INTRODUCTION, PASSAGE, AND VERSE 14

(Risk the Pursuit)

Good morning again. My name is still David Sorn

We are in week 2 of our 5-week series called, “Risk the Pursuit” where we are walking through Luke Chapter 5 verse by verse.

Go ahead and grab a Bible.

Luke 5:12-16

Page 702

In today’s Bible Passage you’re going to see a man who has leprosy, which is a slow-developing skin disease that often starts with sores, but eventually spreads causing numbness and sometimes even the loss of fingers or toes

And in Bible times there was no cure, no remedy, nothing

It was basically a slow death…that one would suffer away from their family…sent off to some sort of leper colony or village apart from everyone they knew.

Okay, with that context in mind, let’s read our passage

Also, grab your notebooks as well to take notes today.

Now, not every message we give has an outline (including today)…but I want you to write down whatever you’re learning from the passage..

Or, things you feel like God is speaking to as you listen and study today.

(Luke 5:12-16) – NIV

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.”

13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

(Risk-Reward)

Let me just take a minute here on verse 14 before we get into the crux of our passage

SO…in verse 14, why is it that the leper, after he’s healed, supposed to go show himself to the Jewish priest and offer sacrifices?

Well, for one, remember the New Testament hasn’t been written yet.

These people are living under the Old Covenant.

And the Jewish Law, in the Book of Leviticus, commands that believers were supposed to show themselves to the priest if they were healed.

And Leviticus 14 tells us that the priest would offer a certain sacrifice.

Then after 8 days, the priest would officially welcome that healed person back into the community.

So Jesus is actually doing this man a favor…he’s helping him officially be accepted back into society so that people would no longer fear him.

But verse 14 also has that curious part where Jesus tells the man who was just healed, “Don’t tell anyone about this!”

Which, is easier said than done.

The guy’s been in a leper colony for years and just shows up back at work looking clean as ever.

“What happened to you?!?!”

“can’t say”

But why would Jesus say this to people (because he says it more than once in the gospels!)

There are a couple of possibilities here.

For one, Jesus didn’t want to be known as just a miracle worker, but as the Son of God…the Savior.

And two, Jesus has a lot that He needs to do and teach in 3 years of ministry.

And Jesus knows that if word spreads too quickly about Him, they are going to kill Him too soon

The Jewish leaders might have killed him at the one year mark of his ministry instead of the 3 year mark.

So in a sense, he’s managing the timeline of his death.

THE LEPER

But let’s go back to the beginning of this passage now.

There is a man who has leprosy.

But don’t just see him as a leper.

I want you to see him in his past before he contracted the disease

Certainly, this leper once had a normal life.

He had a job...most likely he was a farmer.

Probably had a wife. Maybe 4 or 5 kids at home.

But at some point, he contracted leprosy.

He probably began to notice the changes in his skin, the weakness in his joints…and he probably tried to hide it for a while…

But eventually he would’ve been caught, declared a leper, and banished to the leper colony.

Couldn’t even give his own kids a hug good-bye.

Could only shout from afar.

His farm that he had worked for years to build up, all that was gone now.

His wife would have come and dropped off his things at the leper colony…maybe some bread, some clothes.

But there would be no kiss goodbye…no final embrace.

As he would have stepped towards her, she would have stepped back...in fear.

See, lepers didn’t just suffer physically, but socially, and emotionally.

They were outcasts in every sense of the word.

They were banned from attending worship services.

Banned from the temple.

They couldn’t come into town…ever.

And if they ever saw anyone (like out on the road), Leviticus 13 says they had to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!”

Banned from the community.

But one day, this leper hears that Jesus is nearby

And I want you find verse 12…because a few years ago, something happened to me when I was reading this exact passage in Luke 5 on my own.

Do you ever read the Bible, and you’re reading a story that you’ve read plenty of times before, and then all of a sudden you go, “WHOA! How did I never see that before?”

That happened to me reading Luke 5.

This is part of why we never stop reading and studying God’s Word.

It’s an everlasting fountain of God’s wisdom.

Verse 12 says this:

12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.

Did you see it?

Luke very clearly tells us this minor, but incredibly important fact that Jesus is in a TOWN.

Why??

Because where’s the one place a leper definitely CAN NOT go?

Into town!

This is going to be an absolutely daring risk for this man

He knows that to get to Jesus, he’s going to have leave his leper colony, walk through the city gate, down the crowded streets, and somehow through the massive crowd around Jesus (it’s not like Jesus is hanging out by Himself!)

And it’s a huge risk, because what would usually happen in the cases where lepers tried to enter towns, is that the lepers would be stoned to death.

People couldn’t risk coming near them, so they would pick up stones, and literally kill them from afar.

But this leper risks the pursuit of Jesus, and starts walking into town anyway.

And somehow, by a miracle, he’s able to get close to Jesus.

And as everyone steps back, Jesus steps forward.

Towards the man.

He could have healed him with just a word.

In fact, Jesus is literally going to do just by saying it in our passage next week in Luke 5

But here Jesus, very intentionally, reaches out, and touches the man who hasn’t been touched in years…

The man who was just shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” is made clean

Healed inside and out, by Jesus Christ

CHRISTIAN, RISK THE PURSUIT.

And to every Christian in this room, may this be an inspiration to pursue Jesus again.

Because honestly, too many of us are metaphorically back in the leper colony…

We’re not really out there, deeply pursuing Jesus anymore.

And part of the reason that we’re able to lie to ourselves (and say that we’re fine) is because too many of the people that we’ve surrounded ourselves with also aren’t radically pursuing Jesus.

And they look almost more like the lepers than the cleansed…

And to make matters worse…most of us don’t even really want to risk the pursuit of continuing to go hard after Jesus.

Not because we’re going to get stoned for following Jesus here in America, but if you were truly passionate about your faith (at work, with your neighbors, your extended family)…

…you might get verbally stoned…or at least reprimanded or ostracized.

So we choose to just kind of fit in with the lepers instead.

It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, “Rescue Dawn”

(Show Rescue Dawn Cover)

It’s the true story of Dieter Dengler, who was an American Pilot who was shot down during the Vietnam War, taken captive, and made a prisoner of war.

Right when he gets to the prison camp, Dengler immediately starts thinking about how he’s going to escape..

And he spends months trying to convince the other prisoners to escape with him, but most of them don’t want to escape.

“It’s too risky,” they say.

They’d rather stay in their familiar misery of the prison camp, than risk something worse happening during their pursuit of freedom.

And I think that’s honestly how most Christians feel without saying it out loud.

We have heard and we know (we’ve read!) there is great reward in taking the risk to more passionately pursuing Jesus.

But we don’t want to risk anything hard happening along the way.

And so we “settle for safe”… back with the lepers…or in the prison camp.

But what reward are you missing out on?

(Risk-Reward)

You know, personally, I think one of the great ironies of my life has been around the word risk.

Back in 2008/09 when I first felt God calling me to start this church, I told people that I wasn’t sure if I could do it…and my #1 reason was because “I’m not a risk taker”

Sometimes today people say to me, “You must be such an entrepreneur; living on the edge; starting churches, locations…you must be like that ideas/risk-taker guy”

And I’m not. At all. In many ways, my personality is more like an accountant than a risk-taking entrepreneur. (no offense to accountants)

I’m the least spontaneous person in the world, highly predictable, scheduled, dependable, and always assessing risk.

And yet the story of my adult life has been God pushing me to risk over and over.

And I’ll be real with you: I’m never pumped about it. I’m not going, “YES! More Risk

No, I’m lying in bed at night going, “Are you serious, God?! You want me to start a church from scratch? To find land (how!?). To build a building? To start more locations What will people say if it doesn’t work? I’m always going what if…what if…what if?!”

And yet, only by the grace of God, I just keep forcing myself to risk the pursuit.

To trust God…to act in faith.

And let me tell you something…by doing so…

I’ve gotten to see the most amazing things.

I could tell you crazy God story after crazy God story.

And best of all, I’ve gotten a front-row seat to watch almost 1,500 people give their lives to Christ.

And I never would have gotten to see any of that, if I didn’t risk the pursuit of Jesus.

I know that plenty of you are thinking hard and praying hard right now about whether or not you should commit to join the Shoreview Launch Team next week

Or the Launch Team for our North location that will start meeting together in late summer and launch this Fall.

Next Sunday is Commitment Sunday for Shoreview.

(Commitment Sunday Slide)

If you haven’t had a chance to look through our Shoreview booklet yet, and all the relevant dates and information please do so.

This is going to be an amazing (and historic) opportunity as we’re starting our second location of Renovation Church…and it’ll have all of the things here that you love about Renovation Church (house church, Bible teaching, gospel invitations), but will live leadership, worship, and teaching.

But we need PEOPLE.

People to go and serve, give, be in a House Church there…

…and take the RISK…to pursue Jesus to Shoreview…to be disciples who makes disciples who make disciples…in Shoreview.

So please, if you live south of here, especially south of Blaine, we want you praying about joining that launch team

And if the answer is yes, bring that commitment card in that booklet with you next Sunday, and you’ll have a chance to turn it in during the service.

If you’re out of town, you can fill the commitment card out online

(Risk-Reward)

And actually taking risks of faith like this are important…because in my experience…

… there are too many Christians who sit, for years, sometimes decades, talking about what God could do…or an idea that they have…but they never leave the colony and go into town.

Because deep inside…the risk feels too great. The risk to them feels greater than the reward.

But I want to urge you today…trust the reward that is God.

He is always greater.

Trust Him wherever He is leading you.

But if you’re going to trust Him, you have to let go of leading your own life.

I mean think about this: When that leper leaves the colony and starts walking towards the city gates, he’s essentially said in his heart, “Give me Jesus or give me death,” but either way, he’s said goodbye to his old life.

Because for Him, the reward of what Jesus can give him is so great, it’s worth the risk.

It reminds me of the great missionary James Calvert

Calvert was a famous missionary of the 1800’s who was among the first to take the gospel to Fiji.

As they were getting close to the Fijian islands, the ship’s captain tried to persuade Calvert to not go…as many of the Fijian people were said to be cannibals in those days.

The captain said, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.”

To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”

That’s a great line.

And it’s descriptive of the true Christian life.

But can you say that about your life?

That your life is completely in the hands of Jesus and wherever He calls you?

That you’ve died to determining where you will go and how you will live?

And so if Jesus calls you to go risk and do something hard…it doesn’t’ matter if it’s hard… you’ve already died to your own will… your life is His.

I pray that you start to live that way.

By the way, Jesus moved so mightily through that missionary James Calvert, that before his time in Fiji ended, even the Fijian King gave his life to Christ!

And this is what being a Christian is my friend.

It’s not, hanging out in the leper colony and getting a visit from Jesus on Sundays.

The leper doesn’t shout at Jesus from his leper colony and say, “Jesus, while I’m hanging out here, looking like everyone else, could you make me a bit more comfortable here? Perhaps take away the itchiness?”

Following Jesus isn’t about asking him to make you more comfortable where you are, it’s about leaving where you are; it’s about risking the pursuit of marching into town and asking Jesus to take all of you.

BECAUSE…you believe that reward of Him taking all of you is worth ANY risk!

UNBELIEVER, RISK THE PURSUIT

And this is true for you even if you’ve never really pursued Jesus before.

A person is willing to risk everything when they realize they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

This is what the leper figured out.

And my prayer for all of you is that you can see Jesus like that.

Because Jesus, for too many people has been shrunk down to some historical teacher, or a nice guy that helps us feel better on a gloomy day.

But Jesus Christ is the Son of God!

He’s the only person who can truly change your life.

Those feelings of despair you feel when you don’t want to get up in the morning.

The loneliness.

The emptiness.

He can change everything. You have EVERYTHING TO GAIN here

And not only that, He can deal with your guilt…for where you’ve been…what you’ve done.

Notice in the text that leper says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean”

That means `to purify him, not just physically, but also spiritually!

This Son of God loves you so much that He came to earth to die on the cross for you.

So that people who believe in Him as their Savior could be forgiven, made clean.

Because when you truly believe in faith that Jesus died for you, and make Him the Savior and Leader of your life…your sin goes on Jesus on the cross…he Takes it upon Himself.

It’s like you’re reaching out and touching Him in faith…

…and His perfection…his cleanliness…comes back to you…

…and not only does it start to change you form the inside out.

The Bible says you are now clothed in His righteousness

So that when God looks at you on judgment day, you are clean, spotless, No leprosy, no sin! White as snow, not guilty.

And so I urge you to give your life to Him today

And I urge you to look soberly at your life too.

Because remember you have everything to gain and NOTHING TO LOSE.

This leper can risk pursuing Jesus because He realizes that he’s basically on his deathbed…he’s got nothing to lose.

Just like when someone’s given a month to live, their priorities suddenly become clear.

The man has already lost his farm, his relationship with his wife, his kids, and he’s about to lose his life.

So he risks the pursuit of Jesus and starts marching into town.

He’s going nothing to lose.

And you don’t either!

Because in the scope of eternity, you’re going to die soon too.

This life is just a blip, and it’s over, and eternity is coming.

And if you don’t let Jesus take your sins away before you die, your sins will still be on you…and the guilt will fall on you.

And if they are still on you at your death, the Bible says, for all of eternity, and instead of bliss in heaven, you will meet judgment in hell.

And I say not in anger, but in tears, to warn you of what’s coming.

And to warn you, that apart from Jesus, you cannot be saved.

You’re stuck in leprosy in the leper colony.

The only option is to leave that colony of sin behind…to believe that Jesus can make you clean and save you from your disease of sin.

And so if you’ve never done that before, let’s do it today.

Let’s just have everyone close their eyes and bow their heads

If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to tell Jesus that you need His forgiveness for your sins…to make Him the Leader of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life…

In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to stand up

No one’s going to be looking at you at all, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes.

But sometimes in life, we just need that moment…that moment where we say yes.

To say, “God come save me. I give you my life”

If you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven.

Then I invite you to stand where you are right now (and keep standing).

The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths.

Repeat after me

Dear God

I confess to you, that I have sinned against you.

But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place

And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins.

And now I commit, to following you, with my life.