Sermon for 6/25/2006
Luke 6:6-11
Introduction:
Ron Ritchie- Some years ago we sent a team of men to minister at a Midwestern college. We were holding meetings in a large room in the women’s dormitory. There was a rule at that college that the girls had to be in their rooms at 10:30 pm. We were having a great meeting. These college girls were going to each other, apologizing and being forgiven and praying for one another. Some were making decisions about their faith in Jesus Christ. It was a great moment. Promptly at 10:30 the Dorm Mother appeared, looking like a thunderstorm. She said, “It is 10:30, and time for these girls to be in their rooms!” One of us said, “Yes, but we can’t stop this meeting now.” She said, “I’m the Dorm Mother here, and the rule requires that they be in bed at 10:30, and I’m going to see that it’s observed!” One of us had the sense to say, “Well, we understand your problem. Could we go in and talk with you about it?” So we sent one fellow in who talked for 2 ½ hours while the meeting went on!
If this Dorm Mother really cared about her girls, she would have attended that meeting and granted an extension of time. She didn’t really care about the college girls; she just cared about the rules!
WBTU:
A. How much do we care about people?
B. (1 Pet 1:22) Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
Thesis: From our Scriptures this morning, let’s talk about three people.
For instances:
I. The Man with the withered hand
A. We are not told how old the man was; only that he was a man. 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. We are also told that it was his right hand. In the Jewish culture the right hand was an important hand. With the right hand, a Jewish man was to bless his sons as they came into adulthood like the patriarchs did in the Old Testament.
C. we see the disciples of Jesus bickering about who would sit at his right hand in the Kingdom. To sit at someone’s right hand was a symbol of favor. Heard the expression, “His right hand man.” To sit at this man’s right hand was not a symbol of favor.
D. 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, but he had a right as a Jew to sit in any synagogue. However, his condition might have been thought of as punishment for some sin.
E. 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. And what was the attitude of his leaders?
F. Their attitude should have been the one of compassion, kindness, and a willingness to help him in whatever way they could. (Psa 82:3 NIV) Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. (Psa 82:4 NIV) Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
G. (Isa 1:16 NIV) wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, (Isa 1:17 NIV) learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
H. This echoes the words of (James 1:27 NIV) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
I. Why? (Psa 140:12 NIV) I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
J. 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!
K. 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!
L. Great! Everyone was rejoicing. No, look at vs. 11. The rulers, the Pharisees were filled with rage. The King James says that they were filled with madness. It has to be madness to have a man with such a condition healed and they begin to plot someone’s death. They are crazy.
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.
C. Notice that Jesus did keep the Sabbath laws in the Old Testament. Also notice that Jesus really did not even break the Pharisees laws in this situation because he didn’t touch the man at all. The man stretched out his hand and was healed.
D. Several things wrong with their attitude.
1. They were in a place of worship, and although I am sure their physical display was one of humility and worship, their whole attention was fixed on Jesus for the purpose of catching Him breaking their law, so they could accuse Him.
2. They, the religious leaders and teachers, should have been the ones most fervently praying; “Oh Lord, there is in our midst a dear brother with a withered hand. Bless him and do what is best for him.” Instead, they had no concern at all for the crippled man, his condition or his life’s circumstances or even his spiritual health. To them, in the hardness of their hearts, he was only bait. So hard were their hearts that they deliberately deafened their ears to Jesus’ words, closed their eyes to His acts of mercy, profaned worship with their murderous plots, and cared not one whit for a man who was less fortunate than they, and in fact, should have been specifically in their charge to care for.
3. They knew that Jesus would want to heal this man. They have observed Jesus enough to know what he would want to do. They should have given thanks to God for Jesus healing the sick, instead of using it for a way to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing.
E. This reminds me of a story from the Old Testament. Daniel 6 tells us the story of how some people wanted to accuse Daniel of wrongdoing. They could find nothing against Daniel except that he prayed to His God 3 times a day. They used this virtue to trap Daniel. It is the same way here. The Pharisees are using Jesus’ goodness to trap him. How sick!
F. (2 Cor 4:4) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
G. Under normal circumstances this would have been good, but when it involved Jesus they through out all logic and said that it was bad.
H. Tony McCreery- A lady at a church where I was Youth Minister is a prime example. She had worked with the youth some. She was a fun person to be around. It was time for change, however. I knew it, the kids knew it, the preacher knew it, and everyone knew it. Over a period of time, we began to slowly make changes in the way things were done. Kids started coming to Christ and being baptized. God was doing great things in the church. The youth group was growing. Things were happening. She was mad because things were different than they always had been. She had the opportunity to take part in what was going on, but she chose not to. Why? Because she didn’t like the changes. She wanted to have things go according to how she thought they should go. She was more worried about tradition than about worship, more worried about the changes than about people. She was looking for problems rather than seeking the kingdom.
I. This reminds me of people who complain about too many baptisms, complain of too many people (they take their pew), and complain of too much excitement. It’s bad enough when people are nit pickers and fault finders. When they begin to find fault with things that make God and others smile, this is ridiculous and sad.
J. They have no joy. Let’s be more like hummingbirds and less like vultures.
III. Jesus
A. Jesus cared about this man so much that he was more than willing to walk into the Pharisees trap. He knew what they were thinking. We see that from Vs. 8.
B. Jesus would not let these Pharisees stop him from doing good. (1 Pet 2:15 NIV) For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Notice who was silent in this passage.
C. (Gal 6:9 NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
D. There are no acceptable excuses to stop doing good. But they did this or it won’t matter, it might get me into trouble, it’s not a good day. All unacceptable!
E. The one thing that I see out of Jesus here is his compassion. He cared about people more than anything else. It mentions that Jesus had compassion on the people and then he always did something for others because of his compassion.
F. Jon Mohr & Randall Dennis- God loves people more than anything (repeat)
More than anything He wants Them to know He’d rather die than let them go
’Cause God love people more than anything
God loves the weary When they’re too weak to try
He feels their pain, He knows their shame He cries with those who cry
He won’t give up or walk away When other people do
’Cause God loves people more than anything
More than anything He wants us to go
And show the world so they will know
That God loves people more than anything
