Give Thanks-Power of Thank You Luke 17:11-19 11-5-12

Sermon 11-4-12 give thanks- power of thankyou         Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem,^(N) Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.^{(O) 12} As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a](P) met him. They stood at a distance^{(Q) 13} and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master,^(R) have pity on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”^(S) And as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God^(T) in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.^{(U) 17} Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”^(V)

New series that is not a series

Every sermon should drive a person towards gratitude

Life will bring you pain all by itself.  Your job is to create joy.

Today- the power of thank you

What is a leper

Disease, lesions, rot, lack of nerves

Sedparated from friends and family

A sign of sin

Jesus healed their disease

Restored their families

Removed the stigma of sin

What jesus did for the man.

jesus has done for you.

Do you have sin?  Are you in need of a touch from Jesus?

God has done so much for us.

Ingratitude is a sin, a very common one

Every time we act like we deserve something, we are ungrateful

9 went on, one came back

Jesus asks the question.  where are the other 9?

Has god done something for you but you didn’t take notice

Many people in this life are ungrateful

They may say thank you, but their living does not show it

Their thank you is a 2 second phrase, something they were taught to do to be polite

But they have not taken it in as a way of living

Living as entitled or living as grateful

Our team is in Russia.  They are living the reminder today that there are people in this world with much much less.  People with nothing. 

Giving the shirts to the boys in Russia.

Realizing that most of them do not have family.

Everyone is scraping, fighting their way thru life.

Do you know why you were born here instead of Russia?

What has God done for you?

During John Wesley’s student days, a poor porter knocked on Wesley’s door. It was a cold night, and Wesley suggested that the porter needed a thicker coat. “This is the only coat I have,” the porter replied, “and I thank God for it.” Wesley asked the man if he had eaten and the porter answered, “I have had nothing today but water to drink, but I thank God for that.” Wesley was deeply moved by the man’s sincerity and he said to him, “You thank God when you have nothing to wear and eat. What else do you thank God for?” The simple man replied, “I thank God that he has given me life, a heart to love him, and a desire to serve him.” After the man had left with a coat from Wesley’s closet, some money for food, and words of appreciation for the witness he had made, Wesley wrote something like this in his journal, “I shall never forget that porter. He convinced me there is something in religion to which I am a stranger.”

Are we grateful or entitled?

Driving the car.  Someone cuts in front of you.

That was my space. 

Now imagine that you couldn’t afford a car and someone gave you one with the stipulation that you must always let everyone in.  that you must appreciate the gift of driving.

Are you saying thank you or saying THANK YOU

Is it a polite gesture or is it a way of life for you, a way of thinking?

I have been reading an author who says that

Saying thank you restores us to our natural state of happiness

It takes us out of the center of the world and makes us appreciative

I am not sure that I believe in a natural state of happiness

Why do babies cry?

Why do we complain?

Seems to me that what comes naturally to us is whining.

To say thank you makes relationships right.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough.

It makes you feel full.  Bursting with delight.

When we say thank you, when we become grateful

We get our selves out of the drivers seat.

We are dependent.  We need God

To say thank you puts God in his rightful place

And it honor others

In honor, preferring one another [quote]

Romans 12:10 ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

To say thank you is to honor another person

Everything changes when you learn to say thank you.

The leper in the story goes back to thank jesus even before the priest says that he is clean

He was more interested in showing thanks than the official outcome

My guess is that before this incident, he was the happiest leper.

He was probably the glass half full leper.

The vision of our life

Do we see the joy, the goodness of the simple gifts

Do we stand in awe of the amazingness of life?

Every now and then we need to take inventory of our lives.

Have I made an effort to count all the things that I do have in life instead of complaining about the things that I don't have.

It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to brood or whine in self pity. Have you taken inventory lately?

What I am suggesting here is not some shallow "count your blessings" platitude. But from time to time, in a genuine kind of a way, we need to sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all of the gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us.

Perhaps there is a deep underlying wisdom in the song that says: "Count your blessings one by one- count your many blessings see what God has done

Meister Eckhart - Dominican monk – lived in germany 1200’s

If in this life the only prayer I learn is thank you, it is enough.

At camino.  Prayer time.  We have so much.  I ask for only one thing more.  May you give me a grateful heart

Sometimes I think that I  am not a very smart guy.  It takes me a long time to learn things.  Sometimes I can only think of one thing at a time.

What if we spent this day saying thank you.

What if the only thing on our mind today was to say thank you.

What if we stretch it to a week.  To a month.  To a year.

A year of gratefulness.

It would become a way of life.

When gratefulness becomes a way of life, everything changes.

Stop.  Look.  Appreciate.  Marvel

Learn to see the holiness in the simple things around you.

Gratitude always involves another person.  You aren’t grateful for a car, you are grateful to  god for a car.

You are not grateful for friendship, you are grateful that so and so is your friend.

I am thankful for someone in the room.

Who?

Has someone done something for you?

Do not be among the 9

See what was done.

Be the one.  Stop.  Turn around.  Give thanks.

Everything will change.