"Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up [their] voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' 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. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on [his] face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? But where [are] the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?' And He said to him, 'Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.'" (Luke 17:11-19)
Marco Tulije Ciceron, a well-known Roman philosopher, politician, and lawyer once said, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others". Although he lived before the birth of Christ and according to our knowledge was not a believer, he knew one of the most valuable of Christian virtues - gratitude.
We are surrounded by negative news, cynicism, and criticism in all areas of today's modern society. We rarely hear praise, thanks, and positive information in the media. Families and marriages fall apart because of the selfishness and ungratefulness of marriage partners; many children follow the path of rebellion and are unappreciative of their parents. In all structures of authority we run into one negative trend of ungratefulness which I believe in addition to the others is the consequence of ungratefulness to God in general.
What about today's church? Unfortunately, the same trend, or we might say spirit, is witnessed among most believers. Believers are cold, ungrateful to God for their momentary circumstances, and are often negative and critical of their pastors and loved ones. This will often lead us to a very slippery slope, which leads to a dangerous spiritual fall.
Because of this I feel that I must speak about gratefulness from a biblical perspective; about ungratefulness and it's negative consequences, as well as about a thankful spirit that can help us to live victoriously and endure the difficult times the world is facing today so that we can encourage those around us.
1. GRATEFULNESS IS GOD'S WILL FOR EVERY BELIEVER
Hannah More, an English writer and philanthropist, once said something interesting:
"When thou has thanked the Lord
For every blessing sent,
But little time will then remain
For murmur and lament."
Yet, if we return to our story from the Gospel of Luke, we encounter an interesting event. While on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus crossed the border of Samaria and Galilee and came to a leper community. Leprosy in that time required isolation and the lepers were not allowed to approach anyone else, and because of this isolation they began to humbly and loudly cry out for Jesus to heal them.
Jesus respected the procedure given in the Old Testament and told them to show themselves to the priests, that they priests could examine them and proclaim them clean.
A miracle happened - all of the lepers called out in faith and were healed. When we look at what is mentioned in the text, we will see that they cried out that Jesus was Lord and from a humble spirit they sought His help. These were godly men. They were not arrogant. And their faith was so strong that they reacted to His word before they saw a miracle; and without delay, Jesus healed all ten of the lepers.
Although all of the lepers cried out with a loud voice that Jesus is Lord and while all humbly prayed and sought for help and in faith reacted, only one of them came back to thank Him. "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on [his] face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan." (Luke 17:15-16)Although the Word doesn't clearly state this, I believe that there were Jews among them, and yet only the Samaritan returned and gave thanks.Falling at Jesus feet he began to give thanks, "'Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:18) The Greek word for thanks found in this text is doxa, which means praise.The word is connected to the verb dokeo, which means to recognize a person, to recognize their identity and give them the thanks they deserve.Therefore, only one of ten people recognized Jesus' worth and declared the thanks that He deserved.
Through this example we see that it is possible to receive God's gifts and blessings with an ungrateful spirit - nine of them did not have a grateful spirit. There was a very small positive rate in this story, even for the Lord Jesus, and I believe it is the same for many godly pastors who often lament and despair the state of the modern church in which we find many ungrateful believers. There are diverse reasons for this. Some have experienced difficult circumstances and rather than remaining grateful they began to complain, grow negative, pull away from their personal relationship with Jesus, and they grew cold. Others perhaps wanted God's blessings and hoped to succeed in their ambitions and life goals, yet when they did not, they ceased being grateful and also grew cold.
However the scenario plays out, the Bible clearly shows us that gratefulness to the Lord ought to be our lifestyle, which is God's will for us. The Apostle Paul confirmed this when he told the believers Thessalonica , "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)The Greek word used here for will is thelema. The word points to one's will.The suffix ma actually points to the result of the will; and will in this context is not a command but rather an expression of pleasure for something we love. According to this, it is what pleases and brings joy to God; and it shows us that from our end there ought to come an incentive to please God, because it has always been God's will for all creation to be thankful to their Creator.Therefore, when speaking about gratefulness as God's will, it means that gratefulness is something we ought to have a predisposition for because it is what is pleasing to God.
The Apostle Paul also in other places used this word, and similar words, to show and encourage believers to have a grateful spirit. He himself cultivated and possessed a grateful spirit. For example, when he saw brothers in Christ on his way to Rome, he thanked God and was encouraged by this. "And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage." (Acts 28:15) The Greek word used here was eucharisteo and comes from two words: eu meaning good and charis meaning grace.We can literally translate this to mean that he thanked God.
He was also grateful to God for the ministry he had received. He didn't complain in the hard times. We know that, for example, he wrote to young Timothy from prison and encouraged him saying, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting [me] into the ministry" (1 Timothy 1:12)While he was in a Roman prison he also wrote to the Colossians and told them to be thankful."Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." (Colossians 1:12)
In addition to the New Testament, the Old Testament encourages us in many places about the importance of gratefulness. The Psalms are filled with verses about gratefulness and through them we can also see that gratefulness is God's will for us."Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, [And] into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, [and] bless His name. (Psalm 100:4) (Hebrew: todah - an extended hand, confession, covenant, thanks, gratefulness, a sacrifice of praise)
Psalm 107:21-22 says, "Oh, that [men] would give thanks to the LORD [for] His goodness, And [for] His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing."
Therefore, a life of thanksgiving is God's will for every believer.
2. UNGRATEFULNESS WILL LEAD US TO SPIRITUAL FAILURE
"Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Romans 1:21)
Ungratefulness has always led people to spiritual and moral failure, because it is impossible to be ungrateful to our Creator and move forward spiritually. Ungratefulness has often been the weight and sin of the God's people. Paul said that people, while they knew God, were not grateful to Him as God. First of all, they rejected him and then they embraced their own ideas about God, about who is His and how He ought to be. Furthermore, they grew empty and fell into sin; into immorality, greed, hate, jealousy, fighting, grumbling, and gossip.
This model of spiritual failure did not just occur among the Romans, but often to all who fail to be grateful to God.
Unfortunately, this is not the end, because those who are not grateful do not only fall morally and spiritually, but also after that often follows hate toward God and encouragement of others to feel the same. It is interesting to see that often God will not stop us from falling into these evil things. Actually, when we grow ungrateful and reject God, He will allow us to live according to our own choices and experience the consequences of our spiritual failure, or sin. When we find ourselves there, we often remain helpless until we cry out to Him for help and are once again grateful. This is why in the context of the letter to the Romans even sinners need to trust God, who is the only one who can free them from sin.
We recall that God's chosen people were often found in difficult circumstances and faced challenging consequences, only because they did not maintain a grateful spirit toward God. The Israelites were often rebelled and grumbled; they were disobedient and returned to their old ways.
Take Moses, for example. He knew that after his death the nation would grow corrupt and turn from the way, so he called the elders and overseers and sang a song of warning by saying,"Do you thus deal with (thank) the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? [Is] He not your Father, [who] bought you? Has He not made you and established you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6)
The problem was that the people betrayed God and were not grateful to Him, they did not give Him the praise they ought to have, but began living according to their own ways. Although we read, for example, that He "carried you, as a man carries his son." (Deuteronomy 1:31b) they often did not believe Him and were not grateful. Rather than having a grateful spirit there was always unrest and complaining. The negative consequences were obvious at nearly every turn, starting with the rebellion against Moses to the grumbling about the difficult circumstances, type of food, and accommodations. And every time, without fail, ungratefulness led them to spiritual and moral failure.
Some of those consequences are found in Moses' song. "Of the Rock [who] begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. And when the LORD saw [it], He spurned [them], Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end [will be]...I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them." (Deuteronomy 32:18-20a, 23)
3. ONLY A GRATEFUL BELIEVER IS ENCOURAGING TO HIMSELF AND OTHERS
"But thanks [be] to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57) The Greek word is charis meaning to be joyful, to be given goodness, thanks, favor without expecting anything in return.
God is always our victory through Christ. Thank God for that!Yet, only grateful believers are those who will endure to the end; who encourage themselves and others. God has given us the victory through Jesus Christ and we must maintain that victory through a grateful spirit. What does this mean to us, practically speaking?
When we maintain a grateful spirit, such as the Apostle Paul, then our focus will be clear despite momentary difficult circumstances. We remember how Paul encouraged himself when he was thankful for his brothers on the way to Rome, in the book of Acts. "And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage." (Acts 28:15)
When we have a grateful spirit our focus will not be on the created but on the Creator, to whom we will give thanks and praise for all that He has done in our lives, for all He is and for where He is leading us. It is God's will for us that we give Him thanks in every situation and continue going forward encouraging ourselves and those around us.
And finally we return to the book of 1 Thessalonians, looking at the context of the verses that state, "in everything give thanks", so we can see that God's will is connected with other encouraging actions, which bring that victorious, positive, and grateful spirit, which becomes clear through the following:
- "Therefore comfort each other and edify one another." (5:11) When we build up one another we will often point out the qualities of others and be grateful for their qualities.
- "Recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." (5:12-13a) A grateful spirit goes hand in hand with respect and cooperation. The next time we want to be critical toward those who are in positions of authority, try to thank them instead.
- "Be at peace among yourselves" (5:13b) When we have a grateful spirit we will always find ways to get along with one another.
- "Warn those who are unruly" (5:14) A grateful spirit will always encourage people to get involved in a project or ministry.
- "Comfort the fainthearted" (5:14) A grateful spirit will always encourage those who have pulled away, reminding them of God's promises.
- "Uphold the weak" (5:14) A grateful spirit will always support those who are weak with love and prayer.
- "Be patient with all" (5:14) A grateful spirit will always consider challenging circumstances and plan ahead to remain calm.
- "See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone." (5:15) A grateful spirit will not seek revenge but will seek for ways to do good to those who have hurt them.
- "Rejoice always" (5:16) A grateful spirit will always be joyful regardless of present circumstances because he knows that God is in control.
- "Pray without ceasing" (5:17) A grateful spirit knows that God is always with him and so he speaks with Him.
- ""Do not quench the Spirit" (5:19) A grateful spirit cooperates with the Holy Spirit every time God's people come together.
- ""Do not despise prophesies" (5:20) A grateful spirit receives God's word from those who share It.
- ""Abstain from every form of evil" (5:22) A grateful spirit avoids situations in which he will be tempted.
And in closing - "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
