Main Idea: Remembering to be thankful begins with an awareness of mercy that’s unforgettable.

This morning we’re going to talk about what I’m calling "thanks-living." "Thanks-living" is a way of life that moves beyond an occasional expression of thanks to a lifestyle of continual expression of gratitude. Where does a lifestyle of thanks and gratitude come from though? How can we become more than momentary "thankers" to truly grateful people? What I want us to see today in this story from the life of Jesus is that remembering to be thankful begins with an awareness of mercy that’s unforgettable.

Have you ever forgotten to say "thank you?" Have you ever been reluctant to say "thank you" especially to God? It’s not that we are ungrateful; it’s just that we struggle to express it. Gordon MacDonald tells a story about his grandson who had difficulty saying "thank you." He writes: "One night, Gail and I took our grandchildren and their parents to one of those large pizza restaurants where the food is awful but the play area of games and rides is wonderful. Everyone had a great time. When it came time to leave, one of the grandchildren was strapped into a safety seat in the back of our station wagon. In the process his mother said, ‘Now, make sure you tell Papa how thankful you are.’ There was no response.

"She said it again, ‘I want you to tell Papa thank you for the nice evening.’ Nothing. She tried a third time. Still nothing. ‘It’s OK,’ I said. A frustrated mother sighed, shut the door, and headed for her car. When we were alone, I decided it was time for a bit of grandfatherly coaching. ‘You know,’ I said, ‘Papa loves to do things for his grandchildren. But it takes the fun out of it if they aren’t thankful.’ I thought this was a reasoned way to address the problem of ingratitude. Logic suggested that there would be an immediate outpouring of thankfulness. But my comments were met with more silence. So it was time for me to get irritated. My voice raised a decibel or two. ‘Did you hear what I said?’ ‘Yep, came the reply. ‘You heard me say how important it is to be thankful?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Then don’t you think it might be a smart idea to say a thank you?’ A bit more silence. Then this: ‘I am thankful…I just don’t want to say it.’" (The Resilient Life, by Gordon MacDonald, p. 131-132)

In our text for this morning we discover nine people who were probably thankful and didn’t say it and one who was thankful and could do nothing until he said "thank you." What made him come back? He remembered to say thank you because he was aware of mercy that was unforgettable.

Luke 17:11-19 tells us that Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Why did they call out in a loud voice? Because in the ancient world, someone who had leprosy was perceived not only to have a physical ailment but also a spiritual ailment. To keep the disease from spreading, these people had to leave the fellowship of God's community. They had to leave their homes. They couldn't even experience the arms of a loved one around them. They couldn't even stay inside the walls of the town, but had to go outside the "city limits", away from their livelihood and fellowship with others. So that no one would get close enough to catch the disease, they had to call out, "Unclean. Unclean. Stay away from me." So in this desperate condition, the lepers cried out to Jesus, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" What did he do? He had mercy on them. Why? God is not moved by the deeds we do. He is moved by the desperation that we own, that we claim, that we acknowledge before him.

That word "mercy" is a desperate word. It is a word that is spoken from someone who has reached the end of their hope and sees no way for help but for someone to show them mercy. "Mercy" in the original language was an emotion that a person experienced when they saw someone in a helpless and desperate situation and made the choice to act on their behalf whether they were deserving or not. These ten lepers were in such a place that the only hope they had to live was for Jesus to show them mercy and heal them. There will come a time in every one of our lives when the only thing we need from God is mercy. That may be mercy for yourself or mercy for someone else but the only thing left for us to do is ask for God’s mercy.

When we get to that place God is not interested in all of the goodness we imagine that we have done to merit his favor. He wants us to come acknowledging how deeply we need his mercy. It's when we recognize God is willing to receive those who come in desperation that is the start of thanksgiving in our lives. We can all get to places that we imagine that we are where we are somehow because of our own worth or value. That the problems and difficulties that other have encountered won’t happen to us. Then something comes our way that we can’t handle by ourselves and the only words we have to say are, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on me! There's nothing in me that should make you love me. There’s nothing about me that makes me worthy of your acting in my behalf! I just cry out to you, Lord. Please, Lord, have mercy!"

If that moves God, then we get some hint of what should move us. After all, something moved one leper in an entirely different direction because of what Jesus had done in his life. Remember what happened in the story in Luke? Jesus told the lepers to go to the priests. So the lepers showed themselves to the priests. "And as they went, their leprosy disappeared. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God, I'm healed!’" Think of what had just happened. As they were going, they were healed. They were not yet at the temple. It happened as they were going. Then one of the lepers, when he saw he was healed, turned back and went to Jesus.

Think of everything he was risking at that point. He risked a change in his health. He had just been cleansed and he saw it. He could tell something was different, if he would just go another few blocks to his place of worship, the priest would declare him clean. He could go back to fellowship and community. He could go back to his livelihood. He could go back to the arms of his loved ones. Just over there. Instead, he risked it all. What had changed could change back because his leprosy could return. He risked it all to go back and give praise to Jesus.

He also risked a change in Jesus’ attitude toward him. There were 10 who were cleansed. One leper went back to Jesus. The one who went back was a Samaritan. A Samaritan was an outcast in Jesus’ culture and though we can't prove this entirely, our impression is that the rest of them were Jews. They'd been healed in mass, the entire group, yet only one of them returned to this Jewish rabbi to give thanks. He didn't know what Jesus was going to do. For all he knew, Jesus would say, "Oh, there's a Samaritan in the group. Well, forget you. You're not healed." This leper didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew he had to do something. He was no longer searching for his own gain. It was gratitude, thanksgiving, praise that was motivating him. He had to go back. Think of what was being said. He had cried out to Jesus in a loud voice. Then, how did he praise Jesus? In a loud voice! The degree of his desperation matched the degree of his appreciation. He remembered the unforgettable mercy of Jesus toward him and expressed that in genuine thanksgiving.

There's a message in here: Remembering God’s unforgettable mercy will be expressed in genuine thanksgiving. The one leper, who had been cured of much, praised much. The one leper who knew something of God’s true mercy toward him is compelled to offer praise. That change is what moves and motivates him. It is that same recognition that compels us as well. It's not —I'm going to say thank you so the ogre in the sky won't get me or I'm going to do this so I'll get more good stuff either in this life or the life to come. Those weren't the leper's motivations. What drove the leper is love for this One who loved him so much he would heal his leprosy. Do you know what it means to say, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on me"? If you do then genuine thanksgiving will flow out of your life because of mercy that you can’t forget.

While Jesus was moved by the one grateful leper’s response of gratitude he was as well disturbed by the ingratitude of the other nine. He asks three questions not really looking for answers but making observations: "Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?" (v. 17-18). What this says to us is that there is some expectation on Jesus’ part that the others should have expressed the same gratitude that the one has shown. We like to imagine that Jesus would be willing to ignore ingratitude but he does not. He felt the failure to be grateful just as much as any other rebellious action that people displayed.

What this shows us is that our failure to remember the unforgettable mercies of God toward us is an offense against God. Whatever we take for granted in our relationship to God is a place where God asks us, "Didn’t I show you mercy at this desperate place in your life? Do you dare to withhold from me your expressions of thanksgiving simply because I didn’t give you everything in life that you expected? Are you so foolish as to imagine that the mercy I have shown you is not deserving of your gratitude?" You and I might imagine that our ungratefulness is something of a lesser offense in God’s eyes. Yet Paul will tell Timothy that one of the signs of the last days before Christ’s return are people being "ungrateful." (2 Tim. 3:2)

So how do you keep from falling into a place of being ungrateful for God’s unforgettable acts of mercy toward us? You do it by "thanks-living." What do I mean by "thanks-living"? "Thanks-living" is a lifestyle that continually reflects thanksgiving to God for his unforgettable mercy. How do you do that? First, I believe it starts with you personally recalling the times in your life where you knew you needed God’s mercy. That may mean that you need from time to time to take out a piece of paper and write down specific things where God has acted in mercy toward you. Recently, while Kathy and I were away, I was prompted by God to write down some specific ways God had shown my family and me his mercy and kindness over the last few months. It took me nearly two pages in my journal to list them. After I listed them I read them aloud to God as my way of saying "Thank you" to him for his unforgettable mercy. When I saw on paper all the ways that God had been merciful, my heart overflowed with thanksgiving!

Another way to create a lifestyle of genuine thanksgiving is through our gathering for worship. We struggle with this because we are so self-centered that we imagine that if the songs don’t touch me or the sermon doesn’t grip me then I didn’t worship. It’s not about you! It’s about God. Your being here in this place is where God comes to expose you to his unforgettable mercy and gives you the chance to express to him your gratitude. The psalmist said, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise" (Psa. 100:4). Here in this place is where your expressions of thanksgiving are to be heard as a continual habit of your life.

There’s one more way that we can incorporate genuine thanksgiving into our life and that is by giving of our tithes and offerings to God. I will admit that while I may give our resources by meeting the standard of 10% of my income, it is not always out of gratitude. Too often it is something we just do because it is the habit of our life. Habits are good because they help us do things without question. Yet they are also dangerous because we can let them become meaningless. Our giving our resources to God through First Baptist is our opportunity to recognize that God has shown me unforgettable mercy by all he has done for me. The thing is that if you are not giving of your resources consistently, then it is cause for you to question the genuineness of your gratitude. Genuine thanksgiving becomes a lifestyle of "thanks-living’ because of God’s unforgettable mercy toward you and me.

Gordon MacDonald tells how on another day his grandson finally learned how to not only be thankful but to say it as well. He says, "It was perhaps six months after our evening together at the pizza store, the same grandson was with me again. We had gone to New York City for a day and a night. We’d indulged ourselves in junk food, a visit to the Empire State Building, a ride to the Statue of Liberty, and other exciting things one can do in New York. We were finally on our way home. He had been still for a while, and I thought he had fallen asleep. But then he spoke. ‘Papa?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Thanks for all the fun we had.’ ‘You’re welcome. I enjoyed it too.’ ‘Papa?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘I sure hope you don’t die soon, because I want to have a lot more fun like today.’" (Ibid, p.135)

So what about you? How much of God’s mercy toward you have you forgotten? How much of God’s mercy toward you do you remember? The measure of the mercy of God you remember will be the measure of the gratitude that you express to God. Is your gratitude more than thanksgiving? If not, then let it become "thanks-living"! Remembering to be thankful begins with an awareness of mercy that’s unforgettable.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org