Sermons

 ​ Supernatural Transformation
The Touch That Heals
Colossians 3:12 

12KJV   Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind. Meekness, longsuffering

12 NET   Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with mercy, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Clothes say a lot about a person. The fact is most, if not all of us, give a tremendous amount of attention to what we wear and what is in style.

However, there is a major problem. Styles change very quickly. They also vary from culture to culture. What is viewed as acceptable and even attractive in one is seen as offensive and in poor taste in another.

But there is good news for devoted Christ followers concerning our spiritual clothing. What was in style in ancient times is still in style in modern-day. In fact, it is in style anywhere and anytime.

We are to put on as our spiritual clothing, those things that characterize our new life in Jesus Christ. We are new creations, with new ethics, a new heart, a new attitude, and a new passion.

As believers in Christ, we will be recognized by the garments (characters) we are wearing. We need to ask ourselves “what garment am I wearing?” Are you wearing Christ, Satan, self?

The scripture tells us to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think of how to gratify the desires of the flesh (Romans 13:14).

People are supposed to see us and see Christ in us, even without opening our mouth to announce it. A military man in his uniform does not need to open his mouth to tell people that he is a military man, because his uniform has announced him.

So also, as soldiers of Christ, people are supposed to see us and see Christ in us. Christ was humble, meek, and full of compassion, He loves everybody equally and unconditionally, He was not mindful of the things of the world.

During His earthly ministry, His humility, His passion for lost souls, His zeal to help and heal made Him stand out and made people believe in Him that truly He is the son of God.

It is difficult to identify believers in this present age; as a result of the type of garment (characters) they are wearing. Their garments contradict what they are confessing to be.

Some “believers” put on pride, backbiting, worldliness, love of money, slander, hatred, bitterness, unforgiving, selfishness, etc. as their garments.

When they confess to be Christians, their attitude and character will be saying something totally negative about them. Their appearance and their confession or claim to be Christians conflict with each other.

The kind of garment you are wearing will show the world if you are truly for Christ or for the devil. The scripture says by their fruit we shall know them. (Matthew 7:16).

For us to be recognized with Christ, we need to clothe our self with humility, love, kindness, perseverance, tolerance, long-suffering forgiveness.

It is not enough to profess being a Christian with your mouth; your behaviors must show it also. Your garments (character) speak louder than your voice, people will identify you better with your garment than your voice.

I’ve been speaking about Supernatural Transformation for the past couple of weeks. A transformation that God wants to work in all our lives. It is important to understand that the key to transformation centers on the Heart of Christ. 

God wants to transform our hearts to be like His heart! I believe that as we fix our eyes on Christ, we can see His heart in action and recognize areas of our heart that need to be replaced by His heart. 

God’s desire for us to be transformed can be better understood using a thermometer and a thermostat. We are being conformed to the world when we live as a thermometer and simply reveal the climate around us. 

Transformation means living like a thermostat so that God works through us to set the climate of the environment in which we live. 

We find that even though Jesus went where the “sinners” were, He did not reflect the environment that He was in but instead affected change in the hearts of hopeless cases. And He still does so today. 

Last week we talked about a characteristic of Christ’s heart that when applied to our hearts proves essential in freeing us from the pain, bitterness, rage, and anger towards others for what they have done to us. 

It frees us from the trapped feeling of being “stuck” with someone. It frees us from the injuries and emotional scars that relive themselves in our minds. It is not fleeing, it is not fighting, it’s forgiving. 

Christ has a heart of forgiveness and when we give Him freedom to plant forgiveness in our hearts allowing us to forgive as He has forgiven, we then are able to experience the release of the hold “stuckititus” unforgiveness, has had on our lives. 

Forgiveness is the characteristic that brings freedom in our lives. 

Today, I’d like to talk about a characteristic of Christ’s heart that goes hand in hand with forgiveness. 

Whereas forgiveness is the characteristic that helps with the pain we carry, compassion helps the pain others carry. 

To illustrate the compassion found in Jesus’ heart we are going to look at the story found in Matthew 8:1-4. When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 

At first glance this story is yet another account of a remarkable, miraculous encounter between a 
person in need of healing and Jesus Christ. The New Testament is filled with such encounters and as we read this story, we often catalogue it away in our minds. 

But we must remember that to us what is merely a miraculous healing is to the man a life-changing love-filled compassionate touch. 

Think about this for a minute, what would this man who had leprosy have felt when Jesus reached out and not only healed him but touched him. 

Listen to him, for years no one touched me. No one. Not one person. Not my wife. Not my child. Not my friends. No one has touched me. They saw me. They spoke to me. But I didn’t feel their touch. 

I coveted a handshake. Warm embraces. A tap on the shoulder. A kiss on the lips. What I would have given to be bumped into, to be caught in a crowd, for my shoulder to brush against another’s. 

I was not allowed on the streets. Even the rabbi’s kept their distance from me. I was not permitted in 
a synagogue. Not even welcome in my own house.

I was untouchable. I was a leper. And no one touched me. Until today. 

I remember a lady being pinned beneath a bus. She was seriously injured and bleeding badly. A crowd collected. They tried to move the bus, but it was too heavy. There was nothing to do but wait for the heavy equipment to come. She was in great pain. She was losing blood rapidly. 

Suddenly a young man broke away from the crowd. He crawled under the bus. He took the woman’s hand and said, “Hold my hand tightly until help comes.” In holding his hand, she grew calm. She avoided going into shock. The loss of blood was slowed. Finally, after she was freed, she said, “I never knew the touch of a hand could mean so much.” 

To us, the social banishment of a leper seems harsh and cruel. But this is not the only culture to do so. We may not build colonies or call out un-clean un-clean, but we certainly build walls and duck our eyes. A person needn’t have leprosy to feel quarantined. 

The truth is we live in a world filled with people who feel isolated. People who need a compassionate touch. 

Compassion is the difference between life and death in some people’s lives. 

People who have been divorced know this feeling.

The handicapped know this feeling. The unemployed have felt it, as have the less educated. Some people shy away from unmarried moms or from families who have a troubled history. 

We like to keep our distance from the depressed and the terminally ill. There are nursing homes for the elderly, and centers for the addicted. 

Have you ever been trapped in a conversation with someone you don’t want to be with and have looked around hoping that no one else thinks you actually started it! 

Only God knows how many people there are who are in voluntary exile, individuals living quiet, lonely lives infected by their fear of rejection and their memories. 

They choose not to be touched at all rather than risk being hurt again. Compassion is needed in a world filled with little. 

Oh, how I repulsed those who saw me. Years of leprosy had left my hands gnarled. Tips of my fingers were missing as were portions of an ear and my nose. At the sight of me, fathers grabbed their children. Mothers covered their faces. Children pointed and stared. 

The rags on my body couldn’t hide my sores. Nor could the wrap on my face hide the rage in my eyes. I didn’t even try to hide it. How many nights did I shake my crippled fist at the silent sky, “What did I do to deserve this?” But never a reply. 

Some think I sinned. Some think my parents sinned. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m tired of it all: sleeping in the colony, smelling the stench. I grew so tired of the bell I was required to wear around my neck to warn people of my presence. As if I needed it. One glance and the announcements began, “Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!” 

Several weeks ago, I dared walk the road to my village. I had no intent on entering, of course it was reckless. Of course it was risky. But what did I have to lose? 

He calls Himself God’s Son. Either He will hear my complaint and kill me or accept me and healed me. Those were my thoughts. I came to Him as a defiant man, moved not by faith but by a desperate anger. 

But when I saw Him, I was changed. Before He spoke, I knew He cared. Somehow, I knew He hated this disease as much as I, no, more than I hated it. 

My rage became trust, and my anger became hope. From behind a rock, I watched Him descend a hill. Throngs of people followed Him. I waited until He was only paces from me, then I stepped out. “Master!” 

He stopped and looked in my direction as did dozens of others. A flood of fear swept across the

crowd. Arms flew in front of faces. Children ducked behind parents. “Unclean!” someone shouted. Again, I don’t blame them. I was a huddled mass of death. I scarcely heard them. I scarcely saw them. Their panic I’d seen a thousand times. 

His compassion, however, I’d never beheld. Everyone stepped back except Him, He stepped toward me. 

Five years ago, my wife had stepped toward me. She was the last to do so. Now He did. I did not move. I just spoke. “Lord, you can heal me if you will.” 

Had He healed me with a word, I would have been thrilled. Had He cured me with a prayer, I would have rejoiced. But He wasn’t satisfied with speaking to me. He drew near me. He touched me. 

It’s the first time in five years. “I will.” His words were as tender as His touch. “Be healed!” 

Energy flooded my body, in an instant, in a moment, I felt warmth where there had been numbness. I felt strength where there had been atrophy. 

My back straightened, and my head lifted. Where I had been eye level with His belt, I now stood eye level with His face. His smiling face. 

He cupped His hands on my cheeks and drew me so near I could feel the warmth of His breath and see the wetness in His eyes. 

 “Don’t tell anyone about this. But go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show the people what I have done.” 

So that is where I am going. I will show myself to my priest and embrace him. I will show myself to my wife, and I will embrace her. I will pick up my daughter, and I will embrace her. And I will never forget the one who dared to touch me. 

Certainly, He could have healed me with a word. But he wanted to do more than heal me. He wanted to honor me, to validate me, to christen me. Imagine, unworthy of the touch of a man, yet worthy of the touch of God. 

What is so significant about the touch of Christ in this man’s life is not that the man was healed, in fact it wasn’t even the touch that healed him, it was the words of Christ, it was that the loneliness that he had carried around with him for so long was lifted. 

The isolation that he had felt for so long as a leper was replaced by a feeling of belonging. That is the healing power that is found in a compassionate touch. 

There is a difference between curing and healing. Curing means “eliminating all evidence of a disease,” while healing means “becoming whole,” being a whole, complete person. 

The salvation that Jesus brings to the world is an act of holism. Sin resulted in brokenness and separation from God. 

Fragmentation destroys families, friendships, and individuals. We erect walls that alienate ourselves from others and seal off hopes of reconciliation. 

Into the shattered remains of God’s creation comes the message that Jesus Christ brings the gift of wholeness to anyone able to accept it. 

It is the gift of salvation won by Christ’s death and resurrection and received through faith that has torn down the separating wall of sin and restored our relationship with God. 

The Greek word “to save” (sodzo) also means “to make whole.” It is this salvation, this healing, that takes broken, shattered lives and recreates them “better than new.” 

Jesus abundantly offers wholeness to our world. “I have come that they may have life and have it (abundantly) to the full.” John 10:10. 

How can we bring this abundant life to those in need?

1. Provide an atmosphere of acceptance. Hold their hand. Listen fully, being especially attentive to people’s hurts and struggles. You might be one of the few people willing to discuss this with them.

As trust develops, people often become more willing to discuss personal spiritual matters. Try to use prayer and the Bible if appropriate.

Be alert to spiritual needs. Some will never say anything about God, faith, or any other spiritual matter, but this does not mean that the person has no spiritual needs. Being alert to what people feel and think is important. Recognize the hidden cries for help.

Encourage people to discuss their spiritual needs. Ask questions beyond the usual How are you feeling today? Or what would you like to do after this is over?

“Do you see yourself as a spiritual person?” If yes, then ask, “How is this situation affecting your view of God, spiritual life? If no, then ask, “What values are important to you?”

Some might say something like “God means everything for the best,” or “I have gone to church at such and such,” or “Oh, I believe in God.” Ask “How does that help you?”

“Greet one another with a holy kiss.” 2 Corinthians 13:12. This was an ordinary greeting for the early Christians. We may express it with a handshake or a hug or a pat on the back, but the power of a touch is still there. 

Someone asked a preacher if his church practiced the holy kiss. He said, “No, but we practice the holy hug and the holy handshake a lot.”

Robert Shannon tells this: On one occasion I was visiting a lady with cancer. When I entered the room, a friend was already there. The patient was crying, and the friend was patting her and saying, “Now, now, don’t cry. Everything’s going to be all right.”

That was not true. Everything was not going to be all right and she had every reason to cry. So, when the friend left, I pulled a chair up beside the bed, sat down, and just held the patient’s hand. After about 10 minutes she spoke, “Mr. Shannon, you’re such a comfort to me.” I had not said one word!

We use the word touch to mean something more than one hand upon another. We use it to mean caring. We say a certain song touched us, a sermon touched us, a story touched us. It was a leper Jesus touched a man nobody else touched.

Compassion is a powerful force, it moves the one who feels it to action, and it brings comfort to the one receiving it. 

Have you ever known the power of compassion in your life? Have you ever felt it through a hand or a look or an action by someone that communicated to you their concern on more than a level of pity? 

Have you ever had a hand holding yours at a funeral? Have you ever had a hand on your shoulder during a trial? Have you ever had a handshake of welcome at a new job? 

Have you ever had someone approach you in a roomful of unfamiliar people and introduce themselves and make you feel welcome? 

If you know how it feels, can you not do the same?

For some, compassion seems to be an inherited trait, something that is easily done. Some of you may have already discovered the power of a compassionate touch and are always looking for opportunities to see it in action through you. 

But then there are others who find difficulty with this. Our hearts are okay, it’s just that our memories are bad; we forget how significant that one touch was in our life. Or we become afraid of saying the wrong thing or acting the wrong way, so rather than do it incorrectly, we do nothing at all. 

Remember, there are people in our world who need a compassionate touch, rather than looking at it from our perspective, look at it from theirs. They’re just lonely. They need to know someone who cares. 

Think of some ways in which you can share a compassionate touch in your life with the people around you today. 

“The world will not care what we know until they know we care” (Gene Barron) 

Jesus touched the untouchables of the world with compassion. Will we do the same? 

Amen!