Thankfulness

MPS: Be grateful for the mercies of God received in Christ

Dictionary: being thankful means to be conscious of the benefit received

Gratitude is an attitude of the heart satisfied in God expressed by words and acts of worship

The purpose of the preaching today is to help us to reflect and be people that intentionally will be grateful in words and acts of worship, for the mercies received in Christ.

gratitude # ingratitude

Why some people are thankful and others not? What leads a person to be grateful?

Definitely, the answer for the question IS NOT comparing myself or my situation with others.

The answers for these questions or the guidelines to help us to answers these questions can be found in the text that we are going to examine today.

The context of our text, chapters 15 and 16 there are a series of parables and stories teaching about the kingdom of God and the realities of heaven and hell.

Chapter 17 talks about sin, forgiveness and faith. It is believed by scholars that time elapsed between verses 10 and 11 because the change in the subject.

Luke tells us that Jesus was traveling with his disciples from Galilee passing through Samaria going to Jerusalem. If we continue reading the Gospel of Luke, we will become aware that this is the last trip of Jesus to Jerusalem. He is already preparing his disciples for what is about to happen to him at the Passover, his death on the cross.

At some point during this trip as Jesus was about to enter the small village a group of ten lepers met him at distance.

By the Mosaic law these individuals were considered impure and not allowed to live among the society. Their place of living was outside the city walls. The leper had to wear specific clothes and if someone was about to came near, they have to say unclean, unclean.

Leprosy was considered the most frightful calamity in the OT and NT times.

There are four times of leprosy or skin disease. Some would cause small eruption without causing any pain and eventually disappears in a few months or years. Others would progressively spread throughout the body causing pain and a slow, painful death.

Whatever was the case to be a leper meant suffering. Not only physical but also emotional.

In the ancient leprosy was viewed as a curse by God. The disease was highly associated with sin and of judgment.

Job is a very clear example of that. He friends continuously told him that he was in sin and that he was being judge by God.

Outside the city gates the Lepers saw Jesus and cried out from the top of their lungs for mercy. “Jesus, master have mercy on us”

The outcast, the hopelessness saw in Jesus their hope revived and a possibility of being healed. I cannot but imagine how loud was their cry for help.

After coming near the lepers and taking a good look at them Jesus said (verse 14), “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

By the Mosaic law a leper who have been healed were commanded to go to the temple and pass a kind of health inspection by the priest to make sure that he was fully healed.

After passing the health inspection, the person was commanded to wash his clothes, clean himself and offer sacrifice of symbol of his cleansing before the congregation.

Part B of verse 14 says “as they were going, they were healed.”

By an act of faith they obeyed Jesus and they were healed. What a remarkable true story.

I can imagine the ten lepers going on their way and suddenly they look at each other and realized they were healed. I think the end of the journey they did not walk but they ran filled with joy.

But suddenly one of them, whom Luke identifies as a Samaritan stop for a moment to think of what just happened to him.

After realizing the miracle that he had received, he decided to turn back. Instead of going to show himself to the priests first and perhaps to be able to go back to his family, to hug his kids and kiss his wife he turned back.

He turned back to give thanks to Jesus. This is a life changing moment to him and he wants to let Jesus know how grateful he is.

Out of ten just one turned back to give thanks and he was a Samaritan.

What Luke is traying to say, is that the nine Jewish people who were expected to recognizes this great miracle as a sign and to honor God, rushed away while the Samaritan who were supposed to walk away (because the enmity between Jews and Samaritans) not only recognizes the favor that he received but also gives glory to God.

I want to share three things from this text with you today:

1) Gratitude is an attitude of the heart

2) Gratitude is an attitude of the heart expressed in words and deeds

3) Gratitude breeds contentment

1) Gratitude is an attitude of the heart

a. The first thing that see in this passage is that true gratitude comes from the heart.

b. The root of gratitude is humility.

c. Without humility there is no thankfulness. In the spiritual sense humility is a virtue that recognizes its submissiveness before God.

d. And thankfulness is the overflow of the heart before God in recognition of his majesty and power.

e. Humility is the root that grows underneath, in the heart. No one sees it but is there growing deep and thick. And gratitude is what comes to the surface, the beautiful plant that grows in words and acts of worship.

Illustration: The yuca plant.

Is possible to see the yuca plant growing in some sense but with very little root. Is this case what you see does reflect what is underneath.

Like the plant humility is the root and our words and acts of worship the visual plant.

Like the plant is possible for a person to show gratitude without having the deep, strong roots of humility.

Question: How can we differentiate one from another?

Answer: The regular person cannot. Because they both visually grow, but the true fruit that is what is underneath the earth will only show in the day of harvest.

I’m sure that a skillful and experienced farmer can share some secrets on how to recognize the good plant and the not so good one.

Application: The Lord is the skillful farmer. He can recognize if the gratitude that we show and express come from the heart. The Lord sees what is underneath. The day of harvest will show if our attitudes were moved by a recognition of the majesty and power of God or they were mere expression without true spiritual humility.

For a plant to grow healthy needs a good soil, water and sun.

True gratitude springs forth from a heart that is daily watered by the word of God and through prayer receive the light of the Spirit.

Unless we cultivate a humble heart before the Lord in submissiveness and total dependency upon his mercies, our gratitude will only be words without meaning and deeds without love.

True gratitude that honors God comes from the heart and cannot be faked.

Trans: The thankful heart will not be satisfied unless

2) Gratitude is an attitude of the heart expressed in words and deeds of thankfulness

a. (Verse 15,16 read).

b. He turned back. He stopped to reflect of what just happened. The disease is gone, a great miracle was done in his behalf.

c. As much as the leper wants to go back to his normal life and to his activities, he turned back to give praise to Jesus.

d. Verse 15 says he turned back giving praising to God with a loud voice. (running after Christ yelling)

e. After coming where Jesus were, the leper (now healed) fell with his face literally on the dust and thanked Jesus.

f. He turned to Jesus.

g. Ten had the faith to receive the miracle but only one had the heart of gratitude to turn to Jesus and to show by words and deeds his gratitude.

h. Ten received the miracle but only one had this profound, life changing interaction with Jesus.

This is a clear picture of what I said last week. “Miracles are proofs of the mercy and power of God. Miracles cannot save but are meant to point people to Christ and to strength the faith of the brethren.”

Illustration: This story between Jesus and the ten lepers is a wonderful picture of the dynamic between sinners, sin and Christ.

Sin is this deep, ugly, smelly wound that permeates the entire physical and spiritual body of a person just like leprosy.

Sin separates us from the communion with God. Just like leprosy separates the sick from the society. Sin sent us out of the heavenly dwellings to a place where there is only loneliness, hopelessness and pain. Like leprosy, sin stinks and is an incurable disease apart from Christ.

The lepers had not right to approach Jesus because their disease. We cannot approach Christ unless he come to our way. Unless Christ look at us and grant us favor, we are hopelessness.

Unless you recognized your helplessness state and cry out for mercy from the top of your lungs, you will die with in this ugly disease, called sin.

Application: If you have been healed and forgiven of your sins. I urged you turned to God in true acts of gratitude and praise.

Don’t be like the 9 Jewish lepers that did receive faith to be healed but could not turned back to praise Jesus.

Don’t let the blessings received and Christ and through Christ to lead away from Christ. Turned to Christ.

I truly believe that the reason that are many anemic believers is the fact that they had received the miracle of salvation and went back to their regular lives and if nothing had happened to them.

They don’t read their bibles, they don’t pray. When they pray is only to ask for more. And because of their poor intake of the scriptures they don’t reflect about spiritual matters, they don’t talk about spiritual things.

True thankfulness comes from the heart that had experience the power of God through the forgiveness of their sins.

In the context of the church gratitude overflows with love for the Lord and for my neighbor. Gratitude overflows with love for his word and for the community of believers. Gratitude is demonstrated by actions not only words.

I truly believe if we spend more time reflecting about spiritual matters, we would approach the Christian life with more zeal and concerned to give praise than to ask for things.

Trans: the grateful person will count its blessings

3) Gratitude breeds contentment

Psalm 103:2-5

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's”

a. Gratitude led the Samaritan to turn to give praise, as a result he found contentment Jesus.

b. Verse 19 says “your faith has made you well” the literal Greek translation says “your faith has saved you”

c. What words of comfort and grace, “go you way because your faith has saved you.”

d. Out of ten only one heard these words of Jesus.

e. (Verse 17 read) Jesus questioned.

f. Those are profound questions that I want to call your attention to them.

g. In other words Jesus is saying, where is the honor and glory the God deserves?

h. The blessings instead of causing proximity turned them away.

i. The healing had a purpose. To lead the lepers to true worship, to praise Jesus.

The answers to the questions: Why some people are thankful and others not? What leads a person to be grateful?

I would say that the grateful person learned to be content in Christ.

The heart that is content in Christ, is the heart that recognizes the undeserved mercies received in Christ.

Gratitude springs forth contentment.

Philippians 4:11-13

“for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”

What leads a person to be thankful in every and any circumstances?

Because they learned that the secret to have a joy filled heart, is to be thankful for and in every situation in Christ.

Conclusion:

Gratitude is the fruit of the humble heart expressed in words and deeds of praise.

The Gospel and the mercies of Christ are meant to fill our hearts with joy leading us in true worship and praise.

Don’t allow the blessings to lead you away, turn to Christ with attitudes of praise.

The grateful heart will be content in Jesus in every and all circumstances.