Untitled Sermon (4)

Matthew 15:30–31 ESV

And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Matthew 21:14 ESV

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

Jesus is the eschatological fulfillment of hope in healing the lame.

Matthew 11:5 ESV

the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Acts 8:7 ESV

For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

Acts 14:8–10 ESV

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

Paul:

Acts 14:8–10 ESV

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

Ideal Isre

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 15:4 ESV

But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—

An every-three year tithe for the Levite, sojourner (refugee), orphans, and widows:

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 ESV

“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Deuteronomy 15:1–3 ESV

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

De

not touching or collecting all your “profits” that entire year for the sake of the needy:

Exodus 23:10–11 ESV

“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

Failure to do so, was sin:

Deuteronomy 15:9–10 ESV

Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Alms

The technical term for alms (Gk. eleemosune) occurs 13 times in the NT.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Alms

By the first century A.D. righteousness and alms were synonymous in Judaism. Although Jesus criticized acts of charity done for the notice of men (Matt. 6:2–3), He expected His disciples to perform such deeds (Matt. 6:4) and even commanded them (Luke 11:41; 12:33). Alms could refer to a gift donated to the needy (Acts 3:2–3, 10) or to acts of charity in general (Acts 9:36; 10:2, 4, 31; 24:17).

Luke 11:39–41 ESV

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

The chart of Paul’s NT relief project from ESV Bible.

Churches Partnering Together.

Romans 15:25–28 ESV

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.

1 Corinthians 16:1–3 ESV

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 16:1-

Acts 24:17 ESV

Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

1 John 3:17–18 ESV

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

JESUS OF NAZARETH POWER/GOSPEL POWER

John 1:46 ESV

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2012–2013 The First Miracle

Why didn’t he do that? Why is it that all of the miracles always alleviate suffering or trouble of some kind? Why do they always deal with human trouble or suffering? Because it’s pointing forward to the end of all things, to the end of history, when God is going to restore all things. Here’s what we learn: God did not invent blindness. He didn’t invent lameness. He didn’t create suffering, and he didn’t create a world filled with death.

Go back to the garden of Eden. You’ll see when God put human beings in the garden, that’s not the way things were. We were meant to serve God and care for creation, but when we turned away from God, everything fell apart. That’s when poverty and injustice and sickness and disease and death all exploded into existence.

Here’s what we’re being told in every one of these miracles. We’re being told that God is no happier with the world as it is than you and I, that he did not invent a world with suffering and sickness and death in it, and someday he’s going to deal with all of those things. He hates them as much as you do. Isn’t that amazing?

Or put it like this. Do you know how sometimes people say miracles are suspensions of the natural order? Not really. The biblical miracles are actually a restoration of the natural order. Do you know that? When a blind person is healed, when a dead person is raised, the natural order is being restored. That was the way God wanted the world to be.

One theologian said if you take a look at Jesus’ miracles, Jesus’ healings (and that means the apostles’ healings) are the only natural things in a world that is unnatural, demonized, and wounded. Natural, the way God had originally invented nature, was for us not to die, not to suffer, not to go blind, not to be lame, not to fall apart.

The miracle is showing you that God is an enemy of suffering and that someday he’s going to deal with it, and if you are on his side and if we’re a church that says we’re on his side, then we are going to be enemies of suffering and alleviate it wherever we possibly can. Do you see what incredible hope that gives?