How to Impress God
Theme
God calls us to excellence, in our person and our performance.
Prelude
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
All: Whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
One: And if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
All: And the God of peace will be with you.
– Based on Philippians 4:8–9
*Hymn of Praise # 344 “Be Thou My Vision”
*Invocation (the Lord’s Prayer) Holy God, in this season that commemorates the life and ministry of Jesus, remind us that his ministry is always and ever actively reaching out toward us. And in this hour of worship, help us to be open to the challenges of his words, the power of his healing, and the opportunity to labor alongside him as both Savior and friend. In his holy name. Amen.
*Gloria Patri
Just for Kids Ask the children if they know what sports event started two days ago, on February 10 — The Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. Show them a picture of the start of the Olympics, and explain that 2,500 athletes will compete and 84 medals will be given. See if they can name the seven sports that will be presented: Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Luge, Skating and Skiing. Then tell them that the apostle Paul once said that a lot of runners will compete in a race, but only one will receive the prize — he knew that not every athlete wins an Olympic medal. Stress that Paul advises us to “Run in such a way that you may win it” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Ask the children to guess what Paul might mean by this — work hard, practice, show self-control. ‘Point out that all these qualities are shown by disciples of Jesus as well as Olympic athletes. Encourage them to work hard in Sunday school, to practice being loving in their homes, and to show self-control when they are tempted to do selfish things. Let them know that if they do these things, they will be prize-winners in heaven.
///// Shh! It’s a Secret
Preparation: Bring in some play money.
(Whisper loudly and hold up the play money.) I have a secret! I’ve just won 10 million dollars. I’m not supposed to tell anyone that I’m rich. But I can’t help it. I just had to share my happy news with you.
(Revert to normal voice.) Today’s Bible story is about someone who had something wonderful happen in his life. This man lived during Jesus’ time. He had a horrible disease called leprosy. All people with this disease had to live outside of the city, away from their family and friends. They were very lonely.
This man with leprosy had heard of Jesus. When he saw Jesus, he ran to him, fell on his knees, and begged Jesus to heal him. He knew that Jesus could heal him. Jesus touched the man and immediately he was healed. Then Jesus told him, “Don’t tell anyone!”
But the man was so happy – this was the best thing in the whole world that could have happened to him. He went out and told everyone he saw that Jesus had touched him and healed him. The power of God’s love had healed this sick man. He couldn’t keep this a secret.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we won’t keep your love a secret! Amen.
Stewardship Thought There were two people who chose healing in the Gospel story – first the leper and then Jesus. Perhaps both choices were important. If we look deep into our lives, most of us would acknowledge that sometimes we do not choose to be healed. We stay with life-denying guilt, we hold old wounds to ourselves so that we can’t move on in our lives, ad sometimes live off the sympathy of others rather than our own abundant life. Some of us even choose illness rather than health because it saves us from growing to maturity and facing life. Jesus also chose healing for the leper – as God does for us, even if we can’t choose the nature of the healing. Possibly Jesus didn’t want to be known primarily as the one who solved people’s problems by instant healing – maybe he was more than that for us.
Our Offering to God God Offers us love that surpasses knowledge. Let us bring our gifts in response.
*Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication Lord, as we bring our gifts to you, examine the motives that lie behind our giving. We can hide from others, but we cannot hide from you. Burn off whatever motive we may exercise in our giving that is less than your love. Replace it, we ask, with the selflessness of Jesus who gave his all from a place of unblemished love. Let this offering be our moment of renewed dedication to you and to our pursuit of becoming all that you want us to be. Amen.
Scripture Reading 2 Kings 5:1–14
Naaman, a general under the King of Aram, has leprosy. His Jewish servant girl advises him to visit the prophet Elisha to be cured. He travels to Israel and is told to bathe in the Jordan River. After initial resistance, he does so and is cured.
*Hymn of Prayer # 350 “Open My Eyes that I May See”
Pastoral Prayer Gracious God, as we behold your glory, our hearts are overwhelmed with contrition. We look at ourselves honestly and recognize that there is nothing we do or say, however noble, that is not tarnished by selfish desire. For this reason we would never presume to come to you boldly in prayer, were it not for Jesus Christ. We give thanks that he died for our sin and that his righteousness is imputed to us simply by the exercise of our faith. How amazing that is, O God. Forgive us, we pray, for failing to pursue your perfection as Jesus counseled us to do. We ask, confident in the atonement that is ours through the blood of the Savior.
Almighty and ever-loving God, as we enter into your heavenly presence we fall to our knees in reverence and awe. Your glory, your perfection, your majesty, your unmitigated love – they all overwhelm us. Were we to look on your face, we would surely die, because our souls cannot comprehend the full grandeur of your being.
And yet, in the person of your son Jesus Christ, you left the glory of heaven and entered into the muck and mire of a sin-filled world. You transcended the gap between us and reached out to provide all persons, everywhere, with the chance to share in your splendor. How can we possibly comprehend the magnificence of your beneficence? We cannot. Nevertheless, having caught a glimpse of your brilliance, we are highly motivated to please you, to emulate you, and to have our lives characterized by your excellence. Oh, how we praise you, Lord. Amen.
*Hymn of Praise # 451 “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”
Scripture Reading Mark 1:40–45
One with leprosy begs Jesus for healing. Jesus, filled with compassion, heals him. Jesus dismisses him with the warning not to tell anyone. Instead, the man tells everyone, forcing Jesus to avoid public places because of the overwhelming attention.
Message How to Impress God
What pleases God most is not rigorous religious living, but our willingness to love selflessly. Jesus demonstrated this, especially in the cross, but also in countless other interpersonal encounters such as in his healing of the one with leprosy. So must we. How do we best show that we love God? How do we best demonstrate our devotion? What does God look for in us? What brings a smile to God’s face? Would sound doctrine delight God most? What about rigorous spiritual discipline? What if we prayed, studied, served, and worshiped with the passion of a monastic saint? Would God be most happy with that? Or perhaps God would be most impressed with an inner contriteness? //// What does God most want to see in us? What would gladden God’s heart? The only basis we have for answering these questions is Jesus Christ, who was and is God with us. In Christ, God reveals what is most pleasing. And, in simple words, it is this – a life of selfless love selflessly expressed.
Of course the cross is the best example of this in the life of Jesus, but throughout Jesus’ ministry we see innumerable examples of this truth played out in vivid ways. Case in point, Jesus’ healing of the unnamed man with leprosy, a story recorded in our gospel reading today and repeated in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Jesus was engaged in ministry around the Sea of Galilee – preaching, teaching, and healing in many different towns. On one occasion a man whom Luke describes as “covered with leprosy” approached him. This alone must have been quite startling to the onlookers, since the law strictly prohibited a leper from any kind of social contact. Moses wrote in the book of Leviticus, “The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Lev 13:45–46).
In keeping with the law in Leviticus 13 and 14, Jewish leaders declared people with leprosy unclean. This meant that lepers were unfit to participate in any religious or social activity. Because the law said that contact with any unclean person made a person unclean, too, some people even threw rocks at lepers to keep them at a safe distance. Even the mention of the name of this disabling disease terrified people. But Jesus touched this man who had leprosy.
The real value of a person is inside, not outside. Although a person’s body may be diseased or deformed, the person inside is no less valuable to God. No person is too disgusting for God’s touch. In a sense, we are all people with leprosy because we have all been deformed by the ugliness of sin. By sending his Son, Jesus, God has touched us, giving us the opportunity to be healed. When you feel repulsed by someone, stop and remember how God feels about that person—and about you. /////
Clearly this man had no business coming close to Jesus, or anyone else for that matter. And yet he did, no doubt from a place of total desperation. “If you choose, you can make me clean,” the man cried out. Notice how Jesus responded. “Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’” (Mk 1:40–41). /////
What do we see being played out here? /// It’s clear, we see selfless love being selflessly expressed. Jesus then commanded him with what Mark refers to as a “stern warning,” to keep quiet about what had happened. “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them” (v. 44).
Although leprosy was incurable, many different types of skin diseases were classified together as “leprosy.” According to the Old Testament laws about leprosy (Leviticus 13–14), when a leper was cured, he or she had to go to a priest to be examined. Then the leper was to give a thank offering at the Temple. Jesus adhered to these laws by sending the man to the priest, demonstrating Jesus’ complete regard for God’s law. Sending a healed leper to a priest was also a way to verify Jesus’ great miracle to the community.
And did the man comply? /// no./// Instead he ran around telling everyone about what had happened, making it extremely difficult from then on for Jesus to come and go openly.
Things can be said about this man’s disobedience and the sadness attached to that. Things also can be said about the point Jesus wanted to make to the priests about his authority over disease. In addition, things can be said about Jesus’ lifestyle, how he had to hide from curiosity-seeking people to ensure that he could get done what he came to earth to do. But the principle point of this passage seems to be the window of insight it provides into the soul of our Savior. Jesus was “filled with pity.” Selfless love selflessly expressed. If we’re trying to identify what pleases God most, this is it. This is what God is all about. This is excellence in God’s eyes.
Dr. Marion Boehr, now retired, was for many years an American Baptist missionary to India. As a physician she saw unimaginable suffering and in her address to the 1987 Biennial Convention of American Baptists she shared these words:
The genius of the Christian faith is concern for the individual. Every human soul is infinitely valuable in God’s sight. Statistics show that within India 10,000 children die each month of malnutrition-related infectious diseases, and three out of every twenty born this year will die before the year is over. The survivors seldom reach their physical and mental growth potential. To hundreds of millions of children, life is little more than a vigil of death. It is certainly no banquet. As Christian missionaries we teach that Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. The uncomfortable question is still with us – where is this abundant life in the midst of poverty, misery, sickness, and suffering? Christ Himself champions the downtrodden, the refuse of this inhuman planet. He honors every fragment of the human race, however miserable, however foul. He teaches us that if we would serve Him we must serve them, and if we would glorify Him, we must honor them…I often think of the last war, when a reporter on the front lines watched with horror and fascination as a pretty young army nurse prepared a wounded soldier for surgery. He was filthy, covered with blood and dirt. She worked skillfully and without hesitation. Finally the reporter blurted out, “Nurse, I wouldn’t do what you’re doing for a million dollars.” Without hesitating in her work she answered quietly, “Mister, I wouldn’t either! None of us would do what we do for a million dollars. We do it because the love of Christ constrains us.”
It’s all well and good to be spiritually disciplined. It’s all well and good to nail down firmly what we believe. It’s all well and good to suffer for the Savior. But if none of this is founded on a heart transformed by the love of God, of what use is it? It’s nothing more than the exercise of a soul bent on selfish ambition.
What gladdens God’s heart most is the excellence of selfless love selflessly expressed. Now, go and love others selflessly in the name of Jesus. – David Wesley Reid
*Hymn of Response # 380 “Living for Jesus”
*Sending forth May the warmth of the flame of the Spirit draw near, the witness of the Christ encourage us, and the creativity of God color our every tomorrow.
*Postlude
Thought for the Day
Sloth, writes Dorothy Sayers, is “the sin which believes in nothing…finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for.”