Matthew 8:1-4 “Touching the Leper”

 

Matthew 8:1-4
When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

 

The sermons for the past few months have centered on what Jesus called His followers to be. We have found He set the bar quite high for our lives. This new sermon series will look at how Jesus dealt with actual people. We will look at how Jesus ministered to Lepers, Nicodemus, a woman at the well, paralytics, the blind, children, and many more. We will see how Jesus related to the religious leaders and governmental leaders of His day. These interactions between Jesus and people reveal some surprising things

 

Jesus is coming down from the mountain with crowds surrounding Him, when a man with leprosy. The leper runs up to Jesus and kneels before Him requesting to be healed. Lepers are supposed to keep their distance from other people. You can even close your eyes and picture the crowd backing away as the leper runs up to Jesus.

 

What would Jesus do?

2 Kings 5:1-14
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.
What would Jesus do?

 

Most devout Jews would be backing away from this unclean and even contagious man. But Jesus does the strangest thing, He touches the man.

 

HE TOUCHES THE MAN

 

Jesus didn’t need to touch this diseased leper to heal him. Jesus could have done it from long distance if He wanted to. But Jesus touched him, a person who many would back away from, and even more would look away as they passed him. But Jesus reaches out and touches him.

Jesus is taking a big risk in touching this man. What will His followers think, what will they do? Will the crowds turn away from Him because of this radical thing He does?

 

So many people in our world long to be touched, a hand on their shoulder, a hug, even hold hands with another person. They feel alone, outcast, forgotten, isolated, even unclean. Today with all the concern over abuse and lawsuits people are afraid to touch anyone. As a result, people feel more and more isolated and alone.

 

Remember the kid in school who sat all alone eating their lunch. That kid longed to have someone come and sit with them. He needed someone to tell him he was not unwanted. Could you imagine what it would mean if he received a touch by someone other than the bully who is trying to knock their lunch out of his hand.

 

Touch is so powerful studies show that if your doctor places their hand on you in a caring way you have a 50% better chance of being healed even if they do nothing else.

 

 

Mark6:56
And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

 

Mark 8:22 – 25
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.   And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”   And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.”   Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

 

Mark 10:13
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them,

 

Luke 6:17-19
And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,   who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.   And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

 

And this healing power is passed on to the church

James 5:13-18
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

 

Perhaps you can identify with the kid in the lunch room, or the leper kneeling in front of Jesus. Jesus is not put off by you. Your sickness, disability, social status, addiction, sin, nor anything else causes Jesus to back away from you when you come and kneel before Him.

 

What is your sickness? What thing makes you a leper?  What makes people back away or would if they knew about it? If it could happen, what would you have Jesus heal?

A broken heart? Broken relationship? Your mind, your body, your family, your past? Your addiction, your compulsion to sin? Lock it in your mind, got it? See it?

Jesus is here today with us, Jesus is not only willing to heal and forgive you, Jesus will touch you. Feel His hand on your forehead, his fingers brush your hair as He moves His hand to the side of your face. Go ahead reach up and take His hand. Feel Jesus surround your hand with his.

Jesus has touched you and today you are healed.

 

“Live For The Show” Matthew 6:1-6

“Live For The Show”

As we come to the end of the sermon on the mountain and Jesus’ outline of what one of His Children should strive to do and be, we come to the topic of motive. Why do we do what we do is just as important as what we do.

To impress people

1.     You have gotten your reward

2.     God is not impressed

3.     Romans 12:1

4.     Luke 18:9-14

Because you are your fathers child

1.     How can you get past this, (forgive, let them off the hook)

2.     It’s what Jesus did for me

3.     It is what Jesus has done for you

4.     John 13:12-17

5.     Because it is your nature

What flows out of you

1.     Honestly evaluate your motives

2.     Pray for transformation

3.     Make steps for transformation

Why do you do what you do?
What flows out of you?

 

Matthew 6:1-6
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Rom 12:1&2
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if ser-vice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Matthew 6:16-18
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:   “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

James 2:1-13
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

1 Peter 1:13-21
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 

Matthew 5:38-48 “those who hurt you"

Matthew 5:38-48 “those who hurt you"

Jesus challenges His followers in the extreme. If you have not been challenged by the sermon on the mount so far, then this passage will. Even before we finish reading our mind is filled with if’s and buts. Excuses and conditional clauses race through our mind, at least they run through mine.

In this passage Jesus is quoting Lev 24

Fiddler on The Roof, “the whole world will be blind and toothless”

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Yet this command of Jesus is so far above my natural self. Our natural self wants people to pay for their wrongs, we want justice. This whole forgiveness and loving your enemies just does not make sense does it? Yet here it is. This command is in repeated in Romans 12:17.

Jesus lived this teaching from the cross Luke 23:24 “Father forgive them for they no not what they do.”

Steven is quoted in Acts 7:60 as he was being stoned to death “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How do we do this?

Admit our feelings.

Pray for them.

Find a way to bless them.

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Only in our efforts to carry out this impossible task do we start to understand Jesus’ mind and heart, that allowed Him to say from the cross “Father forgive them.”

 

Matthew 5:38-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Lev 24:20 
Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

Romans 12:17
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Prov 20:22
Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.

Luke 23:34
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Acts 7:60
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

 

Matthew 5:31-37 Divorce

Matthew 5:31-37 Divorce

What God has joined together…

Divorce is a thing that has caused much pain for the church, this subject is charged with emotions and pain for so many people. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. The separation for those who choose to simply live together is even higher, because the initial commitment is lower. People choose to live together because they want to avoid divorce, will manage to avoid the legal part of divorce, but not the pain the separation will cause.

When people talk about marriage they could be talking about a social contract. Some will talk of covenant or spiritual contract. But back when God brought up the idea it was one of completion.

Gen 2:18-24
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

 

The word “hold fast” or “cleave in KJV” means to joined or mixed. The concept is becoming one being with two bodies. It is a permanent psychological and spiritual connection. This is how Jesus is treating marriage which He makes clear in Matthew 19:1-12

Matthew 19:1-12
Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.

 

Yet in Deut 24:1-4 the law gave God has rules about divorce, and in our passage, Jesus gives the reason of adultery as a valid reason for divorce.

 

Matthew 5:31-37
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

  “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’

But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

 

While Jesus strengthens the meaning of marriage, He extended the concept of adultery to include lustful thoughts.

I will interject this about abuse. Physical or psychological abuse is a breaking of the marriage, the person who is being abused is divorced when the abuse starts.

 

This could just lead to mud slinging in a who did what contest, which only adds to the pain. The intimate nature of marriage is such that anyone outside of the two people can never figure out who is at fault and it is not their business to do so. In my years counseling couples, I have found that in every marriage there is enough sin to go around, everybody is guilty of something.

Is a person who ends up divorced somehow more defective or more sinful than the rest of us? No, their human, and as such we are all defective and sinful in some way.  To which Jesus says in John 8:1-11 “go and sin no more”

The church has added to the problem with a reading of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 “the husband of one wife” to eliminate divorced persons from church leadership. These passages are more likely talking about polygamy than they are divorce.

 

You will notice the in Matthew 5 Jesus connects His teaching on adultery, divorce, and oaths. They are connected. It is all wrapped up in “let your yes be yes and your no be no” be a person of your word. The commitment you make is to be a commitment you keep. But the solution is not forcing people to stay in bad marriages, it is in making good choices in who and why we marry in the first place. If we change what we think marriage is, we should choose more carefully.

Do you know this person’s character? Are there habits or ideas this person has that you feel need to be changed? If this person were old, fat and wrinkly, are they still the kind of person you would want to be with? Does this person really complete me? Am I less than whole without them?

Remember you are making a promise not only to the person you marry but also to God.
Choose carefully and let your yes be yes and your no be no.