Fear Of Being Hurt
FEAR OF BEING HURT
LUKE 17:11-19
11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. [1]
INTRODUCTION:
In Christian walks today there is such concern over self and protecting our feelings that many times we let fear control us. We are so scared to get hurt that we shy away from things that are important to the kingdom of Christ. We are commanded by our Lord Jesus to love our neighbors as ourselves regardless of feelings toward those neighbors. In many outreaches of churches, we choose things that won’t hurt us emotionally. We are so afraid of getting hurt that we just simply choose not to do them. We are commanded to reach out to our brothers and sisters and even the unbelievers, The Great Commission. We are going to look at the example today and take some hard looks at what we are supposed to do, in such situations. Fear is the tool of the devil.
BACKGROUND:
The ten lepers here are right after the raising of Lazarus. If you will remember Jesus was traveling close to Jerusalem to go and see Lazarus and Timothy was afraid that Jesus was going to be killed by the Pharisees who had already threatened His life. Jesus was about to enter the city or was very close, we know this as the triumphant entry. Jesus is going to Jerusalem for the final week before His crucifixion. The journey was so that Jesus could meet with all the other people that would be traveling along the same route for the Passover. This would allow Jesus to be among the crowds of people for the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
AFAR OFF:
The lepers stood afar off because of the culture in Jesus’ time. Remember they are still under the sacrificial system and coming near a leper made them or anyone unclean. Lepers usually had their own city outside the city; they were the lowest of the low. Jesus has not quite come into the city yet because lepers were not allowed within the city limits in Jewish culture. They stood afar off because they knew that they were unclean and outcast and could even be stoned for purposely making someone unclean. This is right before the Passover so there would be a great crowd making them even farther away from Jesus.
It is interesting that we make many unbelievers and even some Christians do the same thing. We outcast them for stupid reasons and base our help on unbiblical criteria. We keep many Christians and unbelievers on the outskirts for: the way they dress, where they live, where they work, what occupation they have, what they drive, who their family is, the way they look, their race, their sins, and their shopping habits. We cause many to stay on the outskirts of Jesus by feeling that somehow they are going to make us unclean or ruin our testimony, or just because of the image it would project to others around us.
I have heard many reasons in just the little time I have been in church that certain people shouldn’t be allowed into our sanctuaries. In October we are having a county wide event for our youth known as Youth Ignite 2008. The youth that show up to this event will be from all walks of life and since it is in a church I have a concern that when these kids come into the churches sanctuary there will be something said about what they wear. There could possibly be kids with piercings, such as tongue rings, nose rings, wearing all black with their faces painted white, wear hats and maybe even ungodly tee shirts on. I’m afraid someone is going to say something to them because of it being a sanctuary and God’s house and all that kid is going to think is it’s about my clothes not about me. We push people away from Jesus when we have no right to do such things. Jesus died for every single person no matter whom they are or where they came from. We are in danger of monopolizing God and doing the exact thing the Israelites did in the desert of Sinai.
These lepers were in the same situation but notice that Jesus didn’t let distance stop Him. He didn’t let the culture of the day prevent Him from doing what God wanted Him to do. He didn’t let what others thought about Him stand in the way. Jesus transcended the distance of culture and appearance and reached out, we must do that same.
COMMON CAUSE:
I also want you to notice that the lepers were two different nationalities. We are told in this passage that the one that returned was a Samaritan and the others must have been Jews. Normally in the Jewish culture Samaritans and Jews went well out of their way to avoid each other. There was immense animosity towards each other. The importance of this is that when a common cause afflicts people they come together and comfort each other because of these afflictions and diseases. It is a proven fact that when we are sick or in a similar situation as someone else we will talk to people who we normally would avoid completely. We reach out because of our common problem to try to solve and comfort each other. There are all sorts of support groups to show this common factor. You have AA, MADD, Cancer support groups, NA, and many others that I could name, but they come together for one common factor to comfort each other and combat the situation at hand.
I submit to you that the other in attendance that day were just as bad off as the lepers and maybe even some of us. No we don’t have leprosy, but we are dying and going to hell without Jesus Christ in our lives. They were all dying without Jesus including us, unless you recognize Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We have a common cause that we come together for as Christians, to evangelize the world regardless of whom they are or where they live or come from. Our common cause is to spread the gospel and there are certain things that we must agree on but all these other things that we fight amongst ourselves about really don’t matter when you start talking about eternity and people dying and going to hell without Him. We fight and quarrel over stupid and irrelevant things that next to eternity do not really matter. We need to start working together for this common cause and forget these petty things that get in the way. We need to realize that we are all fighting for the same thing and on the same side, to reach people for Jesus.
OBEDIENCE REPRESENTS FAITH:
In verse 14 we see that the lepers are told by Jesus to go to the priest to become cleaned. This simple command was obeyed by all the lepers who showed that they believed what He said and that He could heal them. Jesus gave them a simple command and they obeyed without question, without hesitation, and without reservation. They simply turned to head towards the priest to ceremonially become clean or whole.
I wonder how many of us would have that type of faith. Many of us would like to believe that we would, especially knowing what Jesus had already done. When God wants us to do something today don’t we hesitate even if it is for a minute or two? When God speaks to us through His word don’t we try everything in our power to see if that is really what He wants us to do? If we read one Bible and He speaks to us through it then don’t we go and look at other translations to see if it is worded differently? I sometimes do that if I’m honest with myself. We do this because we have become comfortable within that sin we are currently in and if God desires for us to change we buck it for all we are worth because we are not ready to give it up. We hate change! I’m here to tell you that if you are a Christian then your life is nothing but change. We don’t act like the lepers in this passage, we normally have hesitations, we say we follow Christ and then we stipulate the terms of that following. I will follow Christ but. . .
We have forgotten that Jesus wants us to obey like He lived out here on earth. He wants us to be obedient even unto death. You were bought with a price, and it wasn’t cheap at all. You are not your own, you are a slave to Christ because of what He accomplished on the cross for you and me. We are to obey just as He did, we are to have no regard for our own lives but to spend it unselfishly towards others to the point that we are willing to give up our lives for them. We have forgotten what faith is all about. Faith is first obedience in every aspect, without hesitation, doubts or even fears. We are to do whatever He tells us to do the first time without question. The Lord’s Prayer supports this. Remember it tells us, “your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” When God gives Michael the archangel and order do you think Michael says but God, absolutely not. In Heaven there are no questions. God’s commands are carried out immediately. We are to carry out God’s will just as the angels do, instantaneously.
WE ARE UNGRATEFUL:
In the last part of the verse one of the ten notices that while walking to the priest that he has been healed and returns to thank the Lord for this life changing experience. He is grateful for the Lord changing his very outlook on life. All of a sudden he can now go home and see his family that he may have been cast out of for years. He is now a valuable member in every area of his life. Every aspect of his life has been changed and made whole. He no longer has to stand back away from people or shy away from them or cry out unclean before the come near. He’s simply grateful and comes to show that to the Lord.
Notice what the Lord says when this man returns, “were not ten lepers healed, and only one has returned to give thanks?” He basically asks where the others who were healed are. We do the same thing but unlike Jesus we don’t continue doing the same thing. Jesus didn’t stop healing because people were ungrateful He continued on healing. He was about to enter the city of Jerusalem and die on a cross for these nine ungrateful lepers, so by no means did He let their ungratefulness stop Him from healing or continuing to help and love those around Him. However, when we get hurt by some means we usually put our defense mechanisms up and try not to get hurt again. An example, when we pick a family for Christmas to help and we pay for a Christmas meal, clothes, and toys for the children and then after they have been delivered and they ask where is the rest we are hurt and refuse to do it again. It’s a good thing that Jesus didn’t act that way towards us, we would still be going to hell. Or even worse we would take our gifts back because of their ungratefulness. Jesus could have easily unhealed these lepers for the ungratefulness but did He? Most certainly not, the nine were still healed from their leprosy. When we get hurt we become bitter and sometimes even want revenge, what would it be like if Jesus did that towards us every time we are ungrateful because of something He did for us? We are commanded to love as Jesus loved therefore we are to love no matter what the cost, whether it be our lives, our feelings, our finances, our friends, or even our families. Love is not an emotion it is a choice! If it is an emotion it is fleeting and can come and go, if it is a choice then it is our responsibility that means if Jesus’ love is an emotion it can come and go but He chose to die for me and that means love is a choice, an extremely valuable choice. That makes love the most valuable commodity in the world for God was willing to give His son so that we could be with Him forever. We must and are commanded to love in the same way. If we do not love in the same way we are degrading what Jesus died for and degrading the value of love. Just as the soldiers who are fighting for us right now, if we do not recognize their immense sacrifice and commitment to our freedoms we are degrading that great freedom that we enjoy even right this very minute. Because of these men’s sacrifice we are able to stand in this building and worship God freely without anyone telling us how to do that worship, by not honoring them we are dragging that freedom through the mud and trampling on the very thing they are willing to die for. This is the same thing for Jesus. Jesus was willing to die for everyone regardless of their gratefulness or anything else for that matter and if we pick and choose who is allowed to come to Jesus we are degrading Him and His death on the cross. I don’t know about you but I’m extremely grateful for what He did for me on that cross and in no way want to degrade it by telling someone they cannot come to Jesus for whatever reason.
Notice one last thing in this passage, it wasn’t their gratefulness or ungratefulness that saved them, it was and still is simply their faith. It was that obedience to Christ that saved them and made them whole. Jesus didn’t unheal the nine ungrateful lepers, He healed them all and left all healed. It is the same today; it is faith that saves us. You must have faith just as these lepers and if you have that faith you will wind up just as the lepers whole, complete, through and through. Faith isn’t something you can get on your own it must be given by God, by listening to His word.
Prayer
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[1] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. Lk 17:11-19