Thankfulness and BIG Asking

The talk I gave at the athlete's Bible study a few weeks ago:

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. At my house we go around the table and say one thing we’re thankful for before we pray and eat. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings inside until I stuff myself so full I’m going to explode. I was on Pinterest the other day, just wasting time looking at some-ecards?I think they’re so funny. A lot of them are super inappropriate, but I have found one that I find is both humorous and appropriate.

The sad part is it’s SO true. I have never been shopping on black Friday and one of my life goals is to keep that streak alive. But, I think one of the biggest issues in our culture today is lack of gratitude. We think we deserve all these good things and we’re just not thankful for the ways we have been blessed. Tonight we’re going to talk about the ten lepers that are healed by Jesus. This story is definitely about thankfulness, but I want to dig a little deeper and look into the way we pray and what that tells us about the way we view God. Open your Bibles to Luke 17. We’ll be in verses 11-19.

Luke 17:11-19

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? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”  Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

I don’t know how much you guys know about leprosy, but one piece of advice: do not search it in Google images. Seriously, worst idea ever. It’s gruesome and so very, very sad. This story starts off with Jesus and his disciples on the way to Jerusalem. We see this interaction between Jesus and ten men with leprosy. Leprosy is a skin disease that causes skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that gets worse over time. Imagine these ten men calling out to Jesus and they have skin sores and large bumps all over their bodies. Not exactly the most comfortable position to be in. And you notice that they are outside the village because they come in contact with each other as he was walking into a village. It was common to send lepers outside of the city because they were considered unclean. It was not just that they thought this disease was contagious. It was more than that. The Jewish people put a big emphasis on being clean: not eating certain foods, not touching things that were dead, etc. They had a lot of rituals and customs so lepers were considered to be unworthy to be in the presence of people who were “clean.” It was a common belief that leprosy was a sign of God’s disfavor. So these guys have been cut off from the community and sent out of the village. If you look back in the Old Testament, 

Numbers 5:2-3 actually contained instructions from God on how to deal with people who had leprosy. 

“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” 

So before you’re like, “well that’s rude!” These were the instructions they were given by God because leprosy is actually somewhat contagious and in order for the presence of God to dwell there the camp had to be clean. The people in this village were doing what God told them to do. The lepers call out to Jesus saying, “Jesus, master, have pity on us!” I find it interesting that they ask for pity and not healing. Being outside of the city they were very reliant on other people for supplies, food, and shelter. They were used to asking for pity. But here is Jesus who has time and time again healed people of a myriad of things. He has a reputation for healing the sick and they ask "small." They ask him for surface level needs when their greatest need is to be healed and restored to the community. 

They kind of miss the greatness of Jesus there, but then Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest. You only showed yourself to the priest for one reason and that was when you were healed. The custom was when you were cured of leprosy you would show yourself to the priest. Priests, according to Jewish law, were the only ones who could declare a person healed of leprosy -- clean, and fit to re-enter society. Jesus doesn't actually come out and say that they are healed, but he certainly implies it. Therefore, they must go to receive a clean bill of health from the official who can grant it. I’m amazed at the leper’s faith! They did not actually receive the healing and then go. Jesus told them to go and they obeyed. It would be a waste of their time to go to the priest if they were not actually healed. So it’s pretty cool to see them in faith go, trusting that Jesus would heal them. And he did! It says, “as they went, they were cleansed.”

The lepers go show themselves to the priest and what we see next is their response to the healing. Notice that only one of the ten men come back to thank Jesus. It says, “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.” Can you believe that? Only one out of the ten men came back to praise Jesus. And then Luke throws in the point “and he was a Samaritan.” In those times Jews and Samaritans hated each other and did not spend time around each other. This was mixed company and some of the other lepers were Jewish. Even those who knew God and claimed to follow him did not come back and praise Jesus for healing them. I think how often I am exactly like those other 9 lepers! I ask God for things and when he answers I’m off to the next thing! I don’t bother praising him for what he has done for me. I don't want that to be true of me anymore.

I think Jesus’ response is funny. I just makes me laugh when he asks questions sometimes. It’s like he already knows the answer, yet he still asks. He says in verse 18, “Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’  Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” At the end he makes this statement about his faith making him well. As far as we can tell all the lepers were healed (and stayed healed )of their leprosy, but here Jesus give a little more to the thankful Samaritan. Jesus offers more to him than the others. The Samaritan’s faith has prompted him to return to the feet of Jesus and by Jesus’ response we see that healing he gives this man is more than skin deep. He cared about the Samaritan’s physical body, but obviously he also cared about his spiritual condition and making sure he was “well” in that area too.

This passage causes me to ask myself a couple questions. And I hope you take the time to answer them as well.

#1 – What am I asking God for? I am asking small? I think so often I put God in a box. I limit him to what I think he can or will do for me. Ephesians 3:20 says that he is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” So I have to ask myself, “I am like the lepers?” I am asking for pity when I could be asking for healing?  I want you to hear that I am NOT saying this: "God does not care about your tests or safe travels or injuries or tiredness." He does care about those things. He cares about that stuff because he loves us and I know he delights in all requests being brought before him. But why don’t I ask for the big stuff? For the things I really need? For things that are internally going on inside? Why don’t I ask him to help me fight temptation? Or take away my bitterness towards that one person I can't seem to forgive? Or to fix a broken relationship within my family? It’s great to ask for help in school as you’re taking tests, it’s great to ask God to heal broken bones and stress fractures. So please do not hear that I don’t think you should ask for those things because you should. But I don’t want to be like the lepers. I don’t want to ask for only the skin deep stuff. I want to ask for real healing.

#2 – Am I thankful? The lepers shouted out to Jesus in a loud voice asking for pity. The one leper that came back to thank God shouted his praise. I like to imagine his praise was louder than that of his request. Do I do that? Is my praise and thanksgiving as loud or frequent as my requests? How much time do I spend praising God? He has given me an innumerable amount of good gifts. Do I take time to worship him for those things? For salvation? For being rescued from my sin? For a roof over my head? For a family and friends who love me? The list could go on forever! Do I thank him for those? In this passage it’s pretty clear that Jesus expects our praise. He asked where the other 9 lepers where. They were expected to come back. God is beyond worthy of praise. He deserves our worship and it’s expected of us. Will Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” That would be pretty lame right? 

#3 – And finally the question we have been asking all semester: who do you say that I am? What am I believing about Jesus? Do I believe he has only good things for me? When I don’t believe that he is good I tend to stop praising him and I tend to stop asking him for things. If I don’t believe he answers why would I pray? Do we believe that he hears and cares about our needs? Skin deep and beyond? Do I believe he’s able to immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine? The lepers had not been healed yet when they went to the priest. They went in faith, trusting Jesus that he would heal them. Do I believe God has the power to do those things? And am I willing to be obedient when he tells me to do something? Even if I don’t see results quite yet?

So here's the recap, number one: am I asking for more than the skin deep? Number two: am I thankful? And number three: what am I believing about God?

One thing my discipler, Kate, told me this year is praise and worship of Jesus leads to bold asking. When we rattle off the list of things we’re thankful for and remember the things he’s done for us we realize how good he is to us. It renews our faith and helps us ask for big things. The book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament constantly says, “Remember, remember, remember” over and over again. It’s a reminder to the Israelites to remember how God had saved them from the Egyptians and slavery. We should remember and thank God for all he’s done because he’s worthy of it, but also it helps us become faithful askers. So tonight  I’d love for you to honestly answer those three questions: Am I asking for more than the skin deep? Am I thankful? What am I believing about God? After that spend some time praising God. Thank him for the ways he’s blessed you. And after that I want you to ask for that big thing you have grown weary of asking. Sometimes I get tired of praying the same thing over and over because I doubt that God will really answer. When I remember all he’s done I know that he is beyond capable of answering. God has been so good to me and has answered so many prayers of mine, even ones I've forgotten I have prayed. He is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine. So I want to keep asking and I want to encourage you guys to keep asking. To be thankful and to ask big.