Are You Truly Thankful?

Is anyone here familiar with the writings of Rudyard Kipling?

I know some of you are. He's probably best known for writing Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in The Jungle Book.

At one time, Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the world.

In fact, his writings were so popular that he was getting 10 shillings per word.

Doesn't sound like a wallet, does it? But in today's translation,

if you took that money when he wrote that, 10 shillings a word,

and translated into the value of it now,

his writings would be well over $100 per word.

Now, you should be glad that you aren't paying me $100 every word I speak.

You probably wouldn't be coming back if you did. But there was a group of college

students who heard about Kipling's earnings per word, and for some reason they were put off by it.

So as a joke, they gathered 10 shillings and sent it to Kipling.

Sarcastically, they stated that

they knew how much he earned per word and asked for his very best word.

So in response to that, to the receipt of the 10 shillings, he politely answered

their response with one word, thanks.

Pretty wise. Maybe that's why he was getting $100 a word. That important word

is seldom heard in our society. Why is that?

I believe that we are so blessed here in our nation that we take things for granted.

Most of all, we take the blessings for granted that we are counting,

supposed to be counting.

There almost seems to be an attitude that those blessings are merely rights

that we have or that everyone owes us something.

It's a sad reality that we live in a thankless society and a me-centered environment.

What do I want? I should get. I deserve it. Some of the commercials,

go for the gusto, go for number one.

What are some of the others? It all seems to be me-oriented, me-centered.

People forget the common courtesy of thanking those who bless them.

I remember another commercial that there was a—I don't even know what it was

for— but there was a lady who was a little large, and another lady who was greeting her,

and she said something about her upcoming baby, and the woman said, I'm not pregnant.

And so the lady said, thank you, and walked away.

So there seems to be a word thanks. Sometimes we give it, sometimes we don't.

Sometimes it's not appropriate when we do.

But how often do the people who you let into traffic wave thank you to you?

How often do the simple things like holding doors go without even a word of thanks?

How often do you feel like you are being taken for granted and not appreciated.

There are times when we expect everything and are thankful for nothing.

I wonder if we really closely examine our lives.

Are we genuinely thankful for all of the blessings that Jesus has bestowed on our lives?

So how has the reality, how the blessings of God changed the character of our lives?

How have the blessings of God changed us from the inside and out.

How has the reality of God's grace changed our lives?

This morning, I want to look at 10 lives that were changed by Christ and the issue of gratitude.

So if you'll open your Bibles with me or watch on the screen,

we're going to have, who's reading today?

Dave is going to read Luke chapter 17, verses 11 through 19.

Luke 17:11–19

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

And as he is going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him.

They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us.

When he saw them, he said, Go, show yourself to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them he saw 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? Has no one returned to give praise to God except the foreigner?

Then he said to him, Rise and go, your faith has made you well.

So this morning, we're going to be looking at living a life of thanksgiving,

or what are the secrets of thanks living?

How often do we do this? How often do we live this way?

The first thing we see is we read in this about the depth of brokenness.

The backdrop for this passage is set in verse 11, because Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.

He was on his way to Jerusalem a lot of times. And we read right before this

section, however, that he was on his way to Jerusalem.

And the event with the lepers at this time are connected.

Why was Jesus going to Jerusalem at this time?

If you look ahead, you will see that he was going to Jerusalem for the time of his crucifixion.

He was going there to heal the brokenness of humanity caused by sin.

He was going to the cross so that we might become whole.

He was going to the cross so everything will be forgiven and would be transformed

into a new being, similar to what we're signifying in the baptismal waters.

When we're baptized, it's like

we're going under the waters and

leaving our sin down below as far as

the east is from the west and buried in the deepest sea and

we come out as a new life oftentimes i like to do baptism at three o'clock in

the afternoon because that's significantly what we what we believe to be the

time that jesus died on the cross and it was at that time our sins were washed

away and forgiven of us and we've been redeemed to be new people.

The truth of life is this. Every human being has some sort of physical need,

some sort of personal need, some sort of brokenness, right?

We all have some sort of problem. These 10 men who met Jesus that day had lost

the ability to truly live.

Without a doubt, leprosy would have been probably the most dreadful and feared

disease in the days of Jesus. There's some leprosy around the world still today, but not much.

There are only two kinds of people with leprosy, the dead and the dying.

You were either already dead from the disease or you were on your way to death because of the disease.

Leprosy was a disease that attacked both the skin and the nervous system at the same time.

In fact, those who had leprosy could not be around anybody else,

and they had to walk around saying, unclean, unclean, unclean,

wherever they went, so people would not touch them or come near them.

Literally, the flesh of those with leprosy would rot away,

starting with the skin causing deep sores, and it would begin to rot away as

the skin and the flesh begins to fall off.

This, in turn, would make matters worse because of the effect on the nerves.

Those with leprosy would experience numbness, and they would feel no pain.

Anybody with neuropathy might know this. If you have neuropathy,

you know you don't have feeling in that part at all. Your nerves are shot. They're gone.

You cannot feel it. Those with leprosy would have their nerves shattered away.

They simply would not feel comfortable.

Pain. In fact, that almost might seem like a blessing. Boy, wouldn't it be great

to live the light and not have pain?

Maybe. But then on the other hand, this person would no longer feel it when they hurt themselves.

I was telling Marty Christian before service, I used to do roofing.

I used to do a lot of things. I have a lot of former lives.

Anyway, I used to do roofing. And one year, my brother-in-law,

older brother-in-law, I went and worked with him on a job during the winter,

a shingling job during the winter, and that was at a time when you hand-nailed everything.

And we got done at the end of the day, and our hands were so numb we didn't

know it, but we'd been pounding our fingers with the nails going through our fingers,

and our fingers were bloodied from being mashed with the hatchet and cut with

the nails, but we didn't feel a thing until we got into the warmth.

And that's what happens with a person with leprosy. They do not know,

they cannot feel when they hurt themselves.

Every cut, wound, burn, and injury would never be felt thus,

and it would give way to massive infections.

Leprosy was a death sentence. Imagine the depth of the brokenness of these 10 men.

Never again would they ever be able to give their children or their grandchildren a hug.

Never again would they be able to sleep in their own home.

Never again would they be able to shake hands with their friends.

Never again would they be able to even touch their wives.

Never again would you be able to hold a job of any kind. Never again would they

be able to attend worship services.

Never again would they be welcome in anyone's home.

Every one of us has felt the sting of brokenness at some time or other.

In fact, It might be different for each one of us, but it still stings just the same.

The day the doctor told you those words, I have some bad news.

You have cancer, and it's fast-growing.

The day when your spouse walks out the door and out of your life.

The day when you looked in the mirror and hated everything you had become.

The day when you come face to face with your own sin and realized it wasn't a pretty picture.

The day when you look and you look back at that day and realize there were things

that you did that didn't even please you.

Think about it. Can you understand these men? Can you relate to them?

They were in a state of brokenness.

They were in a state of misery. The second thing we see in this is there is a dynamic blessing.

Jesus blessed those 10 men beyond their wildest dreams.

He not only healed them, but he gave them back their lives.

They were cleansed, and because they were cleansed, they could appear before

the priest and show that they were cleansed, and they could go back to their

families, go back to their wives, go back to their jobs, go back to their friends.

It's almost like a country song played backwards. You got your wife back, never end.

These men could now show themselves to their wives and return to the freedom of their life.

They could be a part of society. And in essence, Jesus gave them a second chance

at life by giving them a new life, a clean life.

Think about that for a moment and let those words sink in.

Jesus gave them a second chance by giving them a new life. Does that sound familiar?

We're just like the lepers. Jesus does exactly the same thing for each one of us.

The moment Jesus forgives us and has forgiven us from our sins and removed that

from us, he has given us a new chance, a second chance to a new life.

And yet how often do we return to the same way we've been?

Jesus has granted us a new life. You're just like the lepers. I am too.

We're all like the leper. We all have some sort of brokenness.

We have some sort of sin. we have some sort of disease that Jesus has removed

from us when he was sacrificed in the cross for us.

How often do we pause and just simply thank Jesus for the second chance he gave us?

Or do we just gloss over that and go on to our life and sing the songs and think we've done worship?

How often do we thank Jesus for the cleansing that we've received?

How often do we thank Jesus for giving us a new life and turning us around and

putting us in the right direction.

Out of all these men who were cleansed that day, only one came back.

What was the problem with that? Well, sometimes when Jesus blesses us in an

amazing way, we can get so focused on the blessing that we forget the one who gave us the blessing.

This is what happened here. The nine saw that they were cleansed on their way,

and they were walking in the light of the blessing that they were never thankful for.

We can get so focused on a blessing that we forget the one who has given us that blessing.

Count your many blessings, name them one by one.

That's good, but maybe we should stop and thank the blesser.

What really happened here was that all 10 men were cleaned, but only one of

them was actually healed.

They were all cleansed in the physical way, but they were not healed emotionally,

spiritually, righteously.

I can see the looks on people's face, and they wonder what I'm really meaning by that. Let me explain.

It is true. All ten men had their leprosy removed, and it solved their physical problems.

But only one realized it and returned to find wholeness. These men needed more

than just a physical healing.

They needed what only Jesus could give them, like the woman at the well.

When Jesus told her he had water that she didn't know what it was to drink,

and she said, well, give me that water overflowing.

She didn't understand that wasn't literal water.

It was the water of the Holy Spirit flowing through her, the forgiveness,

the transformation into a new life. It was new life indeed.

The nine found the temporary relief they were searching for,

but only one received the permanent relief and a relationship with the great physician.

So don't you see the difference here? Many people are in the same position.

They have found a relief of their past sin, but they've never established a

relationship with Jesus that helps them live a life for Jesus.

They love the fire insurance.

They love to have their sins forgiven, and they love to be redeemed from the

lake of hell, the lake of fire.

But they haven't gone on to receive a new and clean and whole life.

Jesus wants to do far more than just solve your sin problem.

He wants to make you complete and whole and new.

And then we see the divine benefit.

Jesus started asking questions when the one man came back and praised God and

thanked him for the healing.

It seems that these questions are what some people might call no-brainers because

Jesus already knew the answer.

He said, we're not all ten cleansed. He knew that they were cleansed. He was there. He did it.

And of all the people there that day, he should be the one to know.

Then he says, where are the other nine?

Have they not returned? Again, Jesus knows the answer too. They were nowhere to be found.

They had gotten their blessing and they headed out for greener pastures.

All except this one man, and as the Scripture says, he was a foreigner.

Little statement there, and he was a Samaritan. He was not a true Jew.

This foreigner was a Samaritan. He was hated because he was not pure blood.

He was not one of the chosen frozen of the Israel tribe.

The other nine had Jewish blessing, but Jesus didn't see any of the others,

and he had to have known that this was the only one who came back.

This one who was a Samaritan, seems like there was another story he told about a good Samaritan.

It's interesting that Jesus points that out in the scripture,

and yet look at which one of them established and exhibited humble gratefulness.

The ones who had it all, who were part of the chosen frozen,

didn't return and didn't show gratefulness.

What's the point of all this? Jesus is doing this to benefit the one who had come back.

Jesus was saying all 10 of these guys were cleansed, but you are the only one to come back.

Jesus was saying that even though those guys were Jews, you have made yourself one of my people.

You became one of mine, Jesus says, by coming back and giving thanks.

So what happens when you thank Jesus for what he does for you? You bless him back.

When Jesus blesses, you make it a habit of blessing him back.

And when you thank Jesus for all he has done in your life, he gives you another blessing.

When Jesus blesses, it's more appropriate to bless him back by becoming a life of blessing again.

In the way we live for Christ. At the close of every service, what do I say?

Go now and serve a world that desperately needs Jesus.

Isn't that what we're here for? Isn't that what it's all about?

It's not about us. It's not about singing the songs.

It's not about holding hands and singing kumbaya.

It's about being a blessing to others, having a transformed life.

Let me ask you a serious question.

Do you give more thanks to God than the unbeliever you work for?

Do you thank God more than the unbeliever living next door?

In fact, do you live differently and treat your neighbor better than the unbelievers treat their neighbors?

I remember one time in Linden, Michigan, one of our guys of our church,

new gentleman to the church, came to church one day.

It was a snowy Sunday, and we hadn't called off church.

We were there, but he said, you know, he says, I was really humbled. I said, what do you mean?

He says, my neighbor, who I've been wanting to lead to Jesus all this time,

was the first one out this morning shoveling everybody else's driveways.

Friends, do we bless others, or do we just want the blessings?

Edward Spencer was a student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Edward had a desire to study and become a minister, to share the word of God with other people.

Edward also had the desire to serve the community, and so he joined in the life-saving

squad that served the local area on Lake Michigan. One evening,

a passenger boat was out on the lake and was in serious trouble.

Edwards was one of the young men who answered that call for help.

Again and again, he went out to the boat, wading through the frigid waters of Lake Michigan.

That night, Edwards saved 17 people, but the cost was extremely high.

Due to the temperature of the water and the effort required,

Edwards' health was damaged.

He became so ill that he was forced to drop out of school, and within a few years he died.

And at his funeral, it was noted that not one of those 17 people he rescued

that cold night in Evanston ever returned to thank him for saving their life.

Are you living a life of gratitude for the blessings of Jesus?

Have you developed a lifestyle of thankfulness? Are you living a life of thanks living?

When was the last time that you thanked Jesus simply for the air that you breathe?

When was the last time that you thank God for the clean water that you get to use every day?

When was the last time you thank God for the sunlight we have?

Well, maybe today it's a little bit covered, but the sun's still there.

It's just somebody pulled the shades.

Question is, are you living a life of thanksgiving?

We bless Jesus. We bless Jesus most when we live a life of thanksgiving among

those around us in our neighborhoods.

When we are baptized, we are signifying to the world that we are starting at

this point and we are not going to turn back.

It's like putting a stake in the sand.

And you walk on and you say, I will never go back to that way of life again.

I'm testifying to the world.

You can look at that stake and I'm always going to be going this way.

I'm never going to go big, going back there.

When we do that, we signify to the world that we want to give our lives to Christ.

We have given our lives to Christ, and we want to live every moment and every day for Him.

We want to live a life of thanksgiving, of giving everything to Him.