Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, good morning and welcome to Madison Church. I'm Stephen Feith lead pastor, and we've been journeying through Luke's gospel in a series called A Life that Matters, and what we've been talking about and hopefully discovering together is that a life that matters is found really in following Jesus, and it's found in this idea of becoming Christ-like. We're becoming like Jesus as we follow him. It's so much more than believing Jesus is who he says he is. That's a key component, but that's not where it begins and ends. It's not. I believe this. This is how I affiliate Check A life that matters, following Jesus and discipleship. It's about how we live every day. It's about where our trust is at and what we place our trust in, and it's our response to God's call over all of our lives. Now, in Luke 17, where we're going today and specifically looking at verses 11 and beyond, jesus is going to shift focus. Last few weeks we've been talking about faithfulness, and faithfulness during uncertain times. But as he moves towards Jerusalem and toward the cross, as we all as a community gather and we get closer to Easter this year, what Jesus is teaching us, what it means to follow him. He's been emphasizing the cost of discipleship, humility and service, but now Jesus is transitioning. He's going to talk about the future. He's going to say, hey, I'm going to die. That's inevitable. They don't quite get that yet, and now he's trying to just cast a little bit of a vision for what happens afterwards God's kingdom, his return and, specifically, our readiness for those things.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Maybe you've prayed a prayer that sounded a little bit like this. God, if you would just get me out of this, I promise I will dot dot dot. Now this conjures up images of traffic cops and close parking spots. But what about the serious stuff that we're negotiating with God, the heartfelt prayers we dare not write down or go to the back of the room to pray about, things that we cry out and sometimes literally cry in desperation? God, would you give us a baby? Help us to adopt, walk through this process with us. God, if you just show me what I'm supposed to do with the rest of my life, I'll do it. God, if you help me break free from this addiction, then I will.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Today's passage Jesus meets people in that exact place. God, if you would, just I would. But in this passage and in the stories we're going to read about today, we catch something deeper about what real faith looks like Through the healing of 10 lepers, the teaching on the kingdom and a parable of a persistent widow. Jesus challenges us. Will we recognize God as the source of life? Will we live with readiness for Jesus's return? Will we persist in the faith even when nothing seems to happen? Jesus isn't just teaching theology. He wants to shape how you and I live and the decisions that we make every day. He calls us to a faith that recognizes, a faith that stays ready and a faith that never gives up. And so let's begin reading Luke 17, verses 11 through 14.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Jesus continued toward Jerusalem. He reached a border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, 10 men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out Jesus, master, have mercy on us. He looked at them and said go, show yourselves to the priests, and as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Now some key details here. They're near the border of Galilee and Samaria, which is a very racially and ethnically divided part of that region, and so already we've got kind of this I want to call it a conflict going on before Jesus even gets there. And what we see is not just that it's racially divided, but there's this illness and there's leprosy, and I was trying to find a good picture for leprosy and I couldn't find anything on the internet. So I went to chat GPT and asked chat to bring up an image of what leprosy probably looked like. Nice job, chatgpt. Right Now, as you can imagine, it wasn't just the disease. This looks awful and very uncomfortable, as you can imagine. I don't know how realistic this is, but we're going to go with it. You can also see that this was a sentence to a social exile. Nobody's inviting this guy over for dinner or coffee. As a matter of fact, if you see him, you're walking across the street or you're turning around and walking the other way. You want nothing to do with this.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And so, healing. When they cry out to Jesus, master, heal me, it's not just about health, it's about life. I'm tired of being exiled. Jesus commands them go, show yourselves to the priest, which would indicate that he is being healed, that these men are being healed, because by Levitical law, you could only go back to the priest if you have been healed. They weren't allowed to go back if they weren't healed. But we also read that they're not healed on the spot. Jesus says go and you will be healed. So it requires a step of trust.

Speaker 1: 5:32

As they obeyed, they were healed. The healing didn't come before the obedience. The obedience came first and then they were healed. And yet only one returns. One starts walking away. I'm going to go talk to the priest, notices hey, I'm getting better, says you know, I should go back and thank this guy because that's pretty remarkable. Out of all of them we read that this is the only one that's a Samaritan. So he's the ethnic minority of the group who comes back and falls at Jesus' feet and tells him thank you. And Jesus says your faith has saved you. And the Greek word here, sozo, it means healing and salvation. It's not just a physical healing but it's a spiritual healing. And this man so, while the other nine walked away and who knows what happens with, like, the rest of their lives and the rest of their destiny. But this one man in this moment wasn't just healed of leprosy, but his soul was saved.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Some gifts are so big and so life-changing. I know you've gotten these in the past, but just saying thanks feels like insulting to the gift giver. Have you gotten something like that where you're just like man saying thanks? It just doesn't quite capture how grateful. I feel we want to do something. How can I show just how grateful I am? And when Jesus heals us, when he saves us and he forgives us? This isn't just something that we want to say gee, thanks for this is something that deep inside, we want to feel the gratitude and we want to live our lives accordingly. We want to be like the Samaritan leper who says wow, I'm being healed, look at how my life is improving. It's not perfect yet, but I'm going to come back and say thank you.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Paul echoes this sentiment to all followers of Jesus In Romans 12,. He says dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you Past tense, all he has done for you Now. We have future tense promises as well. But because of what God has already done, and if God has never done anything else for you, ever again, I plead with you give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Speaker 1: 8:03

As followers of Jesus, we are called to respond to God's gift of salvation, of healing, of promise, of vision, of hope, with worship and like the lepers. We all experience brokenness and deep need, maybe not to that horrible picture's worth, but perhaps on the inside that's how we feel Caught up, wounds everywhere, an outcast. We feel that and we have to recognize that even if that's the case, we walk in obedience and faith isn't just about receiving from God, but it's recognizing him as the source of my healing. So even while I'm being healed and I'm in a state of not being healed, I still recognize that the healing comes from a source that is God, and so I worship him. It's about recognizing him as the source. Many of us have called on God in desperation, but how many of us come back to say thank you, to show our gratitude and to live a life of worship?

Speaker 1: 9:05

Jesus continues teaching and one of the Pharisees asks a question. He says when will the kingdom of God come? This is verse 20. Jesus replied the kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs. You won't be able to say here it is or it's over there, for the kingdom of God is already among you. Then he said to his disciples remember how the crowd is made up. There's the outsiders, there's the Pharisees and then there's the disciples. So he turns to his disciples, pharisees, still listening. The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of man returns, but you won't see it. People will tell you, look, there is the Son of man, or here he is, but don't go out and follow them, for as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of man comes, but first the Son of man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.

Speaker 1: 10:00

And so, for the background here, those Pharisees, the religious elite of Jesus' day, they expected, based on their understanding of the Old Testament scriptures, that when God came back, when the Messiah was there, there would be a powerful, visible kingdom movement, one that would overthrow the entire Roman empire. And Jesus just stops him right there, as he continuously does throughout this whole gospel. He'll continue to do that. The kingdom of God cannot be detected by visible signs, is what he's saying. Why? Because the kingdom of God is already among you. This is radical. Because the Pharisees, they wanted political dominance. But Jesus announces, despite not having any sort of dominance politically, god's reign has already begun. It's begun in the hearts of my people. And yet, while the kingdom is here. We live in that not yet space, not yet Overlapping, interlocking right now, but not yet. Here and there, now and later, we know that it's not yet.

Speaker 1: 11:09

And so, turning to his disciples, jesus warns. So if you're a follower of Jesus, he looks at you now and he warns. He says the time is coming where you will long to see the day when the Son of man returns. We say come, lord, jesus, come. We pray, he says, but you won't see it. Many will claim to have special knowledge of Jesus's return. But Jesus says these are just distractions, these are taking your eyes off the prize. His coming will be as unmistakable as lightning flashing against the sky. He says when I come back, you'll know, there'll be no question about it. I'll be like boom, it's here. He says, but first don't get so down the road here. He's got to warn his disciples again Remember I got to die first. To illustrate the urgency, he points to history.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Jesus talks about Noah and Lot and how people were caught up in their everyday lives eating, drinking, working, and then suddenly judgment came. Jesus says something like remember Lot's wife? She looked back because she was too attached to the world. She knew to move forward in the world that God was leading her to. And he says you're just like that, you're expecting a political revolution. You keep looking back at Rome and saying this must be what it's like. He says, but no, the kingdom of God starts here and when we move there. So stop looking back.

Speaker 1: 12:27

And today we still get distracted. I mean, not very many of you, I know, but some people obsess over end time predictions. I can't tell you how many letters we'll get this year in the mail directed to me and our church asking me to warn you that the end time is near. And I always throw those things in the recycling bin and I've not warned you because I just think they've been wrong so far and then, if they ever are right, it'll be a flash anyway right, and so I just throw those things away.

Speaker 1: 12:54

God's kingdom though you're here. So God's kingdom is already here. It won't be fully realized until Jesus comes back, that boom moment. But right now you represent the kingdom of God. His coming will be sudden and many will be unprepared, but Jesus says please not, you Don't be unprepared.

Speaker 1: 13:18

So if the kingdom of God is already here and not yet fully realized, how do we live in that tension. I think we can feel the tension, right, we know that there's something better, but yet we experience something worse. We know there's healing and perhaps we've even experienced some healing, but there's still pain. What do we do in these moments? Jesus does? He warns his disciples, says stay ready, don't be caught off guard. But waiting is hard and a lot of us are in a waiting season and our culture has done zero help in this regards.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Right, okay, how mad do you get when the drive-thru takes an extra couple minutes? Like I'm sitting behind, we're at McDonald's and I'm like you don't know what you want. It's not like the menu goes through radical changes every year. Okay, do you want a quarter pounder or chicken nuggets? Like this is basically it and it's like it only cost me an extra 30 seconds. You know. It's like what's the big deal? Why do I get so worked up about this? Not long ago, you would have been excited. 10 years ago, you would have been excited if you could order something from your pajamas and your slippers and get it in less than a week. You would have been pumped.

Speaker 1: 14:21

And I ordered something yesterday and I was irritated that they didn't have same day shipping for one of the items. I was like why Everyone buys this. Why can't I get it the rest of today or later today? And I can't begin to tell you how personally frustrated I am. I have three TV shows I'm watching streaming. I love them all and I hate that I got to wait Sundays, tuesdays and Fridays for new episodes. I thought Netflix solved this for us. You just released the whole thing and let me waste a Saturday, and now I got to wait months. I'm so irritated by it. Now, these are very little things, right? Cheeseburgers, tv shows.

Speaker 1: 15:02

How do we remain faithful with the big, serious things, the big serious your career, your relationships, your money, your health, the big things. If I get irritated about the drive-through wait, how am I ever going to wait on God? How do we trust God when he's at work, even if we don't see it? We don't know how he's at work, god, what are you doing, god? Why isn't immediate? Do you not know what you want to do here? How do we trust in God? Well, jesus answers with a parable about persistence in faith. One day. This is another time. Now.

Speaker 1: 15:38

Jesus told his disciples a story to show them that they should always pray and never give up. There was a judge in a certain city. He said, who neither feared God nor cared about people. This is a big deal if you're Jewish, because by the law of the Old Testament, if you were a judge, you were supposed to fear God and care about people. So Jesus just wants you to know what kind of sinful person this guy is. Finally said to himself I don't fear God or care about people. But this woman is driving me crazy. So I'm going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant request.

Speaker 1: 16:27

So in this story, a widow, a woman with no social power, no legal standing, pleads to a corrupt judge for justice and he ignores her. That's someone who doesn't care about God or people would do, who cares. But she refuses to give up. She goes every day. I ask, hey, can you do this? Hey, can you do this? And he finally relents, not out of compassion, not like, oh, I finally you know what. You've raised enough good points. Now I've changed my mind, like I feel really bad for you. No, it's like she won't shut up and I'm tired of seeing her. She's like that customer if you work in like retail or in a restaurant and you see them walking through the door and you're like, let's get this over with Now.

Speaker 1: 17:05

Jesus's point is clear. He's trying to paint a picture of if this godless person who doesn't care about people can eventually be broken down and do something, not out of the goodness of his heart, but just because he gets tired, how much better will I be? I am a just God, I care about people and my will is perfect. My justice is perfect. I will hear the persistent cries of my people and, unlike the judge, god's delay isn't negligent. You see, the woman goes and asks for a favor and the judge says no because he doesn't care. However, the difference between that judge and God is that when you wait, there's purpose. When you find yourself in the waiting season, it's not because he doesn't like you. It's not because he doesn't love you. It's because you haven't nagged him enough. It's because his timing is perfect. He has a perfect plan for your life that is good and for his glory.

Speaker 1: 18:00

And Jesus ends the striking challenge. He says when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? That's Luke 18.8. Will he find faith on earth? The question isn't whether or not God will act. It's whether or not we will remain faithful while we wait, just as I am coming back. This is going to happen. I am working things out for your good. That's going to happen. But when I do all of the things that I promised, will you still be there? Will you still be in the room Like the widow?

Speaker 1: 18:30

We all experience seasons where prayers go unanswered or they feel like they go unanswered. Temptation we want to give up. We don't believe God is listening. But God calls us. Jesus, in his own words, says stay persistent. Keep praying, even when the answer is slow. Trust that God hears, even when you don't see the outcomes as you expect them to be. Believe in his justice, even when your life seems unfair.

Speaker 1: 19:00

Jesus' teaching in today's passage. It challenges us to examine what real faith looks like. It doesn't always smell good. It doesn't always look good. It doesn't always feel good. That doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. Faith isn't just believing. It's how we respond to God and to the world around us, how we live with the expectation of his return. Will I still be in the room when he returns and do we endure in prayer? Does our faith recognize who Jesus is and remain ready for his return? Where are we at?

Speaker 1: 19:38

So a few things we can do today and we've been talking about discipleship for the last 10 weeks in this series. One of the things we can do is acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Remember only one out of the 10 lepers returned to thank Jesus. The others got their blessing and went on with their lives, but they missed a deeper truth. They might have gotten healing that day, but perhaps they missed an eternal healing for their souls. Jesus wasn't just a miracle worker, he was the source of their healing and salvation. How often do we take let's look at ourselves here for a minute not the person next to you, not the person in front of you yourself. How often do we take God's blessings for granted without acknowledging him? Or we say thank you for this healing without recognizing he is the healer. We say thank you for providing without saying you are the provider, thank you for protecting me, you are the protector.

Speaker 1: 20:32

True faith responds with gratitude and perhaps if you're somebody and you're like I, have a hard time expressing gratitude. I just I'm a half empty type of person. I get it, but a good practice is just, once a day, set a little timer in your phone. You're going to say that sounds ridiculous and it is ridiculously easy and simple, that you should just do it once a day. Write down something that you're grateful for. No repeats, no repeats. It'll start easy and as you do it it'll get harder, but as you do it it's like working out a gratitude muscle that the more you do it you're going to find things and throughout the rest of your day you're going to say wow, thank you, wow, I'm grateful for that. Wow, I might not have noticed that.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Two are we living with the expectation of Christ's return? Jesus warns that many will be caught off guard. Many people who know him, believe in him, follow him. It'll be caught off guard, just as in Noah's day and Lot's days, because people are too distracted by daily, everyday type of things. Are you so consumed with daily life that you forget to live in anticipation of Jesus? Again, I'm asking myself that. I want you to ask yourself that One way to stay ready is to evaluate how we use our time. Are we investing in what really matters?

Speaker 1: 21:50

In the book, simply Jesus, nt Wright says Jesus is not saying here's the kingdom and if you work hard you might enter it. He's saying the kingdom is here Now. Live like it's true. Kingdom's here, it's in the room. It's you, it's me. That can either be really exciting or really disappointing, but let's live like it. Making space in our daily lives for scripture reading, serving others and sharing our faith keeps us anchored in what truly lasts.

Speaker 1: 22:20

And three do we continue in prayer and trust? The widow didn't just stop seeking justice when she was told no, over and over and over again. And Jesus encourages the same persistence out of you. What have you been coming to Jesus for? And praying, and praying, and praying, and the answer just keeps. It seems like a closed door, it seems like a no. Don't give up Because, unlike the unjust judge, god is good and he hears you and he wants you to come to him. How often do we give up when God doesn't answer on our timeline or the first time we ask, or the way that we really wanted him to respond this way?

Speaker 1: 22:59

We had this vision of our lives that God, this is good, and perhaps that's different than God's vision for our lives. Is there an area in your life right now you're tempted to stop praying, something? You're just worn down. I ask, I ask, I ask and freaking nothing, and you're irritated and you're mad, you're sad. All of the strong emotions. What would it be like to commit to bringing it to God this week with more passion? Point that anger toward God, point that sadness toward God, that frustration Come to him like a widow. Where is my justice Now?

Speaker 1: 23:44

That doesn't necessarily mean we can manipulate or twist God's arm. I'm not trying to give you a formula that, hey, next Sunday, whatever you ask for this week is actually going to happen, I don't know. What I'm saying is don't tune God out, don't shut him down, don't close the door. Will you be the one who returns to Jesus in gratitude, stays ready for his return and persists in prayer? You can't answer that for anyone else. I can't answer it for you and you can't answer it for me, but I want the answer to be yes, and I realize that requires something out of me.

Speaker 1: 24:17

But can you imagine then, if you did it and I did it and we did it all together, this Madison Church community that we have here, what if we were marked by recognition, readiness and persistence, like those are things that people use to describe our church we weren't just people who received God's blessings oh my gosh, it's amazing. But we're people who returned in gratitude. We didn't just pray for healing and get the healing and then kind of fade into the background. But we are people who then, on Sunday morning, lifts our hands, raise our voices and praise God Thank you for being the healer. What if we lived in true readiness, not caught up by the distractions of our news feeds, but investing in what really matters eternally? What if we asked ourselves when evaluated our priorities, our relationships and even the way that we love the city we live in? And what if this was a community who never gave up on prayer? This was a community who, no matter what we see in the news, no matter what kind of injustice is, no matter what kind of depravity we see out there, we continue to cry out for justice. We didn't get tired of praying for healing and asking God for revival. What if we believe that God is doing something, even if it's not immediate?

Speaker 1: 25:30

If we live like this, I think Madison would see something different, a faith that isn't just talked about. People talk about faith all the time, talk about God all the time, but they would see a faith that was attractive and lived out, a church that radiates gratitude and an ungrateful world, a group that walks with expectation when all around us the cynicism is at an all-time high and a group that prays with relentless trust and a world that says what's the point? So the challenge is will we be that church? Will we be that church? And it's about you answering the question for yourself. But I would ask you, please be a person who recognizes Jesus and stays ready for His return and persists in seeking Him. I want us to be that kind of church Because when we do, we won't just be changed not just you and not just me, but our city, the state and the world for Christ and His kingdom.