How many of you have been sick in your lives? Probably all of you at one point in time or another. How many of you have ever had a painful relationship with someone you loved? Again, I’d say all of us have gone through something like that. How many of you have ever felt guilty because of something you’ve done or questioned how God could love someone like you? Maybe that is why you are here today.
So then, how many of you have prayed to God that he would free you from your pain, healed your relationships and forgiven your sins? I hope that most of you have. But here’s the real question: how many of you believe that, when you pray, it will actually happen? How many of you, when faced with an approaching knee surgery, pray that God would heal you knee without the need for surgery? Would you pray that prayer for someone else? Would you believe it could actually happen? When someone comes to you with feelings of anxiety, anger or even depression, do you pray with them or simply encourage them to see a psychologist? When you open your eyes, after the prayer, do you expect that God has made a new creation even though it seems impossible to you? Why not?
Jesus made this promise in the gospel of John, “Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” Do you believe that? If we do, then why aren’t we calling upon God day and night to live up to his promise and why don’t we expect our prayers to be answered.
I’ve always been a big pray-er. But when I moved to Connecticut something changed in my prayer life. Before I moved, I remember sitting next to people in nursing homes or hospitals during seminary and saying wonderful prayers about how I hoped that God would heal them or help them recover but, when I opened my eyes, and I’m being completely honest here, when I opened my eyes I expected them to be lying there in pain still. I thought that maybe they might feel better on the inside, but I didn’t think that God would actually heal any real emotional distress. Now, understand me, it’s not that I didn’t think that God had the power to heal, I just didn’t think that he would heal from my prayers.
Today, I know something very important that I didn’t know then. Not only is God powerful and able to heal (which I already knew), but know I know that He WANTS to heal people. Jesus promised to listen to our prayers and he is wise enough to know where people need healing and when they need it. Now, when I pray for healing, I often pray for impossible things, the more impossible the better I figure, and when I open my eyes I believe that I might have opened them to a new creation.
Whenever you are praying for someone, believe that God is listening, trust their healing into his hands, and open your eyes with the expectation that healing has occurred. It may be that God heals something in a dramatic way right that moment, it may be delayed by a few days or the healing might show up in a place nobody was expecting, but whenever you pray for someone, believe this: healing is taking place.
We are having a healing service today and you will all be welcome to come forward to one of our two stations to be prayed over. It’s not only important that those of us who are praying believe that God will do what we are asking, but that those who are being prayed over believe that God is faithful and will do it as well. But, remember, one of the biggest hindrances to healing is unrepentant sin—guilt—and so I’d like to mention briefly why that is and how to deal with it.
There is a connection between sin and sickness, as well as faith and healing. Sickness and disease is in our world because of our brokenness. Jesus came to free us from that bondage to sin and death. I am NOT suggesting that there is simply a cause and effect relationship between sin and sickness as if to say that everyone with a disease A committed sin B; however, everyone who is sick is a sinner and, not surprisingly, many sicknesses come from sin.
For example, we know from the Bible that overeating is a sin—it calls it a fancy word (gluttony), but that’s what it means—eating more than you need. In America, there are a lot of people struggling with this sin. It’s on a lot of our minds every day and it’s tough for us to deal with. Ask any dietician and you’ll find out that what happens if you commit this sin over a long period of time: obesity. And we’ve all heard the sickness and disease that obesity causes: hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, low-self esteem and the list goes on. However, does that mean that ALL people who are obese also overeat? Actually, no, there are sometimes other reasons such as hormonal imbalances. Does this mean that all people who are obese will get these diseases, no, doesn’t work that way either. However, there is a sin and sickness connection isn’t there.
But one of the biggest hindrances to healing is unrepentant sin. So, if we are going to pray for someone to be healed of a sickness such as type-2 diabetes and they don’t feel bad for overeating and have no intention of turning away from that lifestyle, we may find that our prayers are unanswered. On the other hand, when there is a desire for forgiveness and change, God might not only heal that disease but also give the strength to succeed in losing weight in spite of an overwhelming addiction to food. There is a sin and sickness connection, but there is also a faith and healing connection.
Imagine, on the other hand, that a mother and daughter are having relationship troubles. Many unkind words have been exchanged and a great deal of disrespect has been dished out from both sides. When we pray that their relationship be healed, if they both harbor resentment and unforgiveness, it won’t matter how much God wants to heal their hearts, they won’t believe it. How will they believe God can forgive if they can’t forgive one another? However, praying for them might soften their hearts enough to say that they are sorry to one another and to forgive one another . . . and any relationship will be strengthened when that happens. But if each is just waiting for the OTHER to be healed--there is no accountability--no repentance.
One final point today that I cannot emphasize enough. This point is made by the apostle Paul in the last chapter of Galatians, almost at the end of the book, “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” It seems ironic, if not just plain awkward, to speak of the healing ministry as a Christian when our Savior died. He still has the wounds of his crucifixion on his hands and feet in fact. The apostle Paul admits in Philipians that he prayed three times for God to take away a thorn in his flesh, but that God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The only way we can truly understand what healing is really about is when we realize that when we pray for healing we are truly praying for our own death, for only at death will we actually be completely healed. It's not a ministry of glory, but a ministry of weakness.
Healing is not about seeing God’s glory as much as it is seeing how deep our suffering is that Jesus had to die to save us. God is most glorious up there hanging dead on the cross—for it is by Jesus’ wounds that we are healed. We do not boast of our faith, or our healing, or our church, or our faithfulness—May we never boast of anything except the cross of Jesus Christ. Many have taken this wonderful ministry of healing and made it all about a particular person or a special kind of faith which kills the gift that God has given. When this happens, people begin believing that healing is about OUR power (instead of God’s power) or, when they do not see what the results they expect, they blame themselves for their weakness (rather than trusting in God’s wisdom and faithfulness to suffer with them). Healing does not happen because of a faith healer's power but through God's power. If healing doesn't happen as we expect it to right away, we shouldn't blame a person's faith, but trust in God's power.
I pray that, today, you all experience the great power of God’s signs and wonders, but what I really hope happens today more than anything else is that God heals the image that we have of him. We will all die one day, whether we experience a miraculous personal healing today or not, but God promises us that he wants us to have a life that we can live abundantly. Trust that God will heal when you pray or are prayed for and trust that God will heal you where and in what way you need it the most. The Holy Spirit knows our needs even more than we do ourselves.
Before we begin our healing service today, we are going to confess our sins before God and ask forgiveness. Many of us here are struggling with sickness, disease, broken relationships and guilt in our lives; by asking for forgiveness, we are trusting our lives into God’s hands. And when you hear the words of forgiveness, that your sins are washed clean in the blood of Jesus’ cross, consider the fact that Jesus came not just to save you spiritually, but emotionally, mentally and physically as well. He came to deliver you not only from death, but from the effects of sin in your life right now. So, consider this your invitation to know God’s salvation more fully in your life, through the forgiveness of your sins and also through the healing of your bodies, minds and relationships.
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sermon for March 14th
“Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away! Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” The thesis of psalm 32 is this: Repentance and forgiveness gives health, salvation and wholeness.
The writer of this psalm begins by explaining his situation: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away because of my groaning all day long.” In another translation of this verse, it says, “While I kept silence, my body wasted away.” What does it mean to “keep silence”? He has been silent about his sin before God. He either has not confessed his sins and/or he has not repented of them before God. These sins are still affecting his life. The writer describes what his deceitfulness before God—his refusal to admit and turn away from sin—what that did to him: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my strength was dried up as in the heat of summer.”
Many people do not believe that sin bears any consequences. You’ve no doubt met people who seem to do whatever they want, good or bad, and feel exonerated by the fact that they never seem to get in trouble. As a verse from the book of Malachi puts it, “What do we profit by keeping God’s command or by going about as mourners before the Lord of hosts? The arrogant are happy; evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape!”
But the Bible tells us again and again that there is a connection between sin and disease, faith and healing, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” the book of James says. The apostle Paul writes, “Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” When Jesus was approached by a sick woman he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Still, one would be hard pressed to always find a cause and effect relationship between one particular sin and a sickness. As Jesus explains in the gospel of Matthew, “God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” In our day and age, Christians seem to get sick as much as non-Christians . . . why?
According to scripture, is all sickness caused by sin? Yes, but what sin or whose sin isn’t always clear. “As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” It is tempting to place blame for all sickness and pain in our lives, just like Job’s friends tried to blame Job for all that had happened to him. You see, Job did not become sick because of any particular sin he had committed; however, while he was griping against God for his undeserved suffering, trying to justify himself rather than God, he became prideful. So in the end, it was still only through repentance that Job was healed.
Many people do not believe that sin bears any consequences. Others might admit that there are consequences to sin, but only after death. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, but that does not mean that we still do not reap what we sow right here one Earth as well. Scripture says sin creates sickness. So if you or I are sick and suffering, why do we not look to God and repent in order to see where we may be out of line with God’s will? Why!?
Because we have heard stories. You have no doubt heard stories about how some Christians have refused to go to the doctor and died from an easily treatable sickness. Why does this happen? Because some believe there is no mystery to God’s healing. That they can decide when and where and how it’s going to happen. Imagine the arguments: If sickness is caused by sin and sin alone, going to a doctor won’t help—only prayer will. And if you truly have faith, it’s your own fault if you suffer or die. You just didn’t believe correctly.
You have no doubt heard stories of how people have been terrorized by feelings of guilt and hopelessness when, despite their fervent prayers, prayers of repentance and prayers of faith, they still don’t get better. Francis McNutt, the well known faith healer, tells this story: I remember once when we were praying at a Christian college for the students, one by one, and a lovely young woman came up When we asked what she would like us to pray for, she stammered and couldn’t tell us. Finally she said, ‘They say I have a brain tumor.’ But, ‘Who is they? It’s the doctors.’ She had been prayed for and her well-meaing ministers told her afterwards that the tumor was a ‘lying symptom.’ When she told us this, she burst into tears. A month later, her mother wrote, letting us know that she had died and thanking us for our encouragement. The group who had prayed for her didn’t even come to the hospital; they abandoned her in her hour of greatest need when she was struggling with a feeling that God had abandoned her.
God says to each of us, “My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.” There are mysteries to sickness and suffering. There are mysteries to faith and healing. We will never fully understand how God works. However, despite the storylines we know all too well, shouldn’t the stories and promises in scripture mean something too? Scripture tells us plainly: sin causes sickness. God commands us to repent of our sins and we will be healed. In the Bible, healing is normal and expected. Perhaps we’ve missed something very important in trying to protect ourselves from abuses and disappointment.
Psalm 32, “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my strength was dried up as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.” I have spoken to you these last few weeks about repentance and perhaps you have even considered it once or twice. But, then again, maybe you didn’t think that it was really that necessary because you have more time. You’re doing good enough. You’re healthy! You’re happy! While it may be uncomfortable for you and I to hear this, scripture makes it clear, unconfessed sin hurts you in mind and body and it hurts your relationship to God.
Psalm 32 goes on, “Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” Both of my children have a peculiar habit which you may recognize. Sometimes, when they do something wrong and they are caught, they close their eyes. As if, by closing their eyes and blinding themselves to their sin, they have blinded me and their mother from it as well. And until they open their eyes and deal with the consequences of their actions, they are being affected by their choices and our relationship to them is affected. In the same way, when we sin against God or one another and choose to hide our faces from our mistakes, to keep silent, rather than confess our sins before God we will suffer. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”
Again and again in the Bible, physical and mental sickness and disease is said to be casued by sin and healed through repentance, forgiveness, faith and prayer. Are we paying attention to these words? Words from God that might give us faith? Or are we simply listening to the stories that cause us to doubt. What might change in your life if you took God at his word?
The psalmist says that we must find a different hiding place. We must stand, naked and exposed in the light of God, and say, “You, Lord, are my hiding place.” You see, most of the time, when my children finally open their eyes and admit that they have done something wrong, after a few tears they jump into my arms and bury their faces in my chest or armpit. We must hide in the light of God and not in the darkness of our lives.
Listen, there are many suffering today including many of our loved ones. There are so many sicknesses and diseases out there that doctors can treat but not cure. And yet, even though we know we are sinners and even though we hear this clear sin/sickness connection in the Bible, we are so much more likely to want to blame “luck” or say that “God sent this disease so it must be good for me” rather than to look at ourselves and ask the question, “Where is there still sin in my life?” I believe that God blesses us with doctors and nurses and we would be silly to forego medical treatment for ourselves or those we love when we are sick. However, aren’t we being just as silly, if not arrogant, to believe that our sicknesses and diseases have nothing to do with our sin?
As we focus on repentance this Lent, do not forget that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly on the cross. He did not come for the healthy but for the sick! He did not come for the righteous but for the unrighteous! So if you are sick and unrighteous, Jesus Christ is for you. Repent and trust in the Lord who is gracious and merciful. If you are weak under the weight of God’s heavy hands, trust in the Lord and in his mercy to redeem you. Do not simply trust in your ability to keep the law and refrain from sin, for the law says “Do this!” and it is never done! The gospel says “Believe in Jesus Christ and the power of his cross and his blood” and everything is done already. Salvation, healing and wholeness. Repent and believe in the good news! Amen.
The writer of this psalm begins by explaining his situation: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away because of my groaning all day long.” In another translation of this verse, it says, “While I kept silence, my body wasted away.” What does it mean to “keep silence”? He has been silent about his sin before God. He either has not confessed his sins and/or he has not repented of them before God. These sins are still affecting his life. The writer describes what his deceitfulness before God—his refusal to admit and turn away from sin—what that did to him: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my strength was dried up as in the heat of summer.”
Many people do not believe that sin bears any consequences. You’ve no doubt met people who seem to do whatever they want, good or bad, and feel exonerated by the fact that they never seem to get in trouble. As a verse from the book of Malachi puts it, “What do we profit by keeping God’s command or by going about as mourners before the Lord of hosts? The arrogant are happy; evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape!”
But the Bible tells us again and again that there is a connection between sin and disease, faith and healing, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” the book of James says. The apostle Paul writes, “Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” When Jesus was approached by a sick woman he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Still, one would be hard pressed to always find a cause and effect relationship between one particular sin and a sickness. As Jesus explains in the gospel of Matthew, “God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” In our day and age, Christians seem to get sick as much as non-Christians . . . why?
According to scripture, is all sickness caused by sin? Yes, but what sin or whose sin isn’t always clear. “As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” It is tempting to place blame for all sickness and pain in our lives, just like Job’s friends tried to blame Job for all that had happened to him. You see, Job did not become sick because of any particular sin he had committed; however, while he was griping against God for his undeserved suffering, trying to justify himself rather than God, he became prideful. So in the end, it was still only through repentance that Job was healed.
Many people do not believe that sin bears any consequences. Others might admit that there are consequences to sin, but only after death. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, but that does not mean that we still do not reap what we sow right here one Earth as well. Scripture says sin creates sickness. So if you or I are sick and suffering, why do we not look to God and repent in order to see where we may be out of line with God’s will? Why!?
Because we have heard stories. You have no doubt heard stories about how some Christians have refused to go to the doctor and died from an easily treatable sickness. Why does this happen? Because some believe there is no mystery to God’s healing. That they can decide when and where and how it’s going to happen. Imagine the arguments: If sickness is caused by sin and sin alone, going to a doctor won’t help—only prayer will. And if you truly have faith, it’s your own fault if you suffer or die. You just didn’t believe correctly.
You have no doubt heard stories of how people have been terrorized by feelings of guilt and hopelessness when, despite their fervent prayers, prayers of repentance and prayers of faith, they still don’t get better. Francis McNutt, the well known faith healer, tells this story: I remember once when we were praying at a Christian college for the students, one by one, and a lovely young woman came up When we asked what she would like us to pray for, she stammered and couldn’t tell us. Finally she said, ‘They say I have a brain tumor.’ But, ‘Who is they? It’s the doctors.’ She had been prayed for and her well-meaing ministers told her afterwards that the tumor was a ‘lying symptom.’ When she told us this, she burst into tears. A month later, her mother wrote, letting us know that she had died and thanking us for our encouragement. The group who had prayed for her didn’t even come to the hospital; they abandoned her in her hour of greatest need when she was struggling with a feeling that God had abandoned her.
God says to each of us, “My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.” There are mysteries to sickness and suffering. There are mysteries to faith and healing. We will never fully understand how God works. However, despite the storylines we know all too well, shouldn’t the stories and promises in scripture mean something too? Scripture tells us plainly: sin causes sickness. God commands us to repent of our sins and we will be healed. In the Bible, healing is normal and expected. Perhaps we’ve missed something very important in trying to protect ourselves from abuses and disappointment.
Psalm 32, “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my strength was dried up as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.” I have spoken to you these last few weeks about repentance and perhaps you have even considered it once or twice. But, then again, maybe you didn’t think that it was really that necessary because you have more time. You’re doing good enough. You’re healthy! You’re happy! While it may be uncomfortable for you and I to hear this, scripture makes it clear, unconfessed sin hurts you in mind and body and it hurts your relationship to God.
Psalm 32 goes on, “Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” Both of my children have a peculiar habit which you may recognize. Sometimes, when they do something wrong and they are caught, they close their eyes. As if, by closing their eyes and blinding themselves to their sin, they have blinded me and their mother from it as well. And until they open their eyes and deal with the consequences of their actions, they are being affected by their choices and our relationship to them is affected. In the same way, when we sin against God or one another and choose to hide our faces from our mistakes, to keep silent, rather than confess our sins before God we will suffer. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”
Again and again in the Bible, physical and mental sickness and disease is said to be casued by sin and healed through repentance, forgiveness, faith and prayer. Are we paying attention to these words? Words from God that might give us faith? Or are we simply listening to the stories that cause us to doubt. What might change in your life if you took God at his word?
The psalmist says that we must find a different hiding place. We must stand, naked and exposed in the light of God, and say, “You, Lord, are my hiding place.” You see, most of the time, when my children finally open their eyes and admit that they have done something wrong, after a few tears they jump into my arms and bury their faces in my chest or armpit. We must hide in the light of God and not in the darkness of our lives.
Listen, there are many suffering today including many of our loved ones. There are so many sicknesses and diseases out there that doctors can treat but not cure. And yet, even though we know we are sinners and even though we hear this clear sin/sickness connection in the Bible, we are so much more likely to want to blame “luck” or say that “God sent this disease so it must be good for me” rather than to look at ourselves and ask the question, “Where is there still sin in my life?” I believe that God blesses us with doctors and nurses and we would be silly to forego medical treatment for ourselves or those we love when we are sick. However, aren’t we being just as silly, if not arrogant, to believe that our sicknesses and diseases have nothing to do with our sin?
As we focus on repentance this Lent, do not forget that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly on the cross. He did not come for the healthy but for the sick! He did not come for the righteous but for the unrighteous! So if you are sick and unrighteous, Jesus Christ is for you. Repent and trust in the Lord who is gracious and merciful. If you are weak under the weight of God’s heavy hands, trust in the Lord and in his mercy to redeem you. Do not simply trust in your ability to keep the law and refrain from sin, for the law says “Do this!” and it is never done! The gospel says “Believe in Jesus Christ and the power of his cross and his blood” and everything is done already. Salvation, healing and wholeness. Repent and believe in the good news! Amen.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sermon for July 19th
When you read through the gospels, especially the gospel of Mark, have you ever noticed how busy Jesus is? Why was Jesus so popular? Have you ever wondered that? He certainly wasn’t popular among the religious leaders of his time, but whenever he went out into the countryside or entered into a village, it seems like all kinds of people were after him. Why?
The end of today’s gospel reading tells us why, “Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” That’s why. Jesus healed. He cured their sick. He cured their diseases. He brought salvation, not just with words, but with deeds. You all know people who are sick. You all have some physical, spiritual or emotional issue that you want healed. If you knew that Jesus could heal you, wouldn’t you go after him too? Know this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
Jesus did many things during his ministry besides simply healing. He fed five thousand people. He calmed a storm. He turned water into wine. He even cast out demons. But, most notoriously, he forgave sins.
Remember the scene where Jesus was teaching and a crippled man lying on a mat was lowered down from a rooftop by some friends? When Jesus saw their faith he said to the crippled man, “Your sins are forgiven.” But the scribes and the Pharisees questioned him saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus replied, “Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven or Stand up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
Now, when someone is healed of a sickness in the Bible, we need to be aware that, eventually, they become sick again. When a demon is cast out of a person it is quite possible, Jesus says, that seven more demons might come to take its place. Even when Lazarus was raised from the dead we can be assured that, heartbreakingly enough, he had to die again. True glory and complete healing for us, only come after death.
God’s true glory is found in the last place we want to look, in a crucified Jesus. Nobody wants to look at the cross, not now and not then. Jesus was very popular when he was healing, but when he forgave sins dying on the cross, everyone abandoned him. We want glory! We want to see Jesus come down! We want him to be healed! We want to be healed! But God’s glory in healing us on Earth will always be secondary to what God has done for us on the cross.
In other words, I would encourage you all to trust in the cross of Jesus Christ rather than in seeing God’s glory in some other place, I would encourage you all to trust in the forgiveness of sins rather than in the temporary healing of even your greatest suffering. Knowing that you will live eternally in God’s sight, that you are pleasing in the eyes of the Lord of heaven in earth, is a greater comfort than anything else.
But—thankfully!—God does not demand that you choose one or the other. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually do it. Healing and forgiveness do not negate one another, they complement each other, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—Jesus said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and stopped there. When the sick came to him asking for healing he could have compassionately told them, “Though you suffer now, one day, you will suffer no more” and left it at that. When the demoniac came to Jesus beating upon himself and clanking his chains, Jesus could have said, “God loves you.” When people came to touch Jesus’ cloak believing that they would be healed, Jesus could have simply turned and said, “My fringe is not magical! Your leprosy, your cancer, your epilepsy, even your death cannot separate you from God. Go in peace.”
Jesus could have said these things, since the forgiveness of sins is obviously of more lasting importance than temporal physical healing or exorcism, but Jesus preached salvation and healing by actually healing and freeing people from evil, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion or them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” So Jesus taught them, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, AND cured every sickness and disease. That’s what a loving God does. That’s what your loving God STILL does. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and heal and cast out demons and then, stopped the healing ministry at his death. But he did not do this, “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent (and they didn’t stop there). They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry go no farther than these apostles, but he did not stop there. Instead, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said, cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
And, if God had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry, these acts of glory, go no farther than the twelve apostles and then these seventy, but God did not stop there. Instead, as the book of James points out, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” You see, the forgiveness of sins is, indeed, the most important gift God could give you, but, because God loves you and cares for you in this life as well as the next, he has promised to hear your prayers for healing.
But a final word of caution. The forgiveness of sins leads you to look at the cross. Prayers for healing lead you to look for glory. I tell you this because there will be times when you feel like your prayers for healing aren’t doing any good. That your prayers are pointless. You will be tempted to blame your lack of faith or blame God’s cruelty because you are seeing no healing, no glory. This is where you must trust the heal-ER more than the healing.
Jesus’ love for you is shown primarily through HIS suffering and the cross. The healing you experience in this life is temporal, it’s temporary, and, therefore, when all is said and done, it will last only as long as you do. But Jesus’ love for you has no bounds. He died to give you freedom from sickness and injuries and disease on this earth—YES!—but, more importantly, freedom from sin, death and the devil forever.
God gives you food and water. He gives you medicines invented by great research scientists as well as the gifts of doctors, nurses, psychologists and physical therapists. These are all good gifts of God to be used and appreciated by all of you as Christians. You wouldn’t feel guilty or “unspiritual” by going to a doctor to heal your health problems so don’t forsake the wonderful gifts of prayer and healing that God has ALSO blessed you with. You wouldn’t stop seeing a psychologist just because you didn’t feel “cured” after the first treatment, so don’t stop coming for prayer even if the healing you want doesn’t take place immediately.
Each week, here at Saint Peters, we pray for the sick. Maybe you will even come up for prayer after this service. But sometimes I think we pray without expecting anything to really, truly happen. But the next time you pray, or you are prayed for, believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you. Amen.
The end of today’s gospel reading tells us why, “Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” That’s why. Jesus healed. He cured their sick. He cured their diseases. He brought salvation, not just with words, but with deeds. You all know people who are sick. You all have some physical, spiritual or emotional issue that you want healed. If you knew that Jesus could heal you, wouldn’t you go after him too? Know this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
Jesus did many things during his ministry besides simply healing. He fed five thousand people. He calmed a storm. He turned water into wine. He even cast out demons. But, most notoriously, he forgave sins.
Remember the scene where Jesus was teaching and a crippled man lying on a mat was lowered down from a rooftop by some friends? When Jesus saw their faith he said to the crippled man, “Your sins are forgiven.” But the scribes and the Pharisees questioned him saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus replied, “Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven or Stand up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
Now, when someone is healed of a sickness in the Bible, we need to be aware that, eventually, they become sick again. When a demon is cast out of a person it is quite possible, Jesus says, that seven more demons might come to take its place. Even when Lazarus was raised from the dead we can be assured that, heartbreakingly enough, he had to die again. True glory and complete healing for us, only come after death.
God’s true glory is found in the last place we want to look, in a crucified Jesus. Nobody wants to look at the cross, not now and not then. Jesus was very popular when he was healing, but when he forgave sins dying on the cross, everyone abandoned him. We want glory! We want to see Jesus come down! We want him to be healed! We want to be healed! But God’s glory in healing us on Earth will always be secondary to what God has done for us on the cross.
In other words, I would encourage you all to trust in the cross of Jesus Christ rather than in seeing God’s glory in some other place, I would encourage you all to trust in the forgiveness of sins rather than in the temporary healing of even your greatest suffering. Knowing that you will live eternally in God’s sight, that you are pleasing in the eyes of the Lord of heaven in earth, is a greater comfort than anything else.
But—thankfully!—God does not demand that you choose one or the other. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually do it. Healing and forgiveness do not negate one another, they complement each other, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—Jesus said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and stopped there. When the sick came to him asking for healing he could have compassionately told them, “Though you suffer now, one day, you will suffer no more” and left it at that. When the demoniac came to Jesus beating upon himself and clanking his chains, Jesus could have said, “God loves you.” When people came to touch Jesus’ cloak believing that they would be healed, Jesus could have simply turned and said, “My fringe is not magical! Your leprosy, your cancer, your epilepsy, even your death cannot separate you from God. Go in peace.”
Jesus could have said these things, since the forgiveness of sins is obviously of more lasting importance than temporal physical healing or exorcism, but Jesus preached salvation and healing by actually healing and freeing people from evil, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion or them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” So Jesus taught them, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, AND cured every sickness and disease. That’s what a loving God does. That’s what your loving God STILL does. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and heal and cast out demons and then, stopped the healing ministry at his death. But he did not do this, “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent (and they didn’t stop there). They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry go no farther than these apostles, but he did not stop there. Instead, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said, cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
And, if God had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry, these acts of glory, go no farther than the twelve apostles and then these seventy, but God did not stop there. Instead, as the book of James points out, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” You see, the forgiveness of sins is, indeed, the most important gift God could give you, but, because God loves you and cares for you in this life as well as the next, he has promised to hear your prayers for healing.
But a final word of caution. The forgiveness of sins leads you to look at the cross. Prayers for healing lead you to look for glory. I tell you this because there will be times when you feel like your prayers for healing aren’t doing any good. That your prayers are pointless. You will be tempted to blame your lack of faith or blame God’s cruelty because you are seeing no healing, no glory. This is where you must trust the heal-ER more than the healing.
Jesus’ love for you is shown primarily through HIS suffering and the cross. The healing you experience in this life is temporal, it’s temporary, and, therefore, when all is said and done, it will last only as long as you do. But Jesus’ love for you has no bounds. He died to give you freedom from sickness and injuries and disease on this earth—YES!—but, more importantly, freedom from sin, death and the devil forever.
God gives you food and water. He gives you medicines invented by great research scientists as well as the gifts of doctors, nurses, psychologists and physical therapists. These are all good gifts of God to be used and appreciated by all of you as Christians. You wouldn’t feel guilty or “unspiritual” by going to a doctor to heal your health problems so don’t forsake the wonderful gifts of prayer and healing that God has ALSO blessed you with. You wouldn’t stop seeing a psychologist just because you didn’t feel “cured” after the first treatment, so don’t stop coming for prayer even if the healing you want doesn’t take place immediately.
Each week, here at Saint Peters, we pray for the sick. Maybe you will even come up for prayer after this service. But sometimes I think we pray without expecting anything to really, truly happen. But the next time you pray, or you are prayed for, believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you. Amen.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Sermon for February 1st
When you heard the gospel reading just a moment ago, did you realize that it was a story about an exorcism? If you weren’t paying much attention, Jesus casts out an “unclean” spirit from a man. And this is not the only time Jesus does this, that is for sure. He cast out evil spirits, unclean spirits and even demons from people throughout the gospel stories. But we don’t talk much about it. We don’t talk much about “unclean” spirits or “evil” spirits or demons much do we? The topic certainly doesn’t come up much in casual conversation. But here it is, plain to see, in a story about Jesus in the Bible. So, the time has come to talk about it.
First off, should you believe that evil spirits exist? It’s a good question and an important one because a lot of really weird people believe in a lot of REALLY weird things. And, furthermore, you’ve probably lived your life pretty nicely up to this point without giving much thought to the subject—so why should you now?
When Jesus was ministering throughout Galilee and Jerusalem, he healed many people. In the gospel of John, Jesus healed a blind man. That man told the authorities the story, “I once was blind, but now I see.” In the gospel of Matthew, a leper came to Jesus and said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” And immediately that man’s skin disease was cured. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus met a woman mourning the death of her son. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus healed a man whose hand was writhered, “The man stretched it out to Jesus and his hand was restored.”
These are four stories told in the four gospels about Jesus’ ability to heal though there are many more. Have any of you known a person who was blind? I have. Anybody been in the presence of a dead person? I have. Anybody ever heard of the skin disease called “leprosy”? You might not know anyone who has it, but in 2006, Africa had 41, 239 new cases and in South East Asia, there were 201, 635 new cases of the disease, so it certainly still exists. Finally, does anyone here know someone whose hands are withered, broken or deformed in some way?
Now, let me make this clear. I’m not asking any of you whether or not you believe that Jesus HEALED anybody. I’m not asking you if he has the power to heal these diseases. I’m only asking you if these diseases and these problems existed at the time of the Bible and still exist today. I believe that we can all answer this question with a resounding YES!
In the gospel of Mark, just after Jesus called his disciples to service from their fishing boats, the story moves on to today’s gospel reading, “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Jesus casts this spirit out of the man. In the gospel of Matthew, two demoniacs, people infested by demons, were coming out of the tombs and met Jesus. Jesus cast out the demons from these two men. In Luke’s gospel we are told of a woman with a spirit who had crippled her for eighteen years. Jesus sets her free.
Have any of you heard of someone being infested by a demon or an evil spirit? If someone told you they were, would you believe them or would you walk slowly backward and try not to make eye contact. Again, I’m not asking you right now to believe that Jesus could or did cast out any evil spirits, I’m only asking you if you think these evil spirits existed. And if they existed at Jesus’ time do they still exist today?
Many of you probably don’t think they do and I can understand why. In our society, if someone is suffering from something that doesn’t make sense, we give them psychological or psychiatric treatment. Maybe it’s just in their heads. Only “primitive” cultures still believe in demons, we say, but not us, not civilized Americans. In fact, at seminary, one distinguishing characteristic of foreign students is that they are willing to talk about evil spirits in class while no one else really gives it a second thought. It just sounds too weird.
But here’s my question for you: Why is every other problem, sin, disease and pain spoken about in the Bible still in existence and uncontested, but the existence of evil spirits is doubted? If we truly want to argue that only “primitive” minds or cultures accept these things, then why does Jesus, who we confess is God in the flesh, appear to not only accept their presence but actually casts out demons and frees people from evil spirits? Is he just “playing along” with their delusions? Why not tell them the truth if there really was a different truth? He didn’t seem to usually have trouble breaking with traditions. Was Jesus simply “a man of his times”? Or did it go against the Star Trek prime directive to tell the truth? Or, perhaps, Jesus cast out demons because there were demons to cast out.
In every gospel, there is a reference to a least one, if not many, exorcisms, and yet, so many Christians don’t even think the possibility of the demonic even exists. Even today’s prayers of intercession, which we read each week in our celebrate insert, fail to acknowledge the need to pray against evil spirits. Instead, we are “crying out to God to care for all those who live with mental illness and those who are sick and hospitalized.” This truly brings the issue to a head doesn’t it? The fact is, most people would say that if you believe that you are infested by an evil spirit you probably need to be institutionalized or you have a hormonal inbalance. To put it quite succinctly—you’re crazy.
I’ve presented an argument for the existence of evil spirits, but now we come to the REASON these stories of exocism were ever included in the Bible in the first place. You see, those reading the gospel stories at first didn’t seem to have an issue accepting the possibility of the demonic in their lives; instead, they had a problem DEALING with demonic influences. They were looking for hope and hoping for someone with the authority and the power to deliver them from bondage. Jesus did not just come to heal and forgive. As he prepares for his crucifixion in the gospel of John, Jesus points out, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.” John’s gospel doesn’t have a scene where Jesus casts out evil spirits from a person, the one exorcism in John’s Gospel is the crucifixion itself where Jesus casts the Devil out of power for good.
Jesus doesn’t always cast out a demon when there is something wrong with a person. Sometimes there is a need for physical healing, like the man with the withered hand. Sometimes a person needs spiritual healing and needs to hear that their sins are forgiven. Sometimes people need emotional healing when they’ve struggled with abusive parents or siblings. Healing can take place through prayer, both intercessory prayer or the in-person laying on of hands kind of prayer. Healing can also take place within a hospital setting or in a psychologist’s office. AND the Bible also tells us, there are times when deliverance is needed; when God expects us to trust him not only to deal with problems we understand, but problems we don’t understand, such as those caused not by bacteria, or guilt or hormonal imbalances, but, yes you guessed it, problems caused by evil spirits as crazy as that may sound.
Believing in the existence of evil spirits and demons doesn’t mean that everything that goes wrong in your life, in your mind or in your body is the work of the Devil, like some little fairy Queen Mab, ala Shakespeare, “who Drums in a soldier’s ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frightened swears a prayer or two And sleeps again.” Sometimes you can’t sleep because you ate pizza at midnight and you have heartburn, or maybe you just broke up with a girl and you’re having second thoughts. Sometimes drug therapy is needed and necessary for manic-depressive disorders. Sometimes being institutionalized is the only way to keep a person safe from hurting others or themselves. However, the Bible stories about Jesus casting out demons give us another possible technique with which to deal with the problems in our life: prayer. And more specifically, praying for deliverance.
You shouldn’t assume that every problem you are having or health issue is caused by evil spirits because, honestly, they aren’t. But, if you sense that you might need deliverance, for whatever reason, don’t feel ashamed or scared. Remember today’s gospel lesson: Your God is a God who has the power to defeat sin, death and the devil, along with any demons or evil spirits that come along for the ride as well. He answers prayers, that’s his promise for you, and this includes prayers for health, wellbeing as well as prayers for freedom from the bondage of depression or compulsion or lust. Jesus has power over every part of life, even those parts you cannot and don’t really want to understand. The natural and the supernatural. And he promises that no matter how much evil has entered into your life, he has the power and authority to cast it out. You don’t have to fight it alone.
God has placed you in a community that loves you. Jesus promises, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me, I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” If you have been dealing with an evil that you cannot control and cannot understand or find help for, you are not alone and the church is definitely a place to find help and support. God loves you and will fight for your freedom. If you still think that all this talk is pretty silly, don’t worry; I pray that these stories of exorcism throughout the Bible might help you trust that indeed, there is nothing, natural or spiritual, that can ever harm you. You are under the protection of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. There are a lot of things we cannot understand in this world, even evil spirits, but God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Nothing can overcome this promise for Jesus has overcome the world. Amen.
First off, should you believe that evil spirits exist? It’s a good question and an important one because a lot of really weird people believe in a lot of REALLY weird things. And, furthermore, you’ve probably lived your life pretty nicely up to this point without giving much thought to the subject—so why should you now?
When Jesus was ministering throughout Galilee and Jerusalem, he healed many people. In the gospel of John, Jesus healed a blind man. That man told the authorities the story, “I once was blind, but now I see.” In the gospel of Matthew, a leper came to Jesus and said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” And immediately that man’s skin disease was cured. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus met a woman mourning the death of her son. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus healed a man whose hand was writhered, “The man stretched it out to Jesus and his hand was restored.”
These are four stories told in the four gospels about Jesus’ ability to heal though there are many more. Have any of you known a person who was blind? I have. Anybody been in the presence of a dead person? I have. Anybody ever heard of the skin disease called “leprosy”? You might not know anyone who has it, but in 2006, Africa had 41, 239 new cases and in South East Asia, there were 201, 635 new cases of the disease, so it certainly still exists. Finally, does anyone here know someone whose hands are withered, broken or deformed in some way?
Now, let me make this clear. I’m not asking any of you whether or not you believe that Jesus HEALED anybody. I’m not asking you if he has the power to heal these diseases. I’m only asking you if these diseases and these problems existed at the time of the Bible and still exist today. I believe that we can all answer this question with a resounding YES!
In the gospel of Mark, just after Jesus called his disciples to service from their fishing boats, the story moves on to today’s gospel reading, “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Jesus casts this spirit out of the man. In the gospel of Matthew, two demoniacs, people infested by demons, were coming out of the tombs and met Jesus. Jesus cast out the demons from these two men. In Luke’s gospel we are told of a woman with a spirit who had crippled her for eighteen years. Jesus sets her free.
Have any of you heard of someone being infested by a demon or an evil spirit? If someone told you they were, would you believe them or would you walk slowly backward and try not to make eye contact. Again, I’m not asking you right now to believe that Jesus could or did cast out any evil spirits, I’m only asking you if you think these evil spirits existed. And if they existed at Jesus’ time do they still exist today?
Many of you probably don’t think they do and I can understand why. In our society, if someone is suffering from something that doesn’t make sense, we give them psychological or psychiatric treatment. Maybe it’s just in their heads. Only “primitive” cultures still believe in demons, we say, but not us, not civilized Americans. In fact, at seminary, one distinguishing characteristic of foreign students is that they are willing to talk about evil spirits in class while no one else really gives it a second thought. It just sounds too weird.
But here’s my question for you: Why is every other problem, sin, disease and pain spoken about in the Bible still in existence and uncontested, but the existence of evil spirits is doubted? If we truly want to argue that only “primitive” minds or cultures accept these things, then why does Jesus, who we confess is God in the flesh, appear to not only accept their presence but actually casts out demons and frees people from evil spirits? Is he just “playing along” with their delusions? Why not tell them the truth if there really was a different truth? He didn’t seem to usually have trouble breaking with traditions. Was Jesus simply “a man of his times”? Or did it go against the Star Trek prime directive to tell the truth? Or, perhaps, Jesus cast out demons because there were demons to cast out.
In every gospel, there is a reference to a least one, if not many, exorcisms, and yet, so many Christians don’t even think the possibility of the demonic even exists. Even today’s prayers of intercession, which we read each week in our celebrate insert, fail to acknowledge the need to pray against evil spirits. Instead, we are “crying out to God to care for all those who live with mental illness and those who are sick and hospitalized.” This truly brings the issue to a head doesn’t it? The fact is, most people would say that if you believe that you are infested by an evil spirit you probably need to be institutionalized or you have a hormonal inbalance. To put it quite succinctly—you’re crazy.
I’ve presented an argument for the existence of evil spirits, but now we come to the REASON these stories of exocism were ever included in the Bible in the first place. You see, those reading the gospel stories at first didn’t seem to have an issue accepting the possibility of the demonic in their lives; instead, they had a problem DEALING with demonic influences. They were looking for hope and hoping for someone with the authority and the power to deliver them from bondage. Jesus did not just come to heal and forgive. As he prepares for his crucifixion in the gospel of John, Jesus points out, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.” John’s gospel doesn’t have a scene where Jesus casts out evil spirits from a person, the one exorcism in John’s Gospel is the crucifixion itself where Jesus casts the Devil out of power for good.
Jesus doesn’t always cast out a demon when there is something wrong with a person. Sometimes there is a need for physical healing, like the man with the withered hand. Sometimes a person needs spiritual healing and needs to hear that their sins are forgiven. Sometimes people need emotional healing when they’ve struggled with abusive parents or siblings. Healing can take place through prayer, both intercessory prayer or the in-person laying on of hands kind of prayer. Healing can also take place within a hospital setting or in a psychologist’s office. AND the Bible also tells us, there are times when deliverance is needed; when God expects us to trust him not only to deal with problems we understand, but problems we don’t understand, such as those caused not by bacteria, or guilt or hormonal imbalances, but, yes you guessed it, problems caused by evil spirits as crazy as that may sound.
Believing in the existence of evil spirits and demons doesn’t mean that everything that goes wrong in your life, in your mind or in your body is the work of the Devil, like some little fairy Queen Mab, ala Shakespeare, “who Drums in a soldier’s ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frightened swears a prayer or two And sleeps again.” Sometimes you can’t sleep because you ate pizza at midnight and you have heartburn, or maybe you just broke up with a girl and you’re having second thoughts. Sometimes drug therapy is needed and necessary for manic-depressive disorders. Sometimes being institutionalized is the only way to keep a person safe from hurting others or themselves. However, the Bible stories about Jesus casting out demons give us another possible technique with which to deal with the problems in our life: prayer. And more specifically, praying for deliverance.
You shouldn’t assume that every problem you are having or health issue is caused by evil spirits because, honestly, they aren’t. But, if you sense that you might need deliverance, for whatever reason, don’t feel ashamed or scared. Remember today’s gospel lesson: Your God is a God who has the power to defeat sin, death and the devil, along with any demons or evil spirits that come along for the ride as well. He answers prayers, that’s his promise for you, and this includes prayers for health, wellbeing as well as prayers for freedom from the bondage of depression or compulsion or lust. Jesus has power over every part of life, even those parts you cannot and don’t really want to understand. The natural and the supernatural. And he promises that no matter how much evil has entered into your life, he has the power and authority to cast it out. You don’t have to fight it alone.
God has placed you in a community that loves you. Jesus promises, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me, I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” If you have been dealing with an evil that you cannot control and cannot understand or find help for, you are not alone and the church is definitely a place to find help and support. God loves you and will fight for your freedom. If you still think that all this talk is pretty silly, don’t worry; I pray that these stories of exorcism throughout the Bible might help you trust that indeed, there is nothing, natural or spiritual, that can ever harm you. You are under the protection of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. There are a lot of things we cannot understand in this world, even evil spirits, but God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Nothing can overcome this promise for Jesus has overcome the world. Amen.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sermon for June 15th
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Jesus gave his twelve disciples authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. Then, he gave them instructions to actually go out and do it. And we say, good for them. But do we still have to deal with things like that? At Saint Peters? In Northwest Connecticut? In the year 2008? In other words, is there still a need to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” Do we even expect those things to happen? Is it still essential to do this when we have doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists? And even if there is a need, do we really have the abilities, the call, the knowledge, the power and the authority to do any of these things?
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” The first question to ask is, do we still have to deal with these things? Yes. I assume that we can all agree on the relevance of at least the first three. People still get sick, people still die, there are still diseases including leprosy that we have to deal with. But as for casting out demons? I am sure that there is much disagreement in the room about whether we still have to deal with that. But I hope that you realize that it is exactly on this point where the power of this passage stands or falls. To put it quite simply, if Jesus is just some religious nutcase, out of touch, or scientifically ignorant about what he calls “casting out demons”, then it is difficult to believe anything else he is talking about either. In other words, if Jesus can’t cast out a demon, or if there were never demons to cast out, how can we really believe that he could cure diseases or raise the dead. They are all about as likely.
Perhaps you have heard the following quote before, “The greatest lie the Devil ever told was that he didn’t exist.” Take a moment to consider that statement. “The greatest lie the Devil ever told was that he didn’t exist.” And yet, as my advisor at seminary, who was also the president of Luther Seminary at the time, as he told me once, “I don’t believe in the Devil. I believe in Jesus Christ who has defeated the Devil for me.” In other words, while it is important to know that there is indeed an evil enemy you are in combat with, it is even more important to know where to turn in order to defeat that enemy. That is finally, in fact, what Jesus is speaking about in the gospel today. Where can you turn to deal with sickness, death, disease and demons when they affect you in your daily life?
In my life, I have dealt primarily with two groups of people when it came to talking about the phrase “casting out demons”. I hope that you will find these two groups familiar from experience in your own life.
The first group considers evil spirits to be an antiquated and uncivilized labeling of psychological maladies. For instance, in my first “pastoral care” class, the teacher read about a time when King David was said to have a spirit in him that made him sad. She explained that nowadays we would probably just call him depressed and get him on some medication. In the New Testament, there was a little girl who had seizures and would foam at the mouth. Jesus cast an evil spirit out of her, but my teacher explained that she probably just had epilepsy. At the end of class, it seemed clear that, as a pastor, there was very little I could do for these people. I could only send them off to a hospital or psychiatrist while praying that God would find a way to help them someday. .
The second group of people I have seen or dealt with talked about life in a very different way than I did. Many times I have watched this group of people on T.V. For them, every event in life is being affected by either angels or evil spirits. If they almost get in a car accident, their guardian angel must have been watching out for them. If congress passes a particular law they disagree with in Washington, they might maintain that the Devil has gained a foothold in some government official. Every hurricane and earthquake is a sign of Christ’s second coming. What do I get out of these conversations? I should be a better Christian. I must do more, speak out, fight against temptation, accept Jesus into my heart, get ready for Armageddon and call my congressman. Everything, finally, is left in my hands. I’ve got to constantly be on guard against the Devil.
It is easy to think and worry about demons and evil spirits all the time. It is also easy to believe that they have never existed in the first place. If you focus on them too much, you can become anxious and fearful, on the other hand, ignoring their existence can lead to anxiety and fear as well. Jesus does not call us to be a part of either of these two groups I just mentioned, but instead calls us to himself where there is finally peace. We cannot take Christ’s power away from him and place it in science alone, nor can we take Christ’s power away and put it in our own hands.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Jesus gave his twelve disciples the authority to deal with suffering whether it came from evil spirits, from sin, or from germs. The most important point to realize is that the power and the authority comes from Jesus alone. By themselves, the disciples have absolutely nothing to deal with sin, death and the devil. It is the power of God that heals. His power that casts out. His power to cleanse. His power to raise. His power to cure.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Jesus not only has the power to give eternal life through the forgiveness of sins, but here, he is also pointing out that he has the power to sustain life. And just like his gives us the ability to forgive sins in his name, he also gives us the ability to sustain life in his name. Either way, the power, the ability and the authority comes from God, but he finds a way to get people forgiven, healed and at peace by using your hands, your feet and your mouths.
Martin Luther called Christians a “priesthood of all believers.” A priest isn’t a special kind of a person, but they do know something very important: you know who to look to guidance, who to pray to and on whose authority you speak. What I want to impress upon you is that you do have the authority to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons” because, and this is very important, because you know who is really doing it. You know who really has the power to do it. You know who is in charge of healing and sustaining life. You are just the tool God uses to do it.
My goal in telling you all this is to give you faith. Faith to believe that Jesus alone has power over all these things and you can look to him for healing and deliverance whenever you come in contact with sickness, death, disease and demons. This is true when you are praying for healing with people on your own. This is true when you are taking them to a doctor’s appointment. This is true when you are admit someone into a psych ward. This is true when you are sitting with a loved one on their death bed. This is true if you are the one needing help. You may trust that Jesus is loving enough to heal, able to heal, faithful to heal and wise enough to know when and how to heal.
But, before you leave today, I need to do one more thing. I need to equip you to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” Even if you know that there is suffering and are called on to do something about it in Jesus’ name, you might not have a clue how to do it. So let me give you a few ideas.
First, listen to people. Listen to their pain and listen to their hopes. Just listen to them even if you don’t like what you are hearing. And while you are listening to them with one ear, listen to God with your other ear to see if you are encouraged to pray with them.
Second, pray with people. Even if you think it might not make a difference and even if you don’t know what to say. God has promised to listen to your prayers just as a loving Father listens to his child. You can demand a hearing from God knowing that it is always his will to heal and to deliver people from evil even if the healing looks different than we expect. Ask to pray with them. If you want, you might even ask to hold their hand or touch their shoulder. Let them know you care for them just like God cares for them.
Take as much time as you would like to pray. Sometimes your prayer might be short and to the point, at other times it might take longer than you expect. There is no reason to heap up empty phrases just to sound like you know what you are doing, but if you think of something else to pray for, or just want to be silent for a little while, go ahead and take the time.
Finally, leave healing in God’s hands. Perhaps your prayer will have already been answered as soon as you open your eyes. Maybe it will happen days later. Maybe years later. Maybe you’ll never know, but, finally, you are not responsible to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons,” God is responsible and you are only doing what you have been asked to do. The authority comes from God and the power is God’s alone.
When you hear that your sins are forgiven, you can be assured that God himself has promised you eternal life. When God heals you or delivers you from evil, you can only be assured of a longer or fuller life. However, both are important, one for this life now and one for eternal life.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” There is a lot of suffering in this world, God knows that we go through much each and every day. But as a member of God’s family, you know where to look for healing and deliverance while many others do not know where to place their hope. So listen to people. Pray with them. And leave the healing and deliverance in God’s hands. Amen.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” The first question to ask is, do we still have to deal with these things? Yes. I assume that we can all agree on the relevance of at least the first three. People still get sick, people still die, there are still diseases including leprosy that we have to deal with. But as for casting out demons? I am sure that there is much disagreement in the room about whether we still have to deal with that. But I hope that you realize that it is exactly on this point where the power of this passage stands or falls. To put it quite simply, if Jesus is just some religious nutcase, out of touch, or scientifically ignorant about what he calls “casting out demons”, then it is difficult to believe anything else he is talking about either. In other words, if Jesus can’t cast out a demon, or if there were never demons to cast out, how can we really believe that he could cure diseases or raise the dead. They are all about as likely.
Perhaps you have heard the following quote before, “The greatest lie the Devil ever told was that he didn’t exist.” Take a moment to consider that statement. “The greatest lie the Devil ever told was that he didn’t exist.” And yet, as my advisor at seminary, who was also the president of Luther Seminary at the time, as he told me once, “I don’t believe in the Devil. I believe in Jesus Christ who has defeated the Devil for me.” In other words, while it is important to know that there is indeed an evil enemy you are in combat with, it is even more important to know where to turn in order to defeat that enemy. That is finally, in fact, what Jesus is speaking about in the gospel today. Where can you turn to deal with sickness, death, disease and demons when they affect you in your daily life?
In my life, I have dealt primarily with two groups of people when it came to talking about the phrase “casting out demons”. I hope that you will find these two groups familiar from experience in your own life.
The first group considers evil spirits to be an antiquated and uncivilized labeling of psychological maladies. For instance, in my first “pastoral care” class, the teacher read about a time when King David was said to have a spirit in him that made him sad. She explained that nowadays we would probably just call him depressed and get him on some medication. In the New Testament, there was a little girl who had seizures and would foam at the mouth. Jesus cast an evil spirit out of her, but my teacher explained that she probably just had epilepsy. At the end of class, it seemed clear that, as a pastor, there was very little I could do for these people. I could only send them off to a hospital or psychiatrist while praying that God would find a way to help them someday. .
The second group of people I have seen or dealt with talked about life in a very different way than I did. Many times I have watched this group of people on T.V. For them, every event in life is being affected by either angels or evil spirits. If they almost get in a car accident, their guardian angel must have been watching out for them. If congress passes a particular law they disagree with in Washington, they might maintain that the Devil has gained a foothold in some government official. Every hurricane and earthquake is a sign of Christ’s second coming. What do I get out of these conversations? I should be a better Christian. I must do more, speak out, fight against temptation, accept Jesus into my heart, get ready for Armageddon and call my congressman. Everything, finally, is left in my hands. I’ve got to constantly be on guard against the Devil.
It is easy to think and worry about demons and evil spirits all the time. It is also easy to believe that they have never existed in the first place. If you focus on them too much, you can become anxious and fearful, on the other hand, ignoring their existence can lead to anxiety and fear as well. Jesus does not call us to be a part of either of these two groups I just mentioned, but instead calls us to himself where there is finally peace. We cannot take Christ’s power away from him and place it in science alone, nor can we take Christ’s power away and put it in our own hands.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Jesus gave his twelve disciples the authority to deal with suffering whether it came from evil spirits, from sin, or from germs. The most important point to realize is that the power and the authority comes from Jesus alone. By themselves, the disciples have absolutely nothing to deal with sin, death and the devil. It is the power of God that heals. His power that casts out. His power to cleanse. His power to raise. His power to cure.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Jesus not only has the power to give eternal life through the forgiveness of sins, but here, he is also pointing out that he has the power to sustain life. And just like his gives us the ability to forgive sins in his name, he also gives us the ability to sustain life in his name. Either way, the power, the ability and the authority comes from God, but he finds a way to get people forgiven, healed and at peace by using your hands, your feet and your mouths.
Martin Luther called Christians a “priesthood of all believers.” A priest isn’t a special kind of a person, but they do know something very important: you know who to look to guidance, who to pray to and on whose authority you speak. What I want to impress upon you is that you do have the authority to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons” because, and this is very important, because you know who is really doing it. You know who really has the power to do it. You know who is in charge of healing and sustaining life. You are just the tool God uses to do it.
My goal in telling you all this is to give you faith. Faith to believe that Jesus alone has power over all these things and you can look to him for healing and deliverance whenever you come in contact with sickness, death, disease and demons. This is true when you are praying for healing with people on your own. This is true when you are taking them to a doctor’s appointment. This is true when you are admit someone into a psych ward. This is true when you are sitting with a loved one on their death bed. This is true if you are the one needing help. You may trust that Jesus is loving enough to heal, able to heal, faithful to heal and wise enough to know when and how to heal.
But, before you leave today, I need to do one more thing. I need to equip you to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” Even if you know that there is suffering and are called on to do something about it in Jesus’ name, you might not have a clue how to do it. So let me give you a few ideas.
First, listen to people. Listen to their pain and listen to their hopes. Just listen to them even if you don’t like what you are hearing. And while you are listening to them with one ear, listen to God with your other ear to see if you are encouraged to pray with them.
Second, pray with people. Even if you think it might not make a difference and even if you don’t know what to say. God has promised to listen to your prayers just as a loving Father listens to his child. You can demand a hearing from God knowing that it is always his will to heal and to deliver people from evil even if the healing looks different than we expect. Ask to pray with them. If you want, you might even ask to hold their hand or touch their shoulder. Let them know you care for them just like God cares for them.
Take as much time as you would like to pray. Sometimes your prayer might be short and to the point, at other times it might take longer than you expect. There is no reason to heap up empty phrases just to sound like you know what you are doing, but if you think of something else to pray for, or just want to be silent for a little while, go ahead and take the time.
Finally, leave healing in God’s hands. Perhaps your prayer will have already been answered as soon as you open your eyes. Maybe it will happen days later. Maybe years later. Maybe you’ll never know, but, finally, you are not responsible to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons,” God is responsible and you are only doing what you have been asked to do. The authority comes from God and the power is God’s alone.
When you hear that your sins are forgiven, you can be assured that God himself has promised you eternal life. When God heals you or delivers you from evil, you can only be assured of a longer or fuller life. However, both are important, one for this life now and one for eternal life.
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” There is a lot of suffering in this world, God knows that we go through much each and every day. But as a member of God’s family, you know where to look for healing and deliverance while many others do not know where to place their hope. So listen to people. Pray with them. And leave the healing and deliverance in God’s hands. Amen.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Sermon for June 8th
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Martin Luther explained that there are two ways looking at the world. Two ways of reading scripture. Two ways of talking about God. Two ways of talking about ourselves. These two ways, or two paths, though similar, lead us in very different directions. One path leads up to heaven. One path leads down to earth. One path is the way of glory. The other is the way of the cross.
The way of glory is quite magnificent. It is the way we are taught in school, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is the best.” We pray that God will bless us and our families with health, wealth and opportunity. We want to be proud of ourselves and our accomplishments. Even our country is founded on these basic principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are always in pursuit of glory.
The way of the cross is not magnificent. It is awful. This is the path that we are taught to avoid. When you walk down the streets of New York—not the streets you are supposed to walk down, the streets that haven’t been cleaned up—that’s where you find the people who are pointed at and whispered about because of their lack of glory. “I don’t want to end up like them,” people. “I feel so bad for them,” people. “Don’t stare at them honey,” people. “They’ll just spend it on booze,” people. We all learned somewhere that those kinds of people got themselves into that mess, or their parents did it to them, or they are sick in the head. Either way, none of us wants our kids or grandkids near them because they are dirty, dangerous and sick. We pray that never happens to us. It is a pitiful life. It is a shameful life.
There are two ways of looking at the world, the way of glory and the way of the cross. There are also two ways of reading scripture. The way of glory and the way of the cross. Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, this is how the story is usually told.
God created a perfect man and a perfect woman in perfect relationship to God. But they were tempted. They sinned. They fell from grace. Sin and suffering entered the world. From that point on people got sick, they fought with each other, they had to wear clothes instead of fig leaves, and, most distressingly, they died. According to this story, Jesus’ death on the cross is thought to be God’s answer to all this sin, suffering and death. To get rid of sin. To make us perfect again just like we were back in the garden of Eden. It’s like one big repair job and God is the master mechanic who restores creation to its original glory. A fall from glory and then a return to glory. It is finally a story of glory.
But in the shadow of the cross, the story sounds different. In fact, from this perspective, it sounds like an altogether different tale. According to the actual words written in Genesis Adam and Eve don’t appear that glorious. They are created to take care of the earth. They are made to take care of each other. They are told to be fruitful and multiply. They simply rely on God for everything. Not glorious enough, it seems, for they wanted to become more. Become like God. Become creators rather than creatures. Just being creatures was not enough.
This is not so much a story of lost glory, but of a desire for more glory. There was no fall at all. It was more like a leap! Adam and Eve competing for the gold medal in the high jump. Seeking a way beyond the high bar of God’s authority. They wanted to be on top. And we have been seeking that very same glory ever since.
Jesus’ death on a cross looks very different according to this story. The cross is not a repair job for fallen creatures. The cross is an attack against sin and sinning creatures. Jesus dies on a cross not to make you more like God, but to make you more like a creature. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your salvation. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your healing. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your daily bread.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Because there are two ways of looking at the world and because there are two ways of reading scripture, there are also two ways we talk about how God works in our lives. The way of glory and the way of the cross.
There were two stories of healing spoken of in the gospel today. The healing of a young child, who was dead, and the healing of a long suffering woman. When the focus is on the way of glory, we can only see that Jesus powerfully works in these peoples’ lives to restore them to health. That is the miracle. He gives them the ability to live fuller lives or to try and believe in him. But, remember, Jesus only did ministry for three years. That’s it. Not long at all. So the cross becomes to look a little bit disappointing in our eyes. Just imagine all the good Jesus could have done if he could have just lasted a little longer! The cross becomes the problem. It gets in the way of all the glory Jesus was doing. We’d rather look past the cross instead of looking at it.
But when the focus is on the cross, these two healings are not finally where we can place our hope. Can you imagine that poor little girl after she was raised from the dead! Her Father probably never let her out of the house again for fear that she might die again! Would Jesus be within walking distance the next time? Jesus’ acts of healing finally force us to realize that we cannot place our trust in those healings alone. We must place our trust in the God who is the power behind these healings—God who has the power to heal, the power over both death and life. Even when we are healed miraculously, the fear of death remains.
After Jesus has healed, after Jesus has cast out demons, after Jesus has fed five thousand people, after Jesus calms the storm Jesus hangs from his hands and feet, because there is still that problem of sin. Real sinners placed Jesus on the cross, not just people who needed a little help improving themselves. Jesus said that it was necessary that he die for the sake of the world; not just to fix us up, but to destroy our hopes of finding glory anywhere else. We can only find our glory in Jesus’ death on the cross. The last place we would think of looking. The last place we want to look.
Jesus finally has to save us even from healing. He needs to save us from a life of sin and suffering where people need to be healed of their sicknesses. He needs to save us from a world the Devil still runs rampant and destroys peoples’ lives. That means that we are left in a very inglorious position. As creatures—nothing more and nothing less. And so we go to the doctor, and pray for the healing of depression, and visit psychiatrists, and go to chiropractors because we are doing what God has created us to do. We are taking care of one another. We are taking care of God’s creation, knowing that even God’s healing finds its completion at the cross.
As I said at the beginning, there are two paths to take. One path leads to heaven. One path leads to earth. Of course, our first reaction, our natural tendency, is to take the path that leads to heaven and leave the earth, our relationships, our bodies, and our sufferings behind. To say good riddance. That is the road to glory; the road we all choose to take. However, it is only the path of the cross that leads to eternal life. The path where Jesus dies very ingloriously at our hands. The path where your feet are securely on the ground and God comes down to show you the depths of his love.
The way of glory assumes that people are doing fine on their own, but that they just need a little boost from God to make that final step to glory. The way of the cross assumes that people are sick and cannot get better by themselves. They are in need or more than a boost into heaven . . . they need a savior.
“For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Martin Luther explained that there are two ways looking at the world. Two ways of reading scripture. Two ways of talking about God. Two ways of talking about ourselves. These two ways, or two paths, though similar, lead us in very different directions. One path leads up to heaven. One path leads down to earth. One path is the way of glory. The other is the way of the cross.
The way of glory is quite magnificent. It is the way we are taught in school, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is the best.” We pray that God will bless us and our families with health, wealth and opportunity. We want to be proud of ourselves and our accomplishments. Even our country is founded on these basic principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are always in pursuit of glory.
The way of the cross is not magnificent. It is awful. This is the path that we are taught to avoid. When you walk down the streets of New York—not the streets you are supposed to walk down, the streets that haven’t been cleaned up—that’s where you find the people who are pointed at and whispered about because of their lack of glory. “I don’t want to end up like them,” people. “I feel so bad for them,” people. “Don’t stare at them honey,” people. “They’ll just spend it on booze,” people. We all learned somewhere that those kinds of people got themselves into that mess, or their parents did it to them, or they are sick in the head. Either way, none of us wants our kids or grandkids near them because they are dirty, dangerous and sick. We pray that never happens to us. It is a pitiful life. It is a shameful life.
There are two ways of looking at the world, the way of glory and the way of the cross. There are also two ways of reading scripture. The way of glory and the way of the cross. Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, this is how the story is usually told.
God created a perfect man and a perfect woman in perfect relationship to God. But they were tempted. They sinned. They fell from grace. Sin and suffering entered the world. From that point on people got sick, they fought with each other, they had to wear clothes instead of fig leaves, and, most distressingly, they died. According to this story, Jesus’ death on the cross is thought to be God’s answer to all this sin, suffering and death. To get rid of sin. To make us perfect again just like we were back in the garden of Eden. It’s like one big repair job and God is the master mechanic who restores creation to its original glory. A fall from glory and then a return to glory. It is finally a story of glory.
But in the shadow of the cross, the story sounds different. In fact, from this perspective, it sounds like an altogether different tale. According to the actual words written in Genesis Adam and Eve don’t appear that glorious. They are created to take care of the earth. They are made to take care of each other. They are told to be fruitful and multiply. They simply rely on God for everything. Not glorious enough, it seems, for they wanted to become more. Become like God. Become creators rather than creatures. Just being creatures was not enough.
This is not so much a story of lost glory, but of a desire for more glory. There was no fall at all. It was more like a leap! Adam and Eve competing for the gold medal in the high jump. Seeking a way beyond the high bar of God’s authority. They wanted to be on top. And we have been seeking that very same glory ever since.
Jesus’ death on a cross looks very different according to this story. The cross is not a repair job for fallen creatures. The cross is an attack against sin and sinning creatures. Jesus dies on a cross not to make you more like God, but to make you more like a creature. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your salvation. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your healing. Not so that you will look more glorious, but so that you will look more to God for your daily bread.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Because there are two ways of looking at the world and because there are two ways of reading scripture, there are also two ways we talk about how God works in our lives. The way of glory and the way of the cross.
There were two stories of healing spoken of in the gospel today. The healing of a young child, who was dead, and the healing of a long suffering woman. When the focus is on the way of glory, we can only see that Jesus powerfully works in these peoples’ lives to restore them to health. That is the miracle. He gives them the ability to live fuller lives or to try and believe in him. But, remember, Jesus only did ministry for three years. That’s it. Not long at all. So the cross becomes to look a little bit disappointing in our eyes. Just imagine all the good Jesus could have done if he could have just lasted a little longer! The cross becomes the problem. It gets in the way of all the glory Jesus was doing. We’d rather look past the cross instead of looking at it.
But when the focus is on the cross, these two healings are not finally where we can place our hope. Can you imagine that poor little girl after she was raised from the dead! Her Father probably never let her out of the house again for fear that she might die again! Would Jesus be within walking distance the next time? Jesus’ acts of healing finally force us to realize that we cannot place our trust in those healings alone. We must place our trust in the God who is the power behind these healings—God who has the power to heal, the power over both death and life. Even when we are healed miraculously, the fear of death remains.
After Jesus has healed, after Jesus has cast out demons, after Jesus has fed five thousand people, after Jesus calms the storm Jesus hangs from his hands and feet, because there is still that problem of sin. Real sinners placed Jesus on the cross, not just people who needed a little help improving themselves. Jesus said that it was necessary that he die for the sake of the world; not just to fix us up, but to destroy our hopes of finding glory anywhere else. We can only find our glory in Jesus’ death on the cross. The last place we would think of looking. The last place we want to look.
Jesus finally has to save us even from healing. He needs to save us from a life of sin and suffering where people need to be healed of their sicknesses. He needs to save us from a world the Devil still runs rampant and destroys peoples’ lives. That means that we are left in a very inglorious position. As creatures—nothing more and nothing less. And so we go to the doctor, and pray for the healing of depression, and visit psychiatrists, and go to chiropractors because we are doing what God has created us to do. We are taking care of one another. We are taking care of God’s creation, knowing that even God’s healing finds its completion at the cross.
As I said at the beginning, there are two paths to take. One path leads to heaven. One path leads to earth. Of course, our first reaction, our natural tendency, is to take the path that leads to heaven and leave the earth, our relationships, our bodies, and our sufferings behind. To say good riddance. That is the road to glory; the road we all choose to take. However, it is only the path of the cross that leads to eternal life. The path where Jesus dies very ingloriously at our hands. The path where your feet are securely on the ground and God comes down to show you the depths of his love.
The way of glory assumes that people are doing fine on their own, but that they just need a little boost from God to make that final step to glory. The way of the cross assumes that people are sick and cannot get better by themselves. They are in need or more than a boost into heaven . . . they need a savior.
“For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Sermon for March 2nd
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” What does light do in the world? On the one hand, it brightens up dark places like streetlights do as you walk around at night, it can produce heat, and it makes things shiny and beautiful. But light is also known for other things. It is these other effects of light that we might not always think about in conjunction with Jesus Christ.
If you are lost on a desert island and a spotlight was scanning the shore looking for survivors, you would jump up and down so that the light would fall upon you and you might be saved. On the other hand, if you were a criminal hiding from justice, if you saw a spotlight, you might hide behind the nearest trash can so that the light would not shine on you. Light is beautiful only if you do not want to be exposed. If you do not want others to see what you are doing or what you have done. “As long as I am in the world,” Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” That sounds great, but what if Jesus has come to the world only to expose you.
All of us have our sins. Some are big and some are little, but they all separate us from God and from each other. Some people are better at hiding their sins than others. Some of you, I am sure, are pretty pathetic at hiding your sins. For instance, maybe you get angry easily, you like to shout a lot and swear like a sailor. Everybody in town knows that you’ve got a short fuse and that probably just makes you even madder. You know what it feels like to live your life in the spotlight of others’ criticism. Jesus’ light shines on your sin and just reminds you of what you already knew . . . you are a sinner through and through.
Some of you are much better practiced at hiding yours sins. Very few people in your life may know about your really bad behavior. Maybe only your spouse or your children realize that you even have a problem. Because if anyone else knew, you would be seen in a very different light. There was a woman, I was told about, who was beaten by her husband throughout most of their marriage, only to spend her old age taking care of him because he was too weak do anything. They had both hidden the abuse to protect their marriage in the eyes of society. Now she was also hiding years of pent up anger as she gave her former abuser sponge baths each week. Jesus’ light shines on these sins and it is scary. It is easy to be scared that someone else might find out . . . you are a sinner and you want to keep it a secret.
Finally, there are sins that are so hidden, so deep that you try to forget about them yourself. Maybe it is a temptation that you wish you didn’t have, or a temptation that went too far once upon a time. Back in college maybe, or during the war, or way back when. Perhaps you believe that you don’t even have any sins, well at least nothing back enough to mention. When Jesus’ light shines upon you perhaps you wish you were blind. Or perhaps you pretend to be because it is easier to deal with that way. Jesus’ light exposes you. It offends you. It scares you.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” These words are not only a promise, but they sound dangerous. They are not only a joy, they are a terror. To those of you who already realize you are stumbling around in the dark depths of your sin, it can feel like a relief. Jesus notices you! There is a glimmer of hope! A light full of promise that destroys the despair of a tortured soul. To some of you the light is as hot as a fiery furnace that threatens to engulf you if you don’t run away fast enough. The light is so intense you want to turn you face away before it blinds you.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus proclaims. Jesus came to end suffering. To bring heaven to earth. To make the blind to see right? That seems to be what the gospel story is about today. Jesus said that the blind man he and his disciples ran across was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. Then, Jesus heals the man’s blindness. And just like that, God’s works are revealed? Well, yes. But that’s only part of the story. If that was all, then the story should have ended right there at verse 12. Instead, the story doesn’t end until verse 41. Something else is happening in this text that it is easy not to see right away.
The blind man gets healed twice. Twice. Not just once but twice. The first time he gets healed quite quickly, right? Jesus puts some mixture of mud and spit on the blind man’s eyes, the guy takes a bath and voila, he can see again! Yeah Jesus! But that’s only half of the story. The most surprising miracle doesn’t happen until Jesus meets up with him again at verse 35.
“Jesus heard that the Pharisees had driven the man who had been blind out of the synagogue and, when Jesus found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The man answered, ‘And who is he sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” I would like to propose to you that this man who was healed of his blindness is still blind. I mean, he can see trees just fine, and flowers, and his feet and the clouds in the sky, but he can’t see everything can he. He still can’t see Jesus for who he truly is. He can see just fine, but he is still blind to what is happening. He is spiritually blind. He has no faith.
“Jesus found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The man answered, ‘And who is he sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, ‘Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.” And right there is where the blind man was healed of his blindness for a second time.
Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” He also said this, “I came into the world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” I want you to consider that there is a very good reason why the story today did not end at verse 12. The story did not end with the blind man being healed once. The question is, why?
Why is the blind man healed a second time? Because, even with his sight restored, the blind man would have gone blind again. Whether it was through natural causes like retinal degeneration, a freak accident, or at death when he was placed six feet under the ground. Jesus came into the world to be the light of the world, to destroy sin and the suffering it causes, but he didn’t just do it once, he did it for all time. That’s why he didn’t just heal the sick, but he became sick himself, to the point of death on a cross, to save the world from sickness and death.
If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you who have anger management problems might learn to be nicer to people, but you would still have all your other sins to deal with. If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you who have been hiding your sins would be exposed, but who would be there to heal your reputation. If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you terrified by the depth of your sinful condition would never know the glory of a forgiving and loving God.
I have no idea what amazing works of healing God will work in your life. I hope to be around here a long time so that I can see a lot of them. Think about the many diseases and injuries and aches and pains that you suffer with daily. Think about the many diseases and injuries and aches and pains that your friends and family suffer with in their lives. No doubt, many of these sufferings will be healed through the gifts of doctors and nurses, chiropractors and osteopaths; mothers and fathers. Some people won’t be healed at all. Some people will be healed miraculously. But everyone who is healed will eventually die. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And, “The wages of sin is death.”
That is why the blind the man is healed twice in the story today, and God’s work of faith is revealed in him. For those of you who have spent your life hiding your sins, Jesus has exposed you. And with your sins out in the open for all to see, Jesus Christ the light of the world, declares, your sins, which are many, are forgiven once and for all. You have been healed, in the sight of God, for all time. And for those of you who can’t find a way to hide your sins, Jesus has exposed you as well. And with your sins out in the open, for all to see, Jesus Christ, the light of the world, declares, your sins, which are many are forgiven once and for all. You have been healed, in the sight of God, for all time.
And, just in case you were wondering. Whenever, you find yourself suffering from hurts or diseases or aches or pains look to Jesus Christ. For he alone has the power and the compassion to heal you once, twice and again and again. Whenever your mistakes and sins have you in the pit of despair look to Jesus. For he alone has the power and the love to forgive you once, twice, and again and again to give you eternal life forever.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus said. So, for as long as you live in this world, with sin, suffering and death, you may look to the light of Jesus for forgiveness, healing and salvation. Jesus has come to expose your darkness, to expose your blindness and to create for you a new life of light and salvation. Amen.
If you are lost on a desert island and a spotlight was scanning the shore looking for survivors, you would jump up and down so that the light would fall upon you and you might be saved. On the other hand, if you were a criminal hiding from justice, if you saw a spotlight, you might hide behind the nearest trash can so that the light would not shine on you. Light is beautiful only if you do not want to be exposed. If you do not want others to see what you are doing or what you have done. “As long as I am in the world,” Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” That sounds great, but what if Jesus has come to the world only to expose you.
All of us have our sins. Some are big and some are little, but they all separate us from God and from each other. Some people are better at hiding their sins than others. Some of you, I am sure, are pretty pathetic at hiding your sins. For instance, maybe you get angry easily, you like to shout a lot and swear like a sailor. Everybody in town knows that you’ve got a short fuse and that probably just makes you even madder. You know what it feels like to live your life in the spotlight of others’ criticism. Jesus’ light shines on your sin and just reminds you of what you already knew . . . you are a sinner through and through.
Some of you are much better practiced at hiding yours sins. Very few people in your life may know about your really bad behavior. Maybe only your spouse or your children realize that you even have a problem. Because if anyone else knew, you would be seen in a very different light. There was a woman, I was told about, who was beaten by her husband throughout most of their marriage, only to spend her old age taking care of him because he was too weak do anything. They had both hidden the abuse to protect their marriage in the eyes of society. Now she was also hiding years of pent up anger as she gave her former abuser sponge baths each week. Jesus’ light shines on these sins and it is scary. It is easy to be scared that someone else might find out . . . you are a sinner and you want to keep it a secret.
Finally, there are sins that are so hidden, so deep that you try to forget about them yourself. Maybe it is a temptation that you wish you didn’t have, or a temptation that went too far once upon a time. Back in college maybe, or during the war, or way back when. Perhaps you believe that you don’t even have any sins, well at least nothing back enough to mention. When Jesus’ light shines upon you perhaps you wish you were blind. Or perhaps you pretend to be because it is easier to deal with that way. Jesus’ light exposes you. It offends you. It scares you.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” These words are not only a promise, but they sound dangerous. They are not only a joy, they are a terror. To those of you who already realize you are stumbling around in the dark depths of your sin, it can feel like a relief. Jesus notices you! There is a glimmer of hope! A light full of promise that destroys the despair of a tortured soul. To some of you the light is as hot as a fiery furnace that threatens to engulf you if you don’t run away fast enough. The light is so intense you want to turn you face away before it blinds you.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus proclaims. Jesus came to end suffering. To bring heaven to earth. To make the blind to see right? That seems to be what the gospel story is about today. Jesus said that the blind man he and his disciples ran across was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. Then, Jesus heals the man’s blindness. And just like that, God’s works are revealed? Well, yes. But that’s only part of the story. If that was all, then the story should have ended right there at verse 12. Instead, the story doesn’t end until verse 41. Something else is happening in this text that it is easy not to see right away.
The blind man gets healed twice. Twice. Not just once but twice. The first time he gets healed quite quickly, right? Jesus puts some mixture of mud and spit on the blind man’s eyes, the guy takes a bath and voila, he can see again! Yeah Jesus! But that’s only half of the story. The most surprising miracle doesn’t happen until Jesus meets up with him again at verse 35.
“Jesus heard that the Pharisees had driven the man who had been blind out of the synagogue and, when Jesus found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The man answered, ‘And who is he sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” I would like to propose to you that this man who was healed of his blindness is still blind. I mean, he can see trees just fine, and flowers, and his feet and the clouds in the sky, but he can’t see everything can he. He still can’t see Jesus for who he truly is. He can see just fine, but he is still blind to what is happening. He is spiritually blind. He has no faith.
“Jesus found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The man answered, ‘And who is he sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, ‘Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.” And right there is where the blind man was healed of his blindness for a second time.
Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” He also said this, “I came into the world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” I want you to consider that there is a very good reason why the story today did not end at verse 12. The story did not end with the blind man being healed once. The question is, why?
Why is the blind man healed a second time? Because, even with his sight restored, the blind man would have gone blind again. Whether it was through natural causes like retinal degeneration, a freak accident, or at death when he was placed six feet under the ground. Jesus came into the world to be the light of the world, to destroy sin and the suffering it causes, but he didn’t just do it once, he did it for all time. That’s why he didn’t just heal the sick, but he became sick himself, to the point of death on a cross, to save the world from sickness and death.
If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you who have anger management problems might learn to be nicer to people, but you would still have all your other sins to deal with. If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you who have been hiding your sins would be exposed, but who would be there to heal your reputation. If the story ended with the blind man being healed once, then those of you terrified by the depth of your sinful condition would never know the glory of a forgiving and loving God.
I have no idea what amazing works of healing God will work in your life. I hope to be around here a long time so that I can see a lot of them. Think about the many diseases and injuries and aches and pains that you suffer with daily. Think about the many diseases and injuries and aches and pains that your friends and family suffer with in their lives. No doubt, many of these sufferings will be healed through the gifts of doctors and nurses, chiropractors and osteopaths; mothers and fathers. Some people won’t be healed at all. Some people will be healed miraculously. But everyone who is healed will eventually die. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And, “The wages of sin is death.”
That is why the blind the man is healed twice in the story today, and God’s work of faith is revealed in him. For those of you who have spent your life hiding your sins, Jesus has exposed you. And with your sins out in the open for all to see, Jesus Christ the light of the world, declares, your sins, which are many, are forgiven once and for all. You have been healed, in the sight of God, for all time. And for those of you who can’t find a way to hide your sins, Jesus has exposed you as well. And with your sins out in the open, for all to see, Jesus Christ, the light of the world, declares, your sins, which are many are forgiven once and for all. You have been healed, in the sight of God, for all time.
And, just in case you were wondering. Whenever, you find yourself suffering from hurts or diseases or aches or pains look to Jesus Christ. For he alone has the power and the compassion to heal you once, twice and again and again. Whenever your mistakes and sins have you in the pit of despair look to Jesus. For he alone has the power and the love to forgive you once, twice, and again and again to give you eternal life forever.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus said. So, for as long as you live in this world, with sin, suffering and death, you may look to the light of Jesus for forgiveness, healing and salvation. Jesus has come to expose your darkness, to expose your blindness and to create for you a new life of light and salvation. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)