Am I Too Broken for Jesus? | Phil Kniesel

We live in a world that scrolls past what feels uncomfortable. We avoid the messy, the broken, and the complicated. But this is not who Jesus is.

In this new series through the Gospel of Mark, we discover a powerful truth: when everyone else steps back from the mess, Jesus steps toward it. He moves toward rejection, defilement, and shame, not to condemn, but to restore.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Have you heard of the three second rule? When it comes to our attention spans, it states that on social media specifically, viewers decide to stay or skip within the first three seconds of a video. Now, think about that for a moment. 1, 2, 3. Some of you are already mentally in the parking lot, so you totally get it . Further research suggests people bail after only two seconds if the content doesn't immediately engage them. That's why often real start with someone saying, watch the end or wait for it. Neurobiological. Studies show that when we scroll, dopamine is released in our brain's reward center, making us conditioned for immediacy real after real, after real. And over time, this weakens long-term focus. It fuels instant gratification. It lowers attention control and raises worry, anxiety and stress. We are a fast-paced, please me now I want something to grab my attention culture, and if we're not careful, we can turn our spiritual lives into the same thing. Three second theology, 32nd devotionals and a TikTok doctrine. Now, I'm not saying short content isn't helpful, but that can't be it because Jesus is not just a clip. He's not just a motivational soundbite. He's meant to be our life. And so if I were to ask you who is Jesus, how would you respond? I'm sure some of you would say the Son of God, the savior of the world, the one who died for our sins the soon coming King. And once again, we have that reminder with the escalation of war happening in the Middle East. He's part of the Godhead or Trinity, he's the redeemer. And yes, that is all true, but if someone who had never heard of him asked you, who is Jesus, how would you respond? The Bible specifically helps us with this question. In the first four books of the New Testament called the Gospels, those are Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. They all present the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus from four distinct yet complementary viewpoints. Each gospel was written for a specific audience and highlights a different facet of Jesus's identity to describe who he was and to foster belief. So Matthew writes primarily to a Jewish audience and presents Jesus as the promised king of the Jews, the son of David, who fulfills much of the Old Testament prophecies, the Jews would've known. I'll get to Mark in a moment. Luke's a doctor who wrote to a gentile audience, specifically someone called Theophilus, and he emphasized Jesus as a savior for all humanity. He featured many parables of Jesus. Jesus highlighting the marginalized and emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit. John takes us deep theologically presenting Jesus as the eternal son of God made flesh. And then there's Mark. Mark is called the action gospel. It's the shortest, fastest, and seemingly most urgent. His work is considered the earliest gospel. And I would say in today's language, he would be the content real creator for 70 ad. Like if Mark had a theme word, it would be immediately he uses this word around 40 times. And what Mark did was he put together all the action scenes of Jesus' life, the urgent, dramatic, the fast-paced narrative, highlights of Jesus' power over demons, sickness, nature, and more. And Mark was trying to keep the reader's attention. So he moves from one event to the next. Very quickly he speaks to a culture that values action over talk. And for a three second generation that scrolls almost instantly, that filters out fluff quickly. Mark's words feel refreshingly, direct and helpful. And he focused on Jesus the suffering servant, meaning Jesus connects with people who know suffering, people who live under pressure, people who feel unstable, people who are tired of religious talk without power. Mark shows us that you cannot understand Jesus without understanding the cross. And in a culture obsessed with comfort and self-fulfillment, mark says, the path to life runs through sacrifice and surrender. And that's deeply countercultural today, but it's deeply needed. So who is Jesus? Mark's gospel gives us facts to answer that very question. And so I'm starting a new series entitled This is Jesus, where we're gonna be going through the book of Mark and looking at some of these fast-paced real life scenarios to give us a better understanding of Jesus. And I want you to listen how Mark begins his book. These are the first two verses. This is what he says, the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah, the prophets. So no warmup, no small talk. He doesn't include any long genealogies, no extended Christmas narrative, just the facts. And right out of the gate he declares this. This is good news. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the son of God. Isaiah prophesied this earlier facts. And then in the same chapter, mark continues. He proves Old Testament prophecy. He tells us how John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus. He tells us that Jesus is baptized, Jesus is tested. Jesus calls his first disciples. Demons are cast out, the sick are healed, crowds are amazed, and Jesus prays in solitude. So one after the other, they're all put in together in this first chapter of his book. And it's almost like Marcus saying, you gotta watch till the end. Wait for it because then comes this scene at the end of chapter one. This is what he writes. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees. If you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing. He said, be clean. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning. See that you don't tell this to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them. 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. So here we have a man with leprosy approaching Jesus, and he comes and kneels in front of him. He's in this posture of begging and he says, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus is so moved with this act of faith that he heals him. And I want you to notice something right away about who Jesus is. In a world that recoiled from lepers, Jesus listened and didn't walk away. In fact, he reached out to him. When everyone else stepped back, Jesus stepped in and leprosy in the first century wasn't just a skin disease, it was social death. According to Leviticus, the Jewish book of law in our Old Testament, a leper would have to live outside of the camp away from people. They were considered extremely contagious. They were cut off from worship, cut off from family, cut off from normal life. They even had to tear their clothes, sometimes, cover their mouth and cry out unclean when people came around. So yes, they were avoided at all costs. Like imagine introducing yourself that way. Hi, I'm unclean. Hi, I'm unwanted. Hi. I'm a problem. This man likely hadn't had any human contact in years. No handshake, no hug, not even this reassuring pat on the back. So people didn't just avoid him, they would've feared him because if they got too close, they might catch the disease. And to everyone else, this leper represented contamination, shame, danger and more. But to Jesus, he represented an opportunity to show who he is. You can imagine the public outcry that would've happened when this guy approached Jesus. Uh, he broke every social boundary. He broke the law. What's this guy doing in the city who allowed him in? You can almost picture him walking up to Jesus. And people are just stepping away from him in fear so they don't have contact with him. It's like the crowds of people separated like the Red Sea as he walked up to Jesus, this guy, he was desperate and he knew this is my chance. And so he didn't care what others thought or what those around him would say. He would've heard that Jesus had healed many. He would've known that there's something different about Jesus. He would've maybe even observed the crowd's amazement from the miracles Jesus had already done. And so he comes and he kneels before Jesus. And he says, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And here's what this short action story, this is where it goes, total counterculture. Jesus stays. He doesn't recoil. He breaks every expectation. Who is Jesus? When everyone else moves away from the mess, Jesus moves toward it. And friend, maybe today, maybe today you can relate to the leper. Your life is a little bit of a mess. Maybe your life is a relational mess. You can't fix your marriage. You can't trust again. You can't reconcile without one individual. Maybe your life is a financial mess. You can't get ahead. You can't carry the pressure anymore. You can't live at the lifestyle you thought you would have by now. Maybe your life is an emotional or mental mess. You can't quiet your mind. You, you find it hard to get outta bed. Some days you compare all the time, you just feel empty. Maybe you think your life is a mess based on nothing you did, but because someone told you that you would never amount to anything or maybe you feel because of a disability, you can't move forward. Maybe your life is a spiritual mess. You can't pray like you used to. You can't sense God anymore. You can't read your Bible without disruption. You can't believe God, whatever. Use someone like you after what you did. You're spiritually disconnected. Friend, listen, when everyone else moves away from the mess, Jesus moves toward it. He doesn't stand at a safe distance waiting for you to get your act together. He moves toward lepers. He moves toward failures. He moves toward doubters, those hurting and more. He moves toward the mess. And I wanna give us three lessons we can learn about who Jesus is from his encounter with this leper. Three lessons that describe how Jesus moves toward our mess. And the first one is this, Jesus moves toward our rejection. See, the leper didn't just have a disease, he had a history, a lifetime of being shunned, of being avoided, of being pushed aside. And just imagine being in his shoes. If someone ever came around you, they would keep their distance. Parents would pull their children away. No one gave them any attention other than there's that weird person who's sick. And so it wasn't just the pain from the sores on his body that he was feeling. It would've been the deep pain of isolation in his soul. He had no one, no one to talk to. He was all alone. Isolation does something to the human soul. In Genesis, God said, it is not good for man to be alone. And here is this man embodying what is not good. And then he sees Jesus. And notice again what he says. He says, if you are willing, and this is so important because the leopard doesn't question Jesus's power, he questions his posture. In other words, Jesus, do you want me? I know you can heal. I've heard it and I've seen it. I know you've already healed a lot of people. So it's not that I'm asking if you can, I'm wondering, do you even care about me? Because no one else does. Do you even want me? And I know in a room like this and across our campuses, some of you feel that way because of the mess in your life. You're asking, does Jesus even want me after the divorce, after the addiction relapses, after the abortion, after the moral failure, after the word spoken to you after the quiet sin, nobody but you knows about. Does Jesus even want me? Listen to me. Your relationship with Jesus, it has many aspects. He's your creator, he's your maker. He's your judge. He's your master. He's your Lord. He's your redeemer. He's your savior. He's many more things. But the answer to that question, friend is a big yes. Jesus wants you. He wants you for a friend. Listen to how Mark describes Jesus's response when the leper asks him if he's willing. He says, Jesus was indignant, meaning he had a gut level stirring. It bothered him that someone would even ask this about him. Of course, he wanted to make him. Well, of course he wanted him to be free. And in that moment, it's not even like Jesus flinches. It's not like he doubts what he's gonna do. He doesn't step back. He steps forward and check this out. The first thing he gives this man is not a sermon, not some lecture of why he came into the crowd, not even a reminder of who he was or of his condition. The first thing Jesus does is move toward him, which means he gives him presence. Jesus did the exact opposite everyone else had ever done. He didn't avoid run or back away. He moved toward him. He gave him presence. And you know what that says? Before Jesus healed the outward sores. He restored his dignity And friend, no matter what is going on in your life, recognize Jesus is here. He moves toward the mess and he brings his presence to you. And in his presence is joy. Forevermore in his presence is healing. In his presence, the demons flee. In his presence, there is strength in his presence. Shame doesn't get the final word in his presence. Dead things come back to life. In his presence, identity is restored. In his presence, chaos bows to authority. In his presence, ordinary moments become holy ground. In his presence, the unclean become embraced. And maybe you're newer here and you think church is just for together people and you're like, bro, I'm so not together. Listen, none of us are, we're all on a journey with God and we're all at different stages in that journey. And so this know this, the church is a hospital for broken people that only Jesus and his presence can make. Well. And if you're drowning in shame, maybe you've done stuff that you're like, man, if people found this out, I'd be embarrassed. You're just finding it really hard to stop. Fred, listen to me. Jesus's moving towards you in your rejection, in your shame, in your isolation. He is here to bring you his presence. He is here to bring you dignity in his presence. Everything changes because if the enemy of your soul can get you to believe anything, it's gonna be this reality that you are shameful, guilty and incapable of following Jesus, that you are stuck, you are rejected, that Jesus doesn't want you. He doesn't care. He's even angry with you. But if this incident with the leper shows you anything, may you see the reality of Jesus who doesn't move away, but he steps in and he steps into your rejection. Today he wants you friend. Jesus doesn't move away from your mess, he moves toward it. Who is Jesus? He moves toward our rejection. Secondly, Jesus moves toward our defilement. Here's the theological earthquake. In this passage, Jesus touches the leper. That was a complete no in their society. The law stated this. And I wanna take you to Leviticus five to tell you what the loss says here. It says this, if anyone becomes aware that they are guilty, if they touch human uncles, anything that would make them unclean, even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt, they must confess in what way. They have sinned as a penalty for the sin they have committed. They must bring to the Lord a female lamb or gold from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin. Touching someone unclean automatically made that person unclean, which then meant they had to go and make amends for it. But Jesus, he doesn't seem to care about all that because in this moment, something greater happened. Instead of the lepers, uncles transferring to Jesus, Jesus' cleanness transferred to the leper, the holy overwhelms, the unclean. Jesus's purity becomes contagious. And friends, that's the good news that Mark was talking about in the very first verse of his book here. That's the gospel in one touch. Religion says, stay away until you clean yourself up. And Jesus says, come to me and I'm gonna make you clean. The gospel writer of John nailed this when he said it this way. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. That word purify means the divine process of removing the guilt stain and contamination of sin from our life. And it covers everything that is not in conformity of God's will. It includes our acts, our thoughts, our motives, our attitudes, everything. It's not just some cleansing, it's total cleansing. And Jesus touched this leper because what he had to give him was something no one else could. And this moment is a foreshadowing of what Jesus did on the cross, on the cross. Jesus didn't avoid our sin. He absorbed it. Paul described it this way. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, the cleanliness of God, we might become clean. Notice what Jesus says while he touches the leper. Two words, be clean. Be freed from the thing that has defiled your life. Be freed from the status of what others have labeled you. Be clean. This was more than physical renewal. This was a renewal to all that this man was and all that God wanted him to be. And you might believe the mess that you're in is permanent. You might be saying, bro, this is just who I am. I can't change. I've been this way for such a long time. I'm always gonna slip. I'm always gonna mess up in this one way. I feel it's too late for me. Friend. Hear me. The touch of Jesus says otherwise. He stands here today and he says, be clean, be renewed. He wants to restore you. He wants to set you free. He wants to make you whole. He wants to cleanse you from whatever baggage you've been carrying, from whatever sin you have allowed to define yourself for whatever weight you have been entertaining. Jesus is here and he wants to make you whole. And the writer, Luke, another gospel writer in chapter 15, he records Jesus telling a parable along the same lines called the prodigal son. And Jesus tells this story in response to the religious leaders who criticized them for hanging out with the wrong people. We're actually gonna talk about that next week. He said a younger son asked his father for his inheritance early. So he gets it, leaves home, squanderers the money in reckless living and ends up broke, hungry and feeding pigs. And when he comes to his senses, he decides to return home, not as a son, but hoping to be treated as a hired servant. And Jesus says this, but while he was still far off, the father sees him, runs out to him, which was an an an undignified act for a patriarch. He embraces him and restores him fully as a son. Robe, ring sandals and a feast. He embraces him, he touches him, he reaches out. He has physical contact with him. And this is the posture of the relentless love of God for every single one of you friend, listen, today, you need to know Jesus is here. He's saying, come home, my arms are wide open. Be clean, be renewed. Jesus moves toward our defilements. And the third thing we see from Jesus in his encounter with this leopard is this. Jesus moves toward restoration. Check this out. After healing the man, Jesus gives him a command. He says, go show yourself to the priest. This was again based upon their law. According to Leviticus 14, the priest had to declare a cleansed leper officially restored. And I want you to notice this wasn't just about the lepers health. It was all about reintegration back into life, back into society. Jesus, he didn't just want to fix his skin problem and send him on his way. He wanted to send him back into the community, back into the temple, back into worship, back into family, back into belonging. You know our messes. Those are the things that always isolate us. Sin, isolates, shame, isolates, addiction, isolates, secrets, isolate. We pull away from the things that God has designed for us. And when we do this, we have this hard time worshiping God. We have a hard time facing our loved ones. We just have a hard time with life. And when Jesus moves toward us, he's not only saying, yeah, you are clean. He's saying you are freed. Man. That's what the gospel does. It frees and restores you. Paul writes it this way, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son. He loves Jesus has rescued us from all our mess and brought us into his kingdom. And so friend, may you today find that life, hope, healing. And next, in Jesus, may you find that freedom, love, grace, mercy and confidence in him reaching out and making you clean and restoring you. And when he restores you, you know what he says. He says, you are God's masterpiece. You are God's creation. You are his craftsmanship. You might say, well, pastor Phil, I don't feel like that. I feel like a pretty beat up piece of junk. You're not junk friend. Listen, Jesus didn't die for junk. He always moves toward restoration. He cleanses you. He restores you. You know why? So that you can stand in church and worship with a clean heart, with your hands raised high because he restores you so that you can face your loved ones with a pure spirit because he's restored you. Jesus never leaves you once. He cleans you. He always restores. And so this, this all goes down. And then something interesting happens. It's kinda weird, I find I don't wanna take you back to the text again. I don't wanna read it. This is what happens. Jesus says to this leopard, see that you don't tell this to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them. 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. This dude disobeys Jesus. And I find that strange. You were just healed and you're not gonna listen to the man who healed you. But then I'm like, okay, let's be honest. I do the same thing. Jesus has healed me. Jesus has restored me. And yet there are times where I still wanna do my own thing. I still want to go my own way. I still want to chart my own path. So the leper is really no different than any one of us. But because the man started to talk about what Jesus did, Jesus could no longer openly enter any towns. Mark says he had to stay in lonely places. And this picture is so vivid here. Don't miss this. The formally excluded man now moves freely and Jesus becomes the one who stays outside. Do you see that? The leper goes outside or goes inside and Jesus stays outside. It's once again a picture of calvary of the cross where the clean one becomes the outsider. So the unclean can come in. This is the suffering servant that Mark keeps highlighting. This is not random compassion. This is redemptive mission. It's what Jesus does. And in for short verses, mark Lanz, one of the most powerful encounters. Jesus had one that shocked the community, shook the religious leaders and rattled the outcast. Who is Jesus? He's someone who moves toward the mess. And so friend, if you're carrying private shame, if you're feeling spiritually disqualified, if you're exhausted by sin patterns, if you're afraid to be known, if you're tired of pretending, if you're stuck in a life you didn't choose, know this. Jesus does not move away from you or mess. He moves toward it. He moves toward your rejection. He moves towards your defilement, but he never leaves you there. He always moves you toward restoration. And so because that is true, you don't have to ask if you are willing.'cause listen, Jesus is willing to make you clean. The question rather is, are you willing to allow him to make you clean? I'm gonna have to ask you to stand if you are able to. I wanna close and pray over and for you, and I just feel in my heart today that I really want to pray for some of you who have been just feeling distanced from the Lord. You're saying, there's stuff in my life that I can't break. There's stuff in my life that just keeps me feeling guilty, keeps me in shame. You feel like you're stuck in the same patterns over and over, and you wanna be restored today. Friend, I just want to pray that the presence of Jesus overwhelms your heart and mind today. And so let me pray for you. Jesus, I thank you for this vivid encounter that you had with this leper, and I thank you that it just speaks so adamantly to our hearts and to our own souls. And so I pray for my friends today. I pray for those who are stuck in repeated patterns, whether they're sinful, whether they're things that just distance them, them themselves from you. I pray now in Jesus name, they understand that they can come before you, that they can kneel and say, set me free.'cause you are willing to make them clean. I pray that your presence speaks to their heart and mind. I pray that your presence through your Holy Spirit just overwhelms 'em today. And they sense your grace, your mercy, your love, your freedom, your forgiveness. But God, I pray that as they experience that they may understand that you still have so much more in in, in plan for their lives, God, that you wanna restore them. And so Jesus, I just pray that they walk in the fullness of that. May they experience your touch, your healing, be clean in Jesus' name. You know, Jesus went to the cross. I said it so that the unclean could be cleansed so that the rejected could be welcomed so that the outsider could come home. That's grace. And uh, if you wanna make that decision today, the what I would say is the best decision of your life to follow Jesus. I wanna pray a prayer with you that helps you put into words the beginning of that journey of knowing and following Jesus. Just pray with me. Jesus today I see my need for you. And I thank you for going to the cross, for dying, for my sins, for rising and offering me life and hope both now and forever. And so today, I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you. I desire to make you Lord and leader of my life. Help me to know what that means. Help me to understand that and help me to follow in the pattern that you have designed, which is best for life. And so thank you that I have the opportunity to do this. And God, even at the end of this service, I wanna pause and pray just for peace in the Middle East today, particularly for those in Iran. God, you know what's happening. Nothing like this catches you off guard. And so I pray for the people in these nations as they're in turmoil, as they're in fear, as lives are being lost, may they find freedom in you. Christ. May there just be a move of your presence of your spirit. I pray for the church there. God may you arise. And I also pray that you may guide the decision makers on all levels for your glory and for your honor, in Jesus, I pray over every individual, every couple, and every family. I ask that as they go into this week, may they walk in the strength and the courage and in the confidence of the Lord. I pray that they are knowing that the Holy Spirit is with them and you can speak in and through them. And I pray that the presence of Jesus overwhelms them every single day. I pray that they walk hand in hand with you, Jesus, for your glory and for your honor. And I pray this in your powerful name, Christ. Amen. You know, if you, um, pray that prayer of surrendering your heart to Jesus, can I ask you to just tap with your phone, that seat back in front of you? We'd love to get a, um, a digital booklet inside your hand that talks a little bit more about knowing and following Jesus. And it's also our way of trying to connect with you in a large church. If you want prayer over anything after the service, we'll have a prayer team right down here at your front left. They would love to pray over and for you today, hope City know this. Love you lots. Pray for you daily. Believing God's best for you today and in this week. Thanks for being in church today. Have an incredible Sunday.