Good morning, church. Good morning to those of
you online today, the online fam. That is you
wherever you happen to be, whether you've been
moving some of you or just you woke up and today
you're here. We are glad you're with us. Those
of you in Baghdad and Paulding that call Heights
home and are in specific locations there. We're
so excited we get to do this together. And how
are we? Yeah. There's kind of a whistle. I mean,
it's kind of a, you know, somebody's feeling
a little more than somebody else. I would say
this. If you're new here, and by new, I'm like,
you don't know what this space is. You don't
know what your faith journey is. You don't know
kind of how you landed here with what you carry
into the room, what you think about God, what
you think about you. I just want you to know
you're welcome. This is a space that I hope that
you find is safe, that I hope that your questions
are welcome, that you find that even the ones
that you think will scare religious people, that
they're actually welcome here, because none of
us got it all figured out. There's no one here
that even those that would be doing this professionally
on staff that can claim that we have it all figured
out. I would put it this way. One of my favorite
phrases is we're just all stumbling towards Jesus.
And if you ask us one day, we may be doing great
in that stumbling. It may feel more like a run.
If you ask us another day, it may feel more like
a crawl. And I just want you to know that God
calls this a family. God calls this, we don't
choose that. God chooses that. And I just want
you to know like this morning that however you
came in the door, I love you. I just want you
to know that. You may be like, man, that's really
weird. But I'm going to say it again. I love
you. And I love those of you online. I love those
of you in Paulding. I love those of you in Baghdad.
Somebody told me that they love me this week
and gave me a hug. I didn't realize how much
I needed that. And so I don't know where you
are, what you carry in, how you're feeling, what
you, I just need you to know I love you today.
I need you to hear that you are loved. And with
that, with that, you should also love your country.
You made it to the next round of the World Cup.
Well done, well done. There was a debate online,
like, who's John going to root for if England
meet the U .S.? I hate to tell you guys, there's
blood in the veins. I don't know what to tell
you, right? Like, there's blood in the veins.
I don't wish you ill. I just wish you lose to
England. That's all. So my parents got married
in 1966, and that is the last time England won
the World Cup. And so we've been waiting a little
while. It's coming home. It's coming home. But
here, I want to help you out. I want to help
you out. Okay, so made it to the next round.
The next round, it matters. It's the knockout
rounds. Okay, so like every game cannot end in
a tie. Okay, just to help you out. Like this
is where we're getting serious. So here's the
thing. Your next game is on Wednesday. Okay,
so I expect every single person, you've been
warned, you've been prepared, it is coming, and
I expect you to come and not be able to sing
next week because you lost your voices while
yelling at the U .S. national team to win. It's
a game they should win, round of 32, you should
go into the 16. But it's been fun. It's been
fun to be reminded that humans are humans wherever
you find them. It's been such a beautiful gift
to watch. I was watching a video, and it was
a player who's really big in Europe, gets paid
millions and millions and millions like athletes
do, comes to the United States, and they're videoing
him trying a New York deli sandwich for the first
time. And he loses his mind over this sandwich,
and you're like, really? All your millions? You've
never had that? And so with that, it's just a
reminder, right, that we're all in this life
together. We're all just made of the same stuff.
You're made of the same stuff that I am, right?
The people around you, we're all in this together.
And I feel like we should be singing at this
point, a little high school musical, you know
what I'm saying? But the reality is that there
is no one, no one, not one person on the entire
planet And as the nations descend together and
you watch the Scots drink so much beer, they
have to order more beer to Boston, right? And
you're like, wow, that's a great group of people.
That's why we keep them in the north in England,
right? We don't let them south. We don't have
enough beer for them. But the reality is like
we're just made of the same stuff. And I think
it's so important to understand this. There is
not one person in this room that is better than
another person. Oh, you may think you are. You
know what I'm saying? Because you drove that
car into a parking lot and you sit in that seat,
your seat, you know what I mean? Some of you
are like, we have seats. Some people do. How
do I know? I see you every week in the same seat.
And there's this, There's this beauty to just
stripping this thing down and going, you guys,
it doesn't matter. Your bank account does not
matter. Your status does not matter. Your hair
being done or not being done. The only things
that matter is the person of Jesus and the difference
he makes in our life. And we're going to look
at this because there's a desperation to us.
Right, like when we start to strip things down
to what matter, we realize, man, there is a desperation
and this Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. Right,
like he has been evidence stacking all the way
through this collection. And he's specifically
stacking that he is the promised one that God
had promised all the way through scripture. So
that as soon as us humans who are all made of
the same stuff, messed it up and sin entered.
And now we got brokenness and all kinds of disease
and all kinds of sickness and all kinds of everything
that goes with it, right? Separation from God
and all of that and the way we treat each other.
But you know what they say? The way that we know,
we know that we are family and the way that the
world out there knows that we are family is that
they will recognize us by our love. The Messiah
changes everything. Some of you, right? You're
like, If I say Jesus Christ, do you think Christ
is the last name of Jesus? And that's okay. There's
no shade with that. Because the only context
you ever maybe hear it in is when somebody decides
they hit their... And what comes out? The name
of the Messiah. Isn't that interesting? They
don't yell the name of a soccer player. The name
of their neighbor. They yell the name of the
Messiah. Christ. Christ is like the meaning of
Christ is the anointed one. That he is the one.
This is what we've been looking for. He's the
one. And if you're looking for like pithy way
to say it, he reverses the curse. He reverses
the natural flow that we are born into and we
are accustomed to. And he's been stacking, stacking
for weeks, right? Like where's his family? His
family's the line of David. Where was he born?
Bethlehem. What will he be from? This town over
here, right? Like all the things that they've
been projecting for years and years and years,
he's now starting to stack up and go, I got that
one. I got that one. I got that one. I got that
one. He read a whole thing last time, right?
Like the blind will receive their sight. What
do we see? The blind receiving their sight. The
lame will walk. The demons will be cast out.
Why? Because it's so important as humans. that
we have to see Jesus for who he is if we are
ever going to be different. It's so important.
It's so important. And the story we're going
to get into today, it's in Luke chapter 5. Shocker,
I know, we've been going through Luke. Luke chapter
5. Anybody, here, I'll start it out, then we'll
ask a question. Ready? Verse 12. 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. Anybody ever heard this story before?
You can raise your hand. It's okay. It's okay.
I'm not going to make you worship. We're just
raising our hand. You may be sitting here going,
John, I never heard it. Here's what I'm going
to ask you. Even if you raised your hand, I've
heard this story I don't know how many times.
I believe that God has something new for you
in him being the Messiah that he wants to teach
through the story. But what it requires is that
you don't all of a sudden go, oh, I've studied
this one. That's good. Yay. Yay for you. Good
for you. Right? Oh, I've even taught this one.
Good for you. Oh, you don't understand, John.
You don't understand. Like I've not only studied
this one, I've looked at some of the Greek words
and I understand inside of them. And good for
you. That was yesterday. Today, God's got something
fresh for you. And he's got something fresh in
that he is the Messiah, the promised one for
humanity. I need you to know something. There's
not another superhero coming. He is the superhero.
And what happens here, while Jesus was in one
of the towns, a man came along who was covered,
covered in leprosy. And you may have a translation
that says. full of leprosy. When you have a container
and you fill that container and that container
is absolutely full, the container you could say
is consumed by what is in it. Agreed? This man
is consumed. Every part of him is what it's trying
to get us to understand. Every part of him is
consumed with this thing called leprosy. Now,
the idea of leprosy, like you get into like,
what's the actual word? What does it mean? And
what disease was it? And we're not totally sure.
We know it's a skin disease and we know that
within the skin disease, what would happen often
in this context is there was a disease that would
eat away at all your joints until eventually
just ate away at everything and you no longer
live from it. You died from this disease. And
so this man is completely consumed. What the
scripture is trying to get is there's no space
left. This has captured him completely. It has
consumed him completely. Who he was, he no longer
is because this has consumed him. I wonder just
what consumes you? What consumes you? What is
it today that you're like, ah, man, I feel like
this has such a hold on me. This has such a grasp.
I feel like everything within me is just identified
by this. And for this guy, he's consumed with
this disease. 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. Lord,
if. There's an assumption there. Lord, in fact,
you got to see the picture because he comes into
the presence of Jesus. And in the presence of
Jesus, it says that he gets face down and he
begs Jesus. He's begging Jesus, the Messiah,
the chosen one, the one he's heard of. He is
so consumed that it has led him to a posture.
on his hands and knees, and it says he is face
down, face down before Jesus. When was the last
time you were so consumed with something that
you're like, the only posture I can do is come
before God Almighty, come before Jesus and be
in a posture where I am begging you have to change
this. When was the last time you were so consumed
that your posture became one that we've associated?
It's so funny, isn't it? Like we think about
like getting on our knees and we associate that
with worship. I don't think this is a moment
of worship. I think this is a moment of respect.
I think this is a moment of recognition. I think
this is the moment where he goes, if you, Jesus,
If you don't show up, if you don't change this,
I got nothing left. I'm desperate. What part
of you is desperate today to see Jesus? What
part of you is so desperate that you're like,
if you don't show up in this and be the Messiah,
if you don't reverse what's going on, I'm staying
under this curse. If you don't reverse what's
going on, I'm staying in the state that I'm in.
He's on his hands and on his knees, and he is
desperate. And he says this, Lord, if. Huh. Lord.
I recognize you as master. I recognize you. And
what's interesting with this word, it actually
recognizes him as someone who is as master. He's
master over the kingdom of God. And he's going,
Lord, as the master over the kingdom of God.
I know, I know, notice the end of it. I know
you have the power, but there's an assumption
that you won't. If you're willing. If you're
willing. Lord, if you're willing, you can heal
me. If, if, what? Jesus is the Messiah. He knows
that Jesus has power, but his assumption is Jesus
won't use that power on him. Where did that come
from? Well, if you turn back to Leviticus, plot
twist, nobody was like, oh, we're going to Leviticus
today. Leviticus 13. The context here is this,
that if you lived, the law told you that if you
lived in this time under this religion in Israel,
then what happened was if you had some kind of
skin disease show up, then you had to go to the
priest and the priest would analyze your skin
disease. Now, if you want some really good late
night reading, 13 and 14 of Leviticus, great
late night reading. It gets into all kinds of
things like. If your skin, if the sore is white
and the hair is white, then you should, it's
like, wait, what are we talking about? But notice,
notice what Leviticus does. If you have a skin
disease, we go what? Go to who? Not your question.
Man, I'm really worried about you now. Because
if y 'all got skin diseases, where are you going?
The doctor. You ain't coming to me. And if you
come to me, guess where I'm going to send you?
To the doctor. I'm going to look at you and go,
that doesn't look good. You probably should go
to the doctor. Now, I may pray your way to the
doctor, but they go to the priest. Now, what's
important about this, the priest, the priest
is the visible representation of God on the earth.
That's what the priest is in this context. So
you're telling me that our guy, our beggar, right?
Like before he was begging, before he, right?
Like he's at some point, he goes to the priest
and he goes, hey man, I got a rash. Could you
check it out? Could you take a look at it? And
then what the priest would do is he would look
at it, analyze it. And in the case of this man,
what happened is at some point, the representation
of God on the earth told him. you are ceremonially
unclean. What they told him is you are unclean,
right? And in that moment, here's what this means.
There are ripple effects to being unclean in
this context. It means that you can no longer
stay where he is. So wait, if he's the representation
of God, what do you hear in your ears? God is
telling you what? You're unclean and you're not
welcome to worship anymore. Now, he can't go
home. Why? Because he's unclean. And so now the
layers get further. At the end of this, in verse
45, it says this. Anyone, so this is if you are
found unclean, anyone with such a defiling disease
must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,
cover the lower part of their face, and cry out,
unclean, unclean. As long as they have the disease,
they remain unclean. So as long as it's there,
they're unclean. They must live, look at this,
they must live alone and they must live outside
of the camp, outside of the people of God. So
you have lost your worship, you lost your family,
your home, and now you are outside of the camp.
And when you get outside of the camp, you're
to wear torn clothes. Torn clothes represented
mourning. You went into mourning. For your life.
You went into mourning for who you are. You're
still alive, but you're mourning that you're
dead type thing. And now you leave your hair
unkempt, right? So that your hair, your visible
representation was assigned to people that you
were unclean and cast out. And then on top of
that, you wore this face covering and everywhere
you went, you had to go unclean, unclean, unclean.
By the time Jesus shows up, there's a six foot
rule, right? Like it's a good COVID rule. Stay
six feet away. Now on a windy day, you had to
stay 150 feet away. So today, if we were at heights,
that person would be over there because they
have to be 150 feet away because of this disease.
This man is living in this reality. But wait
a minute. The story doesn't say that. The story
says that he is where? He's over here and he's
down on his hands and knees in a posture with
his face to the ground and he is begging Jesus.
How did he get in the presence of Jesus? He's
a rule breaker. I like him. How? He's so desperate.
And he asked the question of if. The assumption
is, why would you? Why would you treat me any
different than anybody else? You ever had that?
You ever done that to God? God, why would you
treat me different? God, I'm just an outcast.
I'm alone. I'm isolated. Nobody sees me. Isn't
it amazing that his disease became his identity?
Isn't it amazing that everything he did, including
the way he looked, the way he used his voice,
the way he carried himself, the places he stayed,
all said, I am unwelcome here. They all said,
God's for them, not for me. And he gets in the
prison. I love it, man. It's so, I mean, if you
want somebody who's a superhero, this guy's pretty
good. And he gets in and he goes, I'm begging
you. I'm begging you. You have the power. But
God's already rejected me. But will you accept
me? Turn back to Luke. Look at Jesus' response.
Verse 13. Jesus reached out his hand and touched
the man. I am willing, he said, be clean. And
immediately the leprosy left him. Jesus reached
out. His hand and what? Come on, we can do better
than that, church. Touched. The man. Touched
him. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The man who
has broken protocol, who's got in the presence
of, and he's begging, if, if, if, I don't know
why you would, but if, if. Notice what Jesus
does. Jesus does the unthinkable. This man was
supposed to be on a day like today when it's
windy. He's supposed to be 150 feet away from
Jesus. Jesus could have him punished. And what
does Jesus do? He reaches down and who knows
the last time a human being has touched, shown
any sign of affection, any sign of desire, any
sign of you're welcome here. Any sign of I see
you, any sign of I know you, any sign of I love
you. And Jesus reaches down, the Messiah reaches
down and he touches the man. Why is that so significant?
Because notice what happens next. He reached
out his hand and touched the man and then he
said, I am willing. His actions came before his
what? His words. He didn't even need to tell
the man he was willing. He's already proved it
by his what? His actions. I wonder how many times
our mouths are just running off. You know what
I mean? I wonder how many times our mouths pop
off. Oh, you sound good. I've heard some of you.
You sound real good. You sound real smart. Sound
like you know Jesus real well. But they'll know
we are Christians by our, they're going to know
we are Christians long before we open our mouth
by how we act. Jesus takes his actions and puts
them on display way before he runs his mouth.
Had Jesus gone, I'm willing. We didn't do that.
He gave the man what the deepest longing of the
man's heart was. To be seen and to be known.
To know that God's not mad. That God's not upset.
That God's not distant. And that the Messiah
changes absolutely everything. You see, here's
what's stunning in this moment. The way things
work on planet Earth. Maybe you don't know this.
Maybe you weren't here for COVID. Right? Like
if it's going to transfer from me to you. then
don't be in my presence and it won't transfer
to you. Because that's how things work naturally
here on planet Earth. Agreed? And in this context,
if you have a skin disease and you touch a skin
disease, then you are likely to get said skin
disease. That's the way. Does Jesus not know
how planet Earth works? Does Jesus not know?
Does he not understand that Jesus, by touching
him, you're putting yourself in danger? But the
Messiah reverses the natural flow of this planet.
Instead of uncleanliness coming the direction
it should, because it's natural on our broken
planet, what happens is when Jesus touches him,
his holiness washes over the uncleanliness and
the man is completely healed because in Jesus's
economy, it doesn't go the other way. I don't
know anybody who's connecting dots, but I am
really glad that it works that way. Because there's
a verse that says that when Jesus died, you became
the righteousness of God. How can that even happen?
Well, he had to take your unrighteousness. You
didn't make him unrighteous. He made you righteous.
Why? Because the Messiah changes the natural
flow. That's why it's so important we get in
the presence of the Messiah. Jesus tells him,
verse 14, don't tell anyone, but go show yourself
to the priest. and offer sacrifices that Moses
commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to
them. Go show yourself to who? To the physical
representation of God on the planet. And what
is he showing him? I'm healed. And the guy's
going to go, how? That's not possible unless
the Messiah shows up. What is Jesus doing in
this moment? He's evidence stacking. He's taking
this moment and he's going, the Messiah is here
and here is the clearest example that the very
thing that you have set outside to die in, I
have showed up and I have reclaimed it and restored
it because that's what the Messiah does. He restores
things back to the kingdom of God, not the other
way around. And so the Messiah shows up and as
the Messiah shows up, now this man is healed
and he goes to the priest and he goes, hey man,
you're the guy that kicked me out. You remember
I had the rash? And it says at the end of that,
as a testimony to them. And you know who else
it's a testimony to? You. This is God yelling
to you. Don't miss it. The Messiah is here. Jesus
changes everything. So that thing that you walked
in the door with that you're like, ah, I've just
been struggling for so long and I keep going
back and it's just weird and I don't know why.
And guess what? The Messiah reverses the flow.
You don't have to walk through that and carry
that anymore. The thing that you go, I'm just
so desperate for. What happens is when you get
in the presence of God and you go, God, I'm so
desperate for you. Well, according to this, first
and foremost, those of you in the room that go,
John, that's great for everybody else, but you
don't understand me. God has given up on me.
I beg to differ that God has not given up on
you. You have given up on him. I beg to ask you,
would you ask him if you are willing, because
you're assuming he's not. I beg to differ with
those of you that are in the room that you're
so old and crusty in your faith. What do I mean
by that? You've been studying so long, your head's
so large, we had to put double doors in just
to get you in. Right? You're like, I know it.
And we know who you are because you take two
chairs. So dumb. Don't laugh at that. But there's
some of you that you've made this about what
happens in your head. It's not your head, it's
your heart. It's not your head. It's not to know
and be able to write on a piece of paper that
Jesus is the Messiah. And here's all the proof
texts of why Jesus is the Messiah. It doesn't
matter if you have never been on your knees in
his face and begged him to transform you. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you know
everything and you still don't love people well.
Why? Because when you meet the living, say, okay,
okay, you guys, I got to be done. I'm out of
time. How do you think this man went home? Because
we don't have it. I'll read you the rest of it
just so you know we don't have it. Verse 15.
Yet the news about him spread all the more. So
the crowds of people came to hear him and be
healed of their sicknesses. Huh? So the news
spreads about Jesus all the more. Okay, so said
man, he begs. Jesus goes, go show yourself to
the priest. Comes back to the priest, the one
who represents God. He's like, see, no rash.
What do you think? How do you think he left there?
Yeah, I agree. I think he was silent the whole
way home. I don't think he whistled, not once.
He didn't even hum. No way. I think he walked
out and he is singing. I think he walked out
and he's telling anybody who will listen. You
guys, you don't need to go here. We have the
Messiah. Let me tell you what he's done. Let
me show you. I think he walks out of there and
he goes, do you know how great God is? And when
they said, no, why? He goes, I met him. I met
him today. And I thought he wasn't for me, but
he's for me. I thought. I thought that I was
too far gone, that I'm just death waiting to
happen over there. I'm already mourning my death.
And he goes, no, no, no, no. I see you. I know
you. And I got plans for you. And you're a part
of this whole thing. We discount God before God
discounts us. And I'm curious. I'm curious, you
guys, what would happen? What would happen if
a room full of people, they decided we're just
going to declare. How great is our God? And as
you declare it, you're just thinking of things
he's done. Or maybe you just need to declare
it going, hey God, I know I don't belong here.
I know I shouldn't be here right now, but I am.
And I don't know why I'm still here because I've
been feeling like I should have got up and left,
but I'm still here and I still need to see you.
And so I'm going to declare how great you are
as a request for you, for you to show up. I think
these next moments are so important. I told Eli
earlier. If you don't know who Eli is, he's right
here playing sweet sounds. I told Eli earlier.
Eli, my hope is Monday morning they're singing
the song that we end with today. That you wake
up with what the Germans call an earworm. Or
you can't get that song out of your head. How
great is... our God. And you know what it says
next? Sing with me. How great is our God. And
all will see how great is our God. Would you
stand? We're going to worship.