Sermon Notes - Excluded

Bible Passage: Mt 8:1-4

Key idea – There are many people in cultures across the globe who feel excluded from society and from the life of the community. They live on the margins and fail to find acceptance. Like those with leprosy in Jesus’ day they need both healing, transformation and a loving embrace.

INTRODUCTION:

· Illustration…consider a personal illustration or use/adapt the following

o I know of an older lady that had a dog

§ She lived by herself

§ And when that dog died, she said that in many ways she felt invisible

§ Because when the dog was alive, and she was walking it people would pat the dog and then talk to her

§ But with no happy dog to ‘break the ice’ she felt like she was alone and excluded

o I remember as a young pastor once hearing the account of another older lady

§ She lived on my street, and I knew her to wave at

§ And one day she asked the postman who was delivering her mail for a hug

§ She was living by herself, and just wanted someone to give her a hug

§ To feel that she was loved, cared for, valued, by being embraced by another human being

· Karl Faase says in the introduction to this week’s episode that…

o “87% of adults in the UK own a smartphone. Our capacity to be connected is unprecedented, yet people still feel lonely. And with each generation it seems to be getting worse. In America 80% of those under 18 say they feel lonely.”

· Jesus reaches out to the lonely and excluded

o People don’t have to have leprosy to feel excluded and alone

§ Maybe some of you today feel lonely and excluded even in the midst of a crowd of people

· Let’s consider a little bit of information about our Bible reading where a person with leprosy has an encounter with Jesus from Lynn Cohick in Encounter Episode 5 (show Enc Ep 5 Clip 1)

o “Jesus has just finished his sermon on the Mount, which most people feel happens somewhere around the city of Capernaum. And right after that, great message, Jesus meets a leper. Leprosy in Jesus's time is a disease of the skin, but not necessarily the kind of disease that we associate today with leprosy. Leprosy in the Jewish community, was understood through the lens of Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. It was a skin disease where you were required to be outside of the community. The concerns were contagion, so the person needed to stay away from spaces of holiness or sacredness, lest they bring some kind of judgment on themselves. So, the leper was excluded, or they were in their own space. Lepers could get together themselves, but they didn't mingle with society.”

· So, what does this person’s account in the scriptures meeting Jesus have to say to us today about how He embraces the excluded and lonely?

CORE:

1. Approach

· Illustration (you may have an illustration like the following or you can modify/use below)

o Do you remember a time when you were trying to make new friends, or maybe asking somebody out on a date, and how it went?

§ In today’s world most young people have access to a mobile phone

§ And so, it means that young people today are missing out on the frightening prospect of approaching somebody to ask them out on a date by having to ring the ‘home phone’ and speak to your prospective date’s parents first

· You wanted to sound confident, but not too confident, and have the ability to interact with their parents before asking to speak to their son or daughter

o It was nerve racking!

· Well here a man with leprosy approaches Jesus

o Read or mention again Mt 8:1-2

· I was contacted recently by somebody with a request from the ministry I’m involved in

o And in the correspondence, they said…

§ ‘You don’t know if you don’t ask’

· Well here the man with leprosy is bold enough to ask

o Jesus has just finished the ‘Sermon on the Mount’

§ People have been gathering around Him, and He has been teaching them

o He comes down from the mountain and this man approaches Jesus with his question about being healed

· He had to summon up his courage to approach Jesus

o It meant being in a crowd and potentially ridiculed or worse for having leprosy

o It meant falling on his knees before Jesus  

o It meant asking his question

· Today don’t forget to approach Jesus with your questions

o Whilst the following verses can be used to make you feel worse, it is not the intention as we raise it

§ You do not have because you do not ask God (James 4:2)

§ Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Lk 11:9)

· Don’t be too shy to approach Jesus with your requests today and then listen for His answer

2. Reply

· Illustration (you may have an illustration like the following or you can modify/use below)

o In Greek mythology there is a ‘King Midas’ who had the ‘Midas Touch’

§ Midas was given a reward and could get whatever he wished for

§ And he asked whatever he touched would turn to gold

§ And you can read more about it at another time, but basically it didn’t go well for Midas nor his family, whom he touched to comfort, and were turned to gold

· The point in sharing this story is that everything Midas touched was changed

o But the Old Testament understanding is almost the opposite

§ If you touch something, it ‘rubs off’ on you

§ And so, if you touched something ‘unclean’ then you became ‘unclean’ and had to go through certain steps to be made clean again (see Leviticus 13-14 for some examples)

· And that also meant touching ‘unclean’ people like this man with leprosy made you unclean

o But hear what Jesus does

§ Read or mention again Mt 8:3

· Jesus reached out and touched the man (emphasis that for a moment…maybe repeat it)

o Two things stand out for me here

§ A man who didn’t know what it was like to be touched by a ‘clean’ person knew that touch for the very first time

· Just ponder that for a moment

· He who didn’t know the touch of a ‘clean’ person, experienced it from Jesus

§ It reminds me of another story of being embraced (linking with starting illustration)

· We sometimes call it the story of the ‘Prodigal Son’ (Lk 15:11-32)

· But it is better named as something like the story of ‘The Loving and Embracing Father’

· Because in it we see the Father, who shows us God in the parable, disgrace himself and run and embrace the child who is returning

· Jesus brings healing to this man

o Jesus doesn’t just bring physical healing

§ Which in itself is amazing

o But Jesus also opens up the ability for this man to

§ Be a part of society

§ Mix with others

§ Connect with God through the worship at the temple

3. Testimony time…one clip from the series…one live from the congregation

· Remind what testimony is and isn’t

o Is not…

§ Saying the person giving it is perfect

§ Just about the ‘good’ times but also the presence of Jesus in difficult times

§ That everything in every moment has worked out exactly how we would have liked it

o It is…

§ Giving God the glory for his work and presence

§ Reminding ourselves of the great things Jesus has done

§ Building up the faith of others

· Testimony from the series

o We are going to watch one small part from the coming weeks episode about how one of the guests, Sam Wachiuri, had an unexpected encounter Jesus (show Enc Ep 5 Clip 2)

§ I was in their office, and there's this smell that entered the just hit me. And I was like, what is that? So I went down the stairs, up and I went. I was I went to the front. I'm like, what's happening? And I looked at the back and this, this guy sitting there right from the street carrying his bag, and he's just there at the back. And everyone was, because it's sort of a middle, upper class church. Everyone was had a moment of what do we do?...So I entered here, and I sat in that back chair, it was 2009. And after sermon, the pastor asked for the altar call and I came in front, but now I didn't come to get salvation. I came just for someone to pray for me so that maybe my life can change. Because I was tired with the life that I was living and the pastor prayed for me. And after prayers, she hugged me. And that hug changed my life completely because I felt a genuine love. So the love that I had been experiencing in the street was a counterfeit. Now here I got the genuine love.

· But we also want to champion what God is doing in our local congregation

o Get somebody to share a testimony from the local church setting

§ Try to make it a relatively ‘new’ testimony i.e. something that has happened recently rather than one from 20 years ago (although an older one of great significance is still very powerful)

§ It may be a ‘coming to faith’ testimony or a ‘God at work in my situation’ testimony

4. Direction

· Illustration (you may have an illustration like the following or you can modify/use below)

o When I was a young apprentice, I would have to work with a tradesman

§ And part of their role was to direct me in what I should do on the jobs that I was working on

· The bible uses the phrase ‘remember’ a lot

o Below are just some of the examples that you could use

§ Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 5:15; 7:17-19; 8:2,18-20; 9:7; 24:17-18

§ Matthew 16:5-12; 27:62-63

§ Luke 23:38-43; 24:1-8

§ John 15:18-20; 16:4

§ Revelation 3:1-3

· And Jesus when speaking to each of the 7 churches in the book of Revelation says

o “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 2:7,11,17,29,3:6,13,22)

· When you put those two together it is

o Good to remember what God has spoken and do what He says

§ Just like a tradesman directs an apprentice

· God directs us

· Jesus here gives direction to this man

o Read or mention again Mt 8:4

· He is to go and offer worship to God

o The ‘excluded’ who is now ‘included’ is given the direction to worship

· God calls us to remember in the Scriptures because He knows how quickly we either

o Forget what He has done

o Choose to think that somehow, we have made the ‘good things’ happen rather than them being a gift from God

CONCLUSION:

· Today we are reminded that God reaches out and touches us where we are

o In fact, the account we briefly mentioned from the ‘Prodigal Son’ story (Lk 15:11-32)

§ Tells us that God just doesn’t ‘reach out’

§ But that he ‘runs towards us and embraces us’

· “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Lk 15:20)

· We have heard several testimonies today

o A man with leprosy

o Sam Wachiuri

o Local person

· Time of reflection/response

o It is always good to give people some time to reflect on what we have just been considering.  Ask the following questions and give people a few minutes to think it through and write it somewhere

§ What is at least one thing that God seemed to say to me today?

§ What will I do with what I have heard?

· Give people time for ministry of some kind

o We can’t talk about encounter and not make space for it