THE SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING

Introduction

-{Luke 17}

-This morning I want to start a short series about Thanks and Giving. Yes, it is the month that ends with the holiday of Thanksgiving, but I wanted to dive a little deeper into what the term means beyond the holiday, and the importance of it in the Christian’s life. As one author stated it:

Thankfulness is not an occasional act but a lifestyle of intentional and spontaneous appreciation that leads us into the presence of God, empowers us to be grateful in all circumstances, and generates an overflow of generosity.

-We have much for which to give THANKS, and it then leads us to be more GIVING toward others. Today I want to talk about the Spirit of Thanksgiving. Cultivating that spirit within us so it affects our lifestyle. It is a heart issue.

It makes me think of a story I read. There was a lady named Pam who worked in downtown Chicago. Every morning, Pam encountered a heavyset, middle‑aged woman in a shabby coat soliciting spare change in front of an old brick church. She greeted everyone with a smile and a pleasant "Good morning." Pam almost always gave the lady something. After almost a year of this routine, however, the woman in the shabby coat disappeared. Pam wondered what had happened to her.

Then, one beautiful day, the lady was in front of the church again, still wearing the same, shabby coat. As Pam reached into her purse for the usual donation, the woman stopped her. "Thank you for helping me all those days," she said. "You won't see me here again because I've got a job." With that, the lady reached into a bag and handed Pam a wrapped package. The lady had been standing at her old spot waiting, not for a handout, but for the people she recognized as having given to her all those years so that she could give each of them a doughnut.

-That might be a small gesture, but it reveals a spirit of what we would define as thanksgiving. And what I am wanting for us Christians is to see that thanksgiving is a natural spiritual reaction to the person and work of Jesus Christ. May we develop the spirit of thanksgiving in our hearts so the reaction of gratitude toward God comes naturally.

-In our passage today, Jesus does a mighty work in the lives of some people, but only one reveals the spirit of thanksgiving that we are looking for. So, let’s read...

Luke 17:11–19 LSB

11 And it happened that while He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing through Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him. 13 And they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And it happened that as they were going, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? 18 “Was there no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

-{pray}

-Here is a group of men with what the Bible describes as leprosy. Now, it was not necessarily the same disease that we think of as leprosy, which is Hansen’s disease where body parts rot and fall off and things like that. The biblical term referred to several different types of skin diseases, all of which were highly contagious. In biblical times they obviously didn’t have the antibiotics that we have today to fight such infections. So, if someone had this highly contagious disease, they would have to be isolated to ensure it does not spread to anyone else.

-The Mosaic law had a section about how to deal with someone who had leprosy. They were to be examined by a priest, and if the priest determined that they had the disease, they were declared unclean—ritually and physically. As long as they had the disease, they were to live outside the camp, or outside the city. They had to live in the wilderness. If anyone were to get anywhere near to them, they were to cover their mouth and shout out UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN, to warn the person to stay away.

-They were unclean ritually so they could not gather with the congregation to worship God. They were unclean physically and relationally so they had to stay away from any human interaction (except other lepers). They were isolated from home, from job, from family, from friends. It was a disease that carried with it certain stigmas along with all the other baggage that came with it. It was devastating. And Jesus is confronted with 10 men suffering from this. And the entire interaction brings with it several lessons which will guides us on this journey toward a spirit of thanksgiving. First, we learn that we can...

1) Approach God for His mercies (v. 13)

-That is an encouragement for this morning—whatever it is that we might be suffering through, we have a God who is approachable and we can ask Him to take care of our biggest or smallest needs. You look at these men who have suffered through disease and being social pariahs, as they live through a seemingly hopeless and helpless situation. There were no doctors to turn to. There wasn’t a Mother Teresa of their times to minister to the down and out. They were out in the wilderness trying to eek out an existence as best as they could without access to any sort of societal help.

-But then at some point in their lives they must have heard about the man named Jesus who was a great prophet of some sort and he healed people. Even raised some from the dead. If ever they would cross paths with Him, that’s where they can get help.

-And then it happens, Jesus was walking with His apostles and probably a small crowd of other disciples, and the name Jesus must have gone through the air into the ears of these men. He’s here. So, they stood at a distance as they were supposed to do. But instead of crying out UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN, they cry out JESUS, MASTER, HAVE MERCY ON US! As best as they could, they approached the only source of hope that they had—that Jesus would show them some mercy; help them in their pitiful state.

-Us Americans can be a stubborn lot. We stand tall because we are innovative and smart and can figure things out on our own. But there are just some things that we can’t fix. There are some things that we can’t do. And even that which we accomplish, in reality we didn’t do it on our own. It is God who helps. It is God who strengthens. It is God who shows us mercy. So we need to swallow our pride and approach Him for that mercy. And because we can approach God for His mercies, this leads to the second lesson:

2) Recognize God’s works of mercies (v. 14)

-In v. 14 Jesus saw the need of these men, so He tells them to go show themselves to the priest. According to the Mosaic Law the only way for a leper to reenter society was to be examined by a priest to ensure that all the leprosy was gone. And if it was, there was some things that they needed to do, but once the priest declared them clean, then they were clean and could return to their normal life. Usually, the order was they were healed first, and then went to the priest.

-Jesus first told these men to go to the priest. They still had the disease, but Jesus called them to walk by faith. And, to their credit, they did. All ten of them began the journey to see a priest for the examination. It says that as they were going, they were cleansed. They were making their way to the examination, and along the way they noticed that they received the healing. They all knew it had to have been a miracle of God.

-So, we read this, or maybe we hear of other miraculous healings, and we attribute these grand works to God. Someone was on their deathbed with a disease, and all of a sudden they made this miraculous comeback. You rightly attribute that mercy to God. But something we need to remember is that no matter the size of the mercy in our life, anything we have that is good comes from God. If there is one single thing that is good in our life, God is the one that provided it to us.

-There is so much that we take for granted. Or there are the normal, daily small things that we are blessed with, but rarely give thought to. Or there are things that we think that we worked for so we earned it, and so we attribute our blessings and mercies to ourselves. And yet, the Bible poses this question to us: what do you have that you did not receive? Whether big or small, normal or unusual, earned or gifted, every mercy and every blessing comes from God. And that is the mindset we need to take upon ourselves. Every single good thing that I have in my life, every single mercy I’ve been shown, I have received it from God by His grace.

There was this man named Dave, and he and his family were coming together for Thanksgiving. He was in the construction supply business and business was good. In response to hearing about how well things were going, Dave's daughter said "We sure have a lot to be thankful for!" But instead of agreeing, Dave snapped "I worked hard for all of this!"

Dave was a regular in church, considered a good moral person, believing in God, he was more a cultural Christian than a born-again believer. But he didn't realize, or perhaps he had forgotten or maybe he was blinded to the fact that everything he had, everything he could do all that he had accomplished was from God. He had been placed in history with all the right factors and the right gifts and abilities to make his success possible. Even so, at any time God could say "no more." He worked hard ---- but where did he get his work ethic? He worked hard - but millions, probably billions of people around the globe work much harder and have much less.

-Dave was in a place that many true Christians often find themselves—they forget that every mercy they received comes from God. And because of that fact, we come to the third lesson where we are reminded to:

3) Return with thanks for God’s mercies (vv. 15-16)

-Look at vv. 15-16 again

Luke 17:15–16 LSB

15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

-Here they are, going on their way to be declared clean, and on their travel Jesus made them clean. They all must have realized it at some point. The pain stopped. The itching ceased. They were made whole. God showed them a great mercy. And only one of them responded rightly.

-There was one leper, upon realizing what had happened, who turned around to make a beeline right back to Jesus to praise God and give thanks. And it is pointed out that this man was a Samaritan. You notice that Samaritans come into contact with Jesus quite often, and they are used in Jesus’ parables and stories quite often to demonstrate how the work of God through Christ is for all the nations.

-Samaria occupied the area between Judea and Galilee. It took up what would have been the southern part of the northern kingdom of Israel—roughly the areas that had belonged to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. During the Assyrian captivity, the Assyrians moved a good portion of Israelites to other parts of the empire and moved other nations into Israel. The remaining Israelites intermarried with these other races, so they were no longer pure Israelites. Because of this, those who were pure Jews always looked down on Samaritans as a bunch of impure, dumb, redneck, half-breeds. That sounds cruel, but that we the attitude of the Jews. The Samaritans were cursed of God instead of blessed like the Jews.

-And yet it was a Samaritan that responded. And it is just assumed that the other 9 were Jewish. But the supposedly religious Jews kept going their merry way. It was the supposed ungodly Samaritan that recognized God’s mercy in his life and turned his life around to give thanks and glory to God. The man saw God’s work in his life, and he wanted to make sure that God received praise for doing such a great work.

-As I like to sometimes put it, praising and thanking God is merely giving God the credit for what it was that He has done. I have a job—God did it and I thank and praise Him. I have a family—God gave it and I thank and praise Him. My bills were paid—God did it and I thank and praise Him. On and on it goes.

-So, here is where the rubber meets the road. The spirit of thanksgiving in my heart is front and center when I recognize that God has shown me a great mercy, so I am going to turn my life around and give Him the credit He deserves and thank Him for giving that great mercy. But to make sure this spirit of thanksgiving is cultivated in us, we also need to consider for our fourth lesson how to...

4) Avoid attitudes that ignore God’s mercies (vv. 17-18)

-Look again at:

Luke 17:17–18 LSB

17 Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? 18 “Was there no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

-That is a fair question. Only one out of the ten returns to praise God and give thanks. It’s really shocking if the other nine were Jewish, and it is left to a Samaritan to show gratitude. Why would they do that? Were the nine in such a hurry to get back to a normal life that they didn’t take time to consider the size and scope of the miracle? And yet, knowing humanity and knowing ourselves as well as we do, are we that shocked that this occurred? We often take on similar attitudes that keep us from showing proper gratitude for the great mercies shown to us. What are some things that might keep us from giving thanks to God?

-Pride and selfishness are probably some of the biggest reasons. We might not think of it on a conscience level, but there might be something inside of us that makes us think that we deserve everything that we get. We might be arrogant enough to think that since life is all about us anyways we’re just getting what we’re owed. This is closely connected to what I said before, we think that since we worked hard for what we have, so we’re responsible for what we have, so why thank God?

-Another reason is that we get too busy and distracted. We got a lot going on at work and at home and at school and at extra curricular activities, and it’s football season, and on and on it goes. Or we get so caught up on social media. I know that lately I’ve found myself caught up in reactions to election results. I don’t know why, I just find them fascinating. But it’s a distraction from what I should be doing. But we get so busy and distracted with worldly stuff that we don’t just pause and live in the moment and count our many blessings one by one.

-Another reason somewhat related to that is that we have become so used to the hundreds of little blessings that we have in our lives, they are just so much a part of our normal mundane existence that we just forget that God made these daily mercies possible for us. I get up everyday, get ready for work, drive to work, do the work, come home from work, have family time, go back to bed. I get up the next day and do the same thing. But did I pause to thank God that I did wake up and have another day on this earth with my family. I am breathing air because He gave me life and breath. I got out of a comfortable bed that He gave me. Putting in contact lenses that He gave me so I can see. Getting into a comfortable, hot shower with which He blessed me so I can be clean. Ate food He provided, got into a vehicle He gave to go to a job that He blessed me with. And on and on it goes. These blessings may be daily and routine, and yet they are a gift from God.

-There are so many other wrong attitudes we might take on: having greedy and covetous hearts; only considering the big things worthy of gratitude; being materialistic; only dwelling on the negative in life. We need to avoid these attitudes and give God thanks for His many mercies. And there is one last quick lesson:

5) Appreciate the gift of God’s greatest mercy (v. 19)

-In v. 19 Jesus tells the Samaritan to stand up and go because his faith has saved him. Scholars speculate that by turning around, bowing himself before Jesus, praising God and thanking Him, it demonstrated not just faith enough to be healed but a faith in Jesus that led to salvation. Jesus said YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU. That is the literal translation. You have believed in Jesus, you are saved.

-And that is a reminder to us for a deep appreciation for the greatest mercy God has ever shown to humanity. Because of sin, all of humanity was headed to eternal condemnation, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Our destiny was sealed—we broke the law of a holy God. And God could have just let us suffer the consequences—literally, to hell will all of humanity.

-But God loved humanity enough to send His Son to become human, die to pay humanity’s penalty, and be raised again to justify those who would believe. We were destined for an eternity of punishment, and the God whom we rebelled against is the one that kept His justice intact and yet was able to offer mercy through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And yet how often do we Christians who have received this mercy forget or take for granted what we were saved from and whom we were saved by.

Conclusion

--Many times a day we ought to thank God. If we forget to thank God for salvation, the biggest thing God could have given and done for us, we sure won’t remember all the other things He has given and done. So, every day we thank him. It makes me think of the hymn that goes like this:

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free

-Christian, do you have a thankful spirit or a spirit of complaining? Do you spend more time complaining about what you don’t have or about what is going wrong than you do thanking God for every mercy big and small? I invite you to come to the altar and repent and give Him thanks.

-But there are some here who have not received the great salvation that is rich and free. You have broken God’s laws. You are condemned. But you can be forgiven and set free if you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again. Come forward this morning and believe in Jesus.