This sermon was delivered to both St Oswalds in Maybole and St John's churchs in Girvan, Scotland UK on the 13th October 2013.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord. Amen.
Introduction:
Although today’s Gospel reading is very familiar, it is very powerful in its meaning, showing us basically what our Christian faith is all about; … it is just like this leper who returned to thank Jesus, as we suffer from an even more, debilitating disease called Sin; as it’s a deadly sickness that only Jesus can cure.
We therefore are instructed to follow this poor leper’s example and admit that we are sick, … call out to Jesus for help, … step out in faith to receive that healing; … thank him for the cure, … and then witness that healing being manifested. It sounds so simple, but you know as I do, that life can be very difficult; full of trials and tribulations; but … the bible goes on to say that we are not to worry, ... as “Jesus has over come the world”.
The secret to success therefore is in knowing where too turn for help; and for us, that is Jesus, … the son of God. Now the New Testament tells us that Jesus performed many miracles, and below the surface of these miracles we see a Gospel story, but we also see a Gospel story in every miracle; and so today we find a Gospel meaning, … in the healing of the leper who returned.
1. We all have a deadly disease called sin that only Jesus can cure.
Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”.
The Lepers back then were called “the walking dead,” as they were literally kicked out of their homes, villages, churches, … and forced to live in colonies with other lepers, because their disease was so contagious, being easily passed on to others; and although none of us here today have leprosy, that is a pretty good description of us before we came to know the Lord. We were all born with a deadly disease called Sin; … a disease that caused us to be spiritual outcasts from the kingdom of God.
Sin is the disease we inherited from our parents, who inherited it from their parents and so on; all the way back to Adam and Eve, and so we live in a world that is sick; and sin is rife.
Sin is a disease that we struggle to measure, as no MRI, or CAT scan or any other diagnostic tool can detect, but God’s Word says it’s there, and it is eating away at us, bit by bit, like an insidious cancer; growing in our souls; and destroying our very life. … So what can we do about it? Well, we do the same as these lepers here, acknowledge the sickness, and seek the help of Jesus.
2. YOU MUST ADMIT YOUR NEED AND CRY OUT TO JESUS
Now this was easy for them, they knew they were sick, and they had Jesus passing through their territory; so … the ten of them banded together, and with one voice cried out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”!
Too many people today are living in denial, as they will not acknowledge their sin, in fact, they will never admit they have done, (or are doing things) wrong: and too them, to admit their faults is a sign of weakness; as it hurts their pride knowing that others will see them as weak; where in fact, we see them as weak for denying their Sin.
We here in the church find it easy to admit our sin; we start our very service with the Collect for Purity admitting we have done wrong … knowing fine that the Lord will forgive us on the Absolution. It is not weakness to admit our faults, it is strength through humility; and it is mighty powerful. It is like saying yes I know I have messed up, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, I will overcome that weakness, and no one will have anything on me.
Yes we are not drug dealers or a child molester or murderers or anything like that but we, like them, still sin in a manner that offends God, and we need to acknowledge that before we can receive his help. … I mean think out it, how can we receive help for something we do even admit is a problem. Before we can have a relationship with God through Jesus … we must say, (in our own words of course), “Father forgive me, for I am sinned; have mercy on me”!
3. God’s Power is not realised until we step out in faith.
In today’s story, Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem to be crucified when he met with these lepers; and here Jesus, instead of laying hands on them, simply said, “go, … show yourself to the priest”. (Leviticus 13 states that only a Jewish priest was qualified to declare a person clean or unclean).
And knowing they were unclean, they listened to Jesus, … and went on their way; but it wasn’t until they stepped out in faith … and obeyed Jesus, that they began to draw on His healing power.
They did not say, “we will go to the priest after you heal us”, no, they heard the authority in the voice of Jesus, and stepped out in faith, and headed towards the priest; and that is when they received their healing. That is how faith works; it hears first, then trusts the authority of God, and acts then regardless.
4. It is good to spend time at the feet of Jesus.
Now, on the way to the priest, one of the lepers must have said “Hey, there is colour returning to my skin”; and they must have looked around at each other and realised that they were being healed; and they must have at some point become excited, as they could see the life being restored to them; with hope for the future.
Can you relate to this? … Is there any point your life that you have said, I can see myself changing, I am not the person I was, and with that, have you seen more hope for the future. It does not happen as quickly as in this story, but it does happen; in fact, through Jesus it is impossible to stop this from happening; and if this hasn’t happen to you as yet, rest assured, it will.
Now at this point, we don’t know what happened to 90% of the lepers, maybe they went to the priest, most probably they went back to their families, we don’t know: but … we do know one of them returned to see Jesus, and thanked him; and we know from Jesus’ response this man did the right thing; this man wanted a relationship with Jesus; this man wanted more.
Ten men were exposed to God’s power, but only one sought a personal relationship. Nine of the men were content to receive the blessing of God, but only one returned to the source of that blessing; he returned to the one with the power.
That’s so true today; God’s blessings are poured out on all people, not just His children. Matthew 5:45 say “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and send rain on the just and on the unjust”. God makes rain for both the just and unjust alike, (rain being a blessing here), but only a relatively few are interested in having that personal relationship.
5. FEELING THANKFUL IS DIFFERENT THAN GIVING THANKS.
I personally don’t understand this, but we see Jesus surprised as well. Verse 17 “Were there not ten who were cleansed? Where are the other nine?”
Now note his next words carefully, because Jesus identifies Himself as God when he asks, “Was none found to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Jesus was saying, that to fall at his feet was to praise to God; and again, it is not weakness to fall at his feet, it is faith through humility; faith to enable God to work through us. … Expressing genuine gratitude to God is to praise God, and enable him to work in our lives.
There was an episode on the Simpsons once, a cartoon series I just could not get into, but I read that in one episode the family was sitting down for a meal and the dad asked Bart to give thanks; and Bart said, “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.” … Some people laugh at that line, but I think it reveals a real problem that many people have, … they enjoy the blessings of God, but never once stop to say thanks. It is just like the pig that roots around looking for acorns on the ground, … but never once looks up to acknowledge the oak tree that supplies them.
1st Thessalonians 5:18 takes this one stage further by saying, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
The other nine lepers were obviously thankful about being cleansed, (how could they not), but only one of returned to thank Jesus; and there is a tremendous difference between simply “feeling” gratitude, and “expressing” gratitude; and we are instructed not just to thank God for the good things in life, but thank him in everything.
There is so much in this verse that I can’t cover it today but suffice to say, … that when we are going through a period of pain, which we do, … we are instructed to find things about our situation to thank God for, … and it is by this gratitude, … we will find answers to our prayers.
6. A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS MAKES us A FOREIGNER IN THIS WORLD
To move on: Jesus then pointed out that the one who returned was a foreigner, who acted differently from the other nine lepers: and we too … who have entered into a relationship with Jesus, do not think or act like the rest of our society; … as we are never quite at home in this world, … and we never will be. We too are foreigners in our own land?
Philippians 3:20 tells us that “our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ”
This world is not our permanent home; we are marching to a different beat of the drum than the rest of the world, because we are listening to different music; the heavenly music of the angels. When the world run towards something, we as Christians run away; when the world runs from something, we Christians run towards it.
For example: when a person is real down on their luck, the world will desert them, they will run away; but a true Christians will run to them, to try and help. When somebody becomes full of themselves, boastful, arrogant and demanding, the world tends to them, runs to them in fear, where as we Christians pull back … and distance ourselves. Do you see the difference?
7. LET JESUS FINISH WHAT HE STARTED IN YOU
And to finish, look again at the last words of Jesus in verse 19. He said, “Rise and go, your faith has made you WELL” … This word well here is the Greek word sozo which means “saved.” It’s the same word the Philippian jailer used in Acts 16 when he said, “What must I do to be saved?” The word means to “be made complete” or made “whole.”
Jesus didn’t just come to earth to heal people of diseases; (or he would have built a big hospital if he did): no, Jesus came into this world to seek, and to save the lost. He came to make people whole.
Ten lepers were cleansed or healed, but only one became “whole.” Ninety percent of them received a small portion of the blessings they could have had; but only one received full salvation.
Jesus wants to do more than just clean us up or bless us; Jesus wants to make us whole, he wants to make us complete. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you, will carry it on until the day of Christ Jesus.”
I don’t know why you came to church today, but I know why Jesus does, … Jesus wants to make us whole! He not only cleanses us from our Sin, but He is in the process of making us completely acceptable to God.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be like the nine lepers who bolted, … I want to be like the one who says, “Thank you Jesus, … thank you for saving me from myself, … thank you for forgiving my sins, … thank you for freeing me from Sin itself, … thank you for rebuilding me, … thank you for saving my soul, … and thank you for giving me thy great salvation; which makes me a child of God. … … Thank you Jesus, and like that leper, I want more.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
We thank you father for Jesus: we thank you that he died on the cross to make us acceptable in your sight; and we thank you that he took our place, and paid the price for all our sin, and misgivings.
We thank you father that sin has no more dominion over us; even though that we feel that we let you, and others down.
Father we thank you that because of Jesus, you know what it is like for us to live in this world, with all it trials and tribulations; and you know exactly how hard it is for us to live to you.
Father remind us constantly of your love, … remind us that Jesus died to free us from our sin, … from our guilt … from our shame and for letting others down.
Father heal and strengthen us to live in this world with confidence, … confidence in you, … confidence for you, … and confidence for the future.
And finally Father, we ask you as our good shepherd, to continually watch over us, and steer us clear of the places where we should go, and lead us to the places of your choosing, places where we can be made whole.
We humbly ask, in Jesus name, Amen
