Entitlement & Thankfulness

Have You Ever Known an Entitled Person?

Entitled = believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.

It Seems Like the World Keeps Filling Up with More and More Entitled People

Entitlement is a Very Unnattractive, Sinful Mindset

Nobody Likes an Entitled Person

Have You Ever Known a Thankful Person?

A Thankful Person is One Who Expresses Their Gratitude Toward Others

Sometimes it Feels Like the World is Losing All of its Thankful People

Thankfulness is a Very Attractive, Righteous Mindset

Everybody Likes a Thankful Person

Because Thanksgiving is this Week…

I Wanted to Do a Lesson Around the Idea of Giving Thanks

So We are Going to Look at a Text That Deals With Being Thankful

But as I Was Studying, I Found that This Text Doesn’t Just Deal With Being Thankful

It Also Deals With Not Being Entitled

Luke 17:7-19

Luke 17:7–9 (NASB)

“Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’?

But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?

He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?

This Specific Situation is a Little Bit Foreign to Us (Slave Working in Our Fields and Serving Our Meals)

But We Get the Concept

If Your Boss Gives You a Job to Do…

He Doesn’t Thank You When You’ve Completed it Does He?

You Don’t Get a Pat On the Back or a Thank You for Doing Your Job

Why Should You?

That’s What is Expected of You

But That’s Not Always How We Think is it?

Sometimes We Feel as if We Deserve a Pat On the Back and a Thank You

And When the Thanks Don’t Come, We Become Offended

There’s a Word For That You Know…

“Entitled”

We Sometimes Feel Entitled to Receive Thanks

We Believe We Deserve it for Our Hard Work

And Many Times We Feel This Way When it Comes to Doing the Lord’s Work

We Expect Others to Notice the Good That We Do

We Expect Others to Praise Our Righteous Behavior

Maybe Even Sometimes We Expect God to Be Thankful for Our Good Deeds

And Maybe We Feel Entitled to a Few Extra Blessings For Our Good Behavior

But Jesus is About to Drop a Bomb On Our Entitlement

Luke 17:10 (NASB)

So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”

Here’s the Reality of the Situation

Whenever We Have Done Everything God Has Commanded Us to Do as Christians…

We Still Don’t Deserve a Thank You

The Truth is, Even if I Were Capable of Doing All the Things God Has Commanded…

I Still Wouldn’t Be Worthy of His Gracious Gifts

Even in the Impossible Chance that I Could Perfectly Obey God…

I Only Would Have Done Exactly What I Should Have Done

I Am Incapable of Earning God’s Love, Mercy, and Grace

Even Less Am I Capable of Doing Anything that God Ought to Thank Me For

Jesus Teaches Us Not to Be Entitled

Instead, We Ought to Serve God to the Fullest…

Expecting Nothing in Return

Because Serving God is Our Duty

It’s What We Signed Up For as Christians

Now Let’s Move On With the Rest of the Text

Luke 17:11–13 (NASB)

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus Was Making His Way to Jerusalem When 10 Lepers Met Him

They Kept Protocol and Kept Their Distance

And They Asked Jesus to Have Mercy On Them

Likely Referring to Him Healing Them and Making Them Clean

Luke 17:14 (NASB)

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.

This is an Easy Verse to Skip Over

Jesus Didn’t Do Anything Exciting or Dramatic

He Simply Told Them to Go See the Priests

But What’s Interesting is the Leper’s Response

They Go!

He Told Them to Go See the Priests Because That’s What a Cleansed Leper Was Supposed to Do

But They Hadn’t Been Cleansed Yet

That Shows the Faith of These 10 Men

They Obeyed Jesus and Did Something that Didn’t Really Make Sense to Do

But Their Trust and Obedience Payed Off

Luke 17:15–16 (NASB)

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

We See One of the Lepers, Upon Seeing that He’d Been Healed Turn Around

He Began Glorifying God Loudly and Proudly

And Then He Fell at Jesus’ Feet and Thanked Him

The Fact that He is Described as a Samaritan May Indicate to Us that the Rest May Have Been Jewish

Luke 17:17–18 (NASB)

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

Jesus Wanted to Know Where the Other 9 Were

Why Hadn’t They Come Back to Glorify God and Thank Jesus?

It Should Be Shocking to Us that a Filthy Samaritan was More Righteous Than the True People of God

Again We See the Ideas of Thankfulness and Entitlement

One Man was Humble and Showed Gratitude for a Gift He was Unworthy Of

The 9 Deciding it Was Unnecessary to Glorify God and Thank Jesus

Whatever Their Reasons, They Seem to Stem From an Entitled Attitude

If They Truly Felt Unworthy of the Healing They’d Been Given…

They Would Have Showed Gratitude Like the Samaritan Showed

Luke 17:19 (NASB)

And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

The Wellness He’d Received May Likely Have Been Spiritual Healing to Go Along With His Physical Healing

Something the Other 9 Missed Out On Because of Their Entitlement and Ingratitude

God’s Grace Was Extended to All 10 Men

And All 10 Men Began With Obedient Faith

But Only 1 Received True and Lasting Salvation

Because His Faith Led Him Living a Life of Gratitude/Thankfulness Toward His Savior

Application

In These 2 Texts, We See a Contrast Between Entitlement and Thankfulness

Entitled People Believe That Their Good Works Toward God and Others…

Are Deserving of Praise, Thanks, and Adoration

But Thankful People Know That Their Good Works Toward God and Others…

Are What They Ought to Be Doing

Christians Shouldn’t Do What is Right So That People Will Praise Us and God Will Bless Us

Christians Should Do What is Right Because it is Our Duty to Do What is Right

Entitled People Receive God’s Blessings and Think Nothing of Them

They Pay No Attention to the Hand that Feeds Them, Clothes Them, and Keeps Their Hearts Beating

They Never Take the Time to Thank God

God’s Blessings are at Least, Ordinary to Them

And at Most, Deserved

But Thankful People Receive God’s Blessings and are Overwhelmed With Gratitude

They Recognize the Blessings in Their Lives, Both Big and Small

They Take Time to Thank God Frequently

God’s Blessings are Never Ordinary, But Always a Gift

They Recognize Their Unworthiness of God’s Blessings

As Christians, We Must Strive to Never Be Entitled…

But to Always Be Thankful

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NASB)

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NAS

in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.