"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (Psalm 103:2.) "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" (Psalm 116:12.) The answer to this question by the psalmist is that we give thanks to God for all his benefits.

"Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thess. 5:17-18.)

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. 5:20.)

"Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6-7.)

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." (Heb. 13:15.)

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful." (Col. 3:15.)

George Herbert wrote,

Thou that hast given so much to me

Give one thing more---a grateful heart

Not thankful when it pleaseth me

As if thy blessings had spare days

But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise

I read about an atheist sitting at his table during Thanksgiving with his family all around. The table was laden with food---turkey and dressing with all the trimmings, and desserts. Alvin the atheist had feelings of gratitude, but did not know who to thank! Christians do not have that problem. We are grateful and know to whom to give thanks. (From a sermon by Rubel Shelly.)

In an effort to emphasize thankfulness, I want to show the other side---the ugliness of ingratitude. Because man is a dependent being, the only right course is for us to live with thanksgiving to God and to other fellow human beings. To be filled with ingratitude is to fail to understand our true state and condition in life. I want to present some reasons for ingratitude. We need to understand what produces it and avoid them.

Quotations: "All sin is simply ingratitude." (Karl Barth) "A grateful heart cannot be cynical." (A. W. Tozer)

Jesus once met ten lepers on his way to Jerusalem. They cried out to Jesus for mercy. He simply told them to go show themselves to the priests. The priests offered the proper sacrifices and determined if a person was fit to re-enter society. Some have called them the "Chief Medical Officers" of that day. As the lepers went on their way, they were cleansed. When one of them noticed that he was healed, he turned back and with a loud voice glorified God.

"And fell down on his face at his feet, giving thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." (Luke 17:16-19.)

We do not know why the nine did not return and give thanks for the gift they had received. They surely heard the other one crying with a loud voice. (An almost total failure of the voice is one of the symptoms of leprosy.) We can safely conclude that their ingratitude did not come about because they were unaware of their healing. Jesus drew a contrast between the Samaritan (a stranger) who gave thanks and the others (who were Jews). Remember that the man who helped the wounded man by the wayside was a Samaritan as well. The priest and the Levite passed by on the other side.

This emphasis by Jesus shows the stubbornness of Israel to accept the Son of God. Israel’s rejection of Jesus is shown by their ingratitude. What the Jewish leaders had taught them caused them to fail to acknowledge the blessings of God upon them.

Did they go their way without expressing gratitude because they thought they were entitled to the blessings of God?? But grace is undeserved. If grace is misunderstood, gratitude cannot follow. (Classic Sermons on Praise, "Grace and Gratitude," James S. Stewart, 134.)

This loathsome disease had reduced all ten lepers to a common level in their suffering. The fact that one was a Samaritan and the other Jews did not matter anymore. But when all where healed, it was the Samaritan who showed gratitude. The Jews exalted themselves above the lowly Samaritans; pride prevented them from praising God.

"But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded saying, Honor thy father and mother. He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. Honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." (Matt. 15:3-6.)

The Jews had found a way to "vow away the fifth commandment." Religious vows were prominent in ancient Israel. God required that vows be kept.

"When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay." (Eccl. 5:4-5.)

A problem naturally arose when someone made a vow that the keeping of it would cause one to disobey the Law of God. We do not face such dilemmas today because personal religious vows are not a common practice among Christians. Something similar to it might be a business agreement that you make which later causes you to violate God’s will if you kept the agreement. We might make a vow (pledge) concerning our contribution. During the year, our aged parents need financial support. Would our vow keep us from honoring our parents? Jesus answered that question clearly.

In ancient Israel, there were positive and negative vows. A negative vow was an oath that you would abstain from something. The Nazarite vow was primarily negative (abstaining from wine, cutting the hair, and contact with a dead body). A positive vow could involve a gift that you promised. Vows were made to obtain divine favor. But practical problems arose by these voluntary and personal vows.

The traditions of the Jews were upheld even against the written Law of God. This is what Jesus was condemning. A son could make a vow prohibiting his parents from receiving any material support from him. This is one of the most detestable forms of ingratitude---from children toward their own parents. Paul said that one had denied the faith and was worse than an infidel if he would not support his own family. (1 Tim. 5:8.)

What causes ingratitude from children to parents who have sacrificed so much for them? It seems so much out of place. Ingratitude is always wrong, but especially unseemly when one has been the recipient of so many good things.

Shakespeare wrote a poem about ingratitude.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude

Thy tooth is not so keen

Because thou art not seen

Although thy breath be rude

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly

Then, heigh-ho, the holly!

This life is most jolly

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky

That doest not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot

Though thou the waters warp

Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly

from "As You Like It" (1599-1600)

The sin of ingratitude lies in what it leads one to do. It is not just a matter of showing appreciation on Mother’s or Father’s Day. It is a matter of honoring your parents every day. When the prodigal son demanded his inheritance and went away from his father, he dishonored his father. (Luke 15.) Our western minds cannot grasp the shame heaped upon the father by his son. Children in eastern cultures (biblical setting) were stoned to death if they dishonored their parents. Our children rebel and shame us without sorrow on their part. It is even acceptable in our culture! Children feel that they have a right to do what they want, regardless of the effects upon their parents. A visitor from the east said that what impressed him about America was the way parents obeyed their children!

A preacher wrote these sad words:

"During my eight and half years with the church at Oak Hill, this third time I had enjoyed a pleasant relationship. I had baptized two of my sons and for a while the entire family dressed every Sunday morning for the period of worship, but somewhere along the line I saw their interest in the church wane. Finally, I was going alone. I had prayed that their interest in the church would continue strong as was mine for so many years.

"Finally on Sunday morning, February 13, 1977, I went out to start my old station wagon to go to worship. It would not start. I drifted to the bottom of the hill of my driveway, but it refused to start. I began to think. In the house were my boys who had the knowledge to help me out, but they were asleep. I returned to the study and wept for quite sometime. I felt so helpless. For the first time I was unable to keep my appointment with my brethren. I agonized what I should do. That night when I went to services, I announced to the church my frustration and told them I had decided that in the best interest for all I would preach my last sermon at Oak Hill on the first Sunday in March 1977."

("Life Lines," North Beckley Church of Christ, West Virginia.)

There is no ingratitude greater than that displayed by sinners in rejecting "the unspeakable gift of God on the cross." (2 Cor. 9:15.) Suppose for a moment that you were a passenger on the airplane that crashed in the freezing waters of the Potomac River. Someone on the shore risked their own life to save you. But later after you recovered from the ordeal, you had an opportunity of expressing your appreciation. Suppose the man who saved you was walking on the side of the road because his car ran out of gasoline. You recognized the man walking in the rain, but you would not even stop and give him a ride! This unbelievable response is nothing compared to rejecting the gift of God’s Son.

"He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite the spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:28-29.)

How can we account for such an attitude? Paul described this sin and its cause among the Gentiles.

". . . so that they are without excuse, because that, when they knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Rom. 1:21-22.)

Such ingratitude is possible after one rejects the knowledge of God and becomes hardened in heart. Their pride causes them to exalt themselves above God. It is not natural for children to dishonor their parents who have sacrificed so much for them. That reaction is possible only through extreme self-centeredness and a disregard of the role of others in our lives.