Jesus Came for the Sick

Mark 2:  13 – 17 (NKJV)

13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

In the article “My Need for Jesus” I shared my salvation experience with you.  I shared how important it is to me to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  Nothing can top that feeling and the peace that comes from knowing that God paid the price for my sins.  I belong to Him.  He is mine and I am His.  I cherish that thought in the innermost places in my heart.  In the good times and in the bad.  Nothing can take Him away from me.

There are many theological discussions when it comes to understanding our place in God's heart. Many of those discussions talk about how our sins are washed completely away from us. This is true but I have always felt that we need to maintain a healthy understanding of who we are and what God has delivered us out of. Over the years I have worked helping God’s people, I felt it prudent to always keep at the forefront of my mind that I need Jesus. I am sick.  And if I were not careful my sins could overtake me and start me right back down the path of destruction that I was on.  I believe this is true because as soon as we start thinking that we are something, as soon as we start thinking that we are more than everyone else the spirit of pride that the enemy walked in starts rising inside of us.  We must always guard against pride and being more than who we think we are.

There are a lot of good Christian psychologists and Christian people who want us to think positive about ourselves in our newfound hope in Jesus Christ. This is good.  I am not taking anything away from that. I just know that I know and I know how quickly the enemy can move in and if we allow ourselves we can start thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. I have seen many people fall over the years. These people never come back into the fullness of Christ. Pride is an ugly thing, and I believe that it is healthy for us as believers to always maintain an attitude of realizing that we are in need. We are in need on the level that is far beyond our comprehension because of the inborn sin nature that was started in the garden at the fall of Adam and Eve. The knowledge of good and evil is very seductive and can cause us to stand in a place of self-righteousness and self-holiness that can cause the Holy Spirit to walk away from you. I not only need Jesus more than ever, but I want Jesus more than ever to be in every part of my life. Without him I am in deep trouble. As you look around about you you can see the damage that has occurred in the body of Christ because people forgot that they needed a physician.  They forgot that they once were sick.

I caution you with the love of Christ to always remember where you came from.  Always remember what sins Jesus paid the price for you to be free from.  Always remember that if it wasn't for God's grace you would be entering into the pits of Hell. This is a tricky thing because false humility is just as bad as pride.  It’s easy to swing too far from the center.  I know the arguments that self-righteous people make. I know how they have convinced themselves for the purpose of self-esteem to forget about their past sins and mistakes, but I caution you to take up your Cross daily with the mindset that there but for the grace of God go I.

Romans 3:  21 – 26 (NKJV)

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a [h]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:  1 – 10 (NKJV)

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I Peter 5:  5 – 7 (NKJV)

5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Taking all these scriptures into consideration, it is very easy to see that everyday believers must take steps to stand in the truth of God as we fight against thoughts that would cause us to think that we ourselves have earned the Grace of God. The times that we live in are filled with deceptions in lies.  We must guard against our own wicked hearts. I have found the best way to do this is to always remember what God saved me from.

There are different schools of thought on this. Some of these schools say that this is too negative and does not allow for the redemptive work of Jesus Christ to take place in your heart.  This is along the lines of once saved, always saved.  I beg to differ. I think taking into account where you came from makes you appreciate who you are in Him. I think this makes you appreciate understanding the depths of Hell that you came out of. It is with this thought that you are able to keep your feet firmly planted in Him. One of the major problems in the Body of Christ is the lack of servants. Everyone wants to be served, but very few come to serve.

I have always felt that this lack of a desire to serve is a sign that something has not been taught right in the Body of Christ. We only teach servanthood from the perspective of wanting to be served.  We only teach it from the perspective of maintaining power.  This is taught from the perspective that we want to be great, and we want others to honor and respect us. This is destroying the Body of Christ right now. We see the fruit of this poor teaching being fleshed out right before our eyes right now as scandal after scandal destroys the American Church. The mindset of the people of God has to change in order for this great sin to be removed from the American Body of Christ.

If you don't think you have a problem, you are not going to cry out to God for help. If you don't think that you have sinned, why would you think that you need a savior. Seems simple enough but many people miss this vitally crucial understanding of what Jesus came to do.  He came to help the vulnerable and the weak.  He came to serve those who knew they needed to be saved. 

Luke 23:  39 – 43 (NKJV)

39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”  40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Look at the heart attitude of thief on the cross next to Jesus in verse 41.  “We receive the due reward of our deeds…” this thief knew that he was messed up.  He knew that he was unclean and could not be brought back to God.  The thief did not take it for granted.  Jesus opened himself to this vulnerable thief and ministered to Him.  The thief’s understanding that he was sick caused Jesus to be attracted to him and not repelled by Him.  Jesus used His power to rescue this man out of an eternity of sin.

My wife and I have been studying some materials by Diane Langberg on,

“Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church”. This information has been very crucial to understanding what happens in Churches that do not understand that they are sick.  The leaders in such churches misused their power and take advantage of the vulnerable sheep.  These leaders start destroying God’s sheep and began devouring them for themselves. These leaders refuse to see that they are flawed and messed up.  They refuse to see that they need a savior. When you look at the power dynamics that are in the American Church today. It is clear that those who have power, misuse it and abuse God's sheep. This could all be fixed if those who carried power in the Church had the same mindset as Jesus. If they had the mindset to heal, not for the purpose of being seen but for the purpose of tending to the sick there would never be a misuse of the power in God’s houses.

I freely admit I have weaknesses.  I freely admit that I am sick. I need Jesus to come for me on a moment by moment basis. For many this statement seems wrong to say. Many in the Body of Christ cannot be real and honest with themselves because they don’t want anyone to know that outside of Christ they are weak. It’s true.  I am weak.  Many leaders in the Body of Christ cannot be vulnerable before the people and admit they have shortcomings because they have taught the people that if they do have short comings something is wrong with them.  We have to stop modeling this pattern of false spirituality.  This whatever that I have all power in my fingertips and I can do whatever I want because I'm spiritual whatever. This is baloney. This is spiritual pride. This is causing the Holy Spirit to stay far away from you. This is causing Jesus to withdraw His presence. Think about this in the simplest of terms. Jesus came for those who are not ashamed to say they need a physician. If you're a spiritual guru Jesus isn't coming to you.

Mark 2:  17 (NKJV)

17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Selah,

Christopher & Kathryn

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