CRCF\u201d\u201d10-10-10<\/p>\n
Question: Why won\u201d\u2122t some people go to church?<\/p>\n
Answer: Because they\u201d\u2122ve been to church. <\/p>\n
The Day Jesus Quit Going to Church
\nLuke 13:10-17<\/p>\n
A church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.<\/p>\n
Luke 13:10-17 (NLT)<\/p>\n
10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, \u201cDear woman, you are healed of your sickness!\u201d 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
\n14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. \u201cThere are six days of the week for working,\u201d he said to the crowd. \u201cCome on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.\u201d
\n15 But the Lord replied, \u201cYou hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don\u201d\u2122t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? 16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn\u201d\u2122t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?\u201d
\n17 This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
\nMessage
\n15-16But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”
\n17When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and redfaced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.
\nNow, the \u201cchurch\u201d that this passage talks about is the Jewish synagogue\u201d\u201dthe \u201cchurch\u201d of Jesus\u201d\u2122 day. It was a place where the Jews worshiped regularly because they lived too far from the Temple in Jerusalem. Their communities centered around the synagogues.
\nMcBrayer
\n\u201cFor Jews living in the first century, however, the Sabbath involved more than synagogue attendance and familiar unspoken expectations . . . by the time of Jesus, it had become a heavy weight, and it was nearly impossible for the average worshiper to keep up with all the rules.\u201d (Leaving Religion, Following Jesus, 72)
\nOver time, the Pharisees had added rule after rule to God\u201d\u2122s Law. The original intention was to help people obey God\u201d\u2122s Law. But the actual result was layers of man-made rules that in and of themselves broke the heart of God\u201d\u2122s Law. You can rest assured of this:
\nWhenever we say something God\u201d\u2122s Word doesn\u201d\u2122t say, whenever we make rules that God didn\u201d\u2122t, our religious concoctions will always end up poisoning the souls of all who partake!
\nWhy did Jesus pull this stunt at church on a Sabbath morning?
\nMcBrayer
\n\u201cJesus intentionally broke the rules and customs of the religious establishment of his day, not for the sake of rebellion, but to reveal how preposterous it was to hold to meaningless rules. Strict legalism that misses the point of God\u201d\u2122s grace and freedom in Christ is more than preposterous. It is grotesquely sinful.\u201d (70)
\nColossian 2:20-23 (NLT)
\n20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21 \u201cDon\u201d\u2122t handle! Don\u201d\u2122t taste! Don\u201d\u2122t touch!\u201d? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person\u201d\u2122s evil desires.<\/p>\n
Galatians 5:1-6, 11-12 (MSG)
\n1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
\n2-3I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. 4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
\n11-12As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then\u201d\u201dit would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
\nWhenever we say something God\u201d\u2122s Word doesn\u201d\u2122t say, whenever we make rules that God didn\u201d\u2122t, our religious concoctions will always end up poisoning the souls of all who partake!
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.
\nNotice the attitude of the synagogue ruler\u201d\u201dit\u201d\u2122s clearly void of compassion for this precious lady.
\nLuke 13:14 (NLT)
\n14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. \u201cThere are six days of the week for working,\u201d he said to the crowd. \u201cCome on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.\u201d
\nMcBrayer
\n\u201cIn other words, \u201d\u02dcDon\u201d\u2122t bring your sicknesses and illnesses, your addictions and demons, your problems and long-borne burdens in here. Leave those outside. It is good for people to get well, but not on Sunday and not in the church house. Don\u201d\u2122t violate God\u201d\u2122s law by healing on the Sabbath\u201d\u2122.\u201d (74)
\nWhen that is the attitude you feel in any given church, it\u201d\u2122s time to check out!
\nTHAT was the day Jesus quit going to church!
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.<\/p>\n
McBrayer
\n\u201cWith no compassion for the suffering, these religious leaders violate more than the spirit of God\u201d\u2122s law; they violate God\u201d\u2122s people.\u201d (74)
\nCharles Spurgeon said that the church was to be a hospital for sinners\u201d\u201da place where the wounded and sick could come for healing and comfort and care. And he was dead on!
\nMatthew 22:35-40 (NLT)
\n35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 \u201cTeacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?\u201d
\n37 Jesus replied, \u201c\u201d\u02dcYou must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.\u201d\u2122 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: \u201d\u02dcLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d\u2122 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.\u201d
\nIn 1 John, we learn that it\u201d\u2122s impossible to truly do one of these without doing the other. That is, you can\u201d\u2122t love God but hate someone. Nor can you hate someone and truly love God. If you love God, you must love others\u201d\u201dfrom your friends to your enemies, according to Jesus! Remember\u201d\u201dGod loved US, who were His enemies and sent His Son to die for us while we were still His enemies in our sin and rebellion (Rom. 5:8).<\/p>\n
If there is no love and compassion for people in a church, it ain\u201d\u2122t the real deal!
\nLandon Saunders
\n\u201cGet it right about people and the rituals, religion, Scriptures, and doctrines might get right. But get it wrong with people, and everything else will be wrong.\u201d (McBrayer, 75)
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.
\nMcBrayer
\n\u201cA religious system whose rules and traditions are more motivating and more powerful than its compassion for people is a system of hypocrisy.\u201d (75)
\n\u201cManipulation, threats of divine retribution, the micromanaging of people\u201d\u2122s lives and morality, judgmentalism, paranoid insecurites, obnoxious self-righteousness . . . all of these are mere symptoms of a deeper illness. As Jesus said, the real sickness is hypocrisy.\u201d (77)
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.
\nThe church\u201d\u201dthe gathering\u201d\u201dthat Jesus founded was a non-religious get together of folks full of God\u201d\u2122s love in Jesus who spent their time sharing that love and compassion with each other and all those around them.
\nMcBrayer
\n\u201cWhen \u201d\u02dcdoctrinal integrity\u201d\u2122 (a term usually defined by those using it) trumps kindness and grace, faith has wandered out of bounds. Anything claiming to be truth that does not lead to compassion for our neighbors cannot rightfully be called the truth.\u201d (75)
\nSometimes we get way too caught up in having all of our theological \u201cI\u201d\u2122s\u201d dotted and \u201cT\u201d\u2122s\u201d crossed!
\nTruth is NOT a doctrinal statement or a confession of faith.
\nJesus said, \u201cI am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.\u201d (John 14:6)
\nAnd Jesus was full of compassion for people!
\nHow about you? How about me? How about our church?
\nI\u201d\u2122m thankful that our church focuses on loving one another and others just as we all are! I pray we\u201d\u2122re always growing in that.
\nTHAT\u201d\u2122s why we\u201d\u2122re here! To show God\u201d\u2122s grace and compassion to our world!
\nBut the day that we cease to do that, THAT is the day you should quit our church!
\nA church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance is more important than compassion for people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d10-10-10 Question: Why won\u201d\u2122t some people go to church? Answer: Because they\u201d\u2122ve been to church. download The Day Jesus Quit Going to Church Luke 13:10-17 A church is no longer a witness to God\u201d\u2122s grace in Jesus when religious performance … Continue reading