We are to thank God even in
difficult times.
Matthew Henry, a famous Bible
Scholar of 250 years ago was robbed one day of all his money he had in the
world. He wrote this in his diary afterwards, “What reason have I to be thankful to God, that having
travelled so much, yet I was never robbed before now.” "Life of the Rev. Matthew
Henry", in Christian
Biography (1799), p.66
Helen
Keller, a blind and deaf Christian, wrote, “I thank God for my handicaps.
Through them I have found myself, my work and my God.” The Preacher’s Commentary: Luke; Bruce Larson; Thomas Nelson
Publishers
Those are examples of having
an God-honoring attitude of gratitude through a difficult experience.
At a minimum level of
thanking God we are to do so out of obligation to thank Him as our Creator and
the source of blessings.
Ps. 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Heb. 13:15 Through him
then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Psalm
150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
God
is worthy and deserving of our praise and thanksgiving.
As we mature in thanking God we
thank Him regardless of our circumstances.
1 Thess. 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
At
this level, in every situation, we can always find something to be thankful for.
We can look away from what is negative or wrong and focus on what’s right and
give thanks. When the glass is half empty remember to be thankful for the half
full part.
At
our most mature level of thanking God we can thank Him for everything.
Ephesians
5:18b, 20 ..be filled with the Spirit, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to
God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
At
this level we are being thankful to God in all things. This is when you trust
God knowing that God knows best and He cares about you, loves you, and ultimately
provides for His people. What seems bad to you, you still thank God for it,
even things you would not chose for yourself to experience like a health
crisis, great sorrow, or huge need. We acknowledge to God that this is the very
thing right now He is using according to His will even if we don’t understand
it all but we know He loves His redeemed and we trust Him and thank Him even
for this thing that seems so negative.
We
are to have an ongoing attitude of gratitude that honors God. I want to point
out three biblical principles related to gratitude based on an encounter Jesus
had with ten lepers.
Luke 17:11-14 ESV On
the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by
ten lepers, who stood at a distance
13 and lifted up
their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
1) Jesus is Merciful and Gracious to People.
Some lepers noticed Jesus
walking by and they cried out to Him for mercy, for compassion toward them, for
they were in great need. Jesus saw them and told them to go get checked out by
the priests. It was the task of the Jewish Priests to examine people to
determine whether they were lepers or not. Infected people were isolated and
could not return to normal society unless declared cleansed.
Jesus
told these men to go show themselves to the priest and on the way they were
healed. I’m not sure about the faith of all these lepers (the faith of one of
them is highlighted by Jesus later in this passage) but they did what Jesus
told them to do. When they started in the direction of the priests they were
physically healed of their skin disease. Wow! They each received an incredible
grace gift from God. The healing was not something earned or paid for. Jesus
healed them according to His grace.
Luke 17:15-16 Then
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a
loud voice; 16 and he fell on his
face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
One of the ten healed lepers
was pumped up with genuine gratitude toward God, toward Jesus. And notice this
man’s humility, returning back to and presenting himself at the feet of Jesus.
And this man was a Samaritan, as well. Jews and Samaritans mostly hated each
other, yet this foreigner was the one who thanked Jesus, a Jew, in person.
Many people don’t realize
that God’s common grace is blessing everyone; things like sunshine, gravity,
oxygen, food supplies, a beating heart, etc…And then there are moments like in
this passage, when God extends His special grace. We have much to thank God
about on a regular basis and we don’t need to wait for some sort of sensational
miracle to take place to do so but when such a thing does occur we should give
some serious shout out praise and thanks to the Lord God Almighty!
Only
when we acknowledge God as the merciful and gracious provider of blessings in
our lives, do we begin to comprehend our need for God in a more personal way
and begin to express a greater living faith in Him and deeper gratitude toward
Him.
Paul
basically wrote in Romans 1 that God created the universe and within the heart
of every human is a basic awareness of the reality of God and apart from
thankfulness awareness of God will be suppressed. In vs21, Paul wrote….they did not honor him as God or give
thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish
hearts were darkened.
At
the heart of those who reject God is a resolute unwillingness to thank Him. May
we not reject God and may we not be unthankful to God. We have so much to thank
God for. Jesus is merciful and gracious to people.
2) Jesus Notices Ingratitude
Luke
17:17-18 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this
foreigner?”
These
questions were rhetorical. Jesus knew the answers and He didn’t like the truth
that nine of the ten healed men showed no gratitude toward Him. That was outrageous
considering Jesus just gave them amazing grace, dramatic healing.
The
life of a leper back then was horrible. These lepers were outcasts with painful
disease in which the Bible implies was incurable in Bible times without a
miracle. You would have expected all ten men to run to Jesus and thank Him for
a fresh new start to life, but only one did and he was not even a Jew.
“How
grateful the men should have been for the providence of God that brought Jesus
into their area, for the love that caused Him to pay attention to them and
their need, and for the grace and power of God that brought about their
healing.” Warren Wiersbe
The Bible Exposition Commentary; New Testament, Volume
1, Matthew-Galatians; Warren Wiersbe,
David C. Cook Publ., p244
These
healed men should have jumped up and down and formed an impromptu men’s chorus
and sung some Psalms of thanksgiving and praise.
Thanklessness
is all too common among people. Ingratitude is the way of sin, the way of the
world, but God-honoring gratitude is the way of God’s people.
Before
we look down on these ungrateful healed lepers, what about our attitude of
gratitude toward God? How often do we take our blessings for granted and fail
to thank the Lord? Too often we are content to enjoy the gift but we forget the
Giver. We are quick to pray for help but slow to praise the Helper. Let’s not
be ungrateful. Let’s thank the Lord.
Jesus
is merciful and gracious to people.
Jesus notices ingratitude. And
3) Christ-centered Gratitude Goes Well with Saving
Faith
Something
additional happened to this one grateful healed man.
Luke
17:19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
All
ten lepers were physically healed but only the one who returned to thank Christ
had Jesus say “your faith has made you well.” The literal translation here in
the Greek is “your faith has saved you.”
He
was made well in a deeper way, I believe, a spiritual way. There is more going
on here with this man than physical healing. The other nine were declared clean
physically by the priest, no doubt, but this one grateful man was declared
saved by the Son of God. I don’t believe this was saved from just leprosy
suffering or living a shorter life because of leprosy, but saved spiritually.
While
it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more
wonderful to experience the miracle of spiritual healing in Christ. We don’t
have all the details in the Bible text, but I believe this grateful man returned
to Jesus not just viewing Jesus as the Master physical healer, but also the
Master of all Masters, the Master of his salvation, the man’s needed Savior. And
so, I think it is worthy to notice here the connection between Christ-centered
gratitude and saving faith. Thanking Christ draws us to Him and His people are
to thank Him often. Amen!
Having
a God-honoring attitude of gratitude is a personal decision you and I have to
make moment to moment in life.
Ps. 107:1 Oh give thanks
to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Giving
thanks to God is not blind gratitude. There is always much to be thankful for
rooted in who He is and what He does. An attitude of gratitude is a
life-changing decision. Notice the “Oh” at the beginning of Ps 107:1; something
important is to follow. There is passion here. Give thanks to the Lord! Amen!
This
grateful healed leper in Luke 17 came back praising God and yet he still had
enormous problems. He had been an outcast and he had to integrate back into
society, relationships, and routines. He is praising God even in the midst of
his unsolved problems. Each of us likely has a problem right now. Let’s think
about how we can praise God in that present problem.
Instead
of complaining about and worrying about our problems, let’s focus, rather, on
the belief that God is bigger than the problem and is present right now in the
middle of this difficult thing we’re caught up in. Say, “God, I praise You and
thank You. You are bigger than the struggle I’m going through.”
Here
are three questions to ask ourselves, to help us develop an attitude of
gratitude that is God-honoring.
1)
Am I a grateful person, regardless of my circumstances and feelings?
2)
Am I seeing the blessings of gratitude in my life? These blessings can be the
acknowledgement of and experience of real joy, peace, and contentment in
Christ.
3)
Am I choosing gratitude over ingratitude and complaining?
Note:
I adapted these questions and the three levels of gratitude at the top of the
blog from “Lord, Change My Attitude Before It’s Too Late,” James MacDonald;
Moody Publ.; Chp2
Let’s
ask ourselves these questions now, moment to moment, and day by day. Let’s
learn from God’s Word about who God is and what God has done, is doing, and
will do and let’s thank Him and praise Him. Try journaling what you are thanking God for. Recognize God’s sovereignty in your life and
give Him thanks in all circumstances for everything. This is biblical. This is
God’s will. This is for the glory of God. Let’s cultivate an attitude of gratitude
toward God. It will open our hearts to further blessings and it glorifies and
pleases God.
On
my office wall is a framed sign that includes the phrase “an attitude of gratitude.”
Some Christian friends (the Salvatores) of our family heard me use this phrase
so often at church that they thought of me when they came across this sign and
wanted me to have it. It is a reminder, to me and others who see it, of the
importance of having an attitude of gratitude. What do you have to remind you
to have an attitude of gratitude?
And oh, by the way, the
greatest thing to be thankful for is salvation in Christ. If you are reading
this and you have never given your life over to Christ, there is great news and
hope: God loves you with amazing love. He died for your sins to pay the penalty
of God’s wrath for your sins to bring you to God. Praise God, the Son of God
rose in victory over sin and death and wants you to be in relationship with God
now and forever.
Respond to God now from your
heart with faith upon Jesus. Give your life over to Jesus as your Savior and
keep asking Him daily to help you live for Him as the Lord of your life
according to Holy Scripture. If you have never made this life commitment to
Christ, then why not right now, right where you are, within your heart, respond
to God’s call to you to give your life over to Jesus Christ and live for His
glory. Thanks be to God for His amazing gift of salvation in Christ. Here's a summary of the great news of Jesus: http://mikesmorals.blogspot.com/2013/09/great-news-gods-plan-for-true-life.html
And remember,
let’s thank God for everything, in Christ, and let’s have an ongoing God-honoring
attitude of gratitude.
What
are your thoughts about thanking God for everything and having a consistent
God-honoring attitude of gratitude.
Mike
