This passage is about Jesus Christ’s compassion towards the sinners and their salvation in the home. He is fellowshipping with them _and that triggers the Pharisees and Sadducees to get upset at Jesus. And they accused him of fellowshipping with sinners.
Matthew 9:12: “But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”
Jesus tried to teach the Pharisees and Sadducees that those who need a physician (God) and healing, are those that are sick, not those that are perfect or righteous.
We can all admit that we are very sick people in God’s eyes.
A Church is considered a hospital for sick people. We cannot expect a perfect Christian church, like how the Pharisees and Sadducees expect a perfect church.
If we are going through a certain sickness in our life, (not just a literal, physical fleshly sickness) but a sickness where we are struggling financially and spiritually, we can be comforted that we receive healing in Lord Jesus Christ in these times.
Appreciating Chastisement
Proverbs 20:30: “The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.”
Chastisement can be labeled as a blueness of a wound. But God sees these as impurities that can cleanse away.
We may not enjoy chastisement from God, but we can always find hope, comfort, and appreciation in our suffering and pain. Didn’t Jesus embrace His pain on the cross? Or the early Christian martyrs that sacrificed their lives for the Lord?
Hebrews 12:11: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
God tells us to have joy in His chastisement, because it is meant to cleanse us from our sins, and to live righteously for Him and bear peaceable fruits. It is better to be chastized now rather than only at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Hebrews 12:5-7: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”
The verse points out that because we are God’s children, and because He’s our father, and He loves us, that’s the reason why He will correct us.
No child will enjoy punishment. Similarly, no genuine parent will enjoy punishing or chastising his/her child as well, as it hurts the parents just as much. But, nonetheless, it has to be done to correct the child’s problem’s.
It only makes sense for our loving and righteous God to chastise us because He loves us more as His children than we love our children.
Hence we should be rejoicing that this is done out of love and for our betterment. That’s what God wants us to focus on, and to appreciate God for His chastisement because it’s harder for Him to discipline us than to bless us.
2 Kings 20:19: “Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?”
Hezekiah sinned against God by foolishly revealing his kingdom to his enemy. Nonetheless, he confessed to Isaiah that he appreciates God’s chastisement and gets what he deserves.
We learn from the verse that firstly, God’s ways of doing things are always better than our preference because God’s chastisement on our lives is far way better than any blessings that we can get from the world or devil.
Accepting Challenges
Our healing comes from our hurting.
It is one thing when we go through suffering and hurt that we might attribute to our sin, but going through hurt when we believe we have done nothing wrong is considered as a healing process.
If we want to live right for the Lord and get our rewards in Heaven, we need to get hurt.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
To be a great, faithful God-serving Christian comes with a price, and that price sometimes means going through hurt and suffering.
How can we preach strength if we do not have strength ourselves?
How can we preach about overcoming pain and suffering if we have not gone through them ourselves?
How was Job able to become patient for God? It was by going through pain.
How was Joseph able to become the greatest picture of Christ?
It was by resisting pleasure in the palace day.
How was David able to make his kingdom the most powerful?
It was by suffering and persecution.
How was Jeremiah able to not quit his solitary preaching?
It was through being criticized by people.
How was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, able to become our redeeming priest? It was by taking care of our sinful problems.
2 Timothy 3:12: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Christians should thank God if we are persecuted because we are doing the right things for God. That should be encouraging, knowing that we are carrying the cross of Jesus Christ.
One example, John Wesley is known to be one of the holiest men. He was street preaching and used to having eggs and bricks being thrown at him. When he did not experience that for three long days, he prayed to God to use him and allow him to be afflicted. This shows how literal he took the verse of 2 Timothy 3:12 because he wanted God to use him so that he could continue to be joyous through persecution.
1 Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Isaiah 53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
These verses show the healing through the hurt Jesus Christ went through to save our souls from hell. Imagine if Jesus had the same weak mentality as we do, then we will all still be damned for God’s wrath.
Appointing Charge
This is where we can get the most peace if we always think about the one who holds our tomorrow.
The number one argument against the existence of God is not science, but rather the existence of His goodness, the justification of pain or suffering that has been inflicted on them.
This is because people are accustomed to questioning why God allows suffering and hurt. Nonetheless, pain and suffering themselves do not debunk the existence of God, but rather people think God does not meet their fleshly expectations or appeal to them emotionally.
The thing is that we always perceive our suffering to be unique and that God should intervene and heal us. Little do we know that there are millions of people out there who have it worse. If God does not allow suffering, then there’s no consequence of sin, it doesn’t make sense.
Then here comes another question, ‘Why would God allow good people to go through suffering, hurt, and persecution?’
The answer is also because of the sin of mankind, and it carries forward to others, including the good people, not just the transgressor.
Nevertheless, God is so merciful that God will eventually turn it or use it for good when good people go through suffering.
God does not deliberately cast suffering upon good people just for the sake of it, but rather those people have to go through suffering so that God’s great plans can be fulfilled.
We need to understand that God is infinite in holiness. If God allows all these sins to continue to slide without consequence, then holiness will disappear.
This explains why even sin deemed as minute as eating a forbidden fruit would yield such detrimental consequences in mankind.
We are called to follow God’s path rather than our path. If we choose to go on our way, we will eventually realize how hurtful life can be.
From Joni Eareckson’s example, we can see that despite her tragic accident, when she finally learned to surrender to the Lord, her fate changed, where she could use her suffering as a blessing in her career in painting and to her community as well. Her story eventually became a strong testimony to help others push through their pain, including a soldier who got involved in a Vietnam war.
One takeaway from this preaching is that the Lord does not take us out of our suffering.
Instead, He takes us through.
That is where healing comes.