Hold up a clear plastic bottle; What do I have in my hand??
Yes, I have a plastic bottle, but even though we cannot see it, there is also air in this bottle! The air inside is actually holding the bottle together!
If I take the air out of it……….. the bottle collapses!
Now, let us not forget that we live in God’s world which is both physical and spiritual! But we do forget don’t we? Even though we cannot see it, there is a spiritual world! God exists and He is both physical and spiritual.
And just like a plastic bottle collapsing without air inside it, our lives will collapse if we neglect the spiritual. We will only be successful with our Christian lives if we see both the physical and the spiritual world.
Now, ever since Jesus started His ministry, He has been talking about faith. And in our passage today, Jesus taught His disciples about faith in having a physical body and a spirit! All human beings have both a body and a spirit. This is one of the major truths which separate us from animals; nowhere in the Bible does it state that animals have spirits.
And again, we will only be successful with our Christian lives if we see both the physical and the spiritual world.
When the first man and woman sinned against God, human beings have been cursed with both physical death and spiritual death. This is why we read in 2 Corinthians 5:8, when Christians die, their spirit goes to the Lord as their physical body waits for the resurrection.
The Christian’s spirit and body of course can only be alive again because of belief in Jesus Christ. The spirit of a Non-Believer is still dead.
Let’s learn more about the body and spirit from Jesus in Luke 8:40-56 (we studied the healed woman last week, so we will skip those verses)…..
We noted last week that the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark describe the story as well to give us a better picture. So please turn with me to Matthew 9:18….
And Mark 5:35…….
And so, let us summarize the story; let us note the things we know for sure.
a. Jairus, a Jewish leader, came to Jesus, humbled himself and begged for help.
b. Jairus’ 12 year old daughter died.
And what was Jesus instructions to Jairus? v50…
c. Jesus told Jairus to continue with his faith (no fears and believe)!
What do we note in v53?
d. The people laughed at Jesus.
Why did they laugh at Jesus??
In the people’s minds, the girl was dead and gone forever. In Jesus’ mind, the girl was only “sleeping”; in other words, her body was dead but her spirit was still alive. How do we know this? Look again at v54…..
e. Jesus healed the girl by bringing back her spirit to her dead body.
The physical body is just a shell and is useless without the spirit (in other words, dead). We note that when her spirit came back, the girl stood up and she ate food!
And let us note in v56 as well as in Mark 5:43,
f. Jesus instructed those who witnessed the powerful healing not to tell anyone.
God doesn’t tell us why Jesus instructed the people this. Was it to keep it a secret?
What did we read in Matthew 9:26? - News of this spread through all that region. There was no way to keep the miracles of Christ a secret!
And so, there must have been other reasons why Jesus said don’t tell anyone. Let us note again that Jesus emphasized faith in God’s Word not on just the power of God. When the news spread to the region, what do you think people talked about, the healing power of Jesus or what Jesus was teaching??
And so, one reason for Jesus’ instruction not to tell anyone about the healing of the girl was the focus on Jesus’ teaching of faith, not just the wonders of the supernatural!
And of course the other reason is that Jesus always has a plan. No matter the situation, God always has a plan!
Did you note that Jesus was specific on who He allowed to be with Him when He brought the girl back to life? Jesus focused on relationships and discipleship rather than the masses of people.
What Biblical principles should we apply to our lives today from this passage?
Jairus was a Jewish Religious leader who was in need of help. How did Jesus treat him??
Why was Jesus understanding and caring about Jairus? What did Jairus do? Jairus believed in the power of Jesus, humbled himself before Jesus, begged for help, and when Jesus told him not to be afraid and just believe, did Jairus obey Jesus??
Yes, Jairus obeyed, in spite of the situation.
Think about the pressure Jairus dealt with; no one could blame Jairus if he just broke down, cried, and cursed God, but he didn’t! His daughter is dead, every person in the town was watching him, the one Jairus was following was being laughed at, but Jairus kept calm and obeyed Jesus! I’d like to add one other thing which helped Jairus in trusting and obeying Christ. Anybody know what that big help was for Jairus??
Who else do we see with Jairus trusting and believing Christ as they went to the dead girl? Jairus’ wife was right there with him trusting and obeying Jesus Christ! Jairus’ wife had all the right to be wailing and mourning like the rest of the crowd and she also had a right to complain to her husband for leaving her with their dying daughter! But, Jairus’ wife stayed calm right beside her husband! What should we note here for us?
A. Personally believe in, humble self to, pray to, and obey Jesus Christ and encourage our loved ones to do the same!
And we must not be like the people who laughed at Jesus because they could not see beyond the physical world. And so,
B. Do not neglect the reality of the spiritual world in our lives!
How do you think we should do this in a practical way on a daily basis??
(prayer, God’s Word, Jesus’ presence, angels, Creation, Holy Spirit, God working in people’s lives…..)
Will you commit to this?
Constantly see and experience the spiritual world of God in your life!
And lastly,
C. Let us focus on our relationship with Jesus Christ and His teachings not the hype of the supernatural.
As we trust and obey Jesus Christ and live out the reality of the spiritual world within and around us, we will experience the supernatural power of God. However, be careful of reversing this truth like many do today; they focus on the supernatural first before Jesus Christ. Take note of 2 Corinthians 11:14, Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Be careful of hype of the masses without the focus on Jesus Christ!
Please take a moment right now to pray and recommit yourself to your relationship with Christ and to His teachings and see and experience God’s spiritual world around you.
