Over this past year I’ve been considering something that I have not considered as I should.  My Papa went home to be with the Lord last month, and some details about his life really have struck me.  He was married to my Granny for 68 years. He was born on the property that he lived on until just months before his death.  He lived in the same town his whole life.

      He saved a man’s life when he was drowning in Lake Brownwood.  A pilot had crash landed in the lake.  My papa saw it and swam out and then dove to save him.  What an incredible thing.

            He was faithful to God, to his wife, and to our family his whole life.  He and my granny were very generous people.

      He was with my mom the night she went to be with the Lord, and endured that difficulty with honor and grace. He doted on my Granny her whole life, finding ways to serve her well.  

      He worked really hard.  He was a leader full time until he retired at the 3M plant in town.  He and my uncle also ran cattle on their land for as long as I can remember.  Next to the old barn there was a feed shed.  In central Texas where you have feed there are mice, and where you have mice there are rattlesnakes.  Every time you walked into the shed, I’m told, you would hear a chorus of rattles under the shed.  He and my Uncle Don decided it was time to get all of those snakes, so one day they did.  They fashioned some kind of long pipe with a lasso and caught those snakes and put them in a big barrel.  They sold them.  Yes, there are people that buy rattlesnakes in Central Texas.There’s a picture somewhere of one of the two of them holding up a big rattlesnake over their heads and the body of it touching the ground.

I’m named after him.  What an honor.

      We do not pick what family we are born into before we are born.  This is up to the Lord.  In our country there is an epidemic of fatherlessness.  Everyone who does have a father active in their life doesn’t have a believing father- a father that honors the Lord in his beliefs and actions.

      I was sitting at the funeral about a month ago, and thought, “I am so blessed.  I have been given three good examples of godly grandfathers.  I have been given grandfathers that have a testimony that they know Christ. I have a dad that raised me to know Christ and follow him.”  And the impact of that fact compared to my expressed gratitude to God for all that it means in my life leaves a deficit.  

What do I mean?

            So much of God’s grace in my life has come through the faithfulness of those men, and I have not always recognized it, and thanked the Lord for it.  I have been given so much, and there is a tendency for me to go about my life and not express that thanksgiving back to God.

            Is there something like that in your life?  Is there something that if someone else was looking at your life they would notice how blessed you are in some way- maybe even they would be struck by your blessing- and it is something you have not been grateful for in a long time?

There is often a gap between how blessed we are and the thankfulness we express.

            Jesus talked about how we ought to view our lives in Luke 17.  I want to walk through this passage as a reminder to us about being grateful.  This passage includes a parable and an account of Jesus ministering to and healing some people who were in desperate need.  Both of these stories apply to us, and I hope that as we leave tonight we will be motivated towards gratefulness.  We should give God our thanks out of grateful hearts.  Here are three perspectives that lead us to thanksgiving.

We have a solemn duty. (Luke 17:7-10)

            The first perspective that Jesus gives us in Luke 17 that I want to point out is this.  We should understand that we have a solemn duty.

            We live in a culture that is obsessed with identity and rights.  We do not talk much about responsibilities. There is a sense in which marketing and commercialism has made us prone to put ourselves in the center of our own lives, where we think that we deserve things that we do not deserve.  In contrast to this thinking, Jesus gives us some teaching on who we are in comparison to him. Look at what he says in verse 7.

7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

Luke 17:7

            Is this what happens?  You’ve been working all day, and you come in and the boss is the one that feeds you first.

8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

Luke 17:8

Who eats first?  The master or the servant?  Of course, in this context, and even still today, the boss gets first dibs.

9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

Luke 17:9

Does the master thank the servant for doing what he was supposed to do?  Of course not. Why?  He did what he was responsible for doing.

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Luke 17:10

            What is the point of the parable? The servant should expect no special reward for doing what was his duty to do in the first place.  God does not owe us anything good.  We owe God because everything that we have that is good comes from him.

What He owes us is the wages of sin.

            He has obligated Himself to us in that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  He has offered that to us.  What God really owed us is death.Yet that isn’t all you’ve gotten from God.  God has given you and I so much!  We owe Him our obedience.

            Even though He didn’t owe us anything, the next passage helps us to see what God has done for us.

We were given incredible mercy. (Luke 17:11-14)

Right after Jesus’ parable about being unprofitable servants, we are told a story about his interaction with some people who we have something in common with.

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:  13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

Luke 17:11-13

            Leprosy is a brutal thing.  They were physically diseased and contagious. They were socially ostracized because of this disease.  Their destiny was to rot and die, homeless, penniless, and without hope.

            What did they ask for from Jesus?  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  So what did Jesus do?  He told them to go. 

14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke 17:14

            There was an Old Testament command that when people were healed of Leprosy, they went to the priest so that they could be examined and approved for being out of quarantine.  When Jesus told them to go, they would have understood that he was saying that they would be healed.  He demanded some faith from them.  They didn’t get healed and then sent to the priest.  It says that they were healed on their way to the priest.

            And that is exactly what happened.  “And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”  How cool is that?  They asked for mercy, and the certainly received it.

            Did Jesus owe them healing?  No, he did not.  Yet he healed them just the same.  

            Are we any different?  We were dead in our trespasses and sins it says in Ephesians 2.

We were worse than these lepers in that there leprosy brought them physical death.  Our sin brought us spiritual death- separation from God forever.  We did not deserve healing from Jesus, and yet He offered it to us.  For those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we have been healed!  We have been given incredible mercy.

But look what happens next.  This brings us our third perspective.

We glorify God by giving Him thanks. (Luke 17:15-19)

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,  16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:15-16

            How many are referred to here?  1 out of 10. “One” of “them”.  Who were the “them”?  The lepers.  One, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God.  What an incredible moment!  Could you imagine being healed like this?  How did he glorify God?  He glorified God with a loud voice, fell on his face at his feet, giving him thanks

We can glorify God through worship.  We can glorify God through praise. We can glorify God through obedience.  We can never glorify God and be unthankful at the same time.

            We learn also that this man was a Samaritan.  Jews and Samaritans hated each other.  Lepers were not lepers from birth.  Certainly, there may have been a point in this man’s life where he would have never imagined seeing himself face down at the feet of a Jew.  He was certainly an “unprofitable servant” who now had a duty.  He was certainly given incredible mercy.  So, what did he do?  He glorified God by giving thankful worship.

Look at Jesus’ reaction.

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?  18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.  19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Luke 17:17-19

            Jesus was clearly struck by the fact that though there were several who had been given mercy, and who had a duty to give thanks, only one did.  I believe that this narrative is here where it is among the other parable for a reason.  We ought to be grateful.

            Here is my question for us:  If you were to be on trial for being grateful to God, would there be enough evidence to convict you?  Are you grateful?

We should give God our thanks out of grateful hearts.  

We do have a solemn duty to our God.  He has given us incredible mercy.  We glorify God by giving Him thanks.  We cannot glorify him by being ungrateful.