Scripture: Luke 13:10-17 (cf. verses 10 - 13)
Theme: Worship - Jesus Style
Proposition: In this passage Jesus teaches us about TRUE WORSHIP - 1. True Worship is Inviting 2. True Worship Impacts Lives 3. True worship results in Inextinguishable Praise.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world!
Growing up in the Church of the Nazarene in Eastern Kentucky our pastors did their best to help us experience true worship. Our worship services were designed to be more than a gathering of like minds and souls. Our worship services were designed to be more than singing a few songs, having a time of prayer, listening to a sermon and ending the service with an altar call. They were designed to be times that we would follow the advice of David in Psalms 96:9 - "O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness...".
Worship was to be so much more than choir specials, testimonies shared or even people praying around the altar. Worship was to be more than returning God's tithes and our offerings during the offertory. Worship was to be more than volunteering for children's church, working with the teens or even teaching a small group. All of these could be labeled as expressions of worship but we were taught that they do not define true worship.
True worship is when we worship the LORD our GOD with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and when we love our neighbor as ourselves. True worship is when the veil between heaven and earth is experienced at its thinnest. Our passage this morning shares with us three amazing elements that share with us the definition of true worship. Jesus shares with us an illustration of what he desires worship to look like, smell like and feel like. Let's take a few moments and see what Jesus teaches us about true worship in this passage:
I. TRUE WORSHIP IS INVITING - verse 10 - 11
One of the amazing things we read about in this passage is how open and inviting the doors were to this local synagogue. Luke doesn't share its precise location but as we read verses 10 -11 we quickly notice that it possessed a wide open door policy.
+It was open to those of the local Jewish community. Anyone living near this synagogue was both encouraged and welcomed to come to worship and learn.
+It was open to Jesus and his disciples. It is important for us to remember that Jesus' ministry was inside, not outside the worship and common life of Israel. To be in the synagogue on a Sabbath day was to be at the heart of Judaism and at the heart of Jesus Christ. Luke reminds us that it was Jesus' custom to either be at the Temple or at the synagogue on the Sabbath.
H. D. M. Spence shares with us that in the early months of Jesus' ministry, he was a frequent teacher in the synagogues that dotted the landscape along his missionary tours. Wherever Jesus was it was common for the local synagogue rulers to graciously open their doors to him and his disciples. As time went on it appears that was not always the case. Under growing pressure from the Jewish religious hierarchy along with the growing enmity of the Pharisees it appears that Jesus was beginning to be excluded from some synagogues. Dr. Spence uses the term "lesser excommunication" to describe the advancing situation. However, that was not the case with this particular synagogue - it still had a Welcome Jesus Sign.
+It was open to Jewish women. Rabbi Joshua, Senior Rabbi of Ahavat Zion Synagogue in Santa Monica, CA tells us that during the Second Temple period, women were able to serve as leaders of synagogues, participate in ritual services, learn and teach Jewish law. Women could even be members of the quorum of ten needed to say the "Eighteen Benedictions" and like the men were able to say "AMEN" in response to the priestly blessings.1
+It was open to broken people. In verse 11 we read where a certain woman suffering from a curvature of the spine was allowed to attend the synagogue services. She would not have been allowed in the inner parts of the Temple due to her condition but in the outlying synagogues the rules were more relaxed.
All of this causes us to take some time and examine our own situation and circumstances. How open are our small groups and worship settings? How inviting are our doors? Are they saturated with grace and grace? Are they inviting or are they closed off?
It can be as simple as our body language. I have witnessed small groups classes in which they way they arranged their chairs made it very uncomfortable for a new person be a part of their group. I have seen churches that did not welcome people as they would enter through the doors but simply begin to whisper to one another - "I wonder who they are?". Both are not the ways of Jesus.
Dr. Gay Leonard2 teaches a wonderful class on the Jesus way to welcome and greet people when they come to our small groups and worship settings. She talks about the necessity for warm and enthusiastic greeters, up to date signage along with an environment that smells good, looks good and feels good. She reminds us that we must always think of ourselves as Christ welcoming everyone in for a time of learning, prayer, worship and fellowship. The focus should be on welcoming everyone both new and long time members.
True worship therefore is always inviting and inclusive. There are no people groups that should be excluded or discouraged. Dr. Billy Graham carefully reminds us that “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” In other words we are all the same - sinners in the need of God's mercy, grace and love. No one is any better than anyone else. The University of St. Thomas added the following statement in their policy of dealing with possible candidates for a job position:
"... the search committee must avoid any inquiries that elicit information about race, religion, national origin, public assistance, sex, color, marital status, sexual orientation, age, creed, or disability. "
We would do well in the Church of Jesus Christ to have a like minded policy when it comes to who can join our small group and worship settings. Our small groups and worship settings should be known for their inclusiveness rather than their exclusiveness. We should always have open hearts, open minds and open doors. That should be more than just the motto of the United Methodist Church - it should be the motto and practice of all the Churches of Jesus Christ regardless of the tribal name that each individual Body of Christ puts above its doors and on its sign. True worship invites all and includes everyone, sinner and saint alike.
II. True worship Impacts Lives
Luke shares with us that true worship makes an impact because it is intercessory and incarnational in nature. True worship is designed to impact us as it transforms our hearts, our minds and our souls. True worship places us in the presence of a loving and caring God. We see such an impact illustrated in our passage between Jesus and this woman.
Throughout his gospel, Luke loved to share the exciting encounters that happened when Jesus went to various synagogues to teach and preach.
+In Luke chapter four we find Jesus reading from Isaiah 61:1-2 as he explains his earthly mission (4:16 - 30). At first everyone was fixated on Jesus. They desired to hear each and every word he spoke that day. They wanted to know what this carpenter turned rabbi had to say. Later on though they became so infuriated with him that they wanted to kill him. Can you imagine this happening in your small group or worship setting?
+In Luke 4:33 - 36 we see Jesus visiting a synagogue in Capernaum where he shares the truths of the Kingdom of God. Suddenly, Jesus is confronted with a man possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus doesn't miss a beat as he quickly tells the demon - "Be silent and come out of him!" The demon leaves, the man is free and the crowd is overwhelmed with amazement. Now, that's an impact! That's an exciting service.
+In Luke 6:6-11 we see another time Jesus is teaching in a local synagogue. This time he is confronted by a man with a withered hand. Jesus speaks healing into the man - "Stretch out your hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored." Scorn and malice begins to build up in the hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees who were watching. They believe that Jesus has broken the Sabbath. They begin to conspire together to find a way to get rid of Jesus. Can you imagine being in a worship setting where someone is healed and a group of people get upset about the healing?
+And in our passage Jesus reaches out to the woman who has been possessed by an evil spirit of affliction for over eighteen years.
It seems that when Jesus came to worship service or to a small group setting things happened. He made an impact on the lives of everyone around him. Luke tells us that Jesus made a powerful impact on the life of this woman.
For 18 years this woman had suffered immensely day and night. For over 216 months, 939 weeks and some 6, 574 days she had been bent over and could not straighten up. This was not a cramp nor was it a natural part of the aging process. Medically, it could have been labeled as a curvature of the spine, a type of bone fusion or even muscular paralysis but Luke tells us that her condition was caused by the presence of an evil spiritual agent.
In verse 12 Jesus takes the initiative. He calls the woman forward and tells her - "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." He then lovingly touches her and instantaneously she receives healing grace. For the first time in almost two decades the woman can stand up straight, sit straight and walk straight.
Her life was impacted because of Jesus. There was no other reason. Jesus words and touch impacted her life and that worship service. No doubt over the past 18 years she been to many other synagogue services. But not one with Jesus. When Jesus shows up in worship everyone and everything is impacted. When Jesus is present life changing events can happen.
So, why doesn't this type of thing happen more often? I'm not speaking necessarily about healing miracles but why doesn't our services have more power, more impact on the lives of those who attend? Why is it that all across our land our worship services experience very few Holy Spirit encounters? Why don't we experience more impact in our worship settings and in our small group meetings? Why is it that so many people see a common worship service as dull, boring and dry?
Let me put forward perhaps one of the reasons. Could it be that we don't experience very many impactful worship services because of our inner doubts. We simply do not believe that anything miraculous or life transforming will happen this Sunday or next Sunday or even the Sunday after that one. We don't spend time fasting and praying for the Shekinah glory of the LORD to be in our services. We don't come expecting anything so in essence we may even be guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit? Perhaps it's because in our own hearts and minds we can't imagine such a service. We can't imagine it so we don't pray for it to become a reality.
St. Ignatius of Loyola back in the 16th century believed that every Christian should work on possessing what could be called a vivid spiritual imagination. He taught that it was important for us to have a vivid imagination so that we could experience a deeper prayer life, a more meaningful meditative life and experience more heightened worship experiences.
St. Ignatius believed that there are two ways that our imagination can be used to help us spiritually. The first way is for us to "enter into the vision of God." We do that by first imaging that we can see the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY looking down on our sin broken world. We then feel God's overwhelming love and concern for our world. We watch as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit create their plan to redeem, renew and restore our world. We watch as God the Son accepts the mission of the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection. We watch as the Holy Spirit accepts and fulfills the mission of Pentecost by cleansing and infilling the hearts, minds and souls of receptive people. We do all of this so that we can begin to experience things from God's perspective. As a result we will be better able to assimilate God's holy love, compassion and understanding in our own lives. It all begins with enlarging our spiritual imagination according to St. Ignatius.
The second method of imagining is similar only this time we are to imagine ourselves in one of the stories we find in the Gospels. We become one of the on-lookers at first and then one of the actual participants. For example let's imagine the scene between Jesus and this woman here in our story. At first we are to simply see it from a distance. We begin to feel the hot Mediterranean sun beating down on us. We feel the dust on our sandals as we walk towards the synagogue. We hear all the chatter as people begin to gather to hear the special speaker - Jesus of Nazareth. We feel the texture of our prayer shawl as we pull it over our head as we are all called to prayer. Then we notice out the corner of our eyes this woman as she slowly walks by hearing her painful grunts, her labored breathing and the shuffling of her feet as she finds a place to stand. For as long as we can remember she has always walked with a limp and a bent.
We listen as Jesus shares the words of the Coming of the Kingdom of God. We are amazed with his knowledge, his command of words and his authority. As soon as Jesus sees this little woman however he stops speaking. He calls her to come forward. It takes a few minutes as people move out of her way. We begin to wonder - what is he going to do? Will he send her out? What's going to happen?
We watch as Jesus tells her that she is going to be set free. Free of what we think. We watch as people are straining forward to hear each and every word of Jesus. We watch as Jesus lovingly places his hands on her back. Slowly she begins to straighten up. For the first time in 18 years she can stand up straight. Wow! She is taller than we ever imagined. We are filled with amazement, wonder and excitement. Who is this man who speaks with such great authority and can heal those who are broken?
St. Ignatius would then tells us to go back into the story and approach it again only this time imagine being the bent over woman. Imagine living that way for 18 years. Imagine being called up front in front of everyone in the synagogue. Imagine being touched the Son of God. Imagine being able to stand up straight and tall. Imagine lifting up your hands, dancing around and praising the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
Finally, go back and imagine being Jesus. Imagine speaking about the Father's love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. Imagine the Father giving you permission to touch this bent over woman. Imagine your glory being poured into her as she straightens up and receives God's mercy and love. Imagine the joy of knowing that you are doing things that bring honor and glory to your Heavenly Father. Imagine the smile of the Father as He looks down upon you.
You see, this morning, we need to be able to first imagine our worship services and our small group meetings having a powerful impact. We need to imagine the Shekinah glory of the LORD coming down. We need to imagine lives being transformed, miracles being accomplished, marriages being saved and souls coming to the Kingdom. We need to imagine that when we are gathered together right there in the very midst of our gathering is Jesus. We need to imagine being surrounded by a cloud of witness who assist us in singing, praising and proclaiming the Good News.
You may laugh and say that all of that is foolish. Really? Anymore foolish that when we turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter one and read how God spoke/sang the worlds into existence. Anymore foolish that read how God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed in His Holy Spirit bringing Adam to life. Anymore more foolish than the words of Jesus - "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." "This cup is pour out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
You see our ability to imagine is a part of the Imago Dei in all of us. The more we are infilled with God's Holy Spirit the more our imaginations can reveal to us the depth, the width and the height of Jesus' love. The more we are infilled with God's Holy Spirit the more our imaginations are able to help us understand that we "... can do all things though him who strengthens me."
In Acts chapter four the Early Church was bold enough to imagine/believe that the Holy Spirit would come and give them boldness. They imagined that the Holy Spirit would literally enter into their prayer rooms. In verse 31 we read - "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."
This morning, we must imagine, we must believe and we must be ready to receive God's presence in our small group and worship settings. Let's work on unleashing our imagination and place it into the hands of the HOLY SPIRIT and then believe that the LORD will impact our lives and the lives of others in our small group and worship settings. True worship makes an impact.
III. Finally, true worship results in Inextinguishable Praise.
"Immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God." - verse 13
Don't you just love hearing those words. Can't you see her dancing around with her hands held high praising the name of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY? Can't you see the other people as they join in with her praising and thanking the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY?
That is the final result of true worship. True worship always leads us to praise and proclamation. It leads us to focus on our Creator and LORD. It leads us to a higher life and experience with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. There is something otherworldly that happens when we experience true worship. There is something that cannot be stopped, extinguished or rejected.
In our story this morning the synagogue ruler attempted to do just that. He did his best to bring everyone back to earth even to the point he went toe to toe with the Son of God. He tried his best to tell Jesus how one should celebrate Sabbath. He tried to school Jesus on the elements of true worship.
If only this man could have seen how ridiculous he looked from heaven. If only he could have seen what he was saying from the view point of one of God's holy angels or the 24 elders. Here he was mere dust talking to His Creator. Here he was trying to tell God the Son how to Worship God the Father. Here he was trying to tell the one who wrote the 10 Commandments how to live the 10 Commandments. I am sure all the angels in heaven were smirking at his foolishness.
This synagogue ruler couldn't handle Jesus getting out of his perceived theological box. As long as Jesus stayed true to tradition and ritual things were okay. But when Jesus decided to do something that was abnormal or out of the box then that is when the fat began to hit the fire.
Thankfully, Jesus makes both the fat and the fire. Jesus created this woman and Jesus freed this woman. All Jesus was doing was living by the words he spoke earlier in the Sermon on the Mount - "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16). All Jesus was doing was the work of the Father which in turn instantly brought praise to the Farther as well.
Over the years as a pastor I have had people come up to me after the service and say - "That was a good sermon" "Good job today, pastor" or some other affirmative response. The human part of any pastor relishes in hearing those words. After all, who wants to hear - "Pastor, that was a dud today." or "Wow, I could hardly keep my eyes open"?
But any pastor or Christian leader worth their salt wants to hear the LORD say - GOOD JOB and wants to watch the people of God praise and proclaim the name of the LORD. Earthly compliments and kudos are nice but what true worship leads us to is uplifting the name of Jesus. True worship lead us to praise that is Inextinguishable.
All the bickering and the manipulation that this synagogue ruler tried to do fell short. All he did was to bring shame on himself and the rest of the religious wet blankets. All he did was to put himself in opposition to the very One he was trying to worship.
This morning, Jesus shows us in these very few verses three wonderful truths and outcomes of true worship:
1. True worship is always inviting - its door is open to everyone - especially those who are broken and brokenhearted. True worship is inclusive never exclusive.
2. True worship Impacts Live. It is intercessory and Incarnational. It allows us to use our holy imagination as we open our hearts, minds and souls in new ways and to new revelations.
3. True worship results in inextinguishable praise. It puts a flame in our souls that no critic, no religious wet blanket or unbeliever can extinguish. True worship leads us all to uplift the name of our Savior and LORD JESUS CHRIST.
This morning, let us determine that each week in every small group setting and worship setting we let God be God. Let us be determined not to allow tradition, spiritual pride or even personal hang-ups to stop us from experiencing all that the LORD has for us. Let us allow Jesus to help us break out of our spiritual boxes and experience worship that is inviting, that makes an impact and that results in inextinguishable praise. Let us this week pray, fast and imagine the wonders that God will reveal to us as we gather to worship and praise His name.
This is the Word of God for the People of God
Closing Songs - Shout to the LORD - Darlene Zschech
Praise Him! Praise Him! - Franny Crosby
1 http://www.messianicjudaism.me/yinon/2009/06/24/women-in-early-judaism/
2Dr. Leonard is the wife of the District Supt. of the Mid-South District of the COTN.
