Religion or Grace?

The scripture reading today comes from the book of Micah and the gospel of Luke.

Please follow along in your bulletin.

Know, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you,

to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,

and there was a woman who, for 18 years, had a sickness caused by a spirit,

and she was bent double and could not straighten up at all.

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her,

Woman, you are freed from your sickness.

And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.

But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,

began saying to the crowd in response,

There are six days in which work should be done,

so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath.

But the Lord answered him and said,

You hypocrites!

Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall

and lead him away to water him?

And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is,

whom Satan has bound for 18 long years,

should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?

As he said this, all his opponents were being humiliated,

and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by him.

So he was saying,

What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden,

and it grew and became a tree,

and the birds of the air nested in its branches.

And again he said,

To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour,

until it was all leavened.

This is God's word.

How's everybody doing?

After that, it was great.

Great worship time.

It's going to be a scared thing to situate here.

Wow.

Wow.

That's one of those questions you hear and you sing and you wonder

if you can sing it honestly, right?

Well, when we started out this church,

one of our desires was,

and we knew God was calling us to plant a church,

but we knew also that he was kind of calling us

to plant a community

and to plant a church family.

And so as we started thinking about

what is a family supposed to look like?

What do we want a family to be like?

And how do we value family in our lives?

One of the things we realized really quickly

is we wanted a family to be authentic and real

and not have to wear a mask when they come in here,

but they can just be who they are

and not have to feel like,

okay, I need to pretend a certain way

or act a certain way.

And so that was one of the huge things we pray about.

We continue to pray about all the time

is realness and authenticity

and just the freedom to be who we are.

One of the other things we prayed about

was we wanted an atmosphere

where people felt free to just ask questions.

If you're around our dinner table at night

and we talk about highlights and lowlights

and why things happen,

our kids ask a lot of questions.

We actually have a lot of questions

that I can't answer.

We just, I don't know why that happened.

And we talk about things.

And when we try to incorporate that into the church too,

that every so often when we come to a topic

or a sermon that is very intense

or it's very difficult to preach or to hear,

we feel like, okay, let's stop

and talk about that for a second.

What do you guys hear when you hear these words said?

What is it in your heart?

Does that resonate well with your soul

or do you go, oh, I just can't stand that?

And so we wanted to be able to do that.

The last couple weeks I felt like

we talked about some very hard topics.

Two weeks ago we talked about Jesus coming again

and we talked about people worshiping in the temple

and Pilate killing them all

at their most vulnerable and holy point.

We talked about a tower falling over on people

and is killing them without a warning.

And what does that look like in our life?

And Jesus basically said in that passage

that the question isn't when I come back

but the question is what you're gonna look like

and what are you gonna be doing when I come back?

How's your life gonna be lived?

You know, we talked about that God

is this great venture capitalist

and he's giving each one of us gifts

and talents and money.

And at the end when he comes back in that passage

it says he's gonna look at everything he's given us

and we're gonna be judged by those things.

How do we use those things?

Did we make a good return on his investment in our life

or did we just waste those things

and squander those things?

And so I thought that was an incredibly hard

and difficult passage to hear

because it's very convicting.

It makes you ask questions.

Last week we talked about Luke 13

and I'm just looking at the passage here

and we talked about just this idea of

just again Pilate killing people

and sacrifices and things happening in people's lives

and realizing that just because things are going well

doesn't necessarily mean that

our relationship with God is good.

I think that was one of the things that hit me

as I read through those things

because often we think that way

but the passage was really clear

that Christ is this vine dresser

and he comes in and we're the tree

and he's breaking all these things away from our roots

that prevent us from growing,

from doing fruit,

becoming more like what he wants us to be like.

Actually the passage says

that Christ, Jesus, the vine dresser

right now in your life

that he's preventing us

from getting what we deserve.

He's trying to do everything he can

so that we are wooed to him.

We see how beautiful he is

and we worship him and we love him.

We talk the idea about repent

and what that means

and often we talk about repentance

as a self-centered repentance.

We said scripture talks about

being a God-centered repentance.

We talked a lot again about the vine keeper

keeping us away from what we deserved

and we said over and over

that our circumstances are not a reflection.

of our relationship with God.

This week I've got all these questions.

We were talking to people.

One guy came to me.

He goes, okay,

I've been told my whole life

that if my life is going well,

that I'm healthy,

that if my business is doing well,

that if my marriage is doing good,

if my kids get into the right schools,

if I'm doing all those things,

that just basically says

that I'm doing well with God

and now you're telling me

that might not be true

and I said,

I'm not telling you it.

The Bible's telling you it.

It might not necessarily be true.

It might be that God loves you so much

that he's allowing those things

to happen in your life

so that you'll see how beautiful

and wonderful he is

and that you'll come to him.

That's what Romans says

and that's what the whole parable

of the vine dresser is.

It's about him making a way

so that we can see him

and sometimes he uses hard things

and sometimes he uses

amazingly good things.

But the issue is that God

is always wooing us.

He's always there

and he's always in our life.

Another person came up

and they asked the question,

why now I feel really anxious?

I mean, I don't know if I'm doing

what God wants me to do.

After listening to these talks,

I've been just kind of

doing my own thing.

I don't know if I'm really obeying God.

I don't know if I'm doing things.

I feel really uncomfortable now.

And I said,

that's good.

Because the Christian life

is meant to be lived

with some bit of uncomfortability.

The things you hear from God's word

don't bother you sometimes

and bother you intensely.

It might mean that you're not

really struggling with what it means

to walk with God.

I said,

I feel uncomfortable sometimes.

I wonder if I'm using the resources

that God gave me well.

Am I using the talents?

Am I trusting him?

Knowing that ultimately

all growth and gift

and all these things

come from him.

I said to him,

hey, just relax.

Because I think sometimes

the Christian life

is this slow, steady pace.

and the questions

we ask ourselves are,

are we loving people well?

Are we loving God well?

Are we using our gifts

and our talents

to his glory?

Or are we repenting

of our sins

and things that,

you know,

Luther says our heart

is this idol factory

that keeps producing

these idols

that we grab onto

in the passage

we're reading today

and throughout scripture

says it's not just

a one-time repentance

coming to God,

but we continually repent

as we see how beautiful

and wonderful he is

and our need for him.

It's good to feel

anxious sometimes

and you ask those questions,

how am I doing?

What's going on?

Those are the questions

I got that I've addressed.

Is there,

if you've been here

for the last two weeks,

is there a question

that you've been thinking about

that you felt like was,

I'm putting the sound guys

on the spot,

but as you look

at the passages,

was there something

that stuck out in you

that you want to ask?

I don't know

if we'll have the answer,

but I'm sure there's people

in here that have a ton of,

I thought Mary,

just take one question

in these passages

of Jesus coming again

and are we the steward?

Do we have our lights lit?

Are we obeying

for the master

and in the towers?

Were there any other questions

that stuck out in that?

Okay, so for some of you,

this is like the first time

you've seen this

and this is really weird

even that he's walking around

in front of everybody

but we want to do that

as a family

and just think about that

and if you have questions,

please ask them.

That's why we want you

to be in community groups

because community groups

go over these studies again

and they'll give you a chance

to ask the questions

maybe in a less threatening way

than church here

but I have a lot of questions.

Okay, if you don't have

any questions,

just think about it.

Go back and read the passages

but we want to answer questions

with people

especially when we think

that man,

I have that same question

and that really bothers me too.

Okay, we're in Luke 13

Luke 13:10–21

verses 10 through 21.

Jesus is,

this is the last time

he's going to be teaching

in a synagogue.

He's teaching in a synagogue

and he does a miracle

and it's the last miracle

he's going to do.

From this point on

he's heading towards Jerusalem.

He's been teaching

and doing things

for three years

and it says in here

that he was teaching

in one of the synagogues

on the Sabbath.

This is actually a,

we call it a mirror miracle.

A mirror like you see your face

miracle.

This is the bookend

to the first miracle

that Jesus did

in Luke 4.18.

In Luke 4.18,

Jesus comes into the synagogue

and he teaches.

Remember he gets up Isaiah

and he reads it.

He reads it,

the spirit of the Lord God

is upon me.

He's called me

to proclaim freedom

from the captives

to release the bondage

of people.

And he does this miracle

and remember what happens

after he does that?

He sits down

and he says,

this prophecy's been fulfilled

in your day

and the religious guys

go, what?

You're saying

that you're the Messiah.

You're saying

that you're God.

And they want to take him

and they want to throw him

off a hill.

So a mirror miracle

is something that's done

later on,

almost the exact same miracle

and they want to show it

to you and see

has the people's reaction

changed?

Have people thought

differently about Jesus?

Or are their reactions

the same?

And so he's in the synagogue

and he's teaching.

In verse 10,

he was teaching

in one of the synagogues

that he would have been

invited in

and we're told

that it was in Capernaum.

Now a synagogue

is just a church,

a house church,

okay?

It's a Jewish house church.

In 578 BC,

the Babylonian Empire

came in

and they decimated Israel.

They destroyed Jerusalem.

They destroyed

the first temple

and they took

everyone in Jerusalem

away to Babylon.

And when they got

to Babylon,

well they didn't have

a place to sacrifice.

They couldn't sacrifice

because they were

under oppression.

But they needed

a place to worship

and so they invented

these things called synagogues.

So it's not in the Bible,

it's not in the Old Testament,

there's no place in it,

but they started to gather

and worship there.

So Jesus is walking

through Capernaum,

his hometown,

and there would have been

at least 40 synagogues there.

We don't know how many

or which one he was in.

And he was invited

by the teacher

and he comes in to teach.

Verse 11,

it says that

there was a woman

who for 18 years

had a sickness

caused by a spirit

and that she was bent double

and could not straighten up.

So you got this here,

so Jesus is teaching

in a synagogue.

In a synagogue,

he would have been

up in the front,

the entrance is in the back,

there would have been

men over here

and women over here

and if it was a huge synagogue,

they would have been

really, really dispersed

and put apart

because women didn't

worship with men,

that was not a good thing.

And so he's in there teaching

and it says that

this lady comes in

and I'm gonna go through

verse by verse

because I think this is

a very important passage.

She comes in

and for 18 years

she's had a sickness

and verse 16,

we're told that

the devil comes into her life,

demonic possession,

something she did in her life.

It doesn't say

she's possessed now.

18 years ago

she was doing something

and she opened herself up

to some kind of bad influence

or demonic influence.

We don't know what happened

but this demon came in,

the devil came in

and it bound her.

The Greek word

is basically bent

and the idea

is of like a carpenter's square

just like this.

Okay?

So for 18 years

this lady is like this.

She can't look up,

she can't do anything,

she can't engage,

she's walking like this.

I debated whether I should do this.

Everybody stand up.

Come on,

you're not that old.

Greg's not that old.

Mark,

you're not that old.

Okay,

so from the waist down,

this is a test of dexterity

and limber.

I have a terrible back

so as in straight,

you know.

So you just bend over

like this.

Face down.

One,

two,

three,

four,

five,

six,

seven,

eight,

nine,

ten.

Okay,

back up.

Now,

you can sit back down.

Now,

I tried that last night

for five and a half minutes

and my back started going out on me.

But this,

and you just did it for ten seconds.

But this lady

was like that

for almost 20 years.

Can you imagine walking around?

She's basically in a false

or forced position

of humility.

And for 18 years,

she walks around like that

and we're told that

as Jesus is preaching,

she is in there.

I don't know if you can imagine that.

To me,

as I've been trying to think about that,

I think it's amazing

that she's even in the temple

or in the synagogue.

Because on a couple accounts,

one account is this.

She's a woman.

She's crippled.

Everybody in that culture

would have thought

she's a sinner.

So she's in a place

where everybody sees her

and they look at her

with disdain

and disgust

and they don't want to be near her

whatsoever.

I mean,

she has all the strikes

going against her.

She's an outsider,

but still,

she's there.

Another thing to me

that's amazing

when I think about this

is that

she's in amazing pain

and discomfort.

I mean,

it would have been incredible

and still,

she comes to church.

We're not told

that she comes to church

because she knows Jesus is there

because you see her actions.

She doesn't do that.

I mean,

the Greek basically says

she comes

to the synagogue

every Sabbath.

Now,

sometimes

we don't want to come to church

because we have a headache

or I've had a really hard week

or it's uncomfortable

or I really need a break,

but this woman

has the best excuse

ever

not to come to church.

It's a cultural one.

It's an inconvenient one.

She's in incredible pain.

She's a woman.

She's cursed.

Everybody would have looked at her

and thought,

she's forsaken.

Why are you here?

And possibly,

you just wonder,

why is she here?

Because in the service,

all she's doing

as they stand up

is sits like this

and all she looks at

is the dirt

in people's feet.

But she comes

to worship

on the Sabbath.

Verse 12,

we're told

that Jesus saw her.

The Greek there

is he noticed her.

He called her over

and he said to her,

woman,

you are free.

Now,

I don't know if you understand

what happened here,

but no one

would have ever done that.

She's been walking

to church for 18 years

and no one

has noticed her.

I think about that

sometimes when I come

to church.

I wonder if there are

people in here

who come in

Sunday

after Sunday

after Sunday

and no one

notices them.

No one

talks to them.

No one cares.

Maybe you're sitting

by one of those people.

Maybe you are

one of those people,

but she's there

and she's present

and she's worshiping

and Jesus notices her.

He calls her out.

He separates her

from everybody else.

It's probably the first time

in her life

she's ever been noticed.

He calls her out

and the words

are very intentional.

He notices her.

He calls to her.

He comes to her.

He touches her.

He heals her.

All action words.

Now,

that would have never

happened in her life

and remember,

she's not seeking Jesus.

She didn't come say,

Jesus,

please save me.

I need help.

She didn't say,

oh,

I heard the Messiah

is coming today.

I want to come get healed.

I mean,

there's nothing in her life

that says she's came

to draw him out.

She's never come

to call him out.

She's never getting

attention from him.

She's basically

just come there

and Jesus looks at her

and says,

you're free.

In Greek,

the word actually means

loosed.

It actually means

whatever is holding you

right now,

permanently

and forever,

it's gone.

verse 13,

he laid his hands

on her

and in the Greek,

it's almost like

he gave her a bear hug

and he lifted her up

with his hands

and immediately

she became erect again

and she began glorifying

the Lord

and yelling out,

look at what's happened

to me,

look at what's happened

to me,

praise the Lord,

praise the Lord,

praise the Lord.

Can you imagine

what that would have

been like?

18 years

and a miracle happens?

Can you imagine

what that would have

been like

if that was you?

For 18 years,

you're walking like this,

you come to church

not expecting anything

and all of a sudden

Jesus notices you

and he comes to you

and he releases you

from what's holding on

to you.

He doesn't just release you,

he says you're permanently

and forever free

of that bondage

and that thing

has taken you away

forever.

She rejoices

and praises the Lord.

Now I have a lot

of questions here,

I mean this passage

is full of questions.

The first question

is this,

I wonder what would

have happened to her

that day

if she decided

to skip church.

I wonder what

she would have done

and what would have

happened to her

if she would just

follow the thing

that I probably

would have done

and just decided

to skip church.

Verse 14,

but the synagogue

official,

the ruler of the

synagogue

became indignant.

It basically says

that he was incest,

he was incredibly

intense,

he anger,

steam coming out

of his head

and he says,

but Jesus had healed

on the Sabbath

and he began saying

to the crowd

in response,

so he's not even

looking at Jesus,

he yells out

to the crowd,

there are six days

in which work

should be done

so come during

those and get healed

but don't come

on the Sabbath.

I mean,

it's crazy.

You know what

the Sabbath is?

It began in Genesis

when God created

day one,

day two,

day three,

day four,

day five,

day six,

and then in Genesis

one and two

we're told that God

gives a rest

and it says

when he gives a rest

all of creation

looks at him

and is in wonder

and awe

of the great things

that he's done.

The Sabbath was meant

to focus on God,

the Sabbath was meant

to worship God,

the Sabbath is meant

to be in God's presence

but in Jesus' day

the leaders had changed it

and the Sabbath became

more about myself

the Sabbath became

more about a self-focus

it became more about

am I being good?

Am I doing all

the right things?

Am I keeping the law?

How am I doing?

And the leaders

of the church

changed the focus

of the Sabbath

off of God

and on to men.

Do we do that sometimes?

Do we walk into church

sometimes

and we wonder

okay what's going on here?

What do they have

to offer me?

I know I'm talking

to myself.

What's the service

going to be like

and who's singing

and who's doing worship

and who's leading

the sermon?

Am I going to get

anything off of this?

Or am I going to walk out

and kind of go

I don't know

it's okay.

Presentation

humor

but I really

didn't feel that moved.

Music

okay

Katie's pretty good.

The passage says

that in Jesus' day

everybody who walked

into the synagogue

focused on themselves

instead of God.

And so you can imagine

why it would be easy

to say

hey I don't want

to go to church today.

hey it's not convenient

for me to go to church today

I just have

a bad headache.

Hey I have other things

to need to do

and I just don't really

want to focus

today.

I deserve a rest today.

These are all things

I've said

to myself.

I mean can you imagine that?

None of us in here

would ever say

to our kids

you know you've studied

so hard this week

and you knew that Friday

was a final exam

or a test

you've studied so hard

don't go to school

on Friday

take Friday off.

We would never say that.

We would never be

in our work

and working really hard

and knowing that

our boss

or the guy above us

is coming in on Friday

to do something

and you would never say

you know I've worked

so hard this week

and I've had such

a great time

and brought in

all these clients

but you know

I need to take a rest

and I'm sorry boss

but I can't see that.

But we would never

do that.

But people did that

in Jesus' day.

And the leader

that's a scary thing to me

the leader in this passage

he's actually yelling out

things that are preventing

people from coming to God.

He's saying

don't come to God today.

Don't expect God

to do something

in your life today

because we don't want

to do work

because if it's going to be work

you need to come another day

and I wonder

how many days

that lady came.

Because the passage

seems to indicate

that she came

for 18 years

every Sabbath

and no one ever

noticed her

and no one ever

talked to her

and she never

met healing

or new life.

Well the passage

says that

everybody's out of control

the leaders

are out of control

they're worried

about getting

people following Jesus

instead of themselves

and I think

as I read this passage

I wonder

if the leaders

are also thinking

something like this

they're angry

because they look

at that woman

and they realize

she doesn't deserve it.

She's a sinner.

She's broken

it's obvious

that she doesn't deserve it

it's obvious

that God has cursed her

how come God

would do that?

God would never

bless somebody

who's broken

and bent over

God only blesses

the people like us

who do everything right.

God would never

bless that person

he could never

bless that person

only person

who deserves blessing

is me

because I do

all the rules

and I do everything

right.

I think the leaders

were worried

about losing control

because Jesus

was collapsing

their paradigm

of thought

and he was saying

it's not about you

but it's about God

and what God

is doing in our life.

Verses 16 and 17

15 and 16

Jesus talks to them

and he says

you hypocrites

in Greek

the word actually

means second face

it means actor

it means pretender

that actors

got up on stage

and they just put

a mask on

you people

who wear masks

doesn't each of you

on the Sabbath

untie his ox

or his donkey

from the stall

and lead him

away to water

and this woman

a daughter of Abraham

as she is

whom Satan

has bound

has bent over

for 18 years

should she not

have been released

from this bond

on the Sabbath day.

You hypocrites

he's saying

he's saying

you take care

of your animals

there are about

45 laws

in the Mishnah

the oral tradition

of the rabbis

that say

you should take

your animals

to water

on the Sabbath

and how to do that

and Jesus is going

after them

and he's saying

you take care

of your animals

you take care

of your property

you take care

of your stuff

you take care

of your resources

you take care

of your wealth

but you don't want

to take care

of the people

around you.

As long as

there's a self-interest

as long as

it's about God

blessing you

you want to do it

but if it's about

God blessing

other people

you get angry

and the word here

he uses again

is released

verse 16

it's the same word

that he uses

when he talks

about being released

in healing her

and says

your sins

are forgiven

stand up

I've released you

you see what

Jesus is saying

here

I mean he's saying

to the people

don't be so consumed

on ritual

in tradition

that you lose

compassion

in people

he's saying

this is the day

the Sabbath

is the day

to remember God

the Sabbath

is the day

to celebrate

God's goodness

the Sabbath

is the day

to remember

God's grace

Jesus is saying

don't focus

on the outward

but focus

on your heart

don't miss

worshiping God

because you're

so worried

about what you

dress like

when you come

to church

don't worship

missing God

because things

aren't going

as planned

and the schedules

are behind

you've come

to meet God

Jesus says

to them

don't lose

sight of people

while you're

doing church

basically

when you walk

to church

or when you

walk to the

synagogue

don't lose

sight of the

people that

you pass

because all

of these

people are

the reason

that Christ

came

Jesus says

don't forget

about worship

don't forget

about serving

others

he talks

over and

over

and he

says be

careful

because

religion

exalts

man

that if you

come to

church

and you

say I've

been here

I've done

all these

things

I've done

all these

crossed

all my

T's

I've gone

through

all the

programs

Jesus is

saying be

careful

because that

glorifies

man

the focus

is on

yourself

don't think

that you're

doing well

just because

you keep

all the

rules

he says

religion

doesn't

change

your heart

only Jesus

changes

your heart

only grace

changes

your heart

Jesus is

telling them

over and

over that

just because

you modify

your behavior

just because

you come

and you do

these certain

things and

you go

through these

rituals

just because

you're taking

part in

everything that

the synagogue

is asking

you to do

it doesn't

bring true

life change

you can't

change your

heart by

modifying your

behavior

and he's

warning everybody

in the

synagogue to

realize that

unless Jesus

shows up

unless the

gospel is in

our life

unless we

understand

grace

we're just

like

the Pharisee

and we

miss God

verse 17

he goes on

and he said

this

and all his

opponents were

being humiliated

the Greek word

basically means

publicly and

fully they're

put to shame

and the entire

crowd is having

a party

as they focus

on all the

amazing and

great things

that God has

done

he goes on

in verse 18

to 21

he goes you

want to know

what the

kingdom of God

is like

you want to

know what it

looks like

when God

moves in

people's lives

you want to

know what it

looks like

when God

moves in

Hong Kong

you want to

know what it

looks like

when God

moves at

Bel Air

you want to

know what it

looks like

when God

moves wherever

he's moving

this is what

it looks like

and he was

saying that

the kingdom

of God

is like

this

and to

what shall

I compare

it

it's like

a mustard

seed

and a man

took it

and he threw

it on a

garden

and it grew

and it became

this huge

tree so big

that all the

birds of the

air nestled

in its

branches

and again

he said

what shall

I compare

to the

kingdom

of God

it's like

leaven

it's like

this little

piece of

leaven

that when

you stick

it into

this piece

of dough

three pecks

is about

50 pounds

the kingdom

of God

the gospel

the message

is

it's like

this little

piece of

leaven

and when

you're out

there sharing

it with

people

you stick

it in

their life

and sometimes

you feel

like nothing's

happened

but what

happens

when you

stick that

little piece

of leaven

in that

50 pounds

of dough

over a

period of

time

that dough

changes

and it

becomes useful

and fermented

and Jesus

says this is

what God's

word is like

this is what

the kingdom

is like

you might be

faithful

you might be

doing all

these things

you might

feel like

nothing's

happening

anywhere

but know

this

that when

the gospel

goes out

and then when

it's sowed

wherever you

do it

wherever you're

faithfully

sharing

that is

at work

and it's

going to

start out

small

and it's

going to

start out

inside of

you

and it's

going to

work through

you

and change

everything

that you're

about

that's what

the kingdom

of God

is like

this passage

to me

is full

of truths

it's full

of facts

it's full

of lessons

and it's

full of

questions

we see in

it that God

tells us

about his

kingdom

and how

he works

we see

in it

Jesus Christ

his power

his authority

he continues

to cast

out demons

but more

importantly

we see

that he

has

compassion

on people

that he

notices

people

and that

he cares

for them

we see

we see

in this

passage

that there's

a big

difference

between

religion

and understanding

grace

just because

we come

to the

synagogue

and do

all the

right things

doesn't

necessarily

mean that

we know

God

but what

sticks out

to me

the most

in this

passage

is the

story

that Jesus

tells

because he

tells this

story

a very

powerful

story

of two

people

and in

Jesus'

culture

whenever

he told

a story

or whenever

he did

a comparison

or whenever

he did

a parable

he was

expecting

you to

do

something

and what

he was

expecting

you to

do

is

which

person

are

you

well

none of

us are

Jesus

so it

only leaves

two of

us

it

leaves

the

broken

woman

and the

Pharisee

and Jesus

would have

been asking

all his

audience

as he

heard this

message

they

would have

been called

to a

point of

decision

they would

have been

called

to ask

a question

of themselves

and the

question of

themselves

would have

been

who am I

most like

in this

story

if I had

to put a

name tag

on myself

which one

would I

be

would I

be the

religious

leader

would I

be

zealous

for the

truth

would I

be devoted

would I

be serious

would I

be disciplined

would I

study all

the time

would I

be focused

on the

truth

would I

be focused

on getting

things right

would I

be critical

would I

be examining

everything

would I

be making

sure that

everything is

done correctly

but in the

midst of that

do I miss

God

do I miss

God working

in my life

do I miss

God working

in people's

lives

do I miss

God working

in the church

do I see

God at work

and realize

you know that

can't be God

because God

would never do

that that way

God only does

it this way

are we like

him

are we like

the religious

person

I am

there's often

I put God

in a box

and often

I think

this is how

it works

and this is

how it should

be done

and often

I'm so worried

about the

timing and

making sure

everything gets

done just

perfectly

and just

right

and I

miss

God

or Jesus

would have

said are you

like the

woman

or are you

like the

woman who

comes bound

up

do you

come to

church

and something

has control

in your

life

it's bent

you over

the Bible

said this is

the perfect

example of

sin in our

life

it's the

perfect

example of

what sin

does to you

and me

even after

we come

to know

Christ

that sin

bends us

over

and it

makes us

crooked

and so you

came into

church today

and the

question is

what is

putting you

into bondage

do you

you have

pains

we have

hurts

we have

concerns

we have

we have

selfishness

we have

pride

we have

physical

pains

we have

business

concerns

we have

family

burdens

we have

cultural

concerns

we have

emotional

baggage

and this

story

calls out

to us

and it

asks us

the question

do we

realize

that we're

in bondage

as we walk

in here

and the

question is

what is

controlling

us

and Jesus

asks you

and I

to this

point of

decision

because

he wants

to change

us

the passage

is all

about

Christ

coming

into our

lives

Christ

coming

into the

church

and noticing

you

and noticing

me

the

passage

is all

about

Christ

coming

into

our

lives

and

changing

us

and the

only

question

we have

to ask

ourselves

is

do we

want

Christ

to do

that

or are

we

happy

being

bent

over

as we

walk

through

life

because

the

scripture

says

the

Bible

says

that

every

one

of us

in here

is

controlled

by

things

and

these

things

bend

us

and

spiritually

if you

could see

people

the way

that God

sees

people

he

would

see

dead

bent

over

people

in

bondage

to

things

in

life

and

this

passage

is all

about

Christ

coming

to

you

where

you

are

right

now

and

taking

that

bondage

away

the

passage

is all

about

Christ

seeing

you

knowing

you

listening

to

you

caring

for

you

having

the

power

to

step

into

your

life

and

the

only

question

you

have

to

ask