CMLC 2025-10-12 Sermon

I wanted to start off today, we're talking a

little bit about what it is when our faith is

giving the thankfulness in our hearts. And, you

know, starting off, whenever thinking of being

thankful, of course I have to think about driving

in Texas, mostly because of the fact that I've

actually survived it for 45 years. You know,

driving to places like Austin and San Antonio

and Dallas, you know, you learn a lot about human

nature. Now, I myself am a perfect driver, so

no worries, but I have heard that there are those

who struggle with my level of sainthood when

driving. Now, some people, that was a joke, I

promise, that was a joke. You know, some people,

we're gonna call them Houston drivers, okay?

They spend the whole drive wherever they're going,

mad at every red light, If you did not get off

your break within half a second, they're already

honking at you, right? Every construction zone,

they're still going through 10 miles above the

speed limit, right? Every person has forgotten

to merge. The New Yorkers are like, what in the

world? Houston's crazy. That's saying something.

They're going, but they're getting from point

A to point B. but they are grumbling the entire

time. And if you have driven on I -10, 71, 45,

many of these places lately, you know exactly

what I'm talking about. There are plenty of opportunities

to offer forgiveness for people that hopefully

you will never have to meet. But then you've

also got the diligent drivers. These are the

ones they've got their eyes on the road. You

know, they've got a good playlist. They've got

an audiobook going, okay? They are not complaining.

They're just trying to get it done. They're going

to get from point A to point B. It is a task.

It is not a trip. It is a thing to be done. They're

going to get there on time, but if you ask them

how the trip was, they're not going to remember

anything about it. They didn't really care. But

then there's the Bucky's crowd. All right, let's

be honest, okay? The ones that turned the whole

thing into an adventure, right? As soon as you

are five minutes outside of city limits, where's

the first Buc -ee's? All right, I don't even

need to go to use the bathroom and I'm still

gonna go use the bathroom just because it's Buc

-ee's, okay? All right, you're gonna take pictures

at every stop. You're announcing the snack that

you're gonna get. The beaver nuggets are really

good, okay? And maybe a barbecue sandwich. You're

gonna call your friends on the phone, you know?

There's always that one person, you know, you're

sitting at home and they're calling you and you're

like, what's going on? Oh, I'm on a drive and

you're like, that's great, have fun. But it's

not just trying to get there, but it's about

enjoying the ride. Finding joy wherever they

can and maybe, maybe even seeing what God is

showing you along the way. How else are you going

to see the blue bonnets when they're in bloom?

See, it's the same road, the same destination,

but it's three very different hearts as they

go along that particular trip. You know, our

Gospel for today, it's showing us a lot of what's

happening in our hearts today. We're looking

at a story of the ten lepers. Where it's easy

in our minds that we divide up the ten lepers

into the nine ungrateful ones and the one grateful

one, right? It's easy to look and see, well,

that's the one who came back and thanked Jesus.

But maybe it's not quite that simple, y 'all.

Maybe the story is not good guys and bad guys.

Maybe it's a picture of different stages of faith

and different ways that God's grace meets us

along the way. But before we talk about the lepers,

I want us to go back to the Old Testament passage

we had. I want us to talk a little bit about

Naomi's story to help us see someone who was

struggling with being grateful at all. Naomi's

story begins in a time of famine. Everything

familiar had dried up, so she and her husband,

Elimelech, they left Bethlehem. The place that

was called the House of Bread didn't have any

bread. They went to go find food in the land

of Moab. And it wasn't because they were rebelling

against God, they were just trying to go somewhere

to survive. They did what they thought was best

for the family. But while they were there, tragedy

struck. Her husband died and her two sons, well

they married some of the women that were nearby,

Moabite women. But after several years, both

of her sons died too. In a culture where sons

were treated as your security, your future, your

legacy, Naomi suddenly had none of those things.

And when she finally decided to return to Bethlehem,

she told her daughters -in -law to stay behind.

I mean, start over where they were. Her sons,

their husbands, they were no longer there and

they never had any kids. One of them, Orpah,

She did stay, even after she wanted to go with

Naomi. And yes, she is the one that Oprah was

named after, but Oprah's grandmother apparently

misspelled Orpah, so that's why we have the famous

name that we have today. All right. Spelling

matters. Spelling matters. You know, but Ruth,

the other one, she clung to Naomi. Saying those

famous words, where you go, I will go. Where

you stay I will say your people will be my people

and your God my God So Naomi comes home not alone,

but also not whole When her old neighbors see

her they hardly recognize her they're like is

this Naomi because Naomi means pleasant She replies

don't call me Naomi Call me Maro bitter because

the Lord has turned against me her faith had

gotten her back to Bethlehem, but her heart had

not caught up yet. She was walking the right

road, but it was still heavy with loss. And that's

why her story, it fits so beautifully here, because

she's a picture of someone who's doing the right

thing. It's returning to where God's people are.

But she's still struggling to believe that joy

is possible again. Notice this though, even in

her bitterness. the grace of God was still waiting

for her. God was already working through Ruth,

through Boaz, through a baby they would have

named Obed, the grandfather of King David, and

eventually through the line of Jesus Himself.

Naomi's road home, it wasn't a waste. Her grief,

it wasn't ignored. God was writing redemption

into her return long before she could see it

herself. You see, that's grace. The grace of

God is for the one that's still hurting. The

grace of God is for the one who's trying to make

it home, even when they feel like they have nothing.

But even beyond that, now we get to our second

group. The nine lepers from our gospel who asked

Jesus to heal them, they received healing, and

then they kept walking home. Y 'all, they are

not villains in our story, okay? They actually

are examples of obedience. Jesus said, go show

yourselves to the priests to be declared cleansed,

and they went. But notice, they hadn't even been

cleansed yet. They trusted Jesus. They went.

And Jesus healed them on the way. They obeyed.

They trusted His word before they even saw the

results. They were actually an example of faith.

Truly. When they realized they were healed, I'm

sure they were thankful. They probably laughed,

they cried, they hugged each other. You know,

they ran to the priest as fast as they could,

I'm sure. They wanted to find the people that

they had missed in their life. But something

was still missing. See, gratitude that never

makes it back to God is not truly heading home

yet. Yet even there, there was grace. Jesus didn't

take back their healing. He didn't revoke the

blessing just because they didn't come back.

God's grace was reaching them as well. Grace

to restore them to their families. Grace to bring

them back into their community. But then we come

to the third example that helps us to see what

might be missing here. The Samaritan, the tenth

leper, the outsider. The one who didn't have

a priest waiting in Jerusalem, didn't have a

community among Jesus' people to welcome him

back, didn't have a place with the others to

belong to. We don't actually know for sure that

the other lepers were not Samaritans. We don't

actually know that for sure, but we get that

impression from the way they describe the tenth

one. Maybe because he was different. Maybe because

he was separate. Maybe because his life didn't

fit what was going to fit everyone else's. Maybe

he felt the freedom to do something that the

others didn't. He felt the freedom to go back.

He wasn't just grateful for the gift. He wanted

the giver. He didn't just want the gift. He wanted

the giver. He wanted connection. He wanted relationship.

He wanted to be with Jesus. Even without belonging

to that same community. You see, here is something

to know. By Jesus' time, the divide between the

Jews and the Samaritans, it ran centuries deep.

Centuries earlier, the Assyrians, they had conquered

the northern kingdom of Israel. They resettled.

Assyrian foreigners to live there. And so over

time, people married each other and developed

their own version of faith centered on Mount

Gerizan. The Jews, they had their centered on

Jerusalem, Mount Zion. But the Samaritans, no

longer worshipping in Jerusalem, began to focus

on a different mountain. The mountain where they

believed that Moses had been given the Torah.

They believed in only the first five books of

Moses, their own version of the Torah. They rejected

all the rest of what we would call the Old Testament

because they saw it as Jewish attempts to make

themselves out to be better than the Samaritans.

See, the Jews saw the Samaritans as heretics.

The Samaritans saw themselves as the true people

of Moses, not the people of David. And that's

what makes Jesus' choice of Samaritans in His

stories so radical. The Good Samaritan and the

Grateful Leper, they both show us that God's

grace, it's not about the borders that we've

drawn between ourselves, even where people may

be labeled as villainous, even though they see

themselves as the heroes of the story. So when

this Samaritan turns back to thank Jesus, it's

not just polite, it's revolutionary. He's crossing

lines that divide people and Jesus meets him

there. See, faith is not just about moving forward.

It's about looking for the one when you realize

who made the journey possible. And there's grace

here for the outsider. Grace that meets him in

person. Grace that not only heals his body, but

restores his soul. The same Savior who sent the

others to the priests, He has now become His

priest, declaring Him whole inside and out. And

that's what real gratitude looks like. It's not

just saying thank you for what God has done,

but wanting to stay close, to walk with Him,

to know Him more. So when we look at the three

groups, we see Naomi, we see the Nine, and we

see the Samaritan. We don't see worthy and unworthy.

We see three ways that grace is reaching us.

Grace that meets us when we're bitter and barely

hanging on. Grace that meets us when we're obedient

but still somehow distracted. Grace that invites

us to go deeper, to come back, to worship, to

walk in relationship because no matter where

you may be on that road, and let's be honest,

we've taken turns at every stage, rumbling, grateful,

or joyful. God's grace has already gone before

you. We can all find ourselves in those places,

walking faithfully but bitter, walking obediently

but distracted, or turning in love to the One

who gave us life. See, Naomi was not wrong to

go home. She was doing the right thing. She had

a heavy heart while she did it. And the nine

lepers, they weren't wrong either. They listened

to Jesus. They believed His Word to go before

they even saw the healing. And that's faith.

But when the miracle came, They just kept walking.

Grateful but unchanged. And then there's the

Samaritan. He didn't fit in with the others.

Maybe going to the priest wasn't even an option

for him. But what he did have was joy. And that

joy pulled him back to Jesus. Gratitude drew

him into relationship. He didn't just want the

healing. He wanted Him. That's where obedience

becomes relationship. That's where faith becomes

worship And that's when we look to the one example

that truly helps us understand Jesus the church

potluck Isn't it though isn't there something

that we can all understand the church potluck

I'm saying okay, but let's think about this for

a moment all right We get an announcement All

right, there's going to be a meal for everyone

and all of you are supposed to bring something

right and how many times it's like, you know,

you're gonna you're gonna bring a dish but you're

like you're feeling guilty okay you don't really

want to do it but you know you need to do it

because if you're going to eat one person's fried

chicken then you better have something that you

brought yourself you know those times where it's

like you know i wish they would have told us

sooner or man why'd they have to do it the same

weekend as the kids games and everything and

you know you're you go over and you're probably

going to go to Kroger and get one of those ready

-made trays and everything like that the fruit

tray maybe the veggie tray which i think I think

some of that is made out of wax. I've never done

that. I'm sure none of you know the feeling.

But then there are the ones where they bring

a dish and they enjoy helping. They love the

church. They love serving. They even clean up

with a smile. Aren't those weird people? Oh my

word, what kind of crazy people are those? We

do have plenty of those crazy people though.

We have them. We see that the event is a good

event. and they're going to do what is needed

because it's important. But you can see how many

times people don't really want to go beyond bringing

the food. They want to drop it off. They forget

that the whole point of the event is to be there,

to connect with people, to share time together,

to show the love of Christ in what they say and

do. They don't go any further. They just don't

have it in them at that time. But then there's

that third kind, those buckies people again.

The ones who bring the food, and they use it

as a bridge. They sit with someone new. They

learn their story. Maybe they invite them to

something later in the week. They're not just

feeding people, they're building relationships

with them. Because they've found the joy of being

part of what God is doing together. And because

of this, they do more because they can. And that's

often what we risk seeing in the church. There

are times when people are frustrated at the work

to be done and there's plenty of work to be done.

Anytime things are not convenient or someone

asks for a change or a revision and someone may

be upset or bitter, maybe treat people and opportunities

for growth as just a nuisance. Or more than that,

maybe they take on the task that might be difficult

and they then think later, I'm never doing that

again. And then find out how many people are

afraid to volunteer for something going forward.

But then you might see the people who do the

work that is needed and they are tackling the

task with gusto, with fervor. They take on positions,

they take on tasks, they make the list, they

check them twice. Many of us naughty, not sure

how many are nice. But then you find that those

people are no longer wanting to be in Bible study.

They seem distracted during worship. The servant

heart is struggling against being cold and hard.

They got the work of the church done, sure, but

where is the relationship with Christ? But then

you meet some people. And I'm going to have to

give a shout out. We've got a new admin bookkeeper,

okay? Her name's Shelly. And I am stunned at

the number of times that she doesn't just do

the things that are required, okay? Going above,

going beyond, caring about people, not just the

tasks. I was asking for some help to do something

on the bulletins, and then I found out she was

already doing it, and doing it even better than

I was gonna be doing it. And I'm like, ah, nobody

even asked. I know. Thank you. But not being

upset about it, then went back and turned on

one of her playlists again. She's got gospel

playlists, country playlists, and 80s music playlists.

I prefer when she plays the 80s music playlists.

Hey, you got to sing with Journey sometimes,

right? I'm just saying. But to go back to singing

after going above and beyond, see, that's what

ministry looks like when we turn it into calling

instead of just checklist. See, today, we get

to welcome several new members into our church

family. For some reason, they like hanging out

with us crazy people. But that's something that

we celebrate. Every person who joins is not just

another name on a list. It's another story. It's

another life that God is weaving into ours. But

it gives us a moment that we pause and ask, what

kind of people are we going to be? Are we going

to be like Naomi? We're faithful, but the bitterness

is hard to let go of. Are we going to be the

nine? We are thankful, but we're so distracted

with what there is to be done that we're missing

something. Or are we the tenth? Grateful, joyful,

and drawn into a relationship with the one who

has healed us. Because gratitude? is what builds

relationships. Gratitude is what keeps the church

alive. Gratitude turns ministry from a list of

tasks that we have to do into a movement of joy.

As we welcome our brothers and sisters today,

it's our chance to be that kind of church. One

that doesn't just show up, but shows gratitude.

One that doesn't just do what's expected, but

goes the extra mile. to love, to connect, to

draw others closer to Jesus. Maybe it means that

you join a ministry team. Maybe help to run the

AV equipment. Help us try to figure out why that

symbol keeps showing up on the screen today.

Did it happen before today, everybody? Maybe

it means we sit with somebody new at lunch. Maybe

we write a note of thanks to someone who's blessed

us. Or we just pause to thank God for how far

He's been bringing us. But whatever it looks

like, the call is the same. Don't just walk the

road. Turn to the one who gave it to you. Let

that relationship change you. Because that's

where joy is found. That's where relationship

grows. That's where gratitude is connected to

grace. Because that's where it truly comes from.

So may the God who met Naomi and her bitterness

who healed the ten and welcomed the one who returned,

meet you on your journey this week. May He give

you eyes to see His mercy, a heart that turns

back in gratitude, and joy that flows into every

road that you travel. In the name of Jesus, Amen.