Real Life Selkirk
**FEB 15** The Cry of the Desperate (Matthew 8:1-17)
  • The Lord's Prayer (It's Yours)
  • Let The Redeemed
  • My King Forever
  • Morning By Morning

  • Happy Feet Announcement Week 1

    Baptism Video/Celebration- Jennifer Duffy & Victoria Maldonado

    Sermon

    Key Passage

    Matthew 8:1–17 NIV
    When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

    Vision/Mission/Process

    Vision- We exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time
    Mission- We create Biblical Disciples in Relational Environments
    Process- We intentionally walk with others as they grow from infants to parenthood in the faith

    Introduction

    We are making an important transition in our sermon series.
    Around Christmas, we began the book of Matthew.
    Matthew 1-7 The Arrival of the King
    Matthew 8-13 The Authority of the King
    Matthew 14-20 Kingdom Living
    Matthew 21-28 The King and His Crown
    As we have begun this book, I hope you have seen very clearly that Jesus’ arrival is significant.
    He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God.
    The arrival of Jesus naturally brings with it the inception of His Kingdom
    He introduced His Kingdom to His disciples on the Sermon on the Mount
    Jesus did not come and replace the law.
    He didn’t disregard the old approach as outlined in the Scriptures.
    Rather, He fulfilled the law
    No one is capable of following the law perfectly.
    Because of this all man is separated from God
    Jesus came in love to reintroduce the humanity God created in His image to the Father that they had separated themselves from
    In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus revealed His nature of mercy, compassion and generosity.
    Jesus challenged us to follow Him. By following Him, we will be changed by Him
    That change will reflect the Father’s glory to the world around us.
    It is not enough that we simply reflect what the Father has changed in us. As we continue, there is a follow-through of living the love of the Father out with others as we bring them to maturity in discipleship.
    In this next segment of the book of Matthew, Matthew will reveal Jesus’ authority.
    Jesus isn’t simply some guy that everyone surrendered to His authority.
    Jesus had authority over every aspect of life that we can imagine:
    Sickness, time, spiritual, nature, everything that you can think of in every capacity.
    And we are called to a corresponding faith when we discover His authority.
    Today we begin to uncover the journey of seeing Jesus’ authority as King.

    Sermon

    Setting

    If we view the first 7 chapters of Matthew as the introduction to Jesus, now we will begin to observe this Messiah in His ministry.
    Matthew 8:1 NIV
    When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
    This is directly connected to Matthew’s last statement of setting:
    Matthew 5:1–2 NIV
    Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
    In Matthew 4, Jesus called His disciples then began doing some miracles.
    Big crowds started to follow Him.
    He went up on the mountainside and began to preach and then preached the Sermon on the Mount
    Now we see that as Jesus was coming back down from the mountainside the large crowds continued to follow Him.

    Leper

    Matthew 8:2 NIV
    A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
    I want to take a brief journey into this story, because it is a fascinating story of Jesus’ identity and authority.
    Leprosy can be any number of skin related ailments. If you want a pretty gross definition of skin ailments that were considered leprosy, go read Leviticus 13. Fascinating read. Really gross.
    We don’t know exactly what version or ailment this man had, but we do know that he was considered a leper.
    I do want to read to you what the law said about how he was to live:
    Leviticus 13:45–46 NIV
    “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.
    A person with leprosy:
    Torn clothes
    Unkempt hair
    Cover lower part of their face
    A person with leprosy:
    Cry out “Unclean! Unclean!”
    Ceremonially unclean (no temple, no sacrifice)
    Live alone outside of camp (city)
    Let’s take a moment to consider the life of this man.
    He likely had family, friends, spirituality, a job and a life
    Then leprosy struck.
    Leprous suffering
    He had an incurable skin disease that tormented him every day.
    He had to be excluded from every relationship he had
    Can you imagine that?
    Alone, forgotten, abandoned.
    Live in utter poverty
    Publicly humiliated
    He had to call out, “Unclean!” everywhere he went
    He had to do this to make sure no one would come near him.
    He had to become socially unpresentable so people would see him and go the other way.
    Spiritually abandoned
    Where was God?
    Was his leprosy a curse from God?
    Was it because of something he had done?
    He couldn’t go to the temple
    He couldn’t make sacrifice for his sin
    He couldn’t go and repent.
    There was no way out of this place he was in
    I don’t know how this man heard about Jesus, but he did.
    I think about the verse in Romans 10 that says, “Blessed are the feet of those who bring good news.”
    There is some unmentioned, unknown, and possibly unknowing person in heaven that told this man about Jesus
    Jesus had only been on the scene for a short time, but this man had heard enough.
    He was desperate
    There was no hope and only suffering as the prognosis for the rest of his days.
    In his desperation, he heard about Jesus.
    He likely heard that Jesus was on the mountain preaching a sermon in a bunch of crowds.
    As a leper, he couldn’t go climb the mountain and disrupt Jesus.
    So he waited until Jesus came back down.
    As Jesus began to walk with the crowds around him, he boldly approached Jesus.
    He likely shouted “Unclean! Unclean!” as he walked.
    I imagine that the crowd parted like the Red Sea in front of Moses.
    He saw Jesus and kneeled in front of Him.
    His words are profound:
    “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
    He knelt before Jesus. He didn’t touch him. If he touched him, it would make Jesus ceremonially unclean just like the leper.
    He knelt in submission before Jesus and said, “Lord”
    He doesn’t say “teacher”
    He doesn’t say “healer”
    He says, “Lord”
    We’ve talked about this and the balance between those who say “Lord” and what that means.
    If you say someone is your parent, you imply you are their child
    If you say someone is your teacher, you imply you are their student
    If this man says, “Lord”, he is implying His surrender to the authority of Jesus.
    Deeper than this, we see that this man knows the authority of Jesus.
    He doesn’t ask, “If you are able, can you make me clean.”
    He says, “If you ware willing, you can make me clean”
    His recognition of Jesus authority is unquestioned. The only question is if Jesus is willing to use His authority on a man that the rest of society had thrown away.
    There is a principle here that we will uncover as we continue in this text
    Desperation leads to dependence
    Matthew 8:3 NIV
    Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
    Jesus reached out his hand and touched this leper.
    This man may not have been touched by another human being for years.
    The value of touch is something that we don’t often think about.
    We all fixate on the miracle of the cleansing of the leprosy.
    But what about the miracle of a man who was alone, abandoned and desperate feeling the touch of the Almighty God.
    What did the touch say?
    You are not alone
    You are not forgotten
    You are seen
    You have value
    You are loved
    I believe this may have been the greater miracle in this man’s heart that day.
    This miracle was personal.
    Matthew 8:4 NIV
    Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
    This is where this passage gets interesting:
    Jesus says, “Don’t go tell anyone. Rather go show yourself to the priest and give an offering as a testimony to them.”
    Why did Jesus say, “Don’t tell anyone.”?
    I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say.
    But there are two things at play here that we must consider:
    First, this was a personal miracle for this person. The work of God and the Word of God was for this man’s heart at this time.
    Second, the miracle is not “official” until he is declared clean by the priests.
    Jesus tells this man to go and jump through the rules of the law and as he does this, it would be a testimony of some sort to the priests.
    This is where I want to camp for a few minutes.
    This former-leper is instructed not to tell anyone what has happened and to go the priests
    First, we need to see that Jesus is again reiterating that He is not eliminating the law. He is fulfilling the law.
    But the act of this leper would not simply be fulfilling the law. It would be revealing Jesus to the priests.
    Here is what the sacrifice of a leper calls for:
    Leviticus 14:1–7 NIV
    The Lord said to Moses, “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease, the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
    This desperate outcast shows up to the temple with a couple of birds, a plank of cedar, some yard and a tree branch.
    One of the birds is killed and its blood was poured into a bowl
    Then the live bird has to be dipped into the blood of the dead bird and set free.
    Then the blood of the dead bird has to be sprinkled on the leper and he is set free.
    What testimony do you think Jesus is sending to the priests?
    What a beautiful picture.
    Jesus is showing Himself to be the bird that dies so that his blood will cover the other bird and it can be free.
    This first miracle is profound and packed with the authority of Jesus

    Centurion

    Matthew 8:5–6 NIV
    When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
    The next person who comes to Jesus is a centurion.
    The fact that this is a centurion is interesting.
    I would like to give a little context to this centurion so we can get to know him a bit.
    Centurions:
    Roman Citizens
    Commanded up to 100 men
    Not permitted to be married
    Centurions were considered to be the backbone of the Roman army.
    They were field commanders who went with their troops into battle
    The ancient Roman Historian Polybius says,
    “These men must not be so much seekers after danger, as men who can command. Steady in action and reliable. They ought not to be over anxious to rush into the fight, but when hard-pressed they must be ready to hold their ground and die at their posts.”— Polybius
    This centurion had a “doulos” (slave).
    Since a Roman centurion was not allowed to be married, he would likely have loyal slaves that would manage his estate for when he went to battle.
    The relationship between a centurion and his slave would likely be very close as friends and trustworthy partners.
    The nearest Roman garrison was in Syria. There was not a Roman garrison in Israel at that time. There were Roman soldiers, but not typically centurions unless they were there for a specific purpose.
    Matthew 4:24 NIV
    News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
    Again, we ask the question, “How did this Roman centurion hear about Jesus?”
    The word of Jesus had spread all over the region, even likely to Syria where this centurion was stationed.
    This centurion had a servant who appears to be a boy who is paralyzed.
    There is no hope for this boy.
    There are no medical remedies for his condition. A Roman centurion would have access to the best of what the Roman empire could offer for this situation.
    The centurion loves his servant. But the servant is paralyzed.
    Again, we see the hopelessness of the situation. This is their lot in life, until they hear about Jesus.
    The fact the centurion comes to see Jesus himself outlines a similar word that we saw with the leper: desperation.
    When we used this word with the leprous man, we said:
    Desperation leads to dependence
    Here is how the story plays out:
    Matthew 8:5–9 NIV
    When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
    Jesus sees the desperation in the man. The desperation that has led him to a place of dependent faith in who Jesus is.
    I want you to see that the centurion doesn’t question if this is something Jesus can do.
    He recognizes that this is an issue of authority.
    He doesn’t believe so that Jesus will have authority, like somehow Jesus power and authority are connected to his faith.
    Rather, He recognizes Jesus authority and submits to it and acknowledges Jesus as Lord.
    Matthew 8:10 NIV
    When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
    For you Bible scholars out there here is a tidbit of information for you. There are only two times in the Gospel accounts that Jesus is amazed.
    This is one of them.
    The other is Mark 6:6
    Mark 6:6 NIV
    He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
    Jesus shows amazement in two places.
    This place with a Gentile centurion
    The other place is his literal hometown where he was amazed at their lack of faith.
    What faith is seen?
    This centurion didn’t have a lifetime and a heritage of Jewish teaching that outlines the law and the work of God throughout history. All he had were a couple of stories.
    But somehow, the centurion recognized that Jesus was the Messiah and had all authority in heaven and on earth.
    Because of this, the centurion humbly approached Jesus with his request. He didn’t lay down his resume of good things he has done.
    He recognized that he was unworthy and acknowledged it.
    Jesus saw his humility, his desperation and his faith.
    He gave the command as one with authority would do and the boy was healed.
    Jesus expressed his amazement with a statement of rebuke against the Jews.
    Matthew 8:11–13 NIV
    I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
    Jesus opens up an understanding of the Kingdom of God that is way out of the expectation.
    To the Jewish people, they connected the Kingdom of heaven to the promise God gave to Abraham.
    Somehow, because of their nationality, genetics, or ancestry they would be grandfathered into the Kingdom.
    But Jesus says, “People will come from the east and the west and become a part of the Kingdom”
    What is he diagramming. He is in mid-conversation with the centurion talking about faith.
    But there are those that are given the kingdom that will be cast out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
    This is a hard statement. The Jewish people were handed the Kingdom. The Messiah was one of them. But just because they were Jews had no bearing on their access to the Kingdom.
    It was possible to be so close that they missed it.
    It was also possible that there were those who were so far on the outside that they would get it.

    Mother-In-Law

    Before diving into this fully, I need to ask, are there any mothers-in-laws in the room?
    This is for you.
    Matthew 8:14 NIV
    When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
    I’m going to use my God-given imagination for this.
    Jesus just hiked a mountain, preached a really long sermon
    Big crowds are following him
    How does Jesus feel?
    Exhausted, burnt out, hungry, ready for a break.
    Peter says, “Come over to my house. We’ll get some food and take a break.”
    Jesus and the disciples show up and there isn’t any food. In fact Peter’s MIL is in bed with a fever.
    Jesus is hungry, right?
    Matthew 8:15 NIV
    He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
    The Bible says it. Not me.
    In all seriousness, we can talk about this for a minute.
    There is some discussion surrounding this question, “Was Peter married?”
    The Bible never mentions Peter’s wife, but I don’t think he went to market and picked out a mother-in-law just because he wanted one.
    1 Corinthians 9:5 NIV
    Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?
    1 Corinthians shows us that a number of the apostles had wives.
    It makes sense to me. Peter was married.
    Can we set that question to rest?
    Matthew 8:16–17 NIV
    When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
    Jesus continued to demonstrate His authority in amazing ways.
    He cast out demons with a word
    Literally, this is the Greek word “logos”
    It wasn’t some mystical word.
    It wasn’t by method, mysticism, or even by unique ministry
    It was simply His authority.
    He spoke a word. The Word was His nature. It was literally the Word of God
    His authority over Satan was clear
    We will get more into this later.

    Preaching

    I’ve said a couple of times today:
    Desperation leads to dependence
    Desperation is not something we can just drum up on our own.
    I cannot say, “Go home and get desperate for Jesus, then expect us to be desperate for Jesus”
    Desperation is rooted in two truths
    Desperation means we understand:
    our helplessness
    &
    His authority
    If we were only helpless and there was no hope, we wouldn’t be desperate. We would be defeated and hopeless
    Desperation comes only when there is hope.
    We cannot be desperate if we do not understand our condition as human beings
    Like the leper, we are completely helpless
    However, our terminal sickness is not leprosy, or cancer, or any other physical disease.
    We all suffer from the terminal disease of sin.
    It is not simply a disease we contracted by hanging around other sinners, so it may be their fault as well as ours.
    It is a disease that we have all partaken in voluntarily.
    Contrary to God’s law, we have all drunk deeply from the well of sin, even knowing that it will lead to death.
    We did this in rebellion to God.
    It has grave consequences in this life as well as in eternity.
    We do not deserve hope. Our condition is a consequence of our own doing.
    But when we see the hope of Jesus Christ and realize the depths of His love for us, we find light in our darkness
    Jesus has authority over sin and death.
    There is no method, no religion, no pathway out of our lot in life because of sin, except Jesus
    He is the light
    May we recognize His authority and fall to our knees before him and cry out like the leper,
    “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
    This call is a recognition of His nature and His authority
    This plea is a surrender of our lives that have led us to this place of hopelessness
    This statement is a call to discipleship in faith that we will depend on Jesus for the outcomes of our lives.
    GOSPEL PRESENTATION
    DIRECTED PRAYER/COMMUNION
    ANNOUNEMENTS: HAPPY FEET SIGN-UPS

      • Matthew 8:1–17NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:1NIV2011

      • Matthew 5:1–2NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:2NIV2011

      • Leviticus 13:45–46NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:3NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:4NIV2011

      • Leviticus 14:1–7NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:5–6NIV2011

      • Matthew 4:24NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:5–9NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:10NIV2011

      • Mark 6:6NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:11–13NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:14NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:15NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 9:5NIV2011

      • Matthew 8:16–17NIV2011

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