Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.21.21 Luke 13:10-17 Pastor Danny Gardner

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3.21.21 Luke 13:10-17 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, church, if you have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13, our text this morning is verses 10 through 17. And when you're there, if you're able to stand in honor of God's word, I would ask you to do that now as I read our text and pray. And then we'll begin in verse 10. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years.
• 0:26
  She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. Then the Lord answered him, you hypocrites.
• 0:53
  Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. Pray with me. Lord, glorify your name. Glorify your name in our lives. Glorify your name in our homes.
• 1:23
  Lord, glorify your names in this church, and God, glorify your name in the preaching of your word. And it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated. Turn again to the Gospel of Luke. The book's author, you'll recall, was a historian. He gathered information about Christ from the many eyewitnesses who were available to him, and he wrote an orderly account of Christ's life and ministry. But Luke was also a doctor, which means that he was intelligent.
• 1:53
  And he was educated. He was compassionate. He cared for hurting people, just like doctors do today. In our text, Jesus is journeying toward Jerusalem for what will be the final time. In chapter 9 and verse 51, the gospel's author, Luke, said that Jesus set his face to go toward Jerusalem. He ended his ministry in Galilee and began traveling over the course of the next several months, traveling down to Judea, teaching and healing.
• 2:20
  along the way but by the time he gets to jerusalem luke says that will be the final time he will stay in jerusalem and be crucified there in chapter 9 and verse 51 begins a new section of luke's gospel which actually takes the bulk of jesus's ministry goes all the way until chapter 19 that section from 9 to 19 is mostly didactic which means that it is mostly teaching
• 2:44
  This morning's text, in fact, in that 11 chapters, is only one of the three miracles chronicled by Luke during this time. We're reminded as we read about this account that ministering to people is messy. It's often painful. Ministry, in fact, often hurts. And because of this, many Christians prefer a church experience which leaves them unchanged because of the messy nature of relationships even within the church.
• 3:11
  There are many who prefer just to come and leave without much interaction and without much controversy. But we are also reminded this morning that that's not the way Jesus did it. He was, in fact, very willing to cause a stir. He was very willing, we find, to say things that made people angry. He was very willing to point out people's sin. And what seems to be kind of ironic is for being the Prince of Peace, he sure wasn't very peaceful.
• 3:40
  For being our Redeemer and reconciler for being called the lamb. He sure generated an incredible amount of conflict He left and we find over and over and over in his ministry He left a wake of ticked off people just about everywhere. He went Even today 2,000 years later wherever his name is preached. There is still conflict and there are still angry crowds You ever wonder?
• 4:09
  Why can't he just leave us alone? Why can't he just leave us alone? Why is it always uncomfortable? Why does he always have to kick over rocks and expose what's underneath? As you study the life of Christ, it is impossible not to notice that he meddles in our lives. He refuses to mind his own business. And you say, well, why? Why? Why can't he just leave us alone? Why can't he leave well enough alone?
• 4:40
  J.C. Ryle has said this, the man who is content to sit ignorantly by his own fireside, wrapped up in his own private affairs, and has no public eye for what is going on in the church and in the world, is a miserable patriot and a poor style of Christian. He said the types of Christians who just want to be left alone, want to mind their own business, don't want to be involved in other people's lives, don't want to get knee-deep into the mess of relationships in the church, he says they are miserable Christians.
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  And I have noticed, and especially this past year, church, that there are a lot of people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who just want to be left alone. They want nice and quiet and insulated lives. They don't want controversy. They don't want to stir the pot. They don't want to have difficult conversations. They just want to come if they come to church. They just want to come and they want to leave. And maybe that even appeals to some of us who are watching this morning.
• 5:39
  Plenty of religions, church, which will just leave you alone. There are plenty of saviors who will mind their own business and will allow you to mind yours. The problem is, church, they are all fake. Jesus wasn't interested in fake worship, and he wasn't interested in being a fake savior. That style of Christianity, if you want to call it that, the style that will just leave people alone, also, unfortunately, leaves people unchanged.
• 6:09
  And Christ was not about leaving people unchanged. As we've journeyed through the Gospel of Luke, I keep reminding myself that ministry is not what I do for a living. Ministry is not work. Ministry is not my profession. It has nothing to do with appointments on my calendars or my to-do lists. Ministry, church, is people. People. That is ministry. And people are messy.
• 6:37
  If I get to the end of my career and I've succeeded at all else but forgotten God's people, then I will have been a failure. If I've done very well at my to-do list and my calendars and my profession and all of that stuff, but I've forgotten God's people, then I will have failed in ministry. If I get to the end of my life and I'm not completely dirty, soiled with the ministry of being involved in people's lives, then I have been a lousy pastor.
• 7:07
  What I love about our Savior in this passage is that with all that Christ did, with all the sermons he preached, all the miracles he performed, and despite all the battles he had with his enemies, Christ was about people. He was about the mess of people's lives. He was not willing just to come in and have a fake exchange with people and leave them unchanged. He was about changing people and he knew exactly what his hearers needed. He gave compassion to the broken.
• 7:37
  bodied but he is also willing to give us what we don't necessarily want even if we don't like it and oftentimes it caused a ruckus in fact much of the time it did and honestly church there are many directions i could have taken our text today in fact i rewrote this sermon multiple times you can ask my wife this is at least the fourth version of this sermon
• 7:59
  It's not even the first time I've recorded it. This is now a re-recording of this sermon because I didn't like the last one. There are so many different directions. I could have taken our text today, but I'm going to focus on the fact that Christ came for broken people.
• 8:13
  That's who Christ came for. He saw their brokenness even when others did not and even when they could not see it themselves. And so I've got two points this morning. We're going to focus on the two main characters other than Jesus. Jesus is the main character. But then these other two supporting actors, okay, in the story. There is the disabled woman, okay, and then there is the ruler of the synagogue. And so we're going to look at both of these and Jesus's interaction with them both. Let's notice first in verses 10 to 13.
• 8:42
  Christ saw the broken woman who was in need of healing. He saw her, okay? Look at verse 10. It says, now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Now Luke begins the narrative by saying that Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath day, which means that he was teaching to a crowd. The synagogue on Sabbath was where everybody in town assembled. So the entire city, you can imagine this place is packed.
• 9:12
  Men and women, their children, bread, all of them all together in one place. And Jesus is the one teaching to this crowd. But you'll notice our author very quickly, immediately kind of narrows our focus and draws our attention to one woman who otherwise most assuredly would have been overlooked. Look at verse 11. He says, and behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years.
• 9:41
  for 18 years it says she was bent over esv says and could not fully straighten herself other translations nas i think says she was doubled over so this woman you can imagine was just horribly disfigured horribly now we find as you study and compare the other gospels matthew mark and john to this account we find that this miracle the telling of this event
• 10:11
  records it you may recall that luke is one of the synoptic gospels matthew mark and luke called the synoptic gospels means that most of the events in those three gospels are also retellings of of the same event and other uh gospel uh writers okay so matthew mark and luke share a lot of the same events
• 10:33
  The reader then should take note when there is a unique event. So why, the question is, would Luke, our author here, include it when Matthew and Mark did not? Right? Why wouldn't they have? Why would he think this is important for my readers? Church, most of you know that I love fly fishing. I love it. It's what I do on many of my days off. I really enjoy it. My family comes. My boys enjoy it. You know, I can't cross a river and not look at it.
• 11:04
  Every time I cross over a bridge, I'm looking down at the water. A friend asked me actually this week, Hallie and I were out to dinner with some friends and one of my friends just asked, Danny, what is it that gives you life? And my response was fly fishing. And everyone at the table kind of laughed, but I was being serious. Every time I'm around moving water.
• 11:24
  Fishing is what I'm thinking about. Even if I'm crossing over major bridges on the freeway, if we're going over I-70 through Eagle and Vail and all of those places, I mean, I am looking at the water every single time. I'm casting a glance at the cut banks, at the pockets behind the rocks, wondering what fish are lingering in there. What fly might they be willing to take? Now, don't forget, church, Luke was a doctor.
• 11:52
  he would have noticed details that others might have overlooked. Many times, social maladies render people socially invisible, but not to a doctor. They notice things that others would have completely overlooked and neglected. And just like I can't help but notice the seams in a river, Luke's attention would have been drawn immediately to those that others may never have seen. In fact,
• 12:22
  Luke may have noticed this woman first. As he's hearing these eyewitnesses describing this event, you can almost imagine him in his mind trying to diagnose, I wonder what was wrong with that woman, right? Matthew and Mark didn't even include it. They weren't concerned with this, but his attention is drawn immediately to a disabled woman. He's a doctor, right? And so that's what he's wondering. It's interesting that Luke's primary argument in his book
• 12:50
  is to remind his readers that the gospel is for all people, not merely for those who haven't blown it too badly, right? Or for those who can trace their lineage through Abraham. Luke, we have said that his gospel is the best news for the worst people. It is the gospel for whom the world has had no gospel. That's what we've been saying since the beginning of our study, and a demon-oppressed, disfigured woman would certainly have fit that bill. This woman was left.
• 13:20
  out unnoticed uncared for she would have been an outcast not only was her condition severe completely bent in half it was prolonged 18 years she had suffered with this and it had a spiritual nature and had a spiritual source this was demonic a demon had been afflicting her and causing this disablement she was doubled over
• 13:48
  No doubt suffering from some form of like a spinal arthritis, doing just a little bit of poking around, right? Researching, trying to figure out what this woman may have suffered with. No doubt that this was an incurable disfigurement then, but honestly, church, something like this may not have even been able to be cured now. Even with modern surgery and modern medicine, it was so severe. But you'll notice, nevertheless,
• 14:17
  Her sickness did not keep her from worship. Many times I find that the circumstances of my life dictate my willingness to worship the Lord. If I'm feeling lousy, I hide from God. I'm angry at God. I keep to myself. I just want to be left alone. If everything's going great, then I will praise his name.
• 14:42
  But the circumstances of my life I will admit to my shame oftentimes dictate my willingness or my eagerness to worship a church not her she was going to worship with or without her health Nehemiah chapter 8
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  and verse 12 says do not be grieved for the joy of the lord is your strength the joy of the lord is your strength your strength is not to be found in the physical condition of your body but rather your joy in the lord and church when you feel faint when you lack strength may i suggest that you lean on the joy of the lord in worship
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  What a treasure this woman had found in her faith that she would seek the face of God above all else and in all circumstances. Even amidst trial and suffering, nothing would keep her from worship and nothing would keep her from her community of worshipers. If you don't mind, if you just hold your finger there in Luke chapter 13, we'll come right back to it. But turn to the left just a few pages with me. Go to Luke chapter 4.
• 15:49
  Look at Luke chapter four. I titled this morning's message, Another Sabbath Scandal, right? Another Sabbath Scandal. This is not actually the first one.
• 15:59
  Maybe the first Sabbath scandal in his ministry occurred in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus returned to Nazareth, his own hometown, stood up in the midst of his family and friends, his own neighbors that he had grown up with, read from the scroll of Isaiah, and caused such a stir, said something that was so offensive that even his own family members, friends, and neighbors tried to throw him off a cliff and stone him to death. Notice what he says in chapter 4.
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  and verse 18 he stands up in the synagogue and reads the scroll of isaiah the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year
• 16:48
  of the lord's favor now this text that he was reading from isaiah chapter 61 was well known to be in reference to the messiah this would be the messiah would do all of these things set prisoners free right give liberty to the oppressed uh gives recovery of sight to the blind the verse 20 says and he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendants and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and began to say them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
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  In other words, Jesus was saying, you say you've been waiting for me, right? The Messiah. You say you've been waiting for me. Well, here I am. And it was such a bombshell that they tried to kill him. And although we'll go back now to Luke chapter 13, although he didn't say the same words in this Sabbath scandal, right? You can imagine his next words having the same impact.
• 17:48
  that those words back in Luke chapter four had. When he says to the woman in verse 12, when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God. What a bombshell he just dropped. Apparently, and Luke was very careful to include this. Apparently,
• 18:18
  Luke was not the only one who saw the woman. The Savior saw her too. Can you imagine as Luke, the physician, the caring, compassionate doctor,
• 18:32
  the carer of people, the healer of people. And as he's hearing this event being described and wondering why on earth Matthew and Mark didn't include this, it must not have been that important to them that they would include it. I'm definitely including that in my gospel. And what will Jesus's response be? He's hearing these eyewitnesses say it. And then to find out that Jesus noticed this woman, Jesus noticed her. Luke was very careful to point out to us, church,
• 19:02
  that doctors were not the only ones that noticed the sick person, but the great physician, Jesus himself, noticed her too. Imagine my surprise. After one of these times, if I was crossing those bridges over I-70, and if Hallie, my beloved Hallie, my wife, whom I love and treasure and who does not care in the slightest about fly fishing, imagine if she looked over at me and said, Danny, did you see that river?
• 19:31
  Did you notice the seams? Did you notice the pockets behind the rock? Did you see way upstream? Did you see that big cut bank? Can you imagine all the fish that are in there? Did you bring your fly rods? We should pull over. Let's go fishing. Can you imagine how surprised and blessed I would be if that ever happened? Just imagine how blessed Luke must have been to hear that Christ
• 19:58
  His beloved Savior noticed the same woman that his attention was drawn to, but everyone else had glossed over. As he's listening to that eyewitness, as he, a doctor, was kind of mentally even trying to diagnose her condition, and then hearing that Christ walked straight over to her, touched her, and healed her, and you'll notice, church, she didn't even ask for it.
• 20:27
  She didn't even ask. It wasn't even like it was prompted by her. Christ prompted the healing. He was so compassionate. He saw this woman, his heart broke, and he wanted to help. Beloved church, Christ sees you too. He sees your brokenness.
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  He sees your loneliness. He sees the areas of your life that need to be straightened out. Just like this woman with the fractured and broken spine needed to be straightened out. He sees the areas of your life that need to be straightened out. And you may look to others to straighten out your life, but only Christ can do it.
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  Because only Christ genuinely sees you. Only Christ genuinely knows you inside and out. And only Christ is willing and ready to touch and to restore your life. That was first. We see the woman, the broken woman who needed healing. But the second supporting actor that I want to draw our attention to is the synagogue ruler. We find in verse 14, the scandal.
• 21:39
  Okay, you're reading this so far. You're like, well, where's the scandal? There's no Sabbath scan I mean what was scandalous about healing a broken woman? Everybody should rejoice but here in verse 14 lies the scandal because verse 14 begins with the wrong word It begins with the wrong word. Look at the first word in verse 14 but But the word shouldn't be but Jesus healed a broken woman
• 22:07
  a woman who had suffered demon oppression uh massive disfigurement i mean this woman's life had been ruined for the last two decades and he healed her with a touch and the word of his mouth there should be rejoicing the word should be and and everyone who saw it including the pharisees and the lawyers and the scribes and the religious rulers and the ruler of the synagogue everybody raised their arms in worship they began to sing and dance and smack tambourines and the whole thing right that's what it should be and but instead it says but
• 22:35
  But verse 14, the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. And can you imagine the amount of pride it would take to stand in front of a miracle worker, miracle worker such as this, and tell him that he did it wrong?
• 23:04
  You did it on the wrong day? I mean, who did this ruler think he was? You know, church, as a species, we are very good at making ourselves look better than we are. This has always been true. Ever since Adam and Eve fell in the garden, we have tried to hide our sin. We have tried to hide from the Lord's all-knowing gaze, but Jesus was good at seeing people for who they are.
• 23:32
  He was good and is still good at poking holes in people's religious facade. He was quite adept even at holding spiritual mirrors in front of people's faces and forcing them to see themselves for who they are. And sometimes this brought about repentance and new life, but often, and as was the case here, it caused a prideful and angry response. Those who will grasp...
• 24:01
  firmly to their false religion are often humiliated when their religion is shown to be false and this ruler of the synagogue indeed all of christ's opponents had such a low view of him that they would rebuke a healed woman how dare you come on the wrong day for healing and then have the audacity to rebuke the one who healed her and for what because the miracle was done
• 24:29
  on the sabbath on what they deemed as the wrong day and so let me take just an aside here and talk about the sabbath why was this such a controversy why was it scandalous to heal this woman on the sabbath you notice in verse 15 jesus's response he gets rebuked and then he offers a rebuke back in verse 15 the lord answered him you hypocrites does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it
• 24:56
  Ought not this woman a daughter of Abraham? So in other words, a true daughter of faith, a genuine believer, whom Satan bound for 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? You're telling me she's less important than your stupid ox? She's less important? You're treating her lower than animals? Do you see what he's saying? That makes no sense. He offers this rebuke of his own. Why such a scandal? What was the Sabbath? Why was it such a big deal for the Jewish people of Jesus' day?
• 25:26
  Scripture says, and we know this, that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them in six days, and then on the seventh day he rested, and he commanded the observance of this seven-day cycle over humanity. We, as his people, must work six days and then rest on the seventh. That seventh day, that sabbatic day, Sabbath,
• 25:49
  was meant to be a devotion of one day per week solely to him and to his kingdom. That's what the Sabbath was for, for us to rest and just allow our souls to commune with God, to be refreshed in communion with God, but also to be about his work. For the first century Jew, the Sabbath, as they defined it, became the seminal touchpoint of Judaism.
• 26:19
  One commentator has called the Sabbath, and I quote, the very heart of Judaism. One another modern Jewish rabbi has said, although the observant Jew subjects himself to many commandments, he harbors a special love for the Sabbath. And so in other words, this modern day rabbi has said there is no more important commandment than the Sabbath and keeping it holy.
• 26:41
  In fact, they believed, and actually modern Jews, not only ethnic but religious Jews, still believe that to disobey or disregard Sabbath law, again as they define it, was to disregard Judaism itself. In their minds, no rabbi sent from God would do such a thing as this. So they automatically discredited him because they believed, although he had the power to heal, they believed that he had violated God's own
• 27:10
  Now, by the time of Jesus, the Sabbath, that was meant to be a blessing to mankind, right? Rest, rejuvenate, restore your soul. That's a blessing. But what was meant to be a blessing to mankind had become twisted to become a burden for mankind. Jesus and his disciples were even rebuked in Matthew chapter 12 for picking heads of grain, rubbing it in their hands, and eating it. It was called a violation of the Sabbath.
• 27:38
  They had broken the Sabbath. Many in the time of Christ misdefined Sabbath by working even harder to attain it. And this was the mistake of the Pharisees. This was the mistake of the ruler of the synagogue. But Jesus declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. He reminded his hearers that the Sabbath was not made for man, but man, the other way around. Man was not made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath was made for man. It was meant to be a blessing and his enemies.
• 28:08
  hated him for it. Look at the response of his enemies and then look at the response of the people. Verse 17, as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. Alistair Beggs summarizes verse 17 well when he calls it humiliation on the part of Christ's opponents.
• 28:34
  but jubilation on the part of the people. Humiliation for those who would not receive it, jubilation for those who would. We find in our text two broken people, two messy lives in need of straightening. One was broken-bodied. Her body was broken. The other was broken-hearted.
• 28:59
  His heart was broken, and I don't mean in a sad and contrite way. I mean in a prideful way. His heart was stone rather than flesh. It was a broken heart. One was willing to receive the kindness, the grace, and the healing of God. One became indignant and was unwilling to receive it. One, we find, left restored. The other left ashamed, humiliated, and angry.
• 29:27
  Church, I love this about our Savior. It makes us uncomfortable, surely. But I love that he is unwilling to leave his people unchanged. If you're going to follow him, he is going to mess with your life.
• 29:44
  And church, that is what the church is. The church is a gathering together of believers, all of whom have had their lives messed with and who absolutely intentionally mess with one another's lives, spurring one another on. That's what Hebrews 10 says, spurring one another on toward love and good.
• 30:04
  deeds being intentionally intrusive being a part of one another's lives getting into the mess because church that that is genuine faith and lord i pray that you would give us this kind of faith i pray that we would not avoid the messiness of christian relationships but rather lord we would seek it
• 30:31
  We know that it will be uncomfortable at times, that Christ will show us some things like he did for the synagogue ruler, that Christ would show us some things that we don't always like about ourselves, that he will hold that mirror up to our faces. But God, I pray that we would embrace it because you, our loving Savior, is not only going to point out the problems with our lives, you're also going to help us to fix those problems. And so God, we rejoice in the great physician of our souls.
• 30:57
  able to heal both broken-bodied people, but also broken-hearted people. We rejoice in his name, and it's in his name we pray. Amen.