OPENING SCRIPTURE: Luke 17:11-19 NKJ

¹¹ Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. ¹² Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. ¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that AS THEY WENT, they were cleansed.

¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, 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.

¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “ARISE, GO YOUR WAY. YOUR FAITH HAS MADE YOU WELL.”

• Jesus did not pray for them. He saw them, acknowledge them but did not even pray for them. He simply gave them an instruction: “Go show yourself to the priest”
• Now according to Levitical law, if you were healed from leprosy you had to show yourself to the priest. Showing evidence of your healing. The priest would examine you and declare you clean. At that point, you can go back to your normal life.
• Now for those 10 lepers, that took some level of faith to simply take Jesus at His word and left without any physical sign of their healing. The word says “as they went, they were cleansed” They had faith to believe and the courage to obey!
• But one of them, came back. Now we don’t even know is name. All we know is that he was a Samaritan, a foreigner.
• The question here today is: Why did he come back?
• He discovered something called GRATITUDE
• Gratitude goes beyond just being thankful. Gratitude is a Christ-Centered position, as a child of God, where you have made a decision to give God thanks in and through every circumstance, good or bad.

Gratitude will always bring you back home. Gratitude will always draw you back to God

• That leper was thankful for his healing just like the others, but gratitude drew him back to Jesus

Gratitude brings you home to that position where Christ is the center of everything. This morning, we will look at 3 aspects of gratitude from this story

1. GRATITUDE PRODUCES HOPE BEYOND HOPE

Now concerning leprosy, I am sure that the physical pain of such disease is far beyond what words could describe. But even more so, can you imagine the emotional and psychological pain?

• A leper would be removed from his family, from his community. There could be no contact, whatsoever, with his wife, children or grandchildren.
• I believe that day Jesus gave all 10 of them hope. Hope of restoration. Hope of going back hope to their families.
• But something was different about the leper who came back. I believe the one who came back was not satisfied with just being healed.
• Yes, he was grateful for his healing but he was looking for more. He was looking for Hope beyond hope.
• Hope beyond Hope is hoping when there is no reason to hope

 EVEN WHEN THERE WAS NO REASON FOR HOPE, ABRAHAM KEPT HOPING -believing that he would become the father of many nations. (Romans 4:18 NLT)

• As long as Christ is the center of your gratitude you can have hope beyond hope.
• Hope that is not dependent upon your circumstances.

¹⁷ NEVER STOP PRAYING. ¹⁸ BE THANKFUL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)

• That why the leper went back!

 

2. GRATITUDE PRODUCES WORSHIP

¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, 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.

• I believe, he ran back to Jesus not because of what happened on the outside, the physical healing of his body.
• I believe he ran back to Jesus because something happened on the inside of him. Something that was way to powerful to keep it all bottled inside.
• He ran back to Jesus to physically, verbally express gratitude!

Isn’t that what worship is about? Something happening on the inside that must be expressed outwardly, physically, verbally, loudly.

Now let’s take this a step further: The guy was healed of leprosy and he was excited but was it scriptural in the manner he was praising God? with a loud voice, throwing himself to ground and thanking God? The answer is yes!

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about “Praise”

• Todah – A thanksgiving choir
• Barak – To kneel in thanksgiving
• Tehillah – To sing a song of Thanksgiving.
• Yadah – To give thanks with extended hands
• Halal – To give thanks by being clamorously foolish.

Now 4 of these words are found together in one single verse in the Bible. Any guess?

Enter into His gates with THANKSGIVING (Todah- A thanksgiving choir), And into His courts with PRAISE (Tehillah- To sing a song of Thanksgiving). Be THANKFUL (Yadah- Give thanks with extended hands) to Him, and BLESS (Barak- to kneel in thanksgiving) His name (Psalm 100:4)

Why did the leper go back? Something was happening on the inside.

 

3. GRATITUDE PRODUCES NEW LIFE

• Why did the leper Go back? He was not satisfied with his old life.

“ARISE, GO YOUR WAY. YOUR FAITH HAS MADE YOU WELL.”

• The important word is “Well” translated from the Greek word “sodzo”.
• The same word that is used in Romans 10:13- “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
• Here’s what Jesus was saying: “Go home. You are saved!”
• That day, the leper stepped into his eternal life. A New Man filled with New Life!

Jesus says: ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have IT MORE ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10 NKJ)

CONCLUSION

• Gratitude has the ability to change chaos into order
• Gratitude has the ability to change a meal into a feast
• Gratitude has the ability to change a house into a home
• Gratitude has the ability to change a stranger into a friend