Put the ‘Thanks’ Back in Thanksgiving

Feeling Better!

I love this time of year. Thanksgiving is here and Xmas is right around the corner. In fact, once the turkey has settled in our systems, we show up here next Sunday, and we will be ready for Xmas.

The tradition, the joy, the familiarity, memories come flooding back.

It’s good to be here. Here, on Sundays, esp this seasons.

You walk in and see your friends. The noise! PPL talking, laughing, getting re-connected and maybe making a new friend.

If you’re new here, it can be a little intimidating. But, how often do you hear of ppl visiting a church once and not going back b/c no one talked to them.

Here, good luck getting ppl to shut up so you can get ready to worship.

The community we have here. The friendships. The hugs and handshakes, for those of you who can! And, the fist bumps for the rest of us. The smiles. It feels good to be among friends.

Then, Linda and Sara get up w/ big smiles on their faces and welcome you. You can’t help but smile when Linda gets up to greet you. The music is upbeat and positive. You’ll find your toe tapping whether you want it to or not.

We pray for each other. Encourage each other. And, we help each other.

Then, I do my best to teach you a positive message. I try to avoid the ‘don’ts”, and focus on the “do’s”. Jesus kept things positive most of the time. There’s a place for the “Thou Shall Not’s”. But it always seems better to couch it in “We ought to do…”

God’s word is timeless and practical regardless of culture and time in history. Good stuff for all of us.

So, when you leave here every Sunday, you can’t help but feel better than when you came in. Especially if you’re feeling a little lonely and outside.

And, let’s be honest, it’s not us. It is, but it’s Jesus working thru us. The HS lives inside of us, uses us, and connects us. The Word of God is affecting us. Whether I’m reading it, teaching it, or if we’re memorizing it. It produces positive changes.

We will never leave an encounter w/ Jesus w/out being changed for the better. And being here in the room on Sunday mornings presents numerous opportunities to encounter Jesus.

Pause, a word to those watching online. Speak to the camera!

We’re glad you’re there. We do this so that you can be a part of what we’re about here. You may be home, not feeling well. You may be traveling. You may be in the valley for the winter. Whatever.

We’re doing our best to give you a good worship experience while watching us on your computer or iPad or phone.

But, if there is any way you can be here in the room w/ us, I would encourage you to do what you can. While a lot of good comes from what we upload online, so much more good is done in person here in the room.

Un-pause.

A little bit of Jesus will do us a lot of good. If we’re dry and thirsty for something significant, then Jesus will quench that thirst and you will feel the experience of the encounter. You can’t help but feel better when you leave after this.

A little bit of Jesus. But, there is so much more that’s possible and available. Too often we settle for a little good when so much more is possible.

If all you do is come in here, greet ppl, then sit down and check out, then ya, you’ll be a little encouraged when we’re done.

But if you come in here, greet ppl, engage in the lyrics of the music, pray w/ us, even silently, pay attention to what God has for you in the message. You don’t have to pay attention to me. On the surface sure. But the HS will be speaking to you the whole time.

If you’ll apply something from every message, engage the entire hour, then so much more good will be done. Positive life-changes.

A little bit of Jesus will do us a lot of good. But there is so much more good available if we will surrender to the authority of Jesus as our King, engage and worship Him as our Savior, and stop from time to time and say ‘Thank-You’ to demonstrate we truly appreciate all that He is doing for us.

A little bit of Jesus will do us a lot of good. But don’t walk away leaving what’s possible behind when it’s there for the taking.

In the passage we are looking at today, Jesus did a lot of good for 10 men. 9 of them walked away leaving so much more that was available on the table. Only 1 returned and received so much more.

They received a lot from Jesus, relatively speaking. But 9 of them missed out on so much more.

It was a Big Deal

Luke 17:11–14 NIV

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke points out, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He’s taking his time. He needs to be there for the Passover. It’s still a few months away.

Jesus, while on his way to the crux, continues to think of others, not preoccupied w/ his own stuff.

This is the 4th miracle Jesus performed of 5 in this journey to Jerusalem section. Each miracle emphasizes the teaching the follows, not the miracle itself. These are among the last important lessons He wants us discs to get b/c He won’t be with them much longer.

The 1st miracle in this section was when He freed a man from a demon that kept him mute.

This was a sign that they were supposed to be looking for that would prove to them the Messiah had arrived.

Jesus proved He was more powerful than Satan as our Savior.

And, He gave the man the ability to tell his story which would encourage others to consider Jesus, too.

The 2nd miracle was when He freed the woman from the demon that bound her up and bent her over for 18 years.

He freed her from her physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bondage. She stood tall.

Jesus frees us from out bondage. The emotional bindings, spiritual bindings, even physical bindings that bend us over and weigh us down.

It was also the Sabbath. Jesus has authority over the rules the ppl make up.

The 3rd miracle was when he healed the man who was retaining fluid. He was swollen all over his body.

Again, on the Sabbath. He freed a man from what bound him up. Showed mercy to someone who had only recieved ridicule and rejection.

Mercy for those who need it.

This is the 4th miracle. I’ll get into it in a minute.

The 5th miracle will be when He heals the blind beggar giving him the ability to see the truth. The truth is Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah. See the truth, believe the truth, and be changed by the Truth.

There are 2 levels of tension in this situation.

Jews and Samaritans, as a rule, hated each other.

Lepers were shunned by society. PPL avoided them like the plague. Literally. They had a plague. They were dying a slow, painful, ugly death. And ppl were terrified of contracting the disease from them.

We all remember social distancing, right?

Slide

This pic is from Xmas 2020.

So, as Jesus traveled, he was approached by 10 men who suffered from leprosy. They kept their distance. It was the law. They risked getting stoned on the spot if they forced their way in too close to anybody.

They wanted something from Jesus. They were desperate. They cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. Mercy. Pity.

Literally, we don’t deserve this ugly death. Please, relieve us of it.

Simple request. One big issue. Please fix our problem. They came b/c they wanted to get something from Jesus.

They called Him, Master. A term indicating authority. A master over a slave. But, the question would be, what authority did they believe Jesus had?

Obviously, they bel’d he had authority over their disease. They had faith in His power to be able to heal them. But, for the most part, that was the extent of the authority the acknowledged Jesus possessed.

They had seen, or heard, that He had done great things for others. Would He do something great for them?

Jesus gave them an assignment. He didn’t real them right away. Go show yourselves to the priests.

But, he hadn’t done anything, yet. If nothing happened, what would they show them?

But faith acts as if it’s a done deal. They had faith He’d do it.

Immediately, they turned and headed for the priests.

And, why the priests?

They could do 2 things.

examine them, declare them to be healed, cleansed, and welcome them back into society. Only the priests had the authority to do this. B/C of their disease, they had no social life. They hadn’t been around family, friends, in the synagogue at all. The only interaction they had was w/ other lepers. The priest could approve their entrance back into their social life.

The second thing the priest could do is by examining them, declaring them healed, they could broadcast the Messiah had arrived. This was an extremely unusual event. Healing in general was. But healing from leprosy happened maybe 2 or 3 times in history. Clearly a sign the Messiah had arrived.

The priests were the spiritual leaders of the ppl. They were supposed to be watching for Messiah so they could direct the ppl to be saved. If only they would have done that.

So, the 10 men turned and immediately headed for the priests. And on the way, they experienced complete healing. Their open wounds closed. Their dead appendages came to life. Their pain eased. The odor dissipated. The ugliness became beauty. Their depression became joy.

All b/c they had faith in the power of Jesus to heal them.

This was no small thing. They were as good as dead. No social life. Physically dying. No spiritual life. Emotionally, dead. Mentally taxed knowing what was coming and what their end would be like. No contact w/ their wives and kids.

They got it all back. In a flash. As they ran to the priests to show themselves off. All 10 healed of this ugly and painful death of a disease. It was a good thing.

9 of them settled for this. Who could blame them? Big deal. But, b/c they kept going, they left something much better on the table that was available to them if only they would have followed the lead of the 1.

The Bigger Deal

Luke 17:15–19 NIV

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

1 man returned. Only 1.

He returned to express his gratitude.

His posture spoke volumes. He fell as Jesus’ feet. This is how you approach your King. Humbly. Bowing in his presence.

A King has authority over his subject’s life. All of it. The 1 who returned was acknowledging Jesus is His king. He makes no moves, says no words, does not things, w/out the command and approval of His King.

He surrendered his entire life to Jesus in that moment. He bowed and worshiped Him.

Worship is the communication that Jesus is the most valuable, most important, irreplaceable thing in your life. This was no casual, ‘Thank-You.’ This was a formal presentation of his entire life to Jesus to do with whatever He saw fit.

He praised Him. He personally thanked Him. He couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He was loud. He made sure everyone knew what He was feeling and thinking that day.

He glorified Jesus.

When you glorify someone, you make them look good. He humbly fell at Jesus’ feet admitting he didn’t deserve this. But b/c Jesus is merciful and gracious he received an even bigger gift than than the other 9.

Not only did this one come to get something from Jesus, he came to give his entire life to Jesus. Had he kept going like the other 9, he still would have been healed and received his life back.

But b/c he returned and surrendered his entire life to him, he received eternal life from Him.

He didn’t demand it. Jesus offered it freely. Once distant, now close to Christ. Previously he knew about Jesus, now he knew Him personally.

He appreciated everything he rec’d from Jesus and communicated that clearly.

Jesus then included this important detail. This 1 was a Samaritan. Implied is the other 9 were Jewish.

As grateful as he was for what he rec’d, the other 9 Jews were not. They were ungrateful. They accepted the blessing from Jesus. But, as Jews, they bel’d they deserved it. It was a great thing. But it reflected the same attitude Israel had throughout history.

They were blessed by God. Chosen by God. Descendants of Abraham. Given land that produced. They could have been, should have been, the envy of the world. And the rest of the world resented them for it. Many, still do. Thus the current events in the Middle East.

But they took God and His blessing for granted. They got so much good stuff from him that they began to believe that they deserved all of it. By accepting the good stuff and moving on, they left so much more on the table that was available to them.

The Jews had a sense of entitlement. The Samaritan was the least likely to return. But when he did he proved his faith in Jesus as genuine and he bel’d he did not deserve any of it.

Thanksgiving is the recognition of indebtedness. Christ wanted the discs to recognize their indebtedness to Him for all the good they had already rec’d and what had been promised to come.

We are indebted to Christ w/ no means to repay. It is impossible. We insult Him if we try. All we must do is humbly accept what He offers.

Jesus posed 3 obvious questions.

Were there not 10? He healed all of them.

Where are the other 9? Critical of their ingratitude.

None returned to praise God except this foreigner? Is that all? Shouldn’t the Jews have known better?

The least likely. The outcast among the outcasts.

The 9 missed their moment. This was an indictment of the sense of entitlement and not responding to Jesus’ mercy.

Their faith in the power of Jesus healed all 10.

The faith in the person of Jesus saved only 1.

Jesus extends his offer of mercy and grace to all ppl, regardless of background, ancestry, or condition of your situation. He offers his blessing to help us each and every day. But he offers so much more to help us for all eternity.

You can believe in the power of Jesus and still not be saved. You can benefit from that power. This life, this day, may go better.

But the objective is not limited to this life. Jesus didn’t die to bring heaven to earth. He died to get us to heaven.

These 9 were given a tremendous gift. They rec’d their life back. That’s huge. But think perspective for just a minute. We’d all like to be healed and healthy our entire lives while we’re here.

But, if the trade off was to struggle for this life, health issues, money issues, relationship issues, whatever; but 100% confident that you’d not have to deal w/ any of this for all eternity once you leave this life; that’s a trade any clear thinking, rational adult would make.

We struggle here. But there will be no struggles in heaven. No bad diagnoses. No divorces. No abuse. No financial ruin. No homelessness.

What would you give to ensure your eternal future like this? Could you stop and say, Thank-You? Could you fall at Jesus’ feet and worship Him as your King. Could you submit every decision, every word, every action, every desire to Him if it meant receiving this kind of eternal life from Him.

Our life expectancy on earth is somewhere in the 80s. Our life expectancy in Heaven has no end. Time has no meaning. What would you give up in this life, to get that life?

The outcast felt undeserving. He returned to thank Jesus. The so-called insiders felt as though they deserved what Jesus did for them. They got it. But that was it. They didn’t return. They didn’t surrender to Jesus as their King.

There are benefits to being in the room. You will walk out of here feeling better. You will receive a blessing just by participating. But, if that’s all you do, then you’ll leave so much more of what’s possible on the table.

A little bit of Jesus will do you a lot of good. But coming here expecting to receive something good from Jesus will limit what you get from him.

If you come here to surrender, to give up what you’ve taken back, to cede control of what you mistakenly think you control, submit every single area of your life to His authority; then you will received what’s possible.

It doesn’t mean this life won’t be hard. it means you’ll still thrive in the midst of hard, and see the day when hard ends.

We talk a lot about returning Christ to Christmas. We tend to not say, Happy holidays or Merry Xmas. It’s Merry Christmas.

Likewise, this week, let’s return the “Thanks” to Thanksgiving. At some point, stop what you’re doing. Focus. Concentrate. Even just briefly and say Thank you toJesus for every good gift you have.

Worship Him as your King. Surrender your life to Him. He will give you so much more that is so much better than anything you would ever give up.

Don’t be satisfied nor settle for just a good day. Accept what’s possible for your eternal life.

Applications

It is Thanksgiving!

Stop and say thank-you to Jesus. Can you make a list of the good things you have. They all came from Him.

What does it say about your attitude of gratitude, or lack there of, by how often you stop and say Thank you?

Make sure you take the time to do what you need to do this week.

Regrets?

Would you characterize your attitude in life as one of regretting what you don’t have? Or appreciative of what you do have?

We all have to do w/out something. If that’s your focus, then that attitude will take you down a rat hole.

Don’t regret what you don’t have. There’s plenty, I’m sure. But there is more that you do.

Focus on what you have and let that pick you up emotionally.

Accept it All

Accept all that Jesus offers. To get it all, we must give our all. If we only want to get, then we are limited to what that will be. All still good. It may last a day or 2. Or last a season.

But so much more is possible. Don’t settle for a good day when a good eternity is there for your taking.

Surrender all your life to your King. What you’ll get in return will be so much better than anything you have to give up.

Jesus still acts w/ mercy and commends faith.

He offers this to everyone.

How we respond to His kindness is important.

The context of where we are, last week Jesus wrapped up the passage about humble service. A servant serving his master w/out expecting any special accolades. It’s what he ought to do.

It’s what we ought to do. Be thankful for what we have. Do what needs to be done.

Here, 1 man did what he ought to have done, basic human respect and kindness. Contrast that w/ those who didn’t, but expected the benefit. What they got reflected what they gave.

One man gave all and recieved more. 9 men gave little and received a good rest of their lives on earth.

Christ offers so much more than so many are willing to accept b/c they think they don’t need to. We stop short. We accept a temporary blessing when an eternal one is available.

A little bit of Jesus will do us a lot of good. But there is so much more good available if we will surrender to the authority of Jesus as our King, engage and worship Him as our Savior, and stop from time to time and say ‘Thank-You’ to demonstrate we truly appreciate all that He is doing for us.

A little bit of Jesus will do us a lot of good. But don’t walk away leaving what’s possible behind when it’s there for the taking.