Live Free with Josh Howerton - No One is Untouchable | Ep. 413 | Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

Jesus responds to people's suffering with a personal encounter. Before He spoke healing into the man with leprosy in Luke 5, Jesus conveyed his compassion through a simple gesture - reaching out his hand and touching him. It is a reminder that many individuals we encounter daily long for that caring touch, seeking reassurance of their value and significance. Today, take a moment to consider whom you can embrace and uplift with positive words. Who needs to hear about the transformative impact of Jesus in your life? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. I'm Mike Bro, and we have been unpacking a one-on-one encounter between Jesus and a guy who was seen as one of the untouchables.

This guy had been canceled by his culture, quarantined by his disease called leprosy. Well, we've discovered that Jesus knows no untouchables, and he embraces this guy, and he heals them. And what's so moving to me is that Jesus knew that even before this guy needed to be healed, he needed to be touched. I love what Max Lakato writes from the perspective of this leper. He says, I saw him, and before he spoke, I knew that he cared. Somehow I knew he hated this disease as much, no more than I hated. My rage became trust, my anger became hope. From behind a rock I watched him descend a hill.

I waited until he was only paces from me, and then I stepped out. Unclean, someone shouted. And I don't blame him, I was a huddled mass of death. But I scarcely heard them. I scarcely saw them and their panic, I'd seen a thousand times. His compassion, however, I'd never be held. Everyone stepped back except him. He stepped toward me.

I said, Lord, you can heal me if you will. Had he healed me with a word, I would have been thrilled. Had he cured me with a prayer, I would have rejoiced. But he touched me. Imagine that. Unworthy of the touch of a woman. man, yet worthy of the touch of God. You do know, don't you, that God wired us up to be touched, all of us.

It's well documented that human beings need to be touched. We all know that studies have shown that people who laugh often, they live longer. Studies also show that people who experience meaningful touch on a regular basis. They also have a longer life expectancy than those who don't. My wife Debbie is a cuddler and a laffer. If those studies are true about the health benefits of both, she's going to live to be like 175. Now, I'm not saying that we all are going to turn into touchy-feely type of people, but gang, everybody, everybody needs to be touched in some way.

Y'all ever go to those little antique stores full of figurines and all kinds of little stuff, delicate things on shelves? I've got to be honest, those places drive me crazy. They've got those little delicate figurines everywhere and something inside of me. I'm just, I'm just being honest, something inside of me snaps. And I just want to like grab a baseball bat and start clearing shelves. Because there's signs on every table, every shelf saying, don't touch, don't touch, don't touch, don't touch. I'm afraid to brush up against anything.

You break it, you bought it. Here's the deal every day. You and I brush up against people of incredible worth, people who are already broken. And God has attached to a high price tag to everyone that reads, this person is worth the price of my son. And God goes around putting out signs to say, please touch, please touch, please touch, please touch.

I'm telling you today, there will be someone in your world that will be waiting for someone to touch them. Will you? Will you extend a hand or a fist bump or an arm around the shoulder, a warm embrace, or an offer to help, or just an acknowledgement that they're there? My buddy John Artberg writes, in a contagious world, we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected with their pain. It may not be convenient or comfortable, but only when you get close enough to catch their hurt,

will they be close enough to catch your love? Again, I love how this leper approaches Jesus by faith, saying, I know you can do this. I know you have the power. I just didn't know if you were that kind of God. And Jesus reaches out and touches the guy, not only to heal him, but to announce to the whole world, God is that kind of God.

He wants to be close. I know this verse from Psalm 34, verse 18, has meant a lot to many of you where it says, the Lord is close to the broken hearted, and he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. You know why God is so effective with the broken heart and the crushed in spirit? Because he's close. He is that kind of God. You know, Jesus did lots of miracles.

In fact, John says over in his gospel, don't have the room to write them all down. The amazing things we saw him do would take like a library bigger than the world that put all the amazing things in print. When Jesus did a miracle, it was a never show off. He wasn't trying to build a big crowd. He wasn't hoping to go viral. In fact, he even tells this guy and other people at times, please, let's just keep this quiet.

Because he knew what chaos could occur, what tension and opposition could mount with the, you know, scheming religious leaders. But Jesus healed people. He touched people because he could and he wanted to. Here's the whole deal, though. Healing their body was not the ultimate goal. He didn't choose to heal everyone.

And if physical healing was the goal, then none of them that he did heal, died, but they all eventually died. Even his buddy Lazarus. He died twice. Jesus' response to suffering people and to the untouchables was to provide an up-close and personal glimpse and to the heart of God. I like what Philip Yancey writes about this. He says, by no means did Jesus eliminate all suffering. He healed only a few in one small patch of the globe. But he did answer the question of whether God cares. Regardless of how the world treats them, the poor and the sick have a because of Jesus that God knows no undesirable. See there's hope for everyone. I mean

what a feeling to know that you're wanted, that you're not undesirable, you're not unclean, you're not unloved, you're not untouchable, discovering that reality changes everything in your life and man it's hard to keep something like that quiet. You see nobody never ever touched the leper. If you touched one you got infected but when Jesus touched the leper he did not infect Jesus with his disease. Jesus infected him with his life and his hope and his joy. And as a result, this guy was really contagious now. Remember how Jesus told him not to tell anybody? Let's just keep this under wraps. Because his ministry didn't need any more attention or hassle or crowds.

But the guy just could not keep quiet. It says of a remarks account. Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places, yet the people still came to him from everywhere. I mean, come on. You blame the guy? I mean, how do you keep something like that under wraps? You know what?

You just can't. Come on back tomorrow, we'll dive in a little deeper to that. Until then, go tell somebody how Jesus has touched your life. Hope you have a great day. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays.

For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.