Luke 8:40-56

Discussion Questions

• Do we have specific, preconceived ideas about how God should heal us or meet our needs? Are we putting Him in a box by trying to bend His will and timing to ours, or are we trusting that He has our highest good in mind—both now and for all eternity?
• When the answer is no, or wait, how do we respond? How should we respond?
• What hinders or hangs us up from approaching God with our needs – both big and small? If our faith is feeble and flickering, how can it be deepened, developed and made more durable? Where is our ultimate faith and trust placed?

Transcript

Good morning, church. Grace and peace to you on this snowy morning. Look how brave we all were! My name is Tom Yarbrough. I serve as one of your associate pastors here at The Village Chapel, where we do study through books of the Bible. Today is no exception, so if you’d like a paper copy to follow along, just slip up your hand and someone will bring one to you. I also want to add, I heard Chris’s announcements earlier, in terms of the food that I make, it’s only non-competitive. I don’t make any competitive food. We want to welcome those joining us online this morning from places as far away as county Tyrone in Northern Ireland; Paris, France; Chennai, India; as close to home as Louisville, Kentucky, and for any of you who would normally be here in the room with us but are home today, we’re glad that you are able to join us that way.

We’re continuing on this morning in our study through Luke’s gospel. We’re on chapter eight. This section of the account continues to focus on miracles that Jesus performed in and around the area of Capernaum and Galilee. And I’m going to put these five points from last week back on the screen just as a refresher. When we’re talking about the miracles of Jesus, we see that they display the power and authority of Jesus. We saw last week that includes over disasters of nature, over demons. We’ll see this week that includes over diseases, over death itself. Secondly, they arouse curiosity about Jesus. People ask, “Who is this?” Even the disciples said, “Who is this, who controls the wind and the waves?” They reveal the compassion of Jesus. We see that His power is always working toward the highest good of its recipient. They affirm the identity of Jesus, that He is who He says He is, the Messiah, the Son of God, and they inspired discipleship and worship of Jesus.

And I will add, they also inspire people to glory in God, to give glory to God. So, let’s read through this text and then I’ll pray for our time in the Word today. We’re in chapter eight starting in verse 40, and we’ll finish the chapter now. “When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, ‘Who was it that touched me?’ When all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.’

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’ While He was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, ‘Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.’ But Jesus on hearing this answered him, ‘Do not fear; only believe and she will be well.’ And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, ‘Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called saying, ‘Child, arise.’ And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.”

I’ll pray for us: Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the riches that wait for us in it. Spirit, we ask that You would illuminate this Word to us this morning; minister to us and through it, Lord. And Jesus, we want more of You. We want to know You more. We want to know Your character, Your goodness, Your compassion, Your power. And Lord, we just ask that You would help us to trust You and trust who You are, as we study this morning. I pray that You would continue to conform and shape us to Your likeness, and we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

So, I see four major elements in this text. I’m going to go ahead and give them to you right up front, so we have a kind of roadmap of the events that we’re reading about. Number one, we see a public petition from a desperate father – that’s Jairus. We see a secret application by a diseased woman. We see a generous adoption by an unhurried healer, Jesus, and a miraculous resurrection of a beloved daughter. Just as a refresher of last week, Jim took us through the account of Jesus crossing over the Sea of Galilee to the predominantly Gentile side. And on the way, there was a big storm which Jesus rebuked in front of His disciples. And then when they got to land, they encountered a demon-possessed man. And Jesus cast those demons out and restored the man to his right mind. And the people who were there on that side of the Sea of Galilee were in awe of what Jesus did, but they were also very disturbed. This was very disruptive, so they asked Him to leave.

And so, I think we see throughout the gospels, Jesus doesn’t stay where He’s not wanted. He doesn’t force Himself to stay when He is not welcome. So, He gets in the boat, and they come back to the Jewish side of the lake. They arrive and a very expectant crowd is waiting for Him, and they’re a welcoming crowd. He’s just left this place where He is not welcome, and He arrives in this place where people are excited for His return. They’re probably curious. Some probably are attracted to the celebrity of all of this. Some of them are legitimate followers. Some of them are just interested to see what He’s going to say, what He’s going to do. But there are many people here, and a man named Jairus is identified by name. We’re told that he’s a ruler of the synagogue. This would’ve been a position of esteem. He would’ve been well-respected in the community. He would’ve been in charge of arranging the worship that goes on in the synagogue.

He might’ve been the one if you volunteer or serve in Sunday services, he’s the one that sends out the planning center requests that say, “Can you lead a call to worship? Can you play the organ?” He even would’ve been selecting what was read and who was teaching. And so, he’s a man of importance. He has an important position in the community and certainly in the Jewish community, in the synagogue. He has an only daughter. She’s 12 years old and we’re told that she’s dying, so you can imagine the desperation here. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jairus actually says to Jesus, “Come and lay hands on her so that she might be made well and live.” You notice that he knows Jesus is his only hope. He’s come to the right place in his desperation, but maybe he also has some specific ideas about how Jesus heals. I might be guilty of that, too. I just want to add that.

I think there are times when I have very specific ideas, “Lord, I’ve done this and this and I need you to do this and this. Just pick up where I left off,” or “I tried to do that and I can’t, so I need you to do that.” Jairus wanted Jesus to come to his house. He wanted him to lay hands on his daughter. And at this point, even in faith, he has a limited way of thinking about Jesus. And as I said, I sometimes do the same thing. Jesus could have said to him right then, “Whoa, Jairus, you’ve put Me in a box. Okay? Don’t do that. Don’t predict the way I operate here. Don’t you remember your centurion friend who built your synagogue?” I’m stretching that. The centurion might’ve been responsible for building the synagogue that Jairus is in charge of. And when the centurion sent word for Jesus, he acknowledged, “Jesus, you have the authority to say a word and heal my sick servant. You don’t even have to come here,” he says. Jesus marveled at that faith.

Interestingly enough, we don’t see Jesus say a healing word in that moment. We just say your centurion, we see him say, “Your centurion is healed.” So, I think that Jesus could have said all kinds of things there to correct Jairus, and He doesn’t. He instead responds by going with Him. It says He went, and this next part has to be so difficult for a desperate Jairus, but we don’t have another recorded word from him for the rest of the account, so we have to imagine what that was like. It says, “As Jesus went, the crowd pressed around Him.” That word pressed is the same verb that Luke uses earlier in the chapter in the parable of the sower. When he says that, “The seeds that fell among thorns were those who hear the Word but are choked by the cares and pleasures of life.” It’s choking out. It creates an inability to move, to flourish. So, this was a crush in the crowd that didn’t allow for much movement, imagine that, or at least only allowed for slow movement.

And Jairus had to be trying to clear the way or find a hole for us to get through. We’ve got to get to the house, through these streets, they’ve left the shore and they’re heading through the streets to Jairus’ home. And in the midst of all this, unbeknownst to Jairus and the rest of the crowd, this woman slips in behind Jesus. And it says for 12 years she’s had a kind of hemorrhage condition, some bleeding. It doesn’t tell us what this was exactly. We can reason that it may have been a condition where there’s a constant flow of menstrual blood. We don’t know that for sure. What we know is that she’d been dealing with this for 12 years. Interestingly enough, as long as Jairus had been raising his daughter, this woman had been living under the cloud of this condition.

It had not only cost her health, but it cost her her living. She had spent all she had on doctors and Luke says no one could heal her. Mark actually tells us that not only did she not improve under medical care, but she got worse. Luke, as a physician himself, doesn’t comment other than to say this woman’s condition is not treatable. So, imagine for a moment what woman’s life had been like for the past 12 years. She was likely in poverty from a financial standpoint. She was sick. She was ceremonially unclean, according to Leviticus 15. She would’ve been unclean and everything she touched would’ve been considered unclean. Anyone who touched her or anything she had touched would’ve been temporarily unclean. The people in her life and in her community would have naturally avoided her. She would not have been able to take part in temple worship. In this condition, she would have been living on the very margin of society for all these years. And we don’t know how old she was or what kind of family situation she had, but relationships would have been complicated for her, if possible at all.

And she came up behind Jesus in this crowd and she touched the fringe of His garment. This would’ve been a tassel on His robe that would’ve been thrown over His shoulder, so it would’ve been on His back. And immediately her discharge of blood ceased. So that tells us something about this condition. It was probably perpetual rather than frequent. It was happening then and then it wasn’t happening. Mark’s account actually gives us a little insight into what she was thinking. It’s not just a chance touch here. She says to herself, “I’ve heard the report of Jesus. If I just touch His garment, I will be made well.” And we can’t blame her for taking a secretive approach. If she’d come openly, what would the crowd have done? They wouldn’t have let her get near Jesus. Imagine the embarrassment of having to openly ask for what she needed in her condition. So, she thinks she’s going to sneak in and steal just enough of what she recognizes is His abundant power to heal.

Surely, He won’t miss it and then she’ll slip away unnoticed. But Jesus wants more for her and He stops, and He asks, “Who touched me?” I’m going to stop here to remind us, when Jesus or God asks a question, it isn’t because He lacks information. It isn’t because He lacks knowledge. It’s a silly illustration; my wife and I do this thing. We’ve done it for 25 years of marriage and we must love to do it because we continue to do it. And it is this special thing where when we go somewhere, we get into the car, and I drive. She likes it when I drive for some reason, and then we know where we’re going, we’re going to a specific place. And I don’t know about you all, I’ve been in Nashville for 31 years. I still don’t know the best way to go anywhere. I just don’t. I know where things are. I know where everything is. I know where it is. I have no idea what the most efficient route is from any point to any other point in Nashville. And maybe you do.

Lord bless you if you do, that’s great. And so, when I take a turn that seems questionable, my wife does this, she says, “Where are we going?” She asks a question, okay? Now, she knows where we’re going. All right? It’s a predetermined destination. We both know where we’re going. But when she does that, that is her way of allowing me to admit that I might need help. I might need a little direction there. She doesn’t offer it, I haven’t asked for it, but she asks a question that she already knows the answer to. And I realize that’s an absurd example, but I hope it helps. And my wife is… I’m not comparing my wife to Jesus. She’s pretty close though. But I have a hard time admitting my need and maybe you all do, too. I don’t know. And my wife is kind about that. Jesus didn’t require that this woman admit her need to Him before He healed her. In this case, the healing came first, but Jesus wanted more for her. So, He asked this question, “Who touched me?”

Peter, in typical Peter fashion, points out, “The crowds surround you and are pressing in on you.” What kind of question is that, Jesus? Everyone is touching you. But Jesus says, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power went out from me.” So, what should we make of this? This is interesting. I’m going to tell you there’s some mystery here. I’m not going to be able to answer this. There’s some mystery here. Is the flow of His power subject to any outside touch or can His power flow in a way that leaves Him unaware of who receives it? It seems unlikely, I think, and we’d be limiting Jesus, who in His divine fullness was omniscient. In fact, John says this about Jesus in his gospel in John 2, “Many believed in His name when they saw the signs that he was doing, but Jesus did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he Himself knew what was in man.” So, we can be sure that whatever happened here, there wasn’t a lack of knowledge on Jesus’s part.

Jesus knows the heart of every person and can distinguish and discern genuine faith when it’s present. So, He wasn’t surprised at all. His divine initiative was already at work to meet this woman where she was. He met her right where she was in her faith, which although we might say was on the superstitious side, led her to the tassel on His garment. The tassel held no power, but it was a point of contact for her. It was as close as she thought she could get to Jesus, and He was waiting for her there in all His compassion ready to heal her. He could have healed her without this process, but I think He wanted to encourage her faith. She thought she could slip out unnoticed, but she saw that she was not hidden, it says. And I can tell you if you came here today thinking that you could slip in and slip out and not talk to anyone and not have a relationship and not encounter Jesus, He wants you to be known and He wants to know you. He wants more for you. He wants relationship for you. You are not hidden.

So how was she not hidden in this crowd? Consider that Jesus might have been looking right at her when He asked the question. That’s how I imagine it. Tender, expectant, giving her an opportunity to profess her experience. She was probably already on her way out of the crowd because it says, “She came trembling.” And of course, she was afraid she was taking a huge risk touching this rabbi in her unclean condition. Am I in trouble? What is Jesus going to do? What’s the crowd going to do? So, she falls down before Him in front of all the people and she tells what happened. And Jesus isn’t embarrassing her. Please know that, He’s not embarrassing her. Jesus knows in His compassion and His wise concern that in order for this woman to be restored to this community, this miracle has to be public. Everyone needed to know that her touch didn’t make Him unclean, it made her clean. He made her clean. Not only does He heal her, but instead of this process that would’ve taken seven days and a sin offering and burnt offering, Jesus does all of that immediately.

John Stott says it this way, “Jesus healed without the use of medical or surgical means, without delay, degree, or remission, but immediately completely and permanently, so the even hostile eyewitnesses said, ‘We cannot deny it.'” Jesus wanted to ensure that her healing and cleansing were undeniable. She thought she would sneak away with something that He had such an abundance of that He wouldn’t even notice. But Jesus made it clear He gave Himself to her. And though His power and compassion is an endless fountain, which I think she understood well, each time He gives Himself, each time He gives Himself to you, to me, to any of us, it’s not insignificant to Him. It’s relational, and that’s why He felt it. Because then He says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” It’s the only time we ever hear Jesus address a woman with this word, “daughter.”

It’s so tender and loving, and I think it’s significant, not because this woman was exceptional in some way, but because we know God has one true offspring and that is Jesus. The rest of us who are His sons and daughters are only His children because of adoption through Jesus. So, I really think that what Jesus is doing here is exactly what He does for us; He sees our need and when we come to Him trusting Him to save us, we find that He’s already done all that is necessary to cleanse us, and we receive that. And then, He welcomes us into the family of faith. He’s saying, “Yes, that was intended for you. It was always yours. And don’t forget to take with you your new identity in Me, daughter.” Let’s not get too caught up in the fact that He tells her that her faith made her whole. He’s not saying that somehow her faith had some effectual power on its own. He’s saying that her faith enabled her to trust His power and receive the healing that He intended for her.

Kevin DeYoung has a helpful way of explaining this. He says, “Faith has value because of the object to which it connects us. Think of skating on a frozen pond. Faith is the means by which we get out on the ice, but it is not the reason we do not sink. We are kept out of the dangerous water below by the object of our faith. It is the thickness of the ice that saves us.” The object of her faith was Jesus and He was the source of her healing. But imagine poor Jairus. We have forgotten about Jairus. He hears Jesus call this woman daughter. He must have said, “Oh, Jesus, what about my daughter? We’re running out of time. We’re not there yet. We’ve got a way to go.” And in fact, even as Jesus is speaking, someone from Jairus’s household comes and says, “She’s dead. Your daughter is dead. There’s no need to trouble the Rabbi.” We don’t see Jairus’s reaction recorded, but based on what Jesus says next, you can almost see the panic, the disappointment, the pain on his face. We didn’t make it.

And Jesus hears this news, and He says in response, “Don’t fear. Only believe and she will be well.” Mark’s gospel translates it as, “Keep believing, keep believing.” Journey would say, “Don’t stop believing.” But Jesus said, “Keep believing.” And as He says this, you almost wonder if He’s directing Jairus’s attention to the woman that He’s just healed. “Keep believing, Jairus. Do you see what I’m doing here? I’m not in a hurry. I know you’re in a hurry. I’m not in a hurry. I don’t have to be in a hurry.” Imagine how that sounded though, “She will be made well.” We’ve just been told that she’s dead and Jesus is saying she will be made well. We’re not talking about sickness anymore, Jesus, we’re talking about death. It must have seemed unreal. And so, they get to the house and Jesus took Peter, John, and James, the three with whom He is closest throughout His ministry, and Jairus and his wife. No one else could come in. Who else is there though? Perhaps family, certainly people in the crowd have followed them at this point.

I’m sure that’s attracted a lot. Even the request from Jairus would’ve piqued a lot of interest. And there would’ve been the obligatory professional mourners, who at a moment’s notice were ready with flutes and wailing, and the other synoptic gospels do tell us that they were there. This was very common. It would’ve been expected, especially for someone like Jairus and for someone of his means, it probably would’ve been a sizable group of people making this commotion at the house. Jesus says, “Stop all this weeping. She’s not dead. She’s asleep.” Now, you may hear people claim that what’s happening here is that Jesus knew this girl was not actually dead but sleeping, and that He simply roused her. But that doesn’t really hold up as we’ll see, and sleep was a very common euphemism for death. And we see it throughout the New Testament, but I think it’s safe to say that for Jesus, raising this little girl from death was no more difficult than waking someone from sleep, because He has authority over death.

But it says, “They laughed at Him.” So, who was doing the laughing here? It’s a little confusing in Luke’s account. Who’s doing the laughing? We see from the other gospels; it’s these professional mourners who are now mockers. They know that she is dead, and they are laughing at Jesus who hasn’t been in to see this little girl yet. He hasn’t even seen her. He doesn’t know what’s waiting for Him. This is actually the only time we’re explicitly told that someone laughs in the New Testament, and it’s scornful laughter. So, Jesus puts them out, and I think He does that partly because they don’t deserve to partake in what He’s about to do, and partly because Jairus and His wife don’t need the discouragement. Keep believing, Jairus. And then it says he took this little 12-year-old girl by the hand, and He called to her saying, “Child arise.”

And we don’t need to think of this in sort of grand Hollywood terms as some sort of, “Child come forth,” booming voice. I think that’s a mistake to think of it that way. This would’ve been the same thing that this little girl’s mother or dad would’ve said every morning to wake her up. It’s time to get up. Wake up. And it says, “Her spirit returned to her, and she got up.” So, she certainly was dead. Her spirit, the animating force of her life had gone out of her and was somewhere else, we presume with God. And Jesus called it to return to her in order for her to be alive again. This is the voice of God that in Romans 4:17 we are told, “Gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” It’s the voice that created the universe. If you’re a believer in Christ, it’s the voice that called you too. You and I were not “mostly dead” to quote Miracle Max. If you’ve seen The Princess Bride, mostly dead.

We were completely, completely dead in our trespasses until the same authoritative voice that brought the universe into existence, and called Abraham to Himself, and spoke through the prophets, and called His disciples, and raised Lazarus, and cast out demons; called us out of darkness and into light and out of death and into life. His spirit indwelt us to animate us into new creatures to live for Him and glorify Him. Spiritually, we’re just like this little girl. And so, this little girl is no longer physically dead. She’s alive. And she might’ve said she was hungry, or Jesus knew that she needed some practical care. So, He says, “Let’s get her something to eat. She needs a snack. Get her a Lunchable.” Actually, Lunchables are terrible. Lots of preservatives. So, you notice this miracle, unlike the previous one, is done in private. There’s just enough people in the room to be witnesses of it. But think about what this little girl really needed. Jesus knew. Jesus cares about that. She didn’t need to open her eyes to a big gawking, staring crowd, did she? She needed her parents, and she needed to be tended to.

And even though they were amazed, He tells them not to tell anyone because I think He wants them to concentrate on her right now, just from a practical perspective, “Stay here, stay with your daughter. She needs you.” But it wouldn’t take long for the professional mourners to find out that the funeral was canceled. Jesus canceled it. I don’t know if they got paid. I don’t know if there was a mourner’s union. If I was Jairus, I would have the daughter hand them a pro-rated check. Here’s some money for my funeral that we didn’t end up having. My dad says thanks anyway. But can you imagine being a professional mourner, and Jesus shows up on the scene? Man, I got my wailing down. I got my flute playing down, and now I might have to go back to fishing. What’s going on here? This guy’s bad for business. And listen, I’m joking about that, but this is a glimpse. We’re getting a glimpse of something here. It’s something greater.

And I think in these resurrection miracles, Lazarus, the widow of Nain’s son, Jairus’s daughter, death is being put on notice. Jesus says, “Your time is coming. My authority has no limit.” And one day, not yet, one day soon, you’re going to lose your sting. We will talk more about that in a minute. So, there’s so much here in this text. Let’s see what we can take with us this morning. First, I hope that we learn that we can trust that Jesus allows us to approach Him in our need. Everything we need in order to come to Jesus, we already have. It’s our need. That’s all we need. We just need our need. I mentioned earlier that I struggle to admit my need, and I can guess that some of you struggle with that as well. And I know some of you do because I see you walk through unimaginably hard losses, and we pray for those losses on Sunday mornings together, and twice a year, we offer Christ-centered support groups for people who are walking through those kinds of things. And very few of you sign up.

And that’s not browbeating, not guilt tripping, that’s not how I want you to hear that. I’m saying I understand. I know it’s hard because I’m that way too, but sometimes an encounter with Jesus for us comes through His people and through the local church. So don’t hesitate to bring your needs where they can be met. We can learn that from both Jairus and this unnamed woman. Jairus had nothing to offer Jesus. This woman had nothing to offer Jesus. They came with total lack and desperation. Dane Ortland puts it this way in Gentle and Lowly. “We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off His heart to His own sheep. No such reason exists. Every human friend has a limit. If we offend enough, if a relationship gets damaged enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out, the walls go up. With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resume items that qualify us to approach Him.” So good. Second, we can trust that Jesus delights in and will encourage whatever faith we come to Him with. We see such a variety of belief levels throughout the gospels.

We see Jesus marvel at the faith of the centurion. We see how when the disciples wake Him in the storm, He asks, “Where is your faith?” Not in annoyance, but as a reminder to believe. “Keep believing,” He says to Jairus, and in this account, He doesn’t correct the woman’s theology. There’s nothing magic about that tassel. No. He says, “Your faith has made you well.” Faith is the means by which we receive what Jesus has on offer, and ultimately that is to be in Him. That’s what He’s offering, to be in Him. So why wouldn’t that bring Him joy?

J.I. Packer says this in Knowing God, such a good book, “The great joy of God in our faith is not just in the act of believing, but in the relationship, it establishes between us. God delights in the trust of His children, just as a parent delights in a child’s trust.” Daughter, your faith has made you well. You hear that fatherly delight coming from Jesus. Third, we can trust that Jesus exercises His initiative in calling us to Him, cleansing us of our sins, meeting our needs. What am I talking about here? God loved you first. He loved me first. If you are in Him, it was His kindness that led you to repentance. Paul says in Romans that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We come to Him in faith, not in hopes that it will create a response from Him to us, but in order to receive what He has already done for us. We are responding to Him, not the other way around. He knows we are sick and He’s already waiting for us with the cure.

I love this quote by John Stott: “You can never take God by surprise. You can never anticipate Him. He always makes the first move. He’s always there ‘in the beginning.’ Before man existed, God acted. Before man stirs himself to seek God, God has sought man. In the Bible, we do not see groping after God; we see God reaching after man.” We sang it earlier; His goodness is running after us. We’re not chasing Him. If you feel like you’re chasing God this morning, I would encourage you to stop running. Fourth, we can trust that Jesus is not busy, overwhelmed, or distracted in responding to our suffering, even when He seems unhurried by our anxiety. This is hard. It’s hard to wait when we feel like we’re in trouble, and we think we know how God ought to operate. Keep believing, Jairus. You’re trusting the right person. Now, trust my plan. Tim Keller says it this way, “We have a hard time trusting in God’s timing because we believe we are missing out, but the truth is we are missing out only when we don’t wait for His perfect plan.”

You see, He’s operating not just in power, but also in wisdom and goodness and compassion, and we can trust that. Lastly, we can trust that Jesus has the power to set the world right, because not even death is beyond His authority. I mentioned earlier that these miracles are glimpses of what’s coming, the reminder to the world that God knows that things are not the way they are supposed to be. He knows that and He intends to make it right. “The miracles of Jesus,” Matt Chandler and Jared Wilson say in the Explicit Gospel, “are signs of the right order of things. Jesus was not so much turning things upside down as turning them right side up or, at least, giving His followers glimpses of the right side up. The miracles of healing, deliverance, provision, and resurrection all reveal that God, through Jesus, is making all things new, that He is restoring what once was unbroken.” The physical results of Jesus’s miracles on earth were not eternal. That little girl did grow up and have a funeral one day. It was a merciful and miraculous postponement.

Same for Lazarus and the widow’s son. People He made well were totally cured of their diseases, but they still lived with the limit of death because they still lived in an upside down world, and so do we. And even this week, I know we have beloved congregants who are dealing with the pain and the sorrow of death. I can think of funerals in my life that I wish would’ve been canceled, but they weren’t. And listen, unless the Lord returns, my funeral’s not going to be canceled, and yours probably isn’t either. Okay? But Jesus has changed everything. He didn’t just raise people from the dead. He died and He raised Himself from the dead, even in death, and He beat death completely when He did that. Paul says in Romans 6, “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.” Death no longer has dominion over Him. A day is coming when a resurrected Jesus is going to return in glory, and He’s going to cancel all future funerals, and He’s going to undo all past funerals.

And there’s going to be one final funeral that He’s going to preside over, and we’re all going to want to attend that because it’s going to be the funeral of death itself. Imagine that day is coming, and then He’s going to wipe away every tear from every eye. Brothers and sisters, we have a living Savior that we can trust completely. Keep believing. Let’s pray: Father, we are amazed by Your goodness toward us, Lord. We don’t deserve it. We never could. And yet, You loved us enough to humble Yourself to come to Earth, Lord, to pay the price for our sins on the cross and then resurrect Yourself in an act that would ensure our eternal futures. We pray, Lord, that You would continue to give us hope, continue to fuel our belief, Lord, continue to fuel our faith. Thank You that You’ve done all that’s necessary for us to be in You and to know You. We ask that in the remainder of this service, Lord, You would be glorified and magnified, Lord, and we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God“ by Martin Luther
“All My Boast Is in Jesus“ by Matt Boswell & Matt Papa
“Goodness Of God“ by Ed Cash and Jenn Johnson
 “Come Unto Jesus“ by Thomas Moore, Laura Story, Jordan Kauflin, Thomas Hastings, Matt Merker
 “Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Give Thanks to The Lord

Source: 1 Chronicles 16:8-13, 34

Leader: Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; Make known his deeds among the peoples!
Women: Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Tell of all His wondrous works!

Leader: Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Men: Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His presence continually!

Leader: Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He has uttered.
Women: O offspring of Israel His servant, Children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

ALL: Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; For His steadfast love endures forever!

Confession: The Apostles’ Creed

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Classic Prayer: Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667

O eternal God, sanctify my body and soul, my thoughts and my intentions, my words and actions, that whatsoever I shall think, or speak, or do, may be by me designed for the glory of your name, and by your blessing may it be effective in your work. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.