Ten Healed, One Thankful: Why Gratitude Changes Everything

We walk through Luke 17 to uncover why gratitude is so rare, how obedience unlocks blessing, and how returning to give thanks makes us whole. Ten are cleansed; only one comes back, and his gratitude becomes the doorway to joy, peace, and relationship.

• the context of leprosy, exclusion, and Old Testament law
• three truths: our need, our place, our opportunity
• obedience before evidence and the blessing that follows
• repentance as a real, costly step toward wholeness
• gratitude as the bridge from gift to Giver
• neuroscience insights on gratitude and joy
• the debtor parable and loving much after being forgiven much
• prayerful response of humility, faith, and thanks

Transcript

Setting The Text In Luke 17

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You have your copy of God's word this morning. Would you turn with me to the book of Luke? Luke's Gospel, chapter 17. He is a mighty God. Worthy of praise. Worthy of our gratitude. Worthy of our bragging on his holy name. A lot of times, church, we are like. What are we like? Here we are. We are like little birds in the nest in springtime. You know what I'm talking about? Mom or dad come with the good gifts of life. Delicious worm. You know the kind. And they hold those mouths, and they're so, they're so needy. And at the same time, so greedy. And they put that little worm in there, and then mom and dad fly away, and there's not a word of thanks. Sometimes that's you. That's me. When the gift is coming, and all we can think about is receiving the gift. Today I want to speak to you on the topic and the subject and the passage of the rarity of our gratitude. Why is our gratitude and our thankfulness so rare when we are so blessed? Because you know he's coming to town, don't you know? Don't you know he's coming? You know I'm talking about. He's made a list. Now you're confused. He's checked it. He's checked it, I'm sure, multiple times. It's not Santa Claus. God help us, it's not Santa Claus. Jesus is coming. And will he find a grateful bride? Is the question. Look in your passage of scripture this morning, Luke chapter 17, and we'll begin reading in verse 11. This is an event in the life of Jesus that happens. I want you to be mindful of his way into Jerusalem. For the last time he's on his way into Jerusalem for to be crucified. He knows where he's going. They don't know necessarily where they're going. But I want to read this to you and let us rejoice. And I just want to say a few things to you about our gratitude today. Verse 11 of Luke 17 says this

Leprosy, Law, And Life As Outcasts

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and may God add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And he entered into a certain village. There met him ten men that were lepers, not lepers, lepers. They had leprosy. And they stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. By the way, if you're new to this church thing and you don't know how to pray, that's a good prayer. Just cry out to God and say, Jesus, have mercy on me. He'll hear you. And when he saw them, he said to them, think about this. Go show thyselves, yourselves unto the priests. And he came and passed that, and they went, they were cleansed. It came to pass that as they were went, they were cleansed. I want you to notice the relationship between the obedience and the blessing there in verse 14, continuing in 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. Can you imagine? And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus answering and said, Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Jesus asked the question we're asking this morning, where's the gratitude? Why have they not come to do as you've done, to praise and say thank you? There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. I think Jesus is talking to his disciples there, and he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, and mark this phrase, thy faith hath made thee whole. And we'll read that willingly a little later on. Jesus there, going into town, comes into the presence of these leprous men. Leprosy was incredible. Leprosy was a flesh-eating disease that for which there was no cure. I could say there is no cure. And it is found in certain parts of the world even today, but the flesh literally rots and falls off. It is an infection that is gangrous, and the limbs, the fingers, the large portions should just come off, and the smell is incredible. In fact, there was a law about it in the Old Testament where God told Moses, be careful, as you are the people of Israel living in tribal units in the twelve tribes. There was probably about three million of them all together. Be careful if anyone has these communicable diseases, there needs to be protocol that you all don't catch it because it's very contagious. And so they were literally outcasted from society. These ten men had banded together because they were the only company that they could find. They were not welcome in town or the grocery store or in the marketplace. They literally had to be outside living in the bush by themselves. And if they came in any kind of reasonable shouting distance of another human being, they had to cover their mouths so that not

Jesus And The Samaritan Divide

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to somehow they knew that you could spread germs by, you know. It would cover their mouths with a rag and they would wear it over their face and they would shout, I'm unclean, I'm unclean, like don't come over here, and you'll be unclean. The law of Moses said that before they could rejoin the society, they had to be checked out by the priests. They had to be given this physical and and and looked, and if by some miracle the leprosy had vanished, then they could rejoin society. But basically it was a death sentence, a lonely, isolated death sentence. Here in this group, we've got nine, it appears, Hebrew Jewish men, and one Samaritan. If you know, then you know. The Samaritans and the Jews had no dealings together with one another. They were incredibly racially divisive, though they were racially visibly indistinguishable. They looked exactly the same. It's just the Jews said the Pharisees or the uh the um Samaritans, thank you, had a minor stroke. It's okay. They were half-breeds. You weren't really of your father Abraham, you were mixed with other Canaanite nations, and therefore you were less than, and the Jews outcast them, and they outcast the Jews. And that's why it's a miracle when Jesus is coming and has any dealings with them at all. Notice John chapter 4, it's regarding Jesus and his disciples. And the Bible says in the beginning, it says, and Jesus had need to go through Samaria, a place where Jews did not go. And yet Jesus, out of the way on purpose, goes there and

What We Must Know: Need, Place, Opportunity

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meets a woman at the well, who also, by the way, is an outcast. If you'll think hard with me, you'll find a pattern here. Aren't you thankful Jesus loves outcasts? I mean, just isn't it beautiful how Jesus loves lepers? And he loves unclean people, people in real need. Two points to the sermon today. The first is what must be known. What you've got to know, what I've got to know, what we've all gotta know, these three things. First thing you've got to know is you've got to know your need. You've got to know your need. These men knew they were in need because the Bible says they were lepers. It was obvious to them. And here's the thing: you might have a need, but you probably don't realize. In fact, we could just say this, Brother Kevin, none of us know the extent of our true need before Christ. Amen. It's not until the IRS shows up and puts a note on your door, or the bank forecloses, or you get the pink slip in your locker, or your spouse up and walks away, or you are financially bankrupt, or or or medically destitute, or the diagnosis is so grouped. That helps us to know I'm in need. Let me help you out. You're in need. Right now you're in need. These men knew they were in need. This lady in John 4, she was a Samaritan woman, and her problem, her need was she had ruined her life by being a loose woman. She was frivolous. She threw herself physically at men. And what happens, ladies, when we show our skin to men and we show that that's our value and we we wear revealing things, men will come, but they will not stay. Men will come and use and abuse and leave. That's what happened there. Jesus goes out of his way, meets the woman, middle of the day. She's alone, for she has no friends, and he ministers to her. Part of the reason is she realized her need. You can read John 4, she's sad. She comes in the hot part of the day because no, no, other women, they come in the evening or in the morning. She's not allowed to come with them. She is reprobate. She is outcast. She is not welcomed. By the way, that's part of the reason why when we dismiss the choir, we ask you all to shake hands with one another. We want you to know, if nothing else today, you're welcomed in God's house. By the way, your kids ever have real trouble, you'll realize you have a need. Isn't that awful feeling as a parent when your kids have a problem that you can't solve?

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Right?

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Not that we need to solve all of our kids' problems, but it hurts you, don't it? This lady came to Jesus and she was a Canaanite. That means not a Jew. She's a Gentile woman and she comes to Jesus. Jesus, you could help my daughter. And Jesus wants to teach her and help her, and so he ignores her. It's wild, you gotta read it. And he says, Don't you know that I'm a Jew when I've come to the house of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? I've come to the Jewish people. Don't you know? Don't you know? And she says, with this incredible faith, and this is what we all should say, this is the right thing. She says, Yes, Lord, but even the crumbs eat the even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the master's table. Basically, yeah, but I know you love me. I know you love me, and I know you can help me. And Jesus said, one of two times, only one of two times in his whole ministry, he said, I have never found faith like this woman. She was in real need. And she went to the master. Not only our real need, but our real place. And by the way, has anybody ever put you in your place? You've been put in your place. That's a bad feeling. What's better is if we can realize our place ahead of time. Amen. How about a little bit of humility this morning? We are spiritually in need of a savior. I mean, you look good. I love you. I'm so glad you're here today. You need Jesus. Whether you're not saved, whether you are saved, you still need Jesus. They realize their need and they realize their place. That's why the Bible says they stood afar off. Unclean. Unclean. Master, could you save us? They had heard that he'd done for others.

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They thought possibly he could do for me.

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What we've got to know is we've got to know our need, we've got to know our place. We are sinners in need of a savior. I'm gonna say some hard things to you here in a second. I want you to take them in the right way because I love you, but you need to realize there's room in your life for repentance too. Amen. All the perfect people just leave right now, leave the rest of us here. Thank you. Excellent, fantastic. Last thing we've got to realize is our opportunity. Think about that. Jesus is coming to town. Think about that. Remember little Zacchaeus? He was so curious about Jesus, and the Bible says of Zacchaeus. What's the children's rhyme say? Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he, for he somebody helped me out. Climbed up in a sycamore tree for the he wanted you guys went to VBS. Very good. He took his opportunity and he went to see Jesus. You think about people who seized the

Obedience And Blessing Intertwined

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opportunity to go to church and find God and open his word and give themselves to the Lord. Here's the opportunity. You've got a need, you've got some humility. Here's your opportunity to know God. He's handing out blessings and He's redeeming, He's handing out forgiveness, but not if we don't know our need. And if not if we won't humble ourselves, and not if we won't take the opportunity. I mean, they could have, they could have said, Oh, but we're lepers. We can't. We can't approach him. He's he's clean and we're unclean. You might be here this morning, and I want you to take it however you want it. Unclean. And everybody around you is clean because this is a church full of clean and perfect people, don't you know? And you might feel I'm unclean. I'm the one that doesn't belong here. You've got to seize your opportunity to grab hold of the hem of his garment. A lot of people let that shame keep them out of the church, don't you think? I've seen this so many times. Husbands and wives, they will split up. And you know, that's the unforgivable sin, don't you know? And so instead of coming to the pastor, instead of seeking help, one, they probably know that their divorce is not biblical and we're not going to condone it. It's more of a convenience thing, and so they avoid us, and so we lose both of them, husband and wife and children, all because they would not humble themselves in the house of God. I've seen it a hundred times. But we all have a need, but we all have an opportunity. And these gentlemen, they had an opportunity when Jesus was coming by, and if the greatest decision they ever made was to speak up and call on his name. Jesus is coming by. Point number two, not only what must be known, our need, our place, and our opportunity, but what must be expressed. There's got to be some things that we express here. There's going to be some action steps. What does Jesus say to them? Look in verse 14. They lifted up their voice in 13, they said, Master, have mercy on us, and in 14 he saw them. By the way, he sees you. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? And he said to them, Go show yourself unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, I want you to underline that. I want you to see that little three-word phrase. As they went, another three-word phrase, they were cleansed. I want you to know the relationship between obedience and the blessing. And there's a lot of folks in God's house living in open disobedience to the word of God, wondering why he seems so far away. Wondering why I'm not receiving mine. I just feel I'm struggling. Well, what about that? I'm not gonna do that thing. Everyone else is doing it. It's okay. I'm not gonna like totally repent, just a little bit. You can't have it that way, church. You cannot have it that way. Can we come into God's presence as though He doesn't know?

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You ever seen a one-year-old in the floor of a living room?

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And they'll take their Binky or their blanket or their little elephant that's half an apron that's so disgusting, and they'll put it over their head and they'll say, You can't see me. We would never do that, would we? He sees, he knows, he knows, he knows. Here, these guys, they obey. And they do. He says, Go show yourself to the priest. That is an act of faith. It is an act of obedience, and he challenges them to demonstrate their faith. Had a couple this week come to me and I am so proud of them. They were living together unmarried, they moved out because God had convicted their hearts. They're gonna move back in, but not until they get married, because that's what's right in the eyes of God. Do you think that was cheap or expensive? Do you think that was difficult or easy? Do you think God's gonna honor that? Yes, he will. Yes, he will, dear friends. Your obedience to God is not going to go unnoticed or overlooked. God sees we have a need, we have a uh a humility here, and we have an opportunity. But if we do not repent, we are playing games with Almighty God. Let me ask you a question. These ten men, they all went to see the priests to get verified.

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What if one of them didn't go? You think nine would have been healed?

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I don't think if you I I think if you don't obey the Lord, I don't think, I don't think he has any obligation to hear your prayers or to or to heal or to help. I don't have I don't think why does he ask anything of them? Why didn't he just come up and say Allah Kazam? And you know, and they could say, remember that one great miracle where he healed ten lepers all at once, and he swung his suit coat around and he benny hinned them all at one time, you know.

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He doesn't, does he? Lord, I want something, I need something. Alright. Obey me. Obey me. There was a man in John chapter 9 who was blind.

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Maybe you know the story, in

Hard Truths About Repentance

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Jesus, and he cried out to the Lord, he had a need, he had an opportunity, he knew his place, he asked him, Oh son of David, would you come and heal me? And Jesus does a really gross thing. He spits on the ground, picks it up, rubs it in his fingers and makes clay, and smears it on the guy's face. And to see this, you'd be like, he's blind. You should not do that to him. That's not nice. He can't even see what you're doing. You just surprise him with mud in the eye. And he says, I want you to go down and wash in the river. And when you wash seven times, why seven? Because God said so. I don't, I'm not gonna do it if it doesn't make any sense to me. That's silliness. I don't think we should, you know, move out just because we're living together. We shouldn't just move out. That doesn't mean God will be pleased with us. Yes, it does. By the way, it makes the church look really bad. And there are some folks that want to even take membership in the church, but we're not going to offer it because they're living in sin. Amen. I think we should obey the Lord, don't you? But what happens when we obey the Lord? God is pleased. I'm not saying God's gonna meet all your needs and fill your bank account and fill your pantry and all that stuff. No, but what I do know is that your need will be placed in humility before the Lord on this opportunity, based in faith.

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God meets the needs of these men, he meets the needs of this blind man.

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Second Kings 5, there was another leprous guy, his name was Naaman, and God sent the prophet, and he does the same kind of thing. Naaman is leprous, and his little handmaiden cupbearer guy says, Hey, I know a guy that can heal you, his name's Elijah, and they go and they get Elijah. Elijah doesn't even answer the door, just through the window, tell him to go dip in the Jordan seven times. That's all he says. Dip in the Jordan, that's a dirty river. I'm not going down and no, and he and he has a he has he balks at it, and his and his cupbearer, his servant, has so much faith in God and the miracle-working power of God Almighty. He goes, What's wrong with you, master? Naaman, if he'd ask you to do something difficult, right? Drop 50 pounds on your back, and I want you to climb Kilimanjaro, right? And I want you to get up there and sing, who's the king of the jungle ten times, and you know, four Hail Marys and come on down, and then we'll see. Because he'd ask you to this little thing, he says, I'm a and he goes, Okay, I'll do it. And he went and he dipped once and twice and three and four and five and six times. And did you know nothing happened? But he dipped seven times and he came up clean. It's almost like God says, obey me to the letter of the law. Obey me to the nth degree wherever you are able to obey me. Whatever that means, we might have to go home, church, and pour liquor down the drain. You may have to take drugs and give them to me. I'll get rid of them for you. But that might be what's between you and the Lord. There may be some numbers in your phone you will have to delete. There may be a computer that might have to go in the trash. I'm telling you, because if we obey, not only do these men get the healing, but they also get the Jesus. I want you to want to show this to you. He says, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Verse 17, and they were not found. And they turned to give glory, uh, save this one stranger, this Samaritan, this foreigner, literally being translated, this alien is the only one that had the good sense to realize that I have changed his life, and he comes with the appropriate response to give gratitude as unto the Lord. And he says, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now listen, I

Stories Of Faith-Fueled Obedience

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thought he was already healed. He was already healed, that's why he came back. That's why he came back to say, Thank you. The leprosy was gone, he comes back, oh, thank you. And he with a loud voice, I guarantee you the other nine heard him. They still didn't come back. And Jesus said, Because of your faith, because of your obedience, I healed you. But because of your coming back, because of your gratitude, I've made you whole. I think he got saved that day. That's the same, that's the same phrase there in verse 19 as Jesus says to the man that he heals the crippled man. He says, Take up your bed and walk, your faith hath made thee whole. Can I tell you something, church? We do have a need, and I mean, as I'm saying that, I think you're probably listing in your mind like the need that you have. Can I tell you the greater need that we all have? We all have a need for Jesus. Alright, we don't preach a prosperity gospel here because a prosperity gospel is simply getting from God in his hand the thing that he can give you. We preach a gospel that says, that's not the treasure. The healing is not the treasure. Jesus is the treasure. It's a relationship with him. That's why we must be grateful. That's why we have to have gratitude. You see, you can't have a relationship with an ungrateful kid. You can't bless a kid, a child that is ungrateful. In fact, you do them harm when they are repeatedly ungrateful. The more you give them, the worse it gets. Right? Here, God has blessed us so much. God has helped us so incredibly much. I mean, it is just absolutely unbelievable. And we don't praise him like we should. By the way, it'll be good for you if you praise the Lord. It'll be good for you. Let me just read you a few things that happen when you praise the Lord, okay? This is just from all secular scientific review, everything from Harvard to various other studies. Gratitude activates the medial profrontal cortex. That's the first time I've ever said that word in my life, which is involved in decision-making, emotional regulation, and understanding social meaning, anterior uh sigulate cortex. Didn't know I had one of those, which helps direct attention towards positive aspects of life. It reduces activity in the amygdala, the brain's fear and emotion center, which helps regulate stress and anxiety. When we are grateful and practice this, it strengthens our prefrontal cortex, enhancing cognitive function such as learning and empathy and impulse controlling. Couldn't we use some of that? It increases gray matter volume in areas of that are responsible for perception and speech and learning. Gratitude reinforces positive neural pathways through neuroplasticity, making it easier over time to notice and appreciate positive experiences. It's almost like saying, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. That's a command, by the way. To rejoice, to be glad, to be thankful. It is a choice that we make. Joy is this. Joy is responding to the pressures of life with gratitude and faith. Joy is responding to the pressures of life with gratitude and faith. And the end result is joy. The end result is this. And I'm just gonna ask you, how much do you have to give God praise for? Just in closing, there's almost an identical passage of scripture in Luke chapter 7, and I won't read it all to you, but Jesus goes to dinner at a Pharisee's house. He comes in there, and the Pharisees, they see no need. They have no need. They are awesome. They are self-righteous and they are great. They are, in fact, they're better than you. They're a lot better than you are. Jesus goes and has dinner because he has dinner with everybody. He

From Cleansed To Whole: Gratitude’s Power

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sits down at dinner, and a lady comes in who is a prostitute, a known prostitute in the town, and she comes in and she's been forgiven of her sins. A demon has been cast out of her, and she comes and she weeps over Jesus' feet and wets his feet with her tears and dries his feet with her hair. And everyone says, if ge if he knew who she was and where those lips have been. They don't say it out loud, and Jesus knows their heart, and he goes, Why do you say this about this woman? What's wrong with you? You know, I came into your house, you did not wash my feet, but this woman has not stopped washing my feet with her tears since I came in here. You gave me no kiss at the door. She's not stopped kissing me since I came in here. And here's what the here's how the passage ends.

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Thy faith has saved thee.

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Go in peace. Jesus said there was a creditor who had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and another 50 pence. So five hundred thousand versus fifty thousand. And when he had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Just was generous and forgave them.

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And he says, here's the question Tell me which one was more grateful. I can do the math.

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The one that had the five hundred thousand dollar debt, he was more thankful. Jesus said, Exactly. This woman realizes how much she has been forgiven. That's equal to her. level of gratitude you needed no forgiveness you received no forgiveness and therefore you have no gratitude has he forgiven you much has he blessed you much do you have a great need or you have a great opportunity here this morning Heavenly Father we lay ourselves at your feet and Lord we ask that you be pleased with us as we approach you in humility you are Alpha and Omega beginning and end and yet somehow you have loved us little people us people with great needs and so faulty and fail over and over and over again and you have forgiven us over and over and over again Lord you knew how we would offend you and how we would be an affront to you but yet you still give us breath this morning when we woke up Father to whom much has been forgiven we pray that you would receive much gratitude Father O wretched man that I am thank you for the forgiveness of my sins so I respond to you Lord with an effort to be obedient to your word I know you see everything and so Father we take this moment this opportunity to ask your forgiveness for asking your help for your blessing and we will respond in gratitude Lord as we obey you as you bless us we will be thankful. Help us in Jesus' name amen. Let's all stand together and we'll sing as a church a closing hymn