So we see a man in the scripture, in Mark chapter 3, who is suffering with an affliction. The scripture said that there was a man there with a withered hand. Notice that there was a man with a withered hand and he was in the company of people but he had a disability, he had a withered hand
and that was the situation that plagued his life.
Trauma
Talking about a man with reflection, the scripture says he somehow lost
his riches. Luke talked about that to say that it was his right hand. There’s something called the gospel of hebrew that said he was a carpenter
who just got injured recently so we’re talking about somebody who has
been traumatized. We we catch him with living with the trauma.
His life was somehow colored or bent or twisted, by a traumatic encounter and in this man’s story we all find ourselves there, whatever there might be.
We are talking about in scripture is in the company of christ. It is in the congregation of the faithful. In many societies, the left hand was
considered unclean, so following his paralysis, he was down to his unclean hand. He was down to what people say will define you, he was shriveled broken and he was reduced to his dysfunction.
Reduced to his symptoms. Funny how sometimes, that’s how we define
people, we define them by their symptoms. This person is a person with a disability. They’re depressed, we define them by their problem and so this guy
makes a decision to be there, he was probably disappointed,
disappointed in the way his life had turned to be.
He is living perhaps within himself deformed, perhaps living with regret like everybody else.
We all have deformities and some are more visible than others
Life sometimes has a way of defining by that deformity. It can come from within, it can be the way we think about ourselves, or the way we think about our world, or the way we think about god.
It can impair our perception. If the word information, people think it’s about reading the article the newspapers, information if you go back to the root of that word, it meant inner-formation, the formation of the inside of the person.
This person was deformed in the sense that the order of god, the order that was within him, was out of line. You see we all have deformities in our lives. Our thinking is what you believe about yourself, that is making you see the world the way you are seeing it right now. We all have impaired vision, impaired cognition but this man chose to show up in the presence of god, that’s all he could do. What he did not know is that his disappointment would be god’s appointment with him.
Sometimes as we journey along in our disappointment, we don’t know that heaven is out to repair an injury within us. It’s so easy to judge a person by their abilities or by their disabilities, but god places him for his glory to be manifested. He did not know that it would be something about his life this man did not know that one day some bushmen would be talking about him. He was only an ordinary fellow who showed up on a sunday morning disappointed, discouraged, not knowing that god would make something for him and of his story.
You don’t know what you sound like to the devil. God is working in your story
even right now, but in showing up in church, in showing up in the presence of
jesus, this man represented the church.
How This Involves The Church
He was the story of what church looked like today. He’s a metaphor of what the church looked like today, he’s a metaphor of a church with a
withered hand problem. You see it is easier to hide it, than to show
it most people. When they have that kind of deformity, they want to hide it. He showed up anyway, and the church of today has so many of these deformities. But we are good at hiding it, we have a church that is hemorrhaging
more and more. He said that today, as many as a hundred thousand churches
in America will be dying and their time is short, perhaps less than 10 years and they did not vote to die, they simply voted not to live. They didn’t see it coming, it’s like the word of daniel, chapter five. Many, many take a look at the person you have been, the way you have been measured and you have been found. One thing we’re talking about the church and the siege, in quest for relevance and credibility.
You see we have a church that need to stop conducting services, and begin creating a movement that profoundly change the toxic environment.
The sick stories people believe about themselves because, if you can alter the story of somebody, if you can change the story somebody tells about themselves, you will capture their heart and you will change their lives in Jesus’ name. The true problem is that the stories that people tell about themselves deform them. The stories that we believe about who we are, about and who our wives are, who our children are, those stories are powerful and they are defining us.
Being Offended
We have a church that is easily offended, we have a people, a community easily offended. Don’t do that because people are going to be offended?
But the gospel is offensive, the gospel by nature is offensive. You see the pharisees were looking for a reason to accuse him or to get offended on account of him. But, the bible said love is not easily offended, but many of us live and the symptom that we display is our offense.
The fruit we are harvesting, is the fruit of the offense that we gathered from the people around us. In what ways is your offense dictating the quality of life you are experiencing this morning? We are offended by our spouses, offended by our husband, offended by our children, offended by the word, offended by the church, offended by everybody, offended by our government. Offense, offense, offense, it’s diabolical what is happening in our society. Our experience of life is darkened, demolished, broken, and fractured by the offensive, because of your offense you don’t want to visit a sister or a brother. Because of the offense, when you took offense and you were easily offended, you don’t want to talk to somebody who is in your life, that you haven’t talked to in the past year, because you were offended.
Your offense is governing your life, and the pharisees were there with this man, in fact, they pushed him forward because they thought jesus might heal them and they would take offense, so they set themselves up to be offended. I wonder if sometimes we set ourselves up to take offense. I wonder if sometimes we position ourselves to be offended to be easily offended so that we can stop going to church, so we can stop doing the very thing. As if going to church was a lot. As if you showing up here, is by force. Nobody forced you to come here, because god sent you. You didn’t come here because your mama told you to come, you came here because god spoke to you, so you are obeying god. Do it because god led you, don’t come to please a man. Live your life fully, and do it from who you are and be bold in that.
It’s time for you to show up, the way God created you. You see, they are waiting for an offense, to take many at a time, not only are we struggling as a church, we’re dealing with the world, with his hand, intolerance and war. We can’t tolerate each other anymore. We’re talking about war in ukraine and war around the world because people, they want to display their power, racism, tribalism in africa and many of our countries where i’m from, people are fighting and killing each other. Exclusion, excommunication, materialism, rejection of the divine practices. Practical atheism, persecution of the other, quest for power and subjugation blame and injustice. We follow the polls, we don’t serve our people dealing with the withered hand culture. It’s not just a church with a withered hand, it’s not just a world with a withered hand, it’s a culture that is permeated. It’s loveless orthodoxy. We talk about the right doctrine, you say you’re gonna live the right way but there’s no love you cannot orthodoxy without love. There is no orthodoxy at all.
Obsession with process, with religion instead of people. We put religion ahead of people. Sermons over service, it’s all about the sermon, it’s not about serving the people, pastoral care, pastoral meditation, being there.
It’s a puppet over prayer we don’t pray anymore. It’s judgment over justice, religion over relationship, doctrine over devotion, hand out with a hand up. You see jesus did not give a hand out to this man, he gave that man a hand up and sometime as a child, we know we are good to giving hand outs.
We take your little toys and give it away, just a hand out, but we don’t give people a hand up.
Called To The Church
God called his church to be people who gave our people a hand up.
Help somebody to be and become the better version of himself. It’s hate, hate is a withered hand, bitterness withers our hand, intolerance, political interest, exclusion.
God does not bless this system. The church, we did this before and i think we can do it again. So, let me share some things that can help you change your life, and change the world. Something that can help you play your hand. I call it the play your hand manifesto:
Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from celebrating what’s undefinable.
You see this man showed up, he had a disability. He showed up, nonetheless. He did not let what was wrong with his hand, what was wrong with his right hand, decide how he was. He showed up with a disability anyways.
What is wrong with you? Whatever thing is wrong with you, must not define your life. You got to celebrate what’s right with you. You know what’s undefinable in you? Christ in you, and christ in you cannot be defined. The truth of god in you cannot define, so don’t let what’s wrong with you, stop you from reaching out. Don’t let what’s wrong with you, make you crawl in your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you, stop you from loving provocatively. Don’t let what is wrong with you, stop you from opening your hand and reaching out and embracing others, loving the unlovable. Don’t let what is wrong with you stop you. It’s time to reach out, to stretch out your hand.
It’s time for you to reach out beyond, if you stretch out your hand, you will realize you can reach further than you think. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from celebrating what’s right with you.
Don’t let those who have left you, keep you from celebrating those that are left with you.
Embrace Your Relationships
You see, in our lives and our stories in the relationship, sometimes people come and people go. Any of this you’re going to learn to embrace those that god gives you. Embrace those that god give you. That’s it, you don’t own anybody. Don’t ever talk somebody to stay with you, if a season is gone with you, let them go. Someone asked you to go out with you. Boyfriend, girlfriend and then let’s just let them walk. Don’t talk them into staying with you, let them go. Go bless you. Release them to go their way, have your way, bless you and don’t take offense about it. Sometimes much suffering comes, when we try to hold on to people, the wrong people, not that because they are wrong, because they see much more. Pain is one thing, suffering is another. If somebody smacks you, that’s pain. But suffering is whatever you say to yourself after the pain stops. Somebody slapped you because you were smart, or scolded you or maybe insulted you, mistreated you like you felt physical pain. Now suffering is what you do after you leave them. You hang on to and you harbor much hatred. Suffering, you don’t need to hang on to suffering, you can be free from that in the name of Jesus christ.
Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Live for the applaud, the applause of God, the hand of christ and trust the god who created and redeems by blood.
This is land and the easter season we’re celebrating. The coming and he’s death on our behalf. Live us as today is your first day. You see just live for the approval of heaven, not the approval of man. Stretch your hand straight up and choose an unstuck and unapologetic life of significance. Know yourself like your success depends on it. Know yourself, stretch out. You know don’t apologize for being here. I’m sorry you don’t have to apologize for being here, here, I am not sorry for being me. If you like me, it’s your problem. If you don’t like me it’s your problem. What’s your problem? If you hate me, go ahead, that’s your problem. It’s at your own risk, I don’t care. Me being liked, doesn’t define how i show up. If you are living your life for being liked, before you can show up and give the world your very best, you are cursed. You are living a cursed life. Be delivered and you need prayer and you need therapy too.
You cannot live your life by permission from others. God gave you the permission, you know him. Live your life provocatively, do not wait for anybody to give you permission to be the very person that god mentioned. Stop pointing out problems, become part of the solution and stop repeating the past and start creating the future.
Internal Deformations
Sometimes when you are deformed within, when you have that deformation, it could be a cognitive deformation the way you know or maybe it’s in your belief system.
When there is a deformation inside you, what happens is you live your life to see problems. You go from problem to problem, and problem to problem. I once bought a Rav4. Before buying the Rav4, I had never seen a rav4 in Lethbridge. Then I saw a Rav4, and another and another. Everybody has a Rav4.
Sometimes, given our own experiences we have a bias.Sometimes when you’ve been through trauma all you see is traumatized people.
Sometimes we need to train ourselves out of living in the problems, stop pointing out problems but begin thinking that you are placed there as a solution. You see when you read the text of mine, the pharisee thought Jesus will heal them. They didn’t think that god brought that man with a deformed hand for them to heal them. Maybe he belonged to the pharisees to reach out and to bless this man. You see, they didn’t think there was a solution but they were waiting to take an offense if somebody took care of the problem that they themselves are reluctant to take care of. They’re there to judge and to slap the hand. Curse the church that slap the hand of anybody who want to rise up. I don’t want to be that kind of church. If somebody has a vision we don’t want to crush them. You see, stop being the problem, you are the solution.
You Can Be The Solution
Be the help that people need, be the solution that the world needs, you are the answer.