June 4-6, 2016 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude GOD HAS COME TO HELP HIS PEOPLE!

PENTECOST 3

June 4-6, 2016

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 7:11-17

 

GOD HAS COME TO HELP HIS PEOPLE!

 

Luke 7:11-17 (NI 1984) “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went along with Him. ¹²As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Don’t cry.” ¹⁴Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. ¹⁶They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great Prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help His people.” ¹⁷This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.”

 

          The death of a loved one is hard. It hurts. It hurts even when you know it’s coming. It hurts even when God has made it clear He is calling your loved one home and the body functions have deteriorated to the point you are praying Lord Jesus come soon. And when He answers your prayer and does, it still hurts. It really hurts when someone dies unexpectedly and too young. That’s the situation we see in God’s word today. A death has occurred unexpectedly and too young. Try to picture in your mind two processions of people walking toward each other. One is a procession of death. They carry the body of a dead man. Ouch. He is the only son of his mother. Ouch Ouch.  And she was a widow. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. In that society this means she will have no means of financial support. A large crowd was with her. You can imagine the somber mood, the tears. Loved ones worrying how she is going to get along. So goes the procession of death. But there is another procession coming straight at the procession of death only it is a procession of life. It’s early on in Jesus’ public ministry. He has done several miracles of healing like the centurion’s servant we heard about last week. A large crowd follows Jesus. You can imagine the mood of this crowd. Buzzing excitement. Happiness. What will he do next? Two processions are coming together. One is coming out of Nain. One is going in. One is a procession of death. The other a procession of life. What will happen when death meets life?

          Let’s find out. “When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her.” Jesus cares. No seriously. Jesus cares. He cares about His people and their hurts. I find that as a person I tend to be very task oriented. When my mind is on a task I can easily get tunnel vision and blot out all else including people in my zeal to get a job done. Jesus in on task with the task that fills the world’s greatest need. He is walking the path of the Messiah, the God sent savior of the world. He has the most important job in the world, literally. But He stops. He stops because He cares. He cares about people. His heart went out to her. He’s not happy about the hurt sin has brought to her life. There’s more. “He said, “Don’t cry.” This isn’t a heartless, “Quit your whining. There are people who are worse off than you,” comparison game that some people use to try to comfort others. It’s not the “Don’t cry,” of “Put on your big girl pants and deal with it. People die. That’s what they do.” This is the “Don’t cry,” that comes from a caring Savior who has everything under control, who knows the good He has planned for His people. “Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

          Two processions meet each other. One a procession of death. The other a procession of life. What happens when they meet? Life wins. Life wins when Jesus is involved. We need to understand what happened here. It is not normal for God to step in and break the rules He Himself set up. The wages of sin is death. A consequence of sin coming into the world is that people die. The Bible records very few instances of the dead coming back to life. And we need to understand that those who were brought back to life died again. So what’s the point? What’s the purpose? The people in the two processions got it. “They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great Prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help His people.” God has come to help His people. Jesus paused from His task, He broke God’s normal way of operating so that these people would know that God had not forgotten about them, that He cared about their hurts and He had come to help His people.

You wonder if they realized how true their statement was. God had come to help His people. This miracle is a preview, a sneak peak, of what Jesus will do for every believer in Him. Remember Jesus is the Messiah. He is the God sent Savior of the world. That is His mission from the Father. He did not come to temporarily raise people back from the dead to continue living in a sin sick world and only to have them die again. He didn’t come to give hurting heart mother some temporary relief. He came to grab death and the Devil by the throat, squeeze their life out of them and free people to live forever. He came to shake His almighty first at the enemis of His people and say, "Devil, you will not have my people. Death you do not reign.,” He came to march resolutely to the cross. While no soldier is strong enough nor nails powerful enough to hold Him to the cross, Jesus’ love for you did. Jesus stayed there until every one of your sins were paid for, yours, mine everyone’s! By that sacrifice Jesus gained the power and authority to say on the last day, “Young man, young woman, old man, old woman, unborn child, little one, I say to you ‘Get up!’” and He will give them back to their mothers. God has come to help his people!

          Now brothers and sisters there are often two reactions that take place in our hearts when we hear about the miracles that Jesus did. The first is often that childlike one, the one that also occurred the first time your parents read you the story from a Bible story book. Wow! Jesus is amazing. He can do anything! My God is so great, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing that He cannot do! Such is the response of a childlike faith. But then in the hearts of God’s people who aren’t children anymore, who have to work to have childlike faith there can be another reaction. The reaction that comes from a hurting heart. Where’s my miracle? Jesus where were you when I needed you, when I prayed for you to heal my child, my spouse, my parent? Where were you Jesus? And the Devil seeks to use your hurting heart against you, to drive a wedge between you and the one who loves you most.

          At those times brothers and sisters turn your eyes to the cross. This one when you are at church, the one hanging in your home when you are there. Let your eyes rest on the cross for if you want an answer to the question, “Where were you Jesus?” see Him on the cross. His real work was not to provide a temporary fix to all the ills of sin in our world but a permanent one. He has done that. There were plenty of people who died when Jesus walked the earth whom he did not raise. There were plenty of lame, and blind and sick people who were not healed. And those who were eventually died anyway. But God has come to help his people with the help that lasts forever. Brothers and sisters, you are his people. All the hurts that you experience in this life are a direct result of sin. Death. Sickness. Diseases. Body parts that do not work. Broken families. Children that stray. It’s all because of sin and God has come to help his people. Jesus came and has taken care of sin. When your heart is hurting Jesus’ heart goes out to you. He cares about you and don’t think that He’s doing nothing about it. What’s He’s done you can’t see yet. He’s going to make everything new. He tells you, “You don’t have to cry!” God has come to help His people. He has helped you. Jesus has defeated sin. Now its effects are temporary. When death meets life, life wins when Jesus is involved. And Jesus is involved in your life and mine.

          When the people of Nain saw what Jesus had done, they were filled with awe and praised God. God had come to help His people. Brothers and sisters, we have seen what Jesus has done. This miracle and many more. Whether the people of Nain knew how true their statement was or not, I don’t know. But we know the big picture. We know how God has come to help His people. We now also know how to respond. Amen.