Healing and wholeness

The topic for my talk this morning is healing and wholeness and I’d like to try and give you an outline of my own limited understanding of what is a large and sometimes perplexing subject area.

So, to try and set healing in some sort of context the first thing we need to understand is that God is good and that his kingdom is good and his purposes are good.

God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love and joy and peace and forgiveness and also of health and wholeness. And his kingdom reflects his character and the sort of king he is.

And God, in the person of Jesus, came to usher in his kingdom. This is why Jesus says at the start of his ministry – quoting from our Old Testament reading; "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”

You see Jesus came to put right everything that has gone wrong in our fallen world.

The reason we live in a fallen world is explained in the early chapters of Genesis where we see Satan coming and deceiving Adam and Eve into disobeying God, and the perfect world God had initially created being spoiled and then everything going pear shaped.

Man’s relationship with God is spoiled. Evil and hatred and darkness and sickness and disease come into the world and people start fighting and murdering each other.

So, in the world around us although we still see remnants of God’s perfect creation - beauty and goodness and kindness and health and happiness we also see evil and darkness.

But Jesus came as the light of the world to dispel this darkness. John tells us in his first letter; “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

So, Jesus came to start undoing and putting right everything that spoils and hurts our lives. At the centre of this of course is our relationship with God.

First and foremost, he came to restore our relationship with God which I’ll say more about in a minute.

But Jesus also came to heal and liberate and set people free from the powers of darkness, to give them a foretaste of his kingdom – to show people that he is God and that he is good and that he loves them.

So, in today’s gospel reading from Mark – we see a lady being healed as she touches Jesus with faith and then we see a little girl who’s life has been prematurely cut short, being raised back to life by Jesus - the Lord of life.

He is pushing back the forces of darkness – including death - which have spoiled people’s lives and bringing his kingdom to earth.

This is why he told people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was close at hand.

Wherever Jesus went he demonstrated and established his kingdom – it was near the people he was with. And the same is true today. Wherever the spirit of Jesus is present and at work – his kingdom is still being established in people’s lives and this includes healing.

So, in Jesus, we can see clearly that God’s desire is to heal and set people free and if his kingdom really was established on earth as it is in heaven - everyone would be whole in body, soul and spirit.

However, because we live in a fallen and imperfect world, not everything is as God desires, so unfortunately, we do experience sickness and ill health - but this doesn’t mean that God wants us to be ill.

Far from it. God allows us to be sick – as for instance he did with Job - but as a loving Father he rejoices when we are well and healthy. As Psalm 35 puts it; “God delights in the well-being of his servant.”

Its also true that although sickness and ill health is not what God ideally wants for us – going through difficult times can strengthen our faith, develop our characters, help us to be more sympathetic and understanding people, and bring us closer to God.

So, what are some of the causes of sickness?

Sometimes sickness can be caused by sin. For instance, if we eat or drink too much – we can damage our bodies and cause them to be sick.

If we are promiscuous, we can pick up sexually transmitted diseases. If we take drugs we may become mentally and physically ill.

God's wants us to live upright lives because it is good for us. The laws he gives us are for our own good and the good of others.

And as we stray from his commandments, we may sometimes become sick as a result.

Sometimes the cause of sickness is hereditary or genetic and certain propensities for illness can be passed down family lines.

Sometimes the cause of sickness is demonic. I met a Christian guy who had a healing ministry and he told me about a Christian woman who he’d come across in Africa who had been bed-ridden with a bad back for 3 years.

Her local church had prayed for her healing without success.

He went to see her and sensed there was something she was not telling them. When he pressed her, she confessed that she’d been to see a witch doctor three times, and that each time she’d seen him her back had got worse.

The lady confessed her sin to God and this guy assured her of God’s forgiveness and then prayed for the power of any remaining demonic spiritual influences over her life to be broken in Jesus name. The lady got up out of bed and was well again.

The occult is very dangerous and visiting mediums or spiritualists is an extremely bad idea as we can open our lives to the powers of darkness.

Sometimes the cause of illness is due to stress and anxiety. Again, ideally God doesn’t want us to be anxious and stressed. He wants us to know his love and to trust him.

As we go through sickness or difficult times, he wants us to realise that he is in control of the situation that he loves us and that he is and working for our good.

Perhaps most often, sickness and ill health is the result of living in a fallen and imperfect world where there are germs and viruses and diseases and where accidents happen.

So, it’s all very well to read about how Jesus healed people when he walked the earth or to hear about how other people have been healed, but how can we be healed today?

Well there are 3 things that I think are important for us to receive healing.

Firstly, as I alluded to earlier, the greatest healing in our lives occurs when we become Christians – when we are born again and the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus comes to live in us.

At this point – when we cease rebellion against God and decide that we do after all want to live under his direction and guidance – then his divine purpose for our lives can start to be established.

This step of faith can have a tremendous healing effect on our lives – as we start to live as God intended - in a relationship with Him.

I like the analogy of a garden with a fence round it and a gate. The garden is our life and what we need to do is to open the gate and invite Jesus in to pull out the brambles and weeds that have grown, and over time to help us transform our gardens into something beautiful and fruitful –something that resembles the life of Jesus himself.

Of course, God wants to transform us into faith filled, kind, loving and generous people who reflect his character to others.

But an essential part of this transformation will involve healing – not just physical, but mental and spiritual healing; the restoration of relationships and being set free from fears and destructive behaviours.

And God is much better able to do this as He lives within us and as we seek to co-operate with His plans and purpose for our lives.

When Jesus first came into my life, I was insecure, with a tendency to be quick tempered. But over the years he’s put my feet on rock and I’m now a much more secure, kinder and more patient person.

Secondly, although we certainly don’t have to be Christians to receive healing, we do need to come to Jesus with a degree of faith. Time and again when Jesus was healing people, he was looking for their faith to receive it.

For instance, in our gospel reading from Mark, Jesus says to Jairus; “Do not fear, only believe.”

And Mark tells us later in his gospel that Jesus was unable to heal people in his home town of Nazareth because of their lack of faith.

We don’t need a huge amount of faith; faith the size of a grain of mustard is sufficient - but if we doubt that God exists or that He is able to heal us obviously it makes it harder to receive from him.

In order for an electrical appliance to work a plug needs to be properly inserted into a socket. If the plug isn’t sufficiently pushed in, the appliance won’t work.

Faith is like a plug that accesses the healing power of God. If faith is in place – even just a little bit - the healing power of God can flow into our lives – and that of course is what we see happening in today’s gospel reading – when the lady touches Jesus’ clothes with faith - and his healing power flows into her life.

Thirdly, in order to be healed we may need to give Jesus both the time and the opportunity to heal us.

Sometimes this may involve putting aside a few days to go to a Christian camp or retreat or to a place where we know God’s spirit is at work.

We’re used nowadays to instant fixes – but God can do more for us and work more deeply in our lives if we will put aside the time and be still in his presence for a while. This is particularly true where we need emotional healing from past hurts and wounds in our lives.

Of course, we can never guarantee what God will do. He is able to heal every disease and sickness, but sometimes people are healed and sometimes they aren’t.

When God heals us – He always wants to deal with the root cause of our sickness whereas sometimes we are more concerned with the symptoms. As all you gardeners will know it is important to pull out weeds by the roots or they will re-grow.

We humans are complex beings made up of body soul and spirit – and only God can really see where we most need healing and if we have the faith to receive it.

And sometimes his priorities may be different to ours. Sometimes if we need to forgive someone or our relationships are in disrepair – this may be God’s priority.

In fact, unforgiveness and bitterness can block us from receiving healing.

Of course, for Christians - our ultimate healing will be in heaven where one day we will be clothed with immortality and a new body that will not get sick or wear out.

It’s important to say also that we are very fortunate in this country to have access to excellent medical care – so some of our healing can be accomplished through conventional treatment. Doctors nurses and health care professionals are all agents of the healing that God wants to bring.

So, to tie up what I want to say this morning – as we see in today’s reading from Mark and in numerous other gospel passages - Jesus ushered in his kingdom and healed people when he walked the earth and he most definitely heals people today.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever and his heart of love still overflows with the desire to help and to heal and set free those who are hurting and in need.

And although we can never dictate what he will do – we can be sure that He understands us perfectly and that he loves us and that his touch upon our lives will always be for our good.

So today, if you want prayer for healing, as you come and kneel at the communion rail, come to Jesus in faith and receive whatever healing he wants to impart to you.

I’m going to close with a time of quiet prayer and reflection where we can lift our own healing needs or the need of others to God and invite him to touch our lives with his healing power.

Perhaps for some of you, my analogy of a garden resonated with you and you’d like to open the gate of your life and invite Jesus in. If that’s you just talk to Jesus now and ask him to come in to your heart and life.

So, let’s pray quietly for a few moments and share what is on our hearts with God.

‘Grace, Mercy, and Peace’

The Third Sunday Service – September 15th 2019

Our ‘Third Sunday Service’ offers an opportunity to consider some of the main and essential elements of the Christian faith and to do so in a little more depth than perhaps our other services of worship allow. For this reason, this service is a good one to which to bring friends and enquirers, those who have no experience or understanding of what it is Christians believe and seek to put into practice; and, yes, also those who have misunderstood, or been misled, or who have some reason or other to oppose Christianity.

In a world where increasingly, sadly, reasoned and reasonable debate is conspicuous by its absence, and where an unwillingness to listen to other people’s points of view and simply no-platform what they don’t want to hear has become popular practice, it surely has to be a very valuable thing to have the opportunity both to consider and to question in an atmosphere of openness and love - or what I would prefer to call ‘Grace’; for grace is love of a very special sort because it is the particular way in which the Christian God loves those whom he created and then commands those who say they love him to love others.

The Christian belief is in the Good News or ‘Gospel’ of God’s grace as revealed by and in Jesus Christ of Nazareth; and, as I am going to be saying a little later on this morning, is characterised by ‘mercy’ and ‘peace’, both of which, like God’s grace, have very special and particular meanings which are intended not only to inform or teach about God but also about the world, about existence, about us. So, the theme for this morning’s service is ‘Grace, Mercy, and Peace’: it is the greeting with which we normally begin our main gatherings here.

If we want to know what characterises Christianity – Christianity at its best, that is - and here it is important for me to say to you that Christianity is not about rules and regulations but about RELATIONSHIPS, though I realise many people do not see it that way! – what characterises Christianity at its best and distinguishes it from other religions is this wonderful thing called ‘grace’.

I said that it is a very special kind of love. And as John says in his gospel (v 14) and Paul in his letter to Timothy (v 2) (on your Notice Sheets), it’s source is God himself. We need to note (v 14) as elsewhere in the bible that this grace is intimately connected with truth: they go hand in hand; and they are to be seen and understood supremely in the person, life, and teaching of Jesus, who claimed to be God. That claim alone raises many questions: but I would simply ask you to take the time to examine that person, his life, and teaching, and then give me your well-argued reasons and evidence for not believing him! But not this morning! Let’s just consider these three: Grace, Mercy, and Peace.

I have just returned from a pilgrimage in Portugal where I met many people on the way searching for meaning and answers to life and to their questions. Very few were Christians: but they sensed both a loss and a need to fill that void in themselves and in their lives which the world, with all its amazing material benefits and offers of fulfilment and happiness they had found unsatisfying. Particularly interesting were the many approaches I encountered to truth and to belief: ‘Truth is whatever you make it’; ‘truth is what makes me feel good’; I like to believe that….’; ‘there is no right or wrong; the world just is’; etc, etc. But all were searching, and most felt deeply that there had to more to life, more meaning, more purpose, more truth than they had so far encountered.

And it is to such deep needs and loss and hopes and fears that the Christian Gospel of God’s grace speaks, offering not only answers but relief, fulfilment, and even assurance.

The Christian faith is not the same thing as the Christian Church. The Christian Church ought to be the same as the Christian faith in what she believes and practices but the truth is that the latter, the Church, is a very human institution. And so it contains failings and failures, people who make mistakes, people who are very aware of the gap between what they are and what they ought to be, but also people who realise that they are or ought to be wholly dependent upon God’s grace, mercy, and peace.

But what are these three, and why are they so essential in the Christian faith?

We cannot understand the message of the bible if we do not understand the meaning of grace. But in understanding it we need to be humble in our approach. Why? Because whilst this message has some wonderful things to say about God and his love for us, it also strongly implies some truths about human beings and human nature that are not music to every ear!

God’s grace is his message of love and forgiveness to those who do not deserve it – which means everyone, because none of us is perfect. To claim that we do not need to be forgiven or do not need God’s grace is to cling our pride.

The first hurdle then is to realise that we need God’s grace, and that without it we cannot know God and be reconciled to him. Yes, he loves us more than we could ever imagine, but because he is perfect and we are not, there is a barrier of sin and pride between us. The very purpose of Jesus’ mission was to remove that barrier and make it possible for anyone to be reconciled to God and to know and live with God for ever. All the while we think that we are good enough for God as we are, or that we can earn his favour, , or that my morality, my philosophy, my respectability, my success will get me to Heaven, or even that God owes me in some way, we delude ourselves. To our pride in ourselves God’s grace says you are all guilty. But to the humble who recognise their need of his grace, he is always willing to forgive. Everyone then needs to say sorry genuinely and to accept God’s offer of forgiveness: He can make no exception.

And he does this by asking us to believe in Jesus; to believe that he, Jesus, is God’s chosen way of reconciling the world to himself; to believe that his sacrificial death was the price he was prepared to pay for our reconciliation because he loves us so much that he was prepared to lay down his life for the whole world and for me; to believe not only that we needed to be reconciled but that he has indeed reconciled us; to believe that his resurrection from death proves that all that Jesus claimed and did and taught could be believed; to believe that however terrible or however wonderful our personal track records, we are all in the same boat of need of God’s grace.

God’s mercy is what we receive when we personally accept that grace: we are forgiven and need no longer fear either about God’s love for us or about this life or the next. And therefore we have the promise, and the knowledge, and the comfort of God’s peace, the knowledge and assurance that in this life we can ourselves be at peace because we now have peace with God. We have been forgiven and accepted because we have admitted our need of God’s grace; and our faith in what Jesus has done for us, his most amazing act of self-sacrificial love, has set us free: free to live without emptiness and fear because not only has he answered our deepest questions about the meaning and purpose of life and what will happen to us when we die, but also because he has come by his spirit to live in us (V 14) so that together we can live life abundantly…’to ALL who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God’.

Grace – God’s free gift of reconciling love to the undeserving

Mercy – his forgiveness of those who believe in Jesus, his unique and universal mediator of reconciliation with him

Peace – the knowledge and comfort that we have nothing to fear either in this life or the next because we are at peace with our Creator and Heavenly Father.