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We are in the middle of our VICTORIOUS sermon series. So far, we’d talked about how Jesus gives us victory over DEATH and FEAR.
Maybe you listened to both of those messages. You felt encouraged. But then, a few days later, you started to DOUBT. Today we’re going see how Jesus gives us VICTORY OVER DOUBT. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Why Thomas Doubted As a case study for doubt, we’re going to look at the story of one disciple named Thomas. In fact, Thomas is such a good case study for doubt that he has developed the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” This is unfortunate. I bet he wishes he was remembered as “Believing Thomas,” “Courageous Thomas”, or even “Good Dental Hygiene Thomas.” I doubt Thomas wanted to be known for Doubt. But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. (John 20:24) This account occurs late into the evening on that first Easter. This after the women see the stone rolled open from the tomb. This is after the women talk to angels who tell them about the resurrection. This is after Mary Magdalene sees Jesus near the tomb. This is after the other women meet Jesus outside the cemetery. This is after two disciples traveling to Emmaus meet and speak with Jesus for three-plus hours. This is after Peter gets a one-on-one visit from Jesus. And this is after Jesus enters the locked room filled with 10 of the Twelve apostles - minus Judas, who took his own life and Thomas. And I don’t know what Thomas was doing. …Was he out shopping? …Was he out visiting friends? …Was he out grabbing some Starbucks orders? …Was he stocking up on hand sanitizer for the group? I don’t know. The point is that he missed Jesus’ appearance. So, the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” (v.5) You wouldn’t believe it Thomas – He was alive! Peter was scared. He thought it was a ghost. But it was real! He let us touch his hands. We put our fingers into the nail holes. We placed our hands into the speak mark in his side. He is alive! Isn’t it amazing!?! And Thomas listened. He stroked his beard. And said, “It is amazing…how absolutely gullible you think I am!” “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) Thomas didn’t trust his friends’ words. Not as much as his eyesight. Not as much as his sense of touch. But it was more than just not trusting his friends. TRUTH: Thomas trusted him OWN ABILITIES more than Jesus’ DIVINE ABILITIES Thomas trusted his own ability to determine the veracity of the resurrection. More than Jesus’ ability to accomplish one. This is foolish when you consider the differences in Thomas and Jesus. Thomas had the ability to defeat a cold, if he drank a lot of Orange Juice. Jesus could beat a cold by speaking to it. Thomas had the ability to float on water. Jesus had the ability to walk on it. Thomas had the ability to go to the local McDonalds and buy a Fish Filet. Jesus had the ability to make 5000 more out of thin air. It’s silly to trust a human being more than a Divine being. It’s silly to trust a human being – even if that human being is yourself – more than Divine God. II. Why We Doubt This is not political, but pastoral. In New York, the number of diagnoses each day has been going down. That’s good news. And maybe you saw that in response to that, the governor said this: “The number is down because we brought the number down.” “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that... That’s how it works. It’s math. And if you don’t continue to do that, you’re going to see that number go back up. And that will be a tragedy if that number goes back up.” I get it. He was trying to tell people to keep social distancing, because it’s working. But to say that it’s working apart from God? Why can’t God have worked through a variety of messages, to turn people to do the kind thing and stay home… in addition to providing doctors and nurses the know how to work with patients and government leaders the wisdom to make wise policies. Doubting that God is alive and working. Sounds a lot like Thomas doubting that Jesus is alive and working. Why do humans doubt God so much? A few reasons… (1) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN SENSES more than Jesus. This was Thomas’ simple reason for not believing. Unless he saw Jesus, touched Jesus, smelled Jesus, and heard Jesus, he wouldn’t believe. It’s the same with us. I don’t see God helping me with my finances, I only see it going down. I don’t hear God’s voice calming my fears. I only hear the cries of panic from the rest of the world. I can’t touch Jesus and give him a hug. I can’t touch anyone and give them a hug! Therefore, God doesn’t care. God isn’t helping. God isn’t there. y cares. But… Do you realize how unreliable human senses really are? Have you ever been to the eye doctor and had to cover up one of your eyes to read the eye chart? And they ask you to read line 4 and you’re like, “I think that’s a F. I know that’s an F. It must be an F.” So, you say, “I think it’s an F” and they say, “Nope. That’s an E.” Our eyes are not totally reliable. Have you ever seen those Febreze commercials where they blindfold people and put them in a room filled with garbage! Old banana peels, dirty diapers, mounds of pet hair. But…they cover it up with Febreze and the people think, “We must be in some kind of a rose a garden.” Our noses are not totally reliable. Auditory hallucination occurs when a person’s brain rewires itself to believe that certain thoughts or segments of music are being heard when in fact they are not. This can be caused by a concussion, a brain lesion, psychiatric disease or even high levels of caffeine. In an article published by the Scientific American, an estimated 15% of American Adults aged 18-64 regularly struggle with audio hallucinations, while that number doubles to 33% after the age of 65. Our ears are not totally reliable. But Jesus? He told a paralytic to walk and he did. He told a blind man to see and he did. He told a deaf man to hear and he did. He’s reliable. Trust Jesus more than your Senses. (2) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN FEELINGS more than Jesus. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to conclude, “I’m feeling gloomy today, therefore, the sun must not be in existence anymore.” Nor it is sensible to say, “I’m feeling scared, therefore, giant spider aliens must have invaded earth.” Objective truth is not tied to subjective feeling. Yet, we do this with God all the time. I don’t feel very happy about the pandemic, God, so this must be the wrong choice. The virus is making me sad, God, so you must not care about me. I feel angry at the economic ramifications, so I’ve concluded that God is in the wrong. There are all kinds of problems with trusting human emotions. Human emotions are flimsy. They change rapidly and repeatedly. Human emotions are singular. They consider one’s self and ignore how someone across the country is affected. Human emotions are tied to health. If you get good sleep, it’s easier to feel happy. But perhaps most importantly, the problem is that human feelings are tainted by sin. You might feel sad that you aren’t able to go back to work, because making money was a great distraction from having to interact with your children. You might feel angry that you can’t go to the gym, because you miss flirting with the instructor – even though she’s married and so are you. I can feel sad that we’re doing online church. Some of the reasons for that sadness may be that I’m not able to feed my ego like I used to. Sinful. But Jesus’ emotions were not tainted by sin. When Jesus was about to go to the cross, it was the disciples who yelled at him and told him not to do it, because it made them sad. If Jesus would have listened, they may have been happy for a moment – and currently sad as they spend forever in hell. Instead, Jesus ignored human emotion and did what was necessary to save them – and us – with his death on the cross. (3) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN REASON more than Jesus. Here’s human reason on the coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic is causing suffering. Therefore, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t good. Therefore, God is either… …good, but not really in control. …in control, but not good. …not existent at all. But… Here’s some logic. Humans aren’t perfect. Therefore, their reasoning is imperfect. Humans don’t know everything Therefore, their reasoning is limited. Humans aren’t always right. Therefore, their reasoning is morally flawed. If human reason is limited, imperfect, and morally flawed, then… Maybe our reasoning about God during crisis is limited, imperfect, and flawed too. God’s reasoning? It is unlimited. It is perfect. It is always right. And… It is still unlimited. it is still perfect. it is still right. III. Why We Shouldn’t Doubt Like in the case of Thomas. It didn’t make sense to Thomas that Jesus was alive. It wasn’t rational. It wasn’t reasonable. Thomas didn’t understand it. So… He gave his ultimatum. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) Well… After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting but believe.” (John 20:26-27) Thomas touches the goosebumps on Jesus arms. He runs his fingers over the nail marks in his hands. He puts his hand through the spear mark in his side. And believes. “My Lord and my God!” (v.28) That’s a total transformation. Jesus has driven away Thomas’ doubt. Instead asking “Why should I believe?” he begins to ask, “Why did I ever doubt?” TRUTH: Jesus changes “why believe” into “why doubt.” When you think about this story objectively, there were all kinds of reasons to believe. There had been twenty-some eyewitness reports. These reports came from a variety of appearances. The tomb was empty. There had been a group of trusted friends telling him that they had seen Jesus. There had even been Jesus’ own promises that he would rise from the dead – long before it ever happened. Jesus changes “why believe” into “why doubt.” That’s true for you too. Because Jesus conquered death. Jesus conquered your sin. Jesus lives on high. He is still in control. He is still in love with you. And he is still working all things for your eternal good. Stop doubting and believe. IV. How to battle Doubt Yet…we do struggle. We are sinners. We are weak. We are imperfect. If we live, we will face doubts. How do we battle doubt? A few lessons from Scripture: (1) Recognize YOU Can’t Stop Doubt This is an important point. Because what I fear some of you might do when you are done with this worship service is to say to yourself, “I need to stop doubting. I can do it.” Then, you head into the corner, scrunch your face up, and say, “Stop doubting. Stop doubting. Stop doubting.” This will not work. It won’t be long before you say, “I doubt that I can keep this up.” After Thomas’ confession of faith, look at Jesus’ response: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (v.29) Did you hear that? Jesus called people who believe without seeing as BLESSED. Blessed can mean “gifted.” People who believe without seeing didn’t develop that ability on their own. God gave it to them. TRUTH: Faith is a GIFT. It isn’t something you earn. It isn’t something you do. It is something that God gives. So… (2) Let God Battle Doubt for You Though Jesus’ implies that faith without seeing is something that’s impossible for a human to accomplish on their own, in that same sentence, Jesus also implies that people do believe. How? Look at John’s answer: Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (v.30-31) Did you see it? God wants you to know the reality of the risen Jesus. God wants you to know so that you live forever in heaven with him. God wants you to know and – in order that you would know – he inspired John to write it down for you. TRUTH: God’s Word Battles Doubt for Us Doubting that God will take care of your family? God’s Word says, “The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me beside quiet water. He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23) Doubting that God will be able to conquer COVID-19? God’s Word says, “Praise the Lord, my soul, forget not God’s benefits – He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103) Doubting that God will give you the finances you need? God’s Word says, “Look at the birds of the air; they don’t work, yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable?” (Matthew 6) Doubting that God isn’t mad at you from all your sin? God’s Word says, “In Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Ephesians 1:7) God’s Word battles doubt for us. So… When you are starting to doubt. When you are feeling like God isn’t in control. When your senses, emotions, and reason are battling you, run to God’s Word and let God battle for you. And then, once the doubts subside… (3) Anchor Yourself to God’s word The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6) Because life is very much like a sea. Our senses smack us in the face like waves. Our emotions swirl around us. Reason flies into our face like the wind. But… When you are anchored in God’s Word. When you are clinging to God’s promises. When you are holding to Jesus… You will not sink into doubt. But stand on Jesus. Amen.
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Last week we began our sermon series called VICTORY and were reminded how Jesus won the VICTORY over death with his glorious resurrection. Today we’re going back to the very first Easter to learn something else that Jesus gives use victory over. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. When Fear Reigns On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together…(Jn. 20:19) I don’t think I’ve ever read this portion of Scripture before and felt so envious. They weren’t practicing social distancing. They got to be together. They didn’t have to ZOOM. They didn’t have to log on to YouTube. Andrew didn’t have to tell Peter to turn his sound off when he wasn’t talking so that you could hear James the Less. The disciples were together. That’s wonderful. But… They weren’t having a meal. They weren’t playing Settlers of Catan. They weren’t enjoying drinks and throwing darts. They were scared. …the disciples were together… behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. (Jn. 20:19) A latch at the top of the door. A key lock from the inside. A circular deadbolt. A square deadbolt. A combination lock. One of those big old pieces of wood that you slide in front of the door. A couple of chains. A metal boot. Even a bunch of chairs, tables, and boxes pushed in front. The doors were locked because of the fear of the Jews. They were talking about the religious leaders. These guys were murderers. They were vicious. They had plotted. They had planned. They had pushed their agenda until Jesus had been brutally crucified. If they did that to their leader, they might not stop until each of them was nailed to a cross. But their fears were more than that… The disciples were out of a job! With Jesus gone, their whole corporation had folded. They couldn’t get out and make an income. They’d be risking arrest. They were afraid for the future of their careers, afraid for the future of their families, and afraid for the future of their church I bet they were even afraid of how they were going to get food through the night. TRUTH: Without Jesus, FEARS reigns. Because if Jesus were here, they’d be protected from the Roman soldiers. Jesus even drove out demons. If Jesus were here, they didn’t need to worry about money. He once caught a fish with the exact amount of money needed to pay taxes. If Jesus were here, they’d be taken care of, he fed over 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and two fish. He could use that leftover ground beef in the fridge and turn it into a Taco Supreme with the snap of his fingers. But… Jesus wasn’t there. And without Jesus, FEAR reigns. This is a big problem in our world right now. The devil is trying to distract us with bad report after bad report, terrible news after terrible news, horrible thing after horrible thing. So that we miss out on Jesus. And… Without Jesus, Fear reigns. If I’m honest… It’s worked on me. I’ve been afraid. What are some things that pastors are afraid of during COVID-19? I’ll tell you. Afraid of never getting another high five. Afraid that having to stay between lines will condition me not to move back and forth while I preach. I’m afraid that we will lose momentum. Afraid that those Sanctuary Updates…may never happen? Afraid that our idea for a satellite church in Durham will stall. Afraid that offerings will go down and we’ll have to trim our ministries? Afraid that Precious Lambs will barely survive. Afraid that we’ll lose families. Afraid that we’ll lose workers. Afraid that the virus might get to one of you. Afraid that the virus might be spread by me. Afraid that because of quarantine laws, one of our members might be dying and I won’t be able to see you in person before your final breath. Afraid that we might not be able to get to little Daniela. Afraid that she’ll get sick. Afraid that since she’s immunocompromised that if she gets sick… …I’ll never get to meet her. That’s how it feels when the devil distances me from Jesus. Because without Jesus, FEAR reigns. II. Replacing Fear But here’s the good news for you and me: …The devil can never do that for very long. …Because Jesus always finds his people. …even behind locked doors. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” (Jn. 20:19) To be honest, their initial reaction was probably fear. In fact, the Gospel of Luke tells us that, “they were terrified and thought they were looking at a ghost.” (Luke 24:37) To help with their fears, “Jesus showed them his hands and side” (20:20a) Here. Feel the bumps on my skin. Put your hands on my face. Warm, right? Touch the ridges of the nail scars. Notice the spear shaped mark in my side. I’m not a ghost I’m not a figment of your imagination. I’m real. And here’s what happens next The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (v.20b) Did you see that? It had been a room filled with fear. But when Jesus enters the room? He turns it all around. Fear leaves. And its replacement? Joy. TRUTH: Jesus replaces FEAR with JOY. Afraid of lost income? Jesus offers your eternal riches that will never run out. Afraid of a lost job? Jesus gives you a place working aside him in his kingdom. Fearful of the virus? Jesus defeated death itself! Fearful for your family? Jesus says you will always be a part of his. Fearful for your church? Jesus is the church’s One foundation. It will not lose. Afraid of being alone? Jesus is with you now and will never leave you. III. Proclaiming Peace But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Look at what he does next: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” (Jn. 20:21) Notice how that starts: PEACE. Jesus says it again! And I don’t think any of the disciples were upset that Jesus repeated himself. (Honestly, there shouldn’t be a limit in the number of times that God’s people can hear him say: “PEACE.”) But I think there’s a reason he does this specifically here. As they realize that it’s all true. As they realize that Jesus really rose from the dead. As they realize that he truly was standing before them… It’s quite possible that another fear hit them. He’s come to get us back! Last we saw him, we abandoned him. We denied him. We went and hid while he faced death by himself. We are sinners. Our Holy God has returned to get us! Oh no! Please shoot your lightning bolts in Peter’s direction. It was all his idea! But Jesus didn’t shoot them with a lightning bolt. He didn’t yell at them. He didn’t even give them a stern look. He simply said: “Peace.” I’m not here to hurt you. Your sins are forgiven. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to recruit you. TRUTH: PEACE-filled people proclaim PEACE. Imagine with me what it will be like. You’re watching the news. Suddenly, there’s a breaking report. The quarantine is over. The virus is in remission. What are you going to do when your spouse comes into the room and ask, “Has anything interested happened?” Are you gonna say, “Nah.”? No, you’ll tell her the good news. You’ll text message a friend. You’ll Facebook live yourself doing a Coronavirus is conquered dance. Friends, We have better news than that. Our sins have been forgiven. Jesus conquered death. We have the promise of eternal life. This is worth sharing. IV. What Now? How do you do it? How do we proclaim peace in a COVID-19 world? I want to switch gears and head to the book of 1 John. That is the first letter written to believers everywhere by the Apostle John. John was one of the Apostles in that room on the first Easter Sunday. He was a guy that had been filled with fear until Jesus showed up and transformed it into joy. He knows a thing or two about driving fear from people’s hearts, Because Jesus drove fear from his own heart. Listen to what he writes in 1 John 4:16-18. God is love. He who remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus. There is no fear in love, but complete love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. (1 John 4:16-18) I love how that starts. God is love. Love is God. It doesn’t say that God is FEAR. It doesn’t say that God is ANXIETY. It doesn’t say that God is TERRIFYING. God is love. Because God is love, he drives our FEAR. And, because you are loved, God drives out FEAR through YOU. How might God drive out fear through you? A few points (1) Fill Your Heart with God This is an important point. Because it is hard to be loving towards others when you’re afraid. Do you remember my dog Frankie? The one that’s absolutely terrified of laundry baskets? Usually she’s friendly. Usually she licks your hands. Usually she has no problem cuddling next to you and showing you puppy love. But… If that laundry basket is there? She runs away. No love is shown. Because it’s hard to be loving towards others when you’re afraid. So, how do we keep fear out of our hearts? Look at verse 16 again: He who remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 John 4:16) This is a cup. It’s filled with air. You know it. I know it. We all know it . If I wanted to get rid of the air, it would be difficult. I can pour it out? Still filled with air. I can dump it upside down? Still filled with air. I could crush it. It’s still filled with air. The same is true with fear. If you have it in your heart, it’s there. You can try to hide. You can try to distract. You can drink a lot. You can yell a lot. But… In the end, fear is still there. Do you know the only way to remove the air? Fill it with something else. It’s the same thing with FEAR. The only way to DRIVE OUT fear from your heart is to FILL your heart with JESUS. That’s what we’re doing right now. Keep doing it. Join a daily devotional. Add an afternoon devotional. Add an evening devotional. Add a bible reading before bed. Go to sleep to the Bible app (and the guy on the Bible app has such a gentle voice)… Go to sleep to the Bible app reading from the Psalms. If you want to drive out fear from OTHERS, fill your own heart with JESUS. (2) Live God’s Love In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus. (1 Jn. 4:17) Because God’s Love is much different than the world’s love. The world’s love is very emotion based. “It’s about people making you feel butterflies and fireworks and sparks.” God is love. And I doubt God felt butterflies for you and me on the cross. Because we were still sinners that Yet God is love. He still died for us. He still rose for us. He still saved us God’s love is not an emotional reaction. God’s love is an action DESPITE an emotional reaction. And God isn’t calling you to feel butterflies with everyone you meet. He’s calling you to perform actions of love even when others make us feel like we don’t want to God’s calling you to… …get up from the couch, do the dishes, even if your spouse didn’t ask in a nice voice. …text message something nice to that person at work, even if they’ve just been badmouthing you on the group chat. …give a call to your grandma, even if she’s mostly grouchy. …spend time with your kids, even if they’re really cranky. …help out that neighbor, who’s never friendly and always frowning. Live God’s action-centered love. (3) Speak the Gospel There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. (v.18) Perfect love? That’s impossible for sinful humans to achieve. Perfect love? That’s exactly who Jesus is. He lived for us. He died for us. He rose for us. That’s the message of love that drives out fear! Remember earlier – how I described my fears. Those were real fears. But I don’t have them anymore. Know why? I was talking to a pastoral friend. He let me vent. He let me share my fears. And then…do you know what he said? Even if all that happened, you’d be ok. Because even if all that happened, you’d still have Jesus. In fact, you have Jesus right now. Don’t be afraid. Without Jesus, fear reigns. With Jesus, fear runs. Share Jesus. Amen. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve learned a lot about IDOLATRY.
Idolatry is placing something that isn’t GOD in God’s PLACE. Our idols are that we FEAR, LOVE or TRUST more than God. Church is a place where idolatry can creep in and take God’s place in our worship Jesus has FREED us from slavery to idolatry. As a result, God wants the FREE to FLEE idolatry & SERVE others. Putting these truths into practice means we are to approach each day like a battle. One of the things that I legitimately struggle with is eating too much junk food. The whole Doritos thing. It’s real. I can go through an entire bag in a sitting which will cause me to feel “wonderful” in the morning. I was talking to some pastor brothers earlier this week and we discussed how this is a stressful situation as pastors and how the devil will use this stressful situation to try and get us to turn to our vices for comfort. Like Doritos. Now I was feeling pretty pumped up. I was excited to try and not eat Doritos at the end of the day. I was confident that I’d do well. But… When Julianna texted me to go to the store to see if I could pick up some supplies… And I happened by the Dorito aisle because it was next to the contact solution (like 5 aisles to the right, but…) And I saw that delicious bag taunting me. I made the healthy choice. I bought Cool Ranch. Cause… I think there’s veggies in it. Ever feel like that? That the idols you struggle with are just too powerful? As if they’ll always win? Are you ready to give up? This message from God’s Word is for you. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. A Dire Situation To learn more about how to battle idolatry, we’re going to look at one of the most prolific times of idolatry in the Bible. It revolves around a king named Ahab. Listen to the Bible’s brief description of him: Ahab committed more evil in the eyes of the Lord than all those who had gone before him. (1 Kings 16:30) How so? He considered it a trivial thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam. (v.31a) Jeroboam was a king who brought back the worship of golden calves. That’s the sin from back at the time of Moses. It had returned. And Ahab? He kept it going. But to him, it was just child’ s play. Ahab served Baal and bowed down to him. (v.31b) Baal was a bit more hardcore. He was a statue of a half man and half bull. Baal was more hardcore than the golden calf because, Baal required child sacrifices. Something that the REAL GOD was and is absolutely against. But Ahab, the king of the people of Israel, the REAL GOD’s people, didn’t fight Baal worship. Nope. Ahab erected an altar to Baal in the house of Baal. (v.32) Ahab spent government money on a house for Baal. Ahab spent tax money on a monument to this “Baal”. Ahab placed a tiny golden plate at the entrance that said, “Temple to Baal – Built by Ahab.” Ahab did more than that! He erected Asherah poles around Israel. He commanded festivals for people to worship these false gods. He gave positions to over 450 Baal-ian clergy He murdered the prophets of the REAL God. There is no wonder that the Bible summarizes Ahab like this: Ahab did even more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who had gone before him. (v.33) He was terrible. Because of his terrible leadership, the situation in Israel was spiritually terrible. Notice I said spiritually terrible. Because economically things seemed to be going well. There was plenty of food. There were buildings going up. People were wealthy. Everything seemed wonderful. Though it was a spiritual disaster. So… God reacted. Elijah… said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there will be no dew or rain during the coming years.” (1 Kings 17:1) The skies closed. The rain stopped. The crops dried up. No rainstorms. No morning dew. No afternoon showers. Not even a “sprinkling.” Just dry. For three whole years. Hmmm… Cataclysmic event? On a seemingly good economy? Friends, I’m not Elijah. I don’t have a special verbal revelation from God. I can’t tell you exactly why the Pandemic is happening. But I do have God’s Word and I can say this. TRUTH: God works through CALAMITY to return people to the REAL GOD. During this calamity, I can say confidently that God wants you to RETURN to Him. To turn from your idols. To turn from things. To turn from stuff. To turn from your social media. To turn from your own agenda. To turn from selfishness. To turn from pride. To turn from anything that is not the REAL GOD And turn back to Him, the REAL GOD. II. The Challenge At the end of the three years of drought, God sent the prophet Elijah to King Ahab. As he approached, Ahab said this to Elijah, ““Is that you, the one who brings trouble on Israel?” (v.17) Not a repentant bone in his body. Not a bit of humility in his heart. Not an inkling of thought that ‘Maybe this has something to with the fact that I slaughtered all of God’s prophets, erected false idols in God’s temple, sacrificed children to piece of stone and generally led hundreds of thousands of people away from the true God onto the road to hell.” “This is all God’s fault.” TRUTH: Idol worshipers tend to blame GOD for problems caused by their own IDOLATRY. Elijah calls him on it: He says, “Dude, it isn’t I who have brought trouble on Israel. It was you. You abandoned the real God. You stopped obeying his commands. You started bowing down to a statue. You have been single handedly leading a nation of people away from their Savior. “But… “You and me? Let’s not fight. Let’s have our Gods fight.” They made a plan. A notice was sent to all the people of Israel. Thousands gathered on a local hilltop. Ahab gathered all 450 prophets of Baal. Elijah, the only prophet of God left, gathered himself. Then Elijah said to all the people, “How long will you stagger around on two crutches?” “I can’t follow God. All of my friends like Baal.” “Oh no! I’m sick. Better return to God.” “OK. I’m better. Just in time to join my friends in THINGS & STUFF.” “Uh oh. There’s a recession. I’d better get back into my Bible.” “Crud. The girl I like doesn’t like Jesus. I’d better stop name dropping him.” “Well, since she dumped me. I guess it’s ok to go back to worship.” Stop staggering on two crutches. If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him.” (v.21) And the people, well… …You know how at work…when the boss asks if anyone is interested in doing extra hours over the weekend…and it wouldn’t be an increase in pay, just something you do because “blah blah blah” you “love the company? And no one says anything. That’s how the people responded to Elijah. With awkward silence. III. The Showdown Elijah continued: “I am the only one left of the Lord’s prophets, but the prophets of Baal total four hundred fifty men. Provide two bulls for us. Let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it up and place it on the firewood, but they are not to light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the firewood, but I will not light the fire. Then you will call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers with fire, he is God.” (v.22-24) Sound fair? The people nodded. Elijah let prophets of Baal go first. They carefully examine both bull carcasses. Between the 450 of them, they would have been able to select the one that burned more quickly. Then, they took their carcass. They placed it on some firewood. And they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. (v.26) Oh Great, wonderful Baal! Send fire upon us your servants. Baal, Baal, amazing and magnificent. Showcase your power right now! Baal, Baal, he’s our half man, half bull, if he can’t do it no one can! Baal, Baal, please… At noon, Elijah began to mock them. “Shout louder! He is a god, isn’t he? He may be deep in thought…you know. Trying to figure out how to light the fire without matches. Or busy…The word in Hebrew means “busy using the restroom.” Or on a journey…visiting his cousin in Newark. So… The prophets shouted louder. They screamed at the top of their lungs. They danced as fast as their feet could move them. They cut themselves thinking – that if they bled, maybe Baal would care enough to send one little spark. They kept up a prophetic frenzy until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound. No one answered. There was no response. (v.29) After eight long hours, Elijah stood up. Calmly, he took twelve stones and made an altar. He dug around the altar until there was trench. Then, he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the sacrifice and on the wood.” (v.33) The servants looked at one another oddly. Because that’s not usually the best way to prepare a sacrifice. But…it was Elijah’s turn now, so… They poured the four jars of water onto the sacrificed. Not once. Not twice. Three times. Until the sacrifice was soaked. The water was drenched. There was even a little river flowing in the trench. Then, Elijah walked to the altar. He looked up. And prayed: “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things by your word. Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back to you.” (v.36-37) And… As soon as he finished. As soon as he put the “n” sound on the “Amen…” Fire from the Lord fell on the sacrifice and on the wood, the stones, and the dirt. (v.37) It burned up the water-soaked carcass. It consumed the drenched firewood. It burned up the stones. And even licked up the water in the trench. (v.37) When all the people saw this, they fell on their knees and said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” (v.39) Friends, here’s a truth that remains true to this day: God UTTERLY DEMOLISHES any idol he’s up against. It doesn’t matter what idol you put up against the REAL GOD, the LORD, Jesus Christ, in a one-on-one battle, God wins. God versus Baal? God wins. God versus Asherah? God wins. God versus Dagon? God wins.. God versus Zeus. God wins.. God versus Aphrodite. God wins. God versus Poseidon. God wins. God versus Vishnu. God wins. God versus Buddha. God wins. God versus Allah. God wins. God versus Entertainment. God wins. God versus Social Media. God wins. God versus A Booming Economy. God wins. God versus Science. God wins. God versus Politicians. God wins. God versus Society. God wins. God versus Greed. God wins. God versus Lust. God wins. God versus Pride. God wins. God versus yourself? God wins. God utterly demolishes any idol he’s up against. And God utterly demolishes any idol worshipers he’s up against. So… Elijah’s words seem appropriate: Stop staggering on two crutches. If the Lord is God, follow him. (v.21) Turn to God. But don’t do so in fear. Even if you’ve been staggering between idol worship and God. Don’t be afraid. Because… God UTTERLY DEMOLISHED our SIN of idolatry. The title of this sermon is the Great Idolatry showdown. But…I wasn’t talking about this incredible public event on Mount Carmel. I was talking about the quiet private event in the garden of Gethsemane. Because there, the devil used every idol he could think of. Comfort. Hatred. Self-interest. To tell Jesus, “Stop listening to your Father. Don’t go through with the plan. None of these people are worth it. None of them matter. They’ve gone after their own idols. They haven’t worshipped the true God. They’ve sinned. Let them the fire of God consume them.” But Jesus. Bowed to the ground. He looked up to heaven. He said, “Father…not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) Then, Jesus got up. He went to be arrested. He allowed himself to be sacrificed on the cross. In doing so… Jesus utterly destroyed all your sins. He utterly destroyed all the times you’ve staggered between idols. He consumed with raging fire all the times you’ve worshipped things other than him. He burned to ash every last one of your sins. Friends, take heart. Jesus, the True God, is on your side. IV. What Now? All that being said, idols are a part of life. The devil will do everything he can to make you lose battle after battle against idolatry. How do we fight back? A few ideas: (1) Lift Up Your Eyes Because that’s what Elijah did. Instead of looking forward at some stupid statue, he looked up to the true God. Right now, God calls you to the same. Colossians 3:1-3 says this, “Because you were raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” During the Coronavirus crisis, it’s tempting to look around. To look at your bank account, to look at doctor’s recommendations, to look at social media post after social media post to try and find answers. And it’s not wrong to do that. But if we’re not LOOKING UP, we’re not looking to the true God. Because when you look to the true God. When you see that he burns up water drenched sacrifices with a giant fireball from heaven… When you see that he defeats sin with his death and resurrection… There’s confidence. He’s the One you need. (2) Remember your Identify That’s what the people of Israel had forgotten. They had forgotten that they were God’s children. They had forgotten all of God’s incredible miracles. They had forgotten God’s merciful promise of the Savior. They had begun to believe – they belonged to Baal. It’s easy when Idolatry attacks to feel like that’s your identity: I’m a drunkard. I’m an addict. I’m a grump. I’m a failure. But… That’s not who you are. I was watching a show called 100 humans on Netflix. It does experiments on a variety of humans to gain input on the human psyche. One experiment had humans learn to twirl plates on a stick. They had two hours of guidance and instruction from a professional plate spinner. Then, they would come and perform for judges. But before they performed the judges would blindly pull out a ping pong ball from a hat. If the ball was blue, they would give positive reinforcement no matter how terrible they were. If the ball was red, they would give negative reinforcement, no matter how good it was. Then, after receiving the judge’s reaction, the humans would be allowed two more hours of practice. Then, they’d re-perform. The result? Everyone who was told that they did terribly? Their time of plate in the air went down. One guy didn’t even attempt because he believed what the judge’s said: “I’m worse than a dog.” But everyone who was encouraged? They improved. One lady who hadn’t actually gotten the plate to spin the first time said, “You told me I doing great. So I kept trying.” Here’s what God says about you: For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (v.3-4) You are his child. You are forgiven. You are a GOD worshiper. No matter what idols you have worshipped in the past, that identity is dead because of Jesus. (3) Put to Death Your Idols Did you know that’s what Elijah did at the end of the section? God had Elijah and the people put to death the 450 prophets of Baal. That might sound harsh to you. But remember – these prophets had been involved in the murder of God’s prophets, the murder of young children, and leading an entire nation to eternal destruction in hell. Do the same with your idols: Put to death whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, uncleanness, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. (v.6) Understand – that does NOT mean harm any person in any way at all. But it does mean REMOVE the idols that you fall to. Put a filter on the computer that leads to Internet porn. Install an app that limits access to social media. Pour your booze down the drain. Cut off the friendship that’s leading you away from Jesus. (4) Be Confident Because GOD wins! Despite the disadvantages it appears that God has. Think of the account of Elijah. Baal has 450 prophets; GOD only had 1. Baal had first pick of the sacrifices; GOD got the leftover. Baal had a dry altar area; GOD’s was drenched. Baal had 8 hours to set it on fire; GOD had a few minutes. But GOD won. It might look like the idols in your life will always win. With the help of the virus, it might seem impossible. But you’re wrong. GOD always wins. Even when it looks like he’s at a disadvantage, he’s not. Because… He’s the only TRUE GOD. And the true GOD always wins. Amen. The other day I was sitting over at the Preschool eating some peanuts.
A young friend happened to pass by. She entered the room and asked, “Whatcha eatin’?” “Peanuts,” I said. She said, “May I have one?” “Sure.” There were only a few peanuts left. I gave her some and I popped the others into my mouth. As I was lowering my hand from this delicious bite, I noticed another young friend at the door. She came up to me. Held out her hand and said, “Peanuts?” Unfortunately, I didn’t have any left. Even after five minutes of tears and loud screams, I’m not sure that I was able to explain it to her. I was out of food – and there’s nothing I could do about it. We’ve been going through the MIRACLES of Jesus and we have seen his power over INDIVIDUAL health challenges and over NATURE itself. But what happens when a bunch of individuals need help at the same time? Does Jesus have enough power? Before we get into a miracle with that exact challenge, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The God of YOU The miracle is written about in Matthew 15. It starts at verse 29: Jesus moved on from there and went along the Sea of Galilee. He went up onto the mountain and sat there. (Matthew 15:29-31) Jesus again stays near the Sea of Galilee. This has been one of his favorite places. It isn’t because the Sea of Galilee is such a “spiritual” place. There isn’t a temple there or quiet retreat center. Jesus went there because the people were there. There’s a lesson for us. God wants us as his church to not just bring his message to this building, but to bring this message where the people are. If Jesus were around today, he’d frequent a Starbucks. He’d love the local library. He’d be a big fan of Crabtree Valley Mall. He’d be where people are – and we, as his people, need to be where the people are. And the people, large crowds of people came to him. They brought the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak and many others. They put them down at Jesus’ feet and he healed them. Granted – there aren’t any details in that sentence. Maybe he grabbed the lame by the hand and pulled them to their feet or simply spoke, “Get up.” Maybe he put his hands directly over a mute’s mouth or divinely patted them on the back to loosen their vocal cords. Maybe he threw water on those with leprosy or maybe he had them dive into the Sea of Galilee. Or maybe he just looked at the crowd and said, “All y’all are healed.” I don’t know. The point is that it happened. Jesus healed a crowd of people who came to him. That’s important. Because look at the next sentence: As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. The Bible had mentioned the mountains earlier. More than likely, this is a reference to a group of hills down to the south east of the Sea of Galilee. That’s important because this was an area that wasn’t inhabited by the Israelites alone. It was filled with Gentiles (that is, non-Israelites). Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, North Africans, and West Asians. This explains the exclamation! They call Jesus “The God of Israel.” “He’s the God that dwells in Israel.” “He’s a real powerful God, too. He healed my cousin. The ‘gods’ of my country couldn’t do that.” “And apparently, he cares about me, too. Even though I’m not Jewish and I don’t dwell anywhere near Jerusalem.” TRUTH: Jesus is the God of ALL PEOPLE. Sometimes it’s easy to picture Jesus like the Genie from Aladdin. If you remember the plot, the Genie is only able to grant wishes and help the last person to rub the lamp. It’s the reason that near the end of the movie, Aladdin tries to get him to save his life, but the Genie can’t, because Jafar was the last person to rub the lamp and the Genie must listen to him. You might think Jesus can’t help you. As if Jesus only helps those people of one particular race. Or Jesus only helps those “churchy” looking people over there. Or Jesus only listens to people who have a middle-class salary or above. Wrong. Jesus is the God of all people. He helps all people. He died, rose, and proclaims the kingdom of heaven for all people. TRUTH: Jesus is the God of YOU. You don’t have to look any farther. It’s not like looking for a Valentine. You don’t have to create a dating app profile. You don’t have to worry about God swiping left. You don’t have to get yourself hyped up to go to a bar late at night hoping to bump into the “right god,” at least for a night. Jesus is the God of YOU. He came to earth for YOU. He lived perfectly for YOU. He died innocently for YOU. He rose triumphantly for YOU. He brings forgiveness for YOU. He gives the promise of heaven for YOU. He proclaims peace with the Father for YOU. Talk about a Valentine? This is more than just a picture of a Thomas the tank engine that says, “I chooo-chooo—choose you.” This is Jesus, your God, giving his blood, to be with you now – and in eternity. II. The Miracle But we haven’t even gotten to the BIG miracle yet. Look at the next verse: Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me already three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they might faint on the way.” (v.34) Jesus was preaching out on the mountain and some people had been sitting there, staying there, and listening to him there for three days. (Like some kind of Christian overnight camp… …just without the egg & spoon races.) Apparently, on the third day, the camp food that people had packed had run out. They didn’t have any bread. They didn’t have any meat. They didn’t have a Fruit Roll up, a Twizzler or even a marshmallow for a s’more.” Jesus recognizes that. And he cares about that. And he speaks to the disciples about this. The disciples respond, “Where can we get so many loaves in the wilderness to satisfy such a large crowd?” (v.33) They were in the middle of the wilderness. There wasn’t any civilization around. It’s not like right here at church where there’s bound to be food in the Fellowship Hall. But…if we did run out we could head over to Chick-fil-A, Moe’s, Tropical Smoothie, Smashburger, the Mediterranean place, or even the gas station down the block (They’ve got a great deal of two hot dogs for $3). “Jesus,” they said, “we can’t get food from anywhere close.” “Emphasis on we.” But, Jesus... You on the other hand… Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” (v.34) Understand: a normal loaf of bread in Ancient Israelite culture would be about the size of a pita bread with a bit thicker substance to it. That’s not bad for one person to eat. But seven of them? That could maybe feed seven. Or fourteen, but it wouldn’t fill them. Plus, they have a few small fish. Currently, there is a list of 27 different types of fish that dwell in the Sea of Galilee. Some of the most commonly referenced in antiquity writing include are salmon and red-bellied tilapia. The tilapia is the smaller. It’s about 12 inches in length. A few of those? Feed a small family. Add that to the bread? Maybe 15. But those 15 are all still hungry. Look what Jesus does. He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks. He broke them. He gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave them to the people. And… They all ate and were filled. They picked up seven basketfuls of the broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. (v.35-37) Dissect those words. (1) All Ate Not some. Not a few. Not half. Not even most. ALL ate. It wasn’t as if one little kid missed out because his brother ate his portion. It wasn’t as if dad had to forego food so his wife could eat. It wasn’t as if there was some guy who stepped out to use the restroom and by the time he came back there wasn’t any. All ate. Jesus cared for all of them. He used his power to provide for ALL of them. (2) Filled The word implies that food was completed in their tummies. There wasn’t any space left for anything else. We’re talking full—full. Thanksgiving full. Golden Corral full. Three bags of Family Sized Doritos full. Jesus provided enough that ALL were FULL. (3) 4,000 Plus Back in the day, a group of people was counted by the able-bodied men. Men were the ones who joined the army. It made sense to have an accurate account of people that you could use as makeshift soldiers. Scripture tells us that there were about 4,000 men who ate. But there were also women and children. If half of the guys had wives present… And half those wives had one child present. 7,000 people isn’t hard to get to. And yet all 7,000 some were fed by 7 loaves of bread. (Can you imagine finding a loaf of bread in the grocer’s aisle that said that? Feeds 1,000). (4) Seven Baskets Full of Leftovers When Jesus is done, he has the disciples collect all of the leftovers. Remember – they only had one basket to begin with. After feeding 4,000 plus people, I would imagine there to be ZERO basketfuls left. But the disciples… Bring back seven. FULL. This is a miracle. It’s an amazing miracle! It was witnessed by thousands! And just like any miracle. The miracle is a sign of Jesus’ power. Here’s the TRUTH: Jesus has power over the TINIEST MOLECULES of MATTER He had power to create bread out of no more bread. He created flour – without having to thresh the wheat. He created salt – without having to mine the Galilean Sea. He created yeast – without having to get yeast from wherever yeast comes from. He created matter out of thin air because he has power over even the tiniest of molecules. He has power over making sure you’re getting enough oxygen. He has power to make sure that the hairs on your head remain on your head. He has power to ensure that the raindrops don’t make the ground so wet that your car slides off course. He has power to create a one celled little human life without the womb of a mother. And… Since Jesus has power over the tiniest molecules… And Jesus is the God of you… TRUTH: Jesus has power in the TINIEST MOMENTS of YOUR LIFE. That’s important. Because sometimes there are moments in our lives that seem TOO small for Jesus. Too unimportant. Too unworthy of being cared about. But… Jesus does. When you’re feeling a little blue, because your friends didn’t invite you to the movies, Jesus cares and has power to heal. When you’re feeling a little guilty about those words you said, Jesus cares and has power to forgive. When you’re feeling a little bit sick with a tiny headache coming, Jesus cares and has power to make you feel better. When you’re feeling a bit nervous, because you’re the new kid at school, Jesus cares and has power to remain beside you always. When you’re feeling a little intimidated at the work you have to do, Jesus cares and says, “I am with you.” III. Enough! Look again at how well Jesus cares during those moments. During this miracle, he provided for the hunger of the crowd. But he didn’t just dissipate it. He didn’t just tide the people over. He gave them food until they had ENOUGH. TRUTH: Jesus changes the “I’m hungry” to “enough!” He did that for the people physically. He literally created matter where there wasn’t any in order to make that happen. Yes, I suppose he could do the same thing for us. But normally Jesus provides for us in different ways. He provides through… …giving you strength to work and make some money. …a Valentine’s Day gift card from a loved one. …a night out with friend who pays for the appetizers. …an awesome fellowship snack table after worship. …a financial gift of a caring church member. God provides so that we have enough physically. But he also provides….spiritually. Because though the focus of this miracle is the bread that satisfies their bodies, but we can’t forget about what Jesus did the three days before this. He spoke to them the Gospel message. In fact, that’s the reason that the people stayed listening to Jesus! They were so enthralled by his three-day sermon. Can you imagine a sermon that good? (Don’t answer that question). Jesus provides spiritually even today. He provides a plate full of forgiveness. He provides a smorgasbord of salvation. He provides an “eating out of your ears” amount of eternal life. He provides for all your spiritual needs. IV. What Now? (1) Give Thanks Did you see that in the story? Jesus, who is God, before he goes about created matter out of nothing, he takes a moment and gives thanks. That moment focused everyone’s hearts on what God was about to do. Do the same thing. This isn’t just an encouragement to say your table prayers. You should. But… Have you ever thought about the common table prayer? The one from the Psalms? “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord…” That before a meal. But also before. Also after being able to buy a new pair of socks at Target. Also after ordering a new DVD on Amazon. Also after getting a stick of gum from your grandpa. Also after receiving a 10th Starbucks drink free because of the Starbucks app. All of these gifts are from God. May we take a moment to GIVE THANKS. (2) Find Satisfaction in Jesus Because we are a nation of unsatisfied people. The world knows that, and it tells you that it will offer you satisfaction…. …in THIS BEER. …in this plate of NACHOS BELLGRANDE. …in this CUP OF COFFEE. …In this LEWD INTERNET PHOTO. …In this RAUNCHY COMEDY clip. …In this ANGRY Facebook rant. …In this approval from other church members. …in this approval from other family members. …in this approval from a significant other. But all those things? Won’t fully satisfy. All those things? Will expire. Will go away. Will end. But Jesus? “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will NEVER be hungry.” (John 6:35) Did you hear that? Never. In Jesus you are… NEVER alone. NEVER unloved. NEVER unforgiven. Jesus satisfies. Amen. "Kobe Bryant died."
I was reading that message on my phone Sunday evening and my first reaction was that it was probably a hoax. But I kept seeing reported by CNN, Fox News, NBC, CBS, ABC, and ESPN. NBA Legend Kobe Bryant had been tragically killed in a helicopter accident. There was even live video footage of the helicopter crash. It was real. And it really affected a lot of people. Person after person on social media mourning the death of Kobe Bryant. This is strange. Because… People die every day. People die every hour. People die every minute. Why did Kobe’s death affect so many people? Perhaps it has something to do with his celebrity. Kobe was the best in the business. He was at the top of his game. He was the pinnacle of his craft. He was involved in much charity work. It looked like there wasn’t anything Kobe couldn’t do. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t conquer. But then…death. Maybe it affects us so much because, “If Kobe couldn’t beat death, how can anyone of us?” This morning, we continue our MIRACLE series, by pitting Jesus against death itself. The question: Who is more powerful? Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Jairus’ Last Hope We’re going to look at an account that is written about by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each of them provides some different insight into the miracle, so by looking at them together we get a full picture of the event. When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. (Mk. 5:21) Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house, because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. (Lk. 8:41-42) Jairus was a synagogue leader, that is Jairus oversaw the upkeep and activities of this local place of worship. He was the one who made sure the synagogue was properly decorated for each religious festival. He made sure it was scheduled appropriately and the ladies’ group didn’t book the fellowship area the same night as the men’s group. He made sure that when little Hezekiah spilled cheerios in the back seats that those cheerios were picked up and removed before the next worship service. And since Jairus worked with the synagogue, he also worked closely with the Pharisees. Do you remember those Pharisees? They loved their synagogues. They loved to have people watch them walk into synagogue. They loved to have people watch them walk out of a synagogue. They loved to have people associated them with synagogues. They loved to have Jairus schedule activities for them to go to the synagogue so that they could be seen by others going to the synagogue. And I doubt Jairus minded it. Because if the Pharisees had your back, then you were a made man: Well-liked and well taken care of. That’s important. Because Jairus needed to be taken care of. Because Jairus was also a father. He had a little twelve-year old girl that he loved dearly. Just like any father of a young girl, I’m sure that Jairus loved watching his daughter mature into a young lady. He loved watching her discover her love for art. He loved hearing about her dreams and goals in life. He loved protecting her from all the “stupid” boys in her life. He loved making her laugh funny faces, goofy noises…For some reason, I picture Jairus being a big fan of dad jokes. But…I won’t dogmatic about it, but… “What did the drummer name his two daughters? Anna One! Anna Two!” “Why did the picture go to jail?” “Because it was framed.” “What do you call a bear without any teeth?” “A gummy bear.” Jairus loved his daughter. He loved her laugh. He loved her smile. He loved her twinkle in her eye. Jairus would do anything for his daughter. And that was being put to the test. Recently Jairus’ daughter had been very sick. And I’ll bet he tried all things: Getting her rest. Still sick. Taking her to the doctor. Still sick. Taking her to another doctor. Still sick. Giving her over the counter medication. Still sick. Giving her prescription medications. Still sick. Even giving her Essential Oils like lavender and peppermint. Still sick. He had tried everything. Well…Almost everything… Jairus knew about Jesus. He had heard how Jesus had healed many people. How he had cured disease after disease with just a few words. But, do you remember those Pharisees that Jairus worked with? Remember how they loved the synagogue so much they would take good care of Jairus as long as he did what they asked? Those same Pharisees hated Jesus. If Jairus went to Jesus, he might lose his friendship with the Pharisees. He might lose his “in” with the Pharisees. He might lose his job and his salary and his means of income to take care of his little girl. I wonder if this gave him pause. …made him wait to go to Jesus. …made him think I’ll try everything else until… Until, his daughter was almost dead. Then, things changed. The Pharisees’ approval wasn’t worth risking his daughter’s life. He rushed off from his house, found Jesus, and threw himself at the ground. An impressive, noble of a man, on his knees before Jesus. Pleading… “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” (Mark 5:23) So Jesus went with him. (Mark 5:24) Jairus must have been excited. The healer was coming with him. Jesus and his miraculous power was going to do a miracle to his daughter. His daughter wouldn’t die, because in Jesus there was hope. But… As they kept walking… And the crowd talked excitedly about other miracles Jesus had done. And Jairus started to strut with confidence that his daughter would be healed. Someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” (Lk. 8:49) Because she’s dead. And so is her creativity. And so is her laughter. And so is her future. Your daughter is dead. TRUTH: Making Jesus your LAST hope may make you too LATE. Jairus must have felt horrible! If only he had come to Jesus sooner. If Jesus would have been his first option way back when he daughter first was diagnosed, then she wouldn’t be dead. Maybe you’ve felt similar. If only I’d sought Jesus’ help with stress first, before I ended up addicted to Methamphetamine. If only I’d sought Jesus’ guidance on my sexuality, not what I read in dark, pornographic chatrooms. If only my spouse and I sought spiritual counseling sooner, before the infidelity, the yelling, and the moving out. If only I’d taught my kids about Jesus first, brought them to worship, taught them about Sunday school, before they became a teen and turned their back on God. If only I’d sought Jesus heart first, before I sought the heart of that guy who used me and abused me. If only I’d gotten to the message of Jesus’ love sooner, before years of depression thinking that God hated me. If only I’d worked through the Gospel to be reconciled with my friend, before…they died. Making Jesus’ your last hope can lead to all kinds of regret. But, even in the midst of Jairus’ like, “I-killed-my-daughter-because-I-didn’t-get-her-to-Jesus-soon-enough” regret…. Jesus offers hope. II. Hope when there isn’t any Back to the scene. Jairus must have been in shock. He’d never seen his daughter’s eye twinkle again. He’d never get another hug. He’d never hear another song. The people were right. He should send Jesus away. His daughter was dead and there wasn’t any hope. But… Before Jairus could muster the strength to dismiss him. Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid.” “Just believe.” “She will be healed.” (Lk. 8:50) From some hope. To no hope. To Jesus’ hope. TRUTH: Jesus gives HOPE when there isn’t any. When you can’t figure out where the finances are coming from, Jesus gives hope. When the seventeenth job application has been rejected, Jesus gives hope. When your heart hurts from that breakup, Jesus gives hope. When you feel like you’ll never find “the one”, Jesus gives hope. When you lose to that temptation again and again, Jesus gives hope. When the parenting techniques aren’t working like they should, Jesus gives hope. When the doctors tell you that it doesn’t look good, Jesus gives hope. III. The World’s Hope Jesus dismissed the crowd. Probably to spare Jairus’ from the embarrassment of his emotions. Then, Jesus, a few disciples, and Jairus made their way to the home. Upon arriving, they came upon quite a scene. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. (Mk. 5:38) At the time of Jesus, it was customary to hire professional mourners when someone died. These people would arrive and instantly develop a sad atmosphere. They’d sob and throw their heads back and make a big scene Matthew notes that there were flute players. (Mt. 8:23) They’d shed some tears, playing a sad song, and hand you a bill for their trouble. It makes you wonder if they ever got together and practiced: “Hold up guys. We are supposed to be professional mourners. Right now? We seem like a bunch of amateurs. Our choreography is all over the place. Bob, when I throw my right arm into the air and start wailing, “that’s your cue to throw yourself onto the ground and start convulsing. And Mary, it would be good if you shook your head back and forth while you screamed! You’ve got long hair and it really gives it that wild effect of wild sadness. And for goodness sake, Elizabeth, could you give us more tears? I’ll stick a cut-up onion in your sash if I have to.” This is the best kind of hope the ancient world had to offer. A distraction – at best. But it doesn’t heal. It doesn’t provide hope. It’s nothing more than a SHOW. TRUTH: The world’s HOPE is nothing more than a SHOW. Think back to the Kobe Bryant Story. Celebrities tweeted out all kinds of support and memories about Kobe. Taylor Swift wrote, “My heart is in pieces hearing the news of this unimaginable tragedy… Sending my prayers, love, and endless condolences.” Shaquille O’Neal said, “My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board,” he added. “I’M SICK RIGHT NOW!” Khloe Kardashian simply said, “This can’t be true. My heart is broken.” Scottie Pippen said, “I’m stunned. Words can’t even begin to describe how I feel about this tragedy.” Now these people were hurting. They were sad. And offering prayers to others is absolutely a blessing. And it can be cathartic to talk to one another about your feelings. But…Did you notice something? None of these tweets brought Kobe back. None of them promised LIFE. Some of it, is just people going online, checking out the fact that others tweeted, and saying, “I’d better tweet about him – or I won’t look good.” The world’s hope is nothing more than a show. There’s a popular show on Netflix called The Casketeers It’s about a family owned funeral home in Hawaii. Each episode consists of a few funerals that they are planning for. In each episode, they work hard to make the funeral “nice.” They practice ukulele. They put out flower arrangements. They polish the selected coffins. The owner is kind of a clean freak and at least once per episode, he can be caught using a leaf blower to blow away the 4 or 5 leaves that have made their way into the parking lot. The theory is that if they make it nice, it will help the family heal. But… None of this gives ACTUAL HOPE. Not the ukulele. Not the flower arrangements. Not the polished coffin. Not even the leaf blower! The person is still dead. And there is no hope of LIFE. The world’s hope is nothing more than a show…. But…. Jesus is not “of the world.” IV. Jesus’ Hope Jesus had enough of the show. “Go away, for the girl is not dead but is sleeping.” But they laughed at him. (Mt. 8:23-24) “Oh? Does your pulse usually stop when YOU sleep?” “Are you trying to say that you can fix this?” “What a bunch of baloney! Stop giving Jairus false hope.” Jesus did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother (Lk. 8:51) After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. (Mk 5:40) And there was Jairus’ daughter…. No smile. No laughter. No twinkle in the eye. No life. The pit in Jairus’ stomach was unbearable. He grabbed his wife as she buried her tears into his shoulder. But Jesus approached the girl. He slowly got onto one knee. He grabbed the girl by the palm. He looked her right in the eyes. and said…. “Talitha koum!” (Mk. 5:41) Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around. (v.42) Jairus was amazed! He watched as she walked to Jesus and gave him a hug. He watched as she walked to his wife and gave her a hug. He watched as she made her way over to him, looked at him with that twinkle in her eye and gave him a hug too. TRUTH: With a WORD, Jesus robs DEATH of its power. He doesn’t do CPR. He doesn’t hook her up to a defibrillator. He doesn’t make her drink some kind of life-giving elixir made from the tears of a mythical Phoenix. He just speaks. This is how Jesus won life for you and me. Because on the cross, Jesus defeated death with one word: TETELESTAI! It’s the Greek word for the last thing that Jesus said on the cross. It means, “It is finished.” As in, “Sin is finished.” “Guilt is finished.” “Death is finished.” I defeated them all and my work of defeated them is finished. And now through faith in me…. You too will life. Death is not the end. You will be with me in heaven. That’s REAL hope. But that’s not even the end of the story. Because as Jairus and wife and child are all celebrating this amazing victory – and people start to flock in to celebrate this miracle, Jesus thinks about the girl. He told them to give her something to eat. (Mk. 5:43) He isn’t showboating. He isn’t flexing his muscles. He isn’t taking a victory lap. Jesus is caring. TRUTH: Despite his ALMIGHTY Power, Jesus still cares TENDERLY. There is no better combination. He isn’t just able to defeat sin, but he tenderly speaks of forgiveness when you need it most. This last week – I was able to visit a brother of ours in hospice. Things didn’t look good when I went in. And… I didn’t bring with me any medication. I didn’t have any cures. I didn’t even have a doctor’s nametag. I simply had this message of forgiveness. This message of God’s love. This message that because Jesus lives, you brother, will live too. Yesterday, we celebrated the fact that because Jesus has power over death, this man lives eternally. And today we celebrate the fact that because Jesus has power over death – One day… You will live eternally too. Amen. We’ve been in the middle of our MIRACLE sermon series. In the course of this study, we’ve seen Jesus miraculously help people before it’s too late.
He met a man with incurable leprosy and cured him before it became fatal. He’s heard about a man sick in bed and healed him before it became his deathbed. He met a man with thousands of demons coursing through his body and drove out those demons before any permanent damage was done. But… What happens when the damage has already been done? This morning, we continue our series, by examining an interaction Jesus had with a man who was paralyzed. His legs had already stopped working. He had no hope of walking again. Could Jesus help? Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Story The account we’re looking is found in three different parts of Scripture. It’s found in Matthew 9, Mark 2, & Luke 5. Each writer adds different aspects to our understanding of this incredible miracle, so we’ll be looking at all of them. Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town. (Mt. 9:1) This would be Nazareth. The place Jesus grew up. It’s where he learned carpentry from his dad, where he went to Hebrew school with his buddies, where he played a game of baseball out at the local sandlot. The people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door… That means people were doing everything possible to fit into this room. The three-person couch had become a five person couch. The kids had to sit crisscross applesauce on the floor. There were probably even a few people doing wall sits over in the corner. It was like one of our hallways during a Christmas or Easter service – it was jam-packed full. And he preached the word to them. (Mk. 2:1-2) But there was one group of people that weren’t quite there yet. Walking through the streets… Huffing, puffing, sweating… And taking a quick break to catch their breath… Were a group of five friends. One of them was laying down on a stretcher. The other four were carrying him on that stretcher. The man on the cot was paralyzed. In fact, that’s all the Bible tells us about him. Not his first name. Not his last. Not his favorite drink at Starbucks. Not any characteristic of his personality. Just that he was paralyzed. He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t run. He could hop. He couldn’t skip. He couldn’t jump. He couldn’t even stand up. But his friends had a hunch. They had heard about Jesus. They had about his miraculous power. They had heard about his compassion. They thought that if they could get their friend to Jesus, he could help. So, they took a swig of “Passover Power” Gatorade and lifted the cot once more. “I think the house is just ahead. Don’t worry. We’ll see Jesus soon enough.” The problem was that many other people had that same idea. And, since they weren’t carrying anyone on a cot, they had already gotten there. In fact, when they found the house it was so full of people that some were crowding around the outside windows just to get a glimpse of the Savior. “Guys, I don’t think we can make it in.” “Especially not with this stretcher.” “What a waste of a morning. All this – for nothing!” “Hey, paralyzed friend. I’m sorry. But I think you’ll have to remain paralyzed. Things just aren’t looking up.” “Wait. Did you say, “looking up?” “That’s it.” In 1st century Israel, roofing was a bit different than now. Rather than solid rain deterrent shingles made of fiberglass and asphalt granules that can withstand wind forces of up to 60mph from fine shingle companies like Owens Corning, GAF and CertainTeed that you nail gun into a wooden roofing frames, roofs at the time of Jesus were thatched of straw and mud. The higher-class citizens could afford pieces of tile that would be placed them into the mud concoction on top. Still… It wasn’t common practice for people to come into a house through a roof. But in order to see Jesus… The men took turns climbing up to the roof. With two on top, the two on the bottom hoisted up the cot containing their friend, grabbed a nearby rope and they climbed up themselves. Then, they began praying off the tiles, digging with their hands, and making a hole right in the middle of the roof. On the underside, Jesus was in the middle of teaching. People were so interested in what he had to say that they had ignored the little kid crying. They had ignored the man with the cough in the corner. But they couldn’t ignore this. Because right above Jesus’ head, dirt started to fall. Pieces of tile started to crack. Light suddenly streamed in. And then… …a cot… …lowered by ropes… …with a man on it… “Ummm….. Hiya Jesus!?!” The room was silent. What would Jesus do? What would Jesus say? How dare anyone interrupt him! But Jesus smiled. “Take heart Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2) Do you remember how the room was filled with people? The Gospel of Luke makes note that some of those people were the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders of the time that didn’t like Jesus very much. After all, these crowds of people that were there to see him, used to be crowds of people that came to see them. And upon hearing what Jesus said, they started muttering. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Lk. 5:17-21) Then some of the experts in the law said among themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming! (Mt. 9:3) Blasphemy means saying you are God, when you aren’t. That terrible sin in ancient Israelite society. And with good reason. If you tell people you are God (and you aren’t) and some of them believe (even though you aren’t), you’ll will be personally responsible for leading them to hell. And since Jesus was telling this man that his sins were forgiven. And only God can forgive sins. Jesus was setting himself up as God! Which would be blasphemy! Unless… Jesus responded to their question with another question: “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? (Mt. 9:4) To understand what Jesus is getting at, think of yourself in a conversation with a relative who can no longer walk. Which is easier to write on a greeting card to that person: “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up and walk.” I’ve visited a lot of hospitals. I’ve visited a lot who are sick. At Elmcroft retirement home, I run into people who can’t walk. It’s not hard to tell them, “Your sins are forgiven.” But… Not once… Have I ever said to one of these people, ‘Get up and walk.” Why the difference? If I tell someone their sins are forgiven, no one has any idea if that’s true or not. Sins don’t go flying into the area. A halo doesn’t appear on their head. There isn’t a loud chorus of “Hallelujah.” But if you tell someone who can’t walk to get up and walk… If they don’t do that immediately? You’re a fraud. You’re a liar. It didn’t work. TRUTH: It is harder to claim a VISUAL miracle than an INVISIBLE one. So, follow Jesus’ logic: It’s harder to claim the visual miracle than the invisible one. But… …so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. (Mt. 9:6) Allow me to claim the hard one. Jesus turned to the paralyzed man. Looked up right in the eye. And said, “Get up. Take your stretcher. Go home.” And the man…. Looked at Jesus. Looked at his friends Wiggled his toes…and… Got up. Took his stretcher. And went home. II. The Truth about Jesus TRUTH: Jesus’ miracles are VISUAL proof of the INVISIBLE truth. Remember: There was a room full of people in that room. And since this was a local miracle involving a local man, they probably knew him. And their responses: This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mk. 2:12) They were filled with awe and glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Mt. 9:8) Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” (Lk. 5:26) The point? Jesus speaks the truth. Even when the truth is invisible. That’s really important. Because most of you here today aren’t physically paralyzed. You can stand. You can walk. You can job. You can run (just maybe not for all that long) You may be able to walk, but you might still understand what it’s like to be paralyzed. Paralyzed with guilt from that one sin you did last week. Paralyzed with shame from the way you’ve been acting in front of your spouse. Paralyzed with fear that God has abandoned you completely. Paralyzed with sadness that God could never forgive you. Again… What’s easier to say? “Your sins are forgiven” or “Kill me and three days later I’ll come back to life.” But to prove that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins…. Jesus was said he would rise from the dead – and he did. And this is proof that when Jesus tells you that your sins are forgiven – they are. And does this throughout Scripture: Your sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus’ name. (1 Jn. 2:12) If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” (1 John 1:9) Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:16) Jesus’ power is real. Forgiveness is real. Your forgiveness is real. TRUTH: Not trusting Jesus’ power to FORGIVE is EVIL. Look back at what Jesus said about the people who didn’t trust his power to forgive. He said, “Why are you thinking EVIL in your hearts?” (Mt. 9:4) They were thinking that it was evil for someone who wasn’t God to claim to be God by forgiving sins. But what if that person who is claiming to be God is God. Then, the evil isn’t coming from God who is claiming to be God. The evil is come from the one claiming that God isn’t God. And granted – you might not actually say that Jesus isn’t God. But you might say, “I’ve sinned too much, Jesus.” “I should have to do something.” “God needs me to help myself.” Which is another way of saying: Jesus, you don’t have authority to forgive sins. I do. Friends, that’s evil. If that’s you, turn to Jesus. And ask him forgiveness. And trust that he grants it. Because… Jesus has all AUTHORITY to forgive. It’s like a set of church keys: If you asked me to unlock the front door of church for you, I could because I have the key & authority to do so. If you asked me to unlock the janitor’s closet, I could because I have the key and the authority to do so. If you asked me to unlock the door to Precious Lambs, I could because I have the key and the authority to do so. If you asked Jesus to unlock you from the guilt of your sins, He could… …and he would… …and he did…because he has the key and authority to do so. And the key was his blood. Jesus lived perfectly. Jesus died innocently. Jesus rose triumphantly for the forgiveness of your sins. When he tells you that he unlocked guilt, he means it. III. What Now? (1) Do Whatever It Takes to Get to Jesus Do a quick case study of this man’s friends: They were willing to carry him great distances. They were willing to climb a roof. They were willing to cut a hole in that roof… They were doing whatever it took to get to Jesus… …all because they trusted Jesus’ power to heal. Do the same. Because it’s so easy in this life to feel paralyzed. Things happen during the weak that can paralyze you with shame, guilt, sadness, and fear. Jesus heals that paralysis. So, do whatever you can to get to him. That means making worship a can’t-miss for the week. It means Group Study is something that you don’t let a little traffic deter you from. It means that you reach over to your bedside table – and open the Bible. (2) Do Whatever it Takes to Get Your Friends to Jesus Because these men didn’t get to Jesus for themselves. They did whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus. Do you know someone in need of the forgiveness Jesus brings? Could be a friend. A family member. Or coworker. Someone paralyzed by fear, guilt, and shame. Do whatever it takes to get them to Jesus. Because Jesus has power over paralysis. Power to free from any paralysis. Power to free so that you can walk. Through life. With Jesus. Amen. This morning, we will begin our miracle series, by examining God’s incredible power of sickness. But before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. Defining Miracle I think it’s important to start a study on miracles by defining the word “miracle.” So, here it is: A miracle is an occurrence outside the NATURAL laws of the Universe. Because miracle can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. Over time, I think we’ve “dumbed down” the phrase. For instance, we use it at childbirth. A baby is born and people post on Instagram: “Check out my child! #Miracle” Is childbirth amazing? Yes. Is it a miracle though? Not really. That’s how God set up the universe. We even use it in sports. “I can’t believe my favorite football team made the playoffs. It’s a miracle!” Might it have been impressive? Sure. But is it a miracle? Not so much. But when the New Testament uses the word miracle it actually is talking about events that occur outside the natural order of things. Seawater standing up like drywall? That’s not how water usually works. A heavy rock wall tumbling because of trumpet noise? Not normal. Three men being thrown into a fiery furnace and coming out unsinged? Let’s not test it. A virgin giving birth to a child? Miracle. In the New Testament, the number one miracle doer is Jesus. But did you know that Jesus miracles aren’t often called miracles as much as they are called signs. That’s interesting. Because a sign functions by pointing you in the right direction. We have signs in our hallways that say “Restrooms” with a little arrow putting in a certain direction. The point of the sign? To direct you to the restrooms. Even a traffic light. GREEN means “GO”, red means “STOP, and yellow means, “hurry up it’s about to turn red.” Jesus’ miracles were SIGNS pointing people to his DIVINITY. Think about it: If God’s the one that set the laws of the universe into motion, then he is the only one able to act outside of those laws. It’s like STAYING UP LATE. If the rule of your house is that kids need to be in bed by 9 pm, the kids need to go to bed, but the adult can stay up. (Granted, they might not. They might be in bed on the couch around 7:15 pm, but you get the point.) Your kids can’t. You can. You set up the law; you can act outside of it. Jesus acts outside of the laws of the universe set up by God, in all of his miracles. Why? Because he is God himself. II. The Man with Leprosy But it enough talking about it. Let me show you. When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. Just then, a leper came to him and bowed down to him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Mt. 8:1-2) Notice. There are large crowds of people with Jesus. They had just heard Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount, a very famous sermon. They were all drawn in by Jesus’ speech and his ideas. But someone that hadn’t made it up to the mountain was waiting as they came down. He was a leper which means that he had the disease known as leprosy. It was a flesh-eating disease that slow dried out your cartilage and cause the tips of your fingers, your toes, your nose, and your ears to (brace yourself) fall off. Leprosy was awful. Still is! If you want to know how awful, do a Google image search. (But not if you’re faint of heart.) Besides being awful… Leprosy was INCURABLE. This isn’t true anymore. There is a cure. But at the time, there weren’t any medicines, any acupuncture, any essential oil, any healthy diet, or any operation that anyone knew about in order to cure it. That means that if you were diagnosed with leprosy you had to quickly resign yourself to the fact that you would not be healed. Leprosy was CONTAGIOUS. It was so contagious that if you were diagnosed with leprosy, you were sent into quarantine. Only the quarantine wasn’t a room in your house. You were sent outside the city walls, into the desert to live in what they called “leper colonies”. Leprosy was FATAL. The end result, 100 percent of the time was death. All these truths about leprosy left this man was without hope. He had heard doctor after doctor tell him there was no cure. He was alone, banished outside the city. He knew what had happened to other friends – they died. This meant - He wouldn’t get to see his family again. He wouldn’t get to hold his children again. He wouldn’t get to kiss his wife again. He wouldn’t feel better. He wouldn’t regain strength. He wouldn’t go back to his job. He’d be by himself. Outside the city walls. Slowly dying. Yet… Did you notice something about this man? He approached Jesus with confidence. He didn’t say: “If you are able…” Or, “If you have the strength…” Or, “If you have the right medicine…” He said, “If you are willing…” And… Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean.” And after Jesus says that, there aren’t months of radiation. There aren’t weeks of chemo. There aren’t even 15 minutes to allow the medicine to take effect. Jesus simply speaks and… IMMEDIATELY he was healed of his leprosy. And if you’re thinking, “That’s impossible.” Remember – there’s a crowd of people present. It wasn’t Jesus by himself. There were hundreds of witnesses to this miracle. Many who had undoubtedly seen that man sitting around outside the city gates day after day after day. In fact, Jesus has professionals corroborate the healing. He tells him to “Go, show (himself) to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (v.4) The priests at this time were similar to doctors. They were able to pronounce people as diseased or not. They were probably the same people who once told the man, “You are diseased, away from us!” Now? They were saying to him, “You’re healed! Celebrate with us.” And remember – while this is 2000 years after the fact, this book is not. These words that we are reading right now were written down at a time when the majority of the people who witnessed this would have still been alive. TRUTH: Jesus is able to CURE the INCURABLE. Here’s where this is important: You might know someone who has been diagnosed with disease. You may have been diagnosed with disease. AIDS. Cancer. Leukemia. And internet articles might not give you a chance. Social media anecdotes might not give you a chance. Doctors might not give you a chance. But… You have Jesus. And Jesus can cure the incurable. Do you want a second instance of this? How about sin!?! It’s CONTAGIOUS – passed down from parents to children. It’s INCURABLE – nothing we can do will ever remove it. It’s FATAL – “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) But Jesus cured the incurable! He lived perfectly when we couldn’t. He died innocently on the cross. He rose triumphantly and cured you of all sin, guilt and shame! By faith in Jesus, you are forgiven. Incurable guilt – CURED! This means that whatever you’re dealing with, as long as you have Jesus, you have hope. Because Jesus provides HOPE in any ILLNESS. He cured the incurable disease of leprosy with his hand. He cured the incurable disease of sin with his death. There is nothing that Jesus can’t do. There is no disease too incurable. There is no disease too contagious. There is no disease too fatal for Jesus. III. The Centurion’s Servant Word of this miracle got around. In fact, it made its way outside the Jewish community to a Roman centurion whose servant was deathly ill. He must have heard stories of Jesus. Yet he had a lot working against him. In fact, I’m sure his advisors gave him a host of reasons not to waste his time: “Jesus is Jewish. You’re Roman. There’s too big a racial divide. He won’t help you.” “You’re a high ranking official. What will it look like for a Roman elite to go looking for help from a homeless carpenter?” “You’re a sinner. From what I’ve heard, this man is a holy man. He won’t give you the time of day.” But… For some reason… He trusted Jesus. And as he looked at his servant growing pale, soaked in sweat, and approaching death. [the] centurion came to [Jesus] and pleaded with him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and suffering terribly.” (v.5) And… Despite the racial difference… Despite the social difference... Despite the man’s sin… Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” (v.6) But the man, thought this was too much. He was a high ranking official and he didn’t make house visits. And Jesus was higher ranking than him. He didn’t need to do a house visit. And so, the high-ranking government official said, “Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.” I’m a sinful man. You’re holy. I don’t deserve anything from you. But only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (v. 8-9) You have authority too. You tell diseases to leave and they do. You tell health to return and it does. You tell bodies to be healed and they listen, because you have authority over them. When Jesus heard this, he marveled. He said to those who were following him, “Truly, I tell you: I have not found such great faith in anyone in Israel… Go. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” (v.10) Here’s where it gets extra amazing. Because when the man turned to leave, he made note of the position of the sun. Maybe just to the right of the west of the cloud. And when he returned home, he found the servant well. But that’s not the amazing part. After rejoicing. After giving him a hug. After doing the “happy dance.” He asked one of the other servants. When did this happen? “At the time the sun was right to the west of the clouds! I remember. Because I was so excited, I ran outside to tell the others.” Make no mistake. Again. This was a miracle. This was Jesus. TRUTH: Jesus provides HOPE even when he’s not VISIBLY PRESENT. Because you won’t be able to see Jesus. Go ahead. Google search. Look for Dr. Jesus. He doesn’t work at Duke. He doesn’t work at UNC. He doesn’t work at Rex. He doesn’t work at Wake Med. And yet… He grants healing to those within those walls. You can’t see Jesus. But that doesn’t he isn’t with you. And it doesn’t mean he won’t provide healing. He’s all powerful. ‘ His power goes beyond physical, tangible presence. Again – just like sin. You and I weren’t physically there when Jesus died on the cross. And yet Jesus didn’t have to come to 2020 in order to die in our physical presence. His death and resurrection cross physical, temporal boundaries to bring healing and forgiveness. His same healing power gives us hope in the face of illness. IV. When Healing Doesn’t Happen And yet…? People die all the time from disease. Some are even believers. What’s the deal? To answer that question – I want you to remember two significant things that these the two men in today’s accounts said. (1) Lesson from the Centurion Remember what the centurion said to Jesus? “I’m not worthy…” That’s a strange statement, because this centurion was a high ranking, Roman official. He oversaw hundreds of soldiers. (Hence the name “Century-on”) He had a good career. Plenty of people who looked up to him. And yet he didn’t say, “Jesus. I demand this, because I deserve it.” Nope. He knew he was a sinner. He knew he only deserved death. He knew that any healing Jesus could grant was out of his mercy. We need to remember the same thing. I remember that I got sick for one of my birthday’s awhile back. And I thought…. “This isn’t fair! I work hard. I serve God. I serve God’s people. And now I get a day off to celebrate my birthday and I’m sick? God I deserve to be healed.” Is that actually true? Did I deserve healing? Remember – the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” It’s easy to think: I deserve healing. I’ve done nice things. I’ve been a good parent. I’m worthy of being healed. Honestly? None of us are. If God heals us physically, it’s not because we deserve it. It’s because of his mercy. But in God’s mercy is real hope. Because unlike human ‘goodness’ which isn’t nearly as good as we think it is. God’s mercy? Is a mercy that caused him to die on a cross for our sins. Mercy that saved us to eternal life – where there won’t be any sickness. And mercy that sometimes heals us from sickness. (2) Lesson from the Leper Remember what the leper said to Jesus? “If you are willing…” It wasn’t a question of whether healing was possible, But whether it was God’s will. In this man’s instance? It was. But sometimes God’s will is that the sickness won’t be cured. Why? Is it because he loved that person less? If you are suffering a sickness and you haven’t been healed yet, is it because God loves you less than the healthy? Nope. He died on the cross for you. He doesn’t love you less. He loves you the same as those who are health. In fact, it’s because of his LOVE combined with his incredible wisdom, that God sometimes allows a disease to run its course. Why? Because… Sickness has a way of driving people towards Jesus. Meaning… Sickness can be God’s way of Bringing you to faith… Or strengthening your faith… Or working through you to be a witness to our friends and family of our faith in Jesus. Or … Simply… Bringing you ultimate healing in heaven. In heaven, there isn’t any leprosy. In heaven, there isn’t any cancer. In heaven, there isn’t any sickness. In heaven, there is only health. Perfect health. Forever. Amen.  Well it’s about that time of year again. That time when time is usually on our minds. In just two short days it will be one year later than it was a year ago, which usually prompts us to look back over that last year and figure out what we liked and usually more often what we didn’t like that we want to change next year. My mailbox has already been flooded with flyers for local gyms trying to guess what those goals might be for me.
But never minding the failed resolutions that inevitably come out of this, the real problem with all of that is that it tends to have a failed focus. The things we are proud of the year before and the things we strive to change in the next… well… are they the right things? Today, let’s look at what the apostle Paul had to say and consider our past and our future in light of those words that God had him write. At the beginning of our section he writes: If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. If anyone had reason to be proud and confident, it was Paul. He was a paragon of virtue. He was born of the right people, God’s own chosen nation. He followed every command from God and every tradition of his people. He was part of the moral elite, the Pharisees. If he was around today, he could be bragging on Facebook about how all three of his perfect children were excelling in their own extra-curriculars while showing photos from his last tropical vacation, the new house he’s building, the promotion he got this year, and how he hit his target weight in half the time expected. And what does Paul say about all these things he should be bragging about? 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. And now what does he say about that life? He considers it a loss. He doesn’t just find that entire life to be worthless, he actually considers it detrimental to his life. In fact, he considers everything a loss when it is compared to the greatness of simply knowing his Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you remember back, if you were here for our summer series on the book of Acts, you may remember that this was not a conclusion that Paul came to on his own. He didn’t suddenly realize that all that was wrong and worthless. God had to reveal it to Paul. In that confrontation on the road to Damascus, God appeared to him and made Paul aware of exactly how wrong and backward his life had been from start to finish. God taught Paul that everything of his own he thought he should be proud of was in reality something to be ashamed of, and there was nothing good in himself. The house, the job, the vacation, the perfect life – those things were all hurting him, not helping. Why? Because they weren’t good enough. They couldn’t save him. No matter how hard he tried to do everything right and have the perfect life and have people love him and all that, it wasn’t good enough for God. God demands perfection. What’s more, God requires that he himself be the focal point of our lives. That we do everything for him. Paul hadn’t done all those things for God, he did them for himself! Everything he thought was worth anything wasn’t just a waste of time, it was actively keeping him away from the God who could save him. It was at this point, at the bottom of everything, when Paul had all hope in himself cut out from under him, that God showed him his mercy and grace in Jesus. And Paul understood the only thing worth anything in this life is Christ himself. Paul gave up hope in himself and clung to the hope of Jesus as his savior, trusting that Jesus alone is the only way he can possibly be rescued. Now Paul’s experience may sound outlandish, and maybe the circumstances are. But those aside, this is the experience that every Christian goes through to come to a knowledge of their savior, the same Christ. Each one of us has to realize: I am sinful. I cannot save myself. I need Jesus. Only he can help me. Only he is worth anything in my life. And so, the question now is, as I’m looking back over 2018 and looking on to my plans for 2019 – do my thoughts show that I’m convinced of this truth? Do I really consider everything I have apart from Christ is a loss? Do we really “buy” that, or are we feebly clinging to the notion that some of what we have or do or are is worthwhile, profitable, useful? Sure, there’s plenty of stuff it’s easy to look at and identify as useless and harmful. We know that indulging our sinful temptations is harmful to us. Sin damages faith, it hurts our relationship with our God and it risks our eternal life. But of course, God himself gives us great things to be used for our recreation and enjoyment…what about those? Even with those we must be cautious. These gifts are to be used to enrich our lives of service to him. They are a means to an end. They help us relax, recharge, lift our spirits so we can continue our work for God. But when the gift becomes the purpose, when all our time and energy gets poured into one hobby or recreational pursuit, it ultimately becomes a loss for us, because again, it is distracting us and taking us away from the only thing that is to our gain, our Lord Christ. But even that doesn’t go as far as Paul was talking here. Remember he listed off all the great things about himself that he had claim to. Every achievement or source of pride – what did he say about them? He considered a loss. And for the same reason: they served to distract and take him away from our God. It is the same for us. We need to see that there is no difference here. It could be the grossest display of sinful indulgence or it could be chasing a goal that isn’t our Lord or it could just be plain old pride in myself and my abilities and accomplishments. They all do the same thing: they lead us away from God. The best of who we are, the best of what we have and do in our lives…these too are a loss! Pardon me for a moment while I get a little complicated. They are a loss when we view them this way. Let me elaborate. If I look see the best I have as the best I have, then where is the focus? If the best I can do I view as the best I do, then where is the focus? If I am proud of myself for my accomplishments, for the things I have done with the strength of my hands or the skill of my intellect, then I am worshiping myself and am taken away from God. Even if I take pride in all the good things I do for God, that I give him my money and my time without complaint, that I am a helpful member of the church body, then I am still worshiping myself for how great I am. It doesn’t matter what does it, it doesn’t matter how it comes about, whatever it is, if our focus slips from looking ahead to eternity, then it is a loss to us! What is to our gain, what we do need is to keep our eyes forward, on Christ, as Paul tells us here. He had plenty to be proud of, plenty to indulge in, but his reaction was anything that kept him apart from Christ, anything that caused him to focus on himself or anything that wasn’t Christ was a loss to him. And why? Because only Christ had what he truly needed. Forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness. This is why it is so dangerous to let the things of this life steal our focus away from Christ. Just like Paul, all the best we have… can’t save us. We do not measure up to God’s standards. Without Jesus, we are dead. We would be cut off from God and left to an eternity without any of his mercy or grace. There is nothing worse than that. There is no goal to set that is more important than avoiding that outcome. But we cannot avoid it ourselves. Nothing we have changes this for ourselves. Only Jesus makes a difference. And it makes all the difference. Where we are unworthy and have nothing good to offer, Christ makes us worthy. His life of obedience is credited to us, and his innocent sacrifice on the cross eliminates the debt we owe our God. In Christ, and only in him, are we saved. We are declared innocent before God our Father and we are promised a heavenly home is prepared for us at the end of our time here. Through him we will, as Paul says here, obtain the resurrection of the dead. When we understand and accept this dynamic between us and our God, it changes how we view our lives and it changes why we do whatever it is we do. When we recognize that nothing we have to offer is good in its own merit, we no longer do things out of pride or for praise or for any reward. Rather we do the good we do because God has made it possible. He gives us the strength, the time, the ability, and it’s the blood of Christ that washes our actions and makes them good for God. And we keep this attitude by keeping our looking ahead to Christ. With eyes on him, on what he’s done for us and on where he’s waiting for us – that sets our goals and mind straight for the coming year. As Paul concludes our section today: 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. As Paul says, we have not yet fully attained this goal of looking ahead to our God. We have not fully become as like Christ as we would like. But we do strive always to be better at it. Not by waking up each day and promising to “do better”, that will get us nowhere or even take us backwards. The way to pursue Christ is by renewing our focus each day on him. Learning from him, studying him, growing closer to him. That is what Paul is striving for here. And when we do that, there’s a natural side-effect: Christ’s power will work through us to accomplish what we cannot on our own. We will grow to be more like him. Now, we recognize that this work will never be completed in this life. We will always have room to grow in him. But that is not an excuse for us to simply give up and say “good enough!” We should never be satisfied with how far our devotion to Christ has progressed! This should be our number one goal every year! But if you look back over the last year and think: well I sure didn’t do that, then I have good news for you. Our devotion to God is not perfect and we should not despair when we do not live up to God’s standards. We strive, strive, strive… but never despair when we fail. It is because we fail that we have a savior. It is because we fail that Jesus died. And it is because of Jesus that our failures are forgiven. Forgotten. We show our love to God by showing him what he’s worth to us, but our expressions of love to God are simply that, they are not what keeps us in his favor, they are not what make him love us. There will be times of failure and every time we return to him, he has forgiveness for us. Brothers and sisters, forget what is behind. Forget the things that drag you down to this world and hold you here. Forget your pride and yourself. And don’t look back with regret either. Forget your own failures; God already has. Leave the past in the past. Strain toward what is ahead. Look ahead to the prize that God won for you. Press on toward it. Make that your goal for 2019 and beyond. Reach for Christ every day like your life depends on it. God is reaching back for you, taking hold of you, guarding and guiding you every step of every day. Stay close to him, draw close to him. You are a forgiven child of God, you have absolutely everything to look forward to in him. Amen.  Last week we heard God’s call to RETURN to the One who is Faithful even when we’ve been unfaithful because He will be Faithful Forever! This week God calls us to return to Him for Abundant blessings! Before we dig into Scripture, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. A Severe Lack of Blessing? Our lesson for today comes from 2 Kings 4. Chronologically we’re going even farther back in time than the last couple of weeks; though the situation is similar: Two weeks ago, we heard God’s call to his 7th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. Last week we heard God’s call to 8th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. This week we get to hear God’s call to 9th century B.C. people to leave idol worship behind and RETURN to Him. It’s a bit like my high school Football coach. “Furious Feet! Furious Feet! Furious Feet!” He said it all the time. When we were in practice: “Furious Feet!” When we were in the 1st quarter: “Furious Feet!” When we were tied in the 4th quarter: “Furious Feet!” When we were in Pizza Hut after the game; “Furious Feet!” (OK, maybe not that last one) You get the point? We kept forgetting. He kept rebuking. The same was true with God. The people kept forgetting Him, He kept rebuking them: “RETURN to me.” In fact, in all of 1st and 2nd Kings you would hear the call of “RETURN to me,” so often that it makes you wonder if anyone ever stayed close to God. Enter 2 Kings 4. It’s an account that takes place within a small community of prophets. It was a group of people that had dedicated themselves and their families to serving the Lord. They spoke His message and stayed closed to Him. Unfortunately, for one woman who had not abandoned God, recent events had made it seem like God was the one who had abandoned her: “The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as slaves.” (2 Kings 4:1) A couple of notes as to why this woman was in such despair: (1) Recently Widowed. It doesn’t matter how tough you are – losing your spouse is hard. Your spouse is someone that you’ve known for a long time. Someone you’ve partnered with for a long time. Someone you’ve gone through ups and downs with for a long time. The Bible says in marriage that “two become one flesh.” When one of those two are removed from this world – that flesh is torn apart. (2) She’s a Widow in a Society that wasn’t Friendly to Widows. In the 9th century B.C. world, society wasn’t that friendly to women – at all. There wasn’t equal pay. There weren’t equal job opportunities. In fact, there wasn’t much for women to do besides care for the family and help tend to whatever vegetables they were growing. Now that this woman’s husband was dead, the family’s source of income was dead. She had to feed herself. She had to feed her kids. She had to pay the rent, feed the animals and pay the bills. The last of which leads to the third problem. (3) She had an Old Testament Credit Shark after Her. Yes. Even back then, in Old Testament Israel, there were bill collectors. They couldn’t call you on the phone. They couldn’t send you email after email. They couldn’t text message you or lower your credit score, so…they showed up at her front door. For some reason, I’m picture this guy with one of those curly moustaches and a maniacal laugh. Because this guy tells her that if she doesn’t pay him back, he’s going to take away both of her sons and make them into slaves. They will work for years trying to pay back what was rightfully his. And to be fair – this wasn’t illegal. In Old Testament society, it was common for: (1) families to be held responsible for other family member’s debts (2) people to be taken as slaves in order to work off debts. This was why she was in need. This was why she was turmoil. This was why she was in need of help from an Almighty, All Loving, Always Faithful, Shepherd God! But she was having a hard time reaching out to him. Because… (4) She was Struggling with Faith. Look carefully at her words to the lead prophet Elisha, “YOUR servant is dead and YOU KNOW that he revered the Lord.” It’s almost an accusation against the company of prophets, against the work that they did together, again Elisha, against…God: Where is this God guy? He’s supposed to be a shepherd? He’s supposed to have Good Ways? He’s supposed to always be faithful? My husband is dead. I have no job. I have no money. I’m going to lose my sons. Where is this God guy? All those prophets that worship Baal? They’re doing fine. Their wives wear diamonds. Their kids have Xboxes. They have fully founded 401Ks. We’ve been following God our whole lives. Even devoting our lives to him – and now we’re losing everything. I don’t think God can help. I don’t think God cares. I don’t think God is real. Can you relate? II. The Real Issue To be fair – Elisha does not get very defensive. He listens to her. He hears her complaints. He thinks. Then, he offers his response: How can I help you? (v.2) I have to confess the first couple of times that I read that I read it like this: “How can I help you?” as in “What types of things do you think I could do to be helpful?” But – the thing is Elisha follows up by asking her about what she has in her house. It becomes obvious that he knows exactly what she wants and exactly how to help her. That’s why I think we’re supposed to read this not as “What things can I do to be helpful?” but “How can I help you?” As in, I’m just a human. As in, I’m just a sinner. As in, why not go to God? Why not seek the One who is faithful? Why not reach out to the One who cares for you? Do you see the implication? She was looking for help Away from The Helper. And that’s the first WHAT NOW for you and me as well. If you’ve got problems and you’ve got issues and you’re looking for help, but you aren’t seeking the Helper…how do you expect to find help? That’s like walking into Home Depot. Not having any idea where to find the 7” Circular band saw that you’re looking for. Walking right past the Help Desk. Ignoring the Customer service counter. And when the nice gentlemen in the orange apron asks, “How can I help you?” responding with “I’m good. No help needed.” God is our Help. God is always faithful. God is always good. God is always shepherding his flock. That woman didn’t seem to recognize it. But now… Now…God as going to prove it. III. God’s Incredible Abundance Elisha asks the woman a second question, “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” (v.2) Which seems like good advice. Ransack your home for something to sell. Maybe eBay. Maybe Craigslist. Perhaps a rummage sale – or a lemonade stand. But the woman responds that she has nothing…nothing besides a one small jar of olive oil. Something she could use for a couple of meals. Something she could cook up a meal or two – if she had anything to put in the olive oil. Something that might last a day or two before it was totally gone. Elisha tells her, “Go around and ask all of your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.” (v.3) If I’m that woman, I’m a bit confused. Empty jars? That’s like the ancient version of Tupperware. Everyone had a lot of empty jars. Empty, clay, worthless jars. They stored everything from water to oil to food. But you want me to get empty jars? Sure, Elisha, I’ll go ask them for empty jars and then I’ll open a business where I sell the Tupperware to people who have lids that don’t fit on any of their current Tupperware – because everyone has 20 some odd Tupperware and 20 some odd Tupperware lids that don’t’ fit any of those 20 some odd Tupperware. She might have been a bit frazzled. But she listens. She trusts. Until she gets to the next part of Elisha’s instruction: Go inside. Lock all the doors behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all of the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side. (v.4) Wait…what? My jar is little. These jars are big. My jar is one. These jars are many. Yet – you want me to pour my oil into this big jar? You want me to pour this tiny bit of oil into that gigantic jar? Done. It’ll take me about three seconds. She lifts up the little jar. Her son brings over a large jar. She takes a deep breath. And pours. And pours. And pours. And the jar is full, “Son, get another one.” And she pours And she pours some more. And she says, “Get a couple to stand by.” And she pours. And she pours. And she pours. And she fills up every jar in that room with oil. Until she gets to the last jar… And she asks her son for one more. And he says, “Mom, we don’t have anymore!” And just like that – the oil stops. She takes the oil. She sells the oil. She pays off her debts. Friends, there is no explanation for why the oil kept pouring. It wasn’t the other jars – they were empty. It wasn’t from her friends – the doors were locked. It wasn’t from Mary Poppins – this isn’t 18th century London. This was God. A miracle from God. A miracle from the abundant blessings of God. The Bible says this, “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” (James 1:17) It says this, “Test me and see if I won’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour open so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store my blessings.” (Malachi 3:10) It says this, “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8) God has an abundant number of blessings. It’s like if you take all of our needs, all of our wants, all of our desires – clothing, shoes, food, drink, money, health – and we fit them into one of those little Dixie cups with a Disney character on the side. We think about bringing that Dixie cup to God, but then for some reason we conclude: He can’t handle this. This is too much. I’ve gotta do this on my own. But the truth is that as we bring our Dixie cup sized requests to God – He begins pouring – pouring out abundant blessings. And it’s like Niagara Falls in that Dixie cup. God is able to abundantly provide for you. God does abundantly provide for you. And you might say, “But why don’t I get the million dollars that I asked God for way back in 5th grade? God must not be that abundant.” Do you remember what happened with the oil? It only stopped flowing because the family couldn’t handle anymore. It’s not like God couldn’t produce more; the family didn’t have the ability to handle more. Here’s the truth: The problem isn’t God’s abundance; it’s our ability to handle God’s abundance. God says, “You can’t handle that million dollars. You’d spend it all on Doritos and end up on the street.” God says, “You aren’t yet strong enough to handle fame. You’d trust yourself and stop trusting me.” God says, “If I bless you with that job, you’ll forget about me, disown me, and remove yourself from eternal life.” God says, “I’ll provide for you abundantly, even abundantly providing for you means barely providing for you so that you keep your eyes on me and receive the MOST abundant blessing that I have to offer. Case and point: We have our own legal indebtedness. It’s true. And now – I don’t have a hold of your Credit Card score, nor have I been compromised by the Lizard Lick Repo. The Bible says that we are legally indebted to God. We are supposed to live perfectly. We don’t. Every time we sin, we owe him the legal debt of death. “The Wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23) But God has an abundance. He came to earth. He lived perfectly without incurring any sin debt of his own. He died innocently to pay for your sin debt. And the payment was abundant. Because his blood began to pour from his side… It covered your first sin. His blood kept pouring from his side… Enough to cover your second. It kept pouring… 37th sin covered. It kept pouring…. Bring me the 2,708th! It kept pouring… That’s sin number 120,262 completely covered. God’s blood poured out on the cross until every last one of your sins was covered. Abundantly covered. Such that YOU are abundantly forgiven. And the blessings don’t stop there! You now peace with God. You are a part of his kingdom. You are His child. You are loved. You are in His care. You are never alone. You are empowered by His Spirit. You are given gifts of the spirit. You have the promise of heaven. You will conquer death. You will live forever with him because of His abundant blessings in Jesus! Friends, God provides abundantly. Return to Him and take part of his abundant blessings. Amen. |
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April 2021
Pastor Phil Kiecker
and his wife, Julianna love serving the community of North Raleigh.
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