July 18, 2004 - Lesson: Matthew 15.29-31

SERMON TITLE: Searching for a Cure

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INTRODUCTION

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to bring to you the medical wonder not only of our ages, but of ages past, Dr. Job's "Complete," (here the congregation was asked to help finish the name of our magical elixer) containing a natural preparation used around the world for treatment of pains, sprains and strains, itches and twitches, congestion and indigestion, chills and other ills, colic and catarrh, constipation and flatulation, irritation and inflammation, sneezes and wheezes, dropsy, dyspepsia and diarrhea..." (1) It will cure "rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica, lame back, lumbago, contracted muscles, toothache, sprains, swellings..." "...frost bites, chill blains, bruises, sore throat, [and] bites of animals, insects and reptiles..." (2)

Its only 50 cents a bottle, five dimes, 10 nickels, ½ dollar.

  1. The vast majority of patent medicines were alcohol-based, many containing opium or morphine as well.

    1. Virtually none contained the ingredients they claimed to have, and none could heal.

      1. Vital Sparks, promising to revitalize masculine virility, was made by rolling rock candy in powdered aloe.

      2. Tiger Fat, a cure-all balm touted to be rendered from Royal Bengal tigers'' backbones, was concocted of Vaseline, camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil, turpentine, wintergreen oil, and paraffin.

      3. Liver pads, promoted as a cure for liver diseases, were nothing more than small fabric swatches with a spot of red pepper and glue; when the body heat melted the glue, the sting of the red pepper was perceived as a healing sensation.

    2. None of them could cure, they could only palliate.

  2. We recognize that for some illnesses and ailments there are no cures, there is only medication.

    1. Coming home from Bible Study on Wednesday last, I was listening to WPR and the program "On Point" was being broadcast.

      1. Tom Ashbrook was interviewing Dr Scott Grundy of the National Cholesterol Education Program.

      2. After several years of study, the NCEP is recommending that those who are in a high risk of heart attack, stroke or diabetes have their bad cholesterol lowered from 100 to 70, and those who are in the moderate risk category have their's reduced from 130 to 100.

      3. This means that many, many more Americans would be encouraged to take statins like Lipitor.

      4. They cost about $2.50 a pill.

    2. Physical cures are vital and necessary.

      1. We desire mobility and function

      2. We desire to live with the greatest possible ability to play.

    3. A spiritual cure is of greater necessity.

      1. To feel safe and secure.

      2. To be in a state of comfort and confidence.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. First we search for a cure

    1. There are no easy answers.

A New Yorker magazine cartoon showed a middle-aged couple standing in the square of a small town. Across from them was a restaurant that offered FREE LUNCH, a library that proclaimed EASY ANSWERS, a pharmacy selling CURE-ALLS and a repair shop advertising a QUICK FIX. The man said to his wife: Hey, I like this town.

    1. There was a man of Galilee who went up on a mountain.

      1. Great crowds of people followed him there.

      2. They brought with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others.

      3. They put them at his feet.

      4. This was no easy task.

        1. It was a long climb up the mountain.

        2. You were probably carrying, leading, or helping another person make the journey.

        3. You were doing it for the best reason in the world.

There is the story of a man who came to a holy person seeking healing. (3)

The holy person listened patiently as the man listed his complaints and then asked, "Do you really want to be cured?"

The man was shocked by the question and said, "Of course I want to be cured. Why else would I have come?"

To which the holy person replied, "Most come, not to be cured, that is too painful. They come for relief."

      1. The people who came to Jesus did not come for relief, they came for a cure.

      2. In the cure they found relief.

    1. No matter how much Botox is sold, there is no cure for aging.

      1. You are going to get older and eventually die from the breakdown of the bodies cellular structure.

      2. There is only medication for the degenerative results of growing older.

      3. This is for this life.

      4. There is a cure, but there are a lot of people who do not want to contemplate it.

  1. Second, we accept the cure

Two fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. Then an evangelist came to town, and one of the butchers was saved. He tried to persuade his partner to accept salvation also, but to no avail. "Why won't you, Charlie?" asked the born-again fellow.

"Listen, Lester," the other butcher said. "If I get religion, too, who's going to weigh the meat?"

    1. We accept the whole cure.

      1. We have to accept not on our terms, but on the terms of the One who is offering.

      2. We accept completely, not partially.

It is like taking a course of treatment for a disease.

You have to take it all, or it will not bring the greatest benefit.

    1. We maintain and honest set of scales and a candid, open, understanding way of life.

  1. Third, we apply the cure.

    1. What good is the medicine if it is not used.

"I'm driving at what I think is the central problem of the Christian church in America today: Most of us fear the cure more than the illness. Most of us prefer the plausible lie that we can't be cured to the fantastic truth that we can be. And there's a reason: If it's hell to be guilty, it's certainly scarier to be responsible - response-able, able to respond to God's visionary and creative love. No longer paralyzed, our arms would be free to embrace the outcast and the enemy, the most confirmed addict, ... No longer paralyzed, our feet would be free to walk out of any job that is harmful to others and meaningless to us, free even to walk that lonesome valley without fear of evil. Everything is possible to those whose eyes, no longer fixed on some status symbol or other, are held instead by the gaze of him who can dispense freedom and life in measures unheard of." (4)

    1. What does it say about a person who knows the viability of the medicine but neglects to use it.

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CONCLUSION

  1. Lastly, we sustain the cure

    1. Climb the mountain.

    2. Avail yourself of the present healing of mind and spirit that Jesus offers.

    3. Live with the hope and the confidence that the future will be much different and free from all pain.

1. "Dr Bob's" Medical Quackery: The Collectors Website: http://www.quackmedicine.com/

2. (Fowler 1997, vi, 10-12) Investigative Files: Peddling Snake Oil, Joe Nickell: http://www.csicop.org/sb/9812/snakeoil.html

3. Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 128.

4. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., The Courage to Be Well

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