"Generosity, Which Produces Thankfulness"

FORGOTTEN VIRTUES SERIES

From series by www.Lifechurch.tv

Luke 17:11-19; Sunday, April 10, 2011

Introduction: This last virtue that we are talking about is one that is almost totally forgotten by our society. Let me give you an example: There was a Boston consultant who was working with these college graduates, and asked them to name the word that describes this emerging generation that is coming into the work force, and he gave them a clue; it starts with the letter “e.” ‘What is the one word that people say describes you?’ he asked. They came up with words like “energetic,” “excellent,” “exceptional.” After they listed all these different words that started with the letter “e,” the consultant then told them that the number one word that was used to describe this generation, as they moved into the workforce, was ENTITLED. The generation that is now moving into the workforce believes that they are entitled, and that everyone owes them more.

Now understand that those of us who are older can’t point the finger, because we have to remember that we have helped to create this feeling of entitlement. How have we done this? Well, it has come in a number of ways, but one main way is that so many people are working far too much, and they love their kids, so because they wanted to show them love, but couldn’t do it by spending time with them, they did it by never saying “no” and by buying them whatever they wanted!

The younger generation has got what is called the “gimmies.” The gimmies is where you are saying “give me, give me, give me.” And because they almost always got what they wanted, they began to feel entitled to whatever they wanted. They didn’t have to work for it, it was just given to them!

The virtue we are talking about is the exact opposite of “entitlement.” It is the forgotten virtue of gratitude. Say it with me: “Gratitude.”

I. Will you be the one?- (Luke 17:11-19)

a. The healing- Let’s start by looking at a story in the Bible, in Luke

17, of some people who looked entitled, and did not stop to show gratitude. We will start in verse 11… “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Let’s stop for a moment and get some context. Leprosy was a painful disease that included oozing sores, and the disease would also affect their nerves. Now this was the physical pain, but there was also emotional pain. In Leviticus we are told that if you got close to a leper, you had to shout out, “unclean, unclean.” Could you imagine the emotional pain of being called out as unclean? Could you imagine the emotional pain of not being able to be touched or have any kind of physical intimacy? This is what a leper experienced. And here we see that these ten lepers encounter Jesus.

As they see Jesus, they see a man they had heard can heal people. I would imagine that they thought that Jesus was the answer to all their pain. We continue in verse 14: “When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.” Just as they had hoped, their greatest dream was answered; they had been healed! Going on, verses 15-16: “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.” How many came back? Not ten, but only ONE. And this one was so grateful that he threw himself at Jesus’ feet, THEN he thanked Jesus. And the Bible expounds on this by saying that the man was a Samaritan. If you remember, Samaritans and Jews were enemies of each other; they were not to talk to each other. But this Samaritan didn’t care if Jesus was Jewish, because he could only see the great gift Jesus had given him, and HE WAS THANKFUL!!

b. The response- Moving on to verses 17-19: “Jesus asked, ‘Were not

all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ ¹⁹ Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” Jesus is asking this man about the other nine. They had almost begged Jesus for a miracle, and Jesus granted them this miracle, and yet only one of the 10 came back to thank Jesus!

Here is where we see the “entitled mindset” from the lepers. They probably thought that they hadn’t deserved the disease in the first place, and so they really deserved to be healed. And because they could only focus on the fact that they were healed, and not on how they were healed, or by whom they were healed, their entitlement attitude kept them from telling Jesus “Thank you.”

My question to you is: WILL YOU BE THE ONE?

Truthfully, the odds are stacked against you, in that our society is much like the lepers; when God gives us good things, there are few who stop and give thanks. Will you be the one who daily pauses to give glory and honor to the One who gave you life? Will you be the one who stops, in all the busyness, and gives heartfelt thanks to the One who has redeemed you?

But this question needs to extend beyond God. Will you be the one who is aware of how the people around you bless you and say “thank you” to them? Will you be the one to express your gratitude by giving an encouragement note to those who have helped you? Will you be the one who shows your gratitude to the teacher who has blessed your child, or your grandchild? We’re coming up to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in the next couple of months. Will you be the one who really shows true gratitude to your parents? Easter is just 2 weeks away: will you be the one who shows God that you are truly thankful by the way you live your life; as a true follower of Christ? Will you be the one?

OR, will you be like so many today who think they have it coming to them; who think they don’t have the time to show their thanks. Most people think of themselves as grateful people. But if we were to really examine our lives, do we act like the 9 and walk away without stopping to really be grateful for all that has been given to us, or will we be like the one?

II. Ungrateful Mindset- (Luke 15:11-12, 29)

a. I want it now- A prime example of this is when we go to a fast food

restaurant. How much time do you expect it to take between when you order your food, and when you receive it? If it takes more than 3 or 4 minutes, do you start to get a little anxious; perturbed? This is because we now feel entitled to have it fast, since it is a “fast food” restaurant! But when we feel this way, we are forgetting that somebody else is making our hamburger, and cooking our fries. They are wrapping it up, putting it on a tray, and bringing it to us.

Not too long ago I preached a series on The Prodigal Son, and in this passage we can see an ungrateful mindset. This son has the attitude of “I want it now.” Let’s read in Luke 15:11-12, “Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” See how the younger son is wanting it now? Usually you receive your inheritance after someone dies. But not this son. He wants it NOW. He is basically saying to his father: “I want to go live my life away from you, and I want your money to pay for my lifestyle.” And if you remember the story, the father gives him his inheritance, and this younger son goes off and squanders it all away with sinful living. The money that probably took the father decades to earn, the son squanders in a matter of weeks.

We see here several aspects of ungratitude: first, he demanded the money. By doing this he was basically saying to the father that he didn’t care if he lived or died, he just cared about his inheritance. Second, he didn’t use the money wisely, but carelessly and frivolously spent it.

How do we see this in society? We see young adults in their 20’s feeling like they want the same things as their parents, but they want it now. What took their parents years and years to accomplish, they want now. They want the same kind of home, car, job, and vacations. Now, I know there are many young adults in their 20’s who are not like this, but as a whole, this generation has a “I want it now attitude,” and they also don’t want to work that hard for it.

b. The idea of saving- Let’s think back to our grandparents day,

when they were growing up. They had this philosophy that if you wanted something, then you would save up for it until you could afford it, and then once you could afford it, then you bought it! Now this idea of saving sounds crazy to many in today’s generation, because the world has made it so that you can get it now.

How easy is it to get a credit card, charge something, and take it right home? How could this not develop a “I want it now” philosophy? You didn’t have to earn the money before you bought the TV, you just go out and charge it. OR, there are many advertisements that say, buy it now, and you don’t have to pay for it for six months. Again, no money is coming out of your pocket now. You walk in, you say you want it, and YOU GET IT!

Illus. I remember when I got my first full time job when I was about 27. I didn’t have a credit card, and I didn’t want a credit card, because I believed that it would be too big a temptation to just go out and charge things. But at some point I had to get one (so that I could rent movies). So I made a deal with myself, that I wouldn’t charge anything that I couldn’t pay for when the bill came. I was only going to use the credit card as a means to not have to carry a large amount of cash around. And I stuck to this! I remember the first time I really used my credit card was to buy Christmas presents. I had the money in the bank, and so I charged the presents on the card, and then only had to write one check when the bill came.

We need to understand that we have to WAIT. Wait, means that you don’t get it now. You don’t get it until you can afford it. If you are living in debt, unable to pay your bills, spending more than you have, buying more than you need, then you are probably living with the “I want it now” attitude.

c. I deserve more- There is also an attitude seen in the older brother

in the story of The Prodigal Son. It is the attitude of “I deserve more.” The younger brother realizes that he has made a great mistake, and has had a terrible attitude. He humbles himself and returns. The father, who represents God in this story, is there waiting lovingly for his son. He is so happy to see him that he throws a big party, and the older son is incensed by this.

WHY? Because the older son felt like he deserved MORE than the younger brother. Listen to what he says in Luke 15:29, “But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” First of all, the older brother feels entitled because he has stayed with the father and continues to work for him. In fact, the brother expresses it this way: “All these years I have been slaving for you…” Interesting. He feels that someone owes him. He hasn’t worked for the father out of love or duty, but he has been SLAVING for the father. Second, he is upset that the father hasn’t thrown a party for his faithfulness. He feels that since he has been faithful, that deserves a celebration. He should be celebrated for living how he should be living.

All the time we live with the “I deserve more” mentality. I deserve a better job. I deserve more respect. I deserve more money. My kids, at ages 11 and 14 want cell phones. They think they deserve it, because all of their friends have them. We tell them that they will get a cell phone when they NEED a cell phone. I ask them all the time: “Who is going to pay for the cell phone?” Me, of course, not them. I deserve it without having to pay for it; without having to earn it.

EX. Not too long ago Tyler wanted a router in the house so that he could connect to the internet with his Iphone, which he paid for, by the way. I told him that I wasn’t going to pay for it. In the end, we found a good router, and we bought it. I knew I was going to use it a little, but it was primarily for him. So we made a deal that he would wash our cars, at $5 per car wash, and earn off the money it cost. We wanted him to earn what he received!

III. Exposing our ungratefulness- (Philippians 4:11; Proverbs 15:15-16)

Let’s finish by taking some time to expose any ungratefulness that we might

have. Let’s ask God in these last few minutes to help us see how we might be like the 9 lepers who went away without saying “thank you” to Jesus.

a. Expose our material and financial ungratefulness- First, let’s ask God to

expose any material and financial ungratefulness we might have. Maybe you think that you are dissatisfied because you don’t have a plasma TV. OR, maybe you are like me, and you walk into your closet, and look at your clothes, and say, “I’ve got nothing to…….WEAR.” Isn’t this a funny statement? Your closet is full, but you have nothing to wear. Who picked them out? But what we are really saying is that we don’t like what we have, we’ve grown tired of it, we want something better. I’ve been to places where people really have nothing to wear! Shame on us for being ungrateful in this way.

We can see this in our wishing for a better place to live, a better job, a better car, being able to provide better gifts for our kids. The point is, we are not satisfied with what we have, and so we are ungrateful.

b. Relational and circumstancial ungratefulness- The second area is our

relational and circumstancial ungratefulness. We can be ungrateful in our relationships in several areas. Maybe you wish your friends were more attentive. Maybe you wish your spouse was more giving. Maybe you wish your friends were richer, and would buy you nice gifts. Maybe you wish you had more friends. Maybe you wish your kids would be more respectful to you. I wish my wife would cook better. It is the “I wish he was…I wish she was” syndrome.

Or maybe you wish that you had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Or you wish that you were married. The point is, we can be ungrateful in our relationships. And if we are, we need to be honest about it.

OR, we can be ungrateful is in our circumstances. I don’t like the

circumstances I find myself in. I don’t like my job. I don’t like my hair, or my lack of hair. I don’t seem to get the breaks. The point here is that you don’t like your circumstances. We need to be honest with where we might be ungrateful, so that we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

c. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude – You cannot be grateful as long as you

harbor these feelings of ungratitude. How do we go from being entitled, to being grateful? BY DECIDING THAT EVERY BLESSING THAT

COMES TO ME, I WILL TURN INTO PRAISE.

Why do we need to do this? Because every blessing that we don’t turn into praise TURNS INTO PRIDE. If we don’t praise God for it, then we begin to feel entitled to it. When we praise God, we understand that all that we have has been given to us by God. It is not something we deserved, but rather something THAT WAS GIVEN TO US. And for this we are grateful. It is having the same attitude as the apostle Paul , who said in Philippians 4:11, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

It is something that we learn. By nature we are selfish. By nature we are not

content. We have to learn how to be content. Whether we have plenty, or don’t feel that we have enough, we learn to be content with what you have. Because if we can’t be content with what we have and where we are at, then it DOESN’T MATTER WHAT COMES INTO OUR LIVE,S WE WILL NEVER BE CONTENT!!

Conclusion: Proverbs 15:15-16 tells us, “All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. ¹⁶ Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.” When you have a cheerful heart, even the smallest things can be wonderful. I can honestly tell you that time spent with my family doing nothing, is better than being on the greatest vacation alone. It is all about perspective.

I want to leave you with one bit of important advice: LEARN TO BE A GIVER. When you learn how to give, you are no longer concerned with what you have or don’t have; you are grateful for the smallest of things, and you are thankful for all that you have, and you will move from entitlement, to thankfulness! Amen.