Sermon Tone Analysis

We’re beginning a series today through the book of Matthew.

And I want to be clear about our intention through this series.

As I told you last year… I want you to know that the gospel will be front and center of everything we preach… so, always have confidence that if you invite and unsaved family member or friend, that while they’re here, the gospel will be presented to them.

But the focus of this series is really going to be the church.

What kind of church do we want to be?

Who are we as a church?

What’s our DNA as a church?

What has God called us to do?

Why has he placed this group of people in this community?

Now… Notice my language here.

I’m not talking about a building… I’m not talking about a place.

We are not IN a church… We are a church.

This building houses the gathering of a church… but it’s not a church.

We are a church.

I, singulary, am not a church… WE, together are a church.

We gather together as a church.

But we’re also a church on Tuesday when we’re not gathered.

Whether you are here, at work, at home, or dining in a restaurant, you are a part of this church.

So… Who are we as a church?

And why is God allowing us to exist in this community?

If you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, turn with me to Matthew chapter 8.

If you don’t have a Bible, I highly recommend the Logos Bible App for your smartphone or tablet… you can follow along that way.

In fact, if you’re not setup with Logos, let me know.

Our church would like to gift you with about $3,000 worth of Bible study resources in Logos… we’d also love to gift you a physical Bible as well if you don’t have one.

So just let me know when our gathering is done and we’ll hook you up.

Matthew chapter 8.

The first thing we want to do this morning, as we think about who we are as a church… is we want to see who Jesus is.

Since we are Christians, which means little christs… or Christ like… we have to know who He is and what his ministry on this earth looked like.

And Matthew chapter 8 makes it REALLY plain and obvious for us.

Then from there… we can begin talking about what that means for us as little christs… as a church.

Matthew chapter 8… beginning with verse 1…

Jesus has just given the Sermon on the mount… we looked at that last year.

He’s just given this very authoritative sermon… now he’s done, he’s coming down and the large crowd follows him down.

They’re amazed at Him. Verse 2…

I just love how this is in the Greek language here.

The man walks up to Jesus and says… if you’re willing, you could make me clean… and in the Greek, Jesus says two words to him… Willing… Clean.

Let’s pay careful attention to what Jesus does here.

This man with leprosy… this terrible skin disease that, at that time, cannot be cured… makes you completely unclean and an outcast from society.

I mean… understand, it was absolutely taboo to hang around or touch people who have leprosy.

So, what Jesus does here is very significant.

Not only does Jesus heal him… but He heals him by reaching out and touching him.

Now… I think it’s kind of lost on us in the 21st century how taboo or nasty it would have been to be around a person with leprosy.

The theological term here is ICKY.

So what I did was… I brought an illustration from home.

What I have here is a fancy glass mug… and I’m going to fill it up with some perfectly wonderful bottled water from an artesian well.

Now… I also brought with me some water that I retrieved from a nonstandard drinking source… Well, at least it’s a nonstandard source for most humans… dogs really like to drink from this source.

But as far as we humans are concerned… we don’t really drink from this… we use this water for other purposes… for washing stuff away.

Understand me?

Now… I can drink this water… *POUR & TAKE DRINK*… That’s good… refreshing!

That’s perfectly acceptable… right?

But if I do this… Let’s be honest… We all, now, have a problem with this glass of water.

In fact… Some of you are trying to figure out right now how I got the water into that bottle… and wondering if I washed my hands after I did.

Here's the point.

Leprosy had that same kind of factor.

That, once, clean glass of water has been made untouchable because when dirty things come in contact with clean things… the clean things become dirty.

Does that make sense?

The dirty thing… makes the clean thing… dirty.

That’s common human experience.

That’s why we don’t eat food that falls on the floor… unless it’s been there less than 5 seconds… which is… nevermind.

Don’t follow that rule.

This is leprosy in the 1st century.

It’s dirty… and you don’t touch them because the dirty thing makes the clean thing dirty.

That’s why it’s so significant what Jesus does here… Jesus heals by reaching out and touching the “dirty” thing.

That’s the power and authority that Jesus has.

Like I said… the common human experience is that the dirty makes the clean dirty.

Not Jesus.

Jesus has the ability to make the dirty thing clean.

And I am struck by the fact that this is us.

You were dirty… Your sin made you dirty.

I was dirty… My sin made me dirty.

We were a dirty people… Isaiah 64:6… our righteousness is nothing but filthy, dirty rags… even at our best… we are stained by the filth of sin.

But because Jesus came to this earth… went to the cross… taking upon Himself yours & my sin… He touched me through His death and resurrection… He exchanges my dirtiness with His cleanliness.

Jesus makes the dirty thing clean!

He makes me clean!

The next miracle that Jesus did is found in verse 5. Read it with me…

So, who is this Roman centurion?

He’s a man of power and authority.

He has a paralyzed servant as his house… and so he approaches Jesus… asks for His help.

Jesus says… You want me to come heal him?

Lead the way.

The centurion says… listen… you don’t even have the make the trip… I know who you are.

Just like I have authority in Rome to make things happen… you have the authority to make this happen without even coming to my house.

By your word, Jesus, you can make this happen.

Verse 10…

Jesus looks at everybody that’s with him and says… this is what true faith looks like.

And then Jesus talks about how it’s not the bloodline of Abraham that gets you into the kingdom of God… it is in fact faith in Him… faith in Jesus that allows you to sit at God’s table… Outsiders of the bloodline will sit at the table of God because of their faith.

Outsiders like this Roman Centurion.

We’ve already established that this Centurion was a man of authority.

But understand… to a 1st century Jew… this Centurion was the enemy.

He was part of Rome… Rome who had swept into Israel and taken everything over by force.

They’re weren’t nice about it!

Rome did what they wanted… when they wanted… however they wanted.

This guy was the enemy of Jews.

Which makes what happens next all the more important.

Verse 13…

Jesus heals the servant of the enemy… from a distance.

The theological implication here is that Jesus has the power and authority to heal by just His word… AND, He does it for the enemy!

But not only that… This has theological implication for the leper also.

He doesn’t need to touch to heal… Yet Jesus still chose to touch the leper when He healed him.

I am again struck by the fact that this is us.