Living Miracles: The Purpose
Notes
Transcript
37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. 40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.
But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples,
This morning in our scripture we will explore a shift in Jesus relationship with His disciples. We have been going through the miracles and up to this point Jesus was focused on building the disciples faith. This week we will see a shift, we will see Jesus trying to get the disciples to understand that soon He will no longer walk with them. He is trying to teach them what His ultimate purpose is. So to give you a quick recap of what happened before this miracle today. Jesus sent His disciples out and told them to preach the kingdom and to heal. He gave them power to heal. He told them not to take anything and to travel light. They went out and they did as He told them to do, they then came back and told Him everything they did. They then went up to the mountain and the transfiguration took place. This is a significant part of the Gospel story, it is like the turning point of Jesus ministry. The first part was performing signs and telling everyone He was here. This last phase of His earthly ministry would now begin and He would be setting His disciples up for their jobs moving forward. See we call the Crucifixion the climax but in literary terms this moment is the climax. This is the moment of most tension where the story takes a final turn. Jesus from this point forward will be preparing Himself and His disciples for His time on the cross. This morning we will see three things in the miracle that Jesus performed. First we will see the understanding of the mission. Second we will see the call to live in Faith. Third we will see the proclamation of Christ. Today we will see the purpose of all of what Jesus was doing.
In a small town, there was a barber known for his exceptional skills and cheerful personality. He believed that every haircut had the power to brighten someone's day. One day, a customer came in unhappy and left smiling after his haircut. The barber knew his purpose went beyond just cutting hair; he was there to uplift spirits! Just like the Apostle Paul, who found purpose in preaching the Gospel, we too can find joy in our daily tasks when we recognize their value in God’s plan.
Today it is my prayer that we will find purpose in what we do in life.
Understand the Mission
Understand the Mission
37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.
The demon desired to destroy this young boy. We cannot lose sight that the enemy desires to destroy, to tear apart to harm.
20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This tells us of what the father went through in caring for his son through this time. The devil desires to destroy us. Which makes the mission of the church that much more desperate. Our mission is not to be a social group that helps with social issues, while that happens as a part of our mission it is not the mission. Our mission is to preach the kingdom so those around us can be introduced to the healer, not just the physical healer but the spiritual healer who rescues our souls from the destruction that the devil desires for us to share in with him. He knows his time is limited and he wants to drag us to hell with him. The disciples when this man asked them to heal his son were on a mission.
1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Notice here that the mission Jesus gave the disciples was to go and preach the kingdom. The healing was secondary to the preaching the kingdom. Why do you think Jesus would prioritize preaching the kingdom over the healing? It is because Jesus understood the purpose of His existence. We have an enemy who is out to destroy both flesh and soul. We are called to work to secure the soul not the flesh. While we cannot ignore the needs of the flesh while we are traveling through preaching the kingdom, the needs of the flesh are secondary to the purpose of saving the soul. What does the scripture say?
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Look there again Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. Then He hands down their mission. Notice He started with to proclaim the kingdom, and to heal. The fact that Jesus put the preaching of the kingdom first is because He understands the priority. If we have an enemy who desires to destroy us then we must prioritize the protections and defenses. We often get this wrong in our lives. We protect first the wrong areas and then we move to protect the important areas. There is something of a movement called the social gospel. This social gospel calls people to become somewhat a humanitarian in hopes that one day they can earn the right to present the gospel to someone. Jesus is telling us here, get the soul right and make it priority and heal the pain and hurt of this world as you do that. The problem with getting these mixed up is that if you satisfy the flesh without first satisfying the soul the human condition will tell us that the soul no longer needs healing because I feel better.
I had the pleasure of coaching baseball with Barry a few years ago and you may not know this but Barry was a good baseball player growing up and was an excellent coach in baseball. I was not supposed to be a coach but I helped at the first practice then it was all downhill from there for him dealing with me. One of the things we did with the kids was drills. They were drills that appeared to have nothing to do with baseball. The kids would get frustrated because they did not understand how the exercise had anything to do with baseball. For instance Barry had the kids run sprints between 2 cones out in the outfield. They had to run as fast as they could and stop on the cone. It made no sense to them, when it came time to put that in practice the kids learned that it was much easier to stop on second and third than it was to stop on the cone. You could almost see it come together in their minds. The cones were not about the cones, the cones were about teaching them a fundamental need in the game.
We must understand the mission. Our mission is not to heal physically, or to be a humanitarian organization. While these may be parts of what we do while on our mission, it is not the primary objective. We must maintain our primary objective of preaching the kingdom of God and leading souls to healing. Our mission though requires us to live in the faith and power of Christ.
Live in Faith
Live in Faith
40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
The man states to Jesus that he begged His disciples to cast out the demon but that they were unable to do it. Then He states to the man and to the unbelievers around Him verse 41.
41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
Then Jesus heals the child and gives him back to his father. Jesus statement here is a challenge to those who refuse to change their perspective. Jesus is not mad at this man for wanting healing for his child, Jesus is frustrated in general with the lack of faith, not in healing because that was apparent and real and there, but the lack of faith in what Jesus was there for. Jesus was not here to perform miracles and to heal physical infirmities, while this was a part of what He did Jesus was here to call all mankind to Faith in Him. These signs and wonders were not signs and wonders that were given so that more would be asked for but so that Christ could be elevated and proclaimed. Jesus found himself frustrated on a number of occasions where people believed that He was only here to perform miracles.
Over and Over Jesus told people not to tell anyone the miracles that He performed. Jesus told His mother that His time had not yet come when she asked for Him to give wine at the wedding. In John Jesus warned of those who would see signs and still not believe.
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
Why did they not believe? Because it was not about eternity for them. It was about the temporal physical healing. We must be people of Faith that keep the center of our hearts and minds fixated on the power of Christ in our lives. Not on the signs and miracles that He can do in our lives. While Jesus can perform signs and wonders in our lives, the purpose of His signs and wonders was to point towards faith in Him. This lesson in faith was both for the ones around Jesus and His disciples who should have been over joyed that the Messiah had arrived but were more interested in temporal healing. We also see this come up later when Jesus is telling the disciples that they too must maintain their faith.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus was providing the disciples that this was not a result of their ability, but of His power. The disciples had an issue, much like all of us. Jesus would do something great and they had to make it about them. Look just a little further here in Luke.
46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
Jesus reminds the disciples, it is not about them, it is about Him and the Father. Faith leads to real power in the life of the believer. The balance comes when we make less of ourselves and more of Him. It was not about the disciples ability to preform miracles, it was about the one in who the purpose of the miracle was fulfilled. Faith is about what Jesus did on the cross and what the Father did with eternity for us through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We must live in Faith in the person of Christ and not the temporal healing of the flesh, but in the eternal power in His name to save the soul.
A man walked into a church service after years of battling addiction. He sought redemption and change in his life, and he found it through faith in Jesus. Although his circumstances didn’t instantly change, he received the gift of eternal life. In sharing his testimony, he emphasized that while he desired healing for his addiction, he found peace in knowing his soul was eternally secure in Christ.
Jesus was teaching the crowd and His disciples that their perspective was still so wrong. His disciples had spent every day with him and yet they still got it wrong. We must maintain a focus on the mission, while on that mission we must maintain our focus on true faith, and these result in lives that Proclaim Christ.
Proclaim Christ
Proclaim Christ
43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.
But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”
After the miracle everyone was astonished at what God had done through Jesus. Immediately Jesus reminded His disciples of the purpose of all of this. Jesus told them that the purpose of all of this was that He would land on the cross and defeat death and a separation from us and the Father. All that Jesus did was to proclaim His power and presence, to point us to the Father and restore the broken relationship.
Jesus reiterated this in John
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Our ultimate purpose is not to be a humanitarian group, while we will not walk away from those who are hungry, or in need, we must maintain that our purpose is the proclamation of Christ in our lives. The purpose for our existence is that so in all the lives of those in and around our church, Jesus is proclaimed in their lives in a way where they can understand eternity and what Christ did for them on the cross.
My friends and I took a trip up to North Georgia for a camping trip. We planned on straying a whole week in the woods. It was freezing cold and raining almost the whole time. It is the very reason why to this day, I do not enjoy tent camping, that and the one summer we tried camping in the middle of July! Beside that I remember during a hiking trip, my friend Jonathan and I found a hidden waterfall. We were so excited that we snapped pictures and shouted out to our other friends, 'You have to see this!' Our enthusiasm was infectious; soon others followed us. Proclaiming Christ is just like sharing the excitement of hidden treasures; when we encounter the beauty of His love, we naturally want to show others the way. Just as we can’t keep excitement to ourselves, we shouldn’t keep Christ contained!
