There are few verses in the Bible that clearly say something like, “This is the will of God for you.” One of them is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I believe most of us want to be thankful always, but in reality, it’s just hard. In particular, this year the Covid-19 pandemic has been stressful and isolating for many people. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, but many of us had to cancel family gatherings. We find it more difficult to be thankful than in other years. But in today’s scripture – the story of ten lepers, we meet one man who did not forget to say “Thank you, Lord!” What made him so different from the other nine and so thankful? From this simple story, we can learn what gratitude is and why it is so important.
Gratitude Starts with Remembering
First, gratitude starts with remembering the past, remembering who we are. In today’s passage, all ten lepers are healed, but only one comes back and gives thanks to Jesus. Luke 17:16 says that 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. In Jesus’ time, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. So, 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 despised foreigner. He was the lowest of the low even among the lepers. But, because of that, because he knew who he was, when he was healed he was more thankful than anyone else. “Thank you, Jesus! You even came to me, you even loved me, you even healed me.” That is the reason why this man was different from the rest of them.
Gratitude starts with remembering. David always remembered the past. When he became prosperous, he knew that it was the Lord who had established him as king and made him successful (1Ch 14:2). In 2 Samuel 7 he prayed to the Lord, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” David had never forgotten the time when he was a shepherd boy. So he could give thanks to God always. God said to Israel again and again, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (ex. Dt 5:15). The apostle Paul says, “Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:12-13). All Christians, you and I, have a past. But now, by grace through faith we are saved and have new, eternal life. God even came to us and turned our scars into stars. If we remember this, how can we be silent? How can we stop giving thanks to God?
Gratitude Is a Choice
Gratitude starts with remembering our past. The second is, gratitude is a choice. In today’s text ten lepers met Jesus, and they asked him for healing. On the way to the temple all ten were made clean. I believe that all of them must have been grateful to Jesus for their healing. But for some reason the nine put off expressing their gratitude to Jesus till tomorrow. But we know that tomorrow never comes. Verse 15 says, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.” All ten were healed and were grateful, but the nine put off and only one of them chose to express his gratitude. It was 9 to 1.
In the ongoing struggle of daily life, it’s much easier to choose ingratitude over gratitude. But as Christians, now we have the power to choose gratitude. Matthew Henry, the 18th-century Puritan preacher whose Bible commentary remains among the most popular of all time, was once accosted by robbers, but still he chose to be thankful this way:[1]
First, gratitude starts with remembering the past, remembering who we are. In today’s passage, all ten lepers are healed, but only one comes back and gives thanks to Jesus. Luke 17:16 says that 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. In Jesus’ time, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. So, 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 despised foreigner. He was the lowest of the low even among the lepers. But, because of that, because he knew who he was, when he was healed he was more thankful than anyone else. “Thank you, Jesus! You even came to me, you even loved me, you even healed me.” That is the reason why this man was different from the rest of them.
Gratitude starts with remembering. David always remembered the past. When he became prosperous, he knew that it was the Lord who had established him as king and made him successful (1Ch 14:2). In 2 Samuel 7 he prayed to the Lord, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” David had never forgotten the time when he was a shepherd boy. So he could give thanks to God always. God said to Israel again and again, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (ex. Dt 5:15). The apostle Paul says, “Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:12-13). All Christians, you and I, have a past. But now, by grace through faith we are saved and have new, eternal life. God even came to us and turned our scars into stars. If we remember this, how can we be silent? How can we stop giving thanks to God?
Gratitude Is a Choice
Gratitude starts with remembering our past. The second is, gratitude is a choice. In today’s text ten lepers met Jesus, and they asked him for healing. On the way to the temple all ten were made clean. I believe that all of them must have been grateful to Jesus for their healing. But for some reason the nine put off expressing their gratitude to Jesus till tomorrow. But we know that tomorrow never comes. Verse 15 says, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.” All ten were healed and were grateful, but the nine put off and only one of them chose to express his gratitude. It was 9 to 1.
In the ongoing struggle of daily life, it’s much easier to choose ingratitude over gratitude. But as Christians, now we have the power to choose gratitude. Matthew Henry, the 18th-century Puritan preacher whose Bible commentary remains among the most popular of all time, was once accosted by robbers, but still he chose to be thankful this way:[1]
Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.
What a perspective! Gratitude is a choice. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances,” and then Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” 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 this year, every time I obeyed the Spirit, there was joy. But, every time I quenched the Spirit and put off obeying him, there was regret. Do you listen to the Spirit today? He still speaks to us today. We can listen to him through the Bible, our prayer, our circumstances, our conversation, our church and even this message. Do you want to be thankful always? Be sensitive to the Spirit and choose to obey him today. Express your gratitude to God today. Sing praises to him today. Give him a thank-offering today. Contact the person God puts on your mind today. Forgive today. Help those in need today. Then, your heart will be filled with joy and thanksgiving.
Gratitude Draws Us Close to God
Now we move on to the most important question, “Why is gratitude so important?” “Why are we commanded to give thanks in everything?” The answer is, it’s because gratitude draws us close to God. It’s because gratitude is good for our relationship with God as well as our well-being. In today’s scripture when the man came back and thanked Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (NIV). This verse can also be translated as, “Your faith has saved you.” In other words, when the man chose to give thanks to Jesus, he was healed spiritually as well as physically. All ten cried out (prayed) to Jesus. All ten were healed. The nine were healed and moved on. But this man was healed and saved. Gratitude draws us close to God.
Charles Spurgeon said, “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.” The more we choose gratitude, the more we are ushered into the very presence of God. The Bible says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7, NRSV). In other words, in every situation prayer plus thanksgiving equals God’s peace, God’s presence. Gratitude keeps our hearts in right relationship with God.
9 Things to Thank God
As I close, I would like to share a story about Pastor Sohn Yang Won, whose nickname was "Atomic Bomb of Love." In 1948 the communist rebels captured the city where he had ministered in South Korea. 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. A few weeks later the South Korean troops recaptured the city. At the trial Pastor Sohn forgave the sons’ killers and even adopted the rebel leader as his own son. The adopted son later became a pastor. On the day of his two sons’ funeral Pastor Sohn read a thanksgiving address, titled, “9 things to thank for”:
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[1] Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, “Gratitude Is a Choice,” https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/faith/essentials-faith/growing-in-your-faith/gratitude-is-a-choice/
As I close, I would like to share a story about Pastor Sohn Yang Won, whose nickname was "Atomic Bomb of Love." In 1948 the communist rebels captured the city where he had ministered in South Korea. 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. A few weeks later the South Korean troops recaptured the city. At the trial Pastor Sohn forgave the sons’ killers and even adopted the rebel leader as his own son. The adopted son later became a pastor. On the day of his two sons’ funeral Pastor Sohn read a thanksgiving address, titled, “9 things to thank for”:
- My God, I thank You, for having allowed martyrs to be born in the family of sinners such as mine.
- My Lord, I thank You for having entrusted me, out of countless believers, with such precious treasures.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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[1] Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, “Gratitude Is a Choice,” https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/faith/essentials-faith/growing-in-your-faith/gratitude-is-a-choice/
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