Satan In The Synagogue

Announcements

Stage Comments + photos. Exodus 20:24

Exodus 20:24 ESV

An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

Baptisms next week

Christmas Party - Invite a Friend.

SERMON

Luke 13:10–19 ESV

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. 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! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen 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. He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

INTRO - Title - “Satan in the Synagogue”

Q: Where is Satan active?

Nightclub/Drug Dealer - Witches Coven, Psychic Expo.

What about “Good Places”?

Churches, Christian homes, through sincere people?

Here, Satan is at work in a “daughter of Abraham”, and a Synagogue ruler.

A demon has crippled the woman, and Sin and Hypocrisy has blinded the ruler.

Satan is the Father of Lies and Deception

Halloween not as bad as ideology

Satan will always strive to present evil as good.

Abortion, Euthanasia disguised under compassion

Satan was at work in this Synagogue

Thankfully, Jesus was there too.

Satan was trying to rob, kill steak and destroy in the midst of God’s people.

Thankfully, someone stronger was there to save and deliver.

Today, there’s no geographical location that keeps us safe from Satan’s schemes.

Thankfully, Jesus is with us as well. Willing and able to expose and destroy the works of darkness.

FIRST - The Synagogue Ruler

Jesus is teaching in a synagogue, invited by the Synagogue Ruler

Synagogues were “jewish church” (The basis for ours), a place for devout Jews.

The ruler was the man responsible for running them. Not quite a pastor.

The Ruler is happy for Jesus to speak - in fact, he’s probably looking forward to it!

But Jesus doesn’t stop at speaking. There’s a woman there, who everyone obviously knows, with a crippling disability. Jesus, seeing a demon, casts it out and heals her.

The rulers response is fascinating - “Hey, now is not the time or place for healing”.

The ruler, doesn’t celebrate a woman he knows being delivered, he falls back on LAW and TRADITION.

What is happening here?

Perhaps the ruler was not anointed for the task.

- Elder boards, church council leaders, medieval rulers. Without Grace or calling, all we have is Law. “We don’t do that here.”

Perhaps the ruler was threatened by Jesus. What will people say? What will other synagogues think?

Perhaps the ruler just wanted the final say.

Whatever the reason, he tries to limit Jesus. And it does not go well for him.

Don’t limit God.

All of us are “Synagogue rulers”. We have a life that we manage.

And we often say, “God, you can come here and do this, but not that.

In church, in the bible, in our lives

We want to retain control, to keep ourselves feeling in charge.

Satan whispers in our ear, “If you let Jesus do whatever he wants, he’ll ruin you.”

You’ll be a laughingstock. Nobody will respect you. You’ll lose your position.

So we allow Satan to oppress part of our synagogue (this literally could be a church or metaphorically, a part of our lives) because we don’t want Jesus to do something we aren’t comfortable with.

This ruler could have celebrated Jesus’ work. He could have then become a disciple himself

And then that synagogue would have been a place of transformation.

But instead, he clamped down. He resisted God. He kept it, as John would later write, “a Synagogue of Satan.

SECOND - POLITE RESISTANCE

We return to how Satan opposes God.

And, one of Satan’s primary ways is what i’m calling POLITE RESISTANCE.

We often think that the devil works through outright and obvious evil, such as persecution, or when Judas finally betrayed Jesus to death. But, long before that, he works through subtle deception.

Satan loves to create a soft blanket that restricts God, and truth, and destroys people’s lives, but they don’t really notice it.

Here we see a classic example of this tactic.

It’s the resistance of polite society. It’s the opposition that says, “I’m not against you, just your methods.”

“NOT THAT, NOT HERE, NOT NOW”

1. NOT THAT

The Synagogue ruler says, "Healing is not appropriate on the Sabbath.” He’s appealing to the law that prohibits working on the Sabbath.

Funny thing. The man doesn’t mind certain work on the Sabbath.

Preaching, or watering and feeding animals.

Again, Satan attempts to say NOT THAT. To put a limit on God.

We can move the kingdom forward, and preach the gospel, and bring Jesus, but only in a limited way.

In church: Falling over under the presence. Going forward for prayer. Speaking in tongues.

In resisting Evil: Marching against abortion. Or doing something socially less acceptable.

IMPORTANT: Sometimes people use passages like these to justify disorder. 1. Jesus was invited to speak - he didn’t gate crash. 2. He didn’t actually do anything wrong.

Jesus had came to Proclaim the Good news and release the captives.

Not just an academic or entertaining preacher. But the power of God.

Not just power and miracles, but the good news as well.

2. NOT HERE

NOT HERE is one of the great rules of our godless society.

You can talk about Jesus, you can talk about eternity, you can pray, but NOT HERE.

Not at work, or school, or family dinners, or university.

You see, it might upset people!

Of course Sport/LGBTQ/Racism is fine. (Even if they upset people.

Can you hear the whisper of Satan?

“Oh yes you can lead people to Christ! You can see people saved, just not here!”

I’ve felt this pressure in the barbers chair - not here - it would be impolite.

But where are the people? Where are the needs? They are ALWAYS HERE.

We are only ever here.

We are never there!

There is a fictional place.

Jesus was HERE. He was going to work where He was. Not in some other more convenient place.

3. NOT NOW

“Come on another day.”

You don’t need to be healed today, get healed tomorrow.

What else doesn’t exist? Another day - Tomorrow never comes.

When someone says, “I’ll get back to you later” they usually mean, “I’ll forget about it immediately”.

Throughout the Bible there is an emphasis on acting immediately.

The whole of Mark is the “immediate gospel”

It’s because God knows that later doesn’t exist.

Jesus wouldn’t be back at the Synagogue tomorrow, here was there now.

That lady either encountered him and got healed now, or never!

Last week we read Jesus say, “Deal with your accuser immediately”.

But Satan often says, “wait”.

Don’t quit that thing today, wait til later.

Don’t talk about your faith now, you’ll ruin the party!

Don’t be generous this week, wait til better circumstances come along.

We end up with a list of things we are going to do Tomorrow that lasts 20 years.

It’s an issue of priority

The Ruler would have fed his donkey today, because it was important to him.He knew if he didn’t feed the donkey, it wouldn’t work properly.

And for us, if we see it’s importance, we do it now.

When the bathroom is flooding, we fix the tap right away.

I’m guessing Jesus turned up to the synagogue and asked about old bent over betty.

And someone said, oh, poor betty, she’s been like that for 18 years.

But Jesus had priorities. He wanted that lady free, and he wanted her free now. Not later.

If we keep putting it off, it’s either not important, or simply not important to us.

If we keep saying “Not THAT, not HERE, not NOW” we obviously don’t care enough.

And either we are right, and that thing is not really important. Or we are wrong, and we are simply blind to it.

SOMETIMES, THERE IS A TIME AND A PLACE.

There are some people who are always a little too eager.

If you start preaching on lunch tables at work, you’ll probably get fired.

Jesus didn’t turn water into to wine in the synagogue

He didn’t feed five thousand at the last supper,

He didn’t walk on water in the bathtub

But, maybe someone comes to you at work and says, “Can we talk about faith/pray for me?

A little voice in your ear says, “Not that, not here, not now”

But maybe you’ve got to ignore that voice and say, “I’m called to make disciples!”

Or maybe you’ve got to say, “absolutely, let’s get coffee today.

Or maybe you get convicted of Sin, or prompted to do good.

Act NOW, at WHERE YOU ARE. Do WHATEVER You need to!

Don’t allow the POLITE RESISTANCE of the Slimy Synagogue Ruler to stop you

THE BIRDS OF THE AIR.

I included today Luke 13:18-19

Luke 13:18–19 ESV

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

I have an uncommon thought on this:

A = it says, He said therefore or then. I think Luke wants us to connect this parable to the previous event.

What is the therefore there for?

Jesus has just used the phrase - “Birds of the air in a parable to mean, the devil who snatches away the seed sown in people’s hearts.

Here’s how I read it:

The kingdom grows and grows, and then, Satan says, I will resist God’s work from inside.

Think of the Synagogue - The woman and the crowd where glorifying God, then the Ruler tries to squash it.

How many times has the work of God been resisted by people who call themselves Christians? Who burned the Bible Translators at the stake? Who kicked John and Charles Wesley to the Street? Who claimed that the gifts and the moving of the Spirit were nonsense?

Here’s the Truth: Opposition to God’s saving power often comes from within.

Jude 3–4 ESV

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Certain people crept in.

What’s the Point?

APPLICATION

Actually, You and I can be the Synagogue Ruler!

We can become comfortable and proud.

We can become fixated on things working according to our plan.

We can start to want to keep friends with Polite Society.

Satan tricks us, he says “Not That, Not Here, Not Now.”

NIMBY,

Not in my heart.

Not in my life.

Not in my church.

The Synagogue Ruler had been deceived, blinded.

Almost literally blinded, because he couldn’t see that woman -

He had obviously gotten used to her suffering and pain.

So, when Jesus healed her, instead of rejoicing and celebrating like everyone else, he’s grumpy!

That’s what we get like too!

In our own lives we get comfortable with sin and suffering and sickness.

And so we lose a desperate willingness to encounter Jesus any way we can.

Also in the lives of others:

Jesus revolution - (Yes, it had flaws, but what was the alternative?)

The slightly crazy people who fight abortion.

Again, Satan deceives us. And Deception is a form of blindness.

So what do we pray? The Lord said to the blind man - “What is your request?” I WANT TO SEE!

I Want to See Jesus, not just my traditions.

I want to see the “suffering daughter of Abraham” not just an annoying woman.

I want to see that Satan is really at work, and that it will require radical, unpopular, “politically incorrect” obedience to bring transformation.

We want to See.

And when we see Jesus, we will celebrate and rejoice because he does set people free!

Don’t allow the POLITE RESISTANCE of the Devil to steal away the seeds of what God wants to do.

Amen