Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
November 28, 2001
Thanked or Thankful
Introduction
We are still in the time when Jesus had been invited to dinner at a
Pharisee’s house (Luke 14:1). Jesus has had a lot to say to the Pharisees, to
sinners, but lastly to His own disciples.
Last week we saw Jesus warn His disciples about not being people who cause
others to stumble into sin (Luke 17:1-2).
Then Jesus told His disciples that they needed to learn to forgive others.
He said,
(Luke 17:3-4 NLT) I am
warning you! If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive
him. {4} Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and
asks forgiveness, forgive him."
When the disciples heard this, their response was, “Then increase our
faith!” They seemed to be having a hard time with learning to forgive others
like this.
Jesus responded to the disciples’ request for more faith by saying,
(Luke 17:6 NLT) "Even
if you had faith as small as a mustard seed," the Lord answered, "you
could say to this mulberry tree, 'May God uproot you and throw you into the
sea,' and it would obey you!
I think the idea is that Jesus was saying is that all it takes to do great
things is a little bit of living, active faith. It doesn’t take much.
With the idea that perhaps the disciples could be doing some pretty
fantastic things if they would only exercise a little faith, Jesus begins to
speak to the person who has been walking in obedience. Perhaps even having done
some neat things in following the Lord…
:7-10 A Servant Attitude
:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say
unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
But – the language hints that there is a connection between what
Jesus has just said (uprooting trees with faith) and what follows (being a
servant).
a servant – doulos – a
slave, bondman, man of servile condition
plowing – arotrioo – to
plough
feeding cattle – poimaino –
to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep
by and by – eutheos –
straightway, immediately, forthwith
sit down to meat – anapipto –
to lie back, lie down; to recline at a table, to sit back
Jesus is simply giving an example that would be something that all the
people would be able to relate to.
A servant didn’t “clock out” for the night. A servant was your servant all
the time.
Now there will be an odd time in history when a Master will come and serve
His servants –
(Luke 12:37 KJV) Blessed are
those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say
unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and
will come forth and serve them.
But this is the exception to the rule. God is not like the typical
“master”.
:8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and
gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou
shalt eat and drink?
Make ready – hetoimazo –
to make ready, prepare; to make the necessary preparations, get everything
ready
I may sup – deipneo – to
sup
gird thyself – perizonnumi –
to fasten garments with a girdle or belt
serve – diakoneo – to be a
servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon
The master of a house is always the master of the house. The master of the
house always comes first. Even after having worked hard out in the fields all
day, the servant doesn’t take care of his own needs until he takes care of his
master’s needs.
Do you have a hard time with this?
I think that most of us do.
I think that most of us have this point we reach where we no longer want to
work anymore, but instead it’s time to take a break.
A servant is not allowed to think this way.
:9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded
him? I trow not.
thank – charis – grace;
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight; good will, loving-kindness, favour;
thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward
that were commanded – diatasso
– to arrange, appoint, ordain, prescribe, give order
I trow – dokeo – to be of
opinion, think, suppose
:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was
our duty to do.
which are commanded – diatasso
– to arrange, appoint, ordain, prescribe, give order
servants – doulos – a
slave, bondman, man of servile condition
unprofitable – achreios
(“not” + “necessary”) – useless, good for nothing
our duty – opheilo
– to owe; that which is due, the debt
Lesson
It’s nice to say “thanks”
I think that sometimes we can take this saying of Jesus to mean that we
don’t have to think about saying “thanks” to others, especially when they’re
serving the Lord.
Jesus isn’t teaching us how to act as “masters”, He’s teaching us how to
act as “servants”.
Paul was constantly giving thanks for the various people that he wrote to –
(Rom 16:3-4 KJV) Greet
Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: {4} Who have for my life laid
down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the
churches of the Gentiles.
(Rom 1:8
KJV) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is
spoken of throughout the whole world.
(1 Cor 1:4
KJV) I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given
you by Jesus Christ;
(2 Cor 9:11
KJV) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through
us thanksgiving to God.
(Eph 1:16
KJV) Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
(Phil 1:3
KJV) I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
(Col 1:3
KJV) We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you,
(1 Th 1:2
KJV) We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our
prayers;
(2 Th 1:3
KJV) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because
that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all
toward each other aboundeth;
(2 Th 2:13
KJV) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
(Phile 1:4
KJV) I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
If you still wonder whether or not it’s good to say “thanks”, hold on until
the next section (Luke 17:11-19).
Lesson
Don’t look for recognition
In the context, Jesus had been talking about uprooting trees with faith.
That’s a pretty cool thing to be able to pull off! Yet in reality, a person
would only be able to do it if Jesus had commanded them to do it in the first
place. Then it would only be their “faith” that caused things to happen. It
wasn’t their power, it was God’s power, working through their faith.
Also in context, Jesus has actually been talking about the subject of
forgiveness.
The real heart of things isn’t about uprooting trees, it’s about learning
to forgive people.
Do we expect a “pat on the back” when we forgive others? We should simply
be doing it because Jesus has asked us to.
Two questions –
Who are you serving?
Who is the “master” that calls the shots in your life?
Ultimately, we ought to be serving Jesus.
But sometimes we find ourselves serving “the pastor” or
the “head of this particular ministry” instead of Jesus. And when the person we
find ourselves serving doesn’t remember to show us enough appreciation, we get
bummed.
I think our serving the Lord ought to start with hearing
Him tell us what He wants for us to do.
Illustration
Are You Listening?
Back when the telegraph was the fastest
method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse
code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address
that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with
noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A
sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form
and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man
filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting
area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door
of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked
up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they
hadn’t heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the
office made a mistake and would be disqualified. Within a few minutes, however,
the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other
applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just
been filled.” The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke
up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and
we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not
fair!” The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting
here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code:
‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of
you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.”
We live in a world that is
full of busyness and clatter, like that office. People are distracted and
unable to hear the still, small voice of God as He speaks in creation, in the
Scriptures, or in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Are you tuned in to God’s
voice? Do you hear Him when He speaks to you? Are you listening?
Why are you serving?
It’s not hard to slip away from serving the Lord for the
right reasons and begin to like the taste of recognition from people a little
too much.
I think that when I find myself asking others, “Well, what
do you think about what I just did???” that perhaps I’ve slipped off center a
little bit.
:11-19 Ten Lepers
:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through
the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
We finally move into another time period. The supper at the Pharisee’s
house is over. Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem in the south and will pass
through the northern region of Galilee and the central region of Samaria.
:12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that
were lepers, which stood afar off:
village – kome – the
common sleeping place to which labourers in the field return, a village
met him – apantao –
to go to meet, to meet; in a military sense: a hostile meeting
lepers – lepros – scaly,
rough; leprous, affected with leprosy
afar off – porrhothen –
from afar, afar off
Leprosy was the “cancer” or “AIDS” of Jesus’ day. When a person was
determined to be leprous, there were certain rules that applied to them:
(Lev 13:44-46 KJV) He
is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly
unclean; his plague is in his head. {45} And the leper in whom the plague is,
his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon
his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. {46} All the days wherein the
plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell
alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
The leper was a person who didn’t live in the city any more. They had to
warn everyone by shouting “unclean” when a person approached.
Apparently, these ten men lived together to pool their resources.
:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us.
Master – epistates (“over”
+ “stand”) – any sort of superintendent or overseer
have mercy – eleeo –
to have mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid; to help the afflicted,
to bring help to the wretched
:14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the
priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
Go – poreuomai – to
lead over, carry over, transfer; to pursue the journey on which one has
entered, to continue on one’s journey; to lead or order one’s life
show yourselves – epideiknumi
– to exhibit, show; to bring forth to view, to show; furnish to be looked
at, produce what may looked at. This is an imperative (a command).
The grammar here could have us translate this phrase, “While going, show
yourselves …”
The command is to “show yourselves”, but it will happen while they are
“going”.
they went – hupago – to
lead under, bring under; to withdraw one’s self, to go away, depart
cleansed – katharizo –
to make clean, cleanse; a leper, to cleanse by curing
There were two different times when a leper would be brought to a priest.
A leper would be brought to a priest to make an initial diagnosis. The
priest would determine if the person had leprosy or not.
(Lev 13:2-3 KJV) When a man
shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be
in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought
unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: {3} And the priest
shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the
plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his
flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and
pronounce him unclean.
It could be possible that these guys never bothered to take their leprosy
to a priest to be examined in the first place.
A leper would be brought to the priest if he became healed.
(Lev 14:2-3 KJV) This shall
be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto
the priest: {3} And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest
shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper …
I think it’s more plausible that this is why Jesus was asking the men to go
to the priests.
The interesting thing about the law in Leviticus 14, is that leprosy was
considered incurable. It was only cured by a miracle.
The King of Syria had heard that the God of Israel could heal lepers. When
his chief military officer, Naaman, became a leper, the King of Syria sent a
letter to the King of Israel to have his general Naaman cured of leprosy:
(2 Ki 5:7
KJV) And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he
rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man
doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray
you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
I wonder if part of the reason Jesus asks the lepers to do this is for a
testimony to the priests. They would be aware that God has been at work.
I think there’s something like a principle here.
Lesson
As they went, they were cleansed
For these lepers, their cleansing came as they obeyed Jesus and started off
towards the temple.
They didn’t wait until they were cleansed before going to the priests. They
were cleansed on the way to going to the priests.
I think that sometimes in our lives we ask God to help us in a particular
area of our lives, and we sit around waiting for it to happen.
Sometimes God wants us to get up and get moving because the healing will
come while we’re on the road.
:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with
a loud voice glorified God,
was healed – iaomai – to
cure, heal; to make whole; to free from errors and sins, to bring about (one’s)
salvation
turned back – hupostrepho –
to turn back; to turn about; to return
glorified – doxazo – to
think, suppose, be of opinion; to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate; to honour,
do honour to, hold in honour; to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with
splendour
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:16 KJV) Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.
He’s just given an example of this. The leper has been healed, and has
returned to give God glory.
:16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a
Samaritan.
face – prosopon – the
face; the front of the human head; countenance, look
giving … thanks – eucharisteo –
to be grateful, feel thankful; give thanks
he was a Samaritan –
When the Assyrians took the northern kingdom away in 722 BC and repopulated
the land with foreigners, they had problems with all the wild animals. They
thought that if they brought back some of the Jewish priests, they would
“appease” the local gods. As a result, some of the Jewish people intermarried
with the foreigners and thus was born the race of “Samaritans”.
The Samaritans rewrote some of the Mosaic Law and changed the names and
places so that Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Gerazim instead of Moriah, and
the feasts were all celebrated in Samaria instead of Jerusalem.
The Jews hated the Samaritans because they were half-breeds and practiced a
polluted religion. Likewise, the Samaritans also equally hated the Jews as
well.
In Luke 10, Jesus told the parable of the “Good Samaritan”. Jesus shook up
a lot of people by suggesting that a Samaritan would know more about loving his
neighbor than a Jewish priest. Yet that was just a story.
Here in Luke 17, this is not some fictitious story. This is something that
really happened. A Samaritan was the only one who came back to say “thanks”.
Lesson
Be careful about putting people into
boxes
Sometimes we think that certain people always act certain ways. Here is a
hated Samaritan doing the right thing.
:17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are
the nine?
cleansed – katharizo – to
make clean, cleanse; from physical stains and dirt; a leper, to cleanse by
curing
Lesson
We aren’t always good at saying
thanks
Illustration
A Catholic priest went into a barbershop one day and got his hair cut.
Afterward, he asked the barber how much he owed him. “No charge for you,”
replied the barber, “I consider giving you a haircut a spiritual service to the
Lord.” The next morning, when the barber arrived at the shop, he found a thank
you note along with a prayer book and a rosary. The next day, a rabbi came in
for a haircut and afterward, he asked him how much he owed him. “No charge for
you, Rabbi,” the barber said, “I consider giving you a haircut a spiritual
service to the Lord.” The following morning as the barber arrived for work, he
found a thank you note and a yarmulke. Later on that day, I came in for a
haircut. Afterward, when he asked how much he owed, the barber said, “No charge
for you, Pastor. I consider giving you a haircut a spiritual service to the
Lord.” The next day when the barber arrived at the shop, he found a dozen
Calvary Chapel pastors waiting outside the front door.
I think that sometimes we aren’t so good at saying “thanks”! Too often I’m one of the nine.
Illustration
Why did only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus? The following are nine suggested reasons why
the nine did not return.
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O well, Jesus didn't really do
anything."
One said, "Just any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
-- Charles L. Brown, Main Street Monitor
I think that sometimes I’m so busy complaining about the “imperfect” things
in my life, that I don’t take time to notice or be thankful for what God has
done.
The Israelites in the wilderness were famous for their
grumbling and complaining.
:18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this
stranger.
returned – hupostrepho –
to turn back; to turn about; to return
stranger – allogenes –
sprung from another tribe, a foreigner, alien
:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee
whole.
Arise – anistemi – to
cause to rise up, raise up
made thee whole – sozo –
to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction; to save a
suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well,
heal, restore to health; to save in the technical biblical sense
While the others were “cleansed”, this man was “saved”.
Lesson
Give God thanks
(Psa 107:8-9 KJV) Oh that
men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the
children of men! {9} For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry
soul with goodness.
Illustration
Ice Cream Prayer
One mom writes,
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My
six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said,
“God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you
more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for all!
Amen!” Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman
remark, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how
to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!”. Hearing this, my son burst
into tears and asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?” As I held him
and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad
at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and
said, “I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.” “Really?” my
son asked. “Cross my heart.” Then in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating
the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), “Too bad she never asks
God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.”
Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at
his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He
picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of
the woman. With a big smile he told her, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is
good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good already.”
We may not always do it correctly.
We may not be real eloquent in our prayers either. But I’d rather have the heart of the child
than the heart of the person who needs a scoop of ice cream.
The Israelites were famous for their complaining in the wilderness. I think God would want us to learn to be the
rare one that learns to say “thanks” for all He has done, is doing, and will do
in our lives.