Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons > Experiencing Jesus’ Salvation

Experiencing Jesus’ Salvation

David Fairchild
Jan 20, 2008
Series: Encountering Jesus

TEXT

Luke 5:1-26: "On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch'5 And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.' 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.' 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. 12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but ‘go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.' 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. 17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.' 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Rise and walk"? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins'--he said to the man who was paralyzed-‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.' 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.'"

INTRODUCTION

We've begun a new series called "Encountering Jesus." What we're aiming for in this series is a face-to-face encounter with the most important figure in human history.

We want to move beyond mere intellectual assent to truths about Jesus into a personal encounter with Jesus. We are asking God to open our hearts to see him clearly as week after week we're coming to the rich colors of God's Word and asking Him to paint the very image of Christ upon the canvas of our hearts.

The writer of the Gospel we've been in is the good doctor Luke. Because of Luke's background as a physician, the idea of healing for Luke is an important one and Luke gives us these various portraits of Christ that demonstrate Jesus' willingness to send His healing power into someone's life as He restores them at the core of their being.

Luke shows us the richness and fullness of Jesus' salvation for us to see how far the healing power of Jesus goes. Jesus promises salvation to all who come to Him, but the dimensions and incredible breadth and depth have to be shown because they are beyond anyone's imagination. Jesus' salvation is far more holistic and all encompassing than anyone was looking or hoping for.

The three stories are the first encounters with various individuals in the beginning of Jesus' ministry and give us a look into the heart of Christ and the grace He gives to anyone, absolutely anyone willing to simply come to Him.

These three stories are typically taught separately, but I believe they have to be kept together because they answer the question, "What does it mean to encounter Jesus salvation?" They have to be kept together or else we'll miss how full this salvation and healing really is.

In the first encounter we're shown how Jesus' salvation transforms us personally. In the second encounter we're shown how Jesus' salvation transforms us socially. And in the last encounter we're shown how Jesus' salvation transforms our relationship with Him spiritually. This is a salvation that transforms us in every conceivable way. This is what Jesus has in mind for us when He promises our salvation.

Let's look at these stories.

I. Jesus Salvation Transforms us Personally

Verses 4-11: "And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' 5 And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.' 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.' 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."

In this story Simon, who will be called after this story Peter, comes face to face with Jesus.

Jesus instructs Peter to let down his nets and Peter responds in a way that is consistent with his personality by basically telling Jesus that a carpenter shouldn't tell professional fisherman how to fish, especially since they've been fishing all night and have caught nothing. But, Peter obeys Jesus anyway and casts his nets into the water and experiences the greatest catch of fish he has every seen in his entire fishing career. There are so many fish that even with the help of another boat, they're both sinking.

Peter's response is to look at Jesus and to tell Him, "Get away, I am a sinful man, Lord." Peter encounters Jesus and sees Him for who He truly is and his response is to tell Him to get away.

Now, it isn't that Peter had yet to see Jesus with the eyes of his head, of course he did. Peter saw Jesus prior to this experience, but until this experience, he had yet to really see Jesus with the eyes of his heart. There is seeing and there is seeing. This kind of seeing was far greater than Peter could handle and his response was a personal breakdown when he actually saw Jesus at the core of who he is.

Personal trauma when meeting Jesus may be a different experience than you were hoping for from this story. What happens when we really see Jesus? Well, for Peter, he came apart at the seams.

How does Jesus respond to Peter's cry for Him to get away? Jesus essentially says "no" and begins to comfort Peter telling him not to fear because from now on Peter will be following Him. Jesus tells him what He wants him to do next.

What is this story teaching us? It's important to note that prior to this encounter with Jesus this fisherman was always called Simon and after this encounter he's always called Peter, but during this encounter he's called Simon Peter. There is a transformation of identity happening to him that is changing him in the most beautiful and yet traumatic ways.

The personal trauma of meeting Jesus

The salvation of Jesus always creates a personal trauma. Seeing Jesus, meeting Jesus, encountering Jesus and His salvation reconstructs who you are and fundamentally changes your psychology and identity. This is what's happening to Peter. Look at what happens to Peter.

1- Encountering Jesus deconstructs you

Peter falls down on his knees and cries out, "Get away from me Lord, I am a sinful man" (v. 8)

The first thing that happens when you encounter Jesus' salvation is a far worse view of yourself. You come to see just how dark your heart is and just how flawed you truly are. This is the first step to experiencing His salvation-you come to see Him clearly!

Have you ever seen paintings or web sites that are filled with pastel colors and perhaps even accompanying music that is like elevator music when it comes to talking about Jesus? You know, they're kind of sappy and sentimental and show a very sugary sweet portrait of God? They're all about warmth and coziness.

The problem with the portraits we draw, or the feelings that we inspire when we try to describe meeting Jesus in this way is that they are worlds apart from what Abraham, Moses, Job, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter and all others experienced who have come to meet God for who He truly is.

When you come to encounter the real God, it's personally traumatic.

When I first moved to LA I had plans to pursue acting or get into some kind of modeling (though I would have never confessed it at the time). What deterred me almost immediately was a city filled with eight million people and of those eight million people, many of them were far better looking, far more talented and experienced than I was.

I would often go to parties in LA and hang out with my friends who were actors and models and I'd be introduced to people that on the one hand were incredibly attractive to be around, yet on the other hand made me feel terrible. They gave me a sense of mediocrity that I hadn't really experienced in a town of 4,000 in Washington State.

I was used to being the alpha male who was fit, fast, and funny, and I came to LA and was surrounded by people that were far more fit, far faster, and far funnier than I was. Their beauty gave me a wound because they exposed my mediocrity. And though I would never admit it or show it, it was personally traumatic. I wanted to be around them but didn't want to be around them because they made me feel inadequate.

When you're in the presence of superlative beauty, it is attractive and yet repulsive. It's attractive because you want to be that beautiful and yet repulsive because you see your flaws and you know that you're not. This is why we do what we do to beautify ourselves. This is why we go under the knife to cut, pull, stretch, bleach and snip our bodies. This is why we'll endure the feeling of being in a car crash after the surgery with months of physical therapy, just so we can get a feeling of being beautiful. Beauty is killing us, literally!

This isn't just a vain thing of beauty. It is the same when we are up against someone who is intellectually, morally or financially superior. This is the trauma we feel when someone's life is all together and they are professionally superior than we are or artistically superior.

How do we respond? They evoke deeply mixed feelings. They are attractive and awful to be around.

How much more true would this be if you actually encountered the real God? If you think you're encountering Jesus and nothing is rising to the surface, no flaws or junk from the bottom of the barrel of your soul, then you're not getting close to the real God.

How can you come into the presence of infinite power without discarding the illusion of having your life under your control?

How can you come into the presence of infinite beauty without having to abandon the illusion of your own personal glory?

How can you come into the presence of infinite holiness without having to experience that overwhelming truth that you are not?

How can you come into the presence of infinite love without seeing that you are not as loving as you've come to believe?

The answer is that you can't. When you encounter Jesus your desperate illusions are abandoned because the radiance of Christ no longer allows you to lie to yourself or to God.

The first step in this personal trauma is the end of denial of who you really are. Peter sees himself as far worse than he's ever seen himself. He sees himself in reality rather than fantasy.

The second thing that happens to Peter is incredible.

2- Encountering Jesus' salvation reconstructs you

The moment Peter comes to see himself for who he truly is, the very person who makes him feel so flawed is the one who then reshapes his very identity to allow him to stand.

Verse 10: "...And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.'"

Jesus tells Simon Peter not to be afraid. Jesus welcomes Peter into His life and says that from now on he'll be catching men.

Jesus is basically saying to Peter to follow Him. When Jesus says this to Peter, we know he's not talking about simply signing up for some classes or meeting together once a week in the Temple. Jesus' comfort to Peter and his instructions to Peter are calls for Peter to be with Jesus, to live with Jesus, to be loved by Jesus, to follow Jesus, to be with Jesus at all times. This is what Jesus is doing, He's calling Peter into relationship with Him.

When you begin to encounter Jesus' salvation, you come to see that you are far more wicked and flawed than you would ever imagine or admit, and you are far more loved and welcomed than you could ever hope for at the same time!

An infinitely greater sense of your flaws and an infinitely greater sense of acceptance are joined together at the same time. This is the experience of encountering the salvation Jesus brings to us. You are given the most authentic humility and yet the most boldness and courage that comes together in this salvation.

3- Encountering Jesus salvation frees you to leave your previous treasures

What does it say they did with the catch? They left it on the beach! It wasn't just the nets they were leaving, it was the treasure found in the nets, the fish! I would assume that the neighbors around this beach were just given a free feast.

Verse 11: "And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."

This was probably the greatest catch that Peter ever had experienced or seen. There was more money left on that beach than Peter had ever received. Jesus calls them to Himself and they leave what they previously trusted in.

This doesn't mean we're called to leave our jobs and no longer work. This simply means that what we were once gaining our approval and identity from, no longer enslaves us and we're given the power to walk away from anything other than Jesus that gives us our ultimate identity.

How can they do this? Because Jesus calls Peter to another identity that isn't dependent upon his daily circumstances or the daily catch.

Our work is no longer what defines who we are; Jesus is. We can be freed from the slavery of our work running us and controlling us.

Jesus shows there is another work beyond this work, there is another treasure beyond this treasure, there is another identity beyond the one you're working so hard for and it comes by grace.

II. Jesus' Salvation Transforms us Socially

Encountering Jesus' salvation not only transforms who we are as individuals, it transforms who we are as a community. It transforms us socially.

Verses 12-16: "While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but ‘go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.' 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray."

We will never understand the significance of this story until we realize that the leprosy was only incidental. The leprosy represented something far worse than a rotting skin ailment.

Leprosy would have excluded this man from human touch, from social interaction, and it would have kept him from being able to go to the Temple and worship God. He was utterly socially excluded in ways that you and I can't even imagine.

In our current cultural climate, we don't treat the handicapped the same as they did in this culture. To have a disease, a visible disease like this, meant to be cut off from everything that mattered: loving fellowship, a loving embrace, and worship.

The man probably ran to Jesus and fell at Jesus' feet.

What does Jesus do? He touches him! This would have not only been physically unwise, it would have made you unclean and unfit for the presence of God because this man's disease would be passed to you.

Did Jesus touch him simply to heal his disease? No! We just read last week that Jesus could simply speak from a distance and whatever He asked, happened. He could have healed this man without touching this man's disease, but we're told something so tender, something so incredible. Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.

What is Jesus doing? What is his concern? He's healing him emotionally and socially. He's touching a man who probably hasn't felt human touch in a very long time. He's bringing a man into community who had previously been marginalized and pushed to the edge of society.

Jesus continuously is surrounded by a disproportionate number of the losers, the outcast, the sinful and marginalized. Jesus calls them to himself and makes them leaders and disciples of His. Jesus takes the people that the world sees at the bottom and brings them in.

Jesus is not the Messiah the world expected. Jesus doesn't take power and use people. He is the source of power and gives it away and empowers people.

The pattern of this salvation utterly changes the way you look at power and influence, the marginalized, and those whom society has shunned. They no longer are to be avoided but loved because they are you and me.

When Jesus touches the man and says, "Now you're clean," we're given a glimpse of something so incredible, it should stun us.

What is religion? The history of religion is that when the unclean comes into the presence of the clean and touches it, the clean becomes unclean. But in this story, Jesus comes to this man and touches him, Jesus' cleanness transfers to this man and the man becomes clean.

Jesus is the very cleanliness you're hoping for no matter how defiled and tainted you are. The moment Jesus touches you, you're made clean.

Jesus isn't one more leader who comes to tell you how to be fit for God; Jesus is the very fitness of God and comes to bring it to us by grace.

If you simply come into contact with him, if you touch him, you're in!

III. Jesus Salvation Transforms our relationship with God

Verses 18-26: "And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.' 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Rise and walk"? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins'--he said to the man who was paralyzed-‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.' 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.'"