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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2007
THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Luke 17:11-19 (Lessons from Molly)
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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:
Quite honestly, we would all be better off if we would learn one small lesson from little children:  The importance of living each day with an attitude of gratitude.  Without question, it is the key to life, to hope, and to salvation.
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1.   Whenever I get confused and need a big-time lesson in theology, I always turn to Molly.  All it takes is a few seconds with Molly and my theological questions are answered.  Two dozen of our young children met Molly this past Wednesday night, at our children’s program, and they know the truth of what I am going to say.  I discovered Molly about 15 years ago in the Galleria shopping mall in Houston.  She was surrounded by a group of friends in a small store that sold “back-to-nature” products.  She never said a word, but I could tell immediately that she held a vast reservoir of wisdom in her small body.  I had no idea how old she was, or where she came from, or what she had done in the past.  All I knew was that she seemed to call out to me.  Now, of course, I checked with Dixie first.  And Dixie took one look and confirmed that Molly was -- indeed -- calling out to me.  So we picked Molly up and took her home with us.  And she has been part of our lives -- and our ministries -- ever since.  Over the years, she has proven to be a fantastic minister to all ages of people, but especially to little children.  Molly knows a lot about children, and she has worked with children of all ages.  SHE TEACHES EVERYONE ABOUT GOD . . . BUT SHE NEVER SAYS A WORD.  Here is what Molly does:  She is absolutely helpless, absolutely dependent, absolutely subservient.  But when she shows up, in her helpless state, she invites others to begin counting their blessings.  And she demonstrates, through her helplessness, how important it is for us to be grateful to God for His innumerable blessings.  Children seem to understand this lesson from Molly better than adults.  And they are much quicker than adults to being listing their blessings -- from the tiniest ones to the biggest ones.  Somehow, children seem to know better than the rest of us HOW IMPORTANT IT IS to say THANK YOU to God every day.  Children seem to know that EACH DAY brings brand new opportunities to be GRATEFUL to God in all things, big and small.
2.   It took a few moments of persuasion, but I convinced Molly to be with us this morning.  And here she is.  As you can see, Molly is without a doubt the most beautiful puppet-monkey in the world.  And every time I see her, I remember to say “thank you” to God.  When I see Molly, I am reminded of the helplessness that Jesus chose to undergo for me, and for you.  I am reminded of the agony that Jesus endured for me, and for you.  I am reminded of the pain and terror that Jesus went through voluntarily for me, and for you.  I am reminded of the blessings that I have received as a result of the helplessness that Jesus endured.  And when I think of these things, I automatically begin to count the many blessings that God gives to me each day.
3.   And that brings me to the main point I want to make this morning.  It is a very simple point.  And here it is:
 Quite honestly, we would all be better off if we would learn one small lesson from little children:  The importance of living each day with an attitude of gratitude.  Without question, it is the key to life, to hope, and to salvation.
4.   Our Gospel lesson this morning demonstrates the remarkable importance of saying “THANK YOU” to God.  Quite simply, those two little words join together to become the KEY to LIFE. “THANK YOU.“ THOSE TWO LITTLE WORDS DEMONSTRATE A PERSON’S ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.  And it is vitally important that we have that attitude every day.  From Luke Chapter 17 we hear the amazing story of our Lord Jesus’ encounter with 10 lepers.  It happened on the road between Samaria and Galilee.  Let us set the scene:
  (1) Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, to His final encounter with the forces of evil and corruption.  What awaits Him is a hard Roman cross.  As Luke tells us, Jesus’ face is “set” toward that destination.  Two times in my life I have traveled this physical road -- in 2000 and 2001.  From the Sea of Galilee, down from Mount Carmel into the Jezreel Valley, all the way to the bottomlands of Jericho and the Dead Sea.  It is an awe-inspiring journey.  A life-changing journey.
  (2) On His way, Jesus encounters 10 lepers along the King’s Highway, south of the Sea of Galilee.  Lepers in those days suffered from what we now call Hansen’s disease.  It is a terrible disorder of the nervous system that takes away the sense of pain.  In a brutal, horrible way, lepers cannot feel physical pain.  And so their bodies are subject to terrible burns, bruises, cuts, and infections.  They were (and are) horribly disfigured.  And their life spans are very short.  Lepers in Jesus’ day were outcasts from society, forced to live alone, in leper colonies.  And whenever they encountered other people, their were required by law to shout (as loud as they could), “UNCLEAN!  UNCLEAN!”
  (3) And so they shouted at Jesus and His followers.  But they did something else:  THEY BEGGED JESUS FOR MERCY.  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  And so Jesus did.  He saw their pitiful state.  And He saw into their hearts.  And He took action.  He poured out God’s mercy on them.
  (4) Jesus instructed them, as the Torah required, to go and so themselves to the priests, so that their healing could be documented.  Now, this is astonishing.  They were not even healed yet, but they obeyed His command.  They turned from Him and went to find the local priest.  On their way, they suddenly discovered that their leprosy (and their infections, scars, cuts, torn skin, bruises, abrasions) had disappeared.  All signs of their disease were gone! Can you imagine such a discovery?  All of a sudden, they WERE HEALED!  Can you imagine their state of mind?  Their heart-felt joy?  (If you have ever known someone who has come back from the brink of death from disease, then you have a glimpse into the hearts of these 10 lepers.)
  (5) And what was their response to this supernatural cleansing?  What was their response to this divine act of mercy?  Nine of them continued on their journey, back to their homes, back to the lifestyles they were formerly accustomed to living -- BEFORE they got sick.  And only ONE of them returned to Jesus to give thanks.  Only ONE of them had an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.  And this ONE just happened to be a Samaritan, a half-breed, a ritually unclean person by nature of his very existence.  A person whom orthodox Jews back then were supposed to avoid.
  (6)  Jesus asks where the other 9 are.  But, as always, Jesus already knew the answer to His own question.  Only one of the 10 came running back to Jesus.  Only one threw himself down at Jesus’ feet.  Only one said “thank you” to the Lord.  Because of his faith, shown by his gratitude, the leper heard Jesus say these words (words that the other nine did NOT hear):  “GET UP AND GO ON YOUR WAY.  YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU.”  He was the only one who was doubly blessed by Jesus.  By PHYSICAL healing. AND by SPIRITUAL healing.  We can only speculate about the other nine lepers.  But I suspect they drifted back into the same sort of unclean living that got them in trouble in the first place. 
5.  In the Hebrew language, there is a noun that expresses thanks, praise, and submission.  It is the word “TO-DAW.”  It appears 32 times in the Old Testament, and it means much more than just saying “thank you.”  It means giving shouts of praise, shouts of worship, shouts of thanksgiving, shouts of confession.  It is a word that means SUBMISSION to the One greater than us.  It really means an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE . . . An attitude that looks to the One greater than us, and thanks Him for all that we have -- the good things and the difficult things.  It is a word that means more than saying “thank you.”  It also means:  “I submit myself completely to you.”  It is a word that appears in the Venite, Psalm 95, when we say, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and RAISE A LOUD SHOUT to Him with psalms.”
Ne’kud’ma fa’nav betodaw biz’mirot naria lo.

Psalm 95 continues:  “For He is our God, and a great King above all gods.  In His hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are His also.  The sea is His, for He made it.  And His hands have molded the dry land.  Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our maker.”
6.   So.  How is your attitude this morning?  How is your spiritual outlook?  Are you focused on the PROBLEMS of life, or on the SOLUTION?  Are your eyes on yourself, or on God?  If you find that each day is a struggle, and you need a major spiritual boost, then do as I do:  REMEMBER MOLLY.  And remember to start each day by counting your blessings.  The key to life, according to Molly, is to have an attitude of gratitude at all times.