An Attitude of Gratitude (November 24, 2024)

Luke 17:11–17 ~ “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?”

Why is gratitude so important? Why do we need to give thanks?

• God gives abundantly

• God give appropriately

• It is in our best interests to return thanks in all circumstances

As we look at the 10 lepers, there are five things we see that led to their needs being met.

• There was desperation, the most feared disease of the day. The lepers met Jesus as He was entering the city, coming from a long journey. They had no idea where He was going or what else was happening, they were so desperate they was going to interrupt Him no matter what.

Isaiah 55:6 ~ “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;”

• There was humility – they stood afar off. They respected the law which demanded they stand at least six feet from a person.

• Every person must recognize his uncleanness in approaching Jesus, we must come with humility …

• confessing unworthiness to approach One so holy

James 4:10 ~ “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

 

• confessing need for cleansing touch of the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ

• There was a cry for mercy.

• They called Jesus Master (the One who has the power to meet needs). By healing, they meant both the cleansing of their physical bodies and spiritual sin. The Jews always connected leprosy with sin, so we know this is definitely what they meant. They recognized Jesus to be the Master who could cleanse both the body and spirit, who could give them both healing and forgiveness of sins.

• They cried out for mercy. They did not ask only for physical healing; they ask for spiritual healing as well.

• There was perseverance. This is something missing from the church world today. Jesus didn’t notice them right away, He ignored their cry in order to test them. They needed to cry out for mercy and show their sincerity and true sense of need. These two things are important for us today as well. God does not always answer our prayers immediately, sometimes we need to learn to trust Him more and more, build up a greater sense of need and desperation. Once God answers our prayer, we learn to trust Him more. We must also remember that God will answer, but it might not be like we want or desire.

• There was believing and obeying. Jesus didn’t heal the lepers immediately, there were things they had to do, instructions that had to be obeyed, to have their needs met. They were to obey the law, go to the priest and report that they had been cleansed. If they obeyed and believed the Lord’s Word, they would be cleansed. This is a great legacy of faith that has been left for our generation today. They had to have great faith and belief in Jesus’ word and power; they had to strike out walking for the temple to be inspected and pronounced cleansed PRIOR to being healed. While they obeyed, they were healed.

What is the lesson of gratitude for us today?

• All the lepers were blessed and should have been thankful.

• One did give thanks; he was a Samaritan, the most despised and rejected of the men.

• Most did not give thanks; they kept going about their business at hand.

• The most rejected was the most thankful.

• The thankful man shall be the one truly saved – spiritually.