I wanted to start off today, we're talking a
little bit about what it is when our faith is
giving the thankfulness in our hearts. And, you
know, starting off, whenever thinking of being
thankful, of course I have to think about driving
in Texas, mostly because of the fact that I've
actually survived it for 45 years. You know,
driving to places like Austin and San Antonio
and Dallas, you know, you learn a lot about human
nature. Now, I myself am a perfect driver, so
no worries, but I have heard that there are those
who struggle with my level of sainthood when
driving. Now, some people, that was a joke, I
promise, that was a joke. You know, some people,
we're gonna call them Houston drivers, okay?
They spend the whole drive wherever they're going,
mad at every red light, If you did not get off
your break within half a second, they're already
honking at you, right? Every construction zone,
they're still going through 10 miles above the
speed limit, right? Every person has forgotten
to merge. The New Yorkers are like, what in the
world? Houston's crazy. That's saying something.
They're going, but they're getting from point
A to point B. but they are grumbling the entire
time. And if you have driven on I -10, 71, 45,
many of these places lately, you know exactly
what I'm talking about. There are plenty of opportunities
to offer forgiveness for people that hopefully
you will never have to meet. But then you've
also got the diligent drivers. These are the
ones they've got their eyes on the road. You
know, they've got a good playlist. They've got
an audiobook going, okay? They are not complaining.
They're just trying to get it done. They're going
to get from point A to point B. It is a task.
It is not a trip. It is a thing to be done. They're
going to get there on time, but if you ask them
how the trip was, they're not going to remember
anything about it. They didn't really care. But
then there's the Bucky's crowd. All right, let's
be honest, okay? The ones that turned the whole
thing into an adventure, right? As soon as you
are five minutes outside of city limits, where's
the first Buc -ee's? All right, I don't even
need to go to use the bathroom and I'm still
gonna go use the bathroom just because it's Buc
-ee's, okay? All right, you're gonna take pictures
at every stop. You're announcing the snack that
you're gonna get. The beaver nuggets are really
good, okay? And maybe a barbecue sandwich. You're
gonna call your friends on the phone, you know?
There's always that one person, you know, you're
sitting at home and they're calling you and you're
like, what's going on? Oh, I'm on a drive and
you're like, that's great, have fun. But it's
not just trying to get there, but it's about
enjoying the ride. Finding joy wherever they
can and maybe, maybe even seeing what God is
showing you along the way. How else are you going
to see the blue bonnets when they're in bloom?
See, it's the same road, the same destination,
but it's three very different hearts as they
go along that particular trip. You know, our
Gospel for today, it's showing us a lot of what's
happening in our hearts today. We're looking
at a story of the ten lepers. Where it's easy
in our minds that we divide up the ten lepers
into the nine ungrateful ones and the one grateful
one, right? It's easy to look and see, well,
that's the one who came back and thanked Jesus.
But maybe it's not quite that simple, y 'all.
Maybe the story is not good guys and bad guys.
Maybe it's a picture of different stages of faith
and different ways that God's grace meets us
along the way. But before we talk about the lepers,
I want us to go back to the Old Testament passage
we had. I want us to talk a little bit about
Naomi's story to help us see someone who was
struggling with being grateful at all. Naomi's
story begins in a time of famine. Everything
familiar had dried up, so she and her husband,
Elimelech, they left Bethlehem. The place that
was called the House of Bread didn't have any
bread. They went to go find food in the land
of Moab. And it wasn't because they were rebelling
against God, they were just trying to go somewhere
to survive. They did what they thought was best
for the family. But while they were there, tragedy
struck. Her husband died and her two sons, well
they married some of the women that were nearby,
Moabite women. But after several years, both
of her sons died too. In a culture where sons
were treated as your security, your future, your
legacy, Naomi suddenly had none of those things.
And when she finally decided to return to Bethlehem,
she told her daughters -in -law to stay behind.
I mean, start over where they were. Her sons,
their husbands, they were no longer there and
they never had any kids. One of them, Orpah,
She did stay, even after she wanted to go with
Naomi. And yes, she is the one that Oprah was
named after, but Oprah's grandmother apparently
misspelled Orpah, so that's why we have the famous
name that we have today. All right. Spelling
matters. Spelling matters. You know, but Ruth,
the other one, she clung to Naomi. Saying those
famous words, where you go, I will go. Where
you stay I will say your people will be my people
and your God my God So Naomi comes home not alone,
but also not whole When her old neighbors see
her they hardly recognize her they're like is
this Naomi because Naomi means pleasant She replies
don't call me Naomi Call me Maro bitter because
the Lord has turned against me her faith had
gotten her back to Bethlehem, but her heart had
not caught up yet. She was walking the right
road, but it was still heavy with loss. And that's
why her story, it fits so beautifully here, because
she's a picture of someone who's doing the right
thing. It's returning to where God's people are.
But she's still struggling to believe that joy
is possible again. Notice this though, even in
her bitterness. the grace of God was still waiting
for her. God was already working through Ruth,
through Boaz, through a baby they would have
named Obed, the grandfather of King David, and
eventually through the line of Jesus Himself.
Naomi's road home, it wasn't a waste. Her grief,
it wasn't ignored. God was writing redemption
into her return long before she could see it
herself. You see, that's grace. The grace of
God is for the one that's still hurting. The
grace of God is for the one who's trying to make
it home, even when they feel like they have nothing.
But even beyond that, now we get to our second
group. The nine lepers from our gospel who asked
Jesus to heal them, they received healing, and
then they kept walking home. Y 'all, they are
not villains in our story, okay? They actually
are examples of obedience. Jesus said, go show
yourselves to the priests to be declared cleansed,
and they went. But notice, they hadn't even been
cleansed yet. They trusted Jesus. They went.
And Jesus healed them on the way. They obeyed.
They trusted His word before they even saw the
results. They were actually an example of faith.
Truly. When they realized they were healed, I'm
sure they were thankful. They probably laughed,
they cried, they hugged each other. You know,
they ran to the priest as fast as they could,
I'm sure. They wanted to find the people that
they had missed in their life. But something
was still missing. See, gratitude that never
makes it back to God is not truly heading home
yet. Yet even there, there was grace. Jesus didn't
take back their healing. He didn't revoke the
blessing just because they didn't come back.
God's grace was reaching them as well. Grace
to restore them to their families. Grace to bring
them back into their community. But then we come
to the third example that helps us to see what
might be missing here. The Samaritan, the tenth
leper, the outsider. The one who didn't have
a priest waiting in Jerusalem, didn't have a
community among Jesus' people to welcome him
back, didn't have a place with the others to
belong to. We don't actually know for sure that
the other lepers were not Samaritans. We don't
actually know that for sure, but we get that
impression from the way they describe the tenth
one. Maybe because he was different. Maybe because
he was separate. Maybe because his life didn't
fit what was going to fit everyone else's. Maybe
he felt the freedom to do something that the
others didn't. He felt the freedom to go back.
He wasn't just grateful for the gift. He wanted
the giver. He didn't just want the gift. He wanted
the giver. He wanted connection. He wanted relationship.
He wanted to be with Jesus. Even without belonging
to that same community. You see, here is something
to know. By Jesus' time, the divide between the
Jews and the Samaritans, it ran centuries deep.
Centuries earlier, the Assyrians, they had conquered
the northern kingdom of Israel. They resettled.
Assyrian foreigners to live there. And so over
time, people married each other and developed
their own version of faith centered on Mount
Gerizan. The Jews, they had their centered on
Jerusalem, Mount Zion. But the Samaritans, no
longer worshipping in Jerusalem, began to focus
on a different mountain. The mountain where they
believed that Moses had been given the Torah.
They believed in only the first five books of
Moses, their own version of the Torah. They rejected
all the rest of what we would call the Old Testament
because they saw it as Jewish attempts to make
themselves out to be better than the Samaritans.
See, the Jews saw the Samaritans as heretics.
The Samaritans saw themselves as the true people
of Moses, not the people of David. And that's
what makes Jesus' choice of Samaritans in His
stories so radical. The Good Samaritan and the
Grateful Leper, they both show us that God's
grace, it's not about the borders that we've
drawn between ourselves, even where people may
be labeled as villainous, even though they see
themselves as the heroes of the story. So when
this Samaritan turns back to thank Jesus, it's
not just polite, it's revolutionary. He's crossing
lines that divide people and Jesus meets him
there. See, faith is not just about moving forward.
It's about looking for the one when you realize
who made the journey possible. And there's grace
here for the outsider. Grace that meets him in
person. Grace that not only heals his body, but
restores his soul. The same Savior who sent the
others to the priests, He has now become His
priest, declaring Him whole inside and out. And
that's what real gratitude looks like. It's not
just saying thank you for what God has done,
but wanting to stay close, to walk with Him,
to know Him more. So when we look at the three
groups, we see Naomi, we see the Nine, and we
see the Samaritan. We don't see worthy and unworthy.
We see three ways that grace is reaching us.
Grace that meets us when we're bitter and barely
hanging on. Grace that meets us when we're obedient
but still somehow distracted. Grace that invites
us to go deeper, to come back, to worship, to
walk in relationship because no matter where
you may be on that road, and let's be honest,
we've taken turns at every stage, rumbling, grateful,
or joyful. God's grace has already gone before
you. We can all find ourselves in those places,
walking faithfully but bitter, walking obediently
but distracted, or turning in love to the One
who gave us life. See, Naomi was not wrong to
go home. She was doing the right thing. She had
a heavy heart while she did it. And the nine
lepers, they weren't wrong either. They listened
to Jesus. They believed His Word to go before
they even saw the healing. And that's faith.
But when the miracle came, They just kept walking.
Grateful but unchanged. And then there's the
Samaritan. He didn't fit in with the others.
Maybe going to the priest wasn't even an option
for him. But what he did have was joy. And that
joy pulled him back to Jesus. Gratitude drew
him into relationship. He didn't just want the
healing. He wanted Him. That's where obedience
becomes relationship. That's where faith becomes
worship And that's when we look to the one example
that truly helps us understand Jesus the church
potluck Isn't it though isn't there something
that we can all understand the church potluck
I'm saying okay, but let's think about this for
a moment all right We get an announcement All
right, there's going to be a meal for everyone
and all of you are supposed to bring something
right and how many times it's like, you know,
you're gonna you're gonna bring a dish but you're
like you're feeling guilty okay you don't really
want to do it but you know you need to do it
because if you're going to eat one person's fried
chicken then you better have something that you
brought yourself you know those times where it's
like you know i wish they would have told us
sooner or man why'd they have to do it the same
weekend as the kids games and everything and
you know you're you go over and you're probably
going to go to Kroger and get one of those ready
-made trays and everything like that the fruit
tray maybe the veggie tray which i think I think
some of that is made out of wax. I've never done
that. I'm sure none of you know the feeling.
But then there are the ones where they bring
a dish and they enjoy helping. They love the
church. They love serving. They even clean up
with a smile. Aren't those weird people? Oh my
word, what kind of crazy people are those? We
do have plenty of those crazy people though.
We have them. We see that the event is a good
event. and they're going to do what is needed
because it's important. But you can see how many
times people don't really want to go beyond bringing
the food. They want to drop it off. They forget
that the whole point of the event is to be there,
to connect with people, to share time together,
to show the love of Christ in what they say and
do. They don't go any further. They just don't
have it in them at that time. But then there's
that third kind, those buckies people again.
The ones who bring the food, and they use it
as a bridge. They sit with someone new. They
learn their story. Maybe they invite them to
something later in the week. They're not just
feeding people, they're building relationships
with them. Because they've found the joy of being
part of what God is doing together. And because
of this, they do more because they can. And that's
often what we risk seeing in the church. There
are times when people are frustrated at the work
to be done and there's plenty of work to be done.
Anytime things are not convenient or someone
asks for a change or a revision and someone may
be upset or bitter, maybe treat people and opportunities
for growth as just a nuisance. Or more than that,
maybe they take on the task that might be difficult
and they then think later, I'm never doing that
again. And then find out how many people are
afraid to volunteer for something going forward.
But then you might see the people who do the
work that is needed and they are tackling the
task with gusto, with fervor. They take on positions,
they take on tasks, they make the list, they
check them twice. Many of us naughty, not sure
how many are nice. But then you find that those
people are no longer wanting to be in Bible study.
They seem distracted during worship. The servant
heart is struggling against being cold and hard.
They got the work of the church done, sure, but
where is the relationship with Christ? But then
you meet some people. And I'm going to have to
give a shout out. We've got a new admin bookkeeper,
okay? Her name's Shelly. And I am stunned at
the number of times that she doesn't just do
the things that are required, okay? Going above,
going beyond, caring about people, not just the
tasks. I was asking for some help to do something
on the bulletins, and then I found out she was
already doing it, and doing it even better than
I was gonna be doing it. And I'm like, ah, nobody
even asked. I know. Thank you. But not being
upset about it, then went back and turned on
one of her playlists again. She's got gospel
playlists, country playlists, and 80s music playlists.
I prefer when she plays the 80s music playlists.
Hey, you got to sing with Journey sometimes,
right? I'm just saying. But to go back to singing
after going above and beyond, see, that's what
ministry looks like when we turn it into calling
instead of just checklist. See, today, we get
to welcome several new members into our church
family. For some reason, they like hanging out
with us crazy people. But that's something that
we celebrate. Every person who joins is not just
another name on a list. It's another story. It's
another life that God is weaving into ours. But
it gives us a moment that we pause and ask, what
kind of people are we going to be? Are we going
to be like Naomi? We're faithful, but the bitterness
is hard to let go of. Are we going to be the
nine? We are thankful, but we're so distracted
with what there is to be done that we're missing
something. Or are we the tenth? Grateful, joyful,
and drawn into a relationship with the one who
has healed us. Because gratitude? is what builds
relationships. Gratitude is what keeps the church
alive. Gratitude turns ministry from a list of
tasks that we have to do into a movement of joy.
As we welcome our brothers and sisters today,
it's our chance to be that kind of church. One
that doesn't just show up, but shows gratitude.
One that doesn't just do what's expected, but
goes the extra mile. to love, to connect, to
draw others closer to Jesus. Maybe it means that
you join a ministry team. Maybe help to run the
AV equipment. Help us try to figure out why that
symbol keeps showing up on the screen today.
Did it happen before today, everybody? Maybe
it means we sit with somebody new at lunch. Maybe
we write a note of thanks to someone who's blessed
us. Or we just pause to thank God for how far
He's been bringing us. But whatever it looks
like, the call is the same. Don't just walk the
road. Turn to the one who gave it to you. Let
that relationship change you. Because that's
where joy is found. That's where relationship
grows. That's where gratitude is connected to
grace. Because that's where it truly comes from.
So may the God who met Naomi and her bitterness
who healed the ten and welcomed the one who returned,
meet you on your journey this week. May He give
you eyes to see His mercy, a heart that turns
back in gratitude, and joy that flows into every
road that you travel. In the name of Jesus, Amen.