Give Thanks
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11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Don’t Forget to Give Thanks
Don’t Forget to Give Thanks
Let us pray.
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, passing through Galilee and Samaria.
While enroute Jesus entered a village.
There met Jesus ten men who were lepers—men who had a skin disease.
Leprosy was known to be contagious. People thought to have leprosy were treated as such, contagious--made to keep their distance; considered “unclean”. “…required to withdraw from the community and alert anyone who was approaching.”
Hence, these men who met Jesus, scripture says, stood afar off.
Socially ostracized, these men would not have had their usual relationships; rather, by circumstance, they had each other.
It is interesting how in common condition otherwise distant people come together.
(Be careful in your relationships to pay attention to what draws two or more of you together. Every union ain’t meant to be...though some can be advantageous.)
These men were outcasts, put aside—not like testing positive for COVID-19in the US, being isolated in a room of your home and taken care of. Lepers were stripped of their social niceties—a miserable existence such that these men were willing to band together, (conveniently, desperately, or both) forgetting the ethnic (and religious) animosity mutually held between Jews and Samaritans. The reason we know the ten lepers were of mixed company is that later in the text the author Luke includes how the one man who returned to Jesus was Samaritan.
13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
These ten men banded together, stood afar off, so much so, to be heard (and I would argue, and seen) raised their voices and collectively said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
It is common for lepers to beg for alms. But these men were not asking for financial provision.
These men called Jesus. They did not call a common man waking by. They called Jesus by name. They called Jesus by title. They must have recognized Jesus—picked Him out among the people who were around. The ten men didn’t ask for alms, they asked for mercy. They didn’t ask for money, they asked for a miracle.
Q: What do you ask for when Jesus is around? How does your request change when Jesus is near?
Jesus—the one for whom the wind and the waves obey His command?
The One who gave the blind their sight.
Who restored speech and hearing.
Who healed the woman with the issue of blood?
Who is the King above all kings. The Lord of lords.
The lamb of God. The soon coming King.
What do you ask for when Jesus is around?
These men elevated their request commensurate with the reputation of the man Jesus. “Go big or Go home” might have been their rally cry.
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
Jesus saw the ten men who were lepers. Jesus gave them an instruction. The ten men, while being obedient to Jesus instruction, were cleansed.
(By law the priest would examine those with a skin disease to determine whether they were clean or unclean.)
Jesus healed them men of their leprosy and rendered them ceremonially clean.
Q: Has God ever touched your life?
Touched the life of a relative? Neighbor? Friend? Stranger?
Has God...
brought light, illuminating dark situations?
provided peace to a troubled mind?
brought a solution when it looked like there was no way forward?
given you strength to endure midnight hours?
seen you through a semester?
brought you through a storm in your life?
made a way of escape when it looked like there was no way out?
comforted you?
cared for you?
provided for you?
delivered you?
saved you?
kept you?
healed you?
Has God ever touched your life?
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
Some of you may be responding to my questions: “No, not yet. Still waiting on God.”
I want to challenge you to praise God in the process of Him working in your life.
Scripture reads that one man when he saw that he was “healed”—the verse before read “they were cleansed”—this one man saw that he was physically healed but might not have been aware that he was also made clean—purified.
Yet, the man, according to what he knew praised God with what he had—scripture says he “returned, and with loud voice glorified God...” With the same loud voice this man cried out to Jesus for mercy is the same loud voice the man returned and gave God praise.
Saints, don’t delay your praise. Glorify God while you are in the middle of God changing you.
And don’t underestimate your thanks.
It’s one thing for God to touch you and me. It’s another thing for us to touch God.
Scripture says
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The man was laid prostrate—he had fallen “down on his face at Jesus’ feet.” Jesus raised him up, said “Arise”, sent the man into his future. Declared “Your faith has made you well” or “made you whole.”—beyond being healed in body in physical sense, Jesus made the man whole in a higher spiritual sense.
I encouraged you today to maintain and cultivate in your life a spirit, attitude, disposition of thankfulness.
Thankfulness. Heartfelt gratitude to God, expressed in response to his love and mercy.
Thankfulness. Heartfelt gratitude to God, expressed in response to his love and mercy.
Thankfulness for God’s goodness
Thankfulness for God’s goodness
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
See also 1 Ch 16:8; 1 Ch 16:34–35; 2 Ch 7:3–6; Ezr 3:10–11; Ps 68:19; Ps 106:1; Ps 116:12–14; Ps 136:1–3; Ps 136:26; Is 63:7; 1 Th 5:18; Heb 12:28
Thankfulness for deliverance
Thankfulness for deliverance
From adversity
From adversity
Pslam 35:9-10
See also Ps 31:7–8; Ps 31:21–23; Ps 44:6–8; Ps 66:8–9; Ps 66:16–20; Ps 103:1–5
From the power of death
From the power of death
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness for answered prayer
Thankfulness for answered prayer
1 And Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 “No one is holy like the Lord,
For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
3 “Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
And she who has many children has become feeble.
6 “The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of His saints,
But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
“For by strength no man shall prevail.
10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces;
From heaven He will thunder against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to His king,
And exalt the horn of His anointed.”
See also Ps 30:1–12; Ps 66:16–20; Ps 138:1–5; Jn 11:40
Thankfulness for others
Thankfulness for others
4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
See also Ne 11:17; Ro 1:8; Php 4:6; Col 1:10; Col 4:2; 1 Ti 2:1; 2 Ti 1:3
Thankfulness for Jesus Christ
Thankfulness for Jesus Christ
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
See also Lk 2:25–32; Lk 2:36–38; Col 2:6; Col 3:15–17
Thankfulness for God’s provision
Thankfulness for God’s provision
19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.
See also Ps 147:7–9; Mt 15:36; Mt 26:26–27; Lk 24:30; Ac 27:35; Ro 14:6; 1 Ti 4:3
Means of expressing thankfulness to God
Means of expressing thankfulness to God
In song
In song
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
See also Ps 69:30; Ps 95:2; Ps 96:1; Is 55:12
In music
In music
Ps 27:6; Ps 92:1–3
In dance
In dance
3 Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
In worship
In worship
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Ps 95:2; Ps 100:4; Heb 12:28
Choose how you want to express thankfulness to God.
Above all, give God the glory due His name.
Don’t wait. Let it out.