{"id":4053,"date":"2021-08-14T14:46:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T14:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=4053"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T14:46:31","slug":"faith-and-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/faith-and-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith and Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity| <strong>Rolf D. Preus<\/strong><\/strong>| <strong>September 17, 2017| St. Luke 17:11-19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cfus092417.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.&nbsp; Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.&nbsp; And they lifted up their voices and said, &#8220;Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!&#8221;&nbsp; So when He saw them, He said to them, &#8220;Go, show yourselves to the priests.&#8221; So it was that as they went, they were cleansed.&nbsp; Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks\u2014he was a Samaritan.&nbsp; So Jesus answered and said, &#8220;Were there not ten cleansed?&nbsp; Where are the nine?&nbsp; &#8220;Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?&#8221;&nbsp; And He said to him, &#8220;Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The man glorified God by falling down on his face at his feet.&nbsp; That\u2019s what the text says.&nbsp; Luke writes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks \u2013 he was a Samaritan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At whose feet did he fall down?&nbsp; St. Luke writes: \u201cAt His feet.\u201d&nbsp; The possessive pronoun refers back to the word God.&nbsp; But wait a minute.&nbsp; God is a spirit.&nbsp; A spirit has no body.&nbsp; A spirit has no feet.&nbsp; That is true, but Jesus is a human being with a human body.&nbsp; Jesus has feet.&nbsp; He is true God and true man.&nbsp; As true God, he can heal disease.&nbsp; In fact, he can deliver anyone from any kind of trouble he is facing.&nbsp; God is almighty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, look!&nbsp; He\u2019s a man.&nbsp; You can see him.&nbsp; He\u2019s walking into town.&nbsp; The small colony of lepers can see him.&nbsp; They know that he can heal.&nbsp; That\u2019s why they run out to him and cry out, \u201cJesus, Master, have mercy on us.\u201d&nbsp; Calling Jesus Master is not calling him Lord.&nbsp; It is not a confession that he is true God.&nbsp; It is an acknowledgement that Jesus can help them.&nbsp; And how else could Jesus help them except by the power of God?&nbsp; David writes in the psalm,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bless the LORD, O my soul;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And all that is within me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bless His holy name!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bless the LORD, O my soul,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And forget not all his benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who forgives all your iniquities,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:1-3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lepers knew that God is the one who heals us.&nbsp; They went to Jesus for healing.&nbsp; But they did not yet know that Jesus was their God.&nbsp; They went to him in desperation to meet their need.&nbsp; Jesus responded to their cry for mercy with mercy.&nbsp; He told them to show themselves to the priests because that was the legal requirement for men who were healed from the disease of leprosy.&nbsp; A priest had to confirm it.&nbsp; By telling them to show themselves to the priests, Jesus was promising to heal them.&nbsp; He healed all ten of them, but only one of them thought to return to Jesus to give thanks to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This text teaches us that gratitude is good and ingratitude is bad.&nbsp; Only one of them \u2013 a foreigner \u2013 showed gratitude to God.&nbsp; The other nine did not.&nbsp; They wanted mercy from God, but they didn\u2019t particularly want God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s much like American-grown religion today.&nbsp; God is there for you if you need him.&nbsp; If not, well, that\u2019s fine, too.&nbsp; Just so you know God wants to bless you, to give you what you need in life, to help you through your troubles, to answer your prayers, and so forth.&nbsp; So, if you are of a mind to ask God for help, well, that\u2019s what he\u2019s there for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And who is Jesus in this religion?&nbsp; Not much.&nbsp; What did the nine think of Jesus?&nbsp; They cried out to him for help when they needed it, but when it was provided, Jesus had served his purpose.&nbsp; Jesus was a means to an end.&nbsp; When they had what they came for they no longer needed the one who gave it to them.&nbsp; That\u2019s ingratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\u2019s not just ingratitude.&nbsp; It\u2019s unbelief.&nbsp; Why did the one cured leper \u2013 a foreigner who hadn\u2019t been blessed with the pure teaching of God\u2019s word \u2013 return to Jesus, fall down at his feet, and give him thanks?&nbsp; Because he believed in him!&nbsp; He trusted in Jesus, not just as a means to an end, as a temporary help in time of need, but as his Savior.&nbsp; All ten were cured of their leprosy, but only one was saved.&nbsp; Jesus said to the Samaritan who returned to give him thanks, \u201cArise, go your way.&nbsp; Your faith has saved you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nine cured lepers represent a popular but false version of Christianity.&nbsp; The one cured and saved leper represents the true Christian faith.&nbsp; The nine wanted what God gives.&nbsp; The one wanted the God who gives it.&nbsp; You can have what God gives without having God.&nbsp; As Jesus said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you can have God without necessarily enjoying everything that belongs to you.&nbsp; God does chasten his children out of love.&nbsp; A father who spoils his children doesn\u2019t really love them.&nbsp; A father who disciplines his children teaches them what is valuable and what is not; what is permanent and what is temporary; what is eternally true, and what is but a passing fad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The leper returned to Jesus.&nbsp; In falling down at Jesus\u2019 feet, he glorified God and he gave thanks to God.&nbsp; We glorify God \u2013 we give thanks to God \u2013 by falling down at Jesus\u2019 feet.&nbsp; It is by worshipping Jesus that we glorify God the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only God can see our faith.&nbsp; Faith is trust in what God promises us in Christ.&nbsp; There is no true faith that is not faith in Christ.&nbsp; There is no true faith that is not faith in Christ as our God.&nbsp; There is no true faith that is not faith in Christ as our Savior from our sins, from death, and from hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, let me make a point about Bible translations.&nbsp; We speak English, and as English speakers, when we use the word \u201csave\u201d in reference to God saving us from something, we usually think of our eternal salvation.&nbsp; If you are asked if you are saved, you assume that you are being asked if you are going to heaven.&nbsp; We don\u2019t use the word save so much in reference to being cured of a disease or delivered from a besetting problem, though sometimes we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the leper who returned to Jesus glorified him and gave him thanks, Jesus replied, \u201cArise, go your way.&nbsp; Your faith has saved you.\u201d&nbsp; Most English translations translate this, \u201cYour faith has made you well.\u201d&nbsp; They assume that when Jesus uses the word \u201csave\u201d he is referring to his healing of the leprosy, and not to the man being saved from sin, death, and hell.&nbsp; That\u2019s why they translate the word \u201csaved\u201d to mean \u201cmade well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the other nine were made well.&nbsp; They were cured of their leprosy.&nbsp; But they had no faith and weren\u2019t saved.&nbsp; Their bodies were saved temporarily, but their souls were not.&nbsp; Salvation of both body and soul is received only through faith.&nbsp; Faith is expressed in worship and praise.&nbsp; Specifically, faith is expressed in worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worship is not an option for Christians.&nbsp; Faith cannot but be confessed and worship is the primary form that confession takes.&nbsp; You come here to church to see Jesus, to fall down at his feet, to glorify him, and to give him thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider what you do every Sunday.&nbsp; At the very beginning of the service, as a preparation for the main service, you confess your sins to God and then Jesus tells you, through his minister, that he forgives you all your sins.&nbsp; Then you are ready to come into God\u2019s presence with thanksgiving and praise.&nbsp; This is symbolized by the pastor walking up to the altar during the Introit.&nbsp; Now we are ready to worship.&nbsp; We cry out to Jesus for mercy.&nbsp; This is immediately followed by the Gloria in Excelsis.&nbsp; We praise, we bless, and we worship our God for his great glory.&nbsp; And what is his great glory all about?&nbsp; It\u2019s about Jesus taking away the sin of the world and sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.&nbsp; Faith is expressed by worshipping God for what faith receives.&nbsp; When we worship, we tell God what he has done for us.&nbsp; We do so publicly.&nbsp; We do so with a loud voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you catch that?&nbsp; The leper, \u201cwith a loud voice glorified God.\u201d&nbsp; Now a man suffering from leprosy hasn\u2019t got much of a voice with which to say anything at all.&nbsp; But as soon as Jesus cured this fellow, he cried out with a loud voice.&nbsp; That\u2019s how you worship God.&nbsp; You don\u2019t sit there in the pew like a bump on a log with your mouth firmly closed during the singing of the hymns.&nbsp; No, you open the hymnal and you sing.&nbsp; If you don\u2019t know the hymn, you struggle through it until you do because worship is serious business and that\u2019s what we are here to do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faith isn\u2019t a religious feeling that passes through us and leaves us temporarily satisfied.&nbsp; Faith is a living confidence in God\u2019s grace.&nbsp; This is why it is always directed to Jesus.&nbsp; Jesus is the revelation of God\u2019s glory.&nbsp; Jesus reveals God\u2019s glory through his great miracles that displayed compassion to the suffering.&nbsp; He reveals it especially on the cross.&nbsp; He is the High Priest who offers himself as the sacrifice for the sin of the world.&nbsp; By offering up his own holy body and blood to God as the representative of all sinners, he took away all sin and he opened up our way to God.&nbsp; It is only through Jesus that we can know God, receive forgiveness of all our sins, be reconciled to our Creator, and be given the gift of everlasting life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus is not a mere means to an end.&nbsp; He is our beginning and our end.&nbsp; He is the Alpha and the Omega.&nbsp; Jesus is our God.&nbsp; He shows us the Father.&nbsp; To fall down at Jesus\u2019 feet is to fall down before the God who made us for himself.&nbsp; Only as we see God in Christ and Christ on the cross can we see God as he wants us to see him.&nbsp; If you are facing heartbreak, reverses, and losses; if those you love don\u2019t love you back; if your sickness won\u2019t go away; consider this: the men who begged Jesus for mercy all received mercy.&nbsp; The one who trusted, not just in the mercy as a temporary relief from misery, but in the mercy giver, he was the one, the only one of the ten, who was truly saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have heard the question as I am sure you have as well: Do you have to go to church to be a Christian?&nbsp; Well, you have to go to Jesus.&nbsp; And where Jesus is in the pure proclamation of his gospel and the right administration of his sacraments, there is his church.&nbsp; So come to church.&nbsp; Come to Jesus.&nbsp; Come and keep coming, and with a loud voice glorify our God and brother Jesus, whose mercy is new every morning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity| Rolf D. Preus| September 17, 2017| St. Luke 17:11-19 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.&nbsp; Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.&nbsp; And they lifted&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/faith-and-thanksgiving\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,4,74],"tags":[559,238,217],"class_list":["post-4053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-sermons","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","category-sermons-by-rolf-preus","category-trinity-14","tag-luke-17","tag-rolf-preus","tag-trinity-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4055,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions\/4055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}