Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – A new pilot was urging Uncle Bob to take a ride.

But Uncle Bob was a farmer with feet planted firmly on terra firma!

His excuse was, “I never rode nothin’ yet that sooner or later I didn’t have to get out and push!” His faith in planes stopped a few steps short of boarding.

It was mixed with a lot of skepticism – like a lot of people with Christ.

Skepticism stops their climbing aboard as followers of Jesus.

They’ll go to church, but it gets real fuzzy when it comes to commitment to Christ.

That’s who Luke targets here.

Jesus starts to Jairus’ house to see his dying 12-year old daughter.

But, on the way He is interrupted the woman with the 12-year blood problem.

Jesus heals her, elicits a confession of faith and moves on.

Don’t miss that in both these instances Jesus ministers to individuals – individuals who reach out in faith.

Did you see The March of the Penguins, a documentary about the Emperor penguins?

Thousands travel 60 miles inland to breed.

The female places a single egg at the feet of the male who shelters it from the elements while the female goes back to the sea (now 70 plus miles away) to get food.

As the biting winds of winter take their toll, the males huddle together to protect the hatching chicks.

After 2 long months, the females arrive “home”, and amid the noise of thousands of males, each calling his mate, they find the right one.

That’s exactly what Jesus does here, Beloved.

He finds faith among chaos.

God never misses the call of faith.

I mentioned a quote last week by someone who said, “God loves each one of us as if there were only one to love.”

But saving faith is a rare commodity.

We see that in Jairus’s story – more unbelievers than believers.

But it also shows true faith.

This account invites those outside Christ to become followers – and also challenges believers to continue to grow in our faith by perfecting these faith qualities in our lives.

*I.

Faith Enlarges God*

Now, please understand.

Nothing we can do can enlarge or diminish God one iota.

We have no such influence.

But He can definitely be bigger or smaller in our own lives depending on how we think about Him – on how well we know Him.

Faith enlarges God in our minds.

V. 49, “While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.”

Death has outrun Jairus.

In the time Jesus spent with the woman, Jairus’ daughter has died.

A messenger arrives: “Don’t bother Jesus anymore.

She’s beyond hope.

Let Him go where He can do some good.

It’s over.

She’s gone.”

The assumption is obvious, isn’t it?

Jesus can heal the sick, but there is no thought He could raise the dead.

This messenger has Jesus in a box.

Defined Him on his own terms.

Limited Him to what he thought.

Skepticism always does that.

How often have you heard, “I cannot accept a God who allows this unspeakable tragedy?

If He can stop it and doesn’t, He is a monster.

If He can’t stop it, He is not worthy of my worship.”

It’s not an easy problem.

But how do you think those skeptics would respond if told, “Fine, God will stop all evil, but you will have to be eliminated.

You may not be Ted Bundy or a John Wayne Gacy, but you are a sinner inside and out, and the only way to stop evil is to banish it totally.”

How do you think they would respond?

They’ve defined God in their terms, ignoring that an infinite, omniscient Being might have purposes beyond the obvious, giving no credence to an afterlife affording ultimate justice in a new existence.

They have imposed limitation that exist only in their own minds, and then rejected Him, just like this man wrote Jesus off as inadequate because he couldn’t see an answer!

Saving faith doesn’t do that.

It magnifies God rather than limiting Him.

It acknowledges His awesome greatness.

Faith sees God without limitations.

Remember 14-year-old Mary when told she was about to bear the promised Messiah?

Remember her reaction?

“How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

(Lu 1:34).

Great question, and she got a whopper of an answer: “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

(Tho a virgin, you are going to conceive.

Here’s the sign.)

36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age (not a virgin, but beyond child-bearing age) has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37 For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lu 1:35-37).

You can’t limit God, Beloved.

Mary believed in God’s greatness and said in Lu 1:38, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Do you have a big God this morning?

Heb 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

We need a big God to be saved, and we need a big God to live a Christian life.

Here is a very sad example.

Rabbi Harold Kushner lost a young son and it nearly undid him.

You have to sympathize with his pain.

But in his best-seller, When Bad Things Happen to Good People he says, "Bad things do happen to good people in this world, but it is not God who wills it.

God would like people to get what they deserve in life, but He cannot always arrange it.

Even God has a hard time keeping chaos in check and limiting the damage evil can do."

Poor God – He just can’t cope with it all.

A few things slip between the cracks now and then.

Too bad if it happens to you.

Poor Jesus – He could have healed that girl, but she’s beyond help now!

Skepticism has a small God.

Faith magnifies God.

Which describes us?

Big God or big problems?!

*II.

Faith Expels Fear*

Note Jesus’ reaction to the idea He can’t deal with death: V. 50, “But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”

“Do not fear; only believe.”

Fascinating juxtaposition of ideas.

It implies something important.

It implies that fear and faith are mutually exclusive!

It implies that if you have fear, you don’t have faith.

And if you have faith, you won’t have fear.

So – fear is an indication of lack of faith!

Now we’re never 100% either way on this.

We’re a mix.

But the principle is clear.

The more faith we have the less fear; the more fear, the less faith.