Healing for the Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Pray
Introduction.
If you were with us a few weeks ago, we were talking about the Ferrero Rocher ad where the ambassador offers Ferrero Rocher to his distinguished guests, and we paralleled that with the Kingdom of God, where in the kingdom of God we are offering the world something better than they currently have or are expecting.
We’re going to continue that theme in a sense, because in the book of Acts, it’s all about this theme - the expansion of the kingdom of God and what that means for everyday Christians.
Because, don’t forget, when we commit our lives to Jesus we become citizens of this kingdom, which is a better kingdom…and we serve a better king.
And, if you remember from a few weeks back, as citizens of this kingdom, our thinking needs to change. We need to think like citizens of this new kingdom.
Our whole outlook on life should change - we are no longer living for ourselves and serving our own desires and wishes - instead, we are living for Jesus and serving HIM and doing what HE desires and wishes.
And that’s what Luke is trying to express in his letter to Theophilus (don’t forget he’s the person Luke is writing to when he wrote the book of Acts).
Pause
And right back at the start of the book, Luke tees this up. We’re only on chapter 9 now, and chapter 1 seems SO long ago, but in chapter 1, just before Jesus ascends to heaven, he speaks to them about the kingdom of God. It’s only 3 verses in the book...
3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
For 40 days Jesus teaches his followers about the kingdom of God. And then they ask him in verse 6...
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
In other words, they’re asking Jesus - when is this going to happen? When will we see this kingdom of God in action?
And what WE don’t necessarily pick up is that it IS happening as we go through the Book.
The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost and gives them amazing gifts in order to perform signs and wonders…this is what happens when you’re part of the Kingdom of God.
People receive power, confidence, strength - they’re able to escape prison, heal lame beggars, understand the scripture - and it’s all part of living in the kingdom of God.
But what we need to understand is that these signs and wonders that the Apostles perform have a purpose…they reveal how awesome the kingdom of God is. They show everyone that if they trust in the preached word of the Apostles, there’s a much BETTER kingdom than what they are experiencing right now.
And so, the signs and wonders are to show people that life in the kingdom of God is so much better than life outside the kingdom of God...
INSIDE the kingdom we have healing and wholeness. There is understanding and peace and strength and power…
OUTSIDE the kingdom there is death and decay and suffering and division.
Pause
It’s a picture of the garden of Eden.
You see, in the garden of Eden, Before the fall, there was peace, health, wholeness, right relationships.
After the fall, outside the garden, there was death and decay, division, fighting, and broken relationships.
And the POINT is that in the kingdom of God, we are moving back towards that perfection in Eden. We’re moving to this NEW garden city that John write about in Revelation. That’s where we’re headed, but we get a taster of it right here on earth as citizens of the kingdom of God on this earth.
We get to experience a taste of that new Eden on earth - we get to experience some of the peace and the power and the strength and the right relationships here on earth… in God’s kingdom.
And our passage today gives us another glimpse of what that looks like.
Pause
Luke gives an account of kingdom living, and the potential that we have as citizens of God’s kingdom…and it’s through Peter’s healing of Aeneas and Dorcus or Tabitha.
And again, if you remember a few weeks ago, we saw how Luke maps Jesus’ life onto the life of the Apostles.
Luke wants to show us that the follower of Jesus will do what Jesus did and live as Jesus lived.
If you remember he did that with the Ethiopian Eunuch and how that event was almost identical to the episode when Jesus meets the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Well, whaddaya know…He does it again here.
The first account is Peter healing the paralysed man. Let me read it to you again...
33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up.
35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
Now, listen to the account of Jesus healing in Mark 2...
In Mark 2, Jesus is in a house and it’s crowded. Some friends come to the house bringing their friend who is ALSO paralysed. Jesus says a few things, but at the end he says this...
11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
So in both cases, there is a paralysed man, in both cases he is healed using almost the same words.
And in both cases, people praise God or turn to the Lord as a result.
So in both cases, the healing brought people INTO the kingdom of God. They saw the healing and they turned to God.
In other words, the healing had a purpose.
Pause
Now, look at the next healing Peter did...
Let me read the whole account again...
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. 40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
Now, listen to the account of Jesus healing in Mark 5...
Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, a man called Jairus comes to him and says that his daughter is dying and would Jesus come with him to heal her.
And we pick up the story in verse 35 of Mark 5...
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Now in both cases there is a female - one is a girl and the other is older, but the point is they are BOTH female....and the female in each story has died.
Peter and Jesus arrive at the house where there are mourners. Peter and Jesus both put them out of the room.
Jesus says Talitha Koum.
Peter says Tabitha Koum.
Both take them by the hand and they sit up and are risen from the dead.
Pause
Once again, Luke is showing US, his readers, that the life of the disciple of Jesus, if led by the Spirit and under the influence of the Spirit, will be on the SAME trajectory as that of Jesus…we’ll be able to live more like him and think more like him and ACT more like him.
Pause
But there are some differences in the stories that we should note.
First of all, in Mark 2, Jesus tells the man that he is healed.
In Acts 9, Peter tells the man that Jesus heals him.
34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up.
Peter realises that HE doesn’t have the power to heal - only Jesus Christ does.
And again, at the house of female who has died...
Jesus simply says to her to arise.
Peter gets on his knees and prays first...
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.
Again, Peter had to call on Jesus’ power to do this.
And we don’t know what he prayed. Did he pray for her healing? Did he pray for God’s will to be done? Did he ask Jesus whether or not this woman SHOULD be healed? We don’t know.
But he prayed to Jesus, because Jesus is the one who heals - not us. And also, if we want to see God move in this world, it’s only done through prayer.
But it’s Jesus who does the amazing stuff, not us.
If people believe in the supernatural gift of healing, it could be easy to say, ‘yea, I can heal people.’ NO, no you can’t - Jesus can; not you.
A commentator wrote that we think too much about what WE can do and too little about what Christ can do through us.
And that is SO true. Even as I am speaking now, it’s so easy for me to think that I’m doing this. That I have this understanding of God’s word and I’m able to piece together a sermon on it.
I can tell you now, that as a dyslexic, scientist, who struggles with reading and anything literary…this is only possible through the power of Jesus working through me.
And the more I relax INTO that way of thinking, the more reliant on Jesus I will become, and the more of HIS power will be displayed through me.
LONG Pause
Another similarity in both accounts of healing in Acts 9, is that the result is that people turn to the Lord. There is a REASON for the healing.
And I think this is critical to our understanding of healing and the gifts of the Spirit. The healing benefitted the kingdom of God.
It wasn’t done for the sake of it.
Pause
Now, I don’t know what you think about supernatural healing. Some believe it doesn’t happen anymore. Some believe that it does. Some are unsure. Some have seen some crazy stuff happen that the doctors can’t explain.
And not even healing, when it comes to the other supernatural gifts that the Spirit gives, again some people believe that they don’t exist anymore; others do. Some aren’t sure.
Pause
So why don’t we see this happening today? Well, let’s not forget that God heals every day thorough the advancement of modern medicine. He’s given us the skill and abilities to heal through normal means.
And, I think that people are right…we don’t often see this miraculous healing these days.
And maybe the supernatural gifts HAVE ceased…maybe that’s the case…People make a valid argument for that.
But could it be that when we pray for healing we’re not praying with a focus on how this healing could benefit the kingdom of God?
Could it be that we’ve got it back to front and we should be praying for healing so that THROUGH the healing God might be glorified and that HIS kingdom would expand and grow?
In other words, we should be praying that the healing will benefit the kingdom of God.
I’ve gotta say, when I pray for healing for my loved-ones, my focus is on THEM - I want them to get better…my focus is NOT on how this would glorify God. See, I’ve got it all back to front.
Pause
And could it be that MAYBE, just MAYBE, the reason why we AREN’T seeing this kind of thing is because this kind of thing happens when people are living the life that Jesus lived?
In other words, Luke is showing us that this power and ability to do these things like healing, comes when someone is following Jesus CLOSELY and walking as he walked and thinking as he thought and doing as he did.
If that is the case, then could it be that we aren’t seeing much of that happening because if we’re to map OUR lives onto Jesus’ life, it’s not a great fit…in other words, WE AREN’T living as Jesus lived terribly well, but instead are kinda just apathetically going through life in a luke-warm bubble of religion?
Could THAT be why we aren’t seeing much supernatural healing happen today?
Pause
In other words, if we have little or no thought of Jesus or his word or for living like him and close to him, then can we really expect to be able to pray for healing and receive it?
Or can we really expect to pray for healing for someone else, maybe a loved one, and expect Jesus to heal them?
Or can we really expect the minister to come and pray for healing and expect healing?
Now, Jesus still does heal and we’ve seen that in our churches, and I thank God for it, because he is gracious to us.
But I wonder is there SO MUCH MORE that we can experience, as citizens of God’s kingdom, that we’re missing out on because we’re not living as Jesus lived and we’re not thinking as Jesus thought and we’re not praying as Jesus prayed.
So the reality that hit me is this… I dare not not think that I can live whatever way I want, not living as Jesus lived or thinking as Jesus thought or acting as Jesus acted… I dare not think that I can live MY OWN way and expect to be able to DO the stuff that Jesus did.
It doesn’t work that way.
Remember what I said at the start?
Kingdom people - people living as citizens of God’s kingdom have a different outlook on life. They’ve a different focus, a different goal. They think differently to other people and they act differently to other people because they are citizens of a different kingdom.
See, what so many people are doing, or what they WANT to do, is live as citizens of earth but expecting the power and all the stuff that citizens of the kingdom of heaven get…They want the pleasures of this world AND the benefits of the kingdom of God.
Problem is, we can’t have it both ways. It doesn’t work that way.
Pause
What we need is a renewed way of thinking to think and live and act as kingdom people.
And also, if we want to see God move - and I mean, if we want to witness the amazing... we need to be on our knees in prayer, like Peter was.
In Hillhall, we've moved or we’re moving the prayer meeting to a Sunday morning to allow everyone the chance to do that together, cos If we’re not praying we can’t expect God to move. So pray on a Sunday, pray in your homes, pray in your car, pray as you walk, run, look after your children or grandchildren…
We can’t expect amazing things to happen if we’re not praying.
See, I wonder if this stuff that happened in Acts is still possible today…but we’re just not seeing it to the same extent because we’re not living it to the same extent, and we’re not praying for it to the same extent.
Pause
Do you remember the theme tune for the Disney adaptation of the story of Moses? ‘There can be miracles when you believe...’
I’m not so sure it’s that simple.
There CAN be miracles, when we get the finger out and start committing to Jesus and living like he lived. I honestly honestly believe that if we get that down, we’ll start to see the Spirit move in ways that we couldn’t imagine. But don’t forget it’s Jesus who does the miracles THROUGH us.
So let’s keep praying for miracles, but let’s back those prayers up by getting on our knees in prayer. And let’s back those prayers up by living as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.
But boy do we need the help of the Holy Spirit. We need to tap into that help that he gives us to be able to do this.
So let’s pray for that now....