Who Do You Say That I Am? "The Healer"

Well, it's good to be back with you all this morning. I'm sure, like many of you, I ate my weight and unhealthy food over the last couple months. Yes, praise the Lord forever. It was worth it. Was worth it.

I'm not gonna lie. It was worth it. Praise the Lord for Christmas food. Speaking of Christmas, I do want to give you an update on our Christmas offering. If you don't know, every year we receive a Christmas offering, 100% of it goes outside of these walls toward local and global impact.

And we said that we set out to raise $100,000 to give away. And as of Thursday afternoon, the total number given so far is just over $123,000.

That is. That is stunning, church. That's stunning. And it reflects our deep heart for not just showing up and putting services on and patting ourselves on the back and going home and saying, we're done. It will never be enough for us to just do this.

It is good and right and we will do it. And yet there is far more than showing up for a service on Sunday morning. And we want to celebrate the gospel spread all throughout our local region, all throughout our nation and across the country. And this money is going to help do that. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

But this is not our only investment in local and global impact. At the beginning of our fiscal year, we committed this year to two big things. One was we hired a full time local and global impact director, Jerika Humphries, and she is leading the charge on expanding our impact locally and globally, expanding our partnerships, and she's doing a fantastic job. There's so many things in the works and I'm so excited about the next months and years ahead to expand that. But second, we committed to increasing our budgeted impact, giving by 1%, at least 1% of our whole budget, at least until 10% of our whole budget is going outside of these walls.

And so we currently sit at six and a half percent of our whole budget, $163,000. But that is not the Christmas offering. The Christmas offering is above and beyond all of that. So that in the next 12 months, we will give away towards local and global impact, almost $300,000 in 12 months. That's amazing.

That's amazing. And it'll all go toward proclaiming the gospel, toward restoring what's broken, and toward raising up leaders who are doing those things across the globe. It will never be enough for us to just show up. So thank you for all of that. I just want to say a Prayer of thanksgiving to thank God for what he's done through all of you.

Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we just praise you. We give you all the praise, all the honor, all the glory for this incredible generosity that you have inspired and stirred up in your church. It is from you and for you. And we celebrate together what you've done.

And I pray that you will take all of this, that you will multiply it. You know exactly where it needs to go and be planted for it to grow an eternal harvest that's multiplied 10 times, 100 times, a thousand times. God, we pray that you would send it out into this world not just as $123,000, but as far, far more. So go ahead, make the connections. Open up avenues and relationships and opportunities and intersect lives in ways that you will expand your kingdom through all of this.

We pray that in Jesus name, amen.

Well, we are in week three of our walk through the Gospel of Mark. And this whole series sits on a hinge, a hinge between the shift of the Old Testament to the New Testament, the promise of a coming king of peace, to the actual coming of this king. And as we transition into week three of the Book of Mark, we meet this real king again in real life. We get to watch as Jesus shows up in real places with real people in real need. Right in the middle of getting to know this king, Mark confronts the disciples with this question, the single most important question that we can answer in our lives.

It comes from Mark 8. Starting in verse 27, Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he asked them, who do people say that I am? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and still others one of the prophets. And this is the question, but what about you?

Who do you say that I am? Once we meet Jesus, we must decide what we're going to do with him. That's the aim of the series, not to just learn more about Jesus. Congratulations if you can spew off chapter and verse. But if you don't know him, if you don't know him, we are missing the point.

And with each layer that's unveiled of who this Jesus actually truly is in real life, we have to ask ourselves some very serious questions. How will I see him? How will his identity shape me? And how will I allow this king to change the way that I not just think, but. But the way that I actually live?

Am I living as if Jesus is who he says he is? Every day when we encounter the real Jesus, neutrality And indifference are not a possibility. They're not on the table, they're not options. He doesn't leave room for polite distance. He cannot be ignored.

As Dallas Willard puts it, when we see Jesus as he really is, we must either turn away or else shamelessly adore him. Last week, Russ spent time looking at Jesus as the disciple maker and what that means if we are his disciples. This week we're going to look at five back to back scenes in true Mark smash and grab fashion. He just goes bang, bang, bang, bang, bang through all these stories and all of these shows Jesus as healer, as healer. I think most of us, if we were asked to recall healing stories from the Bible, we would probably come up with the same stories.

A blind man made to see, a crippled man made to walk. A woman who had a chronic bleeding issue that Jesus stopped for her. A young girl even raised from the dead. I think if we were asked, all of us would likely come up with stories of physical bodily healing, because that's what we think of when we think of healing. But Mark's shows us that while Jesus is absolutely the healer of physical bodily ailments, his ability to heal and his interest and purpose in healing goes way beyond the physical.

Mark shows us that Jesus intends to heal far more than our bodies. So with that lens, let's pick up on scene one. This is right after Jesus has called the first four disciples, Simon, who's Peter, Andrew, James and John, and they go right to work. Verse 21. And they went into Capernaum.

And immediately. That's Mark's favorite word. You'll hear it a hundred times a day. Not 100, but several. And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them, praise the Lord, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. They're saying, this guy's different, he's teaching differently. Not just as a pinheaded theologian. He has access to something that other people don't have access to.

And then the story shifts from impressive teaching to a really awkward moment at church. Okay, verse 23. And immediately our favorite word. There was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. Now, unclean spirit, this is an evil spirit.

He is being demonically oppressed in some way. And the demonic oppression cries out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him.

And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him, and they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. Now, there is a ton going on in this little section right here.

I could spend the whole morning, multiple weeks probably, unpacking the man with the unclean spirit and what that means and how we can deal with that. And there's good and important stuff there. But I don't think Mark's intention is to make that the point of the scene. And the reason I believe that is because it's not at all what the audience in the room is focused on. Pay attention to how the people in the room react to Jesus.

First they hear him teach, and immediately they say, this is different. This guy's preaching with authority, not just educated. He's preaching with authority and some special kind of understanding that goes way beyond human understanding and authority. Remember that authority word, because we're going to hear it again. Then the guy with the unclean spirit is there.

And notice that the people don't seem to be amazed or afraid or even surprised that a guy with an unclean spirit showed up to church.

Is that surprising to you? It's surprising to me. They're not even shocked that the unclean spirit speaks. They don't go, oh, my gosh, he just talked. What stops them in their tracks?

What they cannot unsee now that they've seen it, is that not only does Jesus teach with some special kind of authority and understanding, but that authority, it doesn't just end with Bible knowledge. It spills out into real life. Jesus speaks, and spiritual realities change. Somehow he holds the authority not only to teach, but authority over spiritual forces, authority over evil, authority over demons. Something incredible is happening here.

And everyone in that room knows that that authority only comes from one place. It only comes from God. And after Jesus teaches and casts out a demon, everyone in the room at least knows that Jesus has a special kind of anointing from heaven. Now, Mark is intentionally sewing a golden thread through the pages of his Gospel. And this is another stitch of that thread.

Jesus is the Messiah. And Jesus holds divine power and authority over everything.

Everything. Not some things. Not just teaching, not just a broken leg. Everything. Jesus has authority and power over all things.

As Mark introduces us to Jesus the healer, he wants us to see that the kind of healing Jesus brings is all about making Broken, corrupted and sick. Things whole and right and good. Not just at the physical level, but all the way to the spiritual level. If you were here all of last year, you've heard about this, you know it. There's a word for it.

It's shalom. Jes. Jesus as a healer, he is here to heal things back to shalom, wholeness, peace, perfection as things are intended to be. That's the kind of healer Jesus is. And that's the kind of healing he came to bring.

Let's move to scene two. And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew. This is Simon Peter, before he's named Peter, with James and John. Now Simon's mother in law lay ill with a fever. And immediately they told him about her.

And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her and she began to serve them. Now, what's striking to me in this scene is how different it is from the scene before. There's no demon, no confrontation, no public spectacle. Jesus doesn't even say anything. They just simply tell him she's sick.

Jesus walks over, takes her by the hand, lifts her up, her fever's gone. And almost comically, she starts serving them, like presumably fixing a meal, taking care of the home, making sure that they're comfortable as her guests. So seeing one public, authoritative teaching, a demon that talks to Jesus. Jesus talks back, tells it to leave. There's shrieking and convulsions.

The kind of healing is 20 layers deep as he holds command over spiritual powers. Scene two. Hey, Jesus, Mom's sick. We don't have anybody else that can cook. No worry, no words, no fuss.

He just pulls her out of bed. Everyone just moves on like it's no big deal. The healing almost seems small and insignificant. Scene 3. After the first two scenes, word has gotten out into the neighborhood that a guy can do some really cool party tricks.

And everybod in town goes nuts. And they all show up. Verse 32. That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.

And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. Now, what do we notice? Lots and lots of healing. It says the whole city was gathered, which might not be hyperbole.

Historians believe that this city of Capernaum had somewhere around 1,000 to 1,500 people total at the time. Interestingly, of all of our Scenes. This time is the only time that the word heal or healing actually shows up. All the other times it's just implied or it just happens. Jesus just grabbed her hand and it was gone.

That word in the Greek healing is to be restored. To be restored. And did you notice the strange detail at the end? This time, Jesus doesn't allow the demons to speak because they know who he is. What's this all about?

I find it interesting that before the disciples knew, before the synagogue knew, before the people of the city knew, before the demons knew exactly who Jesus was. In scene one, the demon even says, I know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. But Jesus doesn't want them to tell everyone why. I think it's because Jesus will not allow his identity to be revealed by unclean spirits.

And he doesn't want to be reduced down to a spectacle that the guy with the magic tricks is the Son of God. He won't let the truth about who he is get ahead of the work he came to do. And we'll see that play out here in just a minute. The kingdom is arriving, but it's going to be on his terms. Now think about the fact that the disciples are experiencing this in real time.

Like, we know Jesus is already resurrected. We can look back through the pages of scripture. They're experiencing this in real time. They've never seen any of this. Jesus, like, come on, let's go do stuff.

And then he starts healing people and casting out demons. Like, it's crazy. And I imagine this new gig they've been called to, it is way more fun than fishing, right? We walk around, Jesus is a super celebrity and we just, we're security and we got a shirt that says, I'm with the band. And we just make sure he's got snacks and drinks.

I mean, like, come on, this sounds pretty awesome to me. But as we jump into the second half of this scene, Jesus uncovers this is all about something way bigger. Now, I haven't personally healed 1500 people in a day, but I'm guessing that Jesus was healing folks for a long time. And it says he started as the sun went down. I imagine he's exhausted, but instead of sleeping in to recuperate, and maybe because he couldn't sleep, he gets up long before the sun comes up to go and spend some quiet time in prayer with the Father.

And I think it's because he knows that's exactly where his power comes from. Verse 35. And rising very early in the morning while it was still Dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place. And there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him and they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you.

They're like, jesus, yesterday was amazing. I imagine Andrew was like, bro, when that demon was talking to you, we were like, oh, my gosh. And you were like, get out of here. And we're like, oh, my gosh. And everybody's like, jesus, you're the best.

Can we do that again? Please let us do that again. That dude was flopping around and everybody was noticing and he was shrieking. It was so cool. They all want you back, Jesus.

But here's what Jesus says. Verse 38. Let's go somewhere else.

Let's go somewhere else to the nearby villages so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. See, I think Jesus is saying, listen, guys, all that attention from healing is good. It's good. Healing is sure.

We can say people will line up in droves. We can do this endlessly. But this is not why I came. This isn't the main thing. It's a thing that points to the main thing.

It's a thing that shows authority and confirms the main thing. Jesus is saying that the proclamation of the kingdom matters more than healing. And he refuses to let even good things derail the mission he came to accomplish. Because there's one thing every single person in the Bible who was ever healed by Jesus has in common. They all eventually died.

All of it was temporary. But Jesus is an eternal king who rules and reigns over an eternal kingdom.

He has far more in mind than temporary physical healing. And yet he healed temporarily and physical healing. But because he has more in mind, he refuses to stay where the crowds want him. That's why he won't be defined by demand or popularity. And that's why he keeps preaching the kingdom.

Jesus didn't come just to make broken bodies better for a while. He came to heal eternal brokenness. And that's exactly what he continues to do. Verse 39. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

And as Jesus is going and preaching and going and preaching and casting out demons, we don't know how much time goes by. But we pick up on scene four in verse 40. And a leper, not a leopard, a leper. This is someone who has leprosy came to him, imploring him and kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and Said to him, I will be clean.

And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean again. This scene is so different. Each one of these scenes is so different from the one before it. This time a man comes to Jesus asking to be healed on his own. He's suffering from a skin disease that won't likely kill him, but it will keep him from truly living.

Leprosy didn't just affect your body, it cut you off from people, from community. Lepers were ostracized. They were avoided at all costs. They had to stay outside of town. They had to say loudly, wherever they went, unclean, unclean, unclean.

In many ways, leprosy functioned like a lifelong solitary confinement. You were isolated from family, from community, from feasts, from worship, from celebration. You couldn't even enter the temple because you were too unclean to enter the temple. And so when Jesus cleanses this man of leprosy, he's doing far more than making his skin better. He's restoring him to community.

He's giving him back access to worship. He's giving him back the ability to work, to celebrate, to gather, to have a family, to live a full life again. This is healing that reaches way beyond skin to belonging. After this, Jesus popularity swells to this overwhelming pitch. And it's just so much that he basically has to flee out into what the Bible calls desolate places again.

If Jesus whole purpose during his time here on earth was to heal and heal and heal and heal and heal and heal and heal, he wouldn't have gone out into the wilderness. But he goes into hiding until things settle down. And eventually he comes back into town and we step into scene five, chapter two, verse one. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.

And he was preaching the word to them. And they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, let's pause right there.

He said, now I'm sitting there watching all of this, knowing that Jesus has healed people. I'm hitting all the checkboxes in. Jesus has power to heal. This guy obviously needs healing because he's paralyzed. Jesus opens his mouth and he's going to say, you are no Longer paralyzed.

Get up and dance, bro. Let's do this right. But he doesn't. Again, he completely changes the script. Here's what he says.

Son, your sins are forgiven. This guy clearly needs physical healing, so clearly he needs it. But remember, Jesus is far more interested in eternal healing. And not only that, Jesus is hammering a gigantic stake in the ground and making a massive claim in this moment. The next few verses point this out.

Verse 6. But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, what is he saying? This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. I love this moment.

I love how awkward it must have been for them. Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking. So he asked them, how freaked out would you be in this moment? Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven, or stand up, pick up your mat and walk?

And then Jesus drops a bombshell. Verse 10. So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Now, that doesn't look like much to us. It's enough that Jesus has claimed to forgive this man of his sins, but he refers to himself as the Son of Man.

Again, to us, we just read right past that. But to these people specifically, the teachers of the law, they knew the Bible better than anyone else. And so they know that this title comes from a very special prophecy. It is a dream that is given to Daniel in the book of Daniel, chapter seven. And it's a prophecy about the eternal king who's coming.

God gives Daniel a prophetic dream of the Messiah. Here's how he describes it. This is Daniel's words in Daniel 7:13. In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one, like a Son of man. Coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the ancient of days, that's God the Father. And was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. Power over everything. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Jesus says, I'm him. I'm the Son of Man. I'm the one that not only Isaiah promised.

I'm the one God promised to Daniel, the one Daniel dreamed about. And I have the complete authority of heaven to heal the sick, to cast out demons, and even, yes, even to forgive sin. And then a savage climax comes. He blows everyone's minds and ticks off all the religious leaders. Here's what he does.

I love this. Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man after dropping the mic, and he goes, stand up. Pick up your mat and go home. And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God exclaiming, we've never seen anything like this before.

There's one really good reason that they've never seen anything like this before. Because Jesus is unlike everyone else, period. There has been and there never will be anyone who is like Jesus.

Now, all this is great storytelling. It makes for some great kids ministry stories with flannelgraph and cartoons and all the rest. It's exciting.

But Mark doesn't give us these five scenes by accident, and they are packaged together. This guy teaches with crazy authority. Oh, my gosh. That authority is enough to cast out demons. Wait a second.

What kind of authority is this that you speak with that saves people from their sins, that you can forgive sins? Daniel says, this is sovereign, heavenly, almighty authority. Authority and authority bookend these five scenes. Mark is showing us something. He gives us these five scenes so that we can see different kinds of people with different kinds of need for healing.

And Jesus interacts with each of them differently to bring healing to their deepest needs. And I think all of us, if we just take a minute to look, can find ourselves maybe in each of these scenes, but definitely in one of these scenes. In the first scene, the man with the unclean spirit carries with him a kind of brokenness that many of us know that we have something evil that feels like it is a boat anchor chained to our throats.

He isn't just sick, he is bound up. He is burdened. He is controlled by something that has power over him that looks like sin that keeps looping. No matter how many times we promise it, it's the last time. It looks like lies on repeat that the enemy is whispering about who we are, about what we're worth, about the fact that we are unforgivable.

It looks like addiction and bitterness and shame and anxiety or fear that feels bigger than any power we have. It's oppressing us. And the good news is Jesus doesn't negotiate with sin. He doesn't negotiate with lies or evil. He commands them, and they must listen because he has authority over all things.

Some of us need healing like that today.

Some of us need freedom from the thing that's hanging around our necks. Freedom from what has had power over us for way too long. And if that's you today, man, hear this. Jesus is a healer. Jesus is a Healer.

Then we move to Simon's mother in law. There's no spectacle, no confrontation, no dramatic moment. She's just sick. And Jesus simply takes her by the hand and lifts her up. And for some of us man the healing we need today, it doesn't look very impressive.

We'd say we're fine. We're coping, we're managing, we're functioning, we're showing up. But we are tired.

We are worn down and stretched thin. And we are quietly smiling while hurting in ways no one else sees.

And no matter how small it might feel in your justification, Jesus doesn't overlook it. He meets it with compassion. And if that's you hear me, Jesus is a healer. Then we get the third scene. The whole city's gathering.

Everyone wants something from Jesus. And Jesus heals many, restoring and making people whole. People with all kinds of brokenness. Mark doesn't even describe all the details of them. Physical sickness, emotional pain, spiritual exhaustion.

And that matters because some of us don't fit neatly into one category. If we had to describe what kind of healing we need, maybe it's so messy, it's like a calico cat with all these colors of need of healing. We're broken in a lot of ways. We don't even know where to start. And if that's you today, Jesus heals that too.

Because Jesus is a healer. And then comes the leper. This man isn't just sick. He's cut off. He's labeled.

He's excluded. He's untouchable. And for us, it's probably not about a skin disease. It's about shame. It's about that thing we did.

It's about the fact that we're divorced. It's about the fact that we were part of an affair. It was that nasty thing that nobody knows about, that we believe that we are stained and scarred forever. However, we believe, sitting in this room or listening online right now, because you can't even make it to this room, that if everyone knew, if we had some sign above our heads with all of our sins on them, surely we would not be accepted here. And to that Jesus says, I know I'm not surprised.

And I'm sovereign over that, too.

And maybe you need to hear that today. Maybe it's keeping you from coming into this room. Maybe it's keeping you from connecting here with other human beings. And you're just isolated and guilty and anxious every time you walk in the door. You need to hear me say church.

Jesus is a healer. And he heals that too. He heals that too.

But something we can miss so easily from this scene and overlook it is the scribes in the room. They need healing from something else. From pride, legalism, unbelief. Maybe you're sitting here thinking, this sermon is not for me.

I basically have it together. Let me tell you, brother sister, I love you. You do not have it all together. You do not have it all together. And maybe today you need some healing from that spirit of pride and the first guy with the evil holding power over him.

I need you to hear this. Pride is evil too, and it's got a powerful hold over you. And if today you think this is not for you, it's time to wake up. Because Jesus wants to heal that too. Jesus is a healer.

Every person in this room, every person listening online, everyone needs healing. Everyone from middle school and high school students trying to figure out who they are and how they fit into this world, to young adults carrying the anxiety of their future, to parents who are just exhausted from the responsibility of parenting, to singles longing for connection, to seniors carrying grief or physical decline or loss. We all need healing. Every last one of us needs healing. And here's the beautiful thing.

Jesus is a healer. Church. He's a healer, and he's got authority over whatever you need healing from. And yes, that healing is sometimes physical, but it is always spiritual and ultimately it is eternal. When we spend real time with Jesus, he brings healing.

Just to be in his presence is to expose ourselves to our need for healing and the source of that healing, too. And it won't always come instantly or in the way we expect or the way that we think that we need it. But make no mistake, he is a healer and he wants to heal. So here's how I want us to respond. Whatever kind of healing you're looking for today, physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, I want to invite you to come, to come all of us.

If you're burdened, if you are worn down, if you're isolated or stuck or carrying something you've never named out loud, man, don't carry it alone.

If you're physically sick, if pride is your issue, come, come during this next song and after the service. We always have a prayer team over here on the ramp this morning. I want you to come so much that we're going to have more. We're going to have some folks over here. Our elders are going to be here to anoint with oil if you would like for that.

We'll have some folks over here up in the front, on the sides. Jesus is a healer. Church. We, as those who are in Christ, have access to the almighty healer who has authority and power over all things. And I am asking you today, as we sing I Speak Jesus, to come.

Come, let our team pray over you, pray with you. All that's required is a simple act of bringing your need to Jesus, like that leper and just saying, if you are willing, you can heal me.

And if you're sitting there still thinking, I don't need healing, here's your invitation. Ask God what he wants to heal next in your life, because he's never done. He has never done healing. All of us need healing, whether we realize it or not. And as we.

As we respond. Would you stand as we respond with I speak Jesus, let this be more than a song for you. Let it be a declaration over your life, over your family, over your fears, over your body, over your sickness, over your soul, over whatever has hold of you right now. Speak the name of Jesus over whatever needs healing. Because Jesus is a healer.

So come and sing and pray and ask for the only One. There's no one like him, and he's the only one who holds all authority over all things. Ask him today to bring healing wherever it's needed. Let's sing.