December 15 2024
Will be verses 11 through 17.
This is this soon after he went to a town called named, he is Jesus and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. And as he drew near to the gate of the tell Behold a man who had. Who had died was being carried out. The only son of his mother and she was a widow, a considerable crowd from the towels with her with the Lord saw her. He had compassion on her and you said to her, do not weep And he came up and touched the beer and the bear Stood Still and he said, young man, I say to you arise. The dead man set up and began to speak and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear sees them all. And glorified God saying a great prophet has arisen Among Us and God has visited his people and just report about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and the surrounding country. God bless the reading and hearing of his word. When Worlds, Collide, When Worlds, Collide,
Is it saying that it's when two ideas, two, different personalities, two different things meets in the middle? Hollywood makes a fortune on this. If you think about it, you're some of your favorite Disney movies. Since some of your favorite things that you've gone to from Aladdin from The Princess to the the street Hustler, Two Worlds, meeting from The Parent Trap which is you know my guilty pleasure, I love it with Lindsay Lohan, Two Worlds in English Twins and an American twins, meet in the middle, not just Disney movies, but you can go into some comedies rush-hour. You have a black cop, you have an Asian, they meet, in the middle, in it, and mate, and it makes for comedic genius. Right? So many times and movies does Two Worlds meeting in during this season of time? Hallmark makes a fortune on it. Right? The, the grown-up New York lawyer comes back home and she sees her long-lost homecoming boyfriend. That works at the car shop and he is engaged. But yet, when he sees his longtime girlfriend, there's some type of Christmas magic that just hit them and Worlds, Collide we fall for it all the time, or we're just bored cuz there's nothing else to do on a day off of work. And right here in this text, you see worlds colliding. You see the, the people with Jesus, there's a crowd. There's disciples and not just his 12 disciples as hundreds, probably hundreds of disciples and a crowd. Cuz what just happened? We talked about last week, the centurions servant I've been healed without Jesus even being in his presence. And so Jesus has preached his sermons, he is healed the paralytic, he has healed the Centurion Santo Jesus have a crowd around him. And they're just don't know what's happening next, they're following him. They want to know what, what is this man going to do? So, if you could imagine this crowd has anticipation and excitement, he might preach an amazing sperm, and he might heal somebody, he might rebukes. What? I don't know, this is going to be something, I don't care. If I got out of work, I'm going to follow him. And they make their way from capernum. To a city called name in the cities. About 20 to 25 miles about the distance from here to North Scottsdale or the here to the Chandler Mall is it's a distance is going to take a little bit, but they're willing to follow one world. But then you have another world. You have this city called name? And it sits on the hill. There's a funeral procession going on. Right. And they have to walk down this hill to exit because they didn't have city permits. And the sign said we have today that the tombs were outside the city because you can't make it to terminate the whole city. So the two of us were sitting outside sweating travel 728 miles outside. If he, I want you to get rid of how we do funerals here in America, they didn't have Lincoln Town Cars in a police. Escort. Know they are gathering people from the city to watch this young man's funeral exit. They were hired mourners people that would whale in the street. That's how everybody knew that somebody had died. And so people from the city were joining in, And just like unlike American funerals, which are often 5-10 2 weeks later than the actual death, they couldn't deal with that. So when somebody died, they would annoy them. Wrap them up. And the funeral would be often the same day as the person who died. The same day. So, within 8 hours, this is happening. This means this Widow, this woman have lost her son that very day. Could you imagine having to deal with all this chaos hiring, mourners trying to get everything on, who's going to Bear my son to walk out of this city to bury him?
so, you got back crowd, who has Grief morning, sorrow. Wailing crying out. Why is it young men dead? You got this other crap. That's coming bowling. Jesus with excitement, anticipation. And they Collide at The City Gate. It is hundreds of people around. Jesus sees what's going on in his says that he sees her.
Increase your Hebrew vocabulary is the god, who sees El Roi, he the God. Who sees A speaker. And it says, he's moved from deep within him with compassion, from his inward being he sees her with all the commotion going on with his crowd, their crowd, crying, all of this going on. If he sees her,
Mini tells his woman from compassion. Thomas Edward stuff. He says Do not weep.
The correct kind of interpretation is to stop crying. And if we're honest, we take our Christian kind of view of out of this knowing that Jesus is perfect. A little insensitive. Don't you think?
Right. I just woman just lost her son. I put yourself in her shoes. Would you not be thinking, who are you to tell me to stop crying?
Who are you? Don't you know, this was the only provision that I have left. I am a widow that means I had lost. My husband before death seems to be running around in my family. I have no way to provide for myself, I have no way to protect myself. I cannot work for myself. I am left out to be vulnerable. Who are you to tell me that there's probably going to be greedy men, that come and ravaged, everything that I have? But the only means that I'll have to protect and provide for myself, is big or maybe, even though with the prostitution, are you to tell me to stop crying? Don't, you know, my situation, don't you see the chaos cuz my son died less than 8 hours ago. And these people around all morning and crying. But yet in two weeks, I know they're not going to give a rip about me. Who are you to tell me to stop crying. Scared. I'm lonely. I don't understand why this is happening to me.
Who are you to tell me? Not to weep. And in verse 13, Luke knows who's telling her. It's the first time he mentions Jesus as Lord Sovereign one. She doesn't know that. And Luke tells his motivation is his compassion. That gives these commands and Jesus amid his ministry within the two crowds within the commotion stall her. I said don't cry because it wasn't enough for her for him, just to heal her son to resurrect him. He wanted her in the goodness of his heart. For her to see him. Jesus. And that brings me to the first Collision, the collision between grief and goodness. The God's goodness. Continue galaxies away. When were grieving a man extreme galaxies away? The understanding that his commands is rooted in his love and his goodness. He briefed. Alters our perception about everything, right? Like dates on the calendar. Some of us when we go to the holidays, we miss certain people. If we think back on life, right? Like my fault. My, my father-in-law, his birthday was Christmas Eve. We would go back to Jim's Hometown and he would make chicken noodle. So, every time Christmas Eve comes around, he's passed away is for several years, I miss that. If chicken noodles, comes around the certain foods that make me miss certain people. Frosted Flakes. My great-grandmother used to, we go to her house in Cherryvale, Kansas and she would put Frosted Flakes in a cup with no milk and she would put on Space Chimps. So anytime I see Space Jam or anytime I see Frosted Flakes on think of my great-grandmother. you get my other great-grandmother that would always make meatloaf when I came to see her in Independence Kansas Even though I hated it, she thought I liked it because I was a kid. I didn't think you could tell your great-grandma that you didn't like their food.
If you would always make it and she didn't recognize, until I was a teenager, my mom's like Josh, doesn't like meatloaf. Why don't you tell me that? I don't want to tell you, g, e, t v? There's certain grief alter songs for certain Vehicles when you see them Reef Alters your perception about how you interact with them. So you can come out and bring Jordan complete, sinus, mucus, grief has changed your perception of that reality. And it does the very same thing to God. He's hard to see, love, compassion, and mercy. When grief is in your eyes and I believe, and this is my conjecture, that Jesus is telling her not to cry, not to be mean, not to be insensitive, but sometimes tears tumbler our vision to the goodness of God.
Sometimes brief and getting a way to actually see what he's doing.
Be within all this commotion, he's saying I see your pain but I need you to stop crying. Is command of don't cry, is inviting us to experience him more beautifully. See Jesus sees his woman in her grief but doesn't want the grief to prevent her from seeing him.
An understanding the fundamental truth that God is near the Brokenhearted. God is near the Brokenhearted and Psalms 34 15 through 18. If we can turn there.
It says this the eyes. Of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil cut off the memory of those from the Earth. When the righteous Cry for Help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. The Lord is near to the Brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
God is near the Brokenhearted. But I want to bring Clarity grief is not a sin. Grief is not a person. I'm not saying that every time you've experienced paying you should not cry. That is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying, it's grief has a place Jesus cried from a sorrowful place when you knew what was going to happen to Jerusalem, he cried a grieving prayer. But what I am saying that grief has a place within there's also a time that grief has to stop so that we can see who Christ is. Sometimes that comes in the form of the church. But we don't isolate ourselves that we, you allow God, to use the people. He's put around us to minister to us, that we wouldn't just blind ourselves to his goodness and how he's orchestrated the body. Whether it's going into prayer whether it's not working your tail off because you're just trying not to think of it. Sometimes you just need to rest. That's how you see God's been that they can come in many different ways. I am not saying grief is the send what I am saying that. Sometimes there's a collision between grief and goodness and grief has to subside so that we can see who Christ is amen.
And then after he says, don't weep In verse 13, back in, Luke 7.
What is e, says he goes over there. And he touches the beer and a beer, is like a pallet, it wasn't like they didn't have coffins like us. They what they would do is they would wrap the dead body in some cloth and ointment and it would be like a pallet in the body was open for everybody to see. Jesus goes over to the young man. He touches any put a detail in there, it says they stood still. Why do they stand still? Well, let's go to numbers 19 verses 11 through 13.
It's up on the screen as well.
This is why they stood still. It says this, whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days. He choked himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day. And so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day in the seventh day, he will not become clean. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died and does not clean himself to files, the Tabernacle of the Lord. And that person shall be cut off from Israel, because the water for a DS, not thrown on him, he shall be unclean, his uncleanness is still on him. So we get to another Collision right here. Jesus touches a dead body, the collision between convention, and compassion convention, meaning the ceremony book. The things that's normally done the conventional way of doing things convention and compassion. See Jesus ministry, often was pierced through conventional practices, healing on the Sabbath, touching the unclean eating at Gentiles house in and he's often doing this in the Pharisees and Sadducees were often getting mad because they are, like, why are you bringing breaking our tradition? Why are you not doing what I've seen? Thus, to do, this is the law. Why are you going this way? How are you operating this way? And say that you are of God?
He does it again right here. We see he touches the dead man, and it's jarring to the Bears when they stand still. Just don't do that. We don't we don't touch that bodies around here. Jesus understood the law and why the law was there, but he understood the higher law. Hello, love. See if you go back to the Centurion story, did Jesus, not just speak a word matter fact, I only know he spoke the word and the servant was healed. Why didn't he do that right here? Why did he all-purpose touch? The dead body. It is not just about his power. It's not just about his authority raining in ruling, it's about his compassion in his love. You showing that I am here. I'm here to interact. I'm here to be intimate. I am here. So you can feel me as well. I have a question for us.
We abide by the law love. Or do we just let convention? Texas takeover, what I mean by that. Say there's some kids in a Rowdy that come in that maybe say something. Choice words in the back. maybe they cuss, maybe they pushed your kid down and he kids Do you want just protocol the conventional way of thing? Or do you go by the law of love and compassion? Say there's a young lady or young man that comes in wearing something little bit risky. Do you sit up in tight? How dare they? Or are you the type of person that was with compassion to go approach that person and love and serve that person, always generosity. You might have your ritual when you give you give every week or maybe you give once a month. Hear a brother or sister in Christ that can't pay their rent. If they can't get school clothes for their kids, there are suffering right now. Does your Convention of how you give when you give dictate how you show love
Or do you break through ceremonial practices? See, the pastor is supposed to be the one that preaches. The gospel, he does it on Sunday. So I'll just invite her or just the convention of you knowing god in his goodness, this does the law of compassion, move you Preach the good news. Do we have a way of service? You know, we sing three songs, we have all surprised, but maybe you see somebody pour in their self out in God's in service is calling you to lay hands on somebody and pray for them to move out your seat and go across the room to pray for them. The Compassion move you are you so caught up in the ceremony and convince you that you don't move out of your seat?
I don't know about you, but got down me in an unconventional way. Yes, I grew up in the church. Yes. I knew Jesus for a majority of my life. But when I was 23 years old, when I was wild and going to milk every weekend, and I was at the lowest part, I was depressed and I was like, either this, God thing is real, or is it not? And I prayed it was probably on a Tuesday or Wednesday night crying out, to God, I get a phone call from my dad later on that week and he's just talkin and we have, you know, Sports talk into conventional, dad and son, talk when he broke through that convention. And he asked me, Josh, and he even asked me told me to charge, the reason why your life is where it's at, it's because you're not plugged in to the stores. Jarred me for B. How did you know I needed to hear that? Week and a half later. I go to this little church. On Southern or Baseline and Mill. Tempe Life Church, I go in, I'm sitting on the second and third row, I pray to God either. This guy think it's wrong of her to not sit in the third row, and a young associate. Pastor about 30, 31 years old will Sullivan is praying doing the Segway prayer between worship and the sermon and he is walking and praying can out of convention. He looks at me and pushed me. So I need to pray for you. God has something for your life. In that moment. Everything for me. Because somebody out of compassion for broke through the ceremony, broke through the convention of just life. And I felt scene Built. My prayers were heard.
So I'm asking you and I'm encouraging, you don't just go with the ceremony. Don't just go with what's conventional. Sometimes compassion is going to make you make a 20-mile trip to go. Take somebody out for lunch or coffee. Sometimes you're going to have to fast, sometimes, you're going to have to walk across the room during service to lay hands on somebody. Sometimes you're going to cry, sometimes, you're going to get on your knees. It's not going to look that way because compassion doesn't just follow the rules all the time. Especially the man-made ones.
Jesus. Touching the dead body. Is collision between compassionate convention. Everybody is still if you can imagine it. Bill. What is he going to do? He says.
Sun. I say to you.
Arrive. At this point, we get out there. Collation. The collision between death and life. The at this point, everyone has seen death and life collide. We're on his death has won that battle ninety-nine percent of the time.
And if you were a betting person at that time, you're going to put the over on on death winning.
Boy, you would think that the boys going to stay dad, but when the author of life is involved their yields a different results. Siwan true life and death. Get into a collision, somebody has to surrender. Pastor Terry Anderson said it like this when death and life are on the same track. One of them has to get up off the sidewalk. Somebody has to surrender. And for those people, they've always seen life be the one that gets off of the sidewalk, but this time with Jesus Jesus says arrived and is the one that has to move out of the way. This boy Rises up.
We would have MIT and we would guess everybody scared. If you seen somebody rise from the dead at a funeral, you would be scared too.
Fear takes over there but then they start rejoicing and praising God, there is this joyous and and just probably confusing but such a liberating feeling that is going on. At that moment.
And they say something, they said he is a great prophet. It don't take that as a slight because Jesus is a great prophet, he is more than that, but there's a reason why they say he's a great prophet. the reason why they say, it's a great prophet, because The other times, this is a familiar story to them. If you go to the Old Testament, go to first king 17, we won't go there today. I'll just kind of give a synopsis on Elijah raised a Widow's son from the dead. And what did he do? He touch the dead by. He actually laid on top of the dead body and pray to God and God raised him from the dead. And Elijah had a protege. His Name Was Elijah and Elisha probably seen and heard about what he did. And so Elijah had the very same opportunity in 2nd Kings 4. I'm going to 2nd Kings 4. There is a shulamite woman. And they couldn't have a kid and then God, Elijah pray. So they have a kid. They have a kid. Now, this son is dead. And she has Elijah to come. And intervene in a lie. She does a very same thing that Elijah does. He lays on top of the boy while he is dead in the upper room and prays to God to resurrect him from the dead and it happened and do you know the geographical location of Schumann and where that's at,
324 mi from name.
Jesus didn't go to name on accident. He's going there because there is probably a folklore of them hearing about this. Who uses men to raise sons from the dead.
They were familiar for this Narrative of death life that they hadn't seen it before they understood that God raised sons from Death to life but But they didn't know that there was two sons that day. One stunt from name that was dead, but he was heading towards the life and one son, that was living. That is the son of the Living. God, that is living in this headed toward the death and they Collide in the middle. I got more than one son, was going to be resurrected that and not processing that time. That Jesus Christ was going to die on the cross and be resurrected and through his resurrection that we all would have resurrection and have eternal life because I don't know about you. But if I looked at my past and if I look at the stairs and how it was dead and my trespasses I am, that boy kitten names that was on that bear and it wasn't until Jesus touch me wasn't until Jesus in a beard and collided into my world and brought me back to life that I am here for singing his praises.
That went death and life collide with the author of Life, Death has to move out of the way. And we know that, then that's when grief gets a side, that's when compassion, fatigue blowout. It is more. When did Jesus exude in his power? It's Jesus showing that he's the author over everything.
It's a win. Life has music elisions when these collisions cause grief, when us interacting, and there's attention of, we should obey his commands of compassion, or we just go by our conventional businesses with all these collisions happen in our life. If we remember that, the Ultimate Collision is already been won. That life rains over death.
And if the last Collision that's going to happen is going to be a beautiful one. If we can go to Revelations 21. One through seven.
I want you to meditate on this.
Even after you leave here.
This is John talking, then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first time in the first Earth had passed away in the sea with no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven prepared, as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice. When I don't say, Behold, The Dwelling Place of God is with man, and he and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear by to every tear from their eyes and Death Shall be no more. If I say no more neither shall there. Be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away? And he, who was seated at the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. As he also said, write down these words for these words are trustworthy and true. The one who conquers will have this Heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son.
God.
In this time and next week we'll get into why this passage matters. Even more God saw through time away for him to interact with this boy and this woman in the rain The foreshadow, how he was going to overcome death?
That there will be no morning. There will be no crying. And that if we have the time when the time is right for us to wipe your eyes to know that he is actually going to get rid of every year. And that's what Mary did when she went to the tomb. And she was crying, she didn't recognize Jesus, right? She didn't recognize his goodness because the tears were in her eyes. Because why are you crying? She writes me that he was a gardener like what you do with the body, and I just prayed today as your worlds colliding, a lot of different ways that you would understand. The Ultimate Collision has been warned and that we can trust in his grace and his Mercy that we could follow his commands, even if it's uncomfortable for us, right then and there, amen. Amen. Let us pray.
Father God, I just thank you. For the reassurance of Who You Are. The reassurance that you are good. I pray for the person who is grieving right now.
the one that saying, yeah, this is a good message but the pain still is magnified. I don't know what to do. God, I pray that you would lead him to scripture lead him to community Leedom in the way that they would see how you're the Good Shepherd. Leading them to Green Pastures.
Father, God, I pray for us that have been operating in conventional wisdom, day in day out weekend, week out. And we would be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We would be willing to walk across the room. We would be willing to make that phone call that we should be making we would be willing to call out sin with Grace. And with Mercy, we would be willing to love our neighbor instead of just running inside the house and shutting our garage as fast as possible. We would stick around. The church body to get to know people and love people. And that God, when things don't go in an orthodox way. We would trust you. So God, I pray that as we dismiss today that we Would understand that, you hold it all and that you're the author of life. And so what can death due to us? Death? Where is your sting? Where is your Victory? Because Christ has the keys dead. Hell In The Grave. You pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. Let us rise to our feet.
There will be our Prayer Ministry up here at the end of service. If anybody needs prayer, if you've given your life to Christ, if you want to know next steps, we have people up at the front that will would love to pray for you and intercede with you. And there's a sign-up sheet again out there with sign ups for prayer and so for Corporal Wednesday. So if you have the time sometime during the day, please join us. Then as well. Mike would you mind coming up and closing us out and prayer?
Amend. Let's just pray. Father God, we just thank you. Thank you for this message from Pastor, Josh and let us just be reminded that you don't move conventionally and sometimes we can't either father God. So just allow us to be guided by your spirit in the ways that you want us to move around other people and be witnesses to your good news. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you all. You are dismissed have a great week.
