Living Thankfully: Luke 17:11-19: How to Make Jesus Happy

One reason why it is more blessed to give than to receive is that we get more pleasure from gratitude than from gifts we might receive. In this story we see that in that way Jesus was just like us.

Luke 17:11-19: HOW TO MAKE JESUS HAPPY: A THANKSGIVING SERMON

I. Introduction

Have you ever given a gift to someone and received not a word of thanks? How disappointing!. We wonder whether our friend received the gift or maybe they didn’t like the gift we had so carefully chosen.
For three years I was responsible for the deacon fund for my church. I got all the calls for help with rent, groceries, and utility payments. We helped as many as we thought were truly needy. But only once did I receive a thank you note from anyone.
I used to be a school teacher. Sometimes a parent would write me a letter to thank me for teaching his or her child. Sometimes a child would write me a letter of gratitude. That really made me happy. I saved those letters.
In the same way it makes God happy when we thank him for what he has done for us.

Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow. We’re fortunate in the United States to have a day set aside to remind us to be thankful for the good things in our lives--to express our thankfulness for the people who have helped us and especially to God our Father, who is the giver of all good gifts.

II. Text: Luke 17:11-19

A. Ten men afflicted with the terrible disease of leprosy came to Jesus begging to be healed.

The stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, “Master, have mercy on us!”
Do you know what “mercy” is? Mercy is pity combined with help.
Mercy is what we need but know we don’t deserve. “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

B. For a good reason they stood far off. Leprosy was the name given to any of several serious skin diseases that causes ugly, itching rashes or running sores or boils or swelling and stinking flesh.

Whether or not these diseases were contagious, the people thought they were and such people were to stay away from everyone else.
In the Old Testament we read that they were to live outside the town or village. They were commanded to wear torn clothes and let the hair of their heads hang loose.
They were to cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever someone came close. Temple and synagogue were off limits.

C. Jesus performed this healing in an unusual way. He didn’t lay his hand on them as he did other times for other lepers. He just told them to go to the priests.

This was a necessary step for them in order to return to society.

The priest would examine them and certify that they were free of the disease and then they could go back to their homes and families and jobs and friends.

We don’t know how far they got before they realized they were healed--maybe a mile or two or more than that. No doubt they were all grateful for what Jesus had done for them, and they were doing just what he had told them to do.
They were on their way to the priest. But one of the 10 realized that he couldn’t just go on. He returned to Jesus.

D. But then one of the men did a surprising thing. This man turned back, praising God with a loud voice and fell at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks.

It is interesting that, not only did he thank Jesus, but first of all he praised God.
Thanksgiving and praise are pretty near to the same thing because when we thank God we are praising him too.
This man was hearty in his praise. He praised God with a loud voice. Just like the psalm, he “made a joyful noise to the Lord.”

And Jesus was pleased. He noted that the one who was grateful was a foreigner--a member of the despised race of the Samaritans, considered by good Jews to be heretics. Jews, we read, had nothing to do with Samaritans.

Probably the only reason this man was with the others who were Jews was because misery loves company.

E. Jesus said, “Rise and go. Your faith has made you well.”

Salvation and healing are the same word in Greek. Some translations read, “Your faith has saved you.”
Jesus wanted to give this grateful man something more than a well body. He wanted to give him a healed soul.
Jesus told the Samaritan ex-leper that his faith had connected him to God. Because of his faith, as expressed in his gratitude, he had found in Jesus eternal life.
In the same way our thankfulness to God is an expression of our faith and love for Jesus.

III. On Thanksgiving Day we call upon each other to be grateful for our blessings.

A. Gratitude is the surest measure of my spiritual condition.

I met a man a few weeks ago who told me that he didn’t owe anything to anyone. He had worked for everything he had.
The attitude of self-centeredness says, “I deserve everything I have, so why should I thank anyone.”
The attitude of bitterness says, “I deserve far more than I ever got. I’m mad at the world and I’m mad at God.”
The attitude of gratefulness says, “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your kindness that I didn’t deserve.”

B. Our blessings are doubled when we not only receive them at the hand of God but also return God praise.

Forward-looking prayer is when we ask God for something.
Forward-looking prayer can be self-centered because we are often asking for something for ourselves.
Backward-looking prayer is prayer that thanks God for blessings received.
Backward-looking prayer is especially pleasing to God because by thankful prayer we show we appreciate God’s goodness and that we love him.

It is good to look back over our lives and thank God for the good things: grandparents, parents, good friends, church, good people to work with, for knowing God, the companionship of Jesus through all the hard times, the hope of eternal life.

CONCLUSION

In a moment we are going to sing a familiar Thanksgiving hymn: “Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices.” Its author, Martin Rinkart, was a German pastor in Germany during the terrible 30-Years War.

The enemy army had surrounded his city, and famine and plague were rampant.
800 homes were destroyed and the people began to die. The town’s pastors conducted dozens of funerals every day.
Finally the pastors too, died and only Rinkart was left. He conducted as many as 40 funerals every day.
When the enemy army demanded a huge ransom to lift the siege, Pastor Rinkart left the safety of the walls to plead for mercy.
The enemy commander, impressed with his faith and courage lowered his demands.
Soon afterward the war ended and Martin Rinkart wrote this hymn for a grand celebration service.
Some books say that he wrote the hymn as a table grace for his children. It is an impressive witness of thankfulness to God in a terrible time. Maybe he wrote it for a table grace and then used it at the grand celebration.

“Prayer is a glad and reverent lifting up of the heart to God in honor and praise for his goodness.”