THE RISE AND FALL

A HERO OF THANKSGIVING<= /span>

Luke 17:11-19

Our response of gratitude and worship

brings us wholeness.

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

A sermon pr= eached by

Dr. William= O. (Bud) Reeves

First Unite= d Methodist Church

Hot Springs, Arkansas

November 23= , 2008

The la= te Lewis Grizzard told a story he got from Zell Miller, a native of the North Georgia mountains and a Geor= gia politician.

Up in = a little backwoods mountain village, the church caught fire one night, and everybody= in the community came out to see if they could help. The little church was made of wood= , so the fire was soon out of control, and the people just stood around broken-hearted, some visibly weeping.

Sudden= ly down the narrow gravel road that went up the mountain came Fuzz Chastain. Now Fuzz was a grizzled old mounta= in man and had never darkened the doors of the church much. But here he came, barreling down t= he mountain in his old pick-up truck with his wife and a couple of kids in the front seat and the back loaded with the rest of the kids and various other assorted relatives. Where the= road made a curve in front of the church, Fuzz straightened it out and drove his pick-up right in the front door of that burning church! Fuzz jumped out of his truck and s= tarted beating the flames, and so did everybody else in that truck. In a couple of minutes, the Chasta= in clan had put out the fire!

The fo= lks from the village were so grateful they passed around the preacher’s hat. Then the preacher handed the hat w= ith about $38 in it to Fuzz and said, “We really appreciate what you did, Fuzz, and we’d like to give you this expression of our gratitude.R= 21;

Fuzz t= ook the money and just stood there, and suddenly things seemed a little awkward. Searching for something to say, the preacher asked, “Fuzz, what’re you going to do with all that money?”

Fuzz s= cratched his head and replied in a gruff voice, “First thing I’m goin= 217; to do is get them brakes fixed on that danged old truck.”

Fuzz C= hastain was a hero in that community that night, but an unlikely hero, and maybe for the wrong reason. Today we wa= nt to look at another unlikely hero who became a hero of faith for the right reas= on.

As Jes= us was making his way from Galilee to Jerusalem, = he had to pass along the border of Sa= maria, and on the outskirts of a village there were ten lepers. They were required by law to keep = their distance, but they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus told them to= go show themselves to the priests, who were ones with the authority to declare them clean so they could re-enter society.= As they went, the horrible lesions of leprosy began to disappear. One of the lepers turned back to J= esus, came to him, fell at his feet and thanked him. This one leper was a Samaritan, de= spised and ostracized both because of his nationality and his disease. You couldn’t get any lower o= n the ladder than this guy. Yet he = became the hero of the hour when he came back to thank Jesus.

The Lo= rd said, “I thought I sent ten guys to the priest. Where are the other nine? Was this foreigner the only one to praise God for his healing?” Having made his point, Jesus said to the former leper, “Get up= and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”[1]

The Sa= maritan leper is an unlikely hero of faith, but we can learn some lessons from him = for our faith today.

The re= lationship of faith begins with A CRY FOR HEL= P. The lepers heard Jesus was passing= by, and they came out to cry for help: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Leprosy in the Bib= le could be one of several horrible skin diseases. Today it is practically unknown ex= cept in third world countries. The disease would literally cause hands, feet, arms and legs to rot and fall off. Because it was believed = to be contagious, lepers were separated from society, forced to live as beggars on the outskirts of towns. They had to wear grave clothes, and if any healthy person approached, they were required to cry out, “Unclean!” to warn the passerby. It was out= of such a desperate situation that these ten lepers cried out to Jesus.

Someti= mes we find ourselves in a desperate situation.&n= bsp; I don’t know if you’ve read a newspaper or seen a TV in = the last two months, but we are in a desperate situation economically in our country and around the world. Banks and businesses are failing faster than the government can bail them out. Wall Street has gone crazy. Even little countries like Iceland= have had to nationalize their financial institutions to pay off loans and stay afloat. Last week, I went to = buy a toaster, and it came with a bank. (You have to think about that one for just a moment.) Somebody asked this question on the internet: What’s the capital of Iceland? About $3.50. OK, one more, laughing to ke= ep from crying. What’s the definition of optimism? A banker who irons fi= ve shirts on Sunday.[2]

We are= in deep water economically. It will c= ome back; it will cycle around. <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">America= will rebound. But in the short-ter= m, there will be hardship and suffering for many people. We get used to prosperity, donR= 17;t we? The trick now is to know = where our help comes from.

There = are plenty of other reasons to cry for help.&n= bsp; We still have all the desperate situations of the human condition—sin, sorrow, death, and despair. Our hearts cry out for help like t= he Psalmist cried out years ago: “I lift up my eyes to the hills [those threatening, dangerous mountains of trouble]—from where will my h= elp come? My help comes from the = Lord, who made heaven and earth.”[3] We cry for help—Jesus, have = mercy!

The cr= y for help brings an ACT OF GOD. God responds to our need. Jesus sees and hears the lepers and tells them to go to the priest and be declared clean. On the way, they begin to notice t= hat beneath the gray, scaly, deteriorating flesh, their skin is becoming pink, healthy, and sensitive again. God has responded to their need, and they are being healed. Nine of them get so excited, I’m sure they ran straight to the priest to get their blessing. One returned to Jes= us to get his blessing.

As we = look back at our lives, is there any doubt that we have received the blessing of= God time after time after time? W= e live in a great country and a great community.&= nbsp; We have a great church. Most of us have been blessed most of the time with wonderful families, jobs, inc= ome, and health. Even in our times= of desperate need—illness, death, divorce, loss of jobs—God has be= en there for us to give us strength and comfort, safety and security even in t= he midst of the hardship.

People= have been throwing around the term “Great Depression” a lot lately as they have been panicking about the economic crisis. We are nowhere near the devastatio= n that those years inflicted on our economy. I remember a quote from someone who lived through the Depression in = Mississippi. Dr. James French eventually became= a doctor here in Hot Springs and a member of our church, and parts of his family still go here. He said this about receiving God&#= 8217;s blessings in a time of need:

The Great Depression had a profound effect on the lives of those who lived through it. To some it = was a time of bitter struggle for survival. Others were made stronger because of the struggles and hardships. Most relied on deep spiritual convictions to help them through the difficult times. Some saw the Depression as a cause= for unhappiness. Others chose to = be happy in spite of the Depression. &nb= sp; Some believed that each day would be filled with excitement and full= of all kinds of wonders to explore and enjoy.= They could not spare the time to worry about hand-me-down clothes or worn out shoes or squirrel stew for supper or no money for things needed or wanted. There were too many m= ore important things to think about and get on with. Around every corner wondrous adven= tures were waiting. And friends were waiting to share the treasures and join in with seizures of uncontrollable laughter. In later years, some would look back and know that the truly unfortunate ones were those that didn’t live during those times. There are those who honestly loved and cherished every single day of every year of the Great Depression. Such was our story.[4]

Such c= an be our story. We have been so bl= essed, enjoying unprecedented wealth, and now that foundation seems to be shaken.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We can choose to be bitter, but th= at would be truly unfortunate. O= r we can choose to live, laugh, love and look at each day as a wondrous adventure. We can rely on our= deep spiritual convictions to get us through these difficult times. As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “My God will fully satisfy ev= ery need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”= = [5] We believe that.

So we = can do what the Samaritan leper did. We can make a RESPONSE OF GRATITUDE.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We can worship God with gratef= ul praise for the blessings we have received.= The one leper came back. He who had cried loudly for help now cried loudly with praise. He fell at the feet of Jesus and t= hanked him for his healing power. He responded with gratitude.

One of= the most amazing things I encounter regularly is the gratitude of those who have suffered. I hear it in hospit= al rooms with the gravely ill; I hear it in the testimonies of the elderly; I = hear it from those who have known disaster.&nbs= p; A few days ago, I read a letter from Caleb Lucien, a missionary in <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Haiti w= ho has been dealing with the aftermath of two hurricanes that hit that impoverished island back in September, providing food, clothing, and shelter to those who lost everything. Let me share= with you part of this letter:

This past Sunday, November 2^nd, was a great emotional hi= gh for me. Together with my team= , I had the privilege of worshipping at Berraca Baptist Church led by Pastor Petitde. During= the most recent storms he was stuck on the roof of his house for three days wit= h 72 people under frightening and difficult conditions. It was so familiar to him because = in the storms of 2004, he watched his wife swept away in the raging current and drowned. From a human standpo= int, I could not understand how they got the strength to worship.

More than 400 believers which represent one third of their congrega= tion were together worshipping the Lord. &= nbsp; They were counting their blessings, while they had lost most of their possessions. The storms had destroyed their homes, their community, and had taken away almost everythin= g but could not take away their confidence and trust in our Almighty God.= …I could not hold back the t= ears of both joy and sadness as I stood up to share with them. At the end of the service, several= came to me to thank me for the help.”&nbs= p; A dress, a pair of shoes, food, insulin—simple stuff. Yet Caleb Lucien said, “We l= eft the church with a sense of joy, yet knowing that the needs are still so gre= at.”= = [6]

The ne= eds are still great, in our country and in our world. The needs are great in our own community. The needs are grea= t in our own homes, in our own hearts. That’s why we do ministry.&nb= sp; But we can have joy today, because we have cried out to God, and God= has helped us, and we can respond with gratitude. Joy came for the Samaritan leper w= hen Jesus said, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” He had found healing, wholeness, and salvation. In the New Testament, it’s a= ll the same word. Our response of gratitude and worship for the blessings God has given us brings us to wholeness—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. We find help, healing, salvation, = and joy.

Mother= Theresa of Calcutta told this story in an address to the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994. One evening she and some of her nun= s went out and picked up four people from the street. One of them was in terrible condit= ion. Teresa told the sisters to take car= e of the three, and she would take care of the worst one.

She sa= id, “So I did for her all that my love could do. I put her in bed, and there was suc= h a beautiful smile on her face. = She took hold of my hand as she said two words only: ‘Thank you.’ T= hen she died. I could not help but examine my conscience before her. I asked: What would I say if I were in her place? My answer was very simple. I would = have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said, ‘I am hung= ry, I am dying, I am in pain,’ or something. But she gave me much more; she gave= me her grateful love. She died w= ith a smile on her face. Gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift.”= = [7]

Today = we have an opportunity to bring our gifts of gratitude to the altar and lay them at= the feet of Jesus. Today is a cha= nce to worship him by promising to support his ministry in this church for the next year. We want to acknowledge = before God that when we have cried out to him for help, he has acted to supply our= every need, and we are grateful. An= d we want to do our best to make sure that the help of God in the ministry of th= is church will still be strong and grow even stronger in the year to come—for ourselves, for our families, for our brothers and sisters in this church family, for our community, for our world, and for the glory of God. Amen!

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;