I. INTRODUCTION
A. The Thanksgiving holiday is a good time to give thanks to God, but we should be thankful at all times.
1. It has become very awkward for our modern, irreligious government to acknowledge a national day of thanksgiving and prayer to God, but the Thanksgiving holiday was first commissioned by President George Washington and the Federal Congress in 1789 (see Washington’s "Proclamation of National Thanksgiving” in today’s bulletin, 11/21/10).
2. The Thanksgiving holiday holds a great tradition of national gratitude toward God, but Christians should be equally thankful to God on every day.
B. In Luke 17:11-19, we find a story of thanksgiving, or rather a lack of thanksgiving, when Jesus healed ten men with leprosy.
1. This story illustrates man’s ungrateful tendency to forget God once he has been blessed.
2. Let us consider this story and whether we are like the one leper who remembered to give thanks or the nine who forgot their God.
II. ONE OUT OF TEN WAS THANKFUL
A. Ten leprous men begged Jesus for mercy (Luke 17:11-13).
1. Jesus encountered these men in an insignificant, unnamed village between Galilee and Samaria.
2. These ten men suffered from the dreadful disease of leprosy.
a. Leprosy was a skin disease that caused rough, scaly sores to breakout across the body. Some lepers were covered with these sores from head to toe. It was a contagious disease, which is why the ten men stood at a distance from Jesus.
b. Consider the rules regarding leprosy that were given in the Law of Moses in Leviticus 13.
i. Leprosy was to be diagnosed by the priests of God. There were several scenarios in which a priest would pronounce a person to be clean or unclean, and the person would possibly be quarantined for a seven day period.
ii. If a person was determined to be leprous and unclean, then he was to be isolated from other Jews. Notice Leviticus 13:45-46 – "As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”
iii. The fact that a leper was considered unclean and not simply sick meant that a leper was to be avoided. Contact with unclean persons or things made a Jew unclean for religious rituals and ceremonies.
c. These ten men with leprosy were not only suffering the pain of their disease, but they also had been cut off from Jewish life. They were humiliated, disgraced, and rejected by their own people.
3. It is evident that the men knew of Christ’s miraculous healing power, for they cried out to Him as their Master for mercy in hope that He would relieve them of their miserable condition. Only He could help them.
B. When Christ healed the ten men, only one of them returned to give thanks (Luke 17:14-19).
1. Jesus merely instructed the ten men to go to the priests, but as they went they were cleansed of their leprosy.
a. The Lord’s instructions were according to the Law (Lev. 14). Only a priest could lawfully declare that the lepers were clean.
b. Jesus had power over this dreadful disease just as He also has power over all things. On another occasion when Jesus healed a leper, He even reached out and touched the leprous man (Matt. 8:1-4). The disease was no threat or obstacle to our Lord.
2. All ten men had an obligation to glorify God and to thank the Lord for their healing, but only one of them proved to be faithful enough to fulfill his obligation.
a. All ten men had appealed to Jesus as their Master to heal them, but nine of them failed to acknowledge the Lord after He blessed them.
b. Consider the one man who returned to Jesus to give thanks.
i. His thanksgiving was sincere and demonstrative. His actions show a genuine, heartfelt gratitude, for he recognized the value of blessing he had received.
ii. It is significant that this man was a Samaritan, and it is implied that the nine ungrateful men were Jews. The Jews looked down upon the Samaritans, but in this case it was the Samaritan who proved to be faithful to God.
3. Jesus marveled that the other nine men had not returned to glorify God, and then He told the Samaritan that his faith had made him well.
a. The natural reaction of a grateful and faithful heart is to give thanks for a blessing given, but the nine men showed no such reaction.
b. Notice that all ten men were made well, but Jesus told the Samaritan that his faith had made him well. The Samaritan’s healing had gone deeper than the flesh, for his soul was well also.
III. HOW THANKFUL ARE WE?
A. Ingratitude is a great offense against our Creator and Sustainer.
1. Notice Romans 1:21 – "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks…”
a. In this passage, the apostle Paul describes the inexcusable offenses of the Gentiles (Rom. 1:18-32). The failure to give thanks is listed along with such sins as idolatry, fornication, homosexuality, greed, murder, and other heinous offenses.
b. Verse 21 could also be used to describe the nine lepers who failed to thank the Lord. It proves that their sin of ingratitude was just as offensive to God as any explicit sin.
2. Truly, ingratitude toward God and dishonor for God are found in the same hearts.
a. Ingratitude and dishonor are both products of hearts that are selfish and thoughtless toward God.
i. Men are most likely to remember God when they need something from Him (Jas. 4:3). Times of need tend to remind self-centered people to turn to "the Father of lights” from whom comes "every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift” (Jas. 1:17).
ii. However, once such men receive the desire of their hearts, they forget their Creator and Sustainer. This was one of the great faults of Israel – "As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me” (Hos. 13:6; see also Deut. 6:10-12; 8:6-20).
b. An unthankful and dishonoring person silently insults God and blasphemes His great name. They are like those described in Jeremiah 5:24 – "They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
B. Therefore, let us never forget to be thankful.
1. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Col. 3:15-17)
2. "…always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph. 5:20)
3. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6-7)
4. "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Thess. 5:16-18)
IV. CONCLUSION
A. The urge to be thankful to God should be present in all people who love and fear Him. It is God’s will for us that we should be thankful to Him.
B. Most of all, let us be thankful to God for the salvation we have in Jesus. "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24-25a)