Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Good Conflict - Luke 13:10-17

I'm glad you're all here.

We are in a series called Luke, The Orderly Account

of Truth, where we've been looking at Luke's careful examination

and investigation into the eyewitness testimony of Jesus' life in ministry,

his death and resurrection. And if you'll allow me, I'm

going to take us back in time, just a couple

of weeks, not too far. Normally I like to reference

the week before when I start my text.

At service, but.

I'm going to take it back two weeks when Pastor

Duncan took us through the final verses of Luke, chapter twelve,

and he showed us how Jesus came to bring division.

In verse forty nine of chapter twelve, I have come

to bring fire on the earth, Jesus said, and in

verse fifty one, I have come to bring division. And

as past Duncan explained, that Jesus came to draw a

line in the sand, and we can only be on

one side of it or the other. There are those

who are in Christ and those who are not. Those

who believe in Christ and what he accomplished on the cross,

and those that reject him. The truth of the Gospel

message separates and divides. It separates truth from lies, light

from darkness, and life from death. Because at the core

of the Gospel, everyone has brought face to face with

their own ungodliness. They're brought face to face with our

own wickedness and sin, and face to face with our

own hypocrisy. Because we live in a world where we're

told you're worthy, but the Gospel message shows us that

there was only one who.

Is ever worthy.

The world tells us you deserve this good thing, but

the Gospel message shows us we only deserve God's wrath.

We're told to love others by being tolerant and accepting,

when in fact we withhold truth and real love. Jesus

came to bring division. His gospel message draws a line

in the sand, and in doing so creates conflict. And

so my sermon today is simply titled good conflict, Good conflict.

We're gonna be in chapter thirteen, verses ten through seventeen.

If you have a Bible, turn with me there. If

you need a Bible, we have someone on the table

past the double doors that is yours to keep. I'm

going to read it and I'm going to pray, and

I'll begin breaking it down for y'all, Verse ten. On

a sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

and a woman was there who had been crippled by

a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and

could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her,

he called her forward and said to her, woman, you

are set free from your infirmity. Then he put his

hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue

leader said to the people, there are six days for work,

so come and be healed on those days, not on

the Sabbath. The Lord answered him, you hypocrites. Doesn't each

of you, on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey

from the stall and lead it out to give water.

Then should not this woman, daughter of Abraham, whom Satan

has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free

on the Sabbath day from what bound her. When he

said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people

were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

This is God's word. Let's pray, Lord, thank you for

this scripture. Today, Lord I pray that you would help

each and every one of us to trust in your

Holy Spirit as we strive to do good everywhere, even

in the face of conflict, that we would strive to

do good as you did good by healing this woman

in the face.

Of leaders.

Who were full of hypocrisy. Us to submit to the

truth of your gospel, and help me to deliver your

word in love and with the authority of your word.

In your name, we pray Amen. Now, before I continue,

I have a question to ask who here spends anytime

on YouTube? I think everyone's hand should be raised at

this point, because I'm pretty sure it's like the most

popular app or website ever, billions of views. Who here

spends perhaps too much time on YouTube? We got two

hands up here? Yeah, was that, Joshua?

I see you? I see you.

I'm guilty of that too, because it is so easy

to get caught in a vortex of content on that side.

Everyone's heard the term the to rabbit hole or rabbit trail.

It's so easy to get lost in that when.

I'm on there.

One type of video I really enjoy watching is people

going to public spaces to speak about difficult topics and

to challenge different points of view. While the person who

goes to speak in those spaces like colleges, sidewalks, churches,

public events, they're typically approached by others that hold the

opposite position or opinion. And what I so appreciate about

the people who go to speak there, the people who

make this content, is they don't shy away from difficult conversations.

They don't avoid the conflict these conversations are guaranteed to

bring because their goal is to challenge opinion.

With truth.

And hypocrisy with correction. The goal is to challenge opinion

with truth and hypocrisy with correction, because the goal of

truth over opinion and correction over hypocrisy outweighs the fear

of conflict. In verse ten of our text today, it

says on a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of

the synagogues. I'm going to stop here because it'd be

helpful for us to know some of the background information

before we go any further. So, the few things I

want you to know about a synagogue first is that

a synagogue was a house of instruction. This isn't the

temple where the Jews would go for their ceremonies or

to offer sacrifices. Synagogues came into existence when the Jews

were taken captive into Babylon and they were separated from

their house of worship, the Temple. Synagogues were also gathering

places for the Jews. Is a public place of instruction

in a place where Jesus's teachings and his actions would

no doubt create division and conflict, which is exactly what happens.

Look at verse eleven.

So he's in the synagogue and a woman who was there,

And a woman was there who had been crippled by

a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and

could not be straightened, and could not straighten up at all.

When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said

to her, woman, you are set free from your infirmity.

Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she

straightened up and praised God. Now you might be thinking

to yourself, or maybe you're wanting to ask Jordan, why

would Jesus healing someone create conflict. Well, the few things

we need to consider for this to make sense for

you to see this conflict. First, the person that Jesus

healed was a woman as scripture tells us, and at

this time women were supposed to be out of sight

and in the back of the synagogue according to tradition,

no jokes please. This woman was also crippled. And at

this time, if you were sick, disabled, disfigured, or crippled

in any way, it was thought that this ailment happened

to you because you had sinned against God in some way.

Consider in the Book of Job, when God allowed Job's

faith to be tested, and Job's friends gathered around him

and said, Job, you must have done something wrong, because

look at all this that's happening to you. Why else

would all these terrible things happen. Or in John's Gospel,

when Jesus gives sight to a man born blind, and

his disciples asked Jesus Rabbi, who sinned this man or

his parents that he was born blind? Those responses, those

thoughts came from the teaching or understanding of this time

that if you are suffering, it must be because you

are being punished by God. So here's this woman who

for eighteen years had been overlooked and scorned. She was

doubled over by a spirit and in a terrible position

physically and I'd say in even more terrible positions. Socially,

for eighteen years, this woman was disregarded. The second thing

to remember about why this situation created conflict was because

Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. As it showed us

in verse ten, the teaching in the synagogue is enough

to create conflict right there, because the synagogue is where

Jews would go to hear the word of God from

the religious leaders in authority. However, the word that they

were teaching, that the people were being taught was a

skewed and twisted version of God's word. It was twisted

to manipulate the people and to serve the interests of

the religious leaders, the hypocrites and vipers, as Jesus calls

them many a time. And now Jesus arrives in the

synagogue and creates conflict. He creates conflict by seeing this

woman broken and ignored, calls her forward from the back

of the synagogue, and heals her and creates conflict because

when he healed this woman, he does so on the Sabbath,

a day most.

Holy to the Jewish people.

And like the twisting of God's word by the religious

leaders at the time, this holy day was also twisted

by them because they couldn't keep the whole of God's

law perfectly, which no one can, by the way. But

because they couldn't keep the whole of God's law, they

developed a system by which they could keep at least

some of his commandments and convince people that those few

things were enough to satisfy God. The religious leaders essentially said,

if you do these things, external things, these extra things,

these extra prescriptions on the Sabbath, then you will please God.

And so they embellished the simplicity of the Sabbath. They

embellished the simplicity of the Sabbath, which is don't work rest.

That's it, don't work rest. The Sabbath was made for

man to give him rest, but the religious leaders at

the time flipped it around and tried to make man

fit the Sabbath. They embellished the Sabbath with endless rules

and regulations, and it became the defining points of their whole,

flawed and self serving system. So, by healing a woman

on the Sabbath day, when according to the religious leaders,

he wasn't supposed to, Jesus creates a conflict because he

confronts this broken system.

Look what happens, and we're gonna read through.

We're gonna read from verse ten just to see the

whole conflict unfold. On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in

one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who

had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She

was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said

to her, woman, you are set free from your infirmity.

Then he put his.

Hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Watched the religious leader's response.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagog

leaders said to the people, there are six days for work,

so come and be healed on those days, not on

the Sabbath. There are six days for work, the religious

leader says, so come and be healed in one of

those days, not the Sabbath. Notice the synagogue leader doesn't

address Jesus. He likely knew that he couldn't possibly accomplish

anything by confronting Jesus himself.

Why because what Jesus did was a good thing.

What Jesus did was unmistakably and undeniably a good thing.

It was a miraculous thing. It was a remarkable thing.

It was the right.

Thing to do. It was a good thing. But this man,

this religious leader, desperate to not lose power and control

that he held over the people, and desperate to not

see this system that gave him that control, Crumble immediately

tries to put this good act on blast, and he

tries to further manipulate the people under his authority. Don't

be healed on this day, he says. This day is

meant for rest only, not work. He says, I don't

care if you're sick or broken, get healed during working hours.

There are only six days for work, so come and

be healed on those days, not the sabbath. Let's take

a quick pull here. Who here thinks that what Jesus

did was a good thing? Raise your hands. I hope

everyone's hands are raised. This one more poll. Can we

all agree it was the right thing to do for

this woman? Raise your hands. Look for any hands not raised.

I'm just kidding. Now, Consider that everyone is an agreement

here that what Jesus did was a good thing. It

was the right thing to do for this woman. Consider that,

and then think about what this synagogue leader is saying.

He's saying that this miracle, this good act, falls under

the category of work, and therefore should only be done

on the days that are meant for work. Now could

it be argued that this was work? I mean, not

for Jesus. All he had to do was speak to her,

put a hand on her, and she was healed eighteen

years of this spirit gone.

But for this religious leader or any one of the other.

People there, I suppose you could say for them to

care for this woman would take work, because doing good

takes work.

It just does.

But God didn't say on the seventh day avoid doing

good work. He said, on the seventh day, rest rest

on the Sabbath and the other commandment, the one which

the whole of the law is fulfilled, in love your

neighbor as yourself. Just because doing good takes work or

is sometimes hard, doesn't mean we should avoid doing it.

Just because doing good takes work or is sometimes hard

doesn't mean we should avoid doing it. If you're taking notes,

I have a point for you. We don't get time

off from doing good. We don't get time off from

doing good by twisting and over complicating the simple command

to rest on the Sabbath. They've still broken God's law

by not loving their neighbor. This crippled woman, this woman

who for eight years, eighteen years, was doubled over physically

by an evil spirit. For eighteen years, was disregarded by

the religious leaders and the people around her. She wasn't

brought before Jesus like the man whose friends lowered him

through a roof. She wasn't found at the front of

the synagogue. She was left in the back. It was

Jesus who saw her. They didn't bring her forward. It

was Jesus that sought her out.

And told her to come forward.

It was Jesus that purpose to be there at that

exact time to heal this woman, to free her from

her bondage, and to reveal the hypocrisy of the people there.

The people there did nothing for eighteen years.

They did nothing.

Because doing good is sometimes hard doesn't mean we should

avoid it, Believers, Let's take it one step further. Just

because doing good is hard work is difficult sometimes doesn't

mean we get to avoid it. Because with Jesus as

our example, we can't say this is too difficult for me,

I can't do good right now? It's too difficult think

about what our Lord and Savior did for us. He

didn't wait until there was peace on earth. He brought

peace to earth through his good work. We don't get

time off from doing good. And the synagogue that speaks

up has a perverted and twisted view of the Sabbath.

And Jesus has no affection for this system. He's come

to dismantle it and bring them face to face with

their hypocrisy. Verse fifteen. Jesus answers, says the Lord answered him,

you hypocrites. Doesn't each of you, on the Sabbath untie

your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it

out to give it water. Then should not this woman,

a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for

eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day

from what bound her. When he said this, all his

opponents were humiliated, But the people were delighted with all

the wonderful things he was doing. Get the band to

come up. Noticed that the people were delighted with all

that he was doing. But his opponents, the religious leaders

whose system was being challenged and exposed, were humiliated. They

were indignant, as the scripture just told us. They were

indignant because how dare he heal on the Sabbath? Even

with their twisting of the Sabbath, They're still willing to

care about the things that matter to them. The problem is,

and as Jesus calls out, they care more for their livestock.

Than for human beings.

They're completely willing to do good work by leading their

livestocks to water, but not willing to do good by

caring for their own neighbor, another daughter of Abraham, or

even to celebrate this good work that Jesus just performed

in front of them. Jesus was there to confront and

dismantle their twisted systems and teachings, and he also came

to reveal their own hypocrisy through a true good act

of mercy.

And what a perfect day to do it on the Sabbath.

By healing this woman on the Sabbath, not only did

he show them their hypocrisy, he showed them that while

the Sabbath is a day for rest, it's not a

day to rest from doing good for others. But neither

is any other day you may or may not practice

the Sabbath. Jesus is our Sabbath. Now we find our

rest in him. If you want to take a sabbath,

more power to you, may God bless it. That doesn't

mean you get to rest from doing good. We don't

get time off from doing good. As I said before,

just because doing good takes work doesn't mean we get

to avoid doing it. And just because doing good is

sometimes hard doesn't mean we get to avoid doing it.

Whether we're working or resting, whether we're in public or

by ourselves, whether it brings peace and it's easy you

can see the result, or it brings conflict confrontation. We

should never withhold doing good. Want us to look at

Proverbs three, verse twenty seven briefly, do not withhold good

from those to whom it is due when it is

when it is within.

Your power to act.

I'm gonna read that over again. I butchered that my apologies.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is

due when it when it whoa when it is in

your power to act.

I feel like that was an easy first to read.

I don't know.

Good grief. Do you get what it means? Okay, do

not say it to your neighbor. Come back tomorrow and

I'll give it to you. When you already have it

with you, Like Jesus in the synagogue, do what's right,

do what's good. If it's within your power to do good,

which I can't think of any reason it's not within

your power to do something.

Good, then do it.

Don't withhold good even in the face of conflict.

Don't withhold good.

Because Jesus is the ultimate example of not withholding good.

I'll say it again. He didn't wait until it was

easy for him. He didn't wait until there was peace

on earth. He brought peace to earth by accomplishing the

ultimate act of goodness, by showing us mercy and extending

to us his grace and righteousness in the face of

conflict and rejection. And now it's our turn. We're called

to be like him. It's our turn to do good

even in the face of conflict. My last point for

those taking notes, my last point is this, never withhold

doing good. Clear enough, not easy right, do it anyway.

Don't wait for the right time. Make the time you're

in the right time. Don't wait for someone else to

act first. Do good, and don't withhold it. Do good

by showing mercy, do good by practicing patience. Oh oh,

do good by giving to people in need. We have

a great opportunity to give blankets to city gates ministries.

A lot of people need blankets this time of year.

Do good by building others up with our speech instead

of tearing them down. There's one more active goodness that

we should always do, one more active goodness that we

should always be looking for opportunities to do, an active

goodness that furthers the Kingdom of God. But you'll have

to come back next week to hear what it is.