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Barnabas, Ananias, Jesus and Me [Video]

What Does it Mean to Love the Lord Our God?

Preached at Community Christian Church, Durant, Oklahoma

David P. Kautt

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Matthew 22:34-40, “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”  Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

            How many of you have a ‘life verse’?  Maybe you’ve never heard the term ‘life verse’ before, so let me briefly explain.  Likely, a lot of us have a favorite Bible verse or passage; John 3:16, the twenty-third psalm, something like that.  But that’s not what I have in mind when I ask, “How many of you have a ‘life verse’?”  What I mean by a ‘life verse’ is a verse that, when you run across it, when you read and study it, delve into what it means by what it says and how all of that relates to your life, you say to yourself, ‘Hey!  That’s what I want my life to be all about!’  ‘Hey!  That’s how I want God to work in my life, how I want to see Him work in me and through me. 

So, now that I have explained what I meant by my initials question, allow me to ask it one more time, “How many of you have a ‘life verse’?”  And, if I may be so bold, what is your ‘life verse’?  Anybody? 

I noticed two or three things in today’s worship bulletin that I wanted to connect with for just a minute, while you’re pondering my ‘life verse’ question.  First of all, the insert sheet that gives you a glimpse into who I am and what kind of family the David Kautt family is.  Some of our life verses are Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight…”  Out in the margin beside those verses in several of my Bibles I have written my name, David Kautt, why?  Because those verses encapsulate at least a part of what I pray God is making of my life, of my family member’s lives.  The same holds truth with 2 Timothy 2:20-26.  Look those verses up, read them, and, if you’d like, ask me, ask us, how they connect with who we are, how they relate to what we pray God is doing in and through our lives. 

Yes, I noticed the info published about my family and me, and I appreciate the ‘red font’ and ‘green sheet’ welcome you have extended to us so far!  But, what I also made notice of is that today, May 19, 2013, you are honoring all the mothers and all the graduates!  Nathan H., your Youth Minister, and Garrett L., who is graduating from Durant High School, are the graduates.  And, you ladies, you know who you are, the dear women who have been God’s instruments in giving birth to us, you are the other honorees today.  Congratulations to all of you, praise God for all of you! 

But, listen, now that I have hopefully connected with virtually all of you – mothers, graduates, prospective minister and others – let me ask you another rather important question: what is your life’s PURPOSE?  I mean, mothers, you give birth to those precious little babies, knit together so skillfully, so wondrously by the hands of Almighty God, in your womb, God uses you, as His vessel to bring these little ones into this world.  Now what?  Do you see it, ladies?  And fellows, those of us who are their husbands, and the fathers of those dear children, do we see it?!  And are we, as the ones God has called, commissioned, and yes, empowered by His Holy Spirit to assist our dear wives in seeing it and acting upon it, are we leading them to carry it out?  Ladies, mothers, what IS your life’s PURPOSE?  Matthew 22:37-39 – you’re more than just a ‘baby-making machine’!   You are more, God intends for you to be MORE than just a ‘homeroom mother’, or a ‘soccer mom!’  Several years ago, the Christian recording artist Steve Green sang a song that included the following line in it: “To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission…”  Mothers, ladies, you want to zero in on a powerful, course-altering ‘life verse’ or ‘theme’?  There it is: Matthew 22:37.  All that you do, all that you are, all that God wants to do THROUGH you and make OF you, can be summed up in that verse, and in the two or three verses that follow it! 

As you learn what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and as your PURSUE loving God that way, realizing - as 1 John 4 puts it - that you love God because He first loved you.  You know what?  I’m certain that God will, then, help you recognize how He wants to use you, how He’ll give you what it takes for Him to use you, to instill that all-encompassing love for God in your children!  Ladies, mothers, let’s say it again, shall we?  Repeat it after me, “To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission.” 

Then, Garrett and Nathan, where are you, my young friends?  Garrett, how old are you?  You will be graduating from Durant High School any day now, right?  Garrett, 34 years ago this week I graduated from High School, and what a huge step, what a wonderful milestone that is in your life.  Congratulations! 

And, Nathan, I understand that you walked across the stage at SEOSU, a week ago yesterday.  It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get that sheepskin, didn’t it?  30 years ago this month, I was blessed by God to be able to do the same.  Congratulations to you, too! 

But, Garret and Nathan, now what?  What is your life’s purpose?  Being a student, either in a desk in a classroom, or at a keyboard and in front of a screen at home, being a student is fine and dandy.  I spent 22 years of my life in school, counting kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, college and graduate school. 

But, listen, fellows, even as a Christian student, to be perpetually pursuing another diploma or another degree, if Jesus’ words in Matthew 22 have any truth and meaning to them, sitting in a classroom or in front of a key board and screen is not your life’s purpose.  What is?  Hey, fellows.  Pop quiz time.  How does the theme phrase go, the one I had the mother’s recite?  Ladies, let’s say it with them, okay?  “To love the Lord our God is the HEARTBEAT of our mission!”  Garret, there’s your life’s PURPOSE: loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Nathan, there’s your ‘life verse’, Matthew 22:37, and the verses that go with it. 

But, what does all of this mean?  Can you explain it a little more for me, please?  Well, with what time we have left, let’s do that, shall we?  “To love the Lord our God,” this life’s mission and purpose ‘heartbeat’, “to love Him with all that we are – heart, soul, mind and strength – what we’re talking about, first of all, is relationship, not religiosity.  Love, what is that word?  Well, the English teachers among us will tell us that, depending on context and usage, it may either be a noun – person, place or thing – or, it may be a verb – an action word.  But, if I may, I’d like to suggest to you that the word love, at is core, it is a very powerful and meaningful RELATIONSHIP word!  When Jesus told the Pharisees, and their lawyer spokesman, that the greatest, most important commandment in the law was to love God, He wasn’t suggesting that those Pharisees offer up more sacrifices and bring to the altar more whole burnt offerings.   Jesus wasn’t urging them in the direction of more religiosity!  No!  He rebuked empty religiosity: “These people honor me with their LIPS, but their HEARTS are far from Me!”  (Matthew 15:8ff; Isa. 29:13)  Rather, He was challenging them to go the direction one of their own, a man named Saul of Tarsus, later went.  Yes, Jesus was calling them to “count all things LOSS for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…”  (Phil. 3:7ff)  To love God, to love Him with ALL that we are, that mission, that life purpose, it’s all about relationship.  The surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord, it’s all about relationship, not religiosity. 

Secondly, to love God, to have that PURSUIT as the HEARTBEAT of your life’s mission, it’s about RESPONSIBILITY.  Responsibility, not selfish passivity.  To love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength, it’s kind of like hugging your pillow, squeezing and caressing your favorite pillow cushion, right?  Aw, come on, right?  No, listen, my friends, hugging your pillow has about as much to do with loving God as holding a remote control while you make like a spud on your couch at home does, with standing in the batter’s box commissioned to hit a home run off Yu Darvish!  One is selfish passivity, the other is active, courageous, and yes, even obedient carrying out of one’s responsibility.  Remember how Jesus put it?  John 14:15 – He said, “If you love Me” – there’s that relationship word again.  Now, listen to the second half of the verse again, here’s where the responsibility comes in: “If you love Me, then KEEP My commandments!” 

Jesus, the originator of this first and foremost command, how does He define love?  Whether it’s being used as a noun or verb, the definition is the same: active RESPONSIBILITY – keep my commandments – not selfish passivity! 

Number three, what does it mean to LOVE God?  I mean, if this is to be the HEARTBEAT of who we are as Christians, then we’d better understand it, right?  To love God, to love and serve Jesus Christ, with all that we are, what does that look like? 

Allow me to suggest to you at least two key passages to study for answers to that question.  Matthew 6:1-18, and Matthew 23:25-28.  Find the Matthew 6 passage with me for just a moment.  Scan down through there and note with me that Jesus is teaching about three main subjects: prayer, fasting and alms, or doing what we might call ‘charity work’.  Keep looking down through there and what do you see in verses 1-4, 5-6 and lastly, verses 16-18?  To love God, to loves and serve Jesus Christ, what does it look like?  Well, first off, what it DOESN’T look like is an empty SHOW, a hollow SHADOW:  trying to gain the praise of men, all the while neglecting the evaluation of the Unseen One, the only one Whose approval or disapproval really matters!  To love God, what does it look like?  Well, whatever it looks like, as far as the Father in heaven is concerned, it looks REAL, it IS real, not just for show!

To love the Lord our God, what is it, Christians?  It is the HEARTBEAT of our mission!  And, what does that mean?  Explain it, one more time, will you, please? 

Got your seat belts fastened, yet?  Now’s a good time to do so.  Here’s why: because to love God, with ALL your heart, ALL your mind, ALL your soul, and ALL your strength, you know what it is, don’t you?  You see what it is, don’t you?  It is exceedingly RIGOUROUS.  “If any man would come after Me,” Jesus said, “let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me…”  To love God, to love and serve and obey Christ this way, listen, my friends, it is RIGOUROUS.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, discipleship is COSTLY.  It is!  But, listen, it also is exceedingly rich and rewarding! 

You see, it is to those who love God in this way that God promises to work all things together for their Good (Romans 8:28).  And, it is to those who love God in this way God promises to know them, to be in loving relationship with them.  (1 Cor. 8:3)  And, to those who love Him, those who love God in this intensely rigorous way, God promises ultimately, to preserve them, deliver them and to set them on high.  (Psalm 145:20, Psalm 91:14) 

Endurance: Is It Worth It?

Preached at Northwest Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, March 11, 2012

Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

The longer I live, the further along I am in this ‘race’ called the Christian life, the more I see people, Christian people, struggle from day to day, the more I am convinced that what I need more of is not speed, not agility, but endurance.  Endurance.  The word doesn’t have quite the ring to it that speed does, but that’s okay, because – you see – the Christian life is not a sprint, but a marathon. 

Endurance.  It’s a word that has to do with bearing up under difficulty, that implies or entails patience, steadfastness and even courage in the face of life’s storms, all of which seem to be in short supply these days.  Furthermore, endurance, for the Christian, has everything to do with, is all wrapped up in, our hope, the anchor for our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Writing to a group of fellow Christians, who like so many believers in Jesus today, were undergoing great trials, the author of the Book of Hebrews offers three poignant and powerful reminders, all of which point ‘marathon runners’ in the direction of what they need, endurance, patient steadfastness.  Let’s examine these together this morning, shall we? 

One of the huge challenges that goes with running a marathon is the problem of losing sight of the goal, thinking that the finish line is never, ever going to come.  Any parent who’s ever packed his children in the back seat of the car for a 500 miles road trip knows the feeling…  Ten minutes down the road, ‘Mommy, are we there yet?’  Half an hour further, ‘Daddy, are we there yet?’  Little ones, who’ve never traveled those roads, who were too young to remember making that trip and how long and tiring it was, they have no concept of what it means to get in the car and sit there, buckled in, looking at the back of Daddy’s head for 8, 10, maybe 12 hours.  They can’t see the goal.  They’re not sure they will ever get to their destination.  Maybe Mommy and Daddy aren’t so sure, either.  But, they keep driving, because they realize, they remember that at the other end of that long highway is grandma’s house and all the good food she’s preparing.  Grandpa’s house, and that cozy spot next to him, out on the front porch. 

Brother and sisters, have you lost sight of the goal for your life as a Christian?  Before we go on, maybe we should ask, ‘What is the goal?’  ‘What is on the other end of that marathon track, awaiting all who endure?’

Before we examine the three reminders to endure, maybe we should search out whether or not it’s worth it.  What is awaiting those who don’t quit, who don’t lose heart, who don’t walk away when the going gets hard and long and grueling?  Hebrews 12:4-9 – We don’t have time to read that portion in its entirety, but you look it over, you examine it, and what will you find?  You will discover that more of God’s love, a greater understanding and confirmation of the fact that you are God’s child awaits you at the other end. 

Hebrews 12:5-7, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?”

Endurance.  Yes, patiently, steadfastly, bearing up on that long, long road.  It’s worth it.  Every child the Lord loves, must pass this way, must go through this process of chastening.  Speaking of chastening, correcting, disciplining, God’s long and difficult, purifying work in our lives.  We must endure it also.  Why?  That painful process is worth it also…  How come? 

Hebrews 12:10-11 – “God chastens us for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness… [God allows hard, painful trials into our lives, not because He gets some sadistic thrill out of it!  No!  But because a harvest is in mind…]  [He intends for these thing to] yield [in us] the peaceable fruit of righteousness [as we allow Him to train us by them].” 

What is at the other end of the line?  The Bible talks a lot about enduring and endurance.  But what awaits us, if we do?  And, is it worth it? 

At the end of the 500 miles road trip my mother and dad, and sister and brother and I would take every summer when I was a kid, were the homes, and gardens and farms and food we would always enjoy at grandma and grandpa’s house in Arkansas, and in Kansas.  And though, my sister and brother and I, got tired of looking out the back window of the car, and surely, mom and dad got tired of answering our incessant ‘When are we going get there?’ questions – it was worth it!  Believe me, it was worth it! 

But, what about this life-long race, stretched out over decades that goes with being a Christian?  Is it worth it?  Is what awaits us worth the effort, the blood, the sweat, and even the tears?  The Israelites of Moses’ day, sad-to-say, almost all of them didn’t think it was worth it.  Remember the accounts over in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy?  ‘Moses, take us back!  We want to go back to Egypt, at least there we had plenty to eat and drink!’  Take a look at Hebrews 12:18-21.  The Israelites of Moses’ day, almost all of whom did not make it to the goal, never arrived in the promised-land, they couldn’t – maybe, more accurately, they wouldn’t – see past obstacles like the Red Sea, and 40 day lay-overs like Mount Sinai, and so, where did they end up?  It’s a hard lesson, a brutal realization that underscores the absolute importance of endurance.  Virtually all of those ancient Israelites, including Moses, ended up dead and buried, BEFORE they ever got to see the Jordan River, or cross over it into the Promised-Land. 

But, my loved ones, look what awaits us, look at what is at the other end of the race, just beyond the finish line!!  Hebrews 12:22ff – The real Mount Zion, the eternal, heavenly city of the living God, an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and church of the first born made up of those who are registered in heaven’s book, the Book of Life, God, the Judge of all the spirits of righteous men and women made perfect.  And, best of all, look Who’s there to receive us:  verse 24 – Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and His sprinkled, shed blood that speaks better things, lasting, eternal things, than even the blood of righteous Abel. 

Endurance, laying aside hindering weights and besetting sins, endurance, resisting those who oppose the things of Christ AND resisting the temptation to listen to them and become weary, discouraged quitters.  What makes going through all of that worth it?  Can you help me?  All I can see is the trouble, the frustration and the pain!  Ever been to the cemetery, to lay a loved one to rest?  I made a trip there last week with Peggy B. and her family.  Ever stepped into an Intensive Care Unit, and walked up to the bedside of a dear one whose life was being sustained by tubes and pumps and ivies everywhere?  I’ve been there a bunch recently!  Ever been to a place like Joplin, Missouri was and is, after the terrible tornado that struck that city 10 months ago?

All three of those places, the cemetery, the I.C.U. unit, and the rubble of a tornado-ravaged city, all three of those places are a part of a kingdom, a domain that can be shaken!  A realm that can and will ultimately come tumbling down.  But what of those who patiently, steadfastly build their homes, their LIVES, not on shifting sand, but the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ?  Is it worth it?  Remember Jesus’ parable in Matthew 7 and Luke 6?  Building on sand, just laying out your framework, putting up the walls, and the roof, setting in the doors and windows, without having to do all the slow and difficult dirt-work to lay a solid foundation.  Building on SAND, is so much easier!  And quicker!  But, what happens to your home, your life, set up on that sandy foundation, as it is, when a level 4 or 5 tornado hits it?!  Endurance, patiently, steadfastly, digging down-down-down, till you reach bed-rock, setting your forms, pouring your footers and piers, laying that solid-rock foundation.  It takes time, it takes effort, it takes sacrifice and sweat.  Is it worth it? 

Hebrews 12:28 – What kind of kingdom awaits those who endure?  A trip to the cemetery kind of kingdom?  A stay in the I.C.U. unit kind of kingdom?  A Joplin, Missouri tornado-rubble kind of kingdom? No!  Praise God, no!  Those who, by God’s grace and by God’s power, endure, all the way to the end, receive a kingdom, look at it!  They receive, we receive if we endure, a “kingdom that cannot be shaken…” 

Endurance – Is it worth it?  Hebrews 12:1-3, ask the winners…  Yes, ask the folks like Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses.  Ask them, that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, cheering us on to the finish line, that group of Old Testament heroes listed in Hebrews 11, who themselves endured hardships and heart-aches as they ran the race and reached for the goal, ask them, “Is it worth it?”  Then, what?

Hebrews 12:2 – Then, ask Jesus.  Ask Him, “Is it worth it, WAS it worth it, what You endured for me, for us, at Calvary?”  Ask Jesus, and what will He tell you?  “I endured the cross, I despised the shame” of that ugly and cruel death, I did that, went through all of that – why?  “For the joy set before Me…”  “For the joy of sitting down at the right hand of God in heaven, knowing that I had done, completely, willingly and obediently, all that He sent Me to do…”  “For the joy of making the way by My shed blood for many other sons and daughters to sit down in My Father’s heavenly throne room with Me…”  “For the joy of defeating once and for all that dark, discouraging enemy of every runner’s soul.  “Ask Me,” Jesus says, “and I’ll tell, I’ll shout for you: ‘IT WAS WORTH IT to endure the cross!  It was!”

Look at the winners, look at Jesus.  Then what?  Look at yourself, look at what’s preventing you, hindering you, from enduring, running all the way to the end, compared to what awaits you, compared to all of that, wouldn’t it be worth it to lay aside everything, EVERY-THING that hinders you, and, especially the sinful habits that beset us, to run, to endure, to WIN? 

Would it be worth it?  “Therefore strengthen your hands, hanging down (so limp and lifeless) and strengthen your feeble knees, make straight paths for your feet…”  Yes, “Consider Jesus, think deeply, meditate long and hard on who He is and what He went through, so that you will not become weary and discouraged in your souls.” 

Video: Jesus' Hands: God's Love Touching Our Lives - Part 2

Jesus' Hands: God's Love Touching Our Lives - Part 2

Preached at Northwest Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, February 19, 2012

Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

How is it that God makes His love for us concrete, tangible, practical, touchable? 

To be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith, to be rooted and grounded in love – these were the things the apostle Paul asked God to do in the fives of the Christians at Ephesus, why?  So that they might be able to comprehend with every other Christian, the dimensions, the ‘Cross-Sized’ dimensions of God’s love, in Christ, how wide it is, how long it is, how deep it is and how high it is.  But not just to GRASP it, intellectually, conceptually, but what?  Paul prayed that the Church, the people of God, would KNOW that love, that we would EXPERIENCE that love that goes way beyond intelligent comprehension and so be filled with all the fullness of God!  Wow!  Have you ever prayed a prayer so gigantic, so enormous in scope and purpose? 

Lord, would you, please, answer that pray in me, would you please, accomplish that prayer in us! 

The love of God, how is it that God answers, has answered, that prayer?  How does He make His love for the world, and, in particular, for His Precious Bride, the Church, real, practical, tangible, touchable?! 

You remember it from last time, don’t you?  Can you put your hands together in this way? 

The gospel of Mark, that unique portrait of the life of Jesus presented, I believe, through the eyes of the Apostle Peter, and his young friends, John Mark, this portion of Scripture provides us with at least seven powerful illustrations of God’s love, long, wide, high and deep, through the hands of Jesus.  Would you find again that portion of the Word of God, and let’s explore, not only God’s love, His tender compassion for sin-sick humanity, but also, His special redeeming love, sanctifying love, for the Church, His Bride. 

Mark 7:31-37, “Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Have you ever made a list of the things, the common things, the ordinary things, you take for granted?   It’s 6:30, 6:45 in the morning, sun will be up shortly.  We take that for granted, don’t we?  Got to run to the grocery store, got to head off to work.  Jump in my car, put the key in the ignition, it’s gonna start, right away.  We take that for granted.  How about this?  We awaken in the morning, yes, to the blare of the alarm clock, but also the sounds of people we love and who love us, clanking around in the kitchen or bathroom, little feet, and big ones, too, pitter-pattering in the living room or laundry room.  Can you imagine what it would be like to awaken each morning to silence?  We take our hearing for granted, don’t we?  Or, what about this?  I can relate, “Where would this preacher be, if, when he opened his mouth, nothing came out?  We take our ability to speak, for granted, don’t we?  Imagine not being able to SAY the words, ‘I love you!’  Imagine not being able to HEAR them!  That was the plight of my great uncle, Jim McKnight.  And that was the plight of this unnamed man whose friends brought him to Jesus. 

How is it that God makes His love for the world real, tangible, practical?  The hands of Jesus, look what Jesus dos with His hands.  Verse 33, first of all, Jesus takes this man aside, away from the crowd, to minister to him privately and personally.  You know, that’s just a little detail in the account, but, if you think about it, it speaks volumes about the kind of gracious Servant/King Jesus is, and about how to go about ministering to the needy as Jesus did.  Jesus didn’t merely pronounce a ‘blanket blessing’ of help and healing on a sea of faces.  He didn’t run them through a cattle chute like some big ‘herd’ – next!  Next!  Next!  Next!  No!  He took this man, whose world was full of silence, and, I suspect, full of great pain, and with His powerful, healing hands, OPENED, LOOSENED, FREED, what had previously been closed and pad-locked!  Jesus’ hands, the amazing instruments of God’s love, look at what He does with those hands: the Awesome Creator Who made these incredible organs of hearing and speech, Jesus uses those very same hands to heal this man’s body and to open, wide a door he’d likely never, ever walked through before. 

I mentioned the teachers, the preacher, the sales-people in our midst, those of us blessed with the ‘gift of gab’.  Jesus, the Master Teacher, the Prince of Preachers, if anyone ever had the ‘gift of gab’, He did.  But, look.  One more thing we need to notice here.  The thing about Jesus that caused everyone to marvel, in this instance it wasn’t His speaking, His telling a parable or preaching a sermon.  No!  Rather, verse 37, take a look, the text says that what caused the people to be astonished was what Jesus had DONE, not said, but DONE, with His hands!  “He had done ALL things well!  He makes both the deaf to hear – no more silence!  Hallelujah!  And He makes the mute to speak – praise the Lord!” 

When God says, ‘I love you’, He doesn’t write it on the clouds, He doesn’t put up a billboard along the highway!  He doesn’t send you a text with smiley faces and strange abbreviations!  No!  He uses Jesus’ hands!  He uses His Son’s hands!

Mark 8:22-26, “Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

So far, in our look at the hands of Jesus, God’s incredibly tender and powerful instruments of His love for the world and for the Church, we have learned that Jesus used His hands to CLEANSE the leper; He has CLEANSING hands.  And that He used His hands to QUIET Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a raging fever.  Jesus has CALMING, QUIETING hands.  And that He used His hands to give life to Jairus’ little girl; ‘Talitha, Cumi – Little girl, arise!’  Jesus has LIFE-GIVING hands! 

But, now look, what kind of hands does Jesus have?  Mark 8:22-26 – Jesus has illuminating hands.  I mentioned a moment ago, that you and I have a tendency to take things, many, many ordinary, everyday, but very, very important things, for granted. 

Peggy can relate, can’t you, Peggy?  You had your second cataract surgery performed last week, and praise God, so far it appears as if everything was very successful.  She can see things, CLEARLY, that she hasn’t seen in years!  Imagine, Peggy, what it would be like to awaken each morning, not to a world of silence, that would be bad enough, wouldn’t it?  Can you imagine what it would be like to awaken each morning to a world of darkness?  Groping about, stumbling along, trying to find your way.  By the way, darkness, blindness, that is the situation, spiritually of every lost, unsaved man, woman and child.  God, please open their eyes, that they may see! 

Take a look at this text.  Mark 8:22 and following.  First of all, please notice the DEPTH of the need!  Remember Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 that we read at the outset?  Paul prayed that we might comprehend and experience the DEPTH of God’s love for us in Christ!  Listen.  This passage in Mark 8 illustrates the point well.  The depth of God’s love, demonstrated, ultimately in Jesus’ great SACRIFICE of love at Calvary, that DEEP, DEEP love, can ultimately only be calculated in terms of the exceeding depth of our need for it!  Mark 8:22 – “Then Jesus came to Bethsaida and they brought to Him a blind man…”  Then, notice the next sentence, the next phrase, it says that the people BEGGED Jesus to touch him, to heal him!  This wasn’t a request for a cure for a hang nail, or a case of the sniffles.  No!  This was an urgent plea for the LIGHT of the World, the Maker of this man’s eyes, to Shine into his life, to touch him with His hands, that he might see!  Illuminating the DARKNESS, taking away the blindness, that’s what Jesus does with His hands.  That’s how God shows His love through Jesus’ hands! 

I was contemplating these things, and their message for me, for us, and realizing those things that we take for granted, physically, organs of hearing and speaking and seeing that function fully and flawlessly.  Those of us who aren’t like my great uncle, Jim McKnight was, those of us aren’t afflicted like this blind man was, we forget that, unless and until Jesus extends His loving hands to lift the veil over our eyes, and to open and loosen our bound tongues and blocked ears, we won’t see Him, we won’t hear Him, we won’t be able to speak for Him! 

One final passage, the very next section of Scripture in Mark chapter 8.  Jesus gathers around Him not the multitudes, but His disciples.  We might put it his way, He gathers around Him His church.  And, what does He do?  He wants to know, yes, what the crowds are saying about Him, sure!  But more importantly, much more significantly, Jesus wants to know, wants to hear, to see, to know who WE think He is.  And what is Peter’s answer?  Mark 8:29, “You are the Christ,”  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  (Matthew 16:16)

Here’s my question for you, Church.  Here’s what we must always keep in mind, people of God.  How did Peter come to know this?  I mean, if you look at his life, this guy, at times, he’s as blind as they come!  At times, he’s as deaf as they come, speaking when he should have been listening!  How did Peter, this often very ‘blind’ and ‘deaf’ man come to this world-changing conclusion: Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God?!

Here’s how: Matthew 16:17 – The parallel passage to this text in Mark 8, Jesus, the One whose hands give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, Jesus says, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven!”

I praise God for my eye sight and for ears that are open and a tongue that is loose, maybe at times too loose!  But, listen – what I need even more, more, more, more, are eyes to see the things God helped Peter to see and ears to hear the things God helped Matthew and Mark to hear! 

Why?  So that I might speak!  So that I might go, and tell!  The hands of Jesus, God, would you use Your Precious Son’s hands to help us see and hear and speak! 

Jesus' Hands: God's Love Touching Our Lives - Part 1

Image: copyright 2012, Phoebe Kautt.

Preached at Northwest Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, February 12, 2012

Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

What a powerful prayer for the church that Paul composed, when he wrote this letter to the Ephesians!  It is a prayer that I pray God would fulfill in your life and in my life, a prayer for full comprehension and appreciation of God’s great love in Christ for His Church, a love that is wider and longer and deeper and higher than we have yet to see!  A love that ultimately is mediated by and measured in terms of the Cross. 

The love of God, in stark contrast to and graciously offered and supplied in spite of and to overcome our sin, our guilt, our condemnation and even our fully-deserved, damning punishment in hell, is surely one of the favorite themes of every preacher, music to the ears and hearts of every true believer in Christ.

The love of God, how is that love, how was that love made concrete, made tangible, touchable, practical?

Our family received an interesting and eye-catching wedding announcement recently.  The notification was from a couple we’ve known for several years, and it included not only the details regarding the wedding, you know, date, time, place, etc., but also a very unique picture of the engaged couple.  The photograph of the future bride and groom, shows them making the sign of love, the symbol of love we’re seeing so much of this week, with their hands.  Her right hand, his left hand, joined together like this to make the shape of a heart. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at it this way before or not, but the hands of Jesus, healing hands, helping hands, merciful hands, nail-pierced hands, what are they?  What are the hands of Jesus?  They are the means, the instruments through which God has made His love concrete, tangible, touchable and very, very practical!  The breadth, the length, the depth and the height of God’s expansive love for His Bride, the Church - do you want this prayer of the apostle Paul to be accomplished, fulfilled, carried out in your life, in your family, in this church?  To know this love that surpasses knowledge, to bring this prayerful petition to fruition in you and me, Jesus allowed His Father to use His hands.  Take a look with me, will you, please? 

The gospel of Mark, the gospel that many have called the gospel, the life of Christ, the portrait of Jesus’ life according to Peter, through his young friend, John Mark.  This portion of Scripture provides us with seven powerful illustrations of the Love of God, through the HANDS of Jesus. 

Take a look with me, please.  Mark chapter one, the love of God displayed and demonstrated through the hands of Jesus, I don’t know if you have noticed this before or not, but God’s love runs on two parallel ‘tracks’, two ‘rails’ set one alongside the other, yet each one with unique and different aspects.  The two ‘tracks’, the two ‘rails’ are these: John 3:16, everyone know and praises God for that verse, right?  “For God so loved the world…”  God’s love for sin-sick humanity, seen, shown, in the gift of His Son, that’s ‘rail’ number one.  And, then, there’s ‘rail’ number two: Ephesians 5:25ff - that great passage detailing a husband’s selfless, sacrificial love for his wife.  Do you remember the text?  What is the basis for that strong and compelling exhortation to Christian husbands?  Ephesians 5:32 – Paul says, “This is a great mystery”, a profound truth hard to completely grasp, “but,” he continues, “I am talking about Christ, the heavenly ‘Husband’, and the Church, His ‘Bride’.” 

The love of God, in Christ, runs on two somewhat parallel ‘tracks’, His great love for the world AND His great, great, great love for the Church.  Notice how that is played out here in Mark chapter one, through the hands of Jesus.  Let’s read, beginning at verse 29.

Mark 1:29-31, 40-44, “Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.  Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

How is the love of God made practical, tangible, touchable?  In both accounts, you see it, don’t you?    God’s love, stretched out in Jesus’ hands, they were cleansing hands.  This leper, what did he need?  What does the world need, filthy, as it is, impure, unholy as it is, before the holy, holy, holy God?  It needs, those ‘lepers’ need, the hands of Jesus!  What was it that moved those healing, helping hands?  Some would say that it was Jesus’ heart.  After all, the text does say that Jesus was “moved with compassion”.  But, I would ask you to consider: “is that all that prompted Jesus to stretch out His hands?” 

Many a person, many of us, are stirred emotionally, on the ‘feeling level’, by the needy condition of people we see and know.  But, how many of us stretch out our hands to help?  Notice carefully with me that Jesus’ hands, they came to be stretched out to this man, yes, because of compassion, a heart touched by this man’s need.  But, that’s not all!  You see it, don’t you, in the man’s pleading, “If you are willing,” “If you have the want-to” we might say, “You, Jesus, with Your hands, you can make me clean!” 

What sets apart Jesus and His hands from so many of us and our hands, is that Jesus’ love for this man is more than, goes deeper, wider, longer, higher than mere emotion!  No!  Flowing out of that compassionate heart was a will, a willingness to stretch out His miracle-working hands and DO. 

How is it that God makes His love, for the world, for lost ‘lepers’ like this man, tangible, practical?  Jesus’ hands!  But, then, as I said, there’s a second ‘rail’, a second ‘track’ upon which the love of God travels.  And, that is His love for His Church, His chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy nation, His own people.  That’s what I think we see displayed in the other text we read from a moment ago.  Early on in His ministry, Jesus has the opportunity to minister to His own, and on a very meaningful level, at the home of his dear friend and disciple Simon Peter.  You see the situation, as it is described there in verses 29 and 30.  A woman, who was especially dear to the Galilean fisherman, Peter’s wife’s mother, was in bed sick with a fever.  I don’t know how many of you have ever been afflicted with a high fever before, but those things can make you feel terrible!  And sometimes they can rage on for hours, maybe even days.  What does someone, someone you love, suffering the tormenting effects of a raging fever need, when that temperature is spiking?  Two Tylenol, and call me in the morning, right?  That’s what the doctor will tell you.  No!  They need hands, the calming, quieting, healing hands of the Great Physician. 

Jesus’ Church, His bride, sick, writing in agony, our gracious ‘Husband’ comes to us, touches us, and does for us what only He can do!  Praise God!  But, then what?  Well, look again at the text with me, will you?  The presentation of the life of Jesus supplied here by John Mark, with oversight from the apostle Peter, Mark’s gospel presents Jesus, who He is, in two different, but complementary ways.  According to Mark, Jesus is first of all the Servant who Rules, who has authority over leprosy and spiking temperatures.  Jesus is the Servant who Rules.  But also, if you read on in the second half of this Book, Mark also presents Jesus as the Ruler – Israel’s King – who serves!  Mark one, verse 31, what response, on the part of Peter’s mother-in-law, do Jesus’ helping, serving hands elicit from Simon Peter’s wife’s mother? 

The apostle John puts it like this: “We love Him because He first loved us!”  Mark simply relates that this woman, calmed, quieted, healed of her raging fever, by the hands of Jesus, got up quickly and began to use her hands, to serve Him!   There’s a lesson in that, my friends!  There is! 

How is it that God makes His love for the world, and for the Church tangible, practical? 

Mark 5 – one of the most moving accounts of the love of God at work, through the hands of Jesus, is found in Mark chapter five.  It’s actually two accounts in one, the record of the woman with the issue of blood, and her desperate attempts to touch Jesus with her hands.   And, mingled with it, the account of the raising of Jairus’ little daughter from the dead.  We don’t have time to look at the whole account in detail, but notice these few aspects with me, if you would.  Once again, like with the leprous man in chapter one, the situation is urgent.  Verse 22 and 23, Jairus, this little girl’s father, falls at Jesus’ feet and pleads with Him, “My little girl lies at the point of death.  Please come and lay You hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 

Have you been in the bedroom, the hospital room of a little child, gasping for breath, struggling to hang on, surrounded by weeping parents, and loved ones?  Men, this man Jairus, his love, his tenderness toward his little daughter packs a lesson for us also!  He cherished her.  Couldn’t bear the thought of losing her!  But, to put it bluntly, his hands, HIS hands were tied!  He needed, his little girl needed Someone whose hands weren’t! 

Some time ago I read about a sign in a certain restaurant that made this simple statement: “This is a kid-free zone!”  Imagine if Jesus would have put out the word to all the Jairuses around Him, “My ministry helps only those who are at least 5 ft. 3 in., only those who are old enough to get their driver’s license, mature enough to live on their own!”  In a couple of other places we read that that was what the disciples wanted to promote and publicize about Jesus.  That His ministry was a ‘kid-FREE ministry’, that He was too busy, perhaps too important, to bother with children!  Oh, but what do Jesus’ hands tell us here?  What do His words show us here? 

We have a couple of songs that put it so meaningfully, don’t we?  Jesus Loves the Little Children.   Kid free?  No, Jesus’ ministry was kid-friendly!  Little ones to Him belong!  Do you remember how this distressed father, Jairus, spoke about his daughter.  Verse 23 – “My little girl.”  Jairus cherished her, loved her, couldn’t bear the thought of losing her!  But, what about Jesus?  Two things, take a look.  First of all, at Jesus’ words, not Jairus’ the father, but Jesus’ words, verse 41, “Talitha Cumi’ – that’s Aramaic for, “Little girl” “Little one, you belong to Me!  And, then, Jesus stretches out His hands and YANKS up that girl abruptly out of that sick bed, right?  Sometimes us rough and rude and impatient fathers do that, don’t we?  But, not Jesus!  Not Jesus!  No!  Because He is friendlier to children than even the best Chuck-E-Cheese in town.  What does Jesus do?  Verse 41 – Gently, tenderly, lovingly, He takes her, lifts her, and I suspect, He also holds her, this little girl’s Maker and Healer, with His hands. 

How do you know, how can you tell that God loves you?  Watch carefully, will you?  The Hands, the healing, helping, calming, quieting, compassionate, tender, nail-scarred hands of Jesus, that’s how we know!  That’s how we can tell!