"9:1" (Luke 17:11-19)

"9:1" (Luke 17:11-19)

 A Month of Thanksgiving

Yesterday morning I got a call from our DS Rev. Pat Machugh whether we would need to reschedule the church conference because of snow storm. After asking several church members from both churches, we finally decided to postpone until next Monday, November 10^th. It was ok, but that meant I had to prepare the message for the regular service. At first, I didn’t know what to do. So I prayed and asked God for guidance. He gave me desire to share things that we can be thankful for. November is the month of thanksgiving. It is time to stop and think about what the Lord has done for us in our lives. We, as a church, are going through a hard time this year. Several of our beloved church members are now battling with cancer. We don’t feel like we have much to be thankful for. But, in today’s scripture we meet one person who did not forget to say “Thank you, Lord!” What on earth made him so different from the other nine and thankful? The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1Th 5:18). Today’s story tells us how we can give thanks always and why it is so important.

Give Thanks for the Past

First of all, we give thanks when we remember the past. In today’s scripture ten men are healed, but only one of them comes back and gives thanks to Jesus. Verse 16 says that this man was a Samaritan. Who were the Samaritans? Samaritans were normally considered “half-breeds” or “the pagan half-Jews” because they had intermarried with the foreigners during the Assyria occupation period. So Jews did not associate with Samaritans. In verse 18 Jesus said to him, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Yes, this man was a discriminated foreigner, despised Samaritan, as well as a forsaken leper. He must have had all kinds of wounds and negative past experiences. But, because of that, when he is healed, he is more thankful than anyone else. I think he may say to himself like this: “Thank you, Jesus! Do you even come to me and heal me?” That is the reason why this man is different from the other nine.

                  

Apostle Paul is another good example. He always remembers his past and is able to be thankful. In 1 Co 15:9-10 he says, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain!” He always remembered the past. Because of that, whether he was successful or persecuted, he was able to be thankful to God all the time. Many of us have our past. At some point in our lives we did make wrong choices or mess up our lives. If we remember this, we can be thankful to God always. Apostle Paul exhorts us to remember our spiritual past lives. In Eph 2:11-12 he says, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision," remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” All of us in this room have been to that place. But now, by the blood of Christ we have become children of God. Jesus came to our life and turned our scars into stars. If we remember this, how can we be silent? How can we stop giving thanks to him?

Give Thanks for the Present

Secondly, we give thanks when we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit today. In today’s scripture ten lepers meet Jesus, and they ask him for healing. On the way to the temple all ten are cleansed. I believe that all of them must be thankful to Jesus for their healing. But the nine of them put off expressing their gratitude to Jesus until tomorrow. But we know that tomorrow never comes. Verse 15 says, “(Only) one of them, when he saw he was healed, (immediately) came back, praising God in a loud voice… and thanked Jesus.” There is an Indian proverb that says, “Everyone has two wolves in his heart: good wolf and bad wolf. Then, who will win? The one that gets more food from the master will win.” All ten were healed and were thankful, but the nine chose to put off and only one of them chose to express his gratitude. It was 9 to 1. In other words, it is much easier not to give thanks than to give thanks to God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Paul says “Give thanks in all circumstances,” and then he says, “Do not quench the Spirit” (v.19). In other words, in order to give thanks always, we must not quench the Spirit. We need to be sensitive to the Spirit and obey him without delay. When I look back over the past year, every time I obeyed the Spirit, there was joy and gratitude. But, every time I quenched the Spirit and put off obeying him, there was regret and sorrow. Do you listen to the Spirit today? He constantly speaks to us. He speaks to us through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. Basically, by all means available the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts. Do you want to be thankful always? Then, be sensitive to the Spirit and choose to obey him today. Express your gratitude to God today. Contact the person in mind today. Help those in need today. Then, your heart will be filled with joy and gratitude.

Give Thanks for the Future

Thirdly, we give thanks when we have the hope of eternal life. In today’s scripture when the man comes back and gives thanks to Jesus, Jesus says to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Literal translation of this verse would be, “Your faith has saved you.” In other words, this man is healed spiritually as well as physically. He is healed and saved. When he gives thanks to Jesus, he receives a much greater gift than physical healing, that is, “salvation.” Pastor Charles Spurgeon says, “Be thankful for moonlight, and you shall get sunlight: be thankful for sunlight, and you shall get that light of heaven which is as the light of seven days.” Today some of you in this room may not think that you have much to be thankful for. But still, I commend you to choose to be thankful to God even for small things. Then, he will make you whole and give you eternal life. And this hope, “the hope of eternal life” makes us thankful in all circumstances.

Lastly, I want to share a life story of Korean Pastor Sohn Yang Won. His nickname was "Atomic Bomb of Love." In 1948 the communist rebels captured the city where he had ministered to. The rebels captured his two young adult sons, Dong-In and Dong-Shin. The two sons refused to renounce their faith; instead, they boldly preached the gospel to the rebels. They were beaten, tortured, and murdered. Few weeks later the South Korean troops recaptured that city. At the trial Pastor Sohn forgave the sons’ killers and even adopted the rebel leader as his own child. The adopted son later became a pastor. On the day of his two sons’ funeral Pastor Sohn read thanksgiving address, titled, “9 things to be thankful for”:

1.       My God, I thank You, for having allowed martyrs to be born in the family of sinners such as mine.

2.       My Lord, I thank You for having entrusted me, out of countless believers, with such precious treasures.

3.       Among my three sons and three daughters, I thank You for my blessings through which I could offer You my two most beautiful children, my oldest and second oldest sons.

4.       I thank You for the martyrdom for two of my children, when the martyrdom of one child in itself is much more precious than I could bear.

5.       I thank You for the martyrdom of my sons who were shot to death while they were preaching the gospel, when dying peacefully on his deathbed in itself is a tremendous blessing for a believer.

6.       I thank You for my heart is at peace as my sons, who had been preparing to go and study in America, are now in a place that is much better than America.

7.       God, I thank You for giving me a heart of love for repentance of the enemy who murdered my sons and compelling me to adopt him as my own son.

8.       My Father God, I thank you for there will now be countless more sons of heaven through the fruit of the martyrdom of my sons.

9.       I thank and thank Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given me these eight truths in times of such adversity, the joyful heart seeking faith and love, and the faith that provides me with composure.

This morning what are you thankful for? And how shall you express your gratitude to God?