7/2/22 A HEALERS HEART

Summary: As part of the Christian's Heart series, this sermon looks at the heart quality of being a wounded healer. It looks at the ultimate wounded healer, Jesus, and is a heart of of compassion, a heart of a giver, and a heart of faith.

A Christian’s Heart

“A Healer’s Heart”

In our series on the heart of a Christian we’re looking at those qualities that every Christian needs and should have. Today’s is no exception; in fact, it’s vital in our sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

The overall call that we’ve been given is to be like Christ, to follow Him and the example He lays out for us. This means that we need to be wounded healers like Christ who identifies with human pain and suffering, becoming a channel for healing.

Christ through His brokenness and wounds heals our pain and binds up our wounds.

His power to heal is off the chain, it’s greater than all the medicines combined. His ability to speak peace into our hearts is greater than whatever peace the world can give, and His power bring joy is greater than anything this world can ever offer.

Compassion and caring is at the heart of God, therefore it needs to be a core ingredient of our own hearts.

Healing is needed on many levels today. People are emotionally and/or physically wounded although they’ve become pretty adept at hiding it.

Loneliness, despair, disappointment, discouragement, depression and/or aggression, all are symptoms of deep wounds that have never truly been healed, and while Jesus came to heal all of our diseases, he has called those who are His people to be those healers as well, even though we’ve been wounded ourselves. Now, we don’t heal the people, what we do, however, is point them to Jesus, the ultimate wounded healer.

The Lord reveals this about the coming Messiah. He’s this wounded healer of Isaiah 53.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Jesus is the ultimate wounded healer. As He walked upon the earth He healed people of their hurts and diseases. He healed them not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually as well.

“Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.” (Mark 1:34a NKJV)

We are also told of the coming Messiah that He would heal those who are brokenhearted, Isaiah 61:1, the very Scriptural passage Jesus used of His own ministry.

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Why did Jesus have to become wounded in order to heal? The reason is so that He can sympathize and help us through whatever we’re going through.

And what this means is that we don’t have to face the pain alone.

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NKJV)

How else could Jesus have been that perfect substitute sacrifice for us without going through it Himself.

Jesus took on the form of a human being, one with all its physical limitations. He chose to suffer, feeling the same pain; knowing the same grief; and being hurt just like us.

He was our wounded healer because He understood what it was to be hated, despised, rejected, abused, and what it meant to be an outcast even amongst His own people.

“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:3 NKJV)

And on top of it all He carried the sin and sorrow of the whole world as He hung upon the cross, taking our place and dying the death we all deserve as it says that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23, and all of us have sinned.

Jesus was beaten, bruised and deeply wounded, so that He would be able to heal us of sin, which is the most potent hurt of them all.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)

And so we are to come to our wounded healer, Jesus, to be healed of our wounds, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

And it’s with this same heart, a wounded healer’s heart that He has called for us to minister to all those who He has place within our sphere of influence.

As I look at this, there are several aspects of having a wounded healer’s heart.

1. A Heart of Compassion

In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Luke there’s a very powerful scene.

Jesus was approaching the city of Nain where he encounters a large procession of mourners carrying the body of a mother’s only son. Seeing her obvious grief it say that Jesus had compassion on her. He touched the coffin and said, “Arise,” and the young man sat up and began to speak.

The word “compassion” that’s used is very telling and one that is instructive if we truly want to be followers of Christ. And while it’s the word for having pity or feeling sympathy, it goes much deeper. It comes from within the very bowels of a person, often referred to as the seat of emotions.

Jesus felt the pain and anguish of that mother’s loss way down in his guts. And having compassion for her He met the need.

This was the very heart of Jesus. Whenever He saw a need it says He had compassion, like at the feeding of the five thousand.

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:34 NIV)

This was part of Paul’s recommendation for believers, that the first thing they were to put on is compassion.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12 NIV)

Every day God places people in our lives that are consumed with deep pain. Maybe a friend or neighbor has had someone closed to them die, or illness has struck and their pain, both physical and emotional, is real.

What I believe God is calling for us to do is to stop being so busy with our own lives and respond to their need with this sort of “from the bowels” compassion, or what some would call empathy.

Who can we reach out to today? Who can we offer the compassion of Jesus to? We need to take a moment and slow down and pay attention to those who the Lord may be putting in our path.

We are called to share in their feelings and emotions as if they were our own. This leads me to the second aspect of a wounded healer’s heart, and that is,

2. A Heart of a Giver

Usually when this concept of giving comes up we think about the giving of our assets, that is, our tithes and offerings. We look at how the people of God gave willingly and how God loves a cheerful giver.

And while this should be at the heart of every Christian, this is not exactly the type of giving that we’re looking at when we look at the heart of a wounded healer. It’s a heart that gives of itself to help others in need.

As a wounded healer Jesus gave of Himself to heal those who were likewise wounded and in need.

Again I go back to Isaiah’s suffering servant passage.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Not only did Jesus give of Himself there upon the cross, but also He continued to give in healing those who came to Him.

“Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” (Mark 1:40-41 NKJV)

And while Jesus gave of Himself, the Lord calls for us to do the same. We are to help heal the wounds of others with the same comfort and grace that God used in our healing process.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV)

It is such a giving heart that the Lord Jesus pays attention to and blesses in His End Times parable saying, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40 NKJV)

The final aspect of a wounded healer’s heart is that it’s…

3. A Heart of Faith

It was to Jesus, the wounded healer, that the woman with the issue of blood came and by faith reached out and touched him and was healed. And we know this because Jesus turned to her and said, “Your faith has healed you.” (Matthew 9:20-22)

Jesus is the Great Physician, and not only does He heal our physical ailments, but He’s the one that heals our sin-sick souls. Jesus said,

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32 NKJV)

When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was “the Coming One.” Jesus responded, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Luke 7:18-22)

And then Jesus said, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Luke 7:23 NKJV)

He was basically saying, “Blessed are those who are have faith in Me.”

This must be our faith in Jesus, our Great Physician, as well as we come to Him so that He can treat our wounds, especially the wounded souls. Having faith, therefore, in the Great Physician, we are to follow His directions.

On one occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46 NKJV)

As we look at Him as our Great Physician we could change this up a little bit and say, “Why do you call Me your physician, if you’re not going to follow my instructions?"

Our faith in a physician is valuable only if we follow His remedy. Our faith should be leading us to observe and follow God’s will.

Paul saw this faith in a crippled man. When the man heard Paul’s message it says he had the faith to be healed.

“Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!’ And he leaped and walked.” (Acts 14:9-10 NKJV)

Today doctors don’t do house calls; instead we are to go to their offices to receive the benefits of his or her treatment. This is essential for our recovery.

To be healed we must come to Christ. Jesus said,

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NKJV)

But there were some who wouldn’t come, and so Jesus said, “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:40 NKJV)

Conclusion

Jesus is the Great Physician, He is our wounded healer and He is here to heal

Sometimes the hurt can go on for a very long time, hidden in the deepest recesses of our soul and heart, because we’re hoping that somehow we can forget it, or that it will just go away. But it just keeps coming back, and we can’t find the peace we need. But God is greater than the hurt and sorrow.

And no matter how heavy the load, or how burdened down you may feel, or how overwhelmed you are! Jesus understands our grief and He’s able to take it and carry it along with us in the process.

Jesus is greater than your pain; greater than your sorrow, greater than your hurt; greater than your doubts and fear; and he can carry the load; even casting it away as far as the east is from the west, Psalm 103:12.

So give it all to Jesus, because as the Psalmist says,

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalms 147:3 NKJV)

Has your spirit been wounded, your heart broken, and your faith shaken? Give it to Jesus, because He is our Great Physician. He is our wounded healer,1 and He is here to heal.