One Out of Ten – Giving Thanks to God – EP19
Luke 17:11
“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him— and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?’”
Giving thanks to God
Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast! Today, just a few thoughts on a message from this past Sunday that was titled “Bring it Home.”
Bring it home by giving thanks to God.Bring it home. In other words, we bring back home those things that God has done in our lives, the wonderful Word that He’s given, we bring it back to home The Lord in our response to Him. So, part of the message, a short story was quickly mentioned coming from Luke, chapter 17 verse 11.
We really look at this story and we see that ten men had leprosy. Leprosy was one of the worst diseases you could have in that day, and it was so bad and so contagious that the men or women that had this disease couldn’t be with their families. They couldn’t enjoy the things that most people enjoyed in life, they were kept at a distance, separate— separate from the people of Israel, in this case.
"They forgot the One who had blessed them."So these ten men, they begin to cry out to Jesus, “Son of God, have mercy on us!” They plead with Him. And Jesus’ response is He gives them a Word. He gives them a command. He says, “Go to the priests. Go to the priests.” And then ten men were cleansed, healed of leprosy, now able to live life, now able to enjoy coming into the synagogue, enjoy being amongst the people of Israel, enjoy their families.But sadly, how many of them— only one— stopped for a moment to see that they were healed? And they had a different response then the other nine. See, the other nine were no longer to be found.
They pleaded with Christ, He gave them a Word, and they prospered from it, they were blessed by it... but so quickly, they forgot. They forgot the One who had given them now the life that they were able to live. They forgot the One who had blessed them.
"I’m going to run back to the One. I’ve got to give Him praise!"But only one, there was one, who stopped and said, “You know what, before I enjoy what I have and what I’ve been given, before I go and enjoy my family and enjoy the people of Israel, my community, I’m going to run back to the One. I’ve got to give Him praise! I’ve got to thank Him because everything I have has been given from Him.”
And we see that he fell to The Lord Jesus’ feet. He began to thank Him, and it says with a loud voice was praising The Lord. You see, he was different than the others. He was going to bring it back home to his true home, which was the presence and the courts of The Lord.
"Will we be the ones to stop and begin to thank The Lord for all that He’s done?"For us today, do we look at the Word that God has given, that Word that has blessed us, that Word that has carried us through? Every single one of us has been given life today by The Lord Jesus Christ. Have we come back? Will we be the ones to stop and begin to thank The Lord for all that He’s done? Will we not walk away? Will we not so easily forget, but bring back home the very blessing that God has given as an offering back to Him?
Whether it be that love that He’s brought into our life. Whether it be the children that He’s given us. Whether it be the blessing of just being able to have food in our bellies, the blessing to be able to walk into the sanctuary, into the church, and to experience His presence. What has God given, and have we given back praise? Have we brought it back home today?
"Let us remember all that He’s done and give Him glory."May we have our eyes open today. May God open our eyes to remember, to see all that He’s done, so that we would bring it back to Him, so that His name would be honored and glorified. That we would be at His feet simply thanking Him and giving back for all that He’s given us. Will you bring it back home today? Praise God for His Word! Praise God for the Word that He’s given. Let us remember the Word. Let us remember all that He’s done and give Him glory. Amen.