Legalism

Evening Service for 8/8/2010

“What Would Jesus Hate? Legalism”

HoHum:

One Sunday afternoon there was a drunken man who was staggering down a country path. He came upon a baptismal service at a pond. There were many to be baptized that day and the drunk, not knowing what was going on, got in the line to be baptized. Finally it was the drunks turn to be baptized. The preacher asked him, “Sir, did you found Jesus?” “No,” the drunken man said. With that, the preacher baptized him. The drunken man came up sputtering. The preacher asked again, “Sir, did you find Jesus?” “No,” the drunken man said. With that, the preacher baptized him again. The preacher asked again, “Sir, did you find Jesus?” “No,” the drunken man said. With that, the preacher baptized him again and this time made him stay under until his arms and legs were flailing. The preacher finally let him back up. The preacher asked again, “Did you find Jesus?” The drunken man said, “No, are you sure this is where he fell in?”

WBTU:

A. Talking about what would Jesus hate?

B. Talked about judging sinners, about dividing disciples.

C. Read Mark 3:1-6. We see here that Jesus was angry. We often have this picture of Jesus that he was so nice and kind and patient like a Mr. Sunshine.

Thesis: From Mark 3:1-6, let’s talk about 3 different people.

For instances:

I. The Man with the withered hand

A. We are not told if the man’s hand was withered from birth, or due to later onset of palsy, or some tragic accident in his work. We are only told that it was withered. In a time that virtually any form of activity, whether it is work or play or daily chores required the use of the hands, you can imagine how his entire life must have been hindered by this handicap. We may suppose the man was poor, because he would not have been worth much to any employer as workers with two good hands. He had to eat and drink with one hand, carry things with one hand, and if he was married, he could only caress the adored cheek of his beloved with one hand...perhaps only hug her with one arm.

B. This man was a faithful Jewish man. He was at the synagogue and the people there knew him. He could not attend services in the temple because of his deformity, but he had a right as a Jew to sit in any synagogue.

C. Where could a one-handed man ever go for any real sympathy and encouragement and help except to the people of God? Here he is, taking his usual place in the synagogue among his family and friends; people of this small Galilean village he had known all of his life, and he was there to worship his God in spirit and in truth.

D. Imagine this man coming to his church on that Sabbath Day and having Jesus heal him! What a glorious day it was for him! Notice, that the man did not request this of Jesus. Jesus just did it for him. The man did have some faith for he stretched out his hand and it was restored to normal. Is this why the man went into the synagogue? No, but what a glorious day for him!

E. What a wonderful day it was for this man’s family, for this man’s work situation, for this man’s self esteem. The Bible tells us: (Rom 12:15 NIV) Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. This man probably had been coming to that synagogue for years and what a wonderful day!

F. Great! Everyone was rejoicing. No, look at vs. 6. The Pharisees are not rejoicing. They are not even concerned about this man with the withered hand. Vs. 2 shows that they are not concerned about him at all. Even if they are not happy with Jesus and his teachings, at least they could have rejoiced with him over his healing.

II. The Pharisees

A. Steve Goodier- Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.

B. The Pharisees are the vultures. What they are doing here is looking for a violation of their Sabbath laws. I say their Sabbath laws because this was not in the Old Testament. One of their man-made laws was that one could not heal on the Sabbath. More specifically, a doctor or anyone giving aid to an injured person could do only what was necessary to sustain life in a life-threatening situation, but he could not lawfully dress a small wound, or bind up a broken limb or administer medication. That was work and work on the Sabbath was prohibited.