Gratitude That Looks Back And Forward: Celebrating 180 Years | Luke 17:11–19

We trace Luke 17:11–19 from desperate plea to grateful worship, showing how mercy “as you go” turns outsiders into witnesses. We look back in thanks for God’s faithfulness to our church and look forward in faith to the work still ahead.

• Jesus heads toward Jerusalem and the cross
• Ten lepers cry for mercy and obey
• Healing arrives on the road, not on demand
• One returns to thank and worship Jesus
• Faith saves deeper than physical healing
• Our story mirrored in their mercy and obedience
• Gratitude fuels mission and community life
• Looking back in thanks, moving forward in faith

“Would today be the day they come to know you? … If they want to come down and chat with me about that, I'd love nothing more.”

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Scripture Setup
• 1:28 Looking Back And Forward In Faith
• 2:25 Jesus Journeys Toward The Cross
• 3:20 The Ten Lepers On The Outskirts
• 6:20 Desperation Levels The Field
• 8:55 Mercy Sought From The Master
• 10:20 Go Show The Priests: Obedient Faith
• 12:35 Healing From Afar And Its Meaning
• 14:31 One Returns, Nine Keep Going
• 16:40 Worship At Jesus’ Feet
• 18:05 Your Faith Has Made You Well
• 19:40 The Gospel In Our Story
• 22:45 Invitation To Receive Mercy
• 25:05 Church History: Gratitude And Vision
• 28:30 Looking Ahead With Courage
• 31:10 Eternal Perspective And Impact
• 34:35 Stories You’ll Hear In Glory

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon Podcast. My name is Taylor Gare, and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist, and I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week. And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Doredo. Would you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week? Amen. If you'll open up with me to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. I'll give you just a moment to find Luke chapter 17, 11 through 19. Allow me to pray for us as we begin. Lord Jesus, as what a morning it's been, Lord. Even now, would you uh speak by your spirit? Give us uh the word that transforms. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, looking back and looking forward, critical things to do in all of life, in our normal life, looking back and looking forward, but certainly as we think about the Christian life, in fact, all of the Christian life really kind of lives within that uh looking back and looking forward idea. We are people who look back ultimately to the first coming of Christ Jesus, who came to die for sin, to rise from the grave, but we're also a people that look forward to a second coming of Christ Jesus when he will come and uh dwell with man and we will dwell with him forever. We are kind of just a people that look backward and look forward. That's certainly what we're doing this morning, and certainly what I want us to see in Luke chapter 17 of one specific story that's really all about looking backward and looking forward. And it begins right here in verse 11. On the way to Jerusalem, he, he being Jesus, was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And so we catch up with Jesus in Luke 17. He's he's passing on his way, and it says he's going towards Jerusalem. Now, in the second half of the Gospel of Luke, what we see is Jesus heading towards Jerusalem, but it's it's more than just telling us a little bit about his itinerary. What it's really showing us is that Jesus is heading towards the cross. When it talks about in the second half of Luke that Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem, what he means by that is he is heading towards everything that will take place in Jerusalem. Everything that the entirety of Jesus' life and ministry has led up to. He is heading towards the triumphal entry, heading towards a trial, heading towards a cross, heading towards an empty tomb. And as he's going, what it says, he's passing along between Samaria and Galilee. So he's in the north of Israel, the northern region, between these two places, Samaria and Galilee. And we talked a few weeks ago about Samaritans and Samaria in general. Many, many years ago, when Assyria came in and took over, they moved many of the Jewish people out and moved these foreigners in. And there were some Jews that intermarried with these foreigners, and because of this, the Jews that did not do that, they thought that the ones who intermarried, that they just sold out, that they just betrayed their people. And so if you were a Jew, you you you really just hated the Samaritans. You couldn't stand them. How could they do this to their people? These two groups did not get along, and right in the middle of these two groups, insteps Jesus, and then we see chapter 12, or excuse me, verse 12, and as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance. So here's Jesus entering this village. You kind of have a picture of him on the outskirts of town, but coming into town, and you have these ten lepers that meet him. Now, when it calls them lepers, certainly I'm sure some of them had leprosy, the formal term, but but probably these ten had any various kind of skin diseases. It could have been multiple things. You could read in Leviticus 13 about all the various skin diseases and what you do if if that inflicts you, and is probably many here among these ten had had different variations of skin diseases. No matter what it was, it kept them on the outskirts of town, because they had become complete outcast in their own town. And it's interesting that because of this skin condition, uh they are now on the outskirts, but they formed this community. And now we'll see in a minute that there's at least one Samaritan among them. And so within this ten, we don't know exactly the dynamic, uh, how many of which, but we know there are Jews and Samaritans living together. And I just want to ask the question. Isn't it interesting how desperation kind of levels the playing field? That desperation completely levels the playing field because suddenly you got these ten men. They're all inflicted, infected with this skin disease that has caused them to move to the outskirts of town. And it's fascinating they're living together because suddenly there's no longer Jew and Samaritan. Desperation just does have a way of just uh bringing people together. You remember uh national tragedies after 9-11, the days that followed, desperate moments. In that moment, there really was no Republicans or Democrats, us or them, them or us after 9-11. The country kind of came together. Desperation just has a way of doing that. Desperate situations have a has a way of bringing people together. And these ten men, in their broken condition, they have found community among one another. Because I want you to think about something. These men know maybe better than anybody what it means to be in a desperate situation. Because as they've been inflicted with this skin disease, think about what that means. And and and let's go deeper onto what that could mean because the reality is this. When this skin disease came upon them, in that moment, they had to sit their family down at a distance and say goodbye to them. And they had to move out of town. They had to give up any idea of dropping their child off on his or her first day of kindergarten. It couldn't happen. The dreams of walking their daughter down the aisle, those are gone. Seeing a grandchild born, those no longer exist. In this skin condition, they are now outcasts, and everything they know, every dream they had for life had been crushed, and their future was confined to the outskirts of town, to the company of these nine other men just like them, who are dealing with this devastating skin condition, and this is all they know. And outside of a miracle, this is all they will ever know. These men know what it is to be desperate. They know what it is to need help and help of a certain kind. And so when they hear that Jesus was coming to town, they go find him. Verse 12 again, he enters the village. He was met by ten lepers, they stand at a distance. Again, they know what it means to social distance. Before we knew what it meant to social distance, they stand back far enough away. They don't want to get in Jesus' way or get too close to him. And they lifted up their voices, verse 13, saying this. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. First of all, they call Jesus by name. Secondly, they call Jesus by a title, Master. It's actually interesting, just these 10 men, what they must have known and heard about Jesus. The rumors that were going around, the messages that were being passed around about this rabbi that was walking through towns and suddenly he could just heal people. And he was saying things we really hadn't heard before and doing things we had never seen before. They had heard stories and they knew enough to call him someone who was in authority, this name master, which is interesting because up to this point in Luke, the only ones to use that phrase master for Jesus are the disciples themselves. Yet there's something in these lepers that just know there is something about this man that's just a little different. That maybe in my desperate condition, if I can just get a hold of him, something might could change. And here's their call. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. I just want mercy. You know what it's been like in our desperate condition? You know what it is to be on the outskirts of town? Lord, have mercy on us. And then verse 14, and when he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. Now, this is interesting to me because this is not what I expected. What I expected is when these ten lepers come to Jesus and say, Jesus, have mercy on us, for Jesus to say something like, Okay, right now be healed. It's a done deal. And in a moment, with the snap of a finger, right standing in front of Jesus, that these men would go from inflicted with this skin condition to totally healed right then, right there. In fact, I'm even questioning what Jesus is up to in this moment because what does he do? He says, Go and show yourselves to the priests. Not only am I wondering, Jesus, are you actually going to heal these men? But Jesus is starting to sound like you're just delegating the task, like you're giving this job to someone else. But those are Jesus' words, go and show yourself to the priest. Is Jesus going to heal? Is Jesus just delegating this responsibility? I'm going to tell you this morning, Jesus is actually doing something even more incredible than we can realize. In Leviticus chapter 14, in the Old Testament law, in that chapter 14 of Leviticus, it talks about what a person should do if they find themselves healed of a skin condition. That if you find yourself now healed of a skin condition, you have something you need to do, you go to the priest. You go to the priest, let him inspect, let him validate, let him confirm that you are healed, let him give you that certificate of healing so that then you can go back to your life. And so what does Jesus mean when he says to these ten lepers, go and show yourselves to the priest? What he means is this by the time you get to the priest, you will have something to show them. You will have something that is worth seeing for them. And these men knew enough about Jesus and knew enough about Leviticus chapter 14 that they knew this. If Jesus knows I'm a leper and Jesus is telling me to go see the priest, then I got a feeling that by the time I get to the priest, something's gonna be different about my life. And what do they do? They just start to go, and the end of verse 14 says this, and as they went, they were cleansed. Do you know Jesus doesn't even have to be next door to you to do a miracle? That even from afar, as Jesus sends these men walking down the road, from afar, he gives healing. Reminds me of John chapter 4. There's an official whose son is very sick, and it looks like he's going to die. And so this man runs to Jesus because it's the only place he knows to go. And he falls before Jesus and says, Jesus, my son is sick. And Jesus announces healing. He says, Your son's health will be restored. You can go home. And the man starts to go home, and the next day, as he's getting close to home, it's a long journey. His servants run out to him and they say, I've got great news. Your son is making a recovery. And the official says this, well, tell me this. When did that recovery kind of start to begin? And they say it was it was yesterday at about the seventh hour, which is one in the afternoon. And this guy looks at his calendar of events yesterday and realizes the seventh hour, one o'clock. That's exactly when I was talking to Jesus. That from afar Jesus can do what he wants to do. That Jesus can announce healing in someone's life from wherever he is, wherever they are, however they come to him, whenever they come to him, Jesus is able to heal. And as these men head towards the priest, as we see in 14, they go and they are cleansed. Verse 15. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Now, I will say this. I mean, I know the whole point of the story, and spoiler alert, is that only one travels back to give thanks to Jesus, and the other nine go to the priest and go about their business. Should the nine have turned back to Jesus as well? Of course they should have. But I do think about what they were up to. They were going to the priest, and then you gotta think what's going on in their mind. They're walking down the road, and as all ten of them are walking down the road, where formerly uh the their skin, it was it was just this grueling condition. Now their skin is starting to be remade and reformed, and it's it's soft, and it's it's like it used to be. And all they can think about is I need to get to my priest, I need to give him my certificate of wellness so that I can get back to my family, get back to my life. I can't wait to hug my son and my daughter and my wife and my parents and all these things. They just want to get back to all these things. And so I can't exactly blame them for that, but then that really just even magnifies the story of this one other. Because this one individual, I'm sure he had the same amount of family as the other nine. I'm sure he had the same ideas in mind of things I can't wait to get back to, of meals I haven't had in decades, of all these things that he can't wait for. And yet, even in that moment, the sacrifice he chose to make was before any of that, I need to make sure I'm going to the source of what has made all this possible. Before any of the benefits of my healing, I need to get to the healer and just say, Thank you. Just praise him. And so what does he do? Again, verse 15. The one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he he turned back. He turned around, he looked back, praising God with a loud voice. And then here's verse 16. And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. And now he was a Samaritan. But I think about the turn from 15 to 16. And I think about the faith, and I think about the realization of this Samaritan man. Because look again, verse 15, turning back, he praises God with a loud voice. 16, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet. Think about what this person is saying about the magnitude of the person who has healed him. He's praising God with a loud voice, and he's falling at the feet of Jesus. And in this person's mind, I would imagine, 15 and 16, that those are one and the same. That there is enough faith in this man that he has seen Jesus do something that only he could do, and see his life change in a way that could only be possible by God Himself, that he now sees that this man who healed me is not just some traveling rabbi or traveling physician or some really good doctor or nurse. No, no. It's more than that, that God has visited me today. And so he worships God, and look at this. He fell on his face at Jesus' feet just a few verses before. The closest he would come was to speak to Jesus at a distance. But now on the other side of healing, he comes and falls at the feet of Jesus, and he just gives him thanks. Verse 16 says, Now he was a Samaritan. Why does it make a point to say that? Because it wants us to remind us that sometimes it's those that we would least expect to return. We saw this a few weeks ago in Luke chapter 10, when we were talking about, you know, Jesus saying, Who is my neighbor? or us asking Jesus that, and it wasn't the in this story, it wasn't a priest or a Levite. It was actually the Samaritan that helped this broken man get to the hospital and find healing. We were surprised then, and now once again, we're surprised to see that the Samaritan, the one we would maybe least expect to return, what does he do? He turns around and he comes to the source of his healing and he just says this thank you. Thank you. Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner, except the Samaritan, except for the one that maybe culture and society would least expect? And then look at verse 19. And he said to them, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. As this Samaritan man who's been healed returns to Jesus, first of all, he gives worship and praise and his thankfulness, and then Jesus says something beautiful. Get up and go forward. That you now walk into a new life, a life of healing, a life that has been radically turned upside down. So rise up and now go. It's really an invitation to step out and step forward into everything that is coming for him in this life, that you now have a new way to live, and so rise and go. And he says this your faith has made you well. And this is a deeper term, this made you well, deeper than just simply you've now been healed of your leprosy. Maybe your translation says your faith has saved you, that even deeper than being made well physically, rise and go your way. You've been made well spiritually. You've seen the Savior, you've acknowledged him as God, you've seen his power, you've responded in worship. And so now there's a new trajectory for your life. So rise and go your way. As I think about the direction of Luke 17, verses 11 through 19, I can't help but think of this reality that in these few verses, the entirety of the Christian life is really summarized. That for every person in this room who knows Jesus Christ, your life is really summarized in these verses. For everyone in this room that maybe even this morning will come to know Jesus Christ, your life can be summarized in these verses. Because as I think about these verses, I can't help but think of the entire trajectory of the Christian life, because uh you and I uh were the ones who were the outcast on the outside of town. You and I very much in every way were on the outside looking in. But the problem for you and I, I gotta tell you, it was a lot worse than a skin condition. It was a lot worse than something physical. See, our problem, as we've certainly learned as we've walked through Romans this year, is deeper than just the skin. The problem is our own sin, our sinfulness that has caused us separation from the God who loves us so deeply, yet in our rebellion, we rebelled against him and we are lost in sin. As we've learned on Wednesday nights through Ephesians, we've seen that we are dead in trespasses and sins. Our condition is worse than just these men on the outskirts of town. We are dead in trespasses and sins. But here's what I love about it, and here's why this shows the Christian life that while you and I were on the outskirts and the outside looking in, here's the thing Christ came towards the village of our lives. That at just the right time, Christ came for us. Before you were even born or thought of, and before you were able to call out for him, he came for you. And our story is now the same as the story of these men, that we just look up and we've said these same words, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And that now, because of that, we're able to proclaim that there is a Savior who's had mercy on us. That in Christ Jesus, by his work, by what only he could do, he came to the cross for us, took our sin upon himself, died the death we deserve, paid for sin, now can forgive sin, has been risen from the grave, and now in his resurrection, you and I have life in him. Everything about this story is showing us the trajectory of our very lives. And not only as we come to Christ Jesus, do we are now are we able now to respond in absolute thankfulness? We even hear those beautiful words of rise and go, your faith has made you well, that in Christ Jesus, Christ has not just saved us from something, but he's saved us for something, and now we're called to go forth and live the life he's called us to live. This is really the beauty of the gospel, that this story is our story. And the reality is this. I wonder this morning, and I mean this even now, if you're in the room and you just say, I was just passing by and thought I'd come in. I wasn't ready for a video and this, that, and the other, and I hear we're taking a picture afterwards. I don't know, I uh I don't know what's going on. And you just say this, but but but there's something about Jesus. And there's just something about this man in this book that can do this thing that's so different from everything else I've had out there. And there's just something about it that everywhere else I've looked, I've just ended up coming up short. But maybe there's something about this Jesus that if I could just get a hold of him and say, Jesus, have mercy on me, that he might be able and willing. I'm just here to tell you he is. And I wonder this morning, if in a few minutes, as we worship together again, and I invite any to come down, that you might just want to say, This morning is gonna be my morning. That this morning is gonna be my chance. That I'm not gonna miss Jesus this morning as he passes through this neighborhood in my life in this moment, that I want the salvation, the life that is found in him. It can be your morning. In a few moments, I pray it will be. Because I do want to think about this from one other angle as well. As we think about looking back and looking forward, obviously, from this text ultimately, we better look nowhere else than the story of our salvation. We better look nowhere else than the fact that Jesus has done this miraculous thing that you and I could be healed, could be cleansed, to have new life. But also on a morning like this, I can't help but think about this church. As on a morning like this, we come here to look back in gratitude, in worship, in praise, and to look forward into all that God has for us in these days and years ahead. I can't help but look back and look forward. I think about our story as a church, even as we've seen it in summary this morning in that video, and we've seen where God has taken us over these last 180 years. I can't help but just be so thankful for the absolute act of grace and favor and mercy on the part of our God to walk with this church through 180 years, through the most beautiful of days, through the hardest of days, and every day in between that he has walked us to this moment. And our job this morning, as we think about those 180 years, it better be to do this. It better be, like we see in this story, to just return to Jesus and say these words, thank you. Just over and over again say, Jesus, thank you. A history like that is only possible through your grace. That just down the road uh in a law courthouse, these seven members and these four traveling preachers just got together and said, Let's make a little bit of the name of Jesus in this town, and 180 years later in this room, in this moment, here we all are. There's only one move in that moment, and it's just to turn around and look at Jesus and say, with all of our hearts, say thank you. But then also to look ahead. Seeing exactly what Jesus has done for us, we say thank you, but then we also rise and go. We also go as individuals and certainly as a church into the future that God has for us. Because all throughout our history, that there were just these days and these moments when the church just came together and said, Hey, we're just moving forward and we're gonna walk towards Jesus and this thing that's coming up, or this thing that's ahead, or whatever's on the horizon, it seems big and it seems hard, and it seems difficult, and there's a lot of moving parts, and the church just came together and said, Hey, if if the spirit is with us, and if we're centered on the gospel, we're just gonna take the next step forward and we're just gonna see what God's up to in this church. And I just want to call us as a church to whatever is ahead, and the Lord only knows what is ahead, that you and I will walk towards it together through the power of the Spirit, because we don't just look back in thankfulness, we look forward in faith. Because I believe there are 180 years of God's faithfulness in the past, but there are some incredible days in the future. There are some incredible days ahead for this church. There are some days ahead for this church that we will make much of Jesus in this time and this place, so that for generations to come, uh much would continue to be made of Jesus. Because I do want to tell you something. And you almost hate to end this sermon on any kind of a down note, because I don't want to do that, but I do want to say this. Do you know this? That there will be a day when this church closes its doors. Do you know that? There's gonna be a day when the last sermon is preached from this pulpit. For the last time we clear out of those doors and those doors close behind, the last offering will be taken up, and this church will close its doors. Well, Taylor, why would you say that? Because there will be a day when Christ Jesus returns. And instead of meeting in this place, we will go straight to the throne room of God, where from every tongue and tribe and nation we will come together in worship. And even this beautiful place, we won't meet here. We'll go to the throne itself, and we will make much of Jesus for all eternity because we've had so much practice at it in this room for all of this life and for the rest of our days, we will make much of Jesus. I just want to tell you a few stories. I just think they're gonna be true. That when you're at the throne room of God, I just think a few things are gonna be told to you that someone's gonna be there and they're gonna look at you and say, I just want to thank you for helping me get here. And you're gonna say, I don't know how much I did, and they'll just say this. You were so tired that one summer, but you gave up five mornings in a row to dress in the most ridiculous costume, come into this room and dance to some music that is extremely loud and wild. And you just worked in a VBS room and you told me a little bit about Jesus. And here I am now. Then somebody might come to you and say, Thank you for what you did for me. You say, My friend, I'm not sure we we met on that side of eternity. So we didn't, but you were at the grocery store one day and you just you just wanted to get an extra six-pack of Chef Boy RD ravioli, and you put it in a box right up here, and it was the end of the school day on a Friday afternoon, and somebody weighed down my backpack with that bag of food, and me and my sister were able to eat food from Friday to Monday, and I realized that if there's some church that loves me enough, even though they haven't met me, loves me enough to do that, then I want to know a little bit about the Jesus that they worship. And here I am. They may say that you hadn't met me, but it was a cold night at the Christmas parade, and you guys were just out front passing out coffee and cookies. And I needed that coffee that night more than you could ever imagine. And that led to an invitation to be in this room, and that led to getting to know others in this room, and that led to me coming to know Jesus. It may be that uh you've never met me, but you gave towards this church's global missions offering, and you thought you were just putting$15 in a global missions offering on the offering plate one Sunday. What you have no idea is the money you gave meant that this missionary got to go to this unreached people group, and these people heard the gospel, or these people got the word of God in their language. You have no idea what you did through First Baptist Church of El Doredo in 2025 to make much of Jesus, and it has changed everything for eternity. These are the stories I really believe that we'll hear. And after all of these stories, what we will do is in no way say, aren't I something? Didn't I do good? No, no. We'll lay down our crowns before the throne, we'll put all of these at Jesus' feet and say, hey, isn't Jesus something? That we were able to make much of him in this time that the 300 of us had together in Eldered or Arkansas in these days, and it has changed everything for the kingdom of God. We look back today, we do. But we don't simply look back, we look forward to all that God has for us as individuals growing us in our faith. But as a church, because I believe this First Baptist Church of El Dorado has had some good, good days, but I do believe that the best days are still ahead of us. And I believe that we will follow our great captain, Jesus Christ the righteous, into those days ahead. And by his spirit, we will make much of him and we will do it together. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for allowing us, allowing us to be here together, to serve you together, to love you together. What a gift it is. And Lord, you are worthy of all of our worship. And so, Lord, we return this morning, just as that one man did, we return to say thank you. Lord, as a church, we say thank you. We worship you for the miracle that you have done. For 180 years, you have been so faithful. And we take your call to go forward. But Lord, for someone this morning, it may be deeper than just celebrating the life of a church. Maybe for someone this morning, it's celebrating new life in Christ. And if there is one in this room that today wants to say, Jesus, I want to know that I know that my sins are forgiven and that my eternity is secured in you. Would today be the day they come to know you? Lord, even during this invitation, if they want to come down and chat with me about that, I'd love nothing more. Someone wants to come down and join this church family. If someone wants to come down and talk about baptism or just let me pray over, and Lord, whatever that may be, Lord, would your will be done? Would we respond according to your will? We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Would you stand now as we worship? I invite you to come.