Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Luke 17:11-19

Theme: Christians need to count their blessings.

Date: 11/21/2021 File Let _All_Things_Now_Living Sermon ID:

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