Sermon in Minneapolis 25.06.2004

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin our services with opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, again this morning when we have been able to assemble around your holy and unperishing word, we ask for your service blessings, that you would be with us through your Spirit. Open unto us and reveal to us the mystery of our salvation, which is alone through the merits of your Son, Jesus Christ, who is that perfect sin offering. Because of his perfect walk here upon this earth, he who was true God and true man at the same time, he was tempted in all points like any of us, with one exception, he was without sin.

And therefore, when he offered himself, he said the following words on the cross, and said those last words, all is fulfilled. Into your hands I give my life. This was that acceptable and pleasing payment of sin on behalf of mankind for all of us. And he sealed this work of redemption and atonement when he rose from the grave on the third day for our sins.

This and no one would ever gain to personally host you for the ones who want to and find you and are worthy and humble ones for righteousness sake. And all of this we can own alone by faith, as a gift of grace here in your kingdom. So we ask that you would bless us and protect us again today. Be with us, every footstep of your life, guide us on this narrow way of life, eyes to this world, to open them up again on the eternal shores of glory.

So asking for service blessings in your name, amen.

Today is the third Sunday after Epiphany, and one of the gospel texts for this Sunday, which speaks to the topic, Jesus Awakens Faith, is from Matthew 8, verses 1 through 13.

When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said unto him, see thou, tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priests, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.

And when Jesus entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him.

And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but speak the word only, for my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go, and he goeth. To another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

For I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom, and the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And Jesus said to the centurion, Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the same selfsame hour. Amen.

Amen.

And it is such a sickness that perhaps God in his own way is punishing people who have lived such an immoral type of lifestyle that they have chosen, that they have come down with such a sickness. At this point, it is incurable.

During the time of the Bible, during the time when Jesus was living, also during the Old Testament time, there was a sickness, an illness, which was also incurable. That was known as leprosy. It was a highly feared disease, which was very contagious.

And therefore, a person who contracted such a skin disease as it was, was shut out from society. They had to live in their own communities, and often dwelled in caves.

Friends who had compassion and consideration for these people, lepers, would bring food, for example, to the mouth of their cave, their dwelling place, would drop it off at its entrance, and they would go to the grave. They would go to the grave, but they would be shut out at its entrance, and depart away quickly.

If and when a leper would come close to other people in society, they would have to announce their approaching by ringing a bell, and have to shout out with a loud voice, saying, I'm defiled. I'm defiled. Stay clear. Beware.

Leprosy was for the most part, a skin disease, which began to cause the skin to rot and decay, causing boils to appear throughout the body. And it would often affect the nervous system as well.

And the body would begin to rot and decay so greatly that at times certain members of the body would even fall off the body. For example, an ear or a finger or some other member.

For the most part today, leprosy has been cured by the use of antibiotics. It's hardly found anymore in the world. There are some pockets in some remote third world countries where it does exist to some extent today.

The Old Testament text for today tells of a general whose name was Naaman in the country of Syria. And it is said that he had this sickness of leprosy.

Sometimes it has been said that perhaps he only had leprosy in a figurative way. For how could such a person be a general when they would have to be excluded and shut out from society?

But he very well could have been a general in the army of Syria for these long years of his life.

The laws of cleanliness concerning lepers, for example, only concerned the people of the promised nation of Israel. There were no such laws in the land of Syria for the Syrian people.

So he very well could have been sick with leprosy in the literal sense and also ruling as a general.

But the Old Testament text for today tells that the Syrian army while at war in Israel took a young girl as a slave and brought her back to the country of Syria. And she lived in the house of Naaman the Syrian.

And she noticed how this man of the house, Naaman, was very troubled with his outward physical ailment. But perhaps it caused an awakening in his heart and conscience as well.

And she instructed Naaman that he would go back to Israel and look up a prophet whose name was Elisha.

So he goes back to Israel, but using his carnal mind, he goes to the king there in the land.

And the king, when he heard of the general, he rents his clothes in anger and says, Am I, our God, that I could do such things for you to heal your leprosy?

But then, they remembered that they were not instructed to go to the king, but were instructed to go to the prophet whose name was Elisha.

So the messengers and the servants of Naaman instruct him to go to visit the Prophet.

They come to the home of the Prophet. The servants go and knock on the door and Elisha doesn't even come out. He only sends his servants to answer the door.

And when they heard of the situation, their mission, Elisha just sends word with his own servants that tell Naaman to go wash himself seven times in the River Jordan there in the country of Israel.

Naaman was so highly offended, first of all, that Elisha didn't come out personally.

And secondly, that he was instructed to go wash himself seven times in the River Jordan.

And he thought, aren't the rivers in his own country of Syria much bigger, much cleaner, and therefore much better.

So he climbed upon his chariot and left.

And he went to the river, and he wasn't lucky enough. And sometimes you will go to the river when it had been washed. This is a viable fact that he wasn't given, and he didn't even go to the river when it had been washed. But he had to try and do it.

Three good friends of his spoke perhaps give alms to the poor, and this then would correct their relationship with their living God.

But as Naaman was departing away in disgust, his own servants instructed him that why don't you just turn back and go and do as the prophet instructed. What else are you going to try to do? Why not just listen to his instructions?

And so he goes back, and he does as the prophet Elisha had instructed, and he washed himself seven times in the river Jordan, which is a very small, windy river.

At times the water is very unclear and misty, murky because of its muddy river basin.

And lo and behold, as he rises from the river the seventh time, his leprosy was healed and cured, and his flesh is again like the skin of a newborn baby. Amen.

And here in this story, in this example that we read in our text this morning, we have two healing examples.

In the first one, in the first four verses, it tells of a person who was a leper and had come to Jesus and fell down at Jesus' feet and began to worship him and said, Lord, if you would, can you make me clean?

And so Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him, defying the laws, the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament that forbade a person from touching such a person because they would become defiled themselves.

In spite of this, Jesus stretches out his hands, touches the leper, and he said, yes, I will, and I wish to heal you and cleanse you. Be clean.

And immediately, the leper's leprosy was cleansed.

But then, following the instructions of the Old Testament ceremonial laws concerning leprosy, Jesus told the healed leper, first of all, tell no man, but go your way and go to the priest and show yourself to the priest and offer a gift that Moses has commanded for a testimony unto them.

We go back to the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, this 13th and 14th chapter, that tells many instructions concerning leprosy.

If a person contracted the sickness or illness of leprosy on the surface of their body, they were to go show themselves to the priest.

And it was the priest who had this authority that a person could be declared either defiled or clean.

And when the priest, acting like a doctor in the society at that time, saw the white spots beginning to cover the body, he would send them into seclusion so no one else would be able to see them.

So no one else would contract this illness or disease.

And you would have to come back to the priest every seven days for a next checkup.

And it is a paradox or something that is completely contrary to our human mind that when his body was completely covered with leprosy, from head to toe, from head to foot, the skin of his body was white so that there would not be found one single square millimeter of healthy skin on his body.

It was 100% covered with leprosy from head to foot.

Then the priest would do something surprising. He would declare this leper to be clean.

So what is the message of this to us and the people of the world today?

And the message is this, that a person is saved alone by grace, alone through the merits of Christ Jesus, through faith.

We remember when that rich young ruler came to Jesus and began to visit with Jesus about matters of salvation.

And he asked an important question, what must I do in order that I would become saved?

Jesus said to this rich man, outwardly, temporally rich, go and sell all that you have. Give your possessions to the poor, and come and follow me.

This was too much for the rich young man. And he departed sorrowfully and went his way.

Sure, this man was temporally rich, but this wasn't the main message that Jesus was wishing to say to this rich young ruler.

But much more importantly, he was spiritually rich.

And after this rich young man had departed, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, it is easier for a huge camel to go through the small eye of a sewing needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom.

And he said, this is the only way for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, saying, when a person comes and knocks at the door of God's kingdom, comes before God, and saying that he would or she would wish to become saved, yet, wishing to do something on behalf of his or her salvation, perhaps, doing at least one percent themselves, and leaving the other nine percent to the merits of Christ Jesus.

But Jesus is wishing to say, it is impossible.

When it is so, when a person in unbelief, in self-righteousness, is 100 percent undressed of their own goods, their own merits, their own worthiness, when they have become a great man, a great woman, a great sinner, just like a leper, 100 percent covered from the crown of their head to the heel of their foot with leprosy.

And then would beg unto God that I am a great sinner, having a sin debt of 10,000 talents.

There is nothing that I can offer on my own behalf.

I am completely dependent on the merits of Jesus Christ, God's only Son.

Grace then belongs to such a one.

So this is what that example of the leper, who was then declared to be clean or pure, after he is 100 percent covered with leprosy, now is pure.

Declared pure, as received, the grace of repentance.

And this person, Naaman of Syria, was asked to dip himself seven times in the River Jordan.

And we know that the number seven in the Bible has the message of perfection. It is the number of perfection.

We remember when the prophet Zechariah was awakened from his sleep. He saw the golden candlestick, which was a southern branch candlestick.

And also when the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos was able to see that vision of Jesus Christ walking with his white garments, walking through the midst of the golden candlesticks, there were seven golden candlesticks.

And this also is a picture of the kingdom of God here upon this earth.

So the number seven is referring and signifying to the work of Christ's redemption.

Christ's work of redemption, which is perfect and complete and does not need to be added to and nothing can be taken away from it.

And so we by faith, as a gift of grace, are able to own this work, Christ's work of redemption.

And this is that perfect sin sacrifice, which is alone acceptable to God, our heavenly Father.

But as we continue our journey here on our walk of faith, we need this gospel again and again.

And as the apostle Peter came and asked Jesus this question, if my brother would come seven times in a day and ask for the gospel blessing, isn't that already enough or too much?

The rabbis of that time would say, three times is enough for one day, three strikes and you're out.

Peter was raising this limit all the way to seven.

Jesus said, I say not to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

And in another place, Jesus said, as often as one would come and beg for forgiveness, that gospel is preached.

It is a bottomless sea of grace.

There is an infinite amount of God's grace, and the well will never be filled.

Amen.

And never run dry.

It is not like that heresy of decades past, during the 1920s, that went by the name of polarism.

That once a believer, always a believer.

That if one has heard the gospel message once in their life, this is sufficient.

And then one can live as they wish, here in this world, fulfilling all the lusts and the desires of their flesh.

They would just fall upon the rock of Christ, never fall away from living faith.

But no, this is not according to the message of the Bible.

The Bible clearly says that sin daily attaches and makes the journey slow.

And therefore we can come to the throne of grace, to the mercy seat, whenever we are in need to hear from another brother and sister in living faith.

The good tidings of Jesus Christ, the gospel message of the forgiveness of sins, which will wash and cleanse our defiled and soiled garment from its sin and filth.

Brother and sister, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven.

For we know that sin is that dangerous substance which will separate man from God.

So here again in our text, when Jesus had healed this man of his leprosy, according to the Old Testament laws, he was told to go to the priest to show himself to offer a gift, an offering.

And then the priest would declare himself that person clean.

And then the priest would say, you can now return back to society. You can leave your life of seclusion.

So this was the first miracle that was mentioned in our text today.

But then it tells of another miracle that took place immediately following this healing miracle from the leprosy.

And when Jesus entered into the city of Capernaum, there came unto him a certain man who was a centurion and began to plead or beseech Jesus.

And he said, Lord, I have a servant who is lying at home sick with a palsy, and he is terribly tormented.

And Jesus said unto this man who is a centurion, I will come and heal him.

So Jesus said that I wish to come to your home, to enter into your home, to visit and see this sick person and heal him from his sickness.

And he came and healed him from his sickness of palsy.

This man that was visiting with Jesus was a centurion. He was a non-Jewish person. He was a Gentile.

And he was an army officer perhaps working for Herod Antipas.

And a centurion means he was a ruler over 100 soldiers.

And the word centri, meaning 100 years, comes from the same root word as the word or title centurion.

But this centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you would come under my roof.

This person was a Gentile and he knew enough of the laws of Moses that it was not proper for a Jew to enter into the house of a Gentile or a Jewish person would thereby defile themselves.

And just think of the expression that the centurion was using.

He was a high officer in the Roman army, perhaps equivalent to a general.

And was so humble he was approaching Jesus with the words that I am not worthy.

Isn't this drastically different from, for example, that Pharisee who was praying once in the temple of whom Jesus described.

Who was sitting there at the forefront in the temple or was it a synagogue.

He was beating his chest with his fist and gazing up into heaven.

And he began to enumerate all of his good works and deeds.

That I have fasted twice a week. I have given tithes for everything that I have purchased.

And on and on.

Then he turns and looks at that publican, that great sinner.

The sinner, the publican, was casting his gaze to the ground.

He says, I am not a sinner like him. I have not done this. Or I have not done that like he has done.

Therefore, thinking on the basis of his good works and merits that he would, of course, be heaven acceptable.

Isn't the approach of this centurion a complete opposite to that Pharisee?

Saying in this way, that Lord, I am not even worthy that you would enter into my home.

Of course, on the one hand, not wanting that Jesus would transgress the laws of Moses.

But he was a man who had a humble spirit.

I'm sure feeling his own unworthiness, sinfulness before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the Great Physician.

But he said in this way, but speak the word only and then my servant shall be healed.

And this was at a threshold of time when the gospel was about to be transferred from the promised nation of Israel to the Gentile peoples.

And soon after this, we remember when Peter entered into the house of Cornelius who also was a Roman officer and a Gentile person.

And we remember when Jesus himself was on the middle cross of Golgotha.

Few of those people there at the foot of the cross actually understood, realized that this was the Messiah.

God's only son, the promised Savior was hanging from the cross.

But lo and behold, one of the officers, Gentile officers, another centurion says that Jesus is the Messiah.

And he says that truly this is the Son of God.

There are examples already in the Old Testament time where grace was offered and accepted by Gentile people.

We remember that the prophet Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and there the people of that city received and accepted the gospel message. The king included.

And we remember when the queen of Sheba who was a Gentile came from her far away country perhaps present day Persia or Persia at that time perhaps Iraq or Iran today, came to visit Solomon.

And the Bible gives testimony that she received the grace of repentance.

There would be other examples as well in the Old Testament.

And already in the gospels there are a few examples of grace that was accepted by Gentiles.

That woman of Canaan, that Canaanite woman for example, who asked Jesus to heal her child.

And then at the first Pentecost when three thousand people, three thousand souls were converted on one day these converted people returned back to their homelands, their home countries and began to preach the gospel message.

And I'm sure rapidly it began to spread to the Gentile peoples as well.

Paul especially after he was converted received the grace of repentance.

Was said, that was to be God's chosen vessel or tool to bring the gospel especially to the Gentile.

Paul many times attempted to go into the synagogues to offer the gospel message onto his fellow countrymen, the Jewish people.

But was often chased out of the synagogue and even given a harsh treatment and even beating.

And so he would then turn to the Gentile peoples where there were receptive hearts for the gospel.

So we can ask this question that who is a true Jew today?

And according to the Bible it is not one who is outwardly an ethnic Jew or one who is circumcised in the flesh.

Put in the spiritual sense, one who is a true spiritual descendant of Abraham.

A spiritual Jew is one who has been circumcised in the heart by the Spirit.

Or a believer, one having their sins forgiven.

And so here is this centurion, this Gentile Roman officer concerned about his servant there at home who is sick with a palsy and wanting Jesus to heal him.

And Jesus wished to enter into his home, the centurion's home.

But the centurion said, I am not worthy that you would enter into my home.

But he does admit, and he says, I am a man under authority.

I have soldiers under me.

And I can say to this man, go and he will go.

And I can say to another that come and he will come.

And to my servant do this and the servant will obey and do it.

And when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said unto them that were in his presence, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in all of Israel.

And then he continues to say to those people around him, many were Jews included.

He says, I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

I am sure these were very difficult words for his Jewish audience to hear and to listen.

For Jesus is saying that people from all corners of the earth, from all races and nations will be called to sit down with Abraham, their forefather in faith, and Isaac his son, and Jacob the grandson of Abraham to be members of God's kingdom.

And then Jesus then continues and is talking about the promised nation of Israel.

But the children of the kingdom or the members of the promised nation of Israel, people of the Jewish descent, shall be cast out into outer darkness and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When Jesus was in Jerusalem the last time and delivering this sermon known as the Olivet Discourse, he spoke several parables.

One was the wedding of the king's sons.

And he also told several other parables.

And he was telling his audience, the Pharisees and the scribes, that the kingdom of God is now going to be removed from you and be given unto the Gentiles.

A new time of visitation was beginning to dawn.

This is the exact same message that Jesus is saying right here to his audience at that point.

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go thy way and as you have believed so it be done unto you.

And his servant was healed in that selfsame hour.

And here we can see the power of the word of God.

And through the word of God the world has been created.

The world is maintained.

And through the power of the word, the world will one day be destroyed at the end of the world.

As Jesus himself has said, Heavens and earth may pass away, but my word shall never pass away.

Flowers may fade, grass may dry up, wither and die, but my word shall last forever, as the apostle Peter says.

And this is the word that is preached in your midst.

As Jesus said at one time, that the words that have been given unto me from God my heavenly Father, these same words I also give unto you.

But this word, powerful word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, has not only created the world, maintained the world, and will one day destroy the world.

But this word is also the beginning of our faith.

And it is also the finisher of our faith.

And brothers and sisters, herein is our source of strength.

We have been given new life, spiritual life, new birth, not by a corruptible seed, as Peter says, but through an incorruptible seed, which is the living word of God.

And by no power of our own can we remain as God's children here in God's kingdom, traveling this narrow way of life.

But alone it is through the power of God's word, through the gospel message.

It lifts us, it carries us, and will bring us to the destination, our heavenly home.

So even now, I'm sure that we may feel, just like the centurion when visiting with Jesus, that, Jesus, I am not even worthy that you would enter into my home.

Just like the prodigal son when he was in that faraway land, having wasted all of his possessions in a terrible, unrighteous living environment.

Living and life.

And wanted to return back to his father's home.

His father began to approach him.

The prodigal son said, I have sinned against heaven and against earth, and I am no longer even worthy to be called your son.

But what happened to the prodigal son went above and beyond all of his expectations.

He was received by his father back, with open arms into the father's home.

He received a new clean robe, a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, and that fatted lamb was slaughtered on his behalf.

My son who was lost has been found again.

My son who was dead is now alive again.

And even though perhaps many have not gone the ways of a prodigal son, still we have this same feeling within us.

I do not even feel worthy to be called your child.

But by the grace of God, through the merits of God's only Son, we can own this greatest gift here in this world.

And by faith, by faith can be called a child of God.

So brother and sister, just as you find yourself, just as you are, you can with the hand of faith cling to these grace promises of God.

Feel as it may feel.

Seem as it may seem.

As Luther says, even though we are sinners, we can believe ourselves to be righteous.

Even though we are unholy, we can believe ourselves to be righteous, holy, and heaven acceptable by faith.

So uplift your hearts to believe.

Sins forgiven, in Jesus' name, and precious blood.

You can believe unto peace, freedom, and joy.

Believe sins forgiven, in Jesus' name, and blood.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Lord be with you.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.