Attitude of Grattitude (2)

MAIN IDEA: We are to Praise God after the blessing with a thankful heart.

(NIV) 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

ME: (Build a bridge)

Now I remember when I first moved out of my parents house and lived on my own. There was this independance. I could do what I want when I want. But, it wasn’t as great as it sounded. I had bills to pay, had to cook my own dinner, had to do all the chores myself while at the same time, I was working. So time was limited. My mom would call me often. Sometimes I wouldn’t be able to call her back. She would usually get on me about that and say something like “I use to change your diapers. The least you can do is call me back

WE: (Create Tension & a Connection)

I am sure you can relate to that. Most of us have people in our lives who would love to hear from us more often. I think it’s the same way with our heavenly father. He wants to hear from us. He never can hear from us too much. He loves to talk with us. God is our creator. He formed us while we were still in our mother’s womb. The sad thing is that God hears from us a lot more when we are going through a crisis in life then he does when there is something worth celebrating and praising God for!

I think about how after the 9-11 terrorist attack people were flooding into church buildings. All churches were full of people! But once the dust settled people just went back to their every day lives and for most that didn’t include God.

Do we do the same thing though? We go through a trial of losing a loved one, or a job, or something else and during that time we spend more time with God then we had those things but then after the dust settles and are schedules are filled up again, do we praise God more or less?

GOD

Now In our passage, Jesus is passing through and met 10 lepers. Now these were people who we’re considered unclean and untouchable. They we’re the outcasts of society. . They were overwhelmed with life and the hand it has dealt them.

Suddenly they seen the one people were calling the Messiah.

The one whom they probably witnessed perform some miracles.

They seen Jesus and yelled at him “Jesus, Master, please show us mercy! Jesus responds by telling them to go to the priests as they are. In faith, they went.

Out of the ten who were totally transformed, healed and life totally changed, only one came back to give praise to Jesus. This ex leper came and really worshiped Jesus by falling down on his face at the feet of Jesus just adoring and worshipping Him for what He’s done. When was the last time we praised Jesus like that? wow!

We need to have an attitude of gratitude, just like the leper that was healed!

To have an attitude of gratitude we need to change our perspective

We are all sinners in need of a savior. We are all broken people in need of Gods saving grace. We don’t deserve and can’t earn God’s love.

In Ephesians it says... “we are saved by grace through faith and this is not of ourselves but is a gift of God”

God has made us in His image. But, that image has been tarnished by sin.

After being a Christian for a while we forget how truly far from God we were.

We forget how we lived before we encountered God.

When we forget how truly broken we are we see ourselves as having it all together. So the natural response is to look at how other people are living.

“If we can keep our focus on Jesus and praise His name for what He has done for us, then we will be too busy to judge others.”

These Lepers seen Jesus from a far distance. They couldn’t approach him because they were considered unclean by society and they weren’t allowed to touch and be near to anyone. What a sad and miserable life that must of been. It must of been very lonely for these lepers who were just tossed a side from society.

They physically suffered from a disfigurement of limbs, face, and eyes. Add on to the physical pain they felt in their bodies to the emotional pain they must of felt from lonliness.

Francis of Assisi was terrified of leprosy. And one day, full in the narrow path that he was traveling, he saw, horribly white in the sunshine, a leper! Instinctively his heart shrank back, recoiling shudderingly from the contamination of that loathsome disease. But then he rallied; and ashamed of himself, ran and cast his arms about the sufferer’s neck and kissed him and passed on. A moment later he looked back, and there was no one there, only the empty road in the hot sunlight. All his days thereafter he was sure it was no leper, but Christ Himself whom he had met. —G. K. Chesterton

To have an attitude of gratitude we need to shift our position

So why didn’t the 9 lepers return to give thanks to their God for their healing?

One could only speculate...

Maybe they wanted to see if their healing would last.

Maybe they said now that I am healed I can work a lot more now.

Maybe they said, i’ll just thank Jesus when I see him again.

Maybe they said, Jesus didn’t heal me. I did all the work to make sure i was made well

The problem many of us have is that we want the healing more than the healer

We want the blessing more than the blesser

One gave the glory to the priests.

One said, “O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.”

One said, “I was already much improved.

We can be like those lepers that didn’t return. We can call out to the Lord in the time of our need but, as soon as that need is met we just go on to our next need without giving him thanks for the last one. I mean isn’t that why we have more prayer requests in the church than praises? The lepers were in the best position they could be in.

They were in the presence of Christ. There is nothing like being in the manifest presence of Jesus. When they called out to Jesus, Jesus saw them and in his compassion he told them to go show themselves to the priests. That makes you wonder, “Why didn’t Jesus just heal them right there and right then? Well first of all, it was a HUGE step of faith for them to obey God at his Word before they healed for this cruel disease.

It says that they we’re healed as they went. Jesus sent them to the priest because it was the law of the day that the priests had to pronounce them clean. The priests were like the doctors of today in regards to that they would give a diagnosis of people condition.

We see the ceremonial ritual for the cleaning of a leper recorded in . There was this reinstatement process.

Priests would go outside the camp to make a diagnosis.

If the person is healed, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop was ordered for the ceremony of acceptance.

We see how each of these elements remind us of Jesus and the forgiveness of sin.

Priests go outside the camp as Jesus was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem.

The two birds remind us of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Finally hyssop symbolized faith. David says, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. ()

All these symbols pointed to Jesus and the sacrifice he would make as he would have His blood poured out for all mankind and would cleanse them for their sin and the spiritual condition of being seperated from God.

Notice how the lepers are when they called out to Jesus and what position the one leper came when the leper who returned to give thanks.

When they called out to Jesus it said that they “Stood” at a distance. But, when the one leper that returned was found throwing himself facedown at the feet of Jesus and crying out to him in thanks for what Jesus did for him!

You see the other 9 wanted the healing, where as the other one wanted the healer.

All 10 recognized Jesus as master. All 10 acted out in obedience to what Jesus told them to do but, only one returned to Him.The farther away we are from God the harder it is to see His goodness but the closer we get to him the more we realize how much we need him. It draws us in to a new level of intimacy as we cry out abba, daddy. The

Apostle Paul says in ...

​I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

YOU

When was the last time you gave praise to God and thanked him for all he did for you? Do you need to change your perception of a situation and shift your position so you can give God the praise that he deserves?

WE:

We are all lepers in the spiritual sense. All of us are affected by the disease called sin. God is continually peeling off the layers of our flesh to bring us healing. Can you imagine what it would like if we became a people who would humble ourselves and be found at the feet of our master thanking and praising him for all he’s done continually approaching His throne of grace for our healing and had an attitude of gratitude! Sticky Statement: When we are healed and blessed we don’t praise Him Less!