The Good Doctor

Well Good morning family. Thank you Ps. Megan for leading us in that moment to help us think about those things correctly. Now as we prepare to interact with the word of God.

Lets remember our house rule that participation is better than observation.

So please take notes, if something hits you in your core, you can say “thats good” or “ouch.” That helps me know I heard correctly in preparing for this sermon. PLUS If you dont say anything i will just assume that you are silently being convicted everything i say.

Alright the passage for today comes from Luke 5:12-16 as we slowly and careful look at this book of incredible detail with great attention to detail. Again Luke 5:12-16 and it will be on the screen behind me as well, AND it reads.

12'While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you willing, you can make me clean.”

13And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

14And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

15But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.

16But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. ' ****PRAY****

Have you ever felt like everything in your life was just going wrong? I mean nothing is going your way.

I feel that way right now. Inflation soaring; housing costs increasing; rent increasing; gas prices increasing; pay check…. well thats unchanged.

It seems like a rolling punch line now: next year has got to be better than 2020; but then it was anything is better than 2021 and then it was i cant wait til 2022 and it has been just as bad.

We still have problems with mass shootings, the virus hasnt gone away, and we still cant get along.

Our hearts have grown sick AND you got to wonder is this all we can expect until the Lord comes back.

To go from one suffering to the next. To go from one sickness to the next.

I suspect many of us can relate to this and are searching for a remedy to our sick and weary soul.

The title of this message is called the Good Doctor.

And I got three points to help us explore this. They are Reverence. Request. And Response.

So point number 1 REVERENCE,

In verse 12 alone there are four things we have to look at that are of importance.

(1) There is a man with leprosy; (2) who makes his way into the city; (3) falls on his face in front of Jesus; and (4) makes a request.

The first two things will take together. A man with leprosy, In the city. Technically those two things should not be together. To understand why, we have to look at how the ancient world viewed leprosy and what leprosy is.

Now whatever you do, don't go looking up leprosy pictures right before you go to bed. I messed myself up one night doing so and lost sleep preparing for this sermon. (i lose sleep before every sermon but i lost more)

But in short, leprosy is a chronic bacterial infection that affects the skin and nerves.

If detected early it could be treated within 6 to 12 months, BUT if not can lead to a lifetime of treatment.

In mild cases it can be flaky skin to lesions to when it's worst cases disfigurement of body parts losing fingers, toes, noses, and mouth.

In the Bible times leprosy was applied to various types of skin disease but DID NOT exclude the leprosy we now know as Hansen's disease.

Many Jewish people believed that God inflicted the curse of leprosy upon people for sins they committed. And among the 61 defilements of ancient Jewish laws; leprosy was only second to dead bodies in seriousness. It was literally called “living death” due to it's off-putting physical appearance.

A leper was considered utterly unclean physically and spiritual inside and out.

You would have to wear clothing over your face and mouth, and yell “unclean unclean” everywhere you went to prevent its spread.

But not only did this affect the body, it affected your social status as well. If you were considered a leper you were not allowed to live in community with your own people.

Instead you would have to be forced to live in camps with other lepers until you got better or unfortunately died.

Which makes our passage very interesting, because there's no evidence that this man was shouting “unclean unclean” as he approached Jesus.

No evidence that he covered himself appropriately and you might say well maybe it wasn't bad leprosy.

But we know that it is bad case because of Luke's account.

The other gospels just say there was a man with leprosy but Luke's account includes the extent of this man's leprosy saying that he was FULL of leprosy some translation say all over his body. And Luke would know this because he was a physician.

So this man full of leprosy, comes into a city full of people, comes close to and falls at the feet of another person, and cries out in close proximity to him, ALL things he's not supposed to do according to Jewish law.

What would cause a person to risk being killed or expelled permanently by his own people?, unless he had gotten to the point where he was fed up with his condition.

Fed up with how his life was going, and had made up in his mind that either this man who he had heard about would heal him of his affliction OR he would be stoned and permanently expelled by his own people.

This man had most likely lost his job, position in his society, his family and determined that he had nothing left to lose.

But even if this man didn't know everything about who he was going to see. He knew enough that this man was holy and carried a great deal of authority, which in turn REQUIRED him to show REVERENCE.

Reverence is defined as feeling or attitude of deep respect and awe for something or someone sacred or set apart.

Sometimes during the musical worship part of our service you might see me or other people bowing down and thats because its normally during those times when I’m reflecting on the words I recognize that he is bigger, stronger, mightier than me

And in that moment i am struck by awe of God and fall down in position TO ACKNOWLEDGE his greatness and my weakness; for who am I am to even stand in his presence.

Honestly I think we have made our relationship with Jesus to familiar. In our attempt to make him relatable we have eliminated his holiness.

Yes we can talk to Jesus about everything for he was FULLY human

He can relate to us in every way; we can express our pain and frustration, BUT when we start treating him like he was ONLY Human AND NOT also Fully GOD

OR when we treat Jesus thoughts as if they are on the same level as other options. WE NEGLECT HIS Holiness HIS set apartness.

HE is the truth, the way, and the life; HIS thoughts ARE NOT our thoughts; HIS ways ARE NOT our ways, WHICH is why HE should be revered above all other opinions.

When we show reverence to God it honors him and postures us to receive what he would give us.

Now he believed that Jesus could heal him but he seemed to have one reservation in his request. He wondered whether Jesus would do it for him, a leper (an outsider someone who was not accepted)

This brings us to point #2 Our REQUEST.

You see at the time of this request this man would have been use to people looking the other way when they saw him,

He would have been use to people whispering under their breath to each other when they passed him by;

He would have been used to not experiencing the warm embrace of another because he was considered unclean -different than everyone.

AND The priests; who were the ones assigned to treat these type of people would only treat them from a distance AND only after showing signs that they were better. (Lord please tell me thats not the church today).

The only people this leper would have found connection with, would have been the other outcasts the, other lepers.

At some point you may have felt like an outcast. Whether through life choices, health problems, lost jobs or even being rejected by your own family.

AND you believe that these things have cut you off from God and others.

Maybe you even felt like this is just your lot in life; that bad things are just going to happen; AND that you can never experience Joy.

But then there's that itch, this frustration, this longing that comes deep from within.

It manifest itself as a faint whisper that if I am worth something I want it.

Maybe that's why you've been attending church, or small group, or listening to an annoying Christian friend who keeps inviting you.

But now that you heard about this man Jesus; you INEVITABLY wonder to yourself will this man be welcoming to me? When so many others have rejected me, turned me away, considered me less than.

The answer is yes . Because GOD is COMPASSIONATE.

Truthfully, though I don't think people's issues are really with “if Jesus is kind or loving”.

I think the world has gotten this picture that Jesus is kind; that he is loving; that he is welcoming and that his ideas are great for people to model.

But for some people I think the issue comes to whether he also has power to change our circumstances? (Its great he loves, but get me out of this mess.)

But its not enough for Him to have the power; we want to control the power. LORD Just fix the parts I think are the problem. DONT touch the other areas of my life.

We want a Burger King God; We want it our way. (respond in our timing; respond the way we think it should go)

But like the good physician he is; that would be malpractice on his part if he would treat the surface issue and not treat the underlying problems.

I can remember when my wife was having severe stomach pains. It was debilitating to her;

Causing her to not be able to move for long periods of time; not be able to hold food down as she agonized in pain.

She tried treating it and dealing with it; with over the counter medications, but that would only temporarily relieve the problem before the pain was back. And she suffered like this for months.

She even went to a doctor (someone who should know better) who said its probably just in her head.

It wasn't until she had an emergency and a good doctor look and said “you have lots of gall stones tearing away at your gall bladder and you need surgery.” There was an underlying issue.

What I want us to understand is that we all have a good doctor and his name is Jesus.

He will not send us away with a bad diagnosis; (now what he tells us about ourself, we may not like or may not want to let go of)

BUT IF WE are WILLING, he will heal us and make us whole again.

When we humble ourselves before HIM recognizing that all the paths we've taken led us nowhere; gave us only temporary relief; left us expecting this is all there is

He will respond to our suffering, BECAUSE he can make us well, AND He is WILLING.

We got to keep moving, Verse 13 says that Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.

I want us to pause right there and ponder about the significance of this interaction.

Here is a man who has gone untold amounts of time without the embrace of his family, loved ones, friends.

Unable to receive a hug when he was struggling through probably the hardest period of his life,

Unable to receive empathy from connecting with another's eyes because all looked away because he was dirty; he was unclean.

TOUCH, especially when you feel undeserving presents a level of compassion that CAN'T BE expressed in words.

I’ve had the honor as a Christian not even as a pastor of weeping with those who weep in there hardest time and when the tension in the room is so heavy because of the pain that person is experiencing its when you offer that person a shoulder from a hug to cry on that there's this giant (sigh in) and then …… release.

Compassion is felt/ experienced through touch and action.

Jesus showed compassion to this man by touching him when no one else would.

And this is NOT something to glance over. There is no doubt that Jesus was very intentional about this miracle.

In fact the next three miracles that we’ll cover in the book of Luke HE doesn't touch the person at all to bring about the healing,

But the one that was the dirtiest; the one that was the most unsafe; the one that could damage him AND his reputation; that's the one he decided to touch and heal.

Family who are you afraid to touch?; Better yet what areas of your life do you NOT want Jesus to touch? (If he could make you better what is holding you back)

Jesus was not afraid to touch this man in his uncleanness AND Jesus is not afraid of ours.

But there's something even more amazing about this moment.

You see Jesus touching this man should have at that moment according to Jewish custom made him automatically unclean therefore excluding him from everyone.

BUT the sickness did not go into Jesus INSTEAD healing came out of Jesus.

This is why Jesus went out amongst the sinners; he was found hanging with the sinners; he ministered to the sinners the outcasts BECAUSE his standard and holiness would remain unchanged

BUT everyone who encountered him and accepted him would not leave unchanged.

Like Jesus says in Luke 5:31 he did not come for those who are well but for those who are sick. (sick physically, spiritually, and emotionally - HE is the Good Doctor)

And thats great because i dont know bout you i feel sick sometimes

Jesus in his intentional act of healing this man, not only shows us his compassion by meeting this person in his despair and brokenness,

BUT he also displays that he has ALL power and authority to change our circumstances.

To take on the sins of the world by becoming sin; YET NOT being changed by it, SO THAT we might be saved.

So what do we do with the good news? How do we respond? Which brings us to our final point Our RESPONSE.

It says (verse 14) and he charged him to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof (some translations say testimony) to them.

Well a lot of good that did by not telling anyone; because by verse 15 it says now the report about him went out even more abroad.

You ever see that car commercial where the parents take these elaborate trips in the car with their children separately. And each time the parent says to the children don't tell your mom, don't tell your dad.

I'm mad they don't show the interaction with the other parent cuz I know exactly how it would go, they would tell.

I get in trouble for this all the time. If I give my kids candy or take my kids to Chick-fil-A because I can't cook, I tell them don't tell your mom. But what do you think they do of course they tell their mom.

You see when something good happens to us we can't keep that to ourselves we want others to experience it.

That's why after you see a great movie or TV show you just got to tell someone else about it. And you try your hardest not to tell them all the things so that person could experience the joy that you experience when you watched it.

Family our response to the good news of what Jesus has done for us should be the same, we should share it.

But we treat it like it is just AIGHT and only good for us. (maybe it would be good for you or maybe your like it.)

NO the good news is for everyone and last time i checked freedom is better than bondage.

But it's not just about words. Jesus is not interested in lip service which is why he doesn't just address the surface issue but he wants this goodness to emanate from our hearts and our actions.

We've all heard that saying actions speak louder than words.

AND when we accept Jesus and his complete healing of our life we ought to show some progress from our life changing encounter.

Doctors often call people back in for a checkup after a procedure or prescription change to see how it's working,

But many people after they get fixed or started feeling better stop coming back for more treatment. And then they start feeling bad all over again.

Sadly, many people have done that in the church.

We promise God, “LORD i promise I wont do it again if you just do X. Then we get our miracle OR healing; feel good for a second; and then we back to where we started.

Family we need to show our change as evidence to others as a testimony about the goodness of God.

Now I’m not saying that after you become a Christian you are immediately perfect and never sin again

Just like I'm not saying immediately after you get a procedure or you start a medicine that you start to feel better. But as time goes on following and sticking to your treatment plan there should be evidence of change.

As Christians, the longer we follow Jesus the more HIS light should be reflected in our lives.

We should be able to check our progress by saying do I look more like my old self or more like Jesus.

Now as I close I want to focus on one last aspect of verse 14. But before I do let me acknowledge verse 16 where Jesus would withdraw to desolate places to pray.

We don't have time to cover this today but I strongly suggest checking out a sermon in our app or on YouTube called the covert action of prayer.

But for today I will say this, many things clamor for our attention AND WE will run ourselves ragged trying to attend to them all. I know this personally.

Christ shows us that the greater the demand for his attention, the more he sought his father in heaven. In the same way, we should remember our help cometh from the Lord, and if Jesus needed more of God as pressure mounted how much more do we. AMEN.

Alright let's close this thing out. Going back to verse 14 Jesus tells the man he needs to make an offering for cleansing in accordance with Moses command.

What is he talking about? Well this command about an offering for a cleansing of leprosy comes from Leviticus 14: 2-32. Now we don't have time to read it but I'm going to give you quick paraphrase for you.

Vs 3: Priest were to go outside the camp to examine them. Vs 5-7:if they were good visually they would go through a ceremonial cleansing ; then Vs 8-9: the leper must change their appearance and rid themselves of all the stuff they had when they were diseased; then Vs 10-18: the person who was diseased had to bring an offering and the priest would make another offering; At that point Vs 19: the priest would sacrifice the sin offering and make ATONEMENT for the one to be cleansed from their uncleanness; And THEN vs 20: they could be pronounced CLEAN.

Now Vs. 21-31 same process just for those who could not afford the regular offering.

So if you haven't noticed it already, Jesus did all the work of the priests and More in one phrase "BE CLEAN".

In one phrase he transformed the life of this man by going to him in the midst of his need,

Not waiting for him to make it through; or fix his life up first.

He said BE CLEAN and IMMEDIATELY his life changed

But why would he make this man do this offering if the work was already done? -- Because Jesus is not only concerned with reconciling us back unto God but also us to each other.

No doubt there would be those who didnt believe he was healed.

Thats why doing this offering would be proof to those who outcasted him and to the priests that he had been healed from leprosy

Which would allow him to rejoin the society he was a part of.

No longer an outsider but welcomed in, once more. Who do you know needs to know that they are welcomed in, that they are still loved, who needs compassion shown to them. (think about it)

Family sin has affected every area of our lives. (Worship team you can come up)

Individually, from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet; AND Corporately from the heads of our governments to the children in our communities.

The effects of a fallen world have spread like leprosy. Eating away at our societies and cultures day by day to where we are deformed and no longer look like the creation God originally had for us.

We have become an abomination to God and ourselves. And we've tried to fix it with so-called physicians; politics and policies; media and social media, protesting, not so helpful thoughts and prayers but none of it has helped

In fact the picking and nagging discord has only caused it to spread more

But thank God for his compassion on his creation that he would send his only begotten son (the good doctor) to provide the only solution for our condition

For his blood to cleanse and heal disease of sin through his sacrifice: For his outstretch body to bridge the gap to reconcile us back to God and each other.

We are not to far, we are not too dirty; we are not too damaged; too sick. HE IS WILLING!

I don't know what you might be going through today, whether you feel like the world is too far gone and nothing can change it.

OR you feel like your own circumstances can't be reversed.

Whether you feel like there's sickness in the body we didn't talk about it today but Jesus not only heals the spiritual but also the physical body. There is healing for that too.

If your question is can he do it for me? or will he do it for me?

HIS answer is YES! I can, I will, BE CLEAN.