3. Purity in a Messy World?

SLIDE(TITLE)

It’s not that many weeks since Air Force One SLIDE landed at Lossiemouth. I didn’t get to go and see it, sadly, too many things to do… but whatever your take on Trump - the Presidential plane and the president himself coming to Moray is a bit of an event.

Although…… residents of Lossiemouth could be forgiven for bring less then enthusiastic.

Roads were closed… access blocked off…. Police cordons everywhere. Those wanting to do the most straightforward journey across the town were forced into convoluted, extended journeys down backstreets in an attempt to get to their destination.

I was even told (and I’m not sure if this is true) that residents who lived immediately adjacent to the RAF Lossie weren’t aloud to walk out of their houses but were told that, if they were going out, they had to get in a car and drive straight away - no loitering! (even on your own property).

If you’d have challenged the Police cordon… or attempted to gain access to the base you’d have been met with a sharp no… and a firm keep out (possibly followed by arrest).

You would have been firmly excluded… you simply cannot walk into the presence of world leaders.

SLIDE(BLANK)

That experience of exclusion would have been all too familiar to the subject of our passage today. Here we find a man who is excluding from meeting - not just celebrities…. but excluded from meeting ANYONE.

ANd yet - he meets Jesus and all is changed. Lets get into this fascinating episode from Mark’s gospel (which is one of the eyewitness accounts of Jesus life). Here’s our first heading to help us today…

SLIDE

1. The Malady that Excludes

Pick up the story… v40.

SLIDE

Mark 1:40 NIV

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

There’s a backstory here of course - I don’t just mean with this poor man (we’ll get to that). There’s a backstory here with Jesus who has been making quite a splash on the scene.

Jesus has been teaching…. and people have been stunned. There were no shortage of religious preachers around but when Jesus spoke… crowds gathered… and hung on his words…

SLIDE

Mark 1:22 NIV

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

Jesus has been driving back evil… if we keep reading in that section it says…

SLIDE

Mark 1:23–28 NIV

23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

You bet news spread… Here is someone who seems to have remarkable power to teach, the drive back oppression… and to HEAL. Read on… Mark 1:32-34 SLIDE

Mark 1:32–34 NIV

32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.

Imagine the scene today if you can? News reaches you that, on the streets of Elgin is a man who’s teaching puts other preachers or politicians in shade…. and who can heal anyone of any malady with a single word or touch…

News would spread…. crowds would gather. These days phones would be out… before you know it it’s all over YouTube… the local news media show up. Before too long ambulances are shipping the terminally ill from ARI to get near this guy.

People are DESPERATE to be healed…. and cleansed.

And one such man is our leper.

Read again, v40…. SLIDE

Mark 1:40 NIV

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

There’s a backstory here as well - a pitful, miserable backstory. Leprosy was the most appalling condition. Today we call it Hansens Disease. It effects the skin, the nerves, the respiratory tract and the eyes. Not to put too fine a point on it… people with leprosy looked like death - it appeared as if they were rotting away. It was Painful, progressive and (in Jesus time) incurable.

To make it worse the condition is infectious - you’ve heard of leper colonies for a reason… people with this incurable condition were excluded from society (for obvious reasons of contagion). Kept away from others… excluded from community, even family.

And to make it even worse… leprosy also made to ritually or spiritually unclean…. so you were excluded too from the temple…

you were UNCLEAN… IMPURE - physically and spiritually. Not just kept apart from the presence people… but kept apart from the worship and presence of God.

No wonder this guy is willing to break protocal and approach Jesus…. no wonder this guy begs him…. no wonder he’s on his knees saying “if you are willing you can make me clean”.

And that word CLEAN is telling. Notice he doesn’t say if you’re willing you can make me well… he knows his condition is much worse than just a sickness… he needs to be made pure and well as made well.

But let’s park our desperate leper there just for a moment. We’ve seen his malady - the malady that excludes.

We don’t know yet how Jesus will respond… so it’s worth asking what is Jesus here to do? Secondly then…

SLIDE

2. The Mission of Jesus

Jesus has, as we’ve seen, been making a massive impression through healing - and no wonder, people are desperate of course, perhasp even more so in teh days before modern medicine for anything that will help them or their friends and relatives.

The crowds have been becoming so large that Jesus already been forced to retreat. Just look at the section immediately before the OUR passage about the leper… from v35 SLIDE

Mark 1:35–36 NIV

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him,

A moments peace….. a moment for prayer…. and folk are right back at him EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR YOU… (the thinly veiled message is COME ON! COME BACK… PEOPLE WANTS YOU TO DO MORE OF THIS HEALING STUFF… YOU’RE IN DEMAND, PEOPLE ARE IN NEED - CHOP CHOP!)

And to this Jesus gives a very surprising answer. Look at what he says - it’s so revealing. SLIDE

Mark 1:38 NIV

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Isn’t that striking? Jesus, in his own words, says that his main mission is NOT healing. His main mission is preaching.

And this CAN’T be because he lacks compassion….. we’ve aready seen he DOES have power to heal and he DOES have wonderful care for people… we’re about to see his compassion in action with our poor leper…

So why on earth would Jesus, this most compassionate man, say his main mission is not to heal but to preach?!

He could only say that if the message he has to share is SUPREMELY important.

He could only say that if actually we every one of us has a greater problem… and a greater need than our physical wellbeing.

And your question (of course) should be - well what is that need? and what is this message that Jesus was preaching? y’know we’re told he taught with authority… but what did he actually SAY?!

We just need to rewind a few more verses in Mark’s gospel to see the summary of this message… back to v15.

(by the way - although things are on the screen, can I enocurage you to have the Bible open?) - I want you to see that what I’m saying is what the text is saying - and I want you to challenge me if those two things don’t align! v15… here’s the message of Jesus… SLIDE

Mark 1:15 NIV

15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

In other words… according to Jesus… you and I (ALL OF US) well we’re much more like this leper than we realise.

He was excluded from the temple, from worship, from all those things which brought fellowship with God because he was unclean, impure.

But Jesus message - which is shocking I grant you - Jesus message is that that is actually true of every one of us. We have a purity problem…. not becuase of a skin disease… our problem is not skin deep, sadly it goes much much deeper than that. At the heart of Jeus smessage is the command to repent.

Repentent literally means to change your mind and change direction.

RIFF - the direction of our thoughts and hearts and lives is away from GOD… sin… cut off from relationship - forever in hell.

But Jesus says (again see the summary of his message) - Jesus says there is good news for people like that… Jesus says the Kingdom of God has come near… in other words the same God whom we have moved away from in our sin….. has come near to us int he person of Jesus. There is a way back…

What is that way back? well park tjat thought for now and come back with me to our leper again. This is our third heading this morning…

SLIDE

3. The Mercy Shown

SLIDE

Mark 1:40–42 NIV

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Is Jesus willing to help? After all his priority is preaching and not healing…. he’s come to deliver a message not deal in dermatology..

Jesus is indignant at this idea… this is a strong word int eh original Greek… Jesus is angry… not angry at the leper - no he has great compassion… angry perhaps at this mans poor sorry state… angry at the state of the world, spoiled as it has been by human sinfulness?

Jesus is willing… and do you notice what he does? He reaches our his hand and touches the man in order to heal him.

Is this neccesary? I think the answer is ‘no’. There are plenty of other occasions which demonstrate Jesus is able to heal without touching…. in some cases he heals those who aren’t even in front of him - not even in his presence at all.

So teh touch is not needed but it is wonderfully kind… here’s a hand whom nobody ever touched - no shaking hands, no pats of the back…. Jesus brings human touch. But, of course, he also brings the touch of divine power - he is able HEAL in a moment.

But again… this more than HEALING. This is a story thatr’s deeper than that… do you notice the repeated word?

If you’re willing you can make me CLEAN

I am willing (says Jesus) be CLEAN

Immediately he was CLEANSED

So here’s the question…. have literally just said that his main mission isn’t to make people well…. having just said his main mission is to preach a message about the uncleaness of our sin and our need to repent… why is it that the VERY NEXT thing he does is not give a sermon but do another healing?

There are two parts to the answer, I think.

Firstly, and simply, because Jesus is wonderfully kind. He is approached by this desperate guy, and he responds with great compassion.

Secondly… becuase this is more than just a healing. In the context everyone watching on knows that the leper is not just cosidered phytsically unhealthy but spiritually unclean.

And so he ends up acting as a picture… a lesson to each of us about our OWN STATE.

We may not have leprosy…. we actually have a deeper problem… our sin, that has cut us off (not from society) but - even worse - from the God who made us and whom we were made to know.

It isn’t just the leper who needs the mercy of Jesus - it’s ME and it’s YOU.

That’s the message for us (and we’ll get to more of that in a moment - you\ll see that’s our fifth point)…. but just before we get there… first we need to avoid a MISTAKE.

SLIDE

4. The mistake to Avoid

Just read on - what happens next is intriguing and informative. v43 now…

SLIDE

Mark 1:43–44 NIV

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.”

Now isn’t that facinating… you might think Jesus would enocurage him to go out and tell his story “look what Jesus did for me!”

But Jesus does the opposite… ‘don’t tell anyone’… instead go to the Priest and (basically) follow the rules that the Old Testament gives following a healing like this.

I can also tell you this is NOT the only time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus tells someone this sort of thing. There are other occasions when, following a dramatic healing or powerful encounter, Jesus warns the benficiary not to go out and blab.

It seems to me that BOTH of these instructions “don’t go round blabbing about this” and “make sure you go to the priest and do what’s require”… both of these are becuass of a common mistake.

The mistake is this…. peopel just get the wrong end of the stick about who Jesus is and what he’s all about.

Jesus wants to PREACH the message… but if this guy goes off and just blabs about healing… Jesus will be mobbed by people who want healing but end up MISSING his more important message.

Likewise there is going to be (in the gospels) a growing hostility from the religious leaders of the day… who think Jesus is some upstart who is cancelling their customs and doing away with OT law - despite the fact the Jesus repeatedly says that the OT al points to HIM and that he has come to fulfil it.

In other words… it’s a really common mistake… just to get Jesus wrong… to reinvent him in our own image… or to co-opt him for our cause.

This still happens today (albeit in different ways).

Culture wars?

Take Jesus on HIS terms… what does he say? WHat is his message… sin is our greatest problem…. and that THAT is what he has come to deal with.

There seem to be encouraging signs that people in our culture are beginning to wake up to this again. Many folks I speak to are fed up with life in a purely materialistic world - the idea we’ve been sod by our atheistic parents or friends doesn’t make sense of life and and the problems we face. It’s analysis of the human condition fall down - they neither explain the world properly nor help us deal with life properly.

BREAK OFF

When I showed one of my teenagers the titles for these invitation services… and when this particular teenager saw the talk was entitled “Purity in a Messy World”. This child said to me ‘dad your not going to talk about sex again are you”.

Well, no - we’re thinking, not about sex in particular, but about purity more generally - the impurity in all of us that needs God’s cleansing.

But even if we had touched on sexual purity today….. I think in our world more and more people are so burnt out with the world’s ethics and standards. Our culture thinks it had been so clever to have a great sexual revolution and say ‘hey do whatever you want with whomever you want…’ ‘that will bring us freedom and fun’….. in reality it has brought us slavery, unhappiness, hurt, more adults in marital breakdown, and kids hooked on porn.

We need a purifying saviour, don’t we?

Finally then….

SLIDE

5. The Message for us

What does all of this say to us today - to you and me?

Maybe you’re here for the first time in church - or you’ve come along to these series of three invitation services to chrck things out… to try church… or to try it again after many years away.

Like the man with lepsrosy Jesus says you and I have a need to be clean - to be cleansed.

Like the man with leprosy Jesus says we have a need to be purified.

And here’s the best news….. like the man with Leprosy if we were to ask Jesus ‘are you willing to help’ - the answer form Jesus is YES.

He is willing, and able to help us.

The question is how? In my sin I have rebelled against God. In my sin I deserve God’s judgement and punishment - let’s not beat around the bush. I deserve - as you do to - to receive the consequences of my sin - death and judgement.

But wonderfully…. here’s something else Jesus said - a bit later on in Mark’s gospel. Many people think this is THE key verse which captures the whole of the book, I think they’re right.

SLIDE

Mark 10:45 NIV

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Even the SON OF MAN (Jesus is talking about himself) did not come to be served. - and even that is remarkable isn’t it? If anyone deserves to be SERVED by us…. WORSHIPPED by us… WAITED ON by us - it’s Jesus (!) the eternal son of God… the one through whom all things were made!

And yet he doesn’t come to earth for that purpose…. he doesn’t come to us so that we might serve him…. NO he comes to us so that he might serve us!

And how does he do that? How does he serve us? How does he meet our greatest need for cleansing? by giving his life as a ransom for many.

A ransom is a payment… that means that when Jesus dies on the cross it isn’t just an unfortunate accident… it isn’t just a tragic waste of a young promising preacher… his death isn’t just an example of love (although it is supremely loving)… Jesus death is a payment. Jesus DIES to pay the debt I owe but could not pay…. the debt of my sin… at the cross Jesus takes on himself all the just judgement of God DUE to me and pays with his life. And then he’s raised from death to show that the debt is paid, and even death itself is defeated.

BREAK OFF

I want to thank you for being with us if church has been new to you. If it’s your first time, or first time in a long time. Maybe you’ve come along these last three Sundays. Each week we’ve tried to open the Bible - this astonishing, life-giving, relevant word from God.

SLIDE

We’ve asked is their purpose in an empty world and we’ve seen that, YES, if Jesus is who he claimed to be their is true life and purpose in him.

SLIDE

We’ve asked is their peace in an anxious world and we’ve seen that, YES< although the world is broken by our sin… and will always (to some extent) be an axiety inducing place - Jesus has come to bring us peace - PEACE with God if we’ll have him as our saviour… and to bring us to Gof our father who hears our prayers - onto whom we can cast all our our anxiety.

SLIDE

We’ve asked what hope is there for us to be made pure - yes we live in a broken sin-spoiled world - but that is because (honestly) we are broken, guilty, sin-spoiled people… but we’ve seen that YES Jesus is willing to help….. indeed, more than that. Jesus is ABLE to bring us forgiveness and to make us pure…. not because of good things we have done, nor becuase of ways we have served him…. but because he has come to serve US. To serve us by dying in our place.

Jesus does offer purpose, and peace with God, and purification from our sin…. all of this is the gift he extends to you…. but here’s the thing… you have to be willing to recieve the gift… actually its more personal than that - you have to be willing to recieve Jesus as YOUR saviour and YOUR Lord.

So I’m going to close with a prayer.

READ IT, EXPLAIN THEN PRAY

SLIDE

Heavenly Father, you are the maker of all things and the giver of all that is good. But, in my pride, I have turned from you and, in my sin, I have broken your law. I deserve your condemnation, but thank you that, in your great love ,you have sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross in my place, for my sin. I now believe in him as my Saviour and receive him as my Lord. Please forgive me for my sin and please fill me with your Spirit so that I might live for you all my days, and be welcomed home into your eternal Kingdom. In Jesus name. Amen.