Let All Things Now Living

The short two-stanza anthem — Let All Things Now Living, was written by Katherine K. Davis. She was one of the leading classical music composers of her day. She was born and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri graduating from St. Joseph High School in 1910. She went on to study at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and also attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Upon graduation she taught piano and music theory, first at her alma mater Wellesley, and then at several private girls academies.

In her late twenties she experienced health issues, retired from teaching, and turned her attention full-time to writing music. Most of her 800 compositions were classical choral and instrumental arrangements though her creative efforts also included children’s music, cantatas, operas, and, of course ... hymns. She will be remembered most fondly, however, for a Christmas song she published in 1941 that was made famous by the von Trapp Family Singers. She titled the work Carol of the Drum, but everyone knows it better as The Little Drummer Boy. She continued writing music until her death in 1980.

The hymn calls on all things now living to triumphantly raise their voices to God the Creator. If nature itself recognizes its redeemer; if the hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains, The deeps of the ocean proclaim Him divine, how do we — God’s people — keep silent? Davis says in the second stanza, We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing; With glad adoration. The words are set to an 18th century Welsh folk melody. The editors of our Baptist Hymnal have paired the song with Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”

The thrust of Katherine Davis’ hymn reminds believers that we are to be a people of praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude as we consider the glory of God’s creation.

Our biblical text for this morning is from the Gospel of Luke and involves the healing of ten leprous men, only one of whom came back to express gratitude to Jesus. In the story we see the ingratitude of nine men who failed to show the slightest appreciation for what Jesus had done for them. These verses reveal the scope of ingratitude that too readily rules the human heart.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “Ingratitude” as: “Forgetfulness of, or poor return for, kindness received.” Nine men in our story are text-book cases of ingratitude!

I. INGRATITUDE IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF PAGAN DEPRAVITY

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21, NIV84)

1. ingratitude was at the heart of the fall, and remains at the heart of what’s fallen about us to this day

ILLUS. Katherine Davis reminds us that our God is a God Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, Who guides us on to the end of our days.

2. there are many ways to tell if a person is a true believer or not

3. one way is to listen to the way a person talks

a. our speech often "betrays us”

b. the choice of words we use to express ourselves reveals our character; who we are on the inside

1) in one of his many altercations with Israel’s religious leaders, Jesus makes it clear that our choice of words gives the world insight into who and what we really are

““Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”” (Matthew 12:33–37, ESV)

2) if our life is characterized by bitterness over a perceived lack of receiving what we believe we are entitled to it will be revealed by our speech and our inability to express thankfulness and gratitude

3) if our life is characterized by gratitude for everything that comes our way believing it comes from the abundance of God, it will be revealed by our speech that overflows with gratitude and thanksgiving

4. in our text, we discover that nine men never came back to offer a word of appreciation to the one who had cured them of such a loathsome disease

ILLUS. Leprously is still one of the most dreaded diseases of the world. In the Old Testament, determining if a person was truly leprous was a complicated process simply because there were so many kinds of skin disease a person could catch. If a person was discovered to actually have leprosy, they were declared unclean and banished from community. Infected persons were required to wear mourning clothes, leave their hair in disorder, keep their beards covered, and cry “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever they came near others so people could avoid them.

a. this is why the men stood at a distance, and called out in a loud voice

1) the law prohibited them from getting close to “normal” people

5. the miracle is extraordinary

a. Jesus knows who they are and the travesty this disease has wrought in their lives

1) Jesus simply commands “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” and as they went, they were cleansed

2) only one returns to express praise and gratitude—and he was a Samaritan!

b. why didn't the other nine lepers return to thank Jesus?

ILLUS. Matthew Henry, a 17th century preacher whose commentary on the Scripture is still a favorite of ministers today, offers his thoughts on why the nine did not return:

One waited to see if the cure was real

One waited to see if it would last

One thought to himself “I’ll go see Jesus later.”

One decided that he had never really had leprosy

One concluded he would have gotten well anyway

One gave the glory to the priests who declared him clean

One said, "O well, Jesus didn't really do anything."

One said, "Any ‘ol rabbi could have done it."

One said, "I was already doing much better before Jesus arrived."

6. Christians ought to be a thankful people, yet we often display an attitude which is reminiscent of the cartoon character Bart Simpson

ILLUS. In one of the episodes of "The Simpsons," Bart is asked to say grace and he prays, "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothin’."

a. sometimes the world hears us, in essence, saying “God, thanks for nothing”

b. they hear this when all we do is gripe and complain which are, at their core, expressions of ingratitude

1) we gripe about our work

2) we gripe about the people we work with

3) we gripe about our present lot in life

4) we gripe about what the future will probably be like

5) we gripe about our government

ILLUS. Shakespeare wrote of ingratitude:

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude…

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky

That does not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot…

b. The apostle Paul wrote, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” (2 Timothy 3:1–4, ESV)

A. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE AWASH IN A SEA OF NEGATIVITY

1. too many believers have forgotten how to "count their blessings"

a. instead, we “list our misfortunes”

ILLUS. Our friend asks us “How are you doing?” and we respond, "You wouldn't believe the week I’ve had!" We then regal our friend with all “all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune we’ve experienced that week. Our friend then leaves as miserable as we are.

1) some of the most negative environments in the world are sometimes found within the walls of the church house

b. I think that few things grieve God more than a spirit of negativity and ingratitude of His very own people

c. when was the last time you really spent some significant time thanking God for anything other than a quick grace at your last meal?

ILLUS. The Christian statesman, William Law, once wrote, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world! It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives the most alms, or is more eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."

4. ingratitude is an insidious sin which leads one down a path of spiritual stagnation

a. thanklessness leads to a spirit of negativity and gives you a false perception about your life

1) that perception is that you probably deserve better!

b. negativity leads to a spirit of bitterness about your circumstance

c. bitterness leads to a spirit of envy and jealousy

d. envy and jealousy can have disastrous consequences

ILLUS. One of the best illustrations of this downward spiral is seen in the life of Saul Israel's first king. Saul found himself unable to be thankful. He had made David the commanding general of all his armies. Under David's leadership, Saul's army won victory after victory and defeated all of Israel's enemies. Instead of being thankful, Saul was ungrateful—especially when he heard the women of Jerusalem singing, "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands." It was not long before bitterness began to seep its way into Saul's heart. He began to stew and brew about this young man who seemed more popular than he. Finally, his bitterness gave way to jealousy. He could not stand the sight of David and sought to kill him.

5. too many Americans are on a similar destructive path and it all begins with a heart of ingratitude

a. we see happy people all around us and feel as if God has cheated us

b. our pride wells up and says, "I deserve better than this."

ILLUS. The great American writer Henry Ward Beecher once wrote, "Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."

c. your ingratitude makes you bitter about your own life

d. you become envious toward those around you who seem to be enjoying life and you can't stand it

e. your jealousy and envy ultimately leads you to do shameful or stupid things

6. Ingratitude Is a Characteristic of Pagan Depravity

a. what is the Christian alternative to an attitude of ingratitude?

II. CHRISTIANS ARE TO GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

ILLUS. Katherine Davis writes, We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing; With glad adoration a song let us raise Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving To God in the highest, hosanna and praise!

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:32–39, ESV)

1. in tribulations, we can give thanks to God

2. in anguish we can give thanks to God

3. in persecution ...

4. in famine ...

5. in nakedness ...

6. in peril ...

7. in threat of death ...

8. in the midst of a pandemic ...

a. why?

b. because we are not merely conquerors, but "more than conquerors" through Christ Jesus our Lord

1) one commentary writer translates that word "conquerors" as "super-invincibles"

A. THANKSGIVING HELPS US TO RECOGNIZE GOD IN EVERY EVENT

1. one leper came back to thank Jesus

a. one our of ten

“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?” (Luke 17:15–17, NIV84)

2. what of the other nine?

a. like many of us, they took the blessing and ran, never thinking to return to the one who provided the miracle

3. while this is true of some men, may it never be true of God's people

a. when gratitude springs up in the believer’s heart toward God, He is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing

1) He is acknowledged as giver and benefactor and therefore as glorious

b. there is a very good reason that human beings, by nature, do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor

1) the reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God

c. this essentially means that at the root of ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness

ILLUS. Listen to what one of our former Presidents had to say about thankfulness, “We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; BUT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” — President Abraham Lincoln

1) if this same speech were given today, there would be quite an uproar!

4. when we are thankful, we recognize that God exists, and we are acting on the reality of His life as the very source and means of ours

a. true thankfulness recognizes our total dependence on God and stems from realizing that everything going on in our lives and all we have is the product of God's sovereign control, infinite wisdom, purposes, grace, and activity

“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15, ESV)

B. THE SCRIPTURES COMMAND US TO GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR THIS IS GOD'S WILL FOR YOU IN CHRIST

1. thankful prayer, and expressions of praise are not an option for the believer

2. it's God's express will for your life

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19–20, NIV84)

3. to be thankful to God for everything in every situation is to acknowledge that God is sovereign over the lives of his people

a. we can thank Him for the promise of victory which will eventually come

b. we can thank Him for the strength He gives us to carry through

c. we can thank Him that things are not worse than they already are

ILLUS. Snoopy is getting dog food for his Thanksgiving Day dinner and he is aware that everyone else in the family is inside having turkey. He meditates and thinks to himself: "How about that? Everyone is eating turkey today, but just because I'm a dog I get dog food." He trots away and positions himself on top of his doghouse and concludes: "Of course, it could have been worse, I could have been born a turkey."

6. true thanksgiving means expressing our gratitude to God for all that He has given us and every situation we find ourselves in

ILLUS. Bible commentator Matthew Henry, after being robbed, wrote in his diary the following: “Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Finally, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”

7. thanksgiving opens our lives to receive further blessings

a. Andrew Murray, a South African missionary, wrote, "To be thankful for what we have received, and for what my Lord has prepared, is the surest way to receive more."

8. but thanksgiving is more than just expressing our appreciation to God for what He has given us

a. a prayer of thanks offered to God is a statement of faith that says, "No matter how bad this situation might be, I know that God is going to bring me through it."

III. APPLICATION

1. as I close let me say three quick things about gratitude

A. 1st, We Are a Debtor to Grace Forever

1. we can never reimburse God for grace

2. therefore, there will never be a time in the believer’s life when we can stop being grateful

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,” (Psalm 116:12–13, ESV)

B. 2nd, Gratitude Is a Virtue Most Worthy of Our Cultivation

1. in the Christian life, gratitude is to be planted, watered, dressed, and harvested

a. gratitude gets at the very essence of what it means to be created, finite, fallen, redeemed, and sustained by the God of all grace

2. gratitude is the heart of the Christian life.

C. 3rd, Gratitude Takes Nothing for Granted

1. it acknowledges each favor, each gift—both big and small

a. it also recognizes the giver

D. 4th, Cultivate Contentment in Jesus

1. Jesus Christ is the one and only key to human happiness

a. as God incarnate, he provides our ultimate satisfaction; as our atonement and mediator, he alone makes it possible for us to have the communion with God that brings ultimate satisfaction

Have you maybe meant to go back to God and thank Him for all the blessings you have received in your life? Have you learned to thank Him in every situation and circumstance?

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