OT: 2 Kings 5:1-14 – Elisha and Naaman being healed of leprosy
Gospel: Mark 1:40-45 Jesus heals a man of leprosy
Sermon: Christians live by faith
‘Faith’ is not just an abstract thing;
something to exercise for an hour or so on a Sunday,
but something tangible and practical;
something that keeps us going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When Naaman was healed of his leprosy,
did he did not need faith anymore because his skin was clean?
Of course he did and probably more faith than he ever had in other gods.
When Jesus healed the leper,
did he just go back and live like every other Jew?
The Gospel says ‘No’ and suggests he was a witness
to the importance of faith in Jesus for the rest of his life.
Some people think that the Bible was only written
for a certain period in human history;
for people and situations way back in time,
which are not relevant to people living in 21st century Scotland,
who are more concerned with global warming and high oil prices,
crime in our streets, fighting in the Middle East, the economy and jobs.
But God’s Word is forever, for all societies, for all ages, and for all cultures.
Doctors are important people, well trained
and we rely on their expertise to keep us fit and healthy,
but their value to society will not get them into Heaven.
The same with Lawyers, Accountants, Teachers, Shopkeepers,
politicians, civil servants, students, housewives, and pastors and elders.
Important people such as Soldiers like Naaman,
and unimportant people like the un-named leper who was cleansed by Jesus
all fall short of God’s moral standards, as do we, and all need to be saved.
It is not only the inmates of prisons and young offenders’ institutions
and people like Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein who sin,
although some sins are bigger than others in our eyes;
in God’s eyes, we are all sinners and all need to saved by His grace,
which comes, and only comes, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As part of my studies in Cambridge.
I had to work through a 3-volume set called Christian Dogmatics
by Professor Francis Pieper.
I would like to share with you one of the opening paragraphs in Volume One.
It is a quote by a 19th century Evangelical Lutheran Seminary Professor
called Franz Delitzsche.
He wrote these words in 1839 during celebrations of the 300th anniversary
of the Protestant Reformation: (quote)
"I confess without shame, that in matters of faith,
I am 300 years behind the times,
because I have come to see that God's truth is eternal
and cannot be improved, and is not for man to change.
What was good enough for God in the days of the Prophets,
and good enough for Jesus
and good enough for the Apostles, and early believers,
is good enough for me.
Whereas some people preach "modernism" and "progress" in theology,
I (that is Delitzsche) preach "retrogression"
and appeal to all Christians who have forsaken the Word of God
to return to it". (unquote).
The point Pieper, and Delitzsche before him, were trying to make
is that while fashions come and go,
faith in God's character, God's holiness, God's grace, and God's Word,
is essential for all time and by every human being,
and we are required to believe the things that the first Christians believed
and not compromise our beliefs to fit in with current theories and fancies,
and Political Correctness.
For example, when God gave the Ten Commandments,
they were not rules only for the people of Moses' time,
or for people living in the Middle East,
they were and still are God’s standards
for all people and for all time, including us.
It is as wrong and sinful to steal, lie and kill and commit adultery
and be envious in 2012, as it was in 1445 BC.
This might not suit those who promote popular morality,
and the "live now, pay later" attitude
that has contributed to marital breakdown, teenage pregnancy, abortion,
huge personal debt, and the spread of AIDS,
but God calls a ‘spade’ a ‘spade’, ‘sin’ is still ‘sin’,
and Jesus said contemplating sinful things
was as much a sin as actually doing them.
We are all guilty under the Law to some extent,
although most of us do not like to admit it.
We all sin, so we all need to be saved,
so we all need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Ten Commandments might be considered "old fashioned"
by some today,
but as Delitzsche said, if they were good enough for God,
and good enough for Moses and all the prophets,
and good enough for Jesus, and good enough for the Apostles,
why should they not be good enough for people today?
I am not prophesying the 2nd coming, but in Matthew 24 verse 10,
Jesus said that one of the "signs of the end" would be a great "falling away"
from God's truth,
and sadly we see evidence of exactly that around us every day.
As we look around us we see hundreds, thousands
breaking or ignoring the Ten Commandments every day;
and denying any personal faith in God or Christ,
but Christians like Delitzsche and Pieper would say
this is not progress, it is degeneracy, decadence.
Thank God for medical advances, kidney, heart and lung transplants
and cataract surgery;
and thank God for automatic washing machines, CH, and DG,
but no Government or shop can give what God gives to those with faith.
For well over a thousand years in this country,
the majority of people could recite The Apostles' Creed,
and believed it,
but today how many people can either say or are prepared to confess
that they believe it?
We live in a time when people have largely turned away from God
And only believe in things that make them happy;
and reject anything that doesn’t.
People like the idea of life after death,
but in a Heaven of their own design,
with TV, free drink and good food,
and angels driving white cars and chasing men with nice deodorant.
This might be funny to the Advertising Industry,
but I’m sure God calls such mocking ‘sin’.
If there’s an eternal life, a Heaven, a Paradise,
they want it on their terms, not God's,
and for too long many church leaders and individual ministers
have compromised and watered down their beliefs,
in order to get a few more people in,
and prevent churches from closing or being linked with another one.
So many might say this is just being ‘realistic’
but I’m sure that God calls watering down His precepts and statutes ‘sin’.
I think it is a shame that so many people are not sure about what they believe,
or what the Church expects them to believe
and I wonder what liberal theologians and ministers will say
when they meet God
and receive the judgement they said did not exist.
But in matters of faith, like Pieper, and Delitzsche,
I am happy, proud, to be regarded as old-fashioned
and hundreds of year out of date, by some.
I believe what I believe the early believers believed,
and I pray that millions will repent
and come back to believing the ‘old-fashioned’ Gospel too.
It is good and right that churches have social concerns,
caring activities,
helping the modern-day equivalents of lepers and outcasts,
but that is not what we primarily exist for.
A church’s main activity should be bringing sinners into a relationship with God
and learning more about Him,
and rescuing souls from the grip of the flesh and the devil
and getting them into the Kingdom of God.
This is why we have to proclaim the importance of faith
in God, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit;
in the sinfulness of man; in the resurrection to eternal life;
in the forgiveness of sin; and in the grace and mercy of God.
We may not have leprosy like Naaman or the leper cleansed by Jesus
but we all have needs,
and by faith, we believe God can meet them;
and we all know people who have needs,
whether physical or emotional or social or financial
and we believe God can meet them
and that He answers the prayers of those with faith.
May we be like the cleansed leper
who just could not keep quiet about what God had done for him;
may we constantly be ready
to proclaim the importance of faith in the risen Christ;
something that affects this life as much as the next one.
Amen, and the peace of God ...........................
