Sermon February 11-12, 2012

Title: God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him!

Text: 2 Kings 5:13-14 (ESV)

¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Dear friends,

A Persian legend says that a certain king needed a faithful servant, and two men were candidates to fill the position. He took both at regular fixed wages, and his first order was to fill a basket with water from a neighboring well, saying that he would come in the evening and see their work. After putting in one or two bucketfuls, one man said, "What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we put the water in one side it runs out the other." The other answered, "But we have our wages, haven't we? The use is the master's business, not ours." "I am not going to do such fool's work," replied the other. Throwing down his bucket, he went away. The other man continued until he had exhausted the well; looking down into it he saw something shining—a diamond ring. "Now I see the use of pouring water into a basket," he cried. "If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was emptied, it would have been found in the basket. Our work was not useless."—Christian Herald.

God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him

  

¹ Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor,

The Lord had given victory to Syria over Israel in our lesson today and this had come about by Naaman, a great man who is highly favored by his master. He commands the kings army holding a position of high authority …

  

…  but, he was a leper.

This disease of the skin which causes the outer surface of the skin to swell and fester gets worse with time and can cause fingers, toes, ears and nose to fall off and eventually lead to death. Here, this leprosy, at the very least would be for Naaman – incurable – and limit his ability to fulfill his duties.

² Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 

Here, in captivity to another, this young Israelite girl’s faith in God’s word through His prophet is evident. She tells him if only you would go to him he would heal you!

⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” ⁵ And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So far so good, Naaman hears that there is a prophet that can heal him and he believes. He gets a letter from his King and proceeds to the King of Israel. Now, the King of Israel sees this as a ploy to start a fight.

“Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

The king has no answer to this request. He cannot heal this man and wonders why he was sent to him and feels that he is being held responsible for this man’s healing so he tears his closes in despair.

⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

God’s word is alive with Elisha. He is God’s prophet.

¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 

Here God’s word is very clear. Do this and be clean. There is very little other direction. Wash seven times and be clean.

¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 

God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him!

We too fail to be a beacon of hope at times and also to trust God’s word. If you saw another who did not know Christ would you have a witness as bold as the little slave girl to say, “I know the cure to your illness!” You have not the Christ the Son of the living God. He holds the keys to life and death and gives salvation to all who believe in him.

We too fail to trust his commands. When Jesus says: ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. We look at the command and say, “How can simple water do such great things”

Martin Luther in the small catechism tells us:

It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: 

By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying.

  

God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him!

  

Naaman continues:

¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”

The answer would be sure, if Elisha had said to go into the Abana or Pharpar rivers, because it is not the water but faith and trust in God’s word of healing through his prophet.

So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 

God’s word through His prophet was clear … wash and be clean.

¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him!

  

God too, washes us clean in our baptism by the promise that we become His disciples (his followers or His children) by this saving act. God takes we who are born in sin and by nature sinful and unclean and he makes us alive in Christ. He gives us faith by the power of the Holy Spirit to believe. He marks us as redeemed by this water connected to His word of promise. Some like Naaman turn in a rage and leave because they refuse to trust God’s promise that an infant can have faith too as it is truly a gift of God and not our work.

So too when we receive His true body and blood in the sacrament in Holy Communion trusting in his word of promise,

“This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

It was God’s word that raised Lazarus from the dead and called him from the tomb from death to life. It too is God who calls us from our spiritual death to newness of life by His word and His sacraments giving us faith by the power of the Holy Spirit to believe.

God’s word is healing to all who trust in Him!

  

Just as the servants in our opening illustration didn’t see the reason for the pouring of the water into the basket until it had been revealed and one of them walked away mad. Many too fail to see how God can use the simple means of word and sacraments to accomplish His will. God’s message of forgiveness is real and by His means available to all He calls to believe this blessed Good News. That by Christ’s sacrifice you are forgiven in Him. God comfort you today and every day that you who believe are saved.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen

Sermon February 4-5, 2012

Title: Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

Text: Mark 1:32-34a (ESV)

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.

Dear friends,

Mark Twain became morose, sad and even weary of life. Shortly before his death, he wrote, "A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. When (the release to death ) comes at last … the only un-poisoned gift earth ever had for them … and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence ... the world will lament them a day and forget them forever." Mark Twain.

This is a very sad lament for one who is in this word and for one who is of the world for sure. But, it is of great comfort for us all, who name the name of Christ and in Him place our trust, because know that:

Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

We read today about Jesus in our Gospel lesson. Here Jesus is leaving the synagogue with His disciples Simon, Andrew, James and John. Worship had concluded and they were all heading over to Applebee’s for lunch before they went to the arena to watch the game … no … as it was in their life as in ours they were concerned for a loved one. Simon’s mother-n-law lay ill with a fever. Simon who would be given the name Peter by our Lord and who would rise to be a pillar of the faith and who by some in the Roman Catholic tradition would be considered to be the first Pope, his mother-n-law … makes you wonder about that priests cannot me married stuff, huh?

Well as we get back on topic …

…and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he (Jesus) came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. (Mark 1:30b-31)

The sickness that caused her condition, by the touch of Jesus left her. The touch of our Lord healed her and she was able to immediately serve them.

Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

We too get sick. It is a condition of sin that we are bound to in this life. As a result of sin we too will eventually die. Sin will have its way with us. We will get sick and we take medication and at times we recover and get better. It is the reality of life and death we see every day in our lives and in the lives of those we love.

Some are blessed with a long productive life while others are taken in their youth. Many of us can look in the mirror and see the lines of life etched on our faces and for those too young to notice … just wait … you too will have this experience.

I met Jack and Carolyn Herford at a Lake Orion outreach music program Evola Music was providing for active retirees. Jack was 65 years old when he began the program and a more active senior you couldn’t find. He had had a long career as a manufactures rep. retired to play golf, learn some new things and enjoy a long healthy retirement.

Jack came to the store one day complaining of headaches and dizziness and an upcoming visit to a specialist. As it turned out he had a brain tumor. He had surgery and made a wonderful recovery … for a time. Jack lived about two and a half years after the first detection of the tumor. Eventually he died a slow, deteriorating death. He was 70 years old.

Jack had told me when the prognosis he received gave him little hope for a recovery.

“Well, this isn’t how I planned my retirement thankfully my Lord has a better retirement plan for me in eternity!”

Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.33 and the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.

Christ is the author of all that is good. Sickness and death are a result of corruption not creation. But thanks be to God that He didn’t leave us in our fallen state. God’s plan in creation was perfection. We see in Genesis that as sin entered life through Adam and Eve, the perfect creation became corrupted. As God said, “surely you will die,” Adam died spiritually, but now must die physically. In spiritual death he was separated from God but we also see God at work for restoration. He sacrifices one life, an animal, to provide skins to cover Adam and Eve. He in love banishes them from the garden, so as not to allow them to eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen state.

Christ has conquered sin, death and the devil. His atoning work at the cross saves us, not only from earthly death, but it promises life eternal in Him.

Isaiah 53 says this about Jesus:

3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

Christ has healed you from the sickness that leads to death. He has promised you life eternal in His name. By His sinless life, death in your place at the cross and glorious resurrection you too are secure in Him for your resurrection and life in eternity with him.

The Gospel today concludes with:

36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”

The people in Christ’s day knew that His touch brought healing and for that they all were looking for Him. We too know that His healing is more than just healing for our worldly sickness but that in Him we have the cure for eternal life.

38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Christ came for you. His healing brings comfort that even with the prospect of physical death you are saved and will live for eternity in Him. My friend Jack knew that comfort and I look to the day when I will see him in heaven and rejoice together in the presence of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

May the preaching of Christ bring all who need to hear the blessed comfort that in Jesus Christ death has no power over them and eternity is theirs by faith in His saving work.

Christ heals the sick, so that you will live forever in Him!

I thought it would be good to conclude this sermon with a few last words from some very some spiritual thinkers:

"Our God is the God from whom cometh salvation: God is the Lord by whom we escape death." Martin Luther

"Live in Christ, live in Christ, and the flesh need not fear death." John Knox

"Thou, Lord, bruisest me; but I am abundantly satisfied, since it is from Thy hand." John Calvin

"The best of all is … God is with us. Farewell! Farewell!" John Wesley

…and finally from our esteemed, morose, sad and even down on life Mark Twain:

“Let us endeavor so to live … that when we come to die … even the undertaker will be sorry.”

By the power of the Holy Spirit in us God will see us to eternity now and forever.

Amen

Love is Special! 1977 Great Lakes Special!