WHAT JESUS WITNESSED IN THE WORSHIP

LUKE 13:10-21

      Luke included the account of this woman who for eighteen years attended worship without seeing any difference until the day Jesus unsettled the sanctuary. The presence of Jesus in the service disturbed the status quo.

      Those Jesus identified as hypocrites kept the worship predictable and yet powerless. Each Sabbath the vain worship continued quite perfunctory, and orderly until Jesus showed up and made the establishment angry.

      Each Sabbath a woman bound by the devil went to worship but returned disappointed. Samuel Chadwick said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

  I. Controversy (13:10)

      A. Synagogue

Lk. 4:28-29 [ESV]. When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

      B. Sabbath (Lk. 6:1-2, 14:3)

Lk. 6:6-7 [ESV]. On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

Jn. 5:10-11 [ESV]. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'"

 II. Infirmity (13:11)

      A. Sickness (Jn. 5:5)

Heb. 4:15 [ESV]. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

      B. Satanic

Lk. 4:33 [ESV]. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

          1. Chain (δεσμος– Lk. 8:29)

2 Cor. 2:11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

          2. Capture (2 Cor. 10:4)

2 Tim. 2:26. And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

      C. Strength (ουκ δυναμαι– Mt. 17:16, 19)

2 Chr. 20:12 [HCSB]. Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast multitude that comes to fight against us. We do not know what to do, but we look to You.

III. Mercy (13:12-13)

      A. Saw

Mk. 6:34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

      B. Set free

Rev. 1:5b [HCSB]. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood,

          1. Arose

Heb. 12:12 [ESV]. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

          2. Acknowledge

Lk. 7:16. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

 IV. Hypocrisy (13:14-17)

•          υποκριτη– Mt. 6:2-5-16, 7:5, 15:7, 16:3, 22:18, 23:13-14-15-23-25-27-29, 24:51; Mk. 7:6; Lk. 6:42, 11:44, 12:56, 13:15; actor, stage-player, pretender

•          υποκρισις– Mt. 23:28; Lk. 12:1; 1 Tim. 4:2; 1 Pet. 2:1; “wearing a mask of sanctity to hide an evil heart”

•          ανυποκριτος– Rom. 12:9; 2 Cor. 6:6; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:5; Jas. 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:22; undisguised; free from hypocrisy or pretense

      A. Legality (14)

          1. Control (contrast this ruler with Lk. 8:41)

          2. Critical (“people who loved systems more than people” )

      Robertson commented, “His words have a ludicrous sound as if all the people had to do to get their crooked backs straightened out was to come round to his synagogue during the week. He forgot that this poor old woman had been coming for eighteen years with no result.”

      Barclay wrote, “More trouble and strife arise in Churches over legalistic details of procedure than over any other thing.”

      B. Liberty (15-16)

          1. Inconsistence (Lk. 14:5)

Mk. 7:6 [ESV]. And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

              a. Hide (Gen. 3:8)

              b. High-minded (Lk. 18:9)

•          Hypocrites have learned to do it without Jesus.

•          Hypocrites ostracize anyone who catches the fires of revival and upsets the comfort of the cold at heart.

•          Jesus wants true worship that sets captives free while hypocrites just want to stay in power.

•          The religion of the hypocrite cannot help the seeker who leaves worship empty and disappointed (Acts 8:31).

•          The hypocrite is so bound by tradition that all reality is lost.

•          The hypocrite is blind to the bondage of religion.

•          Hypocrites experience a disconnect between appearance and authenticity.

•          A hypocrite is willing for others to hold a judgment that is incorrect.

•          A hypocrite maintains an image that does not exist.

•          The hypocrite became angry at Jesus for exposing the charade.

•          Hypocrites do not want Jesus to upset the games pretenders play.

•          Jesus posed a threat to expose the reality of the reputation of the leaders.

•          Hypocrites appear translucent not transparent.

•          Hypocrites really are like fool’s gold and imitation diamonds.

•          The self-deceived attempt to cover-up the lack of genuineness before those who already sense the insincerity.

•          The hypocrites practice a disassociation from everyday people.

•          Jesus revealed the inability of the crooked in heart to straighten those bent over by satanic oppression.

          2. Existence (reality)

              a. Salvation (Abraham– Lk. 3:8, 13:16-28, 16:24, 19:9; Jn. 8:39-40; Rom. 4:13, 9:7; Gal. 3:7)

              b. Sabbath (Mk. 2:27-28)

      C. Laity (17)

Mk. 12:37b. And the common people heard him gladly.

          1. Rulers (politics)

              a. Ashamed

1 Pet. 3:16 [GW]. Keep your conscience clear. Then those who treat the good Christian life you live with contempt will feel ashamed that they have ridiculed you.

              b. Adversary

Gal. 5:17 [GNB]. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.

          2. Rejoice (praise)

Lk. 5:26 [ESV]. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today."

Lk. 15:32 [HCSB]. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

 IV. Impurity (13:18-21)

      A. Likeness

Mt. 13:13 [ESV]. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

      B. Least

Mt. 17:20 [ESV]. He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."

      C. Length

Acts 19:20 [ESV]. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

      D. Lodge

Lk. 8:5 [ESV]. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.

      E. Leaven

Mt. 16:6 [ESV]. Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

1 Cor. 5:7 [WNT]. A little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough.

      Herbert Lockyer wrote, “In The Mustard Seed, our Lord foretold the appearance of professed Christianity in its outward, worldly form. Here, in the Parable of the Leaven, He foreshows its internal doctrinal corruption.”

      Lockyer said, “The words, leaven and unleavened, occur 71 times in the Old Testament, and 17 times in the New, the leaven in every instance denoting that which is evil.”

      Lockyer said, “The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocritical formality, or religiousness, a blinding externalism in religion, and it is so today in the church’s legalism. The leaven of the Sadducees, skepticism, or rationalism, is a denial of the supernatural so common today among evolutionists. The leaven of Herod was that of a debasing sensualism, the fruit of the two former.”

      G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “Wherever the Church has come under the influence of such evils, corruption has spread throughout, manifested in spoiled lives and feeble witness to the Kingdom of God.”