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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor June 30,
2002 Jesus
considered the healing miracles
that He did as part of His
identity as Messiah. Jesus is
saying here in John 14 that
miracles are part and parcel of
who He is. Our faith is in
Christ, not in miracles, but
Jesus is saying that miracles can
help to establish and strengthen
the faith of those whose hearts
are not hardened toward God. 1-Introduction
to
Spiritual
Gifts 2-The
Enabling
Gifts
of the
Holy
Spirit 4-The
Gifts
of
Tongues
and
Interpretation
of
Tongues 8-The
Gifts
of
Knowledge,
Wisdom,
and
Faith Now,
here in Luke 7, John has been put
in prison. And, apparently, he's
beginning to have doubts about
whether Jesus really is the
Messiah. And so John asks a
couple of his followers to go to
Jesus and to put the question to
Him directly. Reading now from
Luke 7, starting at verse
20: At
that very time Jesus cured
many who had diseases,
sicknesses and evil spirits,
and gave sight to many who
were blind. So he replied to
the messengers, "Go back and
report to John what you have
seen and heard: The blind
receive sight, the lame walk,
those who have leprosy are
cured, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the good news
is preached to the poor.
Blessed is the man who does
not fall away on account of
me." What
He is saying is that no one could
do these things -- heal the
blind,the lame, the deaf, even
raise the dead -- if he were not
from God. He is again making the
point that His identity as
Messiah, the One from God, is
wrapped up in fact that He
performs miracles, most of which
we would classify as "healing"
miracles. Look
at Hebrews 13:7-8: In
other words, if you find Jesus
today, He is going to be just
like the Jesus that Peter found,
that Paul found, that the hurting
and diseased people in Israel
found when Jesus walked this
earth. What
was Jesus response to sickness
and disease among those He came
in contact with? He healed them.
That was who Jesus was -- and it
is who Jesus is. This
is not something "weird" that
strange people "add on" to
Christianity. This is central to
very identity of Jesus Christ and
who He claimed to be. And we
ought to expect Jesus to be
Jesus. Sickness,
disease, and death are not from
God. These things are
manifestations of evil in the
world. They are a consequence of
a world gone mad with
sin. Jesus
told us in John 10:10 that the
devil's method of operation is to
"steal and kill and destroy."
Ultimately, the devil wants us
dead -- particularly those of you
who honor God with your lives --
the devil wants you dead so you
can't be a witness to anyone else
about Christ. And
sickness and disease are a couple
of his tools. These things may
not kill you completely, but they
can sap your life and your
vitality. Sickness and disease
are a manifestation of the power
of death in the world. Now
listen to what it says in Hebrews
2:14-15, talking about what Jesus
has done: Sickness
and disease are rooted in death
which is an enemy Jesus came to
destroy. Now,
I know that we're all going to
die someday. That is a
consequence of living in a
fallen, sinful world. But my
point to you is that death is of
the devil and that sickness and
disease are of the devil -- they
are not of God. Now
go to Acts 10, starting at verse
37. The Apostle Peter is speaking
about Jesus to a group of
Gentiles: Here
again we see the idea that
sickness and disease are related
to the power of the devil. We
also see how Jesus rescued people
from that power by healing
them. Jesus
came into the world,
1
John
3:8
tells us, to destroy the devil's
work, and he began to do that in
the world by healing. Now
look at Revelation 21, starting
at verse one. The Apostle John is
writing about what God revealed
to him: And
I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, "Now the
dwelling of God is with men,
and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and
God himself will be with them
and be their God. He will wipe
every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things
has passed away." He
who was seated on the throne
said, "I am making everything
new!" Then he said, "Write
this down, for these words are
trustworthy and true."
All
of the biblical descriptions of
heaven reveal a place in which
the will of God for creation is
fulfilled. Two major factors are
present in these descriptions: a)
the presence of God; b) the
absence of pain and
suffering. Now,
what is our prayer? Jesus gave it
to us in Matthew 6:10: "Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done
on
earth,
as it is in heaven." The
power to heal is found in our
union with Jesus. We got to be
intimate Him, walking with
Him. We're
not trying to talk Jesus into
doing something He doesn't want
to do. He wants to heal. As I
said, healing is integral to who
Jesus is. What we're trying to do
is get our communion with God
right, get the sin out of our
lives, so that the power of God
can flow through us. Look
with me now at John 15, starting
at verse 5. This is one of the
most critical texts in all of the
New Testament. These are the
words of Jesus: A
vine normally grows up out of the
ground. The branches draw their
life from the nutrients of the
ground that pass through the
vine. But Jesus didn't come from
the ground. He came from heaven!
He's the vine rooted in heaven --
and if we're grafted into Jesus,
we can draw on the power of
heaven itself. Continuing
at verse 6: Now,
this is an incredible promise,
but it is premised on you and I
being "in Christ" and drawing
life from Him. When we're in that
kind of intimate relationship
with Him, the desires of our
hearts stop being selfish. They
become God's desires. And we
begin to pray the will and
purpose of God regarding our
lives and
circumstances. Verse
8 "As
the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Now remain
in my love. If you obey my
commands, you will remain in
my love, just as I have obeyed
my Father's commands and
remain in his love. I have
told you this so that my joy
may be in you and that your
joy may be complete.
"My
command is this: Love each
other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than
this, that he lay down his
life for his friends. You are
my friends if you do what I
command. I no longer call you
servants, because a servant
does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for
everything that I learned from
my Father I have made known to
you. "You
did not choose me, but I chose
you and appointed you to go
and bear fruit -- fruit that
will last. Then the Father
will give you whatever you ask
in my name." That,
my friends, is a very broad
statement. Now, we have a couple
of options for how we're going to
interpret it: either God is a
liar and this whole enterprise we
call Christianity is a bunch of
foolishness, or we haven't really
understood what it is to "abide"
in Jesus. Well,
God isn't a liar. The problem is
with us. I don't say that to be
critical. This is something the
church and individual believers
have always struggled with. I'm
just trying to help us all
understand what the promise of
God is, and how it is that we
pursue that promise, how it is we
"press in" to make that promise
become a reality in and through
our lives. Jesus
said this in John
14:12: When
Jesus went to the Father, He
poured out the Holy Spirit -- the
means through which we have the
union with God that can result in
the healing power of God being
made manifest on the
earth. I've
talked thus far about how healing
is a part of Jesus' identity,
about how sickness and disease
and death are not from God, and
about how the power to heal is
found in our union with
Christ. There's
one other thing we need deal
with. Look with me at Isaiah
59:1-2: Now
listen to me, church. Sin
separates us from God, whatever
that sin may be. Bottom line: We
need to quit sinning. We
need to say with the
psalmist,
"Search me, O God, and know my
heart; test me and know my
anxious thoughts. See if there is
any offensive way in me, and lead
me in the way
everlasting." If
we want the presence of God among
us, we need to quit what we're
doing that is sinful -- whatever
it is: pornography, alcohol,
drugs, hatred, bitterness,
whatever. We need to bring it to
God and receive his
forgiveness. We
must heed the words of the
Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4,
starting at verse 22. Listen to
what he says: Therefore
each of you must put off
falsehood and speak truthfully
to his neighbor, for we are
all members of one body. "In
your anger do not sin": Do not
let the sun go down while you
are still angry, and do not
give the devil a
foothold. If
you're angry at somebody, get
over it before dark. Forgive that
person. And you can. God will
empower you to
forgive. Verse
28: Stealing
is taking anything that doesn't
belong to you. A pencil from the
office is stealing. Verse
29: Coarse
jokes, ethnic jokes, jokes
against Muslims are not right. We
ought to be praying for God's
mercy on them. We must watch our
tongues. We want to build people
up, not tear them
down. Verse
30: Before
we begin our time of prayer, I do
want to say something about the
role of faith in healing, because
I think there's quite a bit of
misunderstanding about
this. Look
at Matthew 13, beginning at verse
53: But
Jesus said to them, "Only in
his hometown and in his own
house is a prophet without
honor." And
he did not do many miracles
there because of their lack of
faith. What
I want you to notice that the
problem wasn't necessarily a lack
of faith on the part of a someone
who was sick, although that can
be a hindrance. Rather it was the
lack of faith among the community
of God's people that was an
obstacle to the miracle-working
power of Jesus. Every
time I see Jesus giving a rebuke
about lack of faith it's either
to the corporate community or the
12 disciples. I don't remember
him ever rebuking a sick person
for a lack of faith. Now
it is true that the sick are
often
commended
for having faith, but I find no
instance in which the sick are
sent away unhealed by Jesus
because of their lack of faith.
Indeed, their faith is evidenced
by the fact that they came to
Jesus in the first
place. So
understand that "a lack of faith"
inhibiting the miracles of Christ
is mentioned only in the context
of the
general
attitude of unbelief. Well,
what
is
the connection between faith and
healing? In Matthew 17, the
disciples came to Jesus
frustrated, because they had been
unable to drive a demon out of a
little boy. They ask Jesus why.
Look at Matthew 17:20: A
mustard seed is a tiny thing. And
yet Jesus says faith that small
can move a mountain. So what
we're looking for here isn't
great faith in God, but rather
faith in the greatness and
goodness of God. God
loves you. Do you hear that? God
loves you. And God heals because
God loves. His healing power is
rooted in His love, not our
faith. Our
faith is what brings us to Jesus,
believing in our hearts that He
can address the needs we have. We
do not come arrogantly,
confessing our faith, and
demanding a healing. Instead, we
come as a little child saying,
"Daddy, I'm sick." Now,
you fathers here, if your little
boy or girl comes to you and
says, "Daddy, I'm sick," you're
going to do everything in your
power to see that they get
well. Well,
as Jesus said in Matthew 7:11,
"If you, then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more
will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him!
" It's
all based on the love of a
heavenly Father who wants us to
know Him, to know His presence
and His power, and who wants us
to be whole.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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The
gift of
healing
(Fifth
in the series,
Spiritual Gifts in Corporate
Worship)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
Believe
me when I say that I am in the
Father and the Father is in
me; or at least believe on the
evidence of the miracles
themselves.
Miracles are integral to who
Jesus is. Look at Luke 7:19-23.
John the Baptist, you'll
remember, is the one who had
identified Jesus as Messiah. He
saw Jesus passing by and John
1:29 tells us that he said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the
world!"
Sermons
in
this
series
When
the men came to Jesus, they
said, "John the Baptist sent
us to you to ask, 'Are you the
one who was to come, or should
we expect someone else?'
"
Nothing
has changedRemember
your leaders, who spoke the
word of God to you. Consider
the outcome of their way of
life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and
forever.
Of
the devilSince
the children have flesh and
blood, he too shared in their
humanity so that by his death
he might destroy him who holds
the power of death -- that is,
the devil -- and free those
who all their lives were held
in slavery by their fear of
death.
You
know what has happened
throughout Judea, beginning in
Galilee after the baptism that
John preached -- how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and
power, and how he went around
doing good and healing all who
were under the power of the
devil, because God was with
him.
Then
I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passed
away, and there was no longer
any sea. I saw the Holy City,
the new Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed for her
husband.
The
source of healing
Let's be careful that we don't
start believing that if just say
enough prayers then we've
obligated God to heal someone.
The purpose of our prayer is to
solidify our union with Jesus so
that we can be conduits though
which God's love and grace can
pass.
"I
am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear
much fruit; apart from me you
can do nothing."
"If
anyone does not remain in me,
he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown
into the fire and burned. If
you remain in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever
you wish, and it will be given
you."
"This
is to my Father's glory, that
you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.
I
tell you the truth, anyone who
has faith in me will do what I
have been doing. He will do
even greater things than
these, because I am going to
the Father.
Forsaking
sinSurely
the arm of the Lord is not too
short to save, nor his ear too
dull to hear. But your
iniquities have separated you
from your God; your sins have
hidden his face from you, so
that he will not hear.
You
were taught, with regard to
your former way of life, to
put off your old self, which
is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; to be made
new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God
in true righteousness and
holiness.
He
who has been stealing must
steal no longer, but must
work, doing something useful
with his own hands, that he
may have something to share
with those in need.
Do
not let any unwholesome talk
come out of your mouths, but
only what is helpful for
building others up according
to their needs, that it may
benefit those who
listen.
And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God, with whom you were
sealed for the day of
redemption. Get rid of all
bitterness, rage and anger,
brawling and slander, along
with every form of malice. Be
kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving each other,
just as in Christ God forgave
you.
The
role of faithWhen
Jesus had finished these
parables, he moved on from
there. Coming to his hometown,
he began teaching the people
in their synagogue, and they
were amazed. "Where did this
man get this wisdom and these
miraculous powers?" they
asked. "Isn't this the
carpenter's son? Isn't his
mother's name Mary, and aren't
his brothers James, Joseph,
Simon and Judas? Aren't all
his sisters with us? Where
then did this man get all
these things?" And they took
offense at him.
He
replied, "Because you have so
little faith. I tell you the
truth, if you have faith as
small as a mustard seed, you
can say to this mountain,
'Move from here to there' and
it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you."
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020630a: Spiritual Gifts in
Corporate Worship, part
5.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado