Airplane

Did you know that there are about 700 planes decommissioned each year? There are currently over 35,000 commercial planes that are in operation. Just like the average run of the mil car the value decreases as time goes by and the number of times it has been pressurized. The strength in the metal starts to weaken and you can imagine what that causes. 

Does anyone know how many classic cars are crushed or scrapped each year? Not many, estimation is south of 1% of all cars crushed each year and the number of crushed cars annually in the united states is 12-14 million! So unlike planes that lose their strength over time and become a weak vessel, classic cars are the opposite. As time goes on they are worth more and as an owner of a 58 Chevy the purpose of the vehicle has shifted from simple transportation, to putting smiles on people’s faces. Those of you that have a classic car understand what I am saying.

Today we are going to spend some time in Matthew 8:1-4.

When you are an average guy like myself, not seminary trained, not trained on how to speak in front of people, I don’t have a degree in anything. You spend as much time as you possibly can studying, and  listening to others talk about scripture, and you pray. Now through this time of not speaking I have been running through Matthew, and on Wednesday night bible study as well.  

The Lord convicted me about this passage. 

A little back story here, Jesus just finished the Sermon on the mount, where he gave us the Beatitudes these are

-characteristics that we are to live by,

-Salt and Light be the salt and the light to those around us, 

-Jesus then gives us some boundaries that we are not supposed to go out of, 

-Call to action, love your enemies, give to the needy, spend time in prayer, fast, no not drive your car fast! Don’t worry about your worldly possessions, rather think about kingdom treasures, dont worry, dont judge others, Pray, and discernment.

I would imagine Jesus is tired at this point. He had just dropped some Atomic bombs on this crowd and what happens? As he is going down he is met by a man with leprosy. 

“A man with leprosy came….”

What do we know about Leprosy? Unclean, they need to call out that they are lepers (labeled), they are separated, live with other lepers away from the clean.

If you guys didnt know already I am going to tell you the truth, we are this leperos man!

-We are all unclean, we all have sin in our lives. Yes I stand before you and admit that there is sin in my life, if you knew the thoughts that go through my head you would be alarmed.

-We all label ourselves with whatever sin is or has happened in our lives. My name is Bob and I am an…

-When we are in our sin we separate ourselves from others, or better yet we go as far as to surround ourselves with those that have the same sin.

-Not only do we separate ourselves from those around us, we separate ourselves from God and carry shame and guilt for what we have done or are currently doing.

Now that we have established that we are all lepers we can take some notes from this guy. If he is living away from everyone that is clean and is living with those that are similar.

– He has to get up and walk away from those that are unclean just like him. He has to physically leave. He had to make a judgement call “Do I stay here in this terrible condition or do I get up and initiate change?”

-That means that I need to get up! I need to stop hanging around the bar, I need to run out of the strip club, I need to get off the porn sites. I need to watch who I am hanging out with. I need to initiate change in my life.

– He has to walk away from those that carry the same label.

– I need to remove the label that I have put on myself or maybe the label that others have put on you. 

– He has to separate himself and go closer to the one that is going to heal him.

– We must spend time with the Lord….

The next nine words are instrumental…..

“A man with Leprosy came and knelt before him”

What is the first thing that he does when he sees Jesus? 

He got on his knees!!  and showed everyone there that he was not worthy, he does not deserve a thing. In fact he is so unworthy that he should be punished for his actions and disobeying where he is supposed to be.

This is a great example of how I need to come to Jesus. I need to get on my knees and humbly come before him, knowing that I am not worthy, I am a man with sins and I need your help!

How many of you remember the song in the 90’s that went something like this, “When are we gonna get to the good part, good part when are we going to get to it?

Oh we are getting to the good part!!! Just wait for it…..

Then the man says “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

In those times the first thing he should of said was “UNCLEAN” 

But he humbles himself in front of Jesus submitting to his authority and says LORD you can make me clean if it is your will. 

This leporis man knew that Jesus could make him clean. He had probably heard the news of Jesus healing people around the area and just thought, “I am tired of this way of life living unclean, separated and ashamed of who I am, I am going to go check this Jesus guy out and see, see if I am the next guy that he is going to heal the next guy that he is going to make clean!”

Trust that Jesus wants to make us clean! 

Oh this is it, this is the  good part!!!  I need to sit down for this….

“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said “Be Clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”

I don’t know what translation you have but there is an exclamation point after “Be Clean!” emphasizing his willingness and authority to make this leper clean.

I am willing to guess that deep down inside of all of us there is some apprehension for us to go to Jesus and ask him to heal us of our sins but we are afraid that Jesus is going to say “I am not willing… you are not worthy of my healing.” 

Brothers, that right there is the Enemy with a strong hold on you! Let it go! Just like this man with leprosy Jesus wants us to humbly come before him and ask for him to remove our sins, remove the heavy burden of the label that we have put on ourselves. 

Now the one thing with leprosy is that it doesn’t come from the inside of the body out. It starts on the outside and works its way in. So Jesus is willing to touch our sins no matter how dirty they are, he is willing to take them away from us. Jesus wants us clean.