Quote from Forum Archives on March 16, 2004, 9:06 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

EXPERIENCE THE PASSION #3/4
OUTRAGEOUS WHOLENESS
March 14, 2004

Text: Isaiah 53

During the 1970s, one of the cultural shifts that began emerging was that
of teenagers and young adults talking about “searching for themselves.”
This mindset began to be reinforced by some of the pop psychology that
came along during that same era which encouraged such “seekers” to find
“space” for themselves in order to discover who they were and what their
purpose was all about. Although the Bible addresses such thoughts as
seeking and being lost and being found, the 1970s mindset became an
excuse for some people to shirk life responsibilities in favor of, as the
talk used to be, “dropping out and turning on.” It became an excuse not
to “find oneself” as much as to just try to escape reality.

In spite of the abuse that came from such seeking, there remains value
for one to honestly and openly seek to discover the meaning and purpose
to one’s life. As I acknowledged, the Bible addresses the issue of
seeking, as in Matthew 7:7-8. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will
be opened.” From the Bible, we discover the real reason for our longing
and seeking, and the real answer that can satisfy.

In the opening scenes of The Passion of the Christ, Jesus is in the
Garden of Gethsemane. Through his use of imagery, Mel Gibson portrays the
agonizing struggle that Jesus went through. In a way, Jesus was
“searching for himself,” too. He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible,
may this cup be taken from me.” In the movie, the imagery depicting
Jesus’ struggle includes a satan who whispers such things as “it is too
much for you.” A serpent crawls out from under satan’s robe and begins
crawling toward the praying Jesus. The struggle continues for awhile
longer as other scenes show Judas making a deal with the Sanhedrin, the
gathering of the temple guards, and their progression to the garden. Just
as the serpent reaches the place where Jesus has been praying, we hear
the words, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” At that moment, Jesus’
sandaled foot comes down squarely on the serpent’s head. The struggled
seeking is over; Jesus has set his face toward his mission. I think Jesus
“found” himself.

One of the things that men and women have been searching for throughout
our history is wholeness. We long to be whole. Physically, emotionally,
mentally, spiritually - we seek to be as whole as possible in all of
those areas and are not satisfied when we are not. Turn to Luke 17:12-13
when Jesus encountered ten lepers. These lepers were not whole, and they
sought to be made whole. We read, “As he was going into a village, ten
men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a
loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’” We seek wholeness.

In Isaiah 53:5, we are told that “…he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” As used in the Bible, to
be healed is to be made whole. It is here that we discover the source of
our wholeness. It is not “dropping out and turning on,” or any other such
substitution. It is, instead, through the suffering of Jesus that were
are made whole.

God makes provisions for our wholeness. Consider the 34th Psalm of David,
verse 18. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are
crushed in spirit.” The good news is that God wants us to be healed. God
is close enough to care and is willing to share in the healing process.
What must we do to be healed - to be made whole?

First, face reality. Healing begins not when we attempt to fix the
problem ourselves, but instead admit that brokenness has occurred and
that we need God’s help. In a prayer of repentance that occurred after
his sin of adultery, David cried these words: “You do not delight in
sacrifice, or I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt
offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:16–17).

Many times in life we attempt to carry our pain all alone. We do
everything in our power to avoid facing reality. Fearing what others
might say or think or do, we try to downplay our pain, carrying it about
in the isolation of our soul. That is why facing reality is so important.
Healing can’t begin until we are willing to say, “I’m hurting.” In order
for genuine wholeness to begin, we must face the reality of our
brokenness and admit, “I cannot do this alone. I am hurting and haunted
by who I am and how I am living, and I cannot change without help.”

Second, move ahead patiently. Does the promise of God’s healing mean that
we will no longer have to do business with some of the dark sides of life
that still haunt us? Does God’s gift of healing mean that we will
instantaneously become well-adjusted human beings who no longer have to
deal with issues again? If we are healed from our sin, our guilt, our
anxiety, our fears, our jealousy, our greed, or whatever else it might be
that hinders us, does that mean that we will suddenly somehow have life
all “put together”?

Usually not. There is always business that demands attention. There is
always some area of our life that needs help. Healing is not only an
instantaneous gift; it can be a process - sometimes a long process. Those
who have had to have some form of therapy know how long a process healing
can be. Not only do some days see no progress; they actually see a
regressions! So it can be in our spiritual lives and our road to
spiritual wholeness as well. Turn to Philippians 1:6. The apostle Paul
wrote, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion in
the day of Christ Jesus.” Sometimes, God’s work of grace that restores
wholeness to our lives takes time. To use the words of an old prayer,
“Lord, I ain’t what I ought to be and I ain’t what I’m gonna be, but
thanks to You, I ain’t what I used to be.”

Face reality; move ahead patiently. Third, accept continually God’s act
of grace. Consider again the words of Isaiah 53:5, “. . . by his wounds
we are healed.”

At first glance, one might think that those words are a little bit
strange. “By his wounds we are healed.” One might think that we would
hear the prophet say, “by his word you are healed.” After all, we read in
the Gospel accounts where Jesus said a word and miraculously and
instantaneously, someone was healed. “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.”
Or we may have expected to hear words like, “by his touch you are
healed.” Again, we read of these situations in the Gospel accounts, like
the story in Mark 8 where Jesus spit on the blind man’s eyes at
Bethsaida. Then Jesus touched him and the man could see. Yet Isaiah’s
words are neither of these. Instead he says, “by his wounds we are
healed.”

If you witnessed the movie The Passion of the Christ, what went through
your mind as the Christ was being beaten and ridiculed and mistreated?
What thought went through your mind as he stumbled down the road,
carrying the burden of the cross? What went through your mind as he was
nailed to that same cross and lifted up to suffer on it? Did you find
yourself thinking, even for a moment, “This is wonderful. I am being
healed!” I didn’t. Yet the witness of the prophet Isaiah is clear. It was
by the excruciating, painful death of Jesus that healing in our lives has
been accomplished and wholeness restored. God desires a whole
relationship with his people in order to make us whole. Yet, that
relationship would be prevented until justice had been satisfied. In the
servant Jesus, God made the way to satisfy his justice and to offer
healing to the hurting. In his crucifixion on the cross, Jesus is not
suffering with his people; he is suffering for them, and doing for all of
us what we cannot do for ourselves. In that one dramatic and sweeping act
of suffering and death, wholeness has been offered to all who receive it.
He has taken our brokenness upon himself and given to us the gifts of
healing and wholeness.

Face reality… don’t run. Move ahead patiently… don’t become discouraged
if healing does not happen as quickly as we wish. Accept continually
God’s act of grace… and don’t stop receiving it, ever. There is a song
entitled, “Bring Christ Your Broken Life”:

Bring Christ your broken life, so marred by sin,
He will create anew, make whole again;
Your empty wasted years, He will restore,
And your iniquities he will remember no more.
Bring Christ your broken life.

The gift of healing and wholeness is offered to anyone whose life is
filled with sin and the accompanying regret, disappointment, and pain.
The gift is waiting. Don’t let anything hold you back.
(adapted from Dr. Chuck Moore, “Experience Ultimate Wholeness,”
Experience the Passion, Mainstay Ministries, CD-ROM, 2004)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!