We come to this church today to thank the Lord for the many gifts that we have received.
We are thankful for our families because they are loyal to us with a bond of love that cannot be broken. We are thankful for our friends because they understand what we are going through. We are thankful for the freedoms that we have in our country. We are thankful for food and shelter because we can’t live without them. We are thankful for our education because it opens doors for us. We are thankful for our pets because they provide us with companionship.
The list is long and I could go on but I wish to focus on one gift today: the gift of faith. That is my topic for today: the gift of faith.
A gift is something that is freely given: something that we did not earn or work for. The gift of life is a good example. God gives us the gift of life before we can do any work or be rewarded for something that we have done.
The Bible says that Abraham was the first believer in the one true God. His parents and uncles and aunts were worshipping pagan idols. They did not give him the faith. Faith came to Abraham as a gift from the one true God. Abraham did not invent the faith. His family did not give him faith. His culture did not give him faith. Faith was strictly a gift from God.
God said to Abraham, “Do you believe in me?” “Yes.” Abraham said. “Will you go to the land of Canaan and start a new religion for me?” “Yes.” Abraham said. Abraham responded to God’s gift of faith by moving his family 500 miles across the desert to start the Jewish religion.
There are two lessons here: Number 1. Faith is a gift from God. AND Number 2. You have to respond to it to make it effective in your life. God is calling us to receive the gift of faith and to make it effective in our lives.
I wish to look at three more Bible stories in which people receive the gift of faith and make it effective in their lives.
The Gospels tell us that everyone receives the gift of faith and some people put it into practice in their lives. One day Jesus entered the village of Capernaum with His disciples.
A Roman centurion came to him, asking for help. He was a Roman and he did not belong to any religion. "LORD," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly." Jesus said to him, "Shall I go to your house and heal him?" The Roman centurion replied, "LORD, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And the servant was healed at that very hour.
The crowds were Jewish, and they were shocked that Jesus would help a foreigner. But his disciples were not surprised because Jesus was always helping people who came to him with faith.
Jesus did not show partiality. He was not prejudiced against foreigners. He could see that they were coming to him with the gift of faith. Jesus also saw the gift of faith in a Canaanite woman. Her daughter who was very ill and she believed that Jesus could heal her. She did not belong to the Jewish religion; but she had received the gift of faith from God and she used it and Jesus rewarded her by healing her daughter. Without a doubt, Jesus was fully aware of the gift of faith and fully aware of who was using it and who was not using it.
In today’s Gospel one leper was using the gift of faith and nine were not. Ten were healed and only one said Thank You. They had all received the gift of faith from God but only the Samaritan used it. He used it to glorify God and to thank Jesus for healing him. The other nine did not make use of the gift of faith. They did not glorify God and they did not thank Jesus for their healing.
I will close with this short summary. On this Thanksgiving Day, make sure that you thank God for the blessings that you have received. And please thank God for the gift of faith because faith gives us a spiritual outlook on life and keeps us in a close relationship with God.