GRATITUDE:
WHERE ARE THE NINE? TRETS - 03NOV2016 Luke 17.11-19
Our good and magnificent God always expects the heart of
gratitude from His beneficiaries.. Unfortunately, there are many who receive
God’s gracious blessings with ungrateful heart. Our text today reveals ten
lepers cleansed from their deadly disease, yet only one amongst them (who most
probably was a Samaritan) came back to thank Him with appreciation. Where are
the nine? This represents the class of ungrateful people in the world today who
receive God’s tremendous blessings but count it less worthy of appreciation.
Christ’s response to the leper’s return indicates that God is not happy with
the ungrateful lepers. In the same way, God is not pleased with those who only bring
petitions to Him without commensurate adoration, appreciation and thanksgiving.
Recounting God’s manifold Benefits Luke 17.11-16, Ps 107. 1-9, 43, 1 Chron 16.23-29, Ps 46. 8-9,
Ps 145, 1-5, 8-10, Ps. 103. 1-13
Lepers everywhere are forbidden from living in the midst of
the people. They are always separated because of the deadly and contagious nature
of their disease. Rejected and helpless as they were the Lord reached out to these
ten lepers and healed them. This is symbolic of God’s love to humanity. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet while we were in our state
of hopelessness and helplessness, God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, reached
out to us in love and saved us (John 3.16). Apart from this
priceless experience of salvation, He protects us, preserves us and provides
for us every time and everywhere. He fights our battles for us and delivers us
from the enemy. He silences our storms in life and keeps us in safety from
destruction. It’s therefore important for everyone to count his blessing and
name them one by one. The Psalmist enumerated his blessings from God and
declared that God is worthy to be praised and His mercies endureth forever.
Truly, David declared, “God is good to all”. Someone said “He that is thoughtful will be thankful”. Are
you thankful to God?
Rebuke for the thoughtlessness of ungrateful Beneficiaries Luke 17.16-18, Rom 1.21, 2 Kings
17.15, Isa. 17.10-11
After the healing of these ten lepers, only one was
thoughtful enough to come back to thank the Lord. The Lord’s observation is
quite relevant to us today. It is unfortunate to know that many beneficiaries
of God’s goodness are not thoughtful enough to praise and appreciate His
goodness to them. Even among believers, many always complain about what they don’t
have and they forget what they have already. Ironically, the only thankful
leper was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Many Christian today
demonstrate this attitude today. They only specialize in asking the Lord
without commensurate appreciation of the received blessings. This attitude of
ingratitude to the Lord is revealed in many ways (i) by not praising God enough
for what He had done for them, (ii) by disobeying the commandments of God to
us, (iii) by forsaking His ways of holiness and becoming worldly, (iv) by
comparing themselves with godless people due to their riches and wealth, (v) by
allowing present problems and unpleasant circumstances to shift our minds and
focus away from heaven, (vi) by not sharing the testimony of God’s blessings to
others through evangelism, (vii) by making utterances of unbelief toward the
promises of our God, (viii) by not showing mercy to others (the wicked servant Matt. 18. 32-34), (ix) by not giving
our tithe and offerings to God adequately and appropriately (e.g. the rich fool Luke 12.20), and (x) by not
rendering acceptable service to Him regularly. Believers must repent of these condemnable
traits so that victories can multiply in our lives.
Results of thanksgiving and appreciation of God’s Blessings Luke 17.19, Ps 50:14,23; 69:30-31;
107:22; 116:17; Ho 14:2; Eph 5:20, 2 Chron. 20. 20-22, Acts 16. 23-26, 1 Samuel
2.1-2
All through the scriptures, thanksgiving, praises and
appreciation has been seen as catalysts to greater victories and blessings. In
all situations, believers are enjoined to praise the Lord and to thank Him for all He has done for us. We must realize
that we are not better than those in greater problems or who had died. As the
Lord had been merciful to us, we need to demonstrate thoughtful appreciation to
Him through our worship and adoration, praises and thanksgiving (Heb
13.15-16), acceptable sacrifice of service (Heb 12.28), life of total
submission to Him. When we do this, great doors of breakthroughs and victory
shall surely open unto us. When we devote time to thank God for His blessings,
more shall be given to us and when we praise Him in time of challenges, God
shall give us unprecedented victory. Everyone who praised the Lord thoughtfully
and deeply from their hearts received greater blessings. Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah
praised Him in trouble and God delivered them, Paul and Silas praised God in prison and God opened the prison doors miraculously, Hannah praised God as
appreciation for Samuel and God gave her more children. You too can praise
God tonight with all your hearts and God shall release greater victories to
your life in Jesus Name.
