STRAIGHT OUTTA SABBATH

Chris McCurley: And Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And this verse that we're going to begin is in Luke thirteen, or chapter thirteen, verse ten. And if you would, please turn to there. That is where the scene of our story begins. We good? You hear me all right? This thing on. And the story begins in this scene, very similar to what we see Jesus doing many times. And tried to stick with Chris's theme for this summer or ending this straight out of, but not context, but out of Sabbath. So we're on a Sabbath day. Jesus is there. And he's teaching in the synagogue. So if you have that picture, and then you think of what our battle cry is, and what Paul established as our battle cry, to live is Christ, as he talks about in Philippians. He encouraged, and that's what we're encouraged to do, right? And we are one verse into our story tonight, and we have a lesson. To live is Christ. Because it says he was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Now think about how many times we have heard a story begin with Christ and him being in the synagogue. How many times have we seen the story where he's teaching and talking to people in the synagogue? Think of all the things that we hear the stories of Christ and he's in the synagogue. So if we want to live as Christ, we do what he does. And what did he do? He went to where God's people were. He found he knew he knew about the synagogue, and he knew that is where God's people are. Now we learn about rulers who may be not right, and we're going to look at some tonight. But it didn't matter. These are God's people, the children of Israel. These were his people, and that's where he was. And even our first recollection of him after his birth, we find him as a almost a teenager. Where do we find him? In the synagogue, talking, discussing with the rulers about his father. And he was about his father's business. And that's where he would go on a regular basis, time after time again. And if we want to live as Christ, we find where God's people are. And we go there, which is why you're here tonight. We go there, we study, we teach, we encourage. Think of all the things that he did in the synagogue, and what we're going to see him tonight is heal. He helped people. He helped those of the children of faith, the children of God. That's what we do. That's what you do. We come here, we worship, but we also serve this church. And we look around and we see, as we're going to see tonight, who's hurting? Can I help? What can I do to help the children of God be stronger? What can I do? That is to live is Christ. He was in the synagogue. He was teaching. He was learning. He was studying. He was praising his Father in these things. And that's what we learn. In Matthew 4:23, he went throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogue, proclaiming the gospel, and healing every disease and every affliction. We take Christ. To the body of Christ and the time of heal. What about Paul? Paul is the one that said to live is Christ. Did he do that? Yeah. In Acts we see everywhere he went, he went into the synagogue. It says that he go when he would go into a city, he would go to the synagogue, which is where God's people were. And he would teach and he would study. So to live as Christ is to be here tonight, to be where God's people are, to study, to learn. Let's see what else happened in this story as we set the scene. Straight out of the Sabbath, he's about to straighten a woman. In verse eleven And behold, there was a woman who had a disease, a disabling spirit, for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. So you have the picture. A woman sick, eighteen years. As Luke mentions that it's eighteen years, it seems that he's mentioning this that most people knew. That she had been in the synagogue before. It doesn't appear that this is her first time. She had been in the synagogue. She had had this crippling disease, and she is there. There could have been, we don't know what the disease was caused or what caused the disease. It could have been of natural causes. We do learn in verse 16, which we'll get to in a minute, but you notice in verse 16 that whatever this disease was, it was Satan had bound this infirmity. Now, whether it's Satan, he says that because Satan was over the world and Just worldly things happened to this woman to make her cripple? Or it could have been that her sin, because she was in a worldly sinful nature, caused this disability. We don't know. But whichever, it would be terrible to think that we would say, well, if it was sin, then she probably deserved that. I say that because there were some others that were there that are going to look at this crippling disease and not even see and not even care. But we, if we see what's going on, do we notice people who aren't straight? They may not be bent over like that, but they may have some kind of grossness or a disabled appearance. How do we look? How do we treat? What do we do? What do we see whenever we see a woman like that? And we can refer, or anybody. I think about the woman at the well. What did Jesus do? We're looking to see what Jesus did and what we should do. What did Jesus do when he saw a woman who had been married five times? Married and divorced five times. And the current person that she he she's living in a sinful, unscriptural relationship, right? Currently. What did he do? It's a gross picture for most people would see, but Jesus didn't see that. Think of David. Think about his biography. Think about everything that he had been through. Now we know some great stories of David and his power, but think about some of the other stories. When he was hiding in the cave because his father-in-law wanted to kill him. When he was named king, but the current king wanted to kill him and sent people out to kill him. When a sword was hurled his way to kill him. And he lived in that time frame, in that era. It had to be a rough time in his biography. What about in his biography where he committed adultery? Where he murdered? That's a rough part of his biography. That's hard to look at. What about the child that died because of his sin? What about the struggles he had with his wives because he had so many and he got them as a possession? What about the children that he had that committed incest, that continued to disobey him and did things that hurt his family? And what about the day that he had to leave his to leave the kingdom to leave Jerusalem because his son Was sleeping with his wives. What about that? That's rough in the biography of David, is it? But we picture David because he was touched by Christ, he's in the lineage of Christ, he's very important. And because he wrote things and relied on God, as we read here in Psalms fifty one, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. That's why he's in the biography. Because he was a lineage of Christ. The woman at the well was a Samaritan. Why is she in the biography of Christ? Because she went and told everyone what Christ had done and she believed. And he s Christ stayed two more days in there just because of her. What about these people? What in the biography of Christ are there people that we see every day? How would they fit in your biography when your life is written? What will make those people special? It makes them special because they were touched by Christ. That's what makes. Everyone special that is in the Word of God, because Christ is somewhere in that story. And the people that you see and the people that you come in contact with are special not because of their sin, because of their disability, because of what they look like, because they may be a reject from the world, but because Christ is in there. Now, I don't know if you've seen this is from a movie. This is called this is a the bearded lady in the movie The Greatest Showman. And if you know the great the movie, it is about Barnum and his circus, and he would get people to be in his circus that were rejects from the world. Because people wanted to look. They didn't want to be a part of the life of these people. But they wanted to look, and like here we see the bearded lady, because this lady was different than everyone else. She had more facial hair than the regular woman, therefore disregarded, rejected, set aside of regular people, set aside from society. And they took her in so that she could be held up as that. And I say that, what would Jesus see in these people in the circus? Because that's who Barnum got to be in there. Weird, disformed, bent over, disabled people in the circus. What do we see? What do we see? Is that what we see? What does Christ see? You've probably seen this before. What do you see in this picture that is up here? How many of you see an old lady? If you see an old lady, raise your hand. If you see a young lady, raise your hand. You see a young lady? Yeah. And if you've seen the picture before, you know kind of the trick, but a lot of times it's focused. Both are in the picture. There's an old lady and a young lady. If you can't find one of them, think about, all right, what would a young lady look like and try to find that? The old lady, of course, has a nose and the mouth that you see there, but the young lady is looking off to the right and looking back, and she's wearing a hat. Sometimes it's what we're looking for, is what we see. Let's see when this lady was crippled, bent over. For eighteen years, what did Jesus see when he was in the synagogue and saw this woman? Verse twelve. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your disabilities. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. So what did we see? Jesus saw someone and had compassion on them. Didn't see the bearded lady, didn't see the deformities, didn't see bent over, but have compassion on them. What do we see when we look through the lens of Christ? If we are to live as Christ, we should see what Christ would see, and then also do what Christ did. He saw someone in need and he had compassion. He acted upon that love for the woman, and he had compassion on the woman. He was drawn to her, asked her to come to him, and saw value in that. Let's read fourteen. But the rulers of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath and said to the people said to the people, There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed and do not excuse me, and do not on and do not on the Sabbath. So the rulers of the synagogue saw this is not the first time that he got in trouble For healing or doing something on the Sabbath. As you know, there was a crippled man he healed on the Sabbath. There was they were plucking and eating grain. His disciples were plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath. there was a withered hand that he healed on the Sabbath, and he healed a blind man, someone born blind on the Sabbath. Now I don't think it was By accident that that Luke mentions that it was eighteen years of infirmity with this bent over. Everyone probably understood how long this woman had been bent over, and they were healed, they saw the miracle and were indignant. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine watching Christ or anyone heal someone that you know has an infirmity and then be upset with it? Because they didn't do it on the right day. Is that the point that we're getting? Is that what it is? Because it wasn't the right day? Jesus found an opportunity. He looked. And he found they passed a judgment on him that Christ even warned about just a chapter before that this judgment would be wrong. And they could tell different things, but they couldn't tell when a miracle had taken place. To live as Christ is to find an opportunity to express love. And that's what Christ saw. He saw an opportunity. So a lady that he could heal that had been in an infirmity. And we're going to notice he saw this person, and he's going to point out to them that he saw this person, this lady, as a child of Abraham. How can you argue with helping a child of Abraham? He found an opportunity to love. The people that she you know she was in the midst of people who were supposed to be good to her. That no matter of physical health, economic situation, downfalls, or sin. Finding someone to have compassion on her and to find an opportunity to love her. And it could be any infirmity, it could be physical or it could be spiritual, whichever that it is. But taking that opportunity to love, why are we nice to people? Are we nice to people because they look like us, they act like us? They have our same economic status. They have the same jobs we have. Those are easy people to love. But what about loving those who aren't like us? Who may be a little crippled? Maybe a little gross. Maybe have sin. Maybe living in sin. What about those people? Can we love those? Someone came in and helped us. And that was Christ. Could we witness the healing and not recognize it? Here are some things about this story and about this love that I want to point out real quick. One, there is wrong in this world. And there are people who are hurting in this world. Now you tell me, I'll get you this will be the last time you have to participate. But raise your hand if you think that this world needs Christ. Yeah. Thank you. This world does need Christ. And you know it. To live is Christ means we act, say, do what Christ would do. So if we do that as a church, as the body of Christ, then this world needs you. This world needs you. There's people out there that need you. There's people that you come in contact with that I don't come in contact with, but the one thing that we have that the world needs is Christ, and you get to take it to them. You get to take Christ to them. Now they may look crippled, they may look gross, they may be hard to talk to. They may have an attitude. They may not get along well with others, they may have a mouth we don't like to listen to, they may have difficulties in their life that we just really don't want to deal with. But they need you. Why? Because they need Christ just as much as I do, as you do. And if we're living as Christ, and Christ is in you, they need you. And that is our responsibility to bring that to this world. What do they need? What are some things that people need? What are the opportunities to love? What did Christ give them? The first thing that he gave this woman was words. What words did Christ say? The first thing he said is he noticed her. Woman. He recognized her. And then what did he say to her? Come here. Come here. An expression of love that says, Come to me. Come close to me. You wouldn't say that to someone you didn't love, right? Someone you didn't want to be near, you wouldn't say that. But if you said, Come close to me, you're saying that I loved you. And it's an opportunity to love. It's a show of compassion. So, what words? He gave compassionate words. Come to me. He gave kind words. He it through his words, he says, You are equal. You know why? Because you are freed from your sin. He didn't say that you're healed from your whatever the disease was, whatever crippled her. Maybe it was her sin that was crippling her. I don't know. But what he said is, your sin, you have been set free from your sin. Only Christ can do that, and our kind words can bring Christ to them. He said true words. Notice that he's about to talk to the rulers, and he's gonna talk some truth. So he didn't just say, he didn't just talk to the woman with love, he talked to these rulers with love, and the one thing that he said to them was truth. One thing he said to her was true, but we're going to learn more of the truth of what these rulers are going to find out in just a moment. But he had words of truth. He had informative words informing her that she can be free from her sin. Gave words of hope. And then she glorified with Christ. With Christ, you will one day have glory beyond your understanding. With Christ, you will be healed. That's what He he was communicating to this woman. What else did he do? We notice that he touched her. He touched this woman, and I wonder when the last time someone from that synagogue touched her, laid a hand on her shoulder. Held her hand, put her arm around, gave her a hug. I wonder when someone in that synagogue did that. If she was a descendant of Abraham and a child of God, why didn't these brothers and sisters love on her? That's one thing that I I love about this congregation when someone comes forward and in a rough part of their life. Probably The lowest part of their life, and they've taken the humility to come down and to say, I have sinned and I need help. And you express love to them. You come down here, get in line, give them hugs, give them words of encouragement, taking someone who is at their lowest and touching them, saying kind words in the name of Christ and loving them. What an awesome sight. What an awesome sight. At that point, healing can begin. If you do that to people in this world who are hurting, healing can begin because you have taken Christ to them. And then we get to verse fifteen. Verse 15, then the Lord answered him, You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie this ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to the water and 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? So he called them out. They got all been out of shape, right? Do you want to be with these people? Because Christ didn't ignore them either. Do you see how they're bent over? They've all been out of shape because of what he did. They were wrong. But they're crippled too. Just because they have a different attitude and a and a s and a Better than thou attitude he spoke to them. They were bent over, all been out of shape because of what has happened. And he straightened them out. He said, You're a hypocrite. You'll take a donkey or an ox That is a possession of yours. You bought this donkey, you bought this ox, and on the Sabbath day, you will untie this donkey and ox and go and help it and get it drink, get it food, and then take it back and tie it up. You have worked, you have healed the problem with this donkey or this ox. You have healed it of being thirsty, but this child of Abraham, you do not want to help. You get mad at me because I helped this woman? So what did the rulers do? It is talked about, think about that question as we read about whoever claims to love God in 1 John 4 20, it says whoever claims to love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom you have seen, cannot love God whom you have not seen. First Corinthians thirteen, if I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clang cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a faith that cannot move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all of my possessions to the poor, Give over my body to hardship and I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is seems to be a very important part of our service, isn't it? Very important part. And you know, it as I look around, some of you have known me ever since nineteen seventy-two when we moved here. And I've seen your works, and I've seen your love, and I've seen some things you do, and how you serve this church and If you're here tonight, you've probably developed a tradition that coming on Sunday night is important and you need to be here because you want to be with God's people. We just spoke of that. But if we don't have love, all of that's nothing. It takes love. Love is the binding thing that makes all of our work good. What is the difference in someone who does not believe in God and does a good deed, and someone who does believe in God and does a good deed? You do it out of the love of Christ. If you don't believe in God and you do something good, you you're not doing it out of the love of Christ. But if we do it through the love of Christ, it makes all the difference. That's the difference. And that's what makes it special. And that's what we're learning in this. A daughter of Abraham So these men, I asked, you know, what did these men do? They had an option, right? So let's read verse 17. As he said these things, all of his adversaries, they repented and came to Christ and Would anybody like to correct me there? They did not. They did not repent. And that's not what it says. Not what the word of the Lord says. Here's what the word of the Lord says. And as he said these things, all of his adversaries were put to shame. And all the people rejoiced in all of the glorious things that were done by them. They did not repent. They had an opportunity. They had an opportunity to see, you know what? That's right. First they had an opportunity to see a miracle. They were looking for signs, they had an opportunity to see that sign and to say, This must be the Messiah. They had an opportunity to say, you know what? You're right. We're wrong. We have been hypocrites. We are saying the wrong thing. But we want to be right. So teach me. They're not saying that, are they? What stops people from doing that? What stopped them from doing that? Pride. They had a pride about themselves. They weren't going to appear defeated. We're going to learn that all this did was cause them to want to kill Christ more. But pride, not knowing the scripture enough to recognize a sign, not willing to repent of their sins, not willing to confess that this is the Savior. So they didn't want to hear, they didn't want to believe, they didn't want to repent, and they didn't want to confess. So they couldn't come to Christ. But all the rest, they rejoiced. They rejoiced because of Christ. All people rejoice. And we have an opportunity all the time. What are we going to do with those opportunities we come in contact with? We have an opportunity. Everyone was made straight. The rulers were made straight. The woman was made straight. On this Sabbath day, everybody was made straight. But some refused Christ, and some rejoiced. Some refused. Some rejoiced. What side are we on? What side are we on? We want to rejoice, right? So to live as Christ is to find an opportunity to love. So I'll leave you with these things to encourage us to live as Christ. One, be with the body of Christ. You're already here. So that's a great step. But not just be here. Love each other. Find ways to help each other. And you do that in many ways already. Ask questions, serve, heal, comfort. Notice people that are hurting, take Christ to them. Do not judge them by appearance, past experience, or their sin. Do not let their if we're not gonna let someone's economic status, power, money, any of that determine their status, Don't let their sin determine their status either. Just love them. Just love them and bring them to Christ. Treat people with love. See them. Have compassion for them. Speak kindness. Touch them with the hands of Christ. And at the end of the day, let us all rejoice because Christ has saved. He saved the ones that are bent over. He saved the ones that are bent out of shape. He has that opportunity. And you get to take that to people. And I encourage you to do that. We offer an invitation, and if you would like to respond, do so, as together we stand and sing.

Matthew 4:23