The Right Thing
The Right Thing – nv 2/27/05 am - Luke 6:1-11
OS: 1 Life is not always cut and dry. How many times this week did you struggle with defining the right thing to do? Some things in life are cloudy, and sometimes we cloud up the clear picture. Our text this morning has something to teach us about knowing the right thing to do.
I. Luke 6:1-11 (2,3,4,5)
II. 6 Before we delve into this text we need to understand something about the Pharisees.
A. They thought they had worked out every detail of the right thing to do.
1. :Circle Illustration – center Law ; Outside is all the rules (traditions of the elders) created to ensure that a person didn’t break the law.
2. 7 Mark 7:6-8, (Jesus speaking) “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
B. In the text we have a couple of classic examples:
1. It was against God’s law to harvest, or work the harvest (threshing) on the Sabbath.
2. Rules were added to ensure this didn’t happen which included the simple satisfaction of a human need of hunger.
3. No work was to be done on the Sabbath, but what if there was a life and death situation? Only in a life or death situation was it permissible.
C. The Pharisees’ assumption – if you don’t abide by our rules and teach them to your disciples you must not be from God.
III. So, where do we fit into this picture?
A. We also have to guard against the Pharisaical tendency to create rules of right and wrong that do not come from God.
1. We become calloused and empty in our religion.
2. We just go through the motions and nothing really means anything.
B. Jesus has some very profound core principles in this text that can have a tremendous impact on your life.
1. We all as human beings have that tendency to be Pharisaical.
TS] You are one of Jesus' disciples observing all this. What does Jesus intend you to learn from it?
I. 8 Observe the Sabbath.
A. In no place does Jesus say the Sabbath is not important.
1. Over and over we find Jesus and His disciples at the Synagogue on the Sabbath.
B. That translates = go to church. (Christian era)
1. Often we find the Apostles, especially Paul, in the synagogue teaching and preaching. So much so, there are some in our day who have misunderstood and believe Saturday (7th day) is the day for worship.
TS] Going to church is just a peripheral item, and we go a little deeper in the text and discover the core of discipleship.
II. 9 Helping others become whole is the priority of discipleship, not religious ceremony.
A. Notice the dilemma - the disciples are hungry, on the Sabbath.
1. OK Jesus, what is right here. We have a dilemma. the man is crippled by a deformed hand, on the Sabbath.
2. Remember what David did? Basic Human needs outweigh ceremonial provision. (1 Samuel 21)
3. They had Him this time – since healing was a work and not permitted in their rules, the right thing would be for Jesus to wait until tomorrow to heal the man.
4. Jesus demonstrates that the right thing to do was to take care of the needs of this man. Notice the question, “What is right?”
B. Point – helping people become whole is the priority of discipleship. That is what must come first.
1. The religion of Jesus is a personal religion.
2. The love of God is inseparably linked with the love of people; therefore, that which dishonors another person cannot honor God and that which leaves a person in his suffering can only be evil!
C. Point – it’s not just about coming to church, its about helping people become whole.
1. Little boy, and yet smaller brother, went to the movie. After getting in their seats the older asked the younger, “Can you see?” / “no” / “well, just laugh when I laugh.”
2. When we base our religion on rules and regulations we have an empty religion. Going to church is it. That’s why you can’t tell the difference between someone that goes to church and someone that doesn’t. Not so with the disciple of Jesus.
3. When a church bases their religion on rules and regulations that church begins to function for the purpose of holding services rather than helping people become whole.
D. There is much speculation concerning what heaven and hell will be like. One contrast of heaven and hell tells of a man who had a dream that he was allowed to see both places. He was first taken to hell. He was taken into a room in the middle of which there was a large pot of stew. The stew smelled delicious. But all around this pot there were people who were starving and in desperation. They all held spoons in their hands that had unusually long handles which reached all the way to the pot, but because the spoon handles were longer than their arms, they were unable to return the spoons filled with stew to their mouths. Their suffering was terrible and continuous. --- The man was then taken to heaven. Heaven was identical to hell; the rooms were identical, the pot of stew in the middle of the room was the same, and the spoons were the same. But the people in this room were well-fed and joyous. The man was perplexed when he first walked into the room but as he watched the people in this room, he learned the difference. The people had spoons that would not allow them to feed themselves, so they fed each other.
E. That is the difference between a church of members to hold service, and a church filled with disciples of Jesus.
TS] Lessons from Jesus – how do you know what is right? Is it going to help a person become whole? (Including yourself).
III. 10 The Law’s of God are intended for our good. (Principles)
A. The Teacher’s of the Law were very good at turning God’s law intended for the good of people into a great source of pain and struggle for people.
1. 11 Luke 11:46, (Jesus) “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” (Remember: Helping people become whole)
2. Sabbath – intended for a day of rest from work. Remember the slavery, and after all God rested on the seventh day.
B. 12 God’s laws of marriage and family – people today will call you Pharisaical if you stand on principles like marriage for life, and that a family is defined as Daddy, Momma, and children.
1. These are for our own good. This is our design. God, our Creator, knows that.
2. You ask people who have tried it other ways – which is better?
3. Pains within broken marriage and family are some of the greatest that people have to endure.
C. It is these principles of God that we have to share with people to help them become whole spiritually, and emotionally.
1. That is our business as His disciples, as His church, as His people.
2. That must be our driving force. (purpose, mission, etc.)
3. 13 Glorify God through helping people know Jesus, grow to be like Him, and show Him to the world. (Helping people become whole)
4. It doesn’t have to be so complicated - “His is a simple religion. It starts with love for the Father and works itself out by love for man. It flows from a heart yielded to God, not a mind schooled in regulations. That's the religion Jesus modeled for his chosen disciples -- and for you and me today.”
IV. Today, if you are living by a religion of rules without relationship you are missing out.
A. 14 – Remember last week? That same theme flows through our text this morning – You cannot mix the old with the new. The Pharisees could not mix their old religion of rules with the new love religion of Jesus. Rules are powerless without relationship.
B. Most likely you are having a hard time figuring out what’s right.
C. No peace, no purpose, no meaning. – that’s far from what God intended for your life.
D. Key: God has brought you to be a disciple of Jesus to help people become whole.
1. God has led this church to make some hard changes so that this church could help more people become whole.
E. 15 From our text this morning here is what’s right.
1. Go to church
2. Help people become whole
3. Listen to God for your own good.