This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log on Sunday, November 20, by Pastor Paul Mims.

Luke 17:11-18One thing that the University of Georgia football fans can be thankful for this year is that the Bulldogs beat Florida. That seemed impossible when Tim Tebow was quarterback for Florida. We remember how he wore a scripture verse painted under his eye and how he bowed to pray on the field. He now plays for the Denver Broncos. When they played the Detroit Lions recently, two of their players mocked him. Jen Engle, writing for Fox News, said, “Why do we hate Tim Tebow so much?” She says that she has had enough of the malicious ripping on Tebow which intensified as he dropped to one knee to give thanks for a game winning field goal. Since then, he has been mocked by those who participate in “Tebowing,” dropping to one knee in feigned prayer at inappropriate moments. Ms. Engle questions whether such mean spirited attacks would be tolerated, much less tolerated by the media if Tebow were a devout Muslim or a person of any other faith.

She says that his religious fervor is an easy target for vitriol spewed from those who do not like him, “but the reasons are much deeper than that. He is too nice, and thereby we want him to trip up so we can feel better. We want him to be revealed as a hypocrite, and when that fails to happen, we settle for gleefully celebrating his failures on the football field. And why? Because he dares to say thanks?” That says more about the critics than it does about him. He makes us uncomfortable for he shows us that God can go comfortably into any arena we wish to take him.

One of my favorite stories from the life of Jesus about gratitude is the healing of the ten lepers. I want to draw five truths from this scripture that apply to our present day.

FIRST, THE DISTANCE THEY REMAINED FROM JESUS (v.12) “They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

The context of the story informs us that the Ten were made up of nine Jews and one Samaritan. The Jews usually had nothing to do with Samaritans because they considered them an inferior race being half breeds. But their need drew them together. They all had leprosy. The lepers were isolated from society because they were repulsive as the disease advanced and they were contagious. The disease would eat the skin off their faces and fingers off their hands and feet off their legs. It had a putrefying smell. These ten were banded together for their mutual aid and encouragement. They were required to remain a safe distance away and when the wind was blowing they had to remain at least 150 feet away from a healthy person. As they stood fifty yards away, they called out to Jesus for mercy. The longing in their hearts was to be made whole so they could go home again. As fathers, they wanted to hold their children in their arms. As husbands, they wanted to be with their wives. As children, their wanted to take care of their parents. As citizens, they wanted to be able to go into the villages and towns again.

They had heard that Jesus could cure leprosy. Luke tells us that a leper fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him…yet the news about spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. (Luke 5:12-16).

It is always from a distance that we in our unredeemed state call out to Jesus for mercy. Our sin is eating us alive and we can’t get to God.

SECOND, THE DIRECTIVE OF JESUS (v.14) “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

Jesus asked them to do what the law required. It was the priests who had the authority to examine their bodies and declare them healed according to the guidelines of Leviticus 13 so they could be accepted back into society.

Imagine what they experienced. As they walked along one said, “Look, my feet are normal again. I can walk like I used to.” Another said, “Does my face look normal? I feel different.” Another said, “Look at what is happening to my hands. My fingers are growing back.” One by one, they each saw their bodies returning to normal. They began to run down the road to find the priest as fast as they could. They were ready to get their lives back.

There is something that we must do when we want help from Jesus. He always directs us to go to the Father who will cleanse and forgive us in his name.

THIRD, THE DEVOTION OF THE ONE (vv.15-16) “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan.”

As the ten healed lepers were running down the road one of them said, “Wait, let’s go back and thank him.” “We can’t stop now. We must fine the priest!” the others said. ‘No,no” said the one. “I must go back and tell him how grateful I am. He has given me new life. He has given me hope.” He pauses for a moment and watches the nine continue down the road. He turns around and runs back to Jesus and falls at his feet and with a loud voice says, “Thank you, thank you, thank you with all my heart!”

H.A. Ironside went to a restaurant for lunch. A man approached and asked if he could join him. When the meal was brought to the table, Ironside as his custom was, bowed his head and gave thanks for the food silently. When he opened his eyes, the man said, “Do you have a headache?” Ironside replied, “No, I don’t.” The other man asked, “Well, it there something wrong with your food?” “No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat” Ironside said. The man said, “Oh, you are one of those, are you? Well I want you to know that I never give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start in!” Ironside said, “Yes, you are just like my dog. That is what he does too.”

Do you suppose that the other nine gave much thought to Jesus after they got their approval from the priest to go back to normal life? Charles Brown surmises why they did not return at some point to give thanks to Jesus:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said that he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, “O well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.”
One said, “Any Rabbi could have done it.”
One said, “I was already much improved.”

Do you think that God had anything to do with the blessings that you have known this year? Then, why are you so quiet about it? Have you bowed before him and given praise? Have you given God the glory so that others will know that you are thankful and stimulate them to do the same? Or, are you trotting along with the nine?

FOURTH, THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF JESUS (vv.17-18) “Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’”

Did you know that Jesus could be disappointed? How often we do disappoint him when we do so much asking and so little praising. The scriptures admonish us to “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2)

There are others we should thank also. If your parents are still living, have you thanked them recently? Sometimes children consider an elderly parent a nuisance and forget how the parent cared for them. Shakespeare expressed it in King Lear, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”

Are there others you should thank for your wellbeing? How much gratitude do you owe to a friend, or to someone else who has done something for you? Someone has said, “Blow, blow, thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.”

In his autobiography, Breaking Barriers, syndicated columnist Carl Rowan tells about a teacher who greatly influenced his life. Rowan relates: Miss Thompson reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. I listened intently as she read: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.” More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved teacher. She wrote me: “You have no idea what that newspaper story meant to me. For years, I endured my brother’s arguments that I had wasted my life. That I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of my brother. After he’d read it, I said, ‘You see, I didn’t really waste my life, did I?'”

Thankfulness seems to be a lost art today. Warren Wiersby illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about a ministerial student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. In 1860, a ship went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.

FIFTH, THE DESTINY OF THE ONE WAS DETERMINED (v. 19) “The he said to him, “Rise and go; you faith has made you well.”

The nine were healed and went on their way rejoicing. But that was not the greatest blessing. The one who returned to praise and worship had not only his body healed, but his soul also. The greatest healings today are not of the body but of the soul. When the soul is spiritually healed and placed in a right relationship with God our destiny is determined. The one was given not only life, but life eternal.

Some settle for crumbs. Others want a feast and that is what our Lord offers as we are given eternal life NOW!

In a cemetery is the following:
Pause my friend, as you walk by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now so you will be
Prepare my friend, to follow me.
A visitor added,
To follow you is not my intent
Until I know which way you went!

Destiny is determined not by chances, but by choices. If your destiny is already assured, bow at his feet and praise him. If your destiny is not sure, you must do what the one did – bow at his feet in acknowledgement of your need, repent of your sin, open your heart to his grace and receive him as your savior. And you will be saved and thankful! Praise Be To His Name!