Spirituality Gone Wrong

Spirituality Gone Wrong - Luke 6:1-11

Do you follow the letter or the spirit of the law regarding the speed limit? - No seriously, I want to give some thought to this for a minute...

The spirit of the law is the safety of the people. The enforcers of speed limits are primarily after those who are behaving in a manor that could be deemed as reckless, as a threat to themselves and especially to others. And of course too they also have to sometimes just keep people within a reasonable frame of the speed limit overall so that the concept of the traffic laws serve their purpose.

At times, the cops and ambulances and such can in fact drive REALLY fast to get from A to B, and it’s not because they are above the law. It’s because they’re up to a purpose that is the very reason for the existence of the law—the safety and help of the people.

And even if you are a stickler for the letter of the law concerning the speed limit, when you have an emergency for which you have to rush someone to the hospital, you’re going to “technically” break the letter of the law, but hopefully not the spirit of it: Get there as fast as you can without endangering others.

In the text at hand, Luke ch. 6 begins where chapter 5 left off, continuing with confrontations between the religious establishment and the new way of Jesus and his ministry. Similar to what we just illustrated then about the spirit of the law, the question arises:

What is the purpose or intention of even the Mosaic law? How might the spirit of the law matter in the way that we respond to God? … And of course, the overall question Luke continues to deal with: Who is this Jesus, and why does he have such understanding, power, and authority? How ought we to respond to him?

Again, Luke is doing at least three things here as he continues the narrative: proving Jesus authority (as the representative sent from God), revealing the confrontations and rising conflict with the religious establishment (leading to resolved opposition), and demonstrating the wrongheadedness (wrong attitudes) of these ones who reject him.

Along those lines then, these Sabbath day controversies provide us with excellent opportunity for emphasizing right spirituality. The scribes and Pharisees think they are spiritual, but they’re wrong because they’ve missed the right spirit of spirituality.

[Outline of our discussion today…]

The Pharisaical Spirit (vv. 1-2, 7, 11)

… is legalistic, critical, and selfish.

From last time: Is fasting truly spiritual if it is for show? Or is prayer spiritual when it is merely a scheduled requirement? Is the old tradition really more spiritual just because it’s old?

And listen, since Jesus is deliberately stepping on toes, I’m going to do my best to make sure that the truth he teaches steps on yours… and mine.

The pharisaical spirit is…

Legalistic -

Let’s be clear about what legalism is and see how they’re guilty of it. Actually, let’s tackle that it reverse order so that perhaps it will have its needed impact.

Their response in the text today: How dare your disciples pluck heads of grain and rub them in their hands and eat them on the Sabbath! - But such activity was actually permitted by the law:

Deuteronomy 23:24–25 ESV

“If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

The Pharisees and their predecessors, however, had taken legalism to ludicrous lengths:

“The Mishna says: ‘He that reapeth corn on the Sabbath to the quantity of a fig is guilty; and plucking corn is reaping.’ Rubbing the grain out was threshing. Even to walk on the grass on the Sabbath was forbidden because it was a species of threshing. Another Talmudic passage says: ‘In case a woman rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is considered sifting; if she rubs the head of wheat, it is regarded as threshing; if she cleans off the side-adherences, it is sifting out fruit; if she throws them up in her hand, it is winnowing’ [Jer. Shabt, page 10a].” -J. W. Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1939), p. 161.

We don’t honor God by adding rules and regulations for the sake of keeping every hair in place and every toe in line.

So let’s see if it helps us to have a more clear understanding of what legalism actually is.

(Steve Cole) Essentially, it is an attitude of pride in which I congratulate myself for keeping certain standards and condemn those who do not keep them. Usually the legalist thinks that his conformity to these rules makes him acceptable to God, either for salvation or sanctification. Invariably, these standards are not the great commandments of the Bible, such as loving God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Most often they are external things which the legalist is able to keep (see Matt. 23:23-28).

What the Pharisees have done then is to over-apply the law as well as to use that then as the metric for piety, for spirituality, for obedience to God. - The question must be asked: But what is God’s intent, what is his heart? What’s the purpose or spirit of the law?

Critical -

These guys are literally looking for an excuse to get after Jesus. (That’s clearly what’s going on in, as v. 7 says they “watched him” to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. …Not to mention the previous grain episode!

I want to level with you and still be as gentle with you as I can on this, but… Oh boy, this COVID-19 has betrayed a lot of critical spirits. Some are on the side of calling anyone an idiot who doesn’t follow every suggestion being made by the disease experts.

The other side is also happening, which is perhaps a bit more likely in our neck of the woods. We’re from the heart of ‘Merica: “You can try to come take our guns, and perhaps you might succeed [cocks shotgun], but it’s gonna hurt.” - An overly critical spirit of governing authorities (Nobody is saying lay down and let ‘em do whatever they want. But our system has protections against that.)

What ever happened to a reasonably balanced approach, a soft answer and a gentle spirit? Where is calm dialogue? Where is trying to put yourself in the shoes of a person in a different circumstance with a different perspective?

Here’s my point: Where genuine disagreement is in fact valid because there are so many uncertainties, what we need is to be more gracious… not pugnacious—getting louder and more prolific in our posting. What I’m asking you to do is to stop and pray carefully about whether you are having a critical spirit. I’m afraid there are more of us doing this than we realize.

Although this situation is clearly different than that of the Pharisees, here’s why I’m leveling this warning where it hurts us: Having a critical spirit is a leaven that spreads through the whole dough. Truly, it makes you miserable and impacts all areas of your life. (You may think you can isolate it to a specific issue, but you aren’t really, bc it impacts your entire spirit. It’ll eat away at your gratitude and sprout envy.) We begin to be generally critical, nit-picky… We become those who can’t enjoy the fellowship of others if they don’t think exactly what we do, and can’t enjoy listening to and learning from someone else’s teaching.

By contrast, true spirituality breeds joy in the Lord and gratitude for (and unity with) his people.

So here we have twin problems that we readily see in the Pharisees but often miss in ourselves: Legalism and a critical spirit, which in turn lead to more base selfishness.

Selfish -

The result of Jesus healing is a response from the religious leaders of blind fury… bc he embarrassed them, had done no actual “work” (healed the man by speaking only), and because he was simply doing good and they had nothing to charge him with!

- Search your heart for selfishness. No, in fact, just assume that you are being selfish and pray to find the source of it. (certain things, like pride and selfishness, you can readily assume that you have to be constantly on the lookout for, to weed from the spiritual garden of your heart.)

Having considered the poor attitude and wrongheadedness of the scribes and pharisees, and the authority they so desperately aim to cling to, let’s consider how Luke contrasts this with the…

The Authority & Heart of Jesus (vv. 3-5, 8-10)

Here’s how I’ve chosen to label three things that stand out in the text concerning who Jesus is and what he is about:

Supreme Teacher -

The example Jesus gives in vv. 3&4 shows that the needs of David and his men come above the law. (How can this be?)

Out of their extreme concern for the letter of the law, they have missed the spirit of the law. - What David did was technically illegal, but the point of the law wasn’t to prevent meeting basic needs.

Mark 2:27–28 ESV

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Was the Sabbath given to God’s people in order to be a blessing or a burden?

And again, the point of the law wasn’t to restrict people from being able to love others and meet their basic needs. There can be exceptions to the letter of the law where the spirit of the law, ethical concerns, are at stake.

So Jesus makes clear that doing good to others is not a violation of Sabbath rest.

Sovereign Lord -

V. 5 answers the question (as does Mk 2:28), before it can even be asked: What gives Jesus the authority to interpret the law and to compare himself to David? — “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

“Jesus is the evaluator of tradition and the one who comprehends the law’s scope.” (Darrell Bock, 512)

“Jesus is the one with authority over the Sabbath.” (Also Bock, 512)

Whether they choose to accept it or not, the pointed question Luke raises repeatedly in this section is, Who is this Jesus?

Who could have power and authority and perfection to not only fulfill the true spirit of the law (Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law and Prophets but to fulfill them, Mt 5:17.) but then to also create a new covenant which supersedes the old?

Who could keep the moral code consistent with the character of God in a way that we could not? Who could do for us what we could not do for ourselves, becoming the perfect atoning sacrifice for sin to satisfy God’s justice and also prove God’s unfathomable grace and love? — Jesus. He can do that because he is the Sovereign Lord.

And in connected to what we just indicated, he is the…

Merciful Healer -

In vv. 6-11, Jesus provides a living demonstration of the Sabbath authority he claimed in the previous verse.

Jesus could have put off the healing until tomorrow (not on the Sabbath), but love supersedes their traditional view of the Sabbath, and Jesus deliberately pushes that envelope.

More than merely the merciful healer of some physical infirmities, Jesus is the Great Physician who is able to heal us because of what He suffered:

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

***

The sad truth is that we are always being pulled (by our old nature?) to have a pharisaical spirit. The sins of legalism and a critical spirit, as well as selfishness, are crouching at the door.

How can we respond with a right spirit to who Jesus is and what his intentions are for our good?

The Right Spirit Regarding Jesus (vv. 1-11)

Here are three attitudes we see in our passage overall, and particularly in the right response of the man with the withered hand:

Humble -

Jesus isn’t worried about you being embarrassed because of your messy and unattractive problem. You can’t afford to be either.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6b & 1 Peter5:5b)

Proverbs 3:34 ESV

Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

Matthew 5:3 ESV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

We really must come to the end of ourselves to receive what Jesus offers. And there, as his people, we must remain—in humble submission to his sovereign authority… for our own good and blessing!

Similarly, the right response is to have a spirit that is…

Teachable -

In contrast to the disciples, these scribes and Pharisees prove themselves to be so unteachable.

Jesus explains the contrast of those who come to him with a humble and teachable spirit verses those who do not. See Luke 6:47ff

Once in junior high, I made a terribly unwise decision based on youthful arrogance and foolishly aiming to be a leader among the wrong crowd. Of course, this wasn’t an isolated incident, but rather a trend that had begun to creep into my life from a desire to be cool. - By God’s grace, he granted me a teachable spirit and I learned important lessons. The disciplinary action and corresponding embarrassment was enough to get my attention, and God used it as a turning point for me to see that I was heading in a wrong direction and to begin learning a tiny bit more about leadership. (eg., The fact that people naturally follow you isn’t enough. Spiritually, you must be concerned about Whom you are following and where that is leading others.)

As the people of God, we need to remain teachable. Abiding in the vine—always growing, always reforming our ways.

Finally, there can be no question that the right response to Jesus’ authority is to have a spirit that is submissive. Another word for it is...

Obedient -

In vv. 8&10, Jesus tells the man with the withered hand what to do, and he does it. Knowing Jesus’ authority and power, he obeys, and it’s for his own good!

A rightly spiritual person is one who is submissive to God and sensitive to his leading.

(Again, this reveals a teachable spirit versus an opinionated one. It demonstrates humility versus being knowledgeable on every subject, in areas where disagreement or uncertainty is perfectly reasonable.)

Connecting this obedience to the overall thrust of this passage and the N.T. as a whole, here’s one last thing I want to make clear as we wrap this up for today:

The spirit of spirituality is knowing God, resting in belonging to him, learning from him and growing in closeness and likeness to him.

We aim to submit and obey, but the reality of relationship, of following Jesus and aiming to know our Father and grow in his character is far better than any checklist or spreadsheet.

I’m pretty sure that my spouse doesn’t want me to view my love for her as merely checklist of do’s a don’ts… or a spreadsheet of how often I’m good to her versus selfishly pursuing my own desires. She wants a relationship with this guy, where we grow to know one another better, in unity and closeness of our hearts, where we enjoy and rest in belonging to one another, and where we strive together to submit to God’s will for our lives to be more like him.

- Trying to checklist our relationship with God will not only make it exhausting and joyless, but it snatches the right spirit from spirituality.

- Worse yet, legalism can make you miss the gospel altogether! (If you think you are meriting something from God by keeping the rules.)

We are saved not my works but by “grace... through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

And the beautiful thing for us now is that if we receive the teaching of Jesus and believe in him as Lord, then we are also given the gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us, empowering us for the spread of the gospel and for ministry to one another, and who guides us in truth and wisdom to obey the spirit of God’s will for us.

In the Spirit, let us pray toward that end.

PRAY