HOW TO BECOME A CONTAGIOUS CHRISTIAN
Mk. 1:40-42
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. When you’re a boy, dirt is a good thing. I heard about a “preacher’s kid” who was told by his mother that he should wash his hands because there were germs living in all the dirt he’d been playing in.
2. He looked up at his mother and got this really disgusted look on his face. “Germs? Germs?” He said. “Germs and Jesus! Germs and Jesus! That’s all I ever hear around this house! And I’ve never seen either one!”
3. Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it’s not real. Germs are very real and powerful. The wrong strain of a germ or virus could wipe out the whole world’s population.
4. Jesus is very real too and powerful too, even though you may have never seen Him.
B. SPEED OF VIRUS’ SPREADING
1. HOW FAST CAN A VIRUS SPREAD? FASTER THAN YOU THINK! Contamination of a single doorknob can lead to the spread of viruses throughout an office building or hotel in as little as two hours.
2. Researchers from the University of Arizona, Tuscon, placed a tracer virus on commonly touched objects such as a doorknob or tabletop, and found that between 40 and 60 percent of the surfaces in the building were contaminated within two to four hours.
3. “If we placed a tracer virus on the push plate to an office building, it ended up on almost 50 percent of the high-touch surfaces and office workers’ hands within four hours,” says study author and microbiologist Charles Gerba, PhD.
4. That’s why virologists are so concerned about a world outbreak.
5. But today we’re looking at how a man who caught a GOOD germ and see how it totally changed his life.
C. TEXT & THESIS
1. TEXT: Mark 1:40-42
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” NIV, 1983.
2. THESIS. I want us to see, First, that Jesus did something highly unusual and unexpected here.
Second, see the results. Third, see what the implications are for us.
3. TITLE: “How to Become a Contagious Christian.”
I. JESUS VIOLATED THE RULES OF DISEASE CONTROL
A. DESCRIPTION OF LEPROSY
1. Physically
a. It is a hideous, disfiguring disease that eats at the skin and extremities of a person. It’s a slow, terminal death.
b. The fingers swell and ulcerate; the nails drop off, the bones separate at the joints until the fingers and toes, and sometimes his hands and feet wither away to nubs.
2. Socially. Lepers become outcasts. They can’t go into cities. In the country they must leave their hair tussled, cover their face with a veil, keep distance from people, and cry “Unclean!, Unclean!” if any approach.
3. Spiritually – symbolic of sin. In scripture, leprosy was punishment sent by God on evil people (Miriam, Ex.12:10),(Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26:21; Gehazi, 2 Kgs. 5:27). It is a frightening symbol of the polluting nature of sin.
B. FAITH OF THE LEPER
1. It was risky to try to pass through a crowd to get to Jesus. He could have been stoned.
2. Ancient Rabbis boasted that they always threw rocks at lepers to keep them away (Edersheim).
C. WHY DID JESUS TOUCH THE LEPER?
1. IT WAS A VIOLATION OF THE LAW OF MOSES for Him to do it.
2. IT WAS UNNECESSARY.
a. He could have just spoken the Word! No prophet ever touched a leper in order to heal him.
b. What was the significance of the touch? It symbolized God’s acceptance of Man; God’s willingness, in His perfection, to touch what’s contaminated - sinful man. Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel painting – God
touching man. It pictures God’s plan.
3. WAS JESUS MADE UNCLEAN BY TOUCHING THE LEPER? Anybody else – YES! Jesus? - No! Rather, Jesus transmitted holiness.
a. In the Old Testament, almost any sacred thing or person who contacted something defiled became ceremonially “unclean.”
b. But one thing transmitted holiness – the ALTAR. Whatever touched it became holy. Jesus has the same effect.
4. WHAT ELSE DID THE TOUCH SYMBOLIZE?
a. Sin is contagious, like leprosy. In Gen. 3, the germ of sin invaded the world and spread to every person in the human race. [insert Romans 5:12] began.
b. The germ Jesus had was stronger. Instead of Jesus contracting leprosy, the leper contracted Jesus! You might say that Jesus is hyper-contagious!
c. Jesus came to spread the Antigerm, vaccine, antidote to the sin virus.
II. HOW WE CAN BECOME CONTAGIOUS CHRISTIANS
A. WE MUST BE INFECTED WITH THE LIVE VIRUS
1. LIVE VIRUS VS. DEAD VIRUS. A live virus is virulent –penetrating/ stronger than all others/ active/consuming everything it contacts.
a. In scripture Jesus used the analogies of yeast, which penetrates & permeates the entire lump of dough, and new wine, which undergoes an explosive fermentation process, requiring new structures to channel it.
b. Under the influence of the Jesus virus, death is changed into life; chaos into order; darkness to light. When the seed of Christ(1 Jn. 3:9) comes in, the DNA of God changes us into the chosen race. Much like spiderman.
2. BEWARE ACCEPTING COUNTERFEITS. Vaccines are a serum containing a weakened, powerless form of the disease so that your natural defenses can overcome it and make the organism unable to keep reproducing in your body. Once it is no longer growing, it is stopped. People have often gotten just enough of weakened Christianity to be immune from the REAL thing. Is Jesus still growing in your life? Do you have the genuine Jesus virus?
3. IT’S POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE…
a. CONVERTED TO CHRIST, but not be contagious!
b. COMMITTED “ “ , but still not be contagious!
4. CHECK YOUR SYMPTOMS. When a person is infected with a germ or virus, there are unmistakable symptoms that appear. A cold or the flu produce certain symptoms, while TB, Aids, hepatitis, or malaria produce other ones. Even so, when a person is infected with Jesus there are unmistakable symptoms.
5. Paul told the church at Thessalonica that there was no question that they were Christians; “We know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power…” (vss 4-5).
6. CONTAGIOUS BELIEVERS ARE UNMISTAKABLE—the gospel has power, and that power transforms lives. We are going to be more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient, kinder, better, more gentle, more thoughtful, more self-controlled. If there’s no evidence of Jesus transforming a person’s life, then Jesus probably isn’t there. Contagious believers have been infected with Jesus, and it shows.
III. WE MUST SHARE THE JESUS-VIRUS!
A. HAVE WE BECOME CONTAGIOUS?
1. It is one thing to have the live virus; it is another to be contagious. If you contract one cell of a microorganism, you are infected. But it’s not until the virus has multiplied in your body so that what you touch or breath out contains the virus that you become contagious. The virus has then saturated your system.
2. Has Jesus saturated our systems? Are we so full of Jesus that our very touch or even breath contaminates people with Jesus?
3. It is imperative that we become not only infected Christians, but contagious Christians. Why? Because only then will we pass the Master-germ to those infected with the germ of sin.
B. LASTLY, WE MUST SHARE WHAT WE HAVE
1. MANY LOST ARE WANTING WHAT WE HAVE. A woman put an ad in the local paper: “Lost 50 pounds! Selling my fat clothes – they’re in good condition, sizes 18-20.” She was bombarded with phone calls, but nobody wanted to buy the clothes – they all wanted to know how she had lost the 50 pounds. You see, the callers wanted to know about something that had changed her life hoping that this something could change their lives too!!!
2. When children have the chicken pox we are told the most contagious time is while the infected person is running fever. The fevered passion of love for Jesus will affect and infect everyone who comes in contact with its power. We need to keep the fire burning. Keep the passion bright. Keep the love of Jesus Christ hot and alive to be able to reach the lost. This began in a fire, with aflame of passion, a pitched fever of unprecedented proportion.
3. THE DEVIL’S QUARANTINE. The things that prevent the diseases of the world will also prevent the spreading of the Gospel. One method widely practiced is Quarantine, to isolate the sick from the healthy.
4. If the devil can keep us away from sick folks (lost), he can prevent the spread of the infection of Jesus. Have we isolated ourselves from the lost? The Holy Ghost will insulate us not isolate us from the world.
5. “Contagious” is Latin for “to touch”. We’re not going to be contagious unless we’re touching people. Let’s be
contagious Christians! Let’s reach out, share our faith!
C. ILLUSTRATION
1. A Hindu trader in India once asked a missionary, “What do you put on your face to make it shine?”
With surprise the man of God answered, “I don’t put anything on it!”
2. His questioner began to lose patience and said emphatically, “Yes, you do! All of you who believe in
Jesus seem to have it. I’ve seen it in the towns of Agra and Surat, and even in the city of Bombay.”
3. Suddenly the Christian understood, and his face glowed even more as he said, “Now I know what you mean, and I will tell you the secret. It’s not something we put from the outside but something that comes from within. It’s the reflection of the light of God in our hearts.”
4. And the missionary succeeded in leading the trader out of Hinduism into Christ because Jesus showed through.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Leonardo da Vinci had once worked on a great masterpiece for a long period of time.
2. There was a young student allowed to stand next to him as da Vinci worked, and the student watched as the painting evolved in front of him. The student was awed by da Vinci’s technique and observed him in hopes of picking up some of the master’s skill.
3. Just before finishing the painting, da Vinci turned to the student and gave him the brush saying “Now, you finish it.”
4. The student backed away and protested that he wouldn’t dream of touching the Master’s work, but da Vinci said, “Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?”
5. Hasn’t what Jesus did inspired you to do your best?
B. ALTAR CALL
1. How about you? The leper, if he’d never come into contact with Jesus, would’ve died of his leprosy. So will we die in SIN without Jesus. Do you want Him to touch you this morning? Raise your hands.
2. For Christians, do you have enough of Jesus that someone else could get saved from what you’ve got? If not, then you need more of Jesus!
3. The word “contagious” means “to touch.” Will you tell someone about Jesus? Will you refuse to let the Devil quarantine you? Let’s make a commitment now to tell one person about Jesus this week. Prayer.
