Well, we are in our series in Matthew, and while
we've been in the greatest sermon, which is our
look at the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest
sermon ever preached, we concluded that last
week. And so now we're moving into a short series,
three weeks, still in the book of Matthew, called
Who Is He? Who Is He? And today we'll be looking
at Matthew chapter 8 and verse 1 through 17.
But before we get there, at some point, every
one of us have to answer this crucial question.
Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? And how you answer
that question will determine whether you accept
him only as a good moral teacher, or whether
you reject him as a liar or a lunatic, or whether
you treat him only like a genie. who is available,
you rub the lamp and the genie is there to what?
Grant you a wish. What do you wish for your life?
And the genie is there to serve you. Or whether
you surrender your entire will and life to his
absolute lordship. How you answer the question,
who is Jesus, will determine a whole lot about
how you respond to Jesus' words. And Matthew,
who authored the gospel according to Matthew,
he structured his gospel account to help answer
that very question. He began his account by highlighting
that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of
promises that God had made throughout the Old
Testament to send an anointed one. One who was
chosen and sent by God to rescue his people.
A Messiah who would bring salvation and hope
and renewal to all who would trust in him by
faith. Jesus was more than a mere Messiah who
would rescue humanity. He was a Messiah King
who ushered in the kingdom of God and called
his followers to live in that kingdom here and
now. The term Messiah, it points to God's chosen
savior. And we see in Jesus, Jesus filled that
word up with all kinds of meaning. And part of
that meaning that Jesus filled it up with is
that Jesus is here and his words are the asserting
of his royal authority. That he is a savior like
none other because he is a king over a realm
that transcends all political powers and earthly
structures. The kingdom of God is where God's
rule and reign fill every corner of life with
love and justice and peace. And Jesus made it
clear that this kingdom isn't just a future hope.
It's not about, hey, when we all get to heaven,
that's when it begins. But it's a kingdom here
and now, available and present. That the veil
between what we see and what we know and the
spiritual reality is paper thin. And sometimes
it breaks into our reality. And he's inviting
us, his disciples, to experience that eternal
life right now by embracing his new way to be
human or his resetting of humanity back to the
way it was intended to be. So what was the Sermon
on the Mount? Well, the Sermon on the Mount was
Jesus revealing to his disciples the kingdom
life, the kingdom ethic, the life that his people
would live when the Holy Spirit is having its
way in them. And when we are led by the Spirit
or we walk in step with the Spirit, that was
Kingdom Citizenship 101. We just got our Kingdom
Citizenship class the last few weeks in the Sermon
on the Mount. And as we concluded that, Jesus
ended with this parable where he said there are
two men. One is wise and one is foolish. And
the wise one is the one who hears Jesus' words
and puts them into practice. And the foolish
one is the one who hears Jesus' words and does
not put them into practice. And one is like building
a house upon a rock that is unshakable in this
world. And the other one is like building a house
upon the sand that will fall and collapse at
the smallest of wind and water. And the choice
is yours. He put the choice in the hands of the
disciples. Who will you be? Will you be the one
who hears and obeys or the one who merely hears?
Which are you? Do you acknowledge the authority
of Jesus to demand that his words be obeyed?
Because I don't know about you, we've been going
places in the Sermon on the Mount and we've been
places and sometimes the things he says to obey
are difficult to hear, amen? Some of you have
gone through experiences in your life that the
word of God in the Sermon on the Mount has judged.
And you and I, we're not supposed to judge in
a certain way, a judgmental way, right? We're
not supposed to cast judgment upon each other
or write each other off. But do you know who
can judge? The perfect judge, the holy judge,
the righteous judge. And when he, in his word,
writes that something is right or something is
wrong, it is absolute and true. And it judges
our lives. Our lives are held up against that
standard. And we either fall short or we meet
his righteous standard. And we either need to
cry out mercy or we thank God for his grace to
sustain us. But either way, it's all God. Are
we going to hear his words and put them into
action? Are we gonna hear his words and look
back over our life and some of the events that
have happened in our life and redefine them around
his word instead of making excuses for what they
were, making excuses for our behavior, making
excuses for the life that we lived? Are we gonna
acknowledge and agree with God that yes, your
word says that and that was sinful, that was
wrong, that fell short of your glory? Or are
we gonna make excuses and create little pet names
for our sins so we can forget them? And not hold
them up to the standard of God. It may sound
nice and sweet. Yeah, two houses, two buildings.
Don't build your house on the sandy land. Don't
build your house too near the shore. Might be
kind of nice, but you have to build it twice.
You know, and we sing this song. It's really
cute and it's nice and it's fun when the kids
are doing it. But it's a legit challenge. Are
you going to build your life upon the rock of
his word? Are you going to allow him to redefine
your past and how you've defined your past on
the rock of his word? Are you going to continue
to make excuses and reasons and rationalize it
away? This is a challenge. This is what it means
that you have to deny yourself and take up your
cross. You have to look at your life, your whole
life, and put it up against the word of Christ
and watch as every one of us fall. in light of
the word of Christ and his perfect holiness.
And only then can we get to the place of crying
out for the mercy that we need to be received
by a God that we have fallen so short of. You
see? This isn't an exercise of holding our life
up and going, yeah, God, actually I was pretty
righteous and you should accept me. It's a doomed
exercise. All of us are going to fail at it and
how we feel at the end of failing at it, whether
we cry out for mercy or we try to justify it,
try to find a righteousness of our own. I'm not
that bad. I'm not as bad as him. I'm not as bad
as her. I didn't do that thing. We'll determine
whether we're walking the narrow road through
the narrow gate or the broad path, whether we
are building our house on the rock or whether
we continue to construct it on sand. But Matthew
has in mind here, as we go to Matthew chapter
8, he has in mind that, yes, anyone can say anything.
And Jesus has made a lot of bold claims in Matthew
chapter 5 through 7. And anyone can say anything
that they want. A liar and a lunatic, they can
all claim to have been chosen by God, right?
But the question is, can they back it up with
power? Can they back up their claims with power?
If they say they bring salvation and they bring
restoration and they bring hope, can they actually
back it up? Can they change the human condition
for the better or are they all just talk? If
they say they bring a kingdom with them and they
say that this new kingdom is restoring humanity
back to their pre -fall, pre -sin state, can
they show us what that humanity might look like?
That's the question. Is he legit? Or is he just
talk? And here, Matthew is preparing to show
us that Jesus is more than just talk. Jesus is
power and authority that backs up his words.
A little sidebar for those who enjoy kind of
nerding out on the Bible and the Bible stuff.
Some of you may not know this, but The authors
in the Bible, even here in Matthew, don't always
write in chronological order. Some, as in the
case of Matthew, they actually write in thematic
order, meaning it reads as if you're reading
Jesus' life from birth till his death. But Matthew
has actually taken some editorial liberties in
how he positions the stories in order to communicate
greater themes about who Jesus is and what he
did. And so Matthew has chosen the three stories
that we're about to read in Matthew chapter 8.
He's picked them and chosen them to show us that
on the heels of the Sermon on the Mount, that
Jesus is who he says he is, because he is Lord,
and he is a Lord who can back it up with authority
and power. And so here today, with these three
stories, we are going to look at Jesus, the Lord,
over our afflictions. Jesus the Lord over our
afflictions. And there's another question that
Matthew is answering here in the text by his
choices. And that is this. Who is Jesus here
for? Who is Jesus here for? Is he here only for
the religious? Is he here only or is his mission
only for the politically connected or the social
elites? Or is he truly Lord and Savior of all?
Jesus is going to show us that, and Matthew is
going to show us that through these three stories
that he's chosen. Matthew chapter 8, beginning
in verse 1. If you're taking notes, I'll have
you write down the leper. That's where we'll
start, the leper. When he came down from the
mountain, large crowds followed him. Right away,
a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him
saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make
me clean. Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched
him saying, I am willing, be made clean. Immediately,
his leprosy was cleansed. And then Jesus told
him, see that you don't tell anyone, but go show
yourself to the priests and offer the gift that
Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Now leprosy
is not something that we come across a whole
lot nowadays, eh? Like we don't run into a whole
lot of lepers around. But the truth is the word
leprosy in the Greek is actually kind of a catch
-all phrase for all kinds of skin conditions.
And particularly skin conditions that made a
person ceremonially unclean. And if you were
ceremonially unclean, you suffered. greatly in
society and were excluded from all kinds of things.
To have this skin condition meant as a Jew that
you were excluded from the congregation, that
you couldn't worship, you couldn't go to church
with the rest of the folks. You weren't allowed.
He was a social outcast, the leper. And everyone's
probably looking at him as he approaches Jesus
and thinking, get this man away. They probably
even took a step back and gasped as he approached
Jesus because they wanted to avoid getting whatever
this man had. Some probably snickered and whispered
under their breath, who does he think he is?
He doesn't belong here. Jesus isn't here for
him. He's the outcast. He's the one who's supposed
to be on the outskirts of town in the leper colony.
living out his days out there away from all of
us who are clean. But undeterred, this man walks
right up to Jesus and he gets down in this posture
of reverence and he recognizes Jesus' authority.
It was common in this day, in the first century,
for Jews to bow. to elders or to rabbis or teachers,
but the way that they would bow to those that
they respected was usually from the torso or
the head. They would do something like this.
They would bow and acknowledge the authority
of someone else. But to get down on your knees
was a deeper sign of reverence. This was a sign
of reverence that was reserved for the highest
of authorities, be it the king or a ruler or
God. This was not something you did every day,
get down on the ground. And this man's physical
posture tells us a whole lot about what's going
on in his heart, doesn't it? He approaches Jesus
and he gets down on his knees. And then he speaks
and he says, Lord, if you are willing, you can
make me clean. He recognizes that the only thing
that prevents Jesus from healing him is simply
if Jesus wants to or doesn't want to. Otherwise,
it's a done deal. He has the power. He has the
authority to do it. And how does Jesus respond
to a social reject like this leopard? He touches
him and he says, I am willing. I am willing.
He touches him. And that may go over your head,
but I'll tell you that if you came up to me for
prayer ministry later and something's oozing
out of your body right in front of me, I'm going
to pray for you doing that Hoover technique,
you know, where I kind of hover over you and
around you and, you know, hey, everyone, reach
out your hand and let's cast prayers at each
other or something, right? I don't jump to, hey,
let me go and touch that oozy thing. Let's get
right to the detail there. No, I'm going to stay
away. But Jesus reaches out and touches him.
And do you know what else that means? That means,
at least in their day and everyone watching,
Jesus was now unclean because you were to touch
no unclean thing. And if you touch an unclean
thing, you're unclean now. And you have to go
through a whole process to get ceremonially clean
again by going out and washing and presenting
yourself before a priest. Jesus was, in fact,
unclean except for one caveat in this situation.
When Jesus touched the man who was oozing or
whatever he had, he was healed. So Jesus wasn't
unclean. The man was clean, made clean by Christ.
Christ reached across the great divide. This
man probably hadn't been touched socially or
in any way by anyone for a very long time, family
members or anyone. And Jesus, the Christ, the
Savior, the Messiah King reaches out and breaches
the divide. He comes across and bridges and touches
the man with great compassion in his heart and
heals him. A man who had no business being around
Jesus. And Jesus reaches out and makes him clean.
No one is beyond the reach of Jesus. No one is
beyond the reach of Jesus. No matter how unclean,
how unworthy you may feel, how dirty you may
feel in your sin, and your shame. How much of
a social outcast, not normal, reject you may
feel you are. No one is beyond the reach of Jesus.
He is able to heal and forgive. He is able to
show compassion. And for the rest of us, Don't
be afraid to touch the untouchable. Don't be
afraid to reach and bridge the divide between
you and someone else who's been rejected or someone
else who's not welcomed, someone else who is
excluded, someone else who is in fear or isolated.
Be the hands that reach across and reach into
their lives. Jesus set the example. This man,
this social outcast. This unclean person, he
was willing to go and to heal. Number two, the
second story that he tells us of the centurion,
and this comes out of verse five. He says, when
he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him
pleading with him, Lord, my servant is lying
at home paralyzed in terrible agony. He said
to him, am I to come and heal him? Lord, the
centurion replied, I am not worthy to have you
come under my roof, but just say the word and
my servant will be healed. For I too am a man
under authority, having soldiers under my command.
And I say to this one, go, and he goes. And to
another, come, and he comes. And to my servant,
do this, and he does it. Hearing this, Jesus
was amazed and said to those following him, truly
I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel
with so great a faith. I tell you that many will
come from east and west to share the banquet
with Isaac and Abraham and Jacob in the kingdom
of God. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown
into the outer darkness where they will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. And then Jesus told the
centurion, go as you have believed, let it be
done for you. And his servant was healed at that
very moment. A centurion was an official in the
Roman military. And a centurion, you can hear
it in its scent, right? Meaning a command over
a hundred. He was a commander. He was a high
-ranking official in the Roman military. And
a soldier in the Roman army, this was a career.
This was not like four years and you're done
or five years and you're done or six years and
you're done. This was a career oftentimes spanning
20 or 30 or 40 years of your life. And it was
not family -friendly at all. You could get shipped
off to the far corners of the Roman Empire and
spend decades there, away from everyone that
you know. And when the centurion comes to Jesus
on behalf of his servant, he's been stationed
in the Palestine area of Rome. He's stationed
there as a Roman guard, as a Roman centurion.
And one of the things that I think is amazing
in this story that just may fly past you is he's
a Gentile. He's not a Jew. He's a Gentile. And
not only is he a Gentile, but he is part of the
occupying force that is subjugating all of the
Jewish people. He is hated by the Jews. He isn't
a religious elite. In fact, to be in his position,
he would be required to worship the emperor of
Rome. among other deities where you'd have to
offer sacrifices to them. In other words, he's
a pagan who engages in pagan worship, who is
a social outcast hated by the Jews. If this guy
showed up here and we were them, we would be
yelling right now. We would disrupt the whole
service and we'd be yelling at him. Don't help
him. Don't help him. No, not him. He's trash.
He's worthless. Let him and his servant die.
That's what had been felt at the moment he approaches
Jesus and he comes to Jesus and he says, Lord,
Lord, which Matthew has imported into this passage
from the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, many will come
to me and say, Lord, Lord, on that day, didn't
we do all of these things in your name? And I
will say, depart from me, I never knew you. And
then he goes into the stories about what it means
to be a disciple, a wise person, which is to
hear and obey. And what he's showing us is to
truly fill the word Lord with the proper meaning
is to be someone who hears what the Lord says
and does what the Lord says. That's the proper
use of the word Lord. Not to say Lord and then
to go do whatever you want. And not to say Lord
and to fill yourself with self -righteousness.
And now you have these characters. A leper comes
and the first thing that he says is what? Lord.
And he confesses true faith in the Lord. Authority
and the ability of the Lord to act in his circumstances.
He recognizes who he truly is. He says, Lord,
if you're willing and able, you can do this.
And then you have a Gentile outcast that would
be yelled or shouted out of this room if we were
there, coming before Jesus. Some teacher who
just launched his ministry on a mountain somewhere,
and he says what? He says, Lord, Lord, my servant,
my servant is lying at home in agony. Lord, I
recognize who you are. I know who you are, and
I know what you can do. Jesus actually answers,
or makes the ask for the guy, though, right?
The guy actually comes, and he just explains
what's going on. My sermon's paralyzed in agony
and in bed, and Jesus says, Am I to come and
help him? And some scholars think that this was
Jesus' way of testing or adding an additional
test to the faith of a Gentile because he does
it again later in Matthew, in Matthew chapter
15. He adds an additional question to their ask.
Just to test, to see, do you really acknowledge
and recognize who I am? And man, his response
is amazing. Because to go into a Gentile home
as a Jew would have been out of the question.
In fact, there's no record that Jesus ever did
it. It's never recorded that Jesus entered into
a Gentile home. It's not so much the entering
into the home, it's the fact that everything
in the home would be unclean and it'd be impossible
to enter the home and not touch something and
become unclean. And so Jews just stayed out of
Gentile places. And there's no record that Jesus
ever entered a Gentile home. But it's not Jesus
who says, I can't go there. Do you know who you
are? Jesus doesn't say that. It's the centurion
who says, I'm not worthy to have you under my
roof. I know who you are. I know who you are.
I would be completely unworthy to have you enter
into my home, to come into my place. Something
so holy, something so righteous, such authority
and power to enter into my humble, meager, unclean
home. I'm not worthy of that. He acknowledges
it first. Again, we can see his heart. We can
see that in his heart. There's a humility and
a recognition of Jesus' lordship in his life.
I'm unworthy for you to come under my roof. And
then he says something just profound, even in
the day, because there were miracle workers in
Jesus' time. But the one feature of the miracle
workers of Jesus' time is they had to be present
with the person they were working the miracle.
There was no long -distance miracle working.
You couldn't shoot a miracle across town. And
this guy comes to Jesus and says, all you have
to do is say a word. And I don't think he had
his theological doctrinal construct perfect in
his head. He probably had no clue what he was
saying, except he just acknowledged and recognized
something about Jesus. But we know from the scripture
and from theology that it is the word of Christ,
that all by the word of Christ, that all things
came to being. He is the word. Pre -existence.
And through him, everything that was made was
made. Everything made was made. Yeah. It's all
made. It all happened. And it was him who did
it. Something like that. And he says, I've got
a paralyzed sick servant. who is the closest
thing to family that I have because I haven't
been home in forever. But I have this servant.
Can you imagine a centurion official on behalf
of his servant going to get him? I just think,
let the servant die and get another servant.
And he's like, no, this is the closest thing
that I have to family. Would you have mercy on
my servant? Would you have mercy and would you
heal him? what I'm trying to impress is this
is so below the dignity of a Roman centurion
to go and beg for mercy from some itinerant preacher
who's Jewish for his servant, not even for himself.
And yet he comes and he recognizes that Jesus,
you have the kind of authority. That I exercise
all the time. I have this authority where I can
tell someone to go and do this and they'll do
it. And I can tell them to come and they'll come.
I have that kind of authority, but you have that
kind of authority over everything, including
our afflictions. I think sometimes you and I...
Especially when we're in the thick of it and
we're afflicted by something, be it spiritual
or mental or physical. We can sometimes think
that afflictions are these rogue anarchists that
don't answer to anyone. They come out of nowhere.
They're like guerrilla warfare. They come out
of nowhere and they attack us. But they're not
in allegiance to a government and there's no
restraint on them. These afflictions just come
and they happen and they're rogue and there's
nothing we can do about it. And this guy recognizes,
no. There is someone, there is a Lord over our
afflictions. There is a God who has the power
and authority to extend over our afflictions.
And by his word, they must obey him. They must
obey him. And this guy getting that, this centurion
communicating in this way, blows Jesus' mind.
That's pretty rough. That's pretty tough to do,
right? To knock Jesus' socks off, it says that
he's amazed. It could be translated marveled,
astonished, wonderstruck. It's actually only
used twice of Jesus in all of the Gospels. The
second time it's used, it's used in Mark. And
when Jesus is amazed in Mark, he's amazed at
the unbelief of the people of Israel. He's awestruck
and amazed at how lacking in faith they are.
And here he is awestruck by this man's faith.
That he has faith superior to any other Israelite.
And then he goes into this story about this banquet
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And who's sitting
at the banquet table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob? The patriarchs of the Jewish religion
of faith. The Jewish family. The Israelites.
These are the guys. Everyone wants to sit at
the table, and it's the sons of the kingdom who
are being thrown out, and it's others who are
being welcomed in. What is he saying? All these
three stories that we're looking at here are
all about these outcasts, these people who are
marginalized and kicked out of society, who are
looked down on by everyone, being the very first
people to recognize the lordship of Jesus. Being
the first ones to see, I know who you are. A
leopard who has no communion with the saints
and no part in the congregation. A centurion
who is a Gentile and has no part in the faith
whatsoever. And they're all coming and saying,
I know who you are and I know that you can help
me. I know who you are and I know that you can
help me. And something that's important for us
to know about faith is that faith isn't about
the measure of belief that we have. Faith is
not about the measure of belief that we have,
but it's about the object of our faith. The power
in faith is not whether we have enough of it,
have we worked up enough faith, but whether or
not we have faith in the right person. No other
Israelite had fully grasped the extent of Jesus'
power and authority, but the leper came and presented
himself and said, I believe. I know who you are.
The centurion came and believed that Jesus with
a word from a distance could make it happen.
This kind of faith that they exercise, this kind
of faith that you and I need to exercise is a
faith that believes that the one who can change
the situation and has the authority to do so
will act according to his wisdom. When it is
for our ultimate good and when our ultimate good
is for us to live in what we have found ourselves
in and God will achieve it through that, that
he is ultimately wise. You notice the humility
in their ask. They're not demanding of Jesus.
They're recognizing who he is and what he can
do. It is Jesus who is giving and deciding, I
want to do this. I'm willing. A key truth is
that what matters not is the quality of our faith.
but the object of our faith. It does not matter
the quality of our faith. You know, faith is
the size of a mustard seed, right? Can what?
Move a mountain. What Jesus is trying to say
is it's not about the quality or quantity of
your faith. It's about if your faith is properly
placed in the right person. Because he is able
to do all of those things, not your faith. Sometimes
we think we have to have faith in our faith.
And sometimes we lose faith in our faith and
we think we need to get more faith in our faith,
right? But it's not faith in our faith, it's
faith in Jesus. To be wise enough to know when
to act and when not to act for our good. And
to be powerful enough to accomplish anything
that he wants to. That's faith. It's in him.
Not in us. Place your faith in Christ's authority.
Whether near or far, he is Lord over all afflictions.
If he can heal across a distance in time, he
can handle almost any impossible situation you're
facing. But do you come with the humility to
say, you know better than I. You have the power,
you have the authority, but you also have the
wisdom to know what's good for me and to know
what's ultimately for your glory. The final story,
we won't be able to get into too much detail,
but if you're taking notes, write down the woman.
Sorry, women, you're on a list of Gentiles that
we hate and the leper. But in Jesus's time, this
was significant. He goes in. To Peter's house
and he sees his mother -in -law laying in the
bed with a fever. And so he touched her hand
and the fever left her. And then she got up and
began to serve him. When evening came, they brought
to him many who were demon possessed. He drove
out the spirits with a word and healed all who
were sick. So that what was spoken through the
prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. He himself
took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.
Jesus goes in and again, he touches someone who
is sick. A sign of great compassion, of crossing
that breach. And not only that, but it is a woman.
And in this day and time, at this time during
the first century, this divide between a woman
who was not your mother or not family and another
man, this was a divide you didn't cross. Women
didn't have extraordinary value. or utility in
the community. And for Jesus to go in and acknowledge
this woman and her condition and to reach out
and touch her and heal her is amazing. And again,
would just be added to the list of the leper
and the centurion. And now a woman, look who
is believing and entering the kingdom. Look who
Jesus is reaching out to. And healing. Look what
Jesus is doing. He's breaking the kingdom into
our reality. He's tearing the veil. So we begin
to see some of the kingdom work. And the restoration
of all things. The sick are being healed. Demon
possessed. Are being delivered. All to fulfill
the words of the prophet Isaiah. That he would
take on himself our weaknesses. And he would
carry our diseases. One thing I'll point out
before I wrap up. Notice what Peter's mother
-in -law does though. She is lying in bed in
a fever and Jesus reaches out and touches her
and heals her and what does she do? She got up
and that's like an immediacy. She immediately
got up and began to serve him. And of all the
commentators and commentaries that I read in
preparation for this, every single one of them
noted That when we receive a touch from the Lord,
when we experience the hand of God in our life,
when we experience salvation, the proper response
is service of our Lord. The proper response is
service. We are saved to serve. We are healed
to serve. Everything that we have and everything
we've been given has been given in order to strengthen
us and support us so that we might serve the
Lord wholeheartedly. It's not to rise up from
our bed and go on with our earthly pursuits or
go to build our kingdoms and our world, but it
is to rise up and begin to serve the Lord. We
are healed to serve. We are saved to serve. And
if God has touched your life, if he has restored
you, if he has given you strength, then you ought
to ask, how can I serve his kingdom? With the
strength that he has given. This is something
that I think if you read the Bible and you read
enough times and you start to let it soak in,
you begin to understand there is nothing that
is yours. Not even your own breath, your own
life. These are all the creation of a loving,
benevolent creator who in love, overflowing,
created everything that is here, including you
and I. And it doesn't belong to us. Our breath
today does not belong to you. Our life and our
strength does not belong to you, but it belongs
to him and it is to be used in service of him.
That we are to be reflectors of his glory and
goodness here on the earth in service of him
with the strength that he gives. If he gives
you half strength today to get out of bed for
half of the day, then use half of the day in
service of him. If he gives you breath today
to rise up again from the bed, then use that
breath as long as he gives it in service of him,
in confessing who he is as Lord, in confessing
his word, living according to it. This is our
life and what we're called into. This is a life
of gratitude, a life that acknowledges what we've
received, which is everything that we have. When
Peter's mother -in -law is healed. She rises
up and begins to serve her Lord. Matthew's demonstrating
that Jesus is the one who said, but you must
obey my words and that Jesus has the power and
authority to back it up. But Jesus is more than
that. Jesus has a compassion that is of a greater
righteousness than the righteousness of everyone
else. He has a righteousness and a compassion
that breaks down dividing lines, be it social
or racial or whatever, because these are not
factors in the kingdom of God. And look who recognized
Jesus as Lord first. Not the ones you would expect.
But I would suspect ones that look a whole lot
like us. A room full of sinners. Rejects, outcasts,
folks who have delivered from our self -righteousness,
a whole lot of sinners in need of mercy, amen.
Recognize the Lord and serve him. Will you pray?
Father, thank you for your word and thank you
for the chance to spend some time in it today.
We ask, Lord, that you would heal our hearts
and our minds. Heal them, Lord, so that we might
think the thoughts of Christ and our heart might
be filled with the love and the truth of Christ
and that our lives might be lived in wholehearted
dedication and service to you. I pray that we
would be disciples who are willing to take up
our cross daily, deny ourselves, and follow you.
I pray that we would not be those who hear only
in word, but don't act, but that we would be
those who hear and act upon your word. I pray
that if we are struggling today with doubt, if
we are unsure if you are able, Lord, I pray that
we would believe today. if we are struggling
with whether you are willing, we would surrender
our need to be in control and we would humbly
recognize your infinite wisdom that you know
and will choose far more wisely than we ever
would. Lord, I pray if we have resisted you,
resisted following you, resisted serving you
with our lives, with our breath, with our words,
with everything that you have given us, all of
our material possessions that you have entrusted
to us, all of the things that you have made us
stewards over, but are ultimately yours. If we
have not trusted and served you with those, I
pray that we would obey today, that we would
build our house on the rock. Of hearing and doing
your work. And not on the sand. That is constantly
assaulted by the things of this world. And always
falling down. We trust you, Lord. We believe
you and help us in our downfall.