THANKSGIVING SUNDAY –2004

THANKLESS RECEIVING

Luke 17:ll-l9
"Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And He said unto him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."

On His last pilgrimage to Jerusalem where He was to die outside the city wall, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, areas He knew so well and in which He had displayed His power. Normally, when the Jews went to Jerusalem they took the longer route across Jordan in order to avoid the inhospitable land of the Samaritans, with whom the Jews had no dealings, but petty differences between people were unrecognized by Him who came as the Saviour of the world.
The miracle before us has its own peculiarities. Ten lepers bound together in a common misery forgot their national differences. Although one was a Samaritan and the other nine Jews, they were poor outcasts with one common need.
Together they formed "a piteous group, with clothes rent, heads bowed, and hair disheveled, a cloth bound strangely on the lower face and upper lip." A common disease put them all on one level, and they were only too conscious of their need. The great leveler of all is sin, of which leprosy, is in Scripture, an expressive type.
Leprosy was a loathsome and pitiful disease. Trench gives us the following description:
"Leprosy was nothing short of a living death, a corruption of all the humors, a poisoning

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of the very springs of life; a dissolution little by little of the whole body, so that one limb after another actually decayed and fell away. The disease, moreover, was incurable by the art and skill of man--not that the leper might not return to health, for, however rare such cures might be, they are contemplated as possible in the Levitical law. But then the leprosy left the man, not in obedience to any skill of the physician, but purely and merely through the good will and mercy of God.
The Jews called leprosy "the finger of God," or "the stroke," indicating thereby that the disease was regarded as a direct punishment from God and absolutely incurable, except by the same divine power which permitted it.
When one had this dreaded disease, the Levitical Law made certain demands. "Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, "Unclean! Unclean!
He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp." (Leviticus 13:45-46)
In Leviticus 14, we have the instructions as to the cleansing of the leper.
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field."
Luke tells us that the lepers stood afar off. They did not run and fall at the feet of Jesus but observed the legal distance of 100 paces. They dare not approach clean people with such a measured distance as the law commanded. The distance was not only necessary because of contagion, it also typified the great separation sin makes. These ten lepers lifted up their voice and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

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Commenting on the voices of the lepers, Trench says: "All who have studied this terrible disease tell us that an almost total failure of voice is one of the symptoms which accompany it. It is not then for nothing that we are presently told of one who had been represently told of one who had been restored to health that he returned with a loud voice glorifying God; it is here the earnestness with which the boon was sought is sufficiently indicated by the fact that they lifted up their voices, found such an utterance as it might have seemed beforehand the disease would have denied them."
The attitude and treatment of Christ are impressive. He never touched them as He did the single leper whose healing is recorded in Matthew. When He saw and heard the ten lepers, He simply said, "Go shew yourselves to the priests," and as they went, "they were cleansed."
No healing word was spoken, yet such was the assurance of the lepers that when Christ said "Go," the command meant healing, that they immediately went to the priests.
Christ gave them no pledge or outward means of healing. As yet, they felt no change in their diseased bodies, but as they went steadily on together in all their rags, wretchedness, and uncleanness, in some supernatural way what they yearned for happened.
The result of the miracle has its bright, yet dark side. Only one out of the ten returned to give thanks!
The language implies that the work of healing was not accomplished till the company was out of sight of the Master and that one the leper, as soon as he was healed, did not continue his journey to the priest but swung right around to bless the Great High Priest for his cure. Vocal powers were restored, for with a loud voice he glorified God, and falling down before Jesus expressed the gratitude of his heart. The other nine went on their way to the first priest they could find.
Spurgeon writes: "Poor and feeble as their voices had become through disease, yet they lifted them up in prayer, and united in crying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" They all joined in the litany, "Lord, have mercy upon us! Christ, have mercy upon us!" But when they came to opportunity to express gratitude for their healing, to praise and magnify God, only one of them used their lips and voice to praise God."
Observation! Is it not true of all of us...We are quick and anxious to make our requests and demands of God in prayer, but very slow to express our deep gratitude for the blessings and answers received.

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Is there not a tinge of sad disappointment in our Lord’s question, ‘Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?" Why was He robbed of the worship and gratitude of these healed men? By failing to return, they indicated that they thought more of themselves than of their Healer--a fitting type of multitudes who externally profit by the mercies of Christ.
What we must not forget is that although Christ addressed His question to the one leper who did return, yet he was silent about the other nine. The other nine had faith to be healed, but their faith failed to show itself in gratitude and love. Why did they push on their way unmindful and ungrateful? Calvin suggests that "they slipped away to banish the memory of their disease." Bernard puts it, "Importunate to receive, restless till they receive, ungrateful when they have received."
Perhaps the nine failed to return because they knew the danger of committing themselves to Jesus, because there were His foes who deemed it an offense to receive a cure from Him. It may be they were afraid that now the Healer would have a claim upon them and would begin to press His claim. Having given them new life, He might demand their loyalty. Probably they thought that they had only got what was their due, for leprosy was an injustice and a grievance, and health was their right, so why be grateful?
Alas! by their lack of appreciation they indicated that their Benefactor was no longer necessary to them. Urgent want was past. They had all they asked for and the disappearance of their need made a vast difference. As for the one who did not forget his benefit, he received another blessing from the Lord. "Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." His cure was confirmed by Jesus and to it was added the moral cure--a pronounced salvation. "The nine had sufficient faith for restoration of the health of their body," says Ellicott: "his had gone further, and had given a new and purer life to his soul."
Observation!
If we have received the absolving word of mercy and know that our old sins have been purged, may we never lose the sense of wonder regarding our spiritual healing. Nay our gratitude for the Lord’s saving grace and power be expressed, not only in words, but in a life of devotion to Him! Yes, and since He loads us daily with His benefits, material, physical and spiritual, may our praises ever ascend to Him!

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One of the beautiful Psalms which is filled with expressions of gratitude and praise is Psalm 103.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place is remembered no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them." (Psalm 103:1-18)
Gratitude is the great Christian motive; it is the only right way to think and feel. Paul writes these words: "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)
"My tongue will speak of Your righteousness and of Your praises all day long." (Psalm 35:28).
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." (Psalm 100:4)
When we think rightly as Christian should, we

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become more and more aware of all there is in life for us to be thankful for. The great question is what we choose to think about! Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." (Philippians 4:8).
We very often select the painful and disagreeable thing; we brood upon our troubles; we fear the troubles that do not yet exist and never may exist. We brood over pleasure and blessing either that we have never had, or that we have not got as yet. But when we are brooding we are living among shadows and unrealities, among things that are not! We do not, as Christians, ignore the sorrows and anxieties that so darken life for many among us, but we do want to remember also that the good things in human life are really good, and that there are many of them. This is the religious exercise of thanksgiving and this is what the Psalmist does in this beautiful Psalm 103.
It has been said that petition is the lowest form of prayer, and praise the highest. Thanksgiving comes between these two. Petition is apt to be all concerned with ourselves and our own needs. Praise loses itself in the glory of God.
Thanksgiving is prayer emancipated from self, and yet human; glorying in the light of heaven, and yet remembering and standing upon the solid earth.
William Law, the mystic, asks the question, Who is the greatest saint? His answer is that it is not the man who prays most; it is the man who is most thankful. To live under a deep sense of our infinite indebtedness to God is to enjoy a fellowship with Him as wonderful as it is enriching. And one cannot but feel that there are many longing for larger spiritual experience who are inwardly impoverished by ingratitude.
Gratitude is the inspiration of the Christian life. It sends a man forward on to the second mile. It impels him always to go a little farther. It was when longing for a fuller life and a larger fellowship with heaven that the Psalmist called upon his soul to "forget not all His benefits."
Let’s think for a moment about this matter of thanksgiving.
First of all, there is the negative form of thanksgiving. We can be thankful for a great deal that we are not, for many things that have not happened to us!
There never can be a situation that might not have been ever so much worse than it is!

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Second, there are the positive things that we are apt to overlook because we are so accustomed to them. If they came rarely, and after lengthy intervals, how vividly we should appreciate our mercies. The Psalmist was keenly alive to the great peril, and he guards against it in a rigorous way. He deliberately enumerates his mercies. One by one he draws them into consciousness, making them pass before him in procession, till he realizes at last how much he owes.
The great hymn reminds us...When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost. Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!
David begins Psalm 103 with these words: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." What does it mean to bless God? The Hebrew verb always means to express solemn words that show the appreciation, gratitude, respect, joint relationship, or good will of the speaker, thus promoting respect for the one being addressed.
David’s praise is given to the Lord, that is to Yahweh (God as personal) and to "His holy name" (God as transcendent presence and authority). As he blesses God, he throws himself fully into his worship: he gives "all that is within me." The call to bless God is repeated in verse 2 with the added thought: "and forget not all His benefits [dealings]." Thus David gives all that is within himself to God and remembers all that God has done for him. Memory is always one of our best aids in worship!
Another verse of the hymn which we have just referred to reads: "So, amid the conflict whether great or small, do not be discouraged for God is over all; count your many blessings, angels will attend, help and comfort you to your journey’s end."
Often, we forget God’s benefits just because they are so freely given! The most wonderful things are the things we never toiled for; they are ours in the free grace of heaven. The very first benefit David rejoices in is the gift of forgiveness..."who forgives all your iniquities." "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not

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of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2)
Again I say...the most wonderful things are the things we never toiled for, and things we get for nothing are often despised! And one deep reason why we are all so apt to make light of the benefits of God is just that they are so often given for nothing. Not by conscious toil does our eye acquire its marvelous power of seeing. Not by our deliberate labor is our ear opened to the world around to enjoy its sounds. We do not earn the glory of the spring, or the wealth and beauty of summer, or the song of birds, or the wonder of the wild flowers. Love must be given, we can never purchase it; and love is the greatest thing in all the world! Oh! What marvelous benefits flow from the hand of our Almighty God! "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17)
These things which I have just mentioned and a thousand things like them, are given in the largesse of the Father, and in their very freeness is their peril.
We never forget what costs us a great deal.
We easily forget what costs us nothing.
They are showered on us by a love that never wearies. That is why, with David and the saints, we have to practice the art of recollection, and forget not all His benefits. David rejoices in the mercy of divine healing..."who healeth all thy diseases." Many-sided is the character of our Heavenly Father, for having forgiven as a judge, He then cures as a physician. He is all things to us, as our needs call for Him, and our infirmities do but reveal Him in new characters. God give efficacy to medicine for the body, and His grace sanctifies the soul. No disease of our soul baffles His skill; He goes on healing all, and He will do so till the trace of taint has gone from our nature.
The "alls" of this verse are further reasons for ALL that is within us praising the Lord!
David adds: "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction." By purchase and by power the Lord redeems us from spiritual death into which we have fallen, and from the eternal death which would have been its consequence.
Glory be to our great Substitute, who delivered us from going down into the pit, by giving Himself to be our ransom!
"Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." The princes of God’s family do not earn the crown, for it is mercy, not by merit; they feel their own unworthiness of it...but He is always surrounding us with mercy and compassion.