The King That Heals Our Fears

[0:00] All right, thank you very much, Alan. Good morning, everybody. Y'all doing well? This has been an amazing morning so far. I don't know how you guys were affected during worship.

[0:13] I deeply was. And it's interesting because you feel like sometimes God just keeps telling one story throughout. And so you're going to see some commonalities, some common threads, even in the sermon I'm giving today in the passage.

[0:25] And so if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to Mark chapter 5. And we're going to be starting from verse 21. And the passage we're reading today, it covers two encounters that Jesus has with separate people.

[0:41] And both of them are in desperate situations. And they both need something from him that only he can provide. But what they end up getting is a lot more than what they bargained for.

[0:56] And so we're going to be looking at that. So let's dive in. Mark chapter 5, verse 21. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him and he was beside the sea.

[1:09] Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, my little daughter is at the point of death.

[1:22] Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. And he went out with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

[1:44] She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And immediately the flow of blood dried up.

[1:58] And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?

[2:12] And his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing around you and yet you say, who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

[2:27] And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, your daughter is dead.

[2:44] Why trouble the teacher any further? But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe.

[2:55] And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

[3:10] And when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

[3:26] Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha Kamai, which means little girl, I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age.

[3:41] And they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

[3:52] This is God's word. Two pretty incredible stories kind of meshed together, right? And what's fascinating about them is that they are calling us to notice something beyond the two miracles themselves.

[4:06] Jesus heals the woman and then this child. But that is not the main part of the story. Mark is doing more than trying to convince us yet again that Jesus has power and authority to heal every sickness and even death.

[4:25] There's something else at work in both of these stories, which is why he includes it. There is a common thread that is actually the greater issue. And it's actually the greater need we all have.

[4:37] Jesus sees it even when they don't because Jesus knows our real needs better than we do. So we might ask ourselves, what could be more important than a woman's bleeding coming to an end or this child being healed?

[4:52] Well, verse 33 says the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear. And then in verse 36, when the synagogue ruler, the people came to him and said, hey, your daughter's dead.

[5:11] Don't bother the teacher. Jesus overheard what they said. And he said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear. So these folks, they had big problems, serious illnesses that couldn't be fixed by doctors.

[5:28] Jesus sees the affliction. He is willing to help and has the power to heal. But he sees beyond the affliction as well. He sees something else that is just as important that needs to be dealt with in their lives.

[5:40] And that is this thing, fear. But this kind of fear isn't the kind of fear that fuels our faith in God. It's not a reverent kind of fear knowing who God is.

[5:52] It is a fear that is fueled by doubt and by shame. And Jesus wants to deal with those fears because doubt and shame are fears that keep us distant from Jesus.

[6:06] Jairus, he is the guy that had the doubt problem. And for good reason. His daughter was dead. That was the final word. So it makes sense.

[6:17] Hey, just don't bother the teacher. Don't bother the rabbi anymore. And what happens is his doubt pushes Jesus away. He doesn't invite Jesus to enter into the depths of his hopelessness.

[6:30] He could not conceive how the one who heals diseases might be able to raise his daughter from the dead. Now, there's a lot of us that connect with that, right?

[6:42] We connect with Jairus' doubt. It is much easier, if we're honest, to be cynical and hedge our bets that God won't come through sometimes.

[6:54] It's safer not to trust him and invite him into what we've ordained as the impossible. Better to live without hope than to hope and trust in God and then not be vindicated.

[7:06] Here's why I think we're tempted to do this. We use doubt to protect our faith. Doubt keeps God at bay.

[7:19] It never lets him into certain circumstances so that we never find out what he might not have done for us. And we take that as a form of reassurance.

[7:32] But, as the Bible says, the essence of faith is the assurance of things unseen. See, doubt is fueled by fear.

[7:44] The fear that we can't handle the unseen future that we don't know. What if God doesn't come through for me? What if he doesn't answer those prayers that I've been praying to him?

[7:56] So we comfort ourselves by thinking, you know what, it's just wiser to exclude God from this. Don't go to him in prayer. Don't invite him into our pain. And you can do this.

[8:07] And you can still believe in him. You just will never live in the risk of him letting you down. And yet, isn't it often in the disappointments that we find out how strong our bonds of love are?

[8:23] That's the danger of living in the fear of doubt. It is a shallow relationship with Jesus that keeps him at a safe distance. But doubt isn't the only fear that keeps Jesus at a distance.

[8:36] Let's look at the women with the issue of blood now. It says in verse 27, she had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

[8:46] For she said, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And immediately the flow of blood dried up. And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Now, we read these verses.

[8:57] And I'm sure, like most of us, we've grown hearing this story. And we just applaud this lady's faith. I mean, she believed that Jesus had such power and such authority that all she had to do was but touch his garment.

[9:11] That was it. But again, there's a lot more going on here. Consider how differently she approaches Jesus to how Jairus did. Remember, Jairus came to Jesus, fell at his feet, made a spectacle of himself in front of the crowd, begged Jesus to come heal his daughter.

[9:30] He was the ruler of a synagogue, an important and well-known and revered religious figure in his community. And yet Jairus isn't too proud to beg. But this lady doesn't beg.

[9:43] She doesn't cry out. She doesn't come to Jesus in the same way. She wants to stay hidden. She wants to keep her distance. Why?

[9:54] Well, let's step into her sandals for a moment. Her issue of blood, which is constant menstruation, was more than an inconvenient condition.

[10:09] It was a banner of shame that she could not hide. She would have been considered unclean and unable to go to temple or synagogue, according to the law of Moses. Also, it was widely accepted in Jewish society that afflictions, much like the one she is experiencing here, were evidence of God's judgment for sin.

[10:31] Even Jesus' own disciples thought this way. Let's look at a story from John chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. It says, We read that and we're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe they said that.

[10:53] And we're kind of all hoping Jesus responds with the appropriately sarcastic version of, bless your hearts. Right? Now, we might be shocked that the disciples would say something like that, but they are saying what everyone else around them was already thinking.

[11:12] They're saying the quiet part out loud. Any blind, any lame, any leper, any sick, it was God's judgment for sin. This lady had been living under that shame and scrutiny for 12 years of her life.

[11:28] She probably believed it herself. And I'll bet she felt unworthy to approach this man of God that some called rabbi, others a great prophet, and others still wondering if he was the long-awaited Messiah.

[11:42] Jesus was too important, she might have thought, to become unclean on account of her. To openly appeal to Jesus would mean for her to risk him recoiling from her publicly.

[11:59] Her condition told her who she was, unworthy, unclean, unforgiven. And her shame is what kept her in hiding from Jesus.

[12:10] Like doubt, the danger of living with the fear of shame is that it keeps Jesus at a safe distance. But here's the good news for us.

[12:22] Jesus isn't deterred by our fears. This lady got her physical healing. She was probably figuring out her exit strategy at that moment, how to split the scene as fast as possible, but Jesus isn't done with her.

[12:37] Verse 30. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

[12:49] And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, Who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. She's hiding.

[13:00] Jesus is seeking. Now, it may not seem like a big deal that Jesus stops. But consider the context. He is on his way to heal a little girl, a 12-year-old girl, who was on death's door.

[13:17] And it's a little girl of a very important man in the community. Time was of the essence. And yet, Jesus stops.

[13:27] What does this tell you about how important this woman is to Jesus? What do you think it communicates to her?

[13:40] Jesus is saying that she is as important as the pressing need of the synagogue ruler. That had probably never happened in her life.

[13:53] At least in those 12 years. In fact, this was probably something very new to the disciples and the crowd, that Jesus would do this. But Jesus is not going to let her slip away.

[14:08] He knows she needs more. And look what his efforts produce. She comes out of hiding. Verse 33. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

[14:25] Coming out of the shadows cost her a lot. She didn't come skipping to Jesus, yelling and telling everyone what had happened to her. So confidently, she came in fear and she came in trembling.

[14:38] Jesus called her out of hiding a lot like God called Adam and Eve out of hiding in the garden. It is a terrifying thing to stop hiding and to bring yourself out in the open.

[14:52] And that's what she did. She told Jesus the whole truth, it says. Everything she was. And why she did what she did.

[15:02] And Jesus was not deterred by her shame. In the same way, he wasn't deterred by Jairus' doubt. He tells Jairus to believe. And then he goes to his house where he's confronted with more doubters.

[15:17] Look at what it says. In verse 38. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. And Jesus saw a commotion. People weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

[15:31] The child is not dead but sleeping. And they laughed at him. I don't know about you, but I often shrink back when people don't believe in me.

[15:44] If I'm stepping into something and I'm putting myself out there and being vulnerable and it's not received well, I don't want to push through. But Jesus seems immune to that.

[15:55] And here's why he isn't deterred. Because Jesus has the power to heal our fears. Which is what we really need. But the question is, how does he heal us from our doubt and our shame?

[16:08] Now what is interesting about this passage is that we see common ground in what Jesus does to both parties. In both cases, what he does to heal them from their fears is bring them into his truth.

[16:22] Now this method is different for each person. But it's because he knows how to deal with each of us right where we are at. But the point remains, Jesus' truth frees us from our fears.

[16:35] Let's look at how he does this with our shame. It says in verse 33 that this lady came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

[16:45] Told him everything. And that is the pathway of healing from shame. Freedom from our shame can only come by confessing what is true. That can be confessing your sin.

[16:58] But it can also be confessing things that you are suffering or have suffered. This lady, she isn't confessing sin. She is confessing the reason she wanted to stay in hiding.

[17:10] Which meant confessing her illness at the risk of everybody in that crowd around her judging her and knowing exactly who she was. And even with the possibility of them heaping shame upon her.

[17:22] See, she wanted a salvation story of Jesus healed me, but now I don't have to deal with my past. Jesus says, no. I don't just heal your present. I don't just heal your future.

[17:34] I heal you from your past too. So he calls her out of hiding to heal her from the shame of who she was. But to do that, she has to confess.

[17:48] We might be thinking, man, that sounds absolutely terrible. Maybe you're wrestling with something internally right now. You're just like, oof, I don't know if I could confess that that sounds like the worst thing in the world.

[18:01] Is it really necessary? Yes, it is. Confession is saying true things. Confession is naming things as they truly are.

[18:13] And there is a biblical truth that begins in Genesis. There is something about naming and authority. So you see, when Adam is created, God brings him animals and he's given the authority to name them.

[18:27] When we name things as they truly are, we come into the correct balance of authority in our lives.

[18:38] So when we don't confess sin, when we don't confess the pain and the suffering that we experienced, guess what has authority over us? And keeps having authority over us.

[18:50] Those things we refuse to confess. Those things we refuse to bring into the light and to name for what they truly are. And before you think it's easy to confess, I want to say it's not.

[19:03] I've done some hard confessing in my lives. And that whole thing of her coming with fear and trembling, I say yes and amen to that. I was like, hey, sister, I got you on that.

[19:14] I know right where you're at. Recently, I had to look at one of my teenage sons in the eye and confess how I sinned against him. It was not easy.

[19:24] I felt shame. I felt emotional. My voice was trembly. And I had to confess to him that I had spoken to him in disciplining him in an overly harsh way, in an unkind way.

[19:37] I grabbed a hold of him by his arms much too aggressively, more than I should have. And I did it to try to intimidate him. And I had to repent.

[19:48] I had to tell him what I did was wrong. It didn't represent what a good father does in their discipline. And how they're supposed to discipline their children in love. And that he deserved better.

[19:58] That I dishonored him and I dishonored God in the way that I had acted. And because of my sinful behavior, I had opened the door to the possibility of leading him to believe that it's okay for other people to treat him that way.

[20:12] I said all of that out loud to him. In very clear detail because that is the whole truth. That is naming the sin for what it is. And I needed to expose the full ugliness of it.

[20:24] And the destructiveness of my sin. For his sake and for mine. Confession is speaking truth to our sin.

[20:36] About our sin. And also about the ways others have sinned against us. Because both of those cause us to carry shame. And Jesus is all about setting us free from it.

[20:50] Look at how he responds to her confession. Verse 34. And he said to her. Daughter. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. And be healed of your disease.

[21:02] Jesus hears her confess truth. And responds by speaking his truth. Over her. His first word to her.

[21:14] Is daughter. He could have said woman. He didn't. He didn't. He says daughter.

[21:25] And what this tells about us. What this tells us about Jesus and about God. Is that they are relational. They are familial in their love.

[21:36] And caring in their love. And connected so deeply that way to us. Jesus' salvation is ultimately about restoring that relationship that sin has destroyed.

[21:49] And in that one word. Daughter. Jesus is publicly bestowing honor to this lady. And he is restoring her dignity.

[22:01] Remember to this crowd. Jesus is an important somebody. He is a man of God. So his words carry significant weight. And he calls her daughter.

[22:13] And then commends her faith. To the crowd who were thinking her sin made her sick. Jesus has the final word and says, Your faith has made you well.

[22:25] He sends her in peace. He sends her in wholeness. And affirms that she is truly healed. No one in that crowd contradicts or questions this to be true.

[22:39] She leaves healed. And she leaves truly free from condemnation. Jesus speaks his truth over us. To heal us from our shame.

[22:50] But we have to be willing to face it with him. Which is the same way Jesus heals us from our doubts. Remember that Jairus had given up on his daughter because he died. She died.

[23:00] He couldn't risk opening himself up to the possibility that there still might be hope there. But look how Jesus deals with him in this situation. Verse 40.

[23:13] Jesus had just told them and the crowd like, No, no, she's not. She's just sleeping. What are you guys tripping out about? They laughed at him. But he, Jesus, put them all outside.

[23:26] And took the child's father and mother and those who were with him. And went in where the child was. Jesus does two things in this verse. He separates Jairus and his wife from the crowd of doubters.

[23:40] And then he brings them in with him to face their doubt. Jesus could have left them outside and just done this miracle. And then brought the young lady out.

[23:51] All healed up and ready to go. But he doesn't. Why? Because he needs them to face their doubt. He wants them to know what he knows.

[24:01] He understands their doubts are real. Their daughter is really laying there dead. See how Jesus deals with their doubts in such a meaningful and kind way.

[24:14] And in that place, looking at the source of their doubt, Jesus brings them into his truth, his greater truth. Verse 41, taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha Kumai, which means, Little girl, I say to you, arise.

[24:31] And immediately the girl got up and began walking. Death does not have the final word.

[24:48] Jesus does. Jesus is the king that heals our fears with his truth. And he does that because he wants to be more to us than just a vector of blessing.

[25:00] He wants genuine, authentic, intimate relationship. He wants you and I to know you are his precious daughter.

[25:12] You are his precious son. He wants to restore to us dignity, wholeness, peace where it has been robbed.

[25:22] As the band comes up, how can we respond? If you're here and you're not yet a Christian, the invitation from Jesus is just to come.

[25:36] You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to get your life in order. You don't have to get your act together. Come to him as you are. Come with what you got in your hand.

[25:47] And if all you got in your hand is your fears and your doubts and your sin and your shame, he says, bring it all. Bring it to me. He is the truth that heals you.

[25:59] He is the truth that sets you free. He is the truth that you get to walk in and submit to and live for.

[26:10] And the invitation is offering to you is come. Believe that and receive that. And in a moment, there's going to be a prayer for you to pray if that's you.

[26:22] By praying that prayer, the Bible says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us. It also says when we confess with your mouth and believe that Jesus is Lord, then you will be saved.

[26:37] That's all we have to do. That's what salvation is. And so in a moment, we're all going to pray, but you can pray that prayer that's up on the screen. And that prayer is a prayer of salvation.

[26:49] I'm going to invite you to do that. And for those of us in the room who are Christians, you would consider yourself a follower of Jesus. I want to ask us, how is God calling you and me to respond?

[27:00] Where is he calling you to let him into your doubt? Where is he calling you like the song we sung, calling you out on the waters, the unsafe place where it's a little bit risky to trust in him?

[27:20] That's what faith is about. Faith is about trust. Where is he calling you to speak truth and name? Maybe it's some sin.

[27:32] Maybe it's suffering. You might be carrying shame from any of those things. Take the risk and open yourself to him today. He is a good savior who heals.

[27:46] He never rejects us. In a moment, we're going to take communion. And communion is a wonderful way to remember that we are his. And he is ours.

[27:59] And nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. It's a meal of participation with our Savior. But before we do that, the Bible commands us to prepare our hearts by examining them.

[28:14] And I just want to give us a moment to do that. Maybe some of those questions kind of pinged something in you that we can just silently go and do business with God right now. And confess some things that we need to confess.

[28:26] And you know what? When we do that, man, it says, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Not some sins, all sin.

[28:36] Any sin. Bring it to him. He forgives us and he purifies us from all unrighteousness. So let's take 30 seconds.

[28:47] Let's examine our hearts. Let's do some business with God. Let's go for it. Let's do some business with God.

[29:20] Let's do some business with God.

[29:50] It stirs up both hope and insecurity all at the same time. Many of us are thinking, gosh, there's some people I'm going to have to go say sorry to now.

[30:04] There's something that I've been holding in that I feel like is just like begging to come out that I need to confess.

[30:17] Some pain or suffering in my past. Can I trust your people with God? Just pray, Holy Spirit, that you wouldn't let this moment go and disappear, that we would forget.

[30:34] That you would give us the strength and the courage to continue to take another step in truth and another step in truth and another step in truth.

[30:48] And as we do that, we would realize the increase of freedom. That is ours in you.

[31:02] I pray that in your name. Amen. Amen.