From Brokenness to Wholeness: The Healing of the Spiritually Sick

Tell Them What You Are Going to Say

Introduction

Opening comments / Recap

Mark recounts an encounter between Jesus and Levi, also known as Matthew, a tax collector and, by societal standards, an outcast and a sinner. Levi represents the various forms of spiritual sickness we all can suffer from. Yet, it was to this man that Jesus extended the invitation: "Follow me."

This scene along with the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof and set in front of him illustrates Jesus’ ministry to both those who are physically and spiritually sick.

Jesus does not walk past the outcasts, He dines with them, He interacts with them, He chooses them. Our journey today begins with acknowledging our sickness our brokenness, the lead to a desire to seek the transformative healing power of Jesus.

Central Message

Jesus came to heal the spiritually sick; acknowledging our need for spiritual healing allows us to receive his transformative power.

Say What You Are Going to Say

Healing those who seek to be healed

Mark 2:13–17 NIV

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Illustration

Two people with a bacterial infection one goes to the doctor and is healed one does not and dies

Question / Objection

"What does it mean to be called 'sinners' or 'righteous'? Who defines these terms?"

Answer

God defines and all have sinned thus all are sick

Application

Often times people will ignore the symptoms of illness and by the time they go to the doctor they’re even more sick then they would have been had they gone to the doctor immediately . If you don’t have the doctor . If you don’t have jesus you are going to continue to become more and more spiritually sick .

We all need the doctor, we all need Jesus.

Go to the doctor.

Go to the doctor in prayer

Go to the doctor by studying the scriptures.

Go to the doctor so that you can be healed.

It is also important to understand that this healing that the doctor gives to us is not a one time process , it is a lifelong process. We must continually go to the doctor and allow for him to work in our lives , to help us to heal and to grow.

A Source of Hope and Reassurance

Mark 2:18–20 NIV

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

Explanation of Text

In this passage, Jesus compares Himself to a bridegroom.

The time with bridegroom, is a time for joy, not for fasting.

Jesus did not dismissing fasting as a practice; rather, He is emphasizing that His presence is an occasions for joy.

Jesus also notes that there will come a time when He is no longer physically present, when this happens than, His disciples will fast.

Jesus connects role as bridegroom to His mission as the healer. Just as the presence of the bridegroom is a reason for celebration, so too is the presence of the doctor—a presence that offers hope and reassurance.

A New You

Mark 2:21–22 NIV

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Explanation of Text

Highlight the imagery of new patches on old garments and new wine in old wineskin

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

When it comes to the saving power of Jesus the old is incompatible with the new .

When we accept Jesus we began a process of transformation .

Illustration

Imagine that you just brought a brand new state-of-the-art computer. This computer has all of the bells and whistles the latest graphics card , one of the largest storage capacities , it runs lightning fast.

Now imagine that instead of the most updated version of Windows you try to run Windows XP .

The old technology that is not suited for this new computer, now the computer

performs slowly

freezes

eventually it crashes.

The old you is like Windows XP. the new you that God is creating is not compatible with the old you. If you attempt to be the old you it will lead to systems crashes . You won’t perform up to your best , sometimes you’ll freeze , and eventually you will crash . So don’t try to combine the old you with the new you .

Application

Be the new creation that God has made you to be.

have the values that God wants us to have.

Our behavior should change.

Our life goals may change.

We will not be the person that we used to be.

Cast off the old you and embrace the new you .

Cast off the sick you and embrace the healed you.

Cast off the you that has been broken by the world and embrace the new you that has been made whole through Christ .

Conclusion

Jesus came to heal the spiritually sick, acknowledging our need for spiritual healing allows us to receive his transformative power. We all were, or are sick and we all should seek out the doctor , his name is jesus.

Jesus is our source of hope .

Jesus is our source of reassurance.

Though we were broken and sick to sin we find wholeness and healing in Jesus .

We are transformed into a new creation

we cannot any longer be the person that we used to be because we are new and if we try to be the person that we used to be it’s going to be just like that computer that is running old programming we’re going to crash .

Look to the doctor and embrace his healing power .

Embrace the new you

Embrace the you that is no longer broken but has been made whole.

Embrace the you that has been healed

Go to the doctor

Go to Jesus