Holistic Healing

Bible Passage: Mark 1:29–34

INTRO

As much as modern medicine has served to revolutionize the way we think about health and more specifically curing disease, I find myself frequently scratching my head on certain aspects of the medical system we have here in America.

Things like ER wait times, cost of care, the amount of drugs they put people on…

But most of all, the one thing that drives me the most insane is the fact that I have to go to 7 different doctors to get to the root of one issue

Your primary doctor sends you to a specialist, and then they send you to another specialist and then another and another only to then find out that the thing that all of these specialists have been looking at isn’t actually the root cause of your problem.

Now, I am not seeking to stand up here and bash doctors or medicine, I am just pointing out a very objective fact, that as amazing as modern medicine and doctors are, they are not God and they have limits.

Doctors are trained to treat a specific area of the human body and that’s as far as their knowledge goes for the most part

How many people in the room this morning can give me an “amen” to the fact that the healing we need is far greater than that?

The type of healing that we need and are here to talk about this morning is far greater than what a doctor who specializes in the pinky toe can provide.

The state of the human condition is horribly broken, mangled and sinful

We need to healed and then transformed because our problem lies not in a hurt toe, broken bone or failing organ… our problem stems from deep within the soul.

Church, we need a Holistic Healing

If our problem reaches beyond the physical and stems from the state of our souls then we desperately need to be healed by the one who designed and crafted our souls with His very hands.

We need Jesus!

Jesus is the one who offers us holistic healing

BODY

In today’s story, we are following up the events that took place in our text from last week

Jesus has taught with authority in the synagogue, cast out a demon and now in verse 29 Mark writes…

Read Mark 1:29

We see that word, “euthys” or immediately again as Jesus leaves the synagogue still on the sabbath and enters the house of Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew.

Quick note… We ought to learn from the pace that Mark records Jesus living by. Not in a rush but when He moves he does so in haste because ministry is on the other side of his movements.

Do you move as intentionally towards ministry as Jesus does?

Mark goes on in verse 30…

Read Mark 1:30

Jesus has just finished teaching and casting out demons in the synagogue and the first thing he’s met with once he arrives at his next destination is Peter’s sick mother in law.

Remember, Jesus is human and I can imagine he is likely physically and emotionally tired.

Teaching is tiring, I am sure casting out demons is tiring and then walking to your next destination is also tiring

But it says in Mark 1:31…

Read Mark 1:31

Jesus, without hesitation moves toward, the sick and with just a touch, she is healed and begins to serve him and all those who were in the house.

It was as if she had never been sick.

I have had a couple of elbow surgeries that came from baseball injuries and forever I will have a scar, a reminder of what happened to me.

When Christ heals Peter’s mother in-law she gets up and immediately begins to serve others.

She doesn’t need to lay down and rest, there is no scarring, she doesn’t need a sick day to recover, she just gets up and walks.

This was no small thing church. This is first century illness, they brought Jesus to her likely because she was close to death

But one touch from the savior and she is completely whole

When Jesus heals, He leaves no trace of his people having ever been sick or damaged.

Such is the case when Christ heals the soul of a sinner. he cleanses us with his perfection from the inside out.

Physical healing is great but more important than having your sickness taken away is having your soul healed from the cancer of sin.

Many people are mistaken in thinking that they need Jesus to touch their body when they really need him to give them a new heart.

Many people think that they need Jesus to be the remedy for disease when they actually need him to be the cure for eternal death.

Many people think that they need Jesus to say “get up and walk” when they actually need to hear him say “come out of that grave”

Is the touch of Jesus powerful and able to heal us of physical ailments? Yes and amen!

Is that the primary concern of the god man when faced with the reality of spending eternity with Him or without Him? No!

His physical healings are signs that point us to the validity of his words and show us in physical form what Christ does in the heart of a sinner who is saved by His grace.

Psalm 103:1–13 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those…”

Notice how King David, pre-Christ, mentions once in 13 verses anything about physical healing…

But he does mention God’s forgiveness, redemption, mercy, grace, satisfaction and patience.

He speaks of God’s love for those who fear him saying that as high as the heavens are from the earth, is the vastness of His love for sinners like you and me if we know His son Jesus!

Church, who can agree with me this morning , that we don’t just need a physician to splint our broken bones but a holistic healer who will save both body and soul from the grip and effects of sin!

Sinner, skeptic, those who don’t know Jesus, will you say “Yes” to Jesus’ holistic healing power?

Saint, follower of Jesus, Christian will you say “Yes” to the continued holistic healing of Jesus that seeks to kill sin that remains and shape you to look more like Him?

If you have been healed by Jesus, then get up and walk!

I find it so interesting in this story that Peter’s mother in law immediately gets up and serves Jesus and those in the home once she is healed.

We have been healed to serve

Holistic healing leads us into joyful service to the King

Ephesians 2:4–10 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We have been saved, redeemed, raised up, made whole, by grace through faith which are gifts from God and nothing we have done.

But we have been saved for good works which God has prepared for us to walk in.

We have been healed to serve!

Let me ask, how often do you find yourself serving because you’ve been healed?

You haven’t been healed to sit, you haven’t been healed to become the smartest Bible nerd alive, you haven’t been healed to get out of Hell free, you haven’t been healed so you can feel better about all of the mistakes you have made…

You have been healed to serve!

EXAMPLES

Peter’s mother in-law gets up from her sickness and serves and then that evening, things get crazy…

Read Mark 1:32-34

People who witnessed the power of Jesus spread word that he is near and the whole city comes to experience the touch of Jesus.

The healing of one led to the healing of the city.

Let me ask you, what would happen if the church actually believed that?

We wouldn’t even know what to do with something like this because we have never seen it ourselves…

Too afraid to look like a fool and tell someone about the man who can heal their souls.

We christians hide behind our excuses like “friendship evangelism” or “building a bridge strong enough to carry the weight of truth.”

or we wait for people to come to us thinking that sheep are smart enough to know when they are in danger.

Meanwhile, people are around us all day every day who are sick and dying while we watch them waltz into hell!

Do you wanna see the city saved? Do you wanna see your family saved? Do you wanna see your office saved?

It only takes one!

God can take the holistic healing of one and use it as a catalyst to holistically heal the city!

CLOSING

Here are 3 takeaways as we close…

Receive the healing & live like you’ve been healed

If the son has set you free then you are free indeed.

Come to him and find rest.

Healed to Serve

Who are you bringing to the holistic healer?

May we all receive the grace of holistic healing from Jesus and then seek to honor Jesus with how we use it!