Flipside Message 6/23/11
The Point:
A single touch from the outreached hand of Jesus can make us clean.
Opening Prayer.
Begin Message==>
I'm going to read 5 sentences from the Bible about a man whose life was radically changed by a single touch. This passage is so profound that it can change the entire course of your life too.
Text: Luke 5:12-13
Background to the story:
1) Lepers were not allowed inside the town. He wasn't allowed in Mallards Ice Cream, or the Bagelry, or Bellis Fair Mall. This man was an outcast, untouchable. An object of scorn, but he battled his way through the crowd to meet Jesus.
2) The man who approaches Jesus is not just some guy with the sniffles, or a tummy ache. He's a leper. And the author of this gospel, Luke, was a medical doctor that includes details the other accounts do not. This man was "covered" by leprosy. He was late stage, far gone.
I'm going to show you a few pictures of lepers in order for you to understand the full meaning of this passage in the Bible. But want to warn you that it is intense and you may want to turn aside if you're squeamish. I'm not trying to shock you, but the better you understand the fullness of the story, the more amazing it is and the meaning for your life becomes more important.
Background info about leprosy:
1) It is a bacteria that gets into every portion of the body but attacks the extremities where the body temperature is lower.
2) The disease attacks and destroys nerve endings such that people loose the ability to feel pain. Because they don't feel pain they would hurt themselves and loose body parts to infection. Back in the day people didn't were crocs, or vans, or Ugg Boots, so when they walked they got blisters.
3) Lepers were highly stigmatized and cast out of society in Biblical times. Partly because of OT commands for purity and cleanliness in the camp (Lev 13, Num 5:1). They were said to defile the camp, so they lived apart from the people of God.
4) Lepers could not have any human contact in the later stages. They had to wear signs and shout "Unclean! Unclean! Unclean! " when they were near people. They were untouchable.
What we learn about the Leper who came to Jesus:
Put yourself in this man's position. Imagine this is your life.
A Low Point
1) He was desperate, at the lowest part of his life. He saw a huge crowd, heard murmurs that Jesus was in town. He probably heard news that this Jesus could heal. He dared to approach Jesus in town. Since lepers often travelled in groups, he told his fellow lepers where he was going. They probably tried to talk him out of it. May have had rocks chucked at him on the way into town like some sick dog. Curses were brought down on him by the townspeople, he was likely spit on. But he pressed in to get close, fought the crowd.
He had to see Jesus!
Faith First
2) The leper had faith in Jesus first, then got healed. "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." The journey to healing and wholeness starts with faith. Faith is more than belief, it is a deep trust, an investment of all you have into the One who made you all you are. This man trusted in Jesus. The other lepers with him did not approach Jesus. Why? They lacked faith. They didn't think he could do anything. They thought that maybe he was just a good teacher. Or maybe a kook. Maybe they looked at their disfigured hands, their rotting feet, their open sores covering their body and thought, "Jesus can't heal me." Some people today make the same mistakes.
Honest with Himself
3) The Leper understands his unclean, foul condition. He knew he had a serious problem. Some of you don't know the dire condition you're in. Or, perhaps you know, but don't want to change. Sin and leprosy are the same in that they start small but get progressively worse. Leprosy can be in your body for 8 years before it shows up. Sin can be in your life for a while, without the effects being immediately apparent or visible. But it will always eventually take a toll. As leprosy can deaden the body's sensitivity to pain, sin also can make us callus, give us a hard heart insensitive to God's love, or the pain you're causing yourself or others. Sin always grows, gets worse, eats away at our soul unless we come to Jesus for healing, to be made clean.
Humility
4) The leper fell to his knees, fell with his face to the ground in absolute desperation. He was covered in leprosy, had open seeping wounds. Falling face down in the dirt was a big deal. Being touched by God requires humility. Throughout the Bible, when people meet God, they fall to the ground. Sometimes we need to fall on our face in despair before God. In our darkest hour, Jesus is there reaching out to touch you with a hand of comfort.
All of us have times when we are desperate for help. At an absolute low point. Call out to the Lord and fall before him: Psalm 107:4-6.
Spread the News
5) The leper spread the news of his healing. He probably ran back to his family to tell them about his healing! What would your reaction be if you were healed of an incurable, deadly disease? Keep it a secret? Go back to your Xbox game? What about sharing it with the other people who are also lepers? They would need to know this good news too! If you're a Christian, have you told anybody what God's done for you? What would you do with the best news you've ever heard? You know the reason I'm here tonight talking to you? I'm like a leper that was healed.
What we learn about Jesus:
Jesus is God
1) Power to heal reflects his Divinity. Jesus is not just a "good teacher". He is the one who raises people from the dead, gave sight to the blind, read minds, was raised from the dead. He's the same one who flung stars into space at creation. With a touch he could heal. He is the man who is God. He didn't just live thousands of years ago. He's living today. Today he is reaching out.
Jesus is Close to Us
2) He touched the man. An astonishing act that broke all the rules of the religious rulers of the day. While he could have healed without touching, Jesus touched his disgusting, decayed, festering, oozing skin. He could've blinked to heal him, or pointed a finger, or just thought it. Instead he touched the untouchable leper. God taking human form is no less of a stretch. God came to dwell among us, to suffer our conditions, be a man of sorrows. He joined us in the muck and mire.
Loves the Unclean
3) Jesus loved this man before he was clean. He loves the unclean and untouchable. He loves the one who others would spit on. We don't have to "be good" in order for God to love us. The leper didn't need to wash up, put on good clothes to approach Jesus. We don't heal ourselves to go to the doctor. We go to Jesus to get made well. Because he loves us.
What we learn about us?
1) Our sin is like leprosy. The things we do wrong, our disobedience to God, the things we don't do that we should is like leprosy. We are made in God's image but sin works to disfigure and scar that beautiful image. We were't made for war, hate, jealousy, greed, deceit. God didn't create a world where children fear their parents. Or parents abuse their children, but it happens. Too much. This is a scarring of sin, a festering boil on God's humanity. Sin also penetrates deeply to within every cell of our body. It can't be healed or cleaned by soap and water. We are utterly helpless to heal ourselves. It pushes us from the presence of God, alienates us from others. Some people say, "I'm a good person, or at least I'm not as bad as some people." It is meaningless for two lepers to compare their relative conditions, "I'm way better than that other guy, he's lost two feet and a hand. I've just lost 3 toes." So too we can't say, "I'm not a sinner, I'm not as bad as that guy." (Credit Tyler Erikson). Our sin is like leprosy. While there are about 15 million people have the disease today, there are 6 billion people with a sinful condition far worse
2) Like the leper we must acknowledge our condition. If we were to see ourselves in our sin, we'd appear as gross and disfigured as a late stage leper. A leper is separated from people, a sinner is separated from God. But Jesus cleans both! Touches and restored both the leper and the sinner! God wants to bring us back to how He created us: pure, good, whole.
3) To be cleaned we must fall at the feet of Jesus and beg him in repentance.
4) We must approach Jesus in faith and acknowledge Him as Lord. Our personal Lord.
5) Once healed, then talk freely to others about what Jesus has done for you. The leper was cleaned and delivered from his life of suffering and separation from those he loved. When God cleans and forgives us we're delivered from an eternity of suffering and separation from Him.
Making it personal for two groups:
1) You might be the person denying your condition, walking around with oozing wounds but thinking everything is just fine. You can try to cover your condition, but that doesn't help. A leper who puts on a tuxedo is a just a well dressed leper. Some people try to cover their sin with wealth. But a rich sinner is still a sinner. A cool, popular sinner is a sinner. Jesus is nearby but you don't want to fall before him. Perhaps you are like the other lepers traveling with this man who stayed on the outside while the one received healing. Jesus calls you to draw near and be healed. Know that God will receive you with open arms. Today.
2) Your pain is not without purpose. The biggest problem with lepers is that they feel no pain. But that is the very thing that threatens their life. You may be experiencing pain right now. Physical or emotional pain. You might be struggling with mental illness. It might be intense pain and suffering. Some people at this very minute might want to die because of their pain. I want you to know that God has an amazing ability to turn your pain into blessing. Pain can have good purpose, it has been called a gift by Dr. Paul Brand who worked with lepers in India for decades. God can touch our pain and eventually turns it into praise. This is no less miraculous than Jesus healing a leper, but he turns pain into praise, suffering into worship, tears of pain to tears of joy. My co-worker has a son with spina bifida and went through a horrible spell of cancer. Terrible suffering in the family but just today she said that God has turned their pain into pure joy, because she know that God has been with them. Sometimes it takes years, but He is The Healer. He promises to wipe away every tear with the same hand touched and healed the leper.
The Point: There is a loving savior, Jesus, who wants you to be forgiven of a condition that separates you from God. You're utterly helpless to cure yourself. Will you fall at His feet, confess Him as Lord, and be touched by Him? He's reaching out right now. At this very moment, your life can be radically changed, forgiven of sin, with an assurance that you'll be with Jesus forever in heaven.
Concluding prayer.
A single touch from the outreached hand of Jesus can make us clean.
Opening Prayer.
Begin Message==>
I'm going to read 5 sentences from the Bible about a man whose life was radically changed by a single touch. This passage is so profound that it can change the entire course of your life too.
Text: Luke 5:12-13
While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
Background to the story:
1) Lepers were not allowed inside the town. He wasn't allowed in Mallards Ice Cream, or the Bagelry, or Bellis Fair Mall. This man was an outcast, untouchable. An object of scorn, but he battled his way through the crowd to meet Jesus.
2) The man who approaches Jesus is not just some guy with the sniffles, or a tummy ache. He's a leper. And the author of this gospel, Luke, was a medical doctor that includes details the other accounts do not. This man was "covered" by leprosy. He was late stage, far gone.
I'm going to show you a few pictures of lepers in order for you to understand the full meaning of this passage in the Bible. But want to warn you that it is intense and you may want to turn aside if you're squeamish. I'm not trying to shock you, but the better you understand the fullness of the story, the more amazing it is and the meaning for your life becomes more important.
Background info about leprosy:
1) It is a bacteria that gets into every portion of the body but attacks the extremities where the body temperature is lower.
2) The disease attacks and destroys nerve endings such that people loose the ability to feel pain. Because they don't feel pain they would hurt themselves and loose body parts to infection. Back in the day people didn't were crocs, or vans, or Ugg Boots, so when they walked they got blisters.
3) Lepers were highly stigmatized and cast out of society in Biblical times. Partly because of OT commands for purity and cleanliness in the camp (Lev 13, Num 5:1). They were said to defile the camp, so they lived apart from the people of God.
4) Lepers could not have any human contact in the later stages. They had to wear signs and shout "Unclean! Unclean! Unclean! " when they were near people. They were untouchable.
What we learn about the Leper who came to Jesus:
Put yourself in this man's position. Imagine this is your life.
A Low Point
1) He was desperate, at the lowest part of his life. He saw a huge crowd, heard murmurs that Jesus was in town. He probably heard news that this Jesus could heal. He dared to approach Jesus in town. Since lepers often travelled in groups, he told his fellow lepers where he was going. They probably tried to talk him out of it. May have had rocks chucked at him on the way into town like some sick dog. Curses were brought down on him by the townspeople, he was likely spit on. But he pressed in to get close, fought the crowd.
He had to see Jesus!
Faith First
2) The leper had faith in Jesus first, then got healed. "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." The journey to healing and wholeness starts with faith. Faith is more than belief, it is a deep trust, an investment of all you have into the One who made you all you are. This man trusted in Jesus. The other lepers with him did not approach Jesus. Why? They lacked faith. They didn't think he could do anything. They thought that maybe he was just a good teacher. Or maybe a kook. Maybe they looked at their disfigured hands, their rotting feet, their open sores covering their body and thought, "Jesus can't heal me." Some people today make the same mistakes.
Honest with Himself
3) The Leper understands his unclean, foul condition. He knew he had a serious problem. Some of you don't know the dire condition you're in. Or, perhaps you know, but don't want to change. Sin and leprosy are the same in that they start small but get progressively worse. Leprosy can be in your body for 8 years before it shows up. Sin can be in your life for a while, without the effects being immediately apparent or visible. But it will always eventually take a toll. As leprosy can deaden the body's sensitivity to pain, sin also can make us callus, give us a hard heart insensitive to God's love, or the pain you're causing yourself or others. Sin always grows, gets worse, eats away at our soul unless we come to Jesus for healing, to be made clean.
Humility
4) The leper fell to his knees, fell with his face to the ground in absolute desperation. He was covered in leprosy, had open seeping wounds. Falling face down in the dirt was a big deal. Being touched by God requires humility. Throughout the Bible, when people meet God, they fall to the ground. Sometimes we need to fall on our face in despair before God. In our darkest hour, Jesus is there reaching out to touch you with a hand of comfort.
All of us have times when we are desperate for help. At an absolute low point. Call out to the Lord and fall before him: Psalm 107:4-6.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
Spread the News
5) The leper spread the news of his healing. He probably ran back to his family to tell them about his healing! What would your reaction be if you were healed of an incurable, deadly disease? Keep it a secret? Go back to your Xbox game? What about sharing it with the other people who are also lepers? They would need to know this good news too! If you're a Christian, have you told anybody what God's done for you? What would you do with the best news you've ever heard? You know the reason I'm here tonight talking to you? I'm like a leper that was healed.
What we learn about Jesus:
Jesus is God
1) Power to heal reflects his Divinity. Jesus is not just a "good teacher". He is the one who raises people from the dead, gave sight to the blind, read minds, was raised from the dead. He's the same one who flung stars into space at creation. With a touch he could heal. He is the man who is God. He didn't just live thousands of years ago. He's living today. Today he is reaching out.
Jesus is Close to Us
2) He touched the man. An astonishing act that broke all the rules of the religious rulers of the day. While he could have healed without touching, Jesus touched his disgusting, decayed, festering, oozing skin. He could've blinked to heal him, or pointed a finger, or just thought it. Instead he touched the untouchable leper. God taking human form is no less of a stretch. God came to dwell among us, to suffer our conditions, be a man of sorrows. He joined us in the muck and mire.
Loves the Unclean
3) Jesus loved this man before he was clean. He loves the unclean and untouchable. He loves the one who others would spit on. We don't have to "be good" in order for God to love us. The leper didn't need to wash up, put on good clothes to approach Jesus. We don't heal ourselves to go to the doctor. We go to Jesus to get made well. Because he loves us.
What we learn about us?
1) Our sin is like leprosy. The things we do wrong, our disobedience to God, the things we don't do that we should is like leprosy. We are made in God's image but sin works to disfigure and scar that beautiful image. We were't made for war, hate, jealousy, greed, deceit. God didn't create a world where children fear their parents. Or parents abuse their children, but it happens. Too much. This is a scarring of sin, a festering boil on God's humanity. Sin also penetrates deeply to within every cell of our body. It can't be healed or cleaned by soap and water. We are utterly helpless to heal ourselves. It pushes us from the presence of God, alienates us from others. Some people say, "I'm a good person, or at least I'm not as bad as some people." It is meaningless for two lepers to compare their relative conditions, "I'm way better than that other guy, he's lost two feet and a hand. I've just lost 3 toes." So too we can't say, "I'm not a sinner, I'm not as bad as that guy." (Credit Tyler Erikson). Our sin is like leprosy. While there are about 15 million people have the disease today, there are 6 billion people with a sinful condition far worse
2) Like the leper we must acknowledge our condition. If we were to see ourselves in our sin, we'd appear as gross and disfigured as a late stage leper. A leper is separated from people, a sinner is separated from God. But Jesus cleans both! Touches and restored both the leper and the sinner! God wants to bring us back to how He created us: pure, good, whole.
3) To be cleaned we must fall at the feet of Jesus and beg him in repentance.
4) We must approach Jesus in faith and acknowledge Him as Lord. Our personal Lord.
5) Once healed, then talk freely to others about what Jesus has done for you. The leper was cleaned and delivered from his life of suffering and separation from those he loved. When God cleans and forgives us we're delivered from an eternity of suffering and separation from Him.
Making it personal for two groups:
1) You might be the person denying your condition, walking around with oozing wounds but thinking everything is just fine. You can try to cover your condition, but that doesn't help. A leper who puts on a tuxedo is a just a well dressed leper. Some people try to cover their sin with wealth. But a rich sinner is still a sinner. A cool, popular sinner is a sinner. Jesus is nearby but you don't want to fall before him. Perhaps you are like the other lepers traveling with this man who stayed on the outside while the one received healing. Jesus calls you to draw near and be healed. Know that God will receive you with open arms. Today.
2) Your pain is not without purpose. The biggest problem with lepers is that they feel no pain. But that is the very thing that threatens their life. You may be experiencing pain right now. Physical or emotional pain. You might be struggling with mental illness. It might be intense pain and suffering. Some people at this very minute might want to die because of their pain. I want you to know that God has an amazing ability to turn your pain into blessing. Pain can have good purpose, it has been called a gift by Dr. Paul Brand who worked with lepers in India for decades. God can touch our pain and eventually turns it into praise. This is no less miraculous than Jesus healing a leper, but he turns pain into praise, suffering into worship, tears of pain to tears of joy. My co-worker has a son with spina bifida and went through a horrible spell of cancer. Terrible suffering in the family but just today she said that God has turned their pain into pure joy, because she know that God has been with them. Sometimes it takes years, but He is The Healer. He promises to wipe away every tear with the same hand touched and healed the leper.
The Point: There is a loving savior, Jesus, who wants you to be forgiven of a condition that separates you from God. You're utterly helpless to cure yourself. Will you fall at His feet, confess Him as Lord, and be touched by Him? He's reaching out right now. At this very moment, your life can be radically changed, forgiven of sin, with an assurance that you'll be with Jesus forever in heaven.
Concluding prayer.
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