where the other 9 healed lepers were, but he remains silent.

In fact, he could remark the ingratitude of the other 9, but he prefers to be silent (Luke 17:17-18 - NIV).

One of the blessings that gratitude brings is the strength not to talk about the mistakes that others make, because we are totally focused on giving glory and honor to our God.

3. A new voice. We often think that blessing means what God gives us.

Thanks to this Samaritan we discover that the blessing is also what God heals in us and we give it to Him back as a sign of thanks.

In fact, we must remember that one of the terrible consequences that leprosy produced was the loss of the voice.

I can only imagine the sound of that heartbreaking cry that proceeded from the mouths of those 10 lepers (Luke 17:12 - NIV).

But when that Samaritan returns to Jesus, he uses all his restored voice to give thank and glory to God: One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice (Luke 17:15 - NIV).

What a blessing to give glory to God with what He has healed in us:

- We want to thank Him with our regenerated heart;

- We want to thank Him with our renewed mind;

- We want to thank Him with our energies and our time;

- We want to thank Him with our healed marriage.

Conclusion

A heart that beats for Jesus. Thanks to the story of this Samaritan we want to ask God to help us develop an attitude of thanksgiving.

There are many who ask, there are even more who receive, but just few are those who say: "Jesus,... thank you."

May today be a special day for all of us, the day God has renewed in our hearts the gratitude He deserves.