Podcast Summary: "Giving Thanks" – Renewing Your Mind

Host: Ligonier Ministries (Nathan W. Bingham)
Featured Speaker: Dr. R.C. Sproul
Date: November 27, 2025

Main Theme

This special Thanksgiving episode of Renewing Your Mind centers on the biblical call to gratitude, particularly emphasizing the distinction between feeling thankful and actively giving thanks to God and others. Dr. R.C. Sproul, delivering a message from the archives, draws lessons from the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11–19) to challenge listeners to not just possess gratitude internally, but to demonstrate it outwardly—especially towards God.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Tradition and Purpose of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, as a national and spiritual tradition, serves as an intentional time to remember God’s benevolent providence.
- [01:52] R.C. Sproul: "One of the grand traditions of America is our tradition of taking one day out of the year and setting it apart as a special holiday, a holy day, a day to commemorate the benevolent providence of God."

2. The Human “Allergy” to Gratitude

Dr. Sproul begins and reiterates that a primary flaw in fallen human nature is an “allergy” or resistance to acknowledging and giving thanks to God.
- [00:00 & 01:52] Sproul: "One of the basic, most fundamental, foundational defects in our fallen humanity is our allergy to being grateful to God and to giving thanks."

3. The Story of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11–19)

Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one—a Samaritan—returns to give thanks.
- [05:50] Sproul (paraphrasing Luke): “As they went on their way, they realized... they were cleansed. And 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. And he was a Samaritan.”
Detailed context on the social and religious implications of leprosy in biblical times:
- Leprosy entailed isolation, social rejection, and ritual uncleanliness.
- Diagnosis was deeply feared—arguably more than a cancer diagnosis today.
- The process after healing was to be verified as clean by a priest.
- [10:40] Sproul: “Because if there was any word that the Jewish person in antiquity feared more than any other word, it was the word leprosy. Because it not only meant a disease that was often fatal and painful and horribly disfiguring, but it required the ultimate quarantine.”

4. The Real Lesson: Expressing, Not Just Feeling, Gratitude

Dr. Sproul critiques common sermons on this passage, asserting that the other nine lepers surely must have felt grateful, but failed to return and express thanks.
- [18:11] Sproul: “The story here is not about being grateful or not being grateful. Obviously, ladies and gentlemen, they were all grateful. Jesus does not rebuke them for not being grateful. All 10 were grateful. The problem — only one gave thanks. Only one showed his gratitude.”
- [20:20] Sproul: “How many times in your life have you been grateful and never expressed it and never showed it? Do you see the difference between being thankful and giving thanks?”

5. The Cost and Importance of Giving Thanks

Expressing thanks often costs little, yet is frequently neglected, including in prayers to God.
Encourages listeners to intentionally act—specifically, to express thanks directly to God and others.
- [22:30] Sproul: “How much does it cost to give thanks? How much does it cost to show gratitude? … My challenge to you today is that you will act. That you will act concretely and specifically to do what the Samaritan did, to go back and say thank you, acknowledge the gifts that you have received from God and from people.”

6. Call to Action

Dr. Sproul challenges listeners: not just to quietly feel grateful, but to practice concrete, explicit thanksgiving each day.
- [23:30] Sproul: “Let me ask now, today, that you ask not only what are you grateful about, but to whom? And to whom do you have the opportunity to give thanks, to say thanks, to demonstrate, to show your gratitude?”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

[00:00, 01:52] Dr. Sproul: “One of the basic, most fundamental, foundational defects in our fallen humanity is our allergy to being grateful to God and to giving thanks.”
[10:40] Dr. Sproul: “If you can identify at all with that drama, with that anxiety in our own day, then perhaps you can understand something of the drama a Jew experienced when he read those pages of Sacred Scripture... the word leprosy.”
[18:11] Dr. Sproul: “Adolf Hitler would have been grateful if somebody healed him of leprosy.”
[20:20] Dr. Sproul: “The story here is not about being grateful or not being grateful... The problem—only one gave thanks. Only one showed his gratitude.”
[22:30] Dr. Sproul: “My challenge to you today is that you will act... to do what the Samaritan did, to go back and say thank you, acknowledge the gifts that you have received from God and from people.”
[24:00] Nathan W. Bingham: “That is a challenge that I think we all should accept. And let me begin by thanking you.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

00:00 – 00:20 — Introduction: The Human Struggle with Gratitude (Sproul)
01:52 – 05:50 — The History and Meaning of Thanksgiving (Sproul)
05:50 – 13:00 — The Ten Lepers: Scriptural Context and Ancient Jewish Fear of Leprosy (Sproul)
13:00 – 18:11 — Analysis of the Leper’s Healing and Response; Critique of Common Interpretations (Sproul)
18:11 – 23:30 — The Difference Between Thankfulness and Giving Thanks; Practical Spiritual Application (Sproul)
24:00 – 26:07 — Host Reflection and Closing Challenge (Bingham)

Takeaways for Listeners

Thanksgiving is more than a feeling; it should prompt explicit acts of gratitude toward God and others.
Even profound gratitude is incomplete if it is not expressed.
The biblical challenge is to be like the returning Samaritan leper: stop, turn back, and make your thanks known.
Today and every day, identify both your reasons for gratitude and the people to whom your thanks should be given—and act on it.

“How many times in your life have you been grateful and never expressed it and never showed it? Do you see the difference between being thankful and giving thanks?”
– Dr. R.C. Sproul, [20:20]

Transcript

A (0:00)

One of the basic, most fundamental foundational defects in our fallen humanity is our allergy to being grateful to God and to giving thanks.

B (0:20)

We each have so much to be thankful for. No matter our circumstances, we are alive. To breathe is to experience God's common grace. And that's a blessing. And if you're a Christian, to know that you have been reconciled to a holy God should be enough for our hearts and our lips to overflow in expressions of gratitude to our great and merciful God. Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and you're listening to a special edition of Renewing youg Mind in the United States. Today is Thanksgiving. And so we have gone back into the archives and you'll hear a special message that R.C. sproul recorded for Thanksgiving. It's on the topic of thankfulness. This year, the Lord provided opportunities for me to travel across the US and around the world to meet many of you, our faithful daily listeners. Your encouragement and support is so meaningful, and all of us here at Ligonier give thanks to God for you. So today only to thank you for your donation@renewingyourmind.org to help further the reach of this daily broadcast, we'll send you a copy of the popular condensed edition of the Reformation Study Bible. Read it yourself or give it as a gift, but be sure to respond while there's still time, as this offer ends at midnight. Well, here's Dr. Sproul with a message for Thanksgiving simply titled Giving Thanks.

A (1:52)

One of the grand traditions of America is our tradition of taking one day out of the year and setting it apart as a special holiday, a holy day, a day to commemorate the benevolent providence of God. It was called originally Thanksgiving, and the idea of Thanksgiving Day has its roots in our own history, in the bitter struggle that the original founding fathers of this country had with the elements. The pilgrims who came to these shores in 1620 had their ranks depleted by almost 50% in the first year of their struggle in the New World. They lacked the shelter, the food, the supplies that they needed to endure. But instead of being themselves bitter at the severe losses that they experienced as people and as Christians, they were grateful to God for His kindness. One of the basic, most fundamental, foundational defects in our fallen humanity is our allergy to being grateful to God and to giving thanks. Now there's an episode that takes place in the New Testament that involves Jesus in his healing ministry that I think illustrates this basic corruption of our hearts with respect to gratitude. It's a well known story as it involves the healing by the Hand of Jesus of 10 lepers. Let's look at this account that's found in the 17th chapter of the Gospel According to St. Luke, beginning at verse 11. Here's what Luke tells us. Now, it happened as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And then as he entered a certain village, there met him 10 men who were lepers who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and they said, jesus, master, have mercy on us. And so when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And 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. And he was a Samaritan. And so Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this forerunner? And he said to him, arise, go your way, your faith has made you well, one of the questions I often ask people is sometimes a little bit embarrassing for them. I'll ask people, how many of you have read the entire Bible from COVID to cover? And if I'm in large groups and I ask that question, it's amazing how few people there are out there in the church who actually have read the entire scope of Scripture. So then I try to make it a little easier for them, and I say, okay, well, how many of you have read Genesis? Put your hand up. And virtually everybody in the room will raise their hand, and we'll have a sea of hands waving in the crowd. And I'll say, okay, now please keep your hands up if you've also read Exodus. But if you haven't read Exodus, lower your hand. And only a sprinkling of hands will go down. Still, the vast majority will keep their hands up. And I'll say, okay, how many of you have read Leviticus? And now all of a sudden a flood of hands go down, and they're like, how about numbers? And then a bunch more go down. And I said, okay, let's stop right there. What happened? We started with a good intention to read the Bible through. And so we started at the beginning and we read the book of Genesis, and it was somewhat familiar to us. We've heard a little bit about Abraham, something about Joseph and Jacob. And the book of Genesis is filled with drama, with human passion, with human desire, with human care and concern, and with human crime and corruption. Reads like a novel it's no problem getting through Genesis. Then we turn to Exodus. And if we've ever seen Cecil B. DeMille's the Ten Commandments and Charlton Heston and Moses, there's a certain familiarity to this narrative as we go through the dramatic moment in redemptive history of Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt. So our attention remains riveted and wrapped. And then comes Leviticus and numbers, and we get this seemingly endless narrative of dietary laws, of meticulous directions for the fashioning of utensils that are to be used in the tabernacle, which liturgy. We're completely unfamiliar with all of the rules and regulations that govern the priesthood. And there's one section in there. I won't take the time to go over it here, where, for page after page, it goes on with these detailed descriptions on what to do with a skin rash. If you wake up in the morning and you see a rash on your skin and it's this particular color, and you go and you bathe and you wait seven days, and the rash is this, don't worry, it's just poison ivy. But if the rash gets white, then it's this and this and this. Then you go to the priest and go through another test, and you finally come to the conclusion that you have leprosy. Well, it is so detailed and so foreign to our experience that most people, when they read it, quickly lose interest and put the book down. Have you ever been to the doctor and had a biopsy done where you knew what diagnostic purpose was in view, and then you had to wait for the results from the lab? You were waiting for a verdict. Is it benign? Is it malignant? Probably the most feared word in America is the word cancer. It's one of the hardest things for doctors to tell their patients that the results of your test are positive. Well, if you can identify at all with that drama, with that anxiety in our own day, then perhaps you can understand something of the drama a Jew experienced when he read those pages of Sacred Scripture. Because the morning he woke up with a rash on his skin, he read every word of the biblical text, followed every direction, and visited the priest in living anguish over the possibility not that he would have cancer, but that he would be declared a leper. Because if there was any word that the Jewish person in antiquity feared more than any other word, it was the word leprosy. Because it not only meant a disease that was often fatal and painful and horribly disfiguring, but it required the ultimate quarantine for the person who contracted that type of leprosy was forced to leave his family, to leave his job, to leave his community, and to live either completely alone, or the only possible company would be the fellowship of other lepers. And the lepers had to keep themselves a prescribed distance removed from healthy people. On many occasions they wore bells like cows that would ring as they walked, signifying warning to anyone who drew near that a leper was in the vicinity. And if they still couldn't be heard, it was required of the leper if a healthy person began to approach them, that they would call out unclean, total outcasts, total pariahs from their community. And Luke tells us that on one occasion, as he tells us in Luke 17, that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and he was passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And there, as he entered a certain village afar off, was standing a group of lepers. They weren't living in the middle of the village. They were remote, they were isolated, they were quarantined. They were kept at a distance. And when they saw Jes. Luke tells us, they lifted up their voices. They began to scream. They began to shout, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They were crying at the top of their voices with the smallest ray of hope still in their breast that somebody would bring relief, somebody would come with a cure. And already the news of Jesus had gone all over the land. And these lepers somehow through the leper network, had heard the stories. There's a prophet out there, and he touches people. And the blind receive their sight, the deaf receive their hearing. The lame are walking. People have actually been raised from the dead. What do you think? The scuttlebutt was in every leper colony in Israel. They only had two questions. Can he heal leprosy? And will he ever come here? When they saw him coming, the last thing in the world they wanted was for Jesus to pass them by. They didn't care about protocol. They didn't care about the formalities. They just started screaming their heads off. Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us. So when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves to the priests. Strange response of Jesus. It almost sounds that he was dismissing them. Hey, don't talk to me. Talk to the doctor. Because it was the priest who would make the prescriptions for their treatment. And it almost sounds as if Jesus said, don't bother me. I've got more important things to do. I'm on my way to Jerusalem. Go talk about your problem with the priests. But somehow I don't think that was what was communicated it was as if Jesus was saying in his tender voice, you want mercy? Time for a checkup. Go see. Follow the law. Because the only reason they would have to go back to the priest now would be to see if they were clean because it had already been pronounced unclean. They already had the fatal diagnosis. Now Jesus said, it's time to go back, get a new checkup. And as they went on their way, they realized, Luke tells us, they were cleansed. Now, I don't know how many times you've heard sermons on this story. I've heard a lot of them. And there's something that bothers me about the sermons that I hear about this text. I hear over and over again from the pulpit. I hear people preaching on this text. And they say, the problem here is that Jesus healed 10 miserable lepers. And out of that 10, only one was grateful. I think that's crazy. I mean, that's just not possible. Is it possible for a person in the ancient world for a person to go through the utter torture of leprosy, the agony of separation from family, to have a life sentence of this ravaging disease, and then to have somebody come into their midst, instantly heal them, and not be grateful?