Signs
Pt. 4
I. Introduction
Jesus challenged us and at the same exact moment gave us a small glimpse into our heritage and inheritance as a believer. With two small statements He made it known that a “normal” believer would see “abnormal” occurrences in their daily walk. He made it known that as one of His followers and disciples we are not limited to or restricted to operating in the realm of the “natural”, but that on a regular basis the “supernatural” would invade our existence. He makes this declaration in John 14 when He said we would do greater things than He did. We believe Him when He said we are free from sin. We believe Him when He said we would go to heaven. So it is time for us to take His Word about our access to the supernatural in John 14. Then He follows it up in Mark 16 and makes sure that we know that we should be constantly looking over our shoulders because signs should be following us. Signs should be consistently present to validate what we have been saying with our mouth. No signs . . . no validation. And so, I have been laying down the challenge to you that signs should be following us. I have been challenging you that we must examine our signless life and go back and claim the promise that we have been given. I have challenged you to stir up your faith again to realize that our lack of faith is a huge problem because it means that we can no longer offer hope to those who are hurting. We need signs!
We have examined 2 of Jesus’ miracles and learned that sometimes you have to go out of your way to get your need met. We have learned that we can’t let a put off result in a walk off. You have been challenged to take Jesus at His Word. You have been reminded that His Word is not restricted to time or space. If He promised it, then you can bank on it. Then last week I declared that we must become amazed again at the authority that we have access to. We can’t underestimate it or under communicate it. We can’t grow comfortable with sickness, addictions, or issues. We must silence the voice of the enemy so Jesus can be heard again. So today I want us to move into another moment when Jesus’ life was marked by a sign.
This account is found in two locations: Matthew 8:1-4 and Mark 1:40-45
Text: Matthew 8:1-4
1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, "Master, if you want to, you can heal my body." 3-4Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, "Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done."
I won’t take time to read to you out of Mark. The only addition in the text, although an extremely important one, is that when this man approached Jesus Mark says “Jesus was deeply moved.”
II. Signs
a. We need to get off the mountain.
Jesus comes down from the mountain with the cheers of the crowd ringing in his ears. Why were they cheering? In Matthew 5, Jesus goes to the top of the mountain, sets down and over the course of Matthew 5, 6, 7 delivers what any commentary, theologian, or world leader with any wisdom at all will tell you was the greatest masterpiece of a sermon ever delivered. The Sermon on the Mount set an entire world system on its ear. This one sermon literally established kingdom laws on planet earth. It was and continues to be the pinnacle of preaching. All other sermons by the greatest preachers of any day or our day fall so far below this level of preaching that they aren’t even in the same league. This was a powerful day of ministry. This was a great day. This was His life teachings wrapped up in one sermon and the crowd that was there recognized its power, depth, anointing, and responded with cheers and perhaps applause. They were in awe of Him due to this sermon. And when He finishes His teaching He comes off the mountain and is immediately face-to-face with an aids patient. That is a modern day equivalent of leprosy.
This sequence of events speaks directly to those of us who take time out of our week to attend church and perhaps serve in the church! I am convinced that most of us would have stayed on the mountain. When the cheers began we would have camped out. Or at the very least we would have come off the mountain and thought we were finished. Our thought process is as follows . . . We just sang the best we have ever sung on the worship team so I have been on the mountain, I have heard the cheers and now I am done for the week. I have just ushed the best I have ever ushed . . . that was my mountain so I am done for the rest of the week. I have worshiped, danced, praised, listened, given at the highest level I have ever ascended to in my life and so I am done. Don’t you hear the cheering? That should be enough. I should get a break. I did my Christian thing! I get Monday thru Saturday off and I will come back to the mountain on Sunday and do it all again and people will be amazed again.
Immediately following His best sermon! His best church day if you will. The best display of His gift and He goes out of church and continues to minister.
Jesus will send you folks who need a sign as soon as you leave this building. If you restrict signs to the confines of this campus and to the confines of your gifting at church you will miss opportunities to be used by God.
Some of you are so caught up in using your gift here that you fail to realize you are called to use it out there. You pray here, but you won’t pray for anyone out there. I already interceded this week! You worship here, but you won’t reach out there. You dance here, but you won’t rescue out there.
The thing that I love about Jesus and that I want us to learn to emulate was that He was at church all the time. He was on all the time. He was alert all the time. He was open all the time. He was on the constant lookout to change people’s lives. He didn’t compartmentalize His life into church and then another compartment for every day normal life. They were one in the same.
Some of us need to get off the mountain and plug our ears to the cheers (whether they be from others or yourself – cause we like to pat ourselves on the back) and realize that there are still people around us that need a sign!
b. Touch again.
He lived an isolated life, abandoned and feared by the world. A leper was able to see his family from the brow of a hill but no closer. The family was not allowed to greet him as that might encourage him to run to them. If he turned the bend in a road and saw another human being walking towards him he had to shout aloud, "Unclean! Unclean!" He would see their alarm, hear their children crying in fear, witness all the people running off the path to get out of his way. Some folks even threw rocks at lepers to keep them at a safe distance. He could not sit at the gate or at the village well talking with people, worship at the synagogue was behind a wall out of the sight of the other worshippers, there was no attendance at marriages and funerals. Lepers had to stay far away from healthy folk, especially if they were upwind - a hundred yards away. Josephus, the first century historian, says that lepers were treated as if they were dead men. And when Luke refers to this incident he tells us that this man was ’covered with leprosy.’ It had affected his face, his arms and hands, his legs and feet. He was a mass of ulcers and sores from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He was a complete and total outcast. Rejected socially and spiritually.
But notice that Jesus touched the untouchable. He had already healed the court official’s son with a mere Word. He could have simply spoken and new skin would have appeared. It would have made sense. It would have been justifiable. By Jewish law, Jesus himself would be unclean if He came into contact with this man. There was no need to jeopardize Himself. Still, Jesus didn’t isolate or inoculate himself.
Jesus touches Him. How long had it been since he had been touched?
If we are going to see signs follow us we must be willing to touch the untouchable again! I wonder if we have become so isolated and sin conscious that we are no longer God conscious. We are so wrapped up in the sickness and despicable nature of the sin in people’s lives that we can’t see what God wants to do in their lives. We are more afraid of the contagiousness of sin than we are in awe of God’s power to heal them and protect us! The Jesus in us should drive us to touch the outcast! The Jesus in us should cause us to reach out and touch the untouchable.
Notice, this man didn’t asked to be touched, He asked to be healed. But Jesus touched Him. His compassion for this man moved Him to make contact! Contact produced the cure. Perhaps there are no signs because we are unwilling to touch the untouchable! Who have you touched lately?
The truth is that some of the folks that God is calling us to touch don’t even know they need to be touched and don’t know they need a miracle. They are so far gone and have so bought the lie that their life is normal that they have no concept that they need to be touched, changed, set free, or delivered. Touch them anyway! Let compassion invade our lives again until we will become hands on again with those who are broken and need a miracle.
Leprosy was a sickness that couldn’t be hidden. Some of the folks that you are coming into contact with are so sick they can’t hide it! So why ignore it? I am convinced that we expend more effort in ignoring the sickness than we spend in trying to touch for healing!
We sing “He touched me, Oh He touched me and oh the joy that floods my soul.” Maybe we have sung and thought about our touch for so long that we have forgotten that those who have been touch should now turn and touch! We deal with our touch as if is freeze tag. We get touched and we sit down never to move or minister again. This isn’t freeze tag! Once you are tagged you’re it! Go touch someone else! Tell your neighbor, “Tag you’re it!”
c. Three powerful words . . . He wants to!
If you want to heal me you can. Jesus replies with three of the most powerful, hope giving, revealing words He ever spoke . . . “I want to.” He wants to. I long for some of you to bring your broken marriage to Him one more time and when you declare I know you can fix this hear Him say, “I want to!” He wants to save your marriage. I long for some of you who have been battling addiction to approach Him one more time and ask for freedom and hear Him moved with compassion reply “I want to!” He wants to free you from addiction. I am praying that some of you who have almost given up on your children will hear Him say “I want to!” He wants to change your life. He wants to make provision. He wants to heal. He wants to wipe away your shame and your tears. He wants to. What is your need? Say it under your breath right now. Close your eyes. Say it. What is it? What needs to happen in your life? Now I want you to listen carefully for God’s response. Are you listening? Here it is . . . I want to!
Why do we think He doesn’t want to anymore? We have bought a lie. The truth is that He not only can, not only is He able, it is that He wants to! I want you to catch this phrase, but even more importantly I want this phrase to catch you . . . “I want to!”
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