GLORY Transformed for His Glory Luke 17:11-19 Everyone hold up your Bible s this morning: o I am a believer in Jesus Christ. o I believe in his written word. o I am what it says I am o I can do what it says I can do o It is the truth that changes me o Truth that encourages me o Truth that strengthens me o It reminds me o That I belong to God o And his promises are for me o Therefore, I will never be the same o In Jesus name. I want over the next couple of weeks begin to the wrap up our series on the Glory of God. Within this one topic we have found that the glory of God comes in different forms, it is approached with different attitudes and it really challenges us to be people who look beyond what we can see with out own eyes, and begin to see the hand of God, the sovereignty of God, that he is one who is active in our lives either behind the scenes or blatantly right in front of our face. This morning I want to look at the secret to a transformed life. There are times in our lives when God intervenes and if we aren t careful we keep going on as if nothing had happened. Each one of us here have had an encounter with God, times when God has spoken specific things, and yet we remain unchanged. I want to look at a story this morning that speaks of a time when Jesus reached out and healed a group of men and yet only one was truly changed. Turn with me this morning to Luke 17:11-19: 1
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! 14 He looked at them and said, Go show yourselves to the priests. * And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. 15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, Praise God! 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, Didn t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? 19 And Jesus said to the man, Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.* Here we have a story of 10 men, each one struggling with the same sickness, each one desperate for a touch from God, each one finding comfort in each others company, yet only one is transformed He gives credit and worship where it is due. The key to a transformed life is gratitude to God. There s a story of two men who were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn t make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We re in for it!" John answered, "I can t. I ve never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must!" implored his companion. "The bull is catching up to us." "All right," panted John, "I ll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful. " One of the greatest sins in our world today is the sin of ingratitude. God does so much for us in fact we are indebted to him, yet rarely do we offer thanks to him for all that he has done. In fact, we have a society today where even Christians are becoming less 2
and less indebted and rarely offer thanks over their meals let alone anything else. We are much like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy s mother asked, What do you say to the nice man? The little boy thought and handed the orange back and said, Peel it. Many parents even today don t train their children to be grateful, and instead fuel the fire of consumption and entitlement by giving them whatever they want without them once showing their appreciation or gratitude. For the child of God, thankfulness is not just confined to miraculous acts of healing and provision, thankfulness is not just for a season or a day, but it is an attitude we need to have every hour of the day. The ten men were not only physically sick, but socially shut out of the village because they were considered not only contagious but unclean. They faced severe physical pain, and at the same time separation from their families and friends, from normal life. There men were in extreme need. They were outcasts due to the law, the commandments of God in Leviticus 13:45-46 where it tells us: 45 Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed.* They must cover their mouth and call out, Unclean! Unclean! 46 As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp. There were men who knew what the expectations of God were, and even followed religious expectations, yet as we find out later in our story, didn t make the connection on a relational level with the Son of God who became their healer. The ten men cry out and Jesus responds. Aren t you glad that God doesn t hold us in a religious holding pattern, but just as Jesus interrupted the system, he interrupts our 3
lives looking for a connection, a relationship where he can be all that we can t? Amen? There are a lot of people in a religious holding pattern who fail to see that God wants more than compliance he wants their lives and their heart. Their cry in verse 13 to Jesus as Master didn t pan out in their lives because only one came back and acknowledged his authority as savior and healer. Can that be said of today too? Many call Jesus Master yet he has no influence in their lives, no matter what he does. They cry out for mercy and Jesus responds. It s not the only time Jesus responds to mercy. We read of another time in Matthew 20:30-33: 30 Two blind men were sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was coming that way, they began shouting, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us! 31 Be quiet! the crowd yelled at them. But they only shouted louder, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us! 32 When Jesus heard them, he stopped and called, What do you want me to do for you? 33 Lord, they said, we want to see! 34 Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him. God always responds to a cry for mercy! Each call of mercy was in response to some form of deliverance or healing relief from human suffering, acknowledgement that Jesus was capable of meeting their need, or that Jesus had the authority to bring relief. Today, the reason why so many people don t come to Jesus for salvation is because they don t think they need him. Yet when life gets more complicated, more difficult, more painful, that is when people are searching. There 10 men knew there was hope in no one else and finally gave up their own authority or pride to surrender to Jesus. Jesus tells the 10 men to go and show themselves to the priests to prove that they were healed. Many times when we cry out to God, God asks of us a step of obedience to see if we will do as he asks. 4
Prayer without obedience is useless. Their obedience led to their healing. They were healed on the way to the priests. Obedience leads to healing spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. God doesn t ask us to do something without some sort of purpose behind what he asks us. We don t have his word to simply read like a story book, we don t have the Holy Spirit tugging on our hearts only to make our lives miserable, God is calling us to grow from glory to glory because it makes us into who he intends for us to be. The 10 respond, the 10 are healed, but only one is changed forever. Only one comes back and declares praises to God. Only one comes back and bows at the feet in complete humility before Jesus. Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I talked about how in the scriptures there were two types of people Jewish and Gentile. The Jewish people were God s chosen people, the Israelites, in the Old Testament and it was believed the that Messiah, the one who would come and free his people was only going to come for the Jewish people only. We saw how God had a greater plan for all people for Jew and Gentile. Here is a great example of how the Good News of Jesus wasn t just for a certain crowd. The one man who responds to what Jesus did was a Samaritan, a foreigner, one whom the religious Jews of the day would consider completely sub-human. This one Samaritan comes back to Jesus and publicly and with a loud voice (notice the word shouting ) gives God praise. Psalm 116:12-14 David writes: 12 What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord s name for saving me. 14 I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Public Praise! While many people see their need to pray, they don t see their need to praise. While all 10 men were healed, only one saw that he had reason to praise God. Jesus responds by 5
saying in verse 17-18 Didn t I heal 10? Where are the other 9? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? I am sure that God has asked that question of us time and time again in our own lives. Didn t I provide for you? Didn t I heal you? Didn t I give you that job, or that home, or that circumstance? Didn t I work things out for you? Where s the public praise? Where is the acknowledgment of what I have done? Where is the glory? The term glory is to see God s excellence, his brightness, his magnificence and declaring it to the world as a testimony of his mercy. What was given back to the man was the ability to kiss his wife, to hold his children, to visit friends and become apart of society once again. While 9 experienced the blessing of their healing, only one didn t allow his blessing to distract him from the Blesser. Just as loud as he cried out for mercy, the one man returned and with the same intensity proclaimed and cried out the glory of God. The physical blessings of God are simply meant to be doorways to a spiritual awakening or awareness. God blesses us physically so that we may respond spiritually. Spiritual healing only comes when we fall down to our knees before God and worship him. The man s faith didn t heal him, it connected him to the one who could heal him, and who could save him. There s a story of a father and mother of a young man who was killed in the military. They attended a small church. One day they came to the pastor and told him that they wanted to give a monetary gift as a memory to our son who died in battle. The pastor said, "That s a wonderful gesture on your part. He asked if it was ok to tell the congregation and they said that it was. So the next Sunday he told the congregation of the gift given in memory of their dead son. On the way home from church, another couple were driving down the highway when the father said to his wife, "Why 6
don t we give a gift because of our son?" And his wife said, "But our son didn t die in any conflict or war! Our son is still alive!" And the husband replied, "That s exactly my point! That s all the more reason we ought to give in thanks to God." Church, we are a people who have much to be grateful for and if we aren t careful we will be come like the 9 who took the blessings of God yet never responded to it, never allowed it to reach their heart and live for him. A transformed life is one that is marked by gratitude and worship. There s never a day that we don t have something to be grateful for, there is never a day when God hasn t done something for us, there is never a day where God s mercy has run out or run dry. Each and everyday we have an opportunity to respond. Just as loud as we cry out to God, let us cry out his praises. In Psalm 34:1-4 David gives us a verse to live by: 1 I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. 2 I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. 3 Come, let us tell of the Lord s greatness; Let us exalt his name together. 4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. May God make us public praiser s of Him! May people become tired of hearing about our God. Amen! 7