Thankfulness and Thanklessness

 

Thankfulness and Thanklessness

Let us look at both sides of the equation today. Start with Luke 17:11-19:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee, and as he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” When he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 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. Jesus asked, “Were not all 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And then he said to him, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.”

We know from other texts in the New Testament that the Jews hated the Samaritans and didn’t have anything to do with them. They considered them half-breeds, previous generations of Jews, but they had intermarried with Gentiles after the exile to Assyria, and then also the exile to Babylon; and they had perverted the true religion of Moses, the true religion of God, and were not following it.

However much that the Jews hated the Samaritans, we would have to say they hated lepers even worse. Leprosy was the most dreaded contagion of Jesus’ day. Everyone was terrified of that disease. It degenerated the human body, turning it into a disgusting living corpse. Lepers were shunned from all society, and they gathered into remote and terrible places like caves, and desert areas, and other hovels far from human society, away from family and friends. And they would have to stand at a distance if they ever got near somebody who didn’t have leprosy, and they would have to cry out “unclean, unclean.” They were not welcome at the temple area, they were not welcome in the synagogue, and so they had to stay away. So these 10 lepers were in that lamentable condition, living their tragic lives together in some kind of community. And desperate to escape their plight, to be cured, to be cleansed, and to return to normal society, to normal life—but the text says, “They stood at a distance.”

Now, they had heard, I believe, of Jesus’ power over all diseases. There was no disease that was too difficult for Jesus. He effortlessly brought healing to people. Perhaps these lepers had heard specifically of a healing he did very early in his ministry of a leper. The account is in Mark chapter 1.

So perhaps these 10 men came to Jesus with some hope that he would cleanse them, that he would have pity on them, and they cried out to him, “Have pity on us.” They were calling to Jesus’ astonishing compassion for outcasts, his heart of mercy. Our tendency, my tendency is to go away from human suffering. Jesus just went toward it, and so his heart melted with compassion. He also is a law unto himself, the exception to the law that he should not touch a leper. It’s no problem for Jesus to touch a leper. After all, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And so Jesus works this miracle. Jesus did miracles in many different ways; it wasn’t the same thing every time. So in the case of that leper in Mark chapter 1, he chose to touch the leper, and this is his normal way. He wants a personal encounter with the people he’s healing, generally. He wants to touch Peter’s mother-in-law. He wants to find out the woman who touched the hem of his garment. He wants that interaction, and he generally heals one at a time, which is really, in one sense inefficient. I mean, he could just have a quick day of it, you know, gather 5,000, 10,000 people, “You’re all healed, go home,” and they would be. But instead, he wants that one-on-one encounter; He wants that intimate relationship. So with that, he healed them by touch. Other miracles, he has a different way of proving that He is God:  he’s not even in the vicinity, he’s not even there. In John 4, the royal official’s son, he’s healed remotely, and the man has to like corroborate the time and finds out, “Yeah, that was yesterday at the same time,” and his son is healed. He wasn’t even there. That’s an amazing healing. Bang! Just like that! But how did it occur? He didn’t touch him, He didn’t say anything, He just thought it.

In this case now, we’ve got 10 lepers, and he tells them, just like the one in Mark 1, “Go show yourself to the priest.” This time was different:  they’re not cured as they begin the journey to the priests; they’ve got to turn and begin walking, and while they’re on their way, they get cured. It’s really interesting, isn’t it? He never changes, He’s immutable, but His ways with us are different at different times.

 It reminds me of Joshua and the nation of Israel crossing the Jordan at flood stage, opposite Jericho. They had to step into the Jordan River, and then the water divided and they went over on dry ground. So step into the water, see what God does. Likewise, the lepers had to step out in faith. They had to begin the journey, they had to obey Jesus, and then en route, the cleansing happened.

Well, all 10 of them were equally cured, while walking to the priest. Jesus’ power went out in every case, but only one of them, having discovered how his body changed, wanted to return thanks; he wanted to go back to the one who gave the gift. Maybe he looked at his hand, you know you hear terrible stories about what leprosy does to people’s bodies and how they lose members of their body, digits even, fingers or horrible bleeding sores, that kind of thing. He looks down, and just like happened in Elisha’s time with Naaman the Syrian, remember, it said that his flesh was cleansed and became clean like that of a young man. So maybe the leper looked at his hand, and his missing fingers are  back just like Malchus’ ear that was hacked off by Peter when Jesus arrests him. Jesus made him a new ear! It’s just effortless. So he went back, and there was one thing that filled this man’s mind. One thing, thankfulness, “I must go back and thank Jesus.” And so he does, verse 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.” Now, this is a beautiful picture, isn’t it? Of a truly thankful person. His heart is filled with gratitude. His body is immersed in a moment of worship, and he’s there, giving glory to God in the person of his Son, his only begotten Son. He falls at Jesus’ feet and thanks God.

Now, in falling at Jesus’ feet, and this happens numbers of times in the Gospels, thanking Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth for this healing. So this demeanor, dear friends, I want you to picture it. This is why I’m preaching, that you would do the same, that you would go back to Jesus and thank God for what he’s done for you, that your heart would be overflowing with gratitude, with thankfulness to Jesus for what he has given you.

So that’s a sweet picture. It’s a positive picture. But we have to deal with the ingratitude, and Jesus addresses it. He uncovers it. Look at verse 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?’” Now, Jesus is underscoring the fact that nine out of 10 of these healed people never bothered to come back and say “Thank you” to God. They just went on their way, happy and healed, and blessed, and thankless.

I asked a dear friend, a godly man if he thought this ratio of lepers, 1:10, represented his ratio of thankfulness, appropriate thankfulness to God for the blessings he’s received. And he said, “One out of 10, really? 10%? No way. That would be on my best day on Earth. My most Spirit-filled day, I would notice 10% of the blessings God gives me in my life and thank him for it. Maybe 1% is heading toward the reality.” Time after time, day after day, we cry out to God for blessings. We ask him for healing, for our self or for others, we ask him for earthly blessings, financial blessings, blessings of success in various areas. We ask him for things. Time and time again, he answers. And it’s amazing how many times he blesses us in answer to prayer, and it’s just as amazing to me how many times he blesses us that we never prayed at all. But if he does answer our prayers, and even if he doesn’t, but blesses us, how often do we forget to thank him, do we live out thanklessness? Now, we need to understand, all of us begin that way. Before the saving grace of God comes into our lives, we begin as thankless people. So we’re surrounded by lost people who live out a consistent pattern of thanklessness to Almighty God. Paul talks about it in Romans 1:21, he says, “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.” So lost people spend their days immersed in a godless world of their own making. The marvels of creation surround them, yet they do not see the hand of a Creator that intelligently made those blessings; they don’t see it that way. The delicious fruits that they savor, a succulent peach or a crisp tart apple they eat, and it hits their taste buds, and they don’t think, “A loving Heavenly Father made this for my pleasure so I could enjoy it. Thank God for it.” They don’t think that way. Spectacular displays of foliage, my favorite time of year, fall, it’s so brief though. I guess it’s officially over, we put up our tree on Friday, so we’re on to the next holiday, but I mean, it’s still so warm and beautiful, and there’s still foliage, and it’s so beautiful. But, again, lost people are surrounded by these radiant beauties, the oranges, and reds, and that that fierce blue low humidity sky. And then at night, when you go out and look out, if you can get away from a population center, get away from what they call light pollution, and you look up and you can see the beauty of the stars, and it’s so beautiful, and lost people don’t see God in it, they don’t see God the Creator. Their own bodies, which Scripture says, that God knit together intelligently, “fearfully and wonderfully made in their mother’s womb,” they don’t give God credit for their own physical talents and skills. And when they do look up at the stars, and they see them, they might notice them, but they don’t see God in it. Psalm 19:1-2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they display knowledge.” But they don’t see that, they don’t hear that language. Unbelievers do not make room for the existence of God as they drink in creation. Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride, the wicked does not seek him. In all his thoughts, there is no room for God.” And so they don’t thank God at all.

Now, years ago, my wife and I hosted a couple to our home, a man and his wife, and the man was a PhD student at Duke University. He was also a successful accomplished triathlete. He was a very accomplished, talented man. His wife had recently come to faith in Christ through a ministry in our church, much to this man’s great annoyance. I remember at one point I talked to him, I didn’t say these words, but you know that old statement, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” In other words, when you get into danger, when you get into extremity, you tend to go, cry out to God, “God help me,” you know, you’re skidding on black ice, and just say, “God,” you’re crying out to God, just… Well, he told me a very, very elaborate story of getting lost on a three-day camping trip out in California, and never once did he think of God, proud of that. And he thanked my wife for the meal, thanked me for the hospitality, He was very proud of his manners, proud of his thankfulness to Christie and me. “My momma raised me right,” he said. I said, “You know, actually, you have lived your whole life in God’s living room, and you have eaten God’s food, and you have drunk God’s drink, and you’ve looked at God’s scenery, don’t you think you ought to have good manners and thank Him?” It was the first part of the entire evening that he didn’t have an answer, a quick answer. But we’re no different. Apart from the grace of God, we would be thankless too. We’re being converted out of a thankless state into an eternity of thankfulness. So even once we’re converted, we struggle with thanklessness, with ingratitude.

There are two kinds of thieves of thanklessness that I bump into again and again, one is entitlement and the other is envy. Let’s talk about those briefly. Entitlement is, “I deserve the blessings I have. I earned these blessings. I earned the money that I have, I earned it; I deserve the blessings I have.” Now, it’s amazing how God cuts this one off at the pass with the Jews in Deuteronomy 8 before they even cross the Jordan, before they enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 8, God talks to them about this attitude in verse 17-18, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” God had warned the Israelites when they went into the Promised Land and they ate crops they did not plant and they drank from vineyards they did not tend, and when they lived in the houses they did not build, that they would become arrogant and forget God and stop thanking him.

I think we American Christians need to worry about this; we need to be concerned about this. That we have been so lavishly blessed that we may think we’re entitled to these blessings, we deserve to live in a free society, to have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, that we should have the right to elect our own governmental leaders. Do you realize the overwhelming majority of our brothers and sisters around the world do not have these blessings? We’re not entitled to them, we have them, we ought to thank God for them, but we should not take them for granted or expect them—so we are thankless for them, feeling entitlement. And I think with that comes expectancy, you’re entitled to things you don’t even have yet. I think this can be a problem for kids growing up in relatively affluent settings. Their parents, if they’re not careful, can raise entitled kids, and so you think you’re entitled to the latest electronics, or you’re entitled to a certain standard of living. It’s sometimes a wake-up call when you get your first job out of college, your first living wage job, and it’s less than your parents made, and it’s a big shock, and you’re like, “Wow, this is what starting out feels like.” It makes us thankless.

On the other side of it is envy. Envy is, “I’m jealous for the blessings another person has, I actually think I should have that blessing that I’m coveting, I think I should have that promotion that the other person got in my company, I should have that material possession.” And so as a result, you look at your own possessions and you’re just not thankful for them, and you’re just discontent. You have envy, and it drains out thankfulness. So just stop right now and ask God to search your heart and say, “Have these thieves of entitlement/expectation or envy been draining off my thankfulness? Search me O God and know my heart. Show me and teach me, and show me if there’s any offensive way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Let’s now talk about the present, the power of present thankfulness. Let’s go positive. And it begins for us as Christians with our salvation. Psalm 103:1-3 says, “Praise the Lord, oh my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins.” Let’s start with that. Could you not, dear Christian, brother, and sister, whatever age you’re at, start and almost end with that? That you could go and throw yourself in your mind and your heart, at Jesus’ feet and thank him for the full forgiveness of all of your sins. That you are forgiven by God through the blood Jesus shed for you on the cross. We had worse than leprosy, spiritually. We were covered in guilt before the holy eyes of God, and there was nothing we could do to get clean, worse than leprosy. And we would be eternally excluded, not just from society, not just from the synagogue or from the temple area, or from friends and family gatherings; we would have been eternally excluded from heaven itself. We would have heard in reference to us, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” We would have heard that for us if our sins had not been forgiven, but they are forgiven for all who have trusted in Christ. And so we can go back and just fall on the ground before Jesus, maybe even physically. Go into your room, close the door, and fall on your face, like this leper did, and say, “Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for me for my sins.” It’s the single greatest blessing we have ever or ever could receive.

So just start there with the forgiveness of sins. This is the greatest blessing you could possibly receive, Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?” Do you realize the logic of that verse is that there’s Jesus given by God for your sins and everything else, and there’s like an infinite gap between His holiness and us. If he gave you that, everything else is as nothing compared to that. So all of the things that are making life irksome for you or annoying you or difficult for you, blessings you haven’t received yet, whether healing, whether an earthly situation, a financial situation, etcetera, are infinitely below the gift of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, on the cross for you.

And if you don’t have some blessing, it’s because God thinks it’s best for you not to have it yet, and he may give it to you, but He just knows what He’s doing. He loves you, there’s no lack of love, no lack of power, no lack of generosity, he will give you all blessings that will be a benefit for the salvation of your soul and the advancement of his Kingdom, he will give them to you. So this extends, this forgiveness of sins extends to all other spiritual blessings, all of them flow through the blood of Jesus, each one of them, adoption into the family of God, the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, in local churches, healthy local churches, all of these spiritual blessings flow through the blood of Christ to you. And you should thank God for them. Thank God for your own faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast.” You can just go to God and say, “Thank you God that I believe in Jesus. To God be the glory that I have faith. I’m not faithless, I’m not an atheist; I’m not an unbeliever. I thank God for my faith.” You can thank God for your own obedience. Romans 6:17 says, “Thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” Romans 6:17, make it really simple. Thank God you obeyed. It’s like, “Wow, I should give God credit for my own obedience?” Yes, you should. If it weren’t for God’s grace, you would be disobedient; but thank God you obeyed the gospel.

Summarized from Dr. Andy Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church, Durham, NC, November 2020