October 4, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms
What do we mean by Apostolic?
I believe I have some credibility when I say that the defining element of the Apostolic movement is zeal for the Lord...
Your strength is often also your weakness...
We have done some harm by being zealous in a less than temperate way... as pastors, as parents, as soul- winners...
Medicine is such a respectable profession today... But this wasn’t always so…
There were honorable physicians among the Jews, but the writings of the rabbis include this line: “The best among the physicians are destined for hell.” And so, in the Mishnah, physicians are listed among the “trades of robbers.”
If a doctor wanted to cheat you... there would be very little you could do about it.
The Hippocratic Oath bans doctors from poisoning their patients. Strange. But consider the Romans...Romans hated their doctors. Rome’s first official physician, Arcagthus, was given the nickname Carniflex, meaning executioner. Roman physicians were, however, expert poisoners, and Roman doctors were routinely hired by persons of high standing to kill other persons of high standing.
Yet Jesus chose healing, more than anything else, as a sign of his deity...
Matthew 4:23-24 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A23-24&version=MSG
Mark 1:32 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A32&version=MSG
Mark 5:23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+5%3A23&version=MSG
Matthew 8 tells four stories of healing that teach us a lot about Jesus’ healing ministry:
1. The first story shows us that it’s God’s will for people to be healed.
2. In the second story, the centurion, a man in authority, figured out that Jesus was a middleman
acting on behalf of a higher commander.
3. The third story happens during lunch on a Sabbath day at Peter’s home. It illustrates that Jesus simply responded to people in need. He always met needs.
4. The fourth story is about what happened later that same day when those in a large crown were all healed. The fact that the crowd was all healed demonstrates that there are no reasons or excuses that limit healing. It also shows that there is no limit to what the anointing can do!
The result is that Jesus is known for all ages as the Great Physician.
Jesus entered an ugly world... and made it beautiful.
Jesus entered the ugly history of religion... and made it beautiful.
Jesus chose the ugly profession of the physician and made it beautiful. It isn’t just the patient that needs healing... it is the doctor too...
The Doctor cannot heal him or herself... fix him or herself...
Everything that humanity does is marked by the flaws of humanity itself...
Remember how I mentioned the zeal that is in the Apostolic movement... I’ve seen terrible excesses of zeal... you probably have to...
But God leaves his mark upon history by taking ugly things and making them beautiful.
