Mark 1:42-45

Mark 1:42-45 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

In our last study, we watched Jesus respond with his healing power to the simple faith of a leper who said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Now after healing this man, Jesus instructs him not to tell anyone about his healing but to offer sacrifices for this cleansing miracle at the temple and also according to Jewish law to have the priest declare him clean.  But rather than obeying Jesus, this former outcast from society goes out and speaks freely, spreading the news.  When people hear of this miracle event, they throng to meet Jesus, making it impossible for him to enter the town, so He seeks out lonely places; yet even there the people still came to him from everywhere.  Sometimes in our enthusiasm, we miss the perfect will of God.  Jesus told the man to go, show yourself to the priest.  He did not do this to have the priest verify the man's healing.  Jesus knew the disease was gone.  He wanted him to go to the temple and stand before the priest and the religious leaders in the house of God as a testimony to them.  This was his perfect will, to bring glory to his Father in the presence of those who opposed his Son.  The man shared his testimony but with the wrong audience.  He may have thought he was doing a "good" thing as he excitedly shared the details of his healing, but he had ignored Christ's instructions; he had strayed from the straight and narrow way of the Lord.  Jesus said, Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  (Matthew 7:13-14)  We heard an evangelist preach a sermon where he said, "The good can be the enemy of the perfect.  We must do the perfect will of God and not what seems good in our eyes."  

Jesus had a plan for the man He healed, but the man did not follow that plan.  Did that mean the situation would bear no fruit--that no good would come from the situation?  Of course not.  God is not limited by our mistakes or our lack of good judgment.  We do well to remember God is God and we are not.  We cannot ruin things for him.  He always has a plan B, a plan C, and so on.  If the plans of God depended upon the decisions and behaviors of flawed men and women, God would have a very difficult time accomplishing his will.  Fortunately, He is not limited by our limitations.  One of the devil's biggest lies is telling people that some action they have taken has placed them in a pit of unforgiveness and shame, and they can never come out.  It does not matter what name you put on your pit, God will make a way out for you if you come to him with a repentant and an open heart.  As the psalmist wrote: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  (Psalm 51:17)  Even some churches limit the grace of God, saying if you have been divorced or if you still smoke or if you have children who are not serving God, then you are out of God's will and out of his favor.  This is not true.  Now is the year of the Lord's favor.  If you divorced and remarried, that is your reality.  Repent of any sin that is in your life, seek God this very hour with your whole heart, and serve him with your life.  If smoking is an issue for you and you have tried to stop and failed, put that on the altar before the Lord.  He loves you, smoking and all.  If you have given your heart and life to him, trust him with everything.  He will perfect what concerns you as you seek him.  If your children do not know the Lord, love them and pray for them.  By your kindness and goodness lead them to Jesus.  Jesus did not hide in a cave to avoid the people when they came to him in the lonely places: He met their needs.  When he arrives by boat and meets a crowd, He does not get back on the boat and look for a place without any people.  The Bible says, When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  (Mark 6:34)  When people were hungry, He did not send them away to find food, He performed a miracle and fed them.  He is a God who works within the given circumstances to bring glory to God.

Today, everyone reading this breakfast has places in our lives where we have taken the wrong path when we thought it seemed right at the time.  Later we realized we could have gone a different way and things may have gone better or we could have made a different choice and had a much more pleasing outcome.  Perhaps we lost a loved one and wished we had another chance to tell that person how much he or she meant to us.  In life we cannot go back; we must go forward.  We do not have to remain stuck where we are, overwhelmed by guilt or shame, unable to function, thinking we are unworthy to do the Father's will.  When Jesus walked this earth, He sought needy people.  When the Pharisees questioned why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, He said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.  (Matthew 9:12-13)  Jesus remains in the healing business.  He came to set captives free.  Whatever binds us to lethargy, brokenness, self-pity, condemnation, regret, and the like, Jesus came to set us free.  We are free in Christ.  Paul told the Christians at Galatia, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)  They were letting false teachers take them back to the Law.  Anything can become a law to us, even our unbelief if we put it ahead of Jesus: "I can't serve Jesus because I am unworthy."  If you believe that, you are saying you are a special category of person, and the blood of Jesus was not powerful enough to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  You have made a new law for yourself.  My sin is greater than God's grace.  If you live by that law you will perish.  The devil is a hard taskmaster.  If you start living by his rules, you are going to lose.  We know what Paul wrote is true: the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  Rejoice, brothers and sisters!  Put every hindrance aside, and follow Jesus.  He has a perfect plan for your life no matter where you are on your journey.  Come to him with an open heart and hear his voice.  Today is your day to give testimony to his miracle touch upon your life.