Deuteronomy 8:7-18
Psalm 126
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:3)
II Corinthians 9:6-15
Luke 17:11-19
The ten lepers in today’s Gospel lesson were trapped in a
prison. They had been outcast, set aside from society.
The skin on their bodies was rotting away. According to the
law, no one could get close to them or they would become unclean.
When Jesus passed by, they called to him from a distance. They
did not want to get close enough to offend Him or make Him
unclean, but they knew He could change their lives. So they
called for His mercy. He sent them off to show themselves
to the priests as the law demands and as they left they were
healed. When one of the men realized that the leprosy was
gone he returned to thank Jesus and praise God. He knew he
had been set free from the bondage of his dis-ease. We
really don’t know what happened with the other lepers –
what was the reaction to their healing, what did they do once
they returned to society? We only know that they did
exactly what Jesus told them to do, what they knew they should do
according to the Law. We do know that the one who praised
God was not only healed of his leprosy, but he was also made well
– forgiven and made whole in a relationship with Jesus
Christ. He was released from a prison that the other nine
did not even know was binding them.
Twenty or so years ago my cousin Jimmy was a young man on a path
of destruction. He ran with a bad crowd, abused drugs and
alcohol and probably did a number of other illegal things to
support his habits. His mind was messed up and he did
stupid things. One night he and his buddy decided it would
be fun to burn down an abandoned house in their neighborhood.
No one had lived there for years and it was falling apart. They
even justified their actions by claiming it would remove a
dangerous eyesore from the street. What they did not know
was that a homeless man was sleeping in the house, the only warm
place he could find. The man died, Jimmy and his friend
were arrested and Jimmy went to prison for arson and murder.
Jimmy grew up in a Christian home, but he had become self focused
and he was destroying everything – his body and his
relationships with his family, friends and the Lord. He
lost touch with the reality of life in Christ and he stopped
living in thankfulness. It took some time, but in prison
Jimmy renewed his relationship with Jesus Christ and became
thankful that he was caught and imprisoned. He realized
that if he had stayed on the streets, living the life he was
living, he would have died long ago. He wrote several
months ago to tell us that he was being released on parole.
He was going to spend some time in a halfway house, a place of
transition between prison and freedom. Jimmy has been sent to a
state run program, and though they often do well to help the
ex-convicts reestablish themselves in society, there is still a
very high recidivism rate. If Jimmy does not remember with
thanksgiving that he is alive by the grace of God and that he has
been given a new beginning, then he could end up back in prison
or dead.
Tonight at our pie fest, some of the funds collected will be
given to a program in Little Rock that helps women who have been
given a chance at such a new beginning. The mission of
Second Genesis is “to provide a transitional home and life
skills program in order to prepare women leaving prison to
establish healthy relationships with their children and to
reenter society as productive citizens.” Second
Genesis is not just a halfway house, it does much more than a
state run program. They share the love of Christ, the
salvation and healing that comes from a relationship with Jesus.
Most of these women enter prison because they are caught doing
the only thing they know how to do – live a life that
supports their drug habits. Just like Jimmy, they had
become self-focused and were on a road to destruction. When
they are released, these women have nowhere to go but home to the
place where they learned to live that lifestyle, and no matter
how thankful they are to be free, it is nearly impossible to get
a brand new start. The program helps these women look
beyond themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ who brings a greater
freedom and it helps them to live lives of thankfulness.
Second Genesis is not a give-away program. The women go
through a rather intense process to be accepted, and once living
in the house they are expected to help themselves. They
must get a job, take life skills classes, join in Bible study and
pay rent. It is not a drug rehabilitation program, but the
hope for every woman in the program is that they will be free
from every prison that binds their lives. Many of the women
make it through the three month program – they find homes
and jobs, are reconciled with their children and they never
return to prison. A few are lost, even in the early days of
living in the home. But, a few succeed well beyond everyone’s
expectations. They not only make the best of their lives,
but they give back into the program that has helped them overcome
all the prisons by which they were bound. These women
realize that wonderful things can happen when they look beyond
themselves, when they live in thankfulness.
And, it takes much more than just a “thank you” to live
a life of thankfulness.
In today’s Old Testament lesson, the Israelites had spent
many generations in bondage in Egypt. God delivered them
out of pharaoh’s hand and they were about to enter into the
Promised Land. God spoke through Moses to give them His
commandments, the guidelines for their life as a nation. He
promised them everything they would need to survive –
protection, provision and loving kindness. In Deuteronomy
8, God warned His people what would happen if they failed to live
lives of thankfulness. He told them that when their bellies
were full and their bodies satisfied, they would forget the Lord
their God and all He did for them, then they would become
arrogant and think that all they had was by their own hand.
We aren’t much different than the lepers, Jimmy, the women
at Second Genesis or the Israelites. We were once
prisoners, bound to sin and death, set free by the love and mercy
of God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. In that
freedom we are called to live lives of thankfulness – not to
care only for ourselves, but to share our blessings with others.
Jimmy got lost on the road to destruction by caring only for
himself and his needs. In the process he killed a man and hurt
those who love him. The lepers got lost in their own healing,
bound by the law and they forgot to thank God for His gift. The
women at Second Genesis were lost, but they have been given a
chance at a new beginning. God warned the Israelites to
remember Him and to live according to His Word or else they would
become proud and forget all they had was from Him. As it is
written, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he
who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his
covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.”
The scriptures, particularly those for this special day, speak
about such a life. When I was growing up I belonged to an
organization where many of the speakers used the phrase “you
only get out of this what you put into it.” This
encouraged us to put ourselves into everything we did, so that we
would grow and share our blessings with others. Paul wrote
to the Corinthians that whoever sows sparingly will reap
sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously.
It is very easy for us to turn this attitude upside down –
to consider our blessings to be the reward for our own good
works. That is why God warned the Israelites to remember
Him. This is why we are called to live lives of
thankfulness. Not because we will be rewarded for our
efforts, though God does bless the obedient and servant life, but
because God will be glorified and praised in our actions. Paul
says, “You will be enriched in every way for great
generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God;
for the rendering of this service not only supplies the wants of
the saints but also overflows in many thanksgivings to God.”
In a little while we are going to have fun, bidding and
outbidding each other to get our favorite pie for Thanksgiving
dinner. As we are doing so, will we just think about the
yummy pie we get to take home, or will our minds and hearts see
the women we are helping at Second Genesis? Will our focus
be on what we will get out of our money, or will we give joyfully
in response to the blessings God has already given us?
Tomorrow is the one day of the year when Americans gather
together to praise God for His many blessings to our country, our
families and ourselves. As we gather around our dinner
tables with those we love, we will remember that God has given us
a bountiful harvest – our life, breath, health, home,
family, friends and material possessions. But, what about
Friday? Will we still remember that God has given us
everything we have? Will we joyfully share our blessings
with others with willing hearts so that they will know the love
and mercy of Christ? Will we be living the life of
thankfulness in the way we think, speak and work? We have
been blessed to be a blessing – freed from the bondage of
sin and death so that we can live a life of obedience and
thankfulness to God. Unfortunately, even with the warning
from God, the Israelites turned from Him and lived as if their
blessings were rewards for their good works. We risk the
same attitude when we forget that God is the source of all our
blessings. Jimmy and the women at Second Genesis each
walked down self-centered paths of destruction. We often do the
same. But, thanks to the love and mercy of God, and the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, we all have a chance
for a new beginning every day – a chance to live in
thankfulness, to remember the Lord our God and all He has given,
to share our blessings with others so that God will be glorified.
Then others will begin to live lives of thankfulness. It is
a wonderful circle of blessings as more and more people come to
know the Lord and live in His love. “Thanks be to God
for his inexpressible gift!”