Jesus Comes To Us (Matt Albritton)

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Jesus Comes To Us

Scripture: Matthew 8:1-4
Date: January 4, 2026
Series: Dream Bigger Dreams

Key Points

  • God has a dream for your life and the life of our church
  • The key to victory lies in your understanding of God
  • When we offer our hardships to God, He can create a masterpiece from our lives
  • Do you believe in the power of Jesus?

Scripture Reading

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them."

— Matthew 8:1-4 (ESV)

Full Sermon Transcript

Our scripture lesson this morning comes from the gospel of Matthew chapter 8, and I'm just going to read the first four verses of that chapter. But let me encourage you to go home today and read all of that chapter. Chapter 8 is a marvelous chapter in God's holy word, and it will bless you if you stay in God's word this year.

Matthew writes, "When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I will; be clean.' And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.'" God's holy word for God's people. Thanks be to God.

New Year, New Chapter

Now, as we begin this new year, we begin a new chapter in our life. Elton Trueblood once said that we live our life in chapters, and living our life in chapters, I think, is a good way to live, because we can bring to an end one chapter in our life, put that behind us, and then open up a new chapter in our life with new expectations and new possibilities. It's just a great way to live. Elton Trueblood was a Quaker preacher and professor who wrote countless books. If you ever get a chance to read anything that he wrote, be sure to do that.

We enter into a time this year of new beginnings and new possibilities. Dream bigger dreams—that's our theme for this year.

God Has a Dream for Your Life

And God has a dream for your life, and he has a dream for the life of our church. Too often we let the limitations of our circumstances or the expectations of the world shrink our dreams. But when we open ourselves up to God's vision, we see that his plans for us are greater than anything we could ever hope for or imagine on our own.

I believe God wants us to dream boldly, even when the path ahead of us seems uncertain at times. But in order to dream bigger dreams, we have to be connected to the one who can make it happen—the one who can cast his grand vision into our lives and then help us to accomplish all that he wants us to accomplish in 2026. Jesus, the one who can do all things.

Being Connected to Jesus

But in order to be connected to Jesus, we have to be in love with Jesus. We have to be in a relationship with Jesus. We have to trust Jesus. We have to look to him as our Lord and Savior. We have to commit our lives to him. And when we are connected to Jesus, then he will empower us with his strength. He will guide us with his Holy Spirit, and he will help us to be obedient to his will for our lives.

When we are not connected to Jesus, then our daily lives will reflect human struggles. We will not be able to have the energy that we need to accomplish the task that God has planned for us this year, or the understanding to carry them through to the end, or even the desire to do those things his way.

The truth is, there is brokenness in our lives, brokenness in the lives of our family, brokenness in the lives of our friends. The fact is, we are all a little broken. And at times, hope seems far off. And yet we yearn for it even more. That's when we cry out to Jesus to say, "Lord Jesus, come to us and set us free from this despair and fill us to overflow with your eternal hope."

The Key to Victory

Now, the key to victory lies in your understanding of God. It matters what you believe about God's attitude toward you. Whether you realize it or not, God is concerned about every detail of your life. And you are on the road to victory when you believe that God cares about your plight, that he understands your situation. Too often we get into a place in our life where we don't think anybody loves us or understands us, but always God does.

The fact of the matter is, you can choose to believe that God cares for you as a matter of faith, even though your hardships may seem to be overwhelming at times. God still cares about you and your situation. Now at this point, we have two choices, really. You can either trust God to help you overcome your hardships or you can continue to sit in the ashes of your brokenness and whine.

God Creates Masterpieces from Our Hardships

But here's the good news. The Bible is filled with people who offered their hardships to God, and he created a masterpiece of their lives, and that's what he wants to do for you. He wants to create a masterpiece of your life if you will put your trust and your hope in him.

Think about King David. From humble beginnings, he went from shepherding his father's flock to leading the nation of Israel. David's life was a testament to the power of trusting God, even in his failures, and he had many. Yet his victories over Goliath and countless battles illustrate how faith can triumph over fear. The psalms that David wrote reveal his heart—a heart filled with worship and repentance and a longing for closeness to God.

Esther was another great example. Esther's story is one of bravery and faith in the face of dire circumstances. As the Jewish queen in Persia, she faced the terrible threat of the annihilation of her people. And despite the risk, Esther chose to step forward and speak out and be guided in God's plan. She understood that God had called her for such a time as this.

And there are many more examples found in God's holy word of men and women who have offered their hardships to God, who have trusted God, and given him the opportunity to make a masterpiece of their life.

The Fragrance of the Broken

The singer Steven Curtis Chapman once wrote about a dry spell that he was going through in his life, how he was desperate for a breakthrough in his spirit, wanting God to do something, for God just to show up. So he went out into the woods to pray. And there he stacked some rocks up and made a little altar. And he began to pray, but as he was praying, he began to smell cedar. And it was so strong that it distracted him from praying. So he stopped praying. He started looking around. And he saw a little cedar tree which had snapped in half when he stepped on it. The smell was coming from this small, broken tree.

Chapman saw this as a sign of God coming to him. And he wrote down these words: "the fragrance of the broken." In his song "Broken," he writes, "We don't have to pretend about it. We don't have to keep acting like we're all okay. If we will lift our eyes to the cross, we will see the reality. We are all broken and we all need a savior."

God does provide a fragrance as we deal with our own brokenness. And like the little cedar tree, it may not be obvious at first. We may have to look for it, as Chapman did. But then finding it, we can begin to enjoy God's grace at work in our life.

Because you see, everything depends on how you respond to the failure, to the pain, and to the brokenness in your life. If you choose to pity yourself, you allow hardships to defeat you, and bitterness sets in to your heart. Hardships win if you choose to harbor bitterness, or if you choose to be indifferent to the pain.

Jesus Comes To Us

However, if we will offer our hardships to God and turn our eyes toward Jesus, as we see in our text for the day, Jesus comes to us. Jesus comes to us in our brokenness. Jesus comes to us in our hurt. Jesus comes to us in our sorrow, and Jesus comes to us in our grief. And he empowers us with his strength and he guides us with his Holy Spirit, and he increases our faith, obedient to his will for our life.

Our text says, "When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him." Jesus had gone to the top of the mountain to preach the sermon on the mount. When Tammy and I were in Israel years ago, we had the opportunity to go to the place where it is believed that Jesus taught that day. It was an amazingly beautiful location overlooking the Sea of Galilee. And it was so easy to imagine the crowds that had gathered below this spot to listen to Jesus teach that day. And then reading Jesus' words—Matthew 5, 6, and 7—from that location made it even more thought-provoking for us that day.

As Jesus is coming down the mountain, people are following him. Throngs of people followed him everywhere he went because of his teaching and also because of his healing. And then we were told that a leper approached him and worshiped him.

The Leper's Faith

In Jesus' time, lepers were outcast in their society because leprosy was a death sentence—a slow death sentence, but it was a death sentence. So this leper did not go unnoticed by the crowd. People would have been moving out of his way. People would have been yelling at him to leave and possibly throwing stones at him. In some of the Jewish writings, it talks about the priests in Jesus' time throwing stones at lepers—even the priests. Can you imagine me throwing a stone at you because you have a disease? But that's what they were doing.

But the leper was undaunted by the crowd. And he approached Jesus to worship him. How did the leper worship Jesus? He worshiped Jesus by coming to him and honoring him as the one who could meet his impossible need. He worshiped Jesus with his posture, bowing down, kneeling before Jesus. He worshipped Jesus by using the word "Lord," honoring him as master and God. The word used there is the Jewish word they use for Yahweh, so he's calling him God. He worshiped Jesus with his humility by leaving his request up to the will of Jesus. And he worshiped Jesus with his respect of Jesus' power to heal, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

My favorite part of this short story is that the leper had no doubt whatsoever in the ability of Jesus to heal. His only question was if Jesus was willing to heal him. He had the confidence that Jesus could make him healthy again. He had the confidence that Jesus could make him clean again. He had the confidence that Jesus could make him whole again. He had the confidence that Jesus could restore his life again. He believed in the power of Jesus to heal.

Do You Believe in the Power of Jesus?

So let me ask you: Do you believe in the power of Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus can help you to overcome your illness? Do you believe that Jesus can help you overcome your hardships? Do you believe that Jesus can help you overcome your brokenness? Do you believe that Jesus could help you to overcome your hurt?

You know, sometimes we come to church and guess what happens? We get hurt by the people we go to church with. And we say, "I'm never going back to that church again. That person hurt me." Who are you really hurting though? Jesus can help us to overcome our hurt. Jesus can help us overcome our sorrow. And Jesus can help us overcome our grief. Do you believe in the power of Jesus?

The Touch of Jesus

The leper certainly did, and Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And this was a bold and compassionate statement by Jesus. The leper had probably kept his distance from Jesus, but Jesus came to him and stretched out his hand and touched him.

You may know this: it was against ceremonial law to touch a leper in those days, which made the touch of Jesus all the more meaningful to this man. As soon as Jesus touched him, guess what? He was no longer a leper. Jesus did not touch the leper to heal him—he could have healed him with a single word. He touched the leper because that's what the leper needed. And Jesus wants to touch your life this morning. He wants to touch your life and give you what you need. He wants to restore you. He wants to heal you. He wants you to be whole again.

Jesus was moved by compassion. And it had probably been a long time since this leper had felt the touch of compassion. This man's life was changed forever. He was not only healed but he was cleansed. In other words, he could go back to his hometown. He could go back to his work, he could go back to his house, he could go back to his church. He could go back to his family. That's why Jesus tells him to go to the priest, to make an offering, and be reinstated back into society. He redeemed him. And that's what he wants to do for us this morning. He wants to redeem us.

Ask, Seek, Knock

In the previous chapter, Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." And this was certainly true for this man on that day. He asked. And Jesus delivered.

What about you? Everything depends on how we approach Jesus. Are you coming to Jesus, honoring him as the one who can meet your impossible need? Are you humbling yourself before Jesus in awe of who he is as Lord and Savior? And are you making your request known to God and trusting in his will for your life?

Speaking from Brokenness

You see, the challenge is to find the aroma of God's grace at work, even in your pain. Even in your brokenness, even in your hardships. And then allow the fragrance of your brokenness to sweeten the atmosphere all around you. Because even in your hardships and even in your brokenness, we have to be strong and courageous. Because courage is contagious.

Deal with your hardships and your brokenness bravely with a positive spirit and your example will encourage someone. One of the things that I've learned in 26 years of ministry is when I speak from my brokenness, I speak to broken people. When you speak from your brokenness, you will speak to broken people. People need to be encouraged. People need to know that they're not the only ones going through what you're going through right now.

There are two great lessons that we must all learn when it comes to handling hardship. The first is this: God understands, and our pain and brokenness does not have the last word in our life. And when we speak from our brokenness, we will speak to broken people.

You see, God is longing to give you a life that is full of love and grace. He gave us his son, Jesus Christ, as our God. And as we follow him, he will empower us with his strength. He will guide us with his Holy Spirit, and he will increase our faith so that we can be obedient to his will for our life.

Making Jesus the Center

As we make the spiritual connection with Jesus, then we can begin to dream bigger dreams. Our brokenness becomes an opportunity for God to create a masterpiece from our lives. And the reality is, if we do that, then Jesus will be the center of our lives. Not us.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Gracious God, we praise you. We give you glory and honor for always being there for us, even in our hardships. Loving Father, thank you for opening the eyes of our hearts so that we can see just how much you care about our situation. And thank you for allowing us to share with others that same comfort and compassion that you have shared with us in the past. And as we offer our hardships to you, Lord Jesus, create a masterpiece from our lives. Come to us this morning, set us free from this despair, and fill us to overflow with your eternal hope. And it's in Jesus' holy name that we pray. Amen.

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