LUKE 14:1-6 THINK OUTSIDE THE RELIGION BOX2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 14:1-6 Think Outside The Religion Box

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Well, as we look at this portion here in chapter 14, verses 1 through 6 of the Gospel of Luke...

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We are looking at, once again, another encounter that Jesus has with the Pharisees. And this encounter is very similar to what we looked at back in chapter 13, verses 10 through 17, where in that case, it was also on the Sabbath, and Jesus heals a woman who had been in bondage from the enemy for 18 years. And so you might remember that, and you might see the similarities as we go through this passage together.

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But here we are once again looking at Jesus encountering the religious leaders. And there's this situation that is set up here as Jesus comes into a place where the religious leaders are watching him suspiciously, carefully, trying to catch him and trying to, you know, get rid of him essentially because they do not like him or his ministry.

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And so as we look at this situation with the religious leaders, the Pharisees, I titled the message this morning, Think Outside the Religion Box. Because as we look at these religious leaders, it's very easy for us to recognize some of the same patterns in our own lives. That it's very easy for us to get caught up in religion.

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To get caught up in religious things that really should not be part of our lives or our walk with God. Now I'm not suggesting that, you know, it's easy for us that we, you know, go and join up with another religion or we go start a religion. That's not really what I'm talking about. But that we allow very easily our relationship with God to

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To become about the specific process that we have followed in connecting with God instead of being about the actual connection with God. That we have a certain way that we connect with God devotionally. We have a certain way that we connect with God in prayer. We have these certain things that we do, certain ways that we do church, certain ways that we, you know, look at ministry or look at our relationship with the Lord. And what often happens is we begin to

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Well, we begin to set those things as the standard and the boundaries for what God does or how God works. You guys, I think, can relate to this if you just think about, if I would say, let's pray. Our automatic thing, right, is to put our hands together, bow our heads, close our eyes. But what if I said, let's all pray with our eyes open? People would be like, well, this is awkward. We're all just kind of like looking at each other, but we're supposed to be praying. Like, what's up with that?

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But I would ask you to consider where in the Bible does it say, fold your hands, close your eyes, bow your head, and pray. When the disciples asked Jesus, teach us to pray, he said, okay, first of all, put your hands together like this. Then, you know...

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intertwined your fingers, and then, you know, he didn't do anything like that. It's a tradition that we've established. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It makes sense. It removes some distractions, helps us to focus on the Lord. For some people, maybe it puts you to sleep, and so it's not such a good thing. But it's helpful, but it's not meant to be in a way that this is the only way to pray. Okay?

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But we can see how those things oftentimes develop in our lives. And we start to develop in our minds and in our hearts ideas about who God can use.

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We begin to think that God can only use this kind of person, that he can only work in this kind of way, that church has to be a certain way, it has to follow a certain format. We begin to think that ministry has to follow a certain style or music has to be a certain style in order for it to be worshiped, that preaching or teaching has to be done a certain way, a certain style. And we begin to set those things as the standards for

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As we build our own religious system and we allow those things that because they're comfortable to us, we don't like to go outside of them. And then eventually what happens is we begin to use that as the marks of ministry or marks of maturity or marks of spirituality. We begin to establish for ourselves, this is the way that God can work. He can't work other ways. Or this is the kind of person that God can reach. Or this is the kind of person that God wants to reach.

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But the problem with all of these things is those boundaries that we set are often not in line with the boundaries that actually are. And so we try to confine God to a box. It's the box of our own religion, what we've established.

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And so this morning as we look at these Pharisees and their encounter with Jesus, we're learning from them what not to do. We're taking what they do and basically let's do the opposite of that. And so three steps we learn from that as we look at these Pharisees. Three steps for breaking out of this religion box. Three steps to help us think outside of the religion box. And so the first one we find in verses 1 and 2.

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And the first step here is to watch Jesus closely. Look with me again at verse 1. It says, Now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before him who had dropsy. So we're looking at this situation. We're introduced to it here that Jesus is invited to a home.

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This invitation is from a ruler of the Pharisees. And as I consider that, I think it is absolutely amazing that Jesus went to the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. If you've been with us here in Luke, you understand the Pharisees were not good friends of Jesus. They came against Jesus. They spoke against Jesus. They plotted to kill Jesus. They were Jesus's, well, Jesus was their enemy.

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Jesus didn't count them as his enemy as evidenced by he went there to the ruler of the Pharisees house for dinner. He went there even though they were against him, even though they did not have the best intentions with the invitation that was given. We're going to be studying Jesus's interaction with these guys for the next couple of weeks because it continues on through verse 24 as they're at this dinner party together and the relationships that happened there.

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But as we see Jesus there in the home of the ruler of the Pharisees, it brings up such an important thing that, well, there's kind of a sense a lot of times among us as Christians of this idea of guilt by association. Where we start labeling people or considering them guilty because of who they're hanging around.

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And this is the way that the Pharisees related to Jesus as well. You remember earlier in Luke, we saw that Jesus was hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners, the prostitutes. And he was there at a dinner party with those guys. And the Pharisees, the religious leaders, are having a fit saying, what are you doing hanging out with sinners? How can you do that? What's wrong with you? In their mindset, in their religion, you should never do that. That's wrong. You can't hang out with sinners here in

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our minds we look at Jesus hanging out with the Pharisees and we might have a problem with that or we might look out at other people and have a problem with who they're hanging around with well aren't you supposed to be a Christian why are you at dinner at their house and there's this guilt by association now I'm not saying that every you know every that there's no limitations that there's no boundaries I'm not trying to say that but we need to be careful it's not as clear as we often like to think it is

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Well, Jesus is here with the ruler of the Pharisees. He's at the house. There's a bunch of people there. They're gathered together. And we see at the end of verse 1, it says that they watched him closely. So Jesus is there, but it's not just a happy invitation like, hey, we just want to hang out with you. There's some malicious intent here. They're watching Jesus closely. And why are they watching Jesus closely?

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Well, we see there in verse 2 why they're watching him closely. Because there's a man there who has dropsy. Now dropsy, the idea, the word just talks about a swelling of the body due to excessive amounts of liquid. So, you know, like you hurt your ankle or knee or something and it swells up. There's the liquid that gathers there. It's that kind of idea, but it's a permanent condition.

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And the idea here that is expressed in the word for dropsy is it's probably talking about a face that was swollen. That the guy's face was swollen permanently. It was just a continual condition. So it wasn't like, you know, a swollen ankle where it's not real visible or noticeable. But it was something that everybody knew this guy had this condition. And so he's there amongst this group of people.

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They know he's there. They know Jesus is there. They know Jesus likes to heal people. And so they're watching him closely. Why are they watching him so closely? Well, because we also see here in verse 1 that this all takes place on the Sabbath. And that's important to these religious leaders because, well, the Sabbath was very important to them.

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Now God commanded the Sabbath in Exodus chapter 23 verse 12. You can see the command. God says you shall rest one day. Six days you can work, but the seventh day you shall rest. So that your ox and your donkey can rest. So that your servants and their children can rest. So that the strangers among you can be refreshed. And you need that day of rest. And so here's the command. Six days you can work and one day you can rest. Well,

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The religious leaders throughout history, they began to add on to what God said as they attempted to clarify what work is. So six days I can work, the seventh day I'm not supposed to work. Well, what is work? And they began to describe and define what work is. And in that, they built on and made it more and more and more and more difficult to

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And a burden for the people. And so the religious leaders added on to the law that God had set and developed it, all these extra laws around it, these burdens upon the people. And Jesus, throughout his ministry, often broke their traditions. He went against those things that they had established. He never once broke God's law, but he did violate their laws, what they had established on top of God's law in their religion.

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healing for them, that was something you could not do on the Sabbath. They would say that you could do whatever is necessary to save a life. So if you're a doctor, working on the Sabbath is healing people. So you can't do that. But if it's an emergency and someone is going to die if you don't treat them today, well then do the minimum amount necessary to save their life and then the next day you can work on them.

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But if they don't, if it's not life-threatening, if they'll survive the night, then wait till tomorrow and then work on them. That was their attitude. You could not heal on the Sabbath because that, in their minds, they defined that as work. And so here they are. They know Jesus likes to heal. It's the Sabbath day. According to them, in their perspective, they thought it's wrong. It's sinful to heal on the Sabbath. So they're watching Jesus. What's he going to do? We know he likes to heal people. Here's this man with dropsy. It's the Sabbath day.

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Is he going to break God's law? Is he going to disobey God and heal this man? When it says that they watched Jesus closely, the word watch here, it means to observe, but especially with sinister intent. It's not watching like, you know, sometimes you're sitting on the edge of your seat like, I can't wait to find out what happens next. This is so exciting.

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There's that kind of watching intently. But this is a watching intently like, all right, you make one false move. One bad, I'm watching you. I'm going to get you if you step out of line. I'm going to catch you if you do something wrong. That's what's being referred to here as it says that they watched him closely. That they're looking to trap Jesus, to catch Jesus doing something wrong. And so they're watching Jesus because in their mind, you're not supposed to heal on the Sabbath.

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So again, we're learning from their bad example. And so we need to do the opposite of what they're doing. And so instead of watching Jesus with sinister intent, this morning I'm suggesting if we're going to think outside of the religion box and break free of those false boundaries that have been set, we need to start by watching Jesus closely. Not with sinister intent, but watching Jesus to get to know him. That's really what it's about. Watching Jesus closely and

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To get to know him. To learn how he thinks. To learn what he wants. To learn his heart. To learn how he relates to people. To learn what he cares about. What's important to him. We need to learn to watch Jesus closely because he is the standard for us. He is the model for us. Again, as I was saying earlier, we set up our own boundaries and lines. And by standards,

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talking about thinking outside of that. I'm not saying that we need to throw off boundaries altogether. There are boundaries. There are lines. There are things that are wrong. There are wrong ways to approach God. There are ways to approach God that actually you don't

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approach God through that at all. You might be going through some motions, but you're not connecting with God at all. There's ways that are wrong to follow Jesus. There are false religions. There are errors. There are sinful activities. There are boundaries. There are lines. But here's what happens.

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When we set our boundaries, we do one of two things. Either we set the boundaries wide. That is, you know, someone comes in and says, you know, I love God and I walk with God and he's given me permission to live this sinful lifestyle. Okay, no. You've set the boundaries too wide. That's beyond what God has said. There are boundaries. You cannot live in sin without

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And walk with God. That's clear in the scripture. So you can't set your boundaries that way. But the other option is. We often set our boundaries too narrow. That is. You can only walk with God this way. It has to be this way. This is the only way. If you don't pray with your eyes closed. It doesn't work. It's not prayer. You're not connecting with God. If you don't approach God this way. You know. We set our own artificial boundaries. When what we need to do. Is to watch Jesus closely. He's the standard. He's the standard.

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He sets the boundaries. There are things that, well, in the boundaries that Jesus has set, in the boundaries of those who, you know, walk with the Lord, there's a lot of things that they're not my preference. There's a lot of ways to worship the Lord that are valid ways to worship the Lord, but they're just not my preference. And that's okay, as long as I don't make it a boundary and start saying, well, you worship God that way. That's not real worship. That's, you don't, you don't even know God.

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As long as I don't make myself the standard, that I'm the one who knows, that I'm the one who sets the boundaries, that I define them. No, we need to watch Jesus closely and let Him set the standards. Let Him set the boundaries. Watch Jesus closely to get to know Him. Now here's the thing. If you watch Jesus closely, take some time, dig into the Gospels. Take some time, dig into a devotional life and get to know the Lord.

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You're going to be challenged by Jesus. You're going to be challenged by how much bigger he is than you thought. You're going to be challenged by how vast the kingdom of God is. You're going to be challenged by watching Jesus closely. So step one is to watch Jesus closely, but then you're going to be challenged by that. And so step two then, as we go on in verses three and four, step two is to respond to Jesus honestly.

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if we're going to learn to think outside of the religion box, if we're going to break free from those artificial boundaries, then when Jesus challenges us as we watch him closely, we need to respond to Jesus honestly. Look at verse 3 with me. It says, And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? So Jesus now knows this is a setup.

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He's recognizing, all right, you guys are watching me closely because here's this guy who needs to be healed, but it's a Sabbath day and you think it's a violation of God's law to heal on the Sabbath day. So he asked them, is it a violation? Is it lawful or is it illegal to heal on the Sabbath? Would God allow that? Would God ever do that? And in their mind, it was not lawful. They would say, no, God would never do that.

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Again, the law was, Exodus 23, 12, six days you shall work, the seventh day you shall rest. It doesn't say the seventh day you shall rest and especially you should not heal on the Sabbath. It doesn't, it doesn't specify that you cannot heal on the Sabbath. It doesn't specify that God can't work miracles on the Sabbath. It doesn't specify that you cannot

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They took what God said and added on to it so much, but then they took those things that they added on to it and said, this is what God says. This is the right way to worship God. This is the right way to walk with God. But God did not forbid it. It was their own traditions, their own teachings that forbade it. Well, then in verse 4 it says, but they kept silent and he took him and healed him and let him go. And so in response to Jesus's question,

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The Pharisees, the lawyers, keep silent. They don't say anything. And so Jesus then heals the man. And then it says that he let him go or he dismissed him. The way it's worded there, it kind of makes me think that the Pharisees brought this guy on purpose. You know, it's like he didn't really want to be there. But they brought him there to see what Jesus would do so they could trap him. And now Jesus heals him and says, all right, get out of here. You know, you're dismissed.

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But Jesus heals him, lets him go, while the lawyers, the Pharisees, keep silent. Now, looking back at what you're familiar with regarding the Pharisees, would you think that these lawyers and Pharisees had nothing to say? Would you think that they had no opinions about the matter? That Jesus said, what do you think? Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? They're like, yeah, I don't know. I don't have an opinion. Of course not.

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We've already seen the Pharisees and lawyers have strong opinions about what's right and wrong on the Sabbath. They have lots to say on the matter. They've already dealt with Jesus on this matter. They have strong opinions, strong feelings about what's appropriate on the Sabbath. It's not that they didn't have anything to say, but they kept silent. The word to keep, for keeping silent, it means to refrain from speech.

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So it's not that they had nothing to say, but that they held back what they wanted to say. They had opinions. They had strong opinions. They had stuff to say, but they held back. They kept silent. The New Living Translation puts it this way. It says, when they refused to answer. They refused to answer. So it's not that they could not answer, that they didn't have anything to say, but they said...

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I refuse. Nope, I'm not going to say anything. I'm keeping silent. And here's where I say, as we learn from their bad example to do the opposite, here's where I say, we need to respond to Jesus honestly. If we're going to break outside of that religious box that we often confine ourselves to, remember, as we watch Jesus closely, we're going to be challenged.

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We're going to see his borders are oftentimes different than ours. And he works in ways that we might be uncomfortable with. We might not be very excited about. He works in people that we might be uncomfortable with. He allows things that we might get really upset over. And so we're going to be challenged by Jesus. And that's okay. But what we need to learn to do with that is to respond to Jesus honestly.

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This is so important for us. We need to learn to be honest with the Lord. Oftentimes, as we develop these religious systems in our own mind and set up these artificial boundaries, we get this idea in our minds and we begin to get real fearful about what we say to God. Because, hey, you've been around with the Lord for a while and so you know you're not supposed to feel that way.

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Now when you're not supposed to feel that way, but then you feel that way, what do you do? I know I'm not supposed to feel that way, but I do feel that way. So what do I do about it? Well, the problem begins if at that point we keep silent and we just pretend like, oh, I don't feel that way, but I do feel that way, but I know I'm not supposed to feel that way. So I'm going to pretend like I don't feel that way because I know I'm not supposed to feel that way. Instead of being honest, instead of being real with the Lord and dealing with

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What we're going through and what we're addressing, those heavy things on our hearts or those furiating things on our hearts or those exciting things on our hearts, whatever it might be, instead of really dealing with it with God, we just try to pretend like, no, I'm fine. Everything's good. Praise the Lord. Because I know I'm not supposed to feel that way. I know I'm not supposed to think that way. I know I'm not supposed to struggle with that. But that's following the model of the Pharisees. Instead of responding to Jesus honestly and saying, hey,

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This is what we think about the Sabbath. You want us to tell you? Here's what we think. I mean, you're asking the question, so let me share with you. We think it's wrong to heal on the Sabbath. They weren't honest with the Lord. We need to learn to be honest with the Lord. God is not fragile. Don't get this idea in your head. Sometimes we do. It's like, oh man, if I accidentally say the wrong thing, you know, God's going to be upset. He's just looking for an excuse to just smack me down.

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He's not fragile. He's not easily offended. You don't have to be as stressed out about like, try not to say the wrong thing. Use that wrong word. God's able to handle anything that you can throw at him. Now, I'm not saying that you should be blasphemous. Again, there are boundaries, but a lot of times the boundaries that we set are artificial. And they're not the boundaries that God has set. So,

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If you need a good example of this, I would suggest that you go back and look at the book of Job. Now, I know if you're going with us through the Bible in three years, you were so relieved to get out of the book of Job, so you don't want to go back there. But Job is a great example for us. Now, you can just toss out all the things that the friends say. Just disregard what they say. But just look at Job. When all of the things that happened to Job happened to Job, it tells us specifically that he did not charge God with wrongs.

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He didn't accuse God. He didn't blaspheme God. He didn't say something that was wrong towards God or regarding God. Now at the end of the book, from that Job goes on and shares all kinds of complaints and all kinds of thoughts. And at the end of the book, God rebukes Job's friends. And he says, hey, you guys spoke really poorly. You spoke terribly. You need to repent and you need to ask for forgiveness. But he didn't do that to Job.

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Job had lots of questions, lots of complaints, lots of things that as we read it, we're like, oh man, this makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm not even sure I should be reading this. But God didn't rebuke him for those things. He said instead, here's your answer, Job. To all your complaints, all your questions, here's your answer. Remember how big I am. Where were you when I created the earth? Where were you when I set the boundaries for the sea? Remember how big I am. I'm the creator. I'm God. I'm on the throne.

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As God responded to Job, he just redirected him to himself and reminded him of who he really is. But he didn't tell Job, you were wrong in saying those things that you said, like he told Job's friends. Now, the things that Job said throughout the book of Job are not necessarily the wisest things to say. They're not necessarily theologically accurate. But Job was honest with what he was going through, with what he was thinking, with what he was feeling.

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And he related that. He shared that. That's what was going on. He was sharing what was really happening. He was being real with the Lord and being real with his friends, even though his friends were treating him terribly. And that's a great example for us. Listen, we need to learn to respond to Jesus honestly, to express ourselves to the Lord. Another example of this is the Psalms that we're going through. And you can see a lot of times the psalmist is just expressing themselves, whether they're in the

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The debts, and they're depressed, and they're just overwhelmed, and discouraged, and not sure where God is at, or angry. God break their teeth in their mouth. It's them expressing. It's them being honest. This is, this is how I feel. This is what I'm going through. And this morning, I want to encourage you. It's so important that you learn to express yourself to the Lord, even if you disagree with God.

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Even if it's a strong opinion that you have, like, I just don't know why you would do this, God. I don't know why you would allow this. And especially I'm talking about when God works in ways that we, well, we just don't expect him to work that way. Or he allows things and we just don't expect him to allow those things. God, why would you allow bombs to explode?

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Why would you allow that to happen? Why would you allow people to suffer? Why would you allow this in my life? Why would you allow me to experience this? Why would you let this happen? We need to learn to express that to the Lord. These things can be applied to ourselves personally in our own relationship with God. But let the Lord minister to you where he wants. Because this also applies to this fellowship. It also applies to Calvary Chapelism movements.

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That we can be very, you know, setting boundaries. This is the way God works. There's no other movement that God wants to work in if they don't practice our way, you know. They don't teach verse by verse. Well, God's not going to use them. Is that the reality? Is that the boundary? They have to teach like we teach? There are boundaries. I'm not saying there aren't. There are false doctrines. There are false religions, false teachings. But there's a lot of room for God to work in a lot of different ways.

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And we need to learn to be able to express it to the Lord when that's uncomfortable for us. When we're challenged by it. When there's people that God's using that I wish he wouldn't use. It's like, God, I don't know why you're using that person. They don't even teach verse by verse. They have some weird opinions about some of the doctrines that I think are pretty important. I don't know why you would use them. Why would you let people go there? Why would you let that happen?

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So whether it's, you know, that kind of wide scope, you're looking around at the Christian people around the world and thinking, man, what's going on? Or you're looking at your own life and saying, God, why are you allowing this? Listen, when you watch Jesus closely, it's going to be challenging to you because his borders are a lot bigger than our borders most of the time. And we're going to be challenged by that. And you need to learn to express that to the Lord. This morning, I would ask you, are you keeping silent? You have things to say, but

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But either you're afraid to say them or you won't say them or you refuse to answer. No, you need to start talking with the Lord and communicating those things to God. To be honest, you can tell Him, God, I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't understand it. I don't know why you're doing this. I don't understand why you would allow this. God, this makes me angry. Or God, I'm really sad.

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I'm hurting. This is hard. I don't know what to do. You can communicate with God what's really going on in your heart. He's big enough. He can handle it. He already knows it anyways. It doesn't hurt him because he already knows it. It hurts you when you're not honest with the Lord as you respond to the challenge that comes from watching Jesus closely.

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Well, the final part of this, as we go on now in verses 5 and 6, step one is we need to watch Jesus closely so that we break out of this religious box. Then we need to respond to Jesus honestly. And then finally, step number three, we need to surrender to Jesus completely. Surrender to Jesus completely. Verse 5 says this,

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Then he answered them saying, which of you having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? Now Jesus heals this guy. He sends him away and he begins to challenge the lawyers and the Pharisees there. It's a pretty simple challenge, not real complicated. He says basically, listen, you would help an animal if it was in need on the Sabbath day.

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Why is it wrong for me to help this man who's in need on the Sabbath day? Jesus is challenging them and saying, look, your religious system doesn't make sense. Why is it okay to help an animal who's fallen into a pit? Now, Jesus is using two specific animals, an ox and a donkey. And it's interesting to me because in Exodus chapter 23, those are two specific animals that God uses as an example as he sets the Sabbath day law.

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He says, six days you shall work. On the seventh day you shall rest. That your ox and your donkey may rest. And so Jesus isn't just picking two random animals. He's pointing them back to the word. He's saying, let's go back to what God actually said. Your ox and your donkey need an opportunity to rest. So rest on the seventh day that they might rest. But if they fall into a pit, you would help them out. But in your religious system that allows you to help out those animals...

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It prevents you from helping a person who's in need, who's much more valuable and important than an ox or a donkey. Your religious system doesn't make sense and it doesn't match up with, it doesn't line up with the Word of God. And so Jesus challenges them by taking them back to the Word. Taking them back to what God originally said. Using the Word to challenge them. Again, there are standards.

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And as you watch Jesus closely, you'll learn what those standards are. There are boundaries. And Jesus will point you back to the word of God for those boundaries. Here's what God has said. Here's the limits. Here's what's forbidden. Here's what is sinful. And so he challenges them in their religious system and saying it doesn't match up with, doesn't make sense. And so in verse 6 it says, and they could not answer him regarding these things. So here a second time we see

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The lawyers, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, silent. But this time is different. It says that they could not answer regarding these things. That's different than keeping silent. Again, keeping silent, as we saw earlier, it meant holding back. They had things to say, but they refused to say them. Not a good thing to do.

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When you're talking about the Lord. That's a good thing to do when you're dealing with people around you perhaps. But with the Lord, you need to be honest. You need to be real. But here in this case, they're silent again, but for an entirely different reason. When it says that they could not answer, the word answer, it means to contradict in reply. They couldn't bring a contradiction. It's like in a debate. It's in a debate, right? That

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You reply. You rebuttal. They had nothing to say back. They had no rebuttal. Jesus pointed us to the word. He said what the word says. He pointed out how ridiculous our religious system is. He's right. There's nothing we can say back. We don't have an answer for that. We can't contradict that. He's right. And so they were silent because there was nothing they could say. Before they had something to say. Now that's been stripped away.

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As he's brought them face to face with the word, they've had to admit, I don't have anything to say. There's no way for me to refute that. In essence, Jesus, you're right. But they didn't say that either. When you watch Jesus closely, it's going to challenge you. It's going to challenge the boundaries that you've set, the religious box that you've built. Try to squeeze God into it. It doesn't work. And so when you're challenged, you need to respond to Jesus honestly.

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And as you respond to Jesus honestly, He's going to point you back to the Word of God. He's going to point you to the standards that He has set. He's going to show, will show you what He says about it. His heart. And it's going to bring silence to you. Just a moment ago, we're talking about responding honestly. You need to be able to express those things to the Lord. And then when He responds, you're going to have an option. As He shows you the boundaries, as He shows you what the real standards are,

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You're going to have an option just like the Pharisees here had an option. Because at this point, they should have chosen to say, you're right, Lord. You're right, Jesus. Our system doesn't make sense and it doesn't line up with the Word of God. It doesn't match the Word of God. We need to rethink our religious system. But that's not what they did. We can see as we'll continue on throughout the Gospel of Luke, there's going to be a lot more animosity from the Pharisees towards Jesus.

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They came face to face with the truth, but instead of surrendering to Jesus completely and saying, you're right, and I'm going to turn and follow your ways, I'm going to submit to your ways, they just had nothing to say and went away determined to continue on in what they had been practicing and what they thought was right. And so in learning to do the opposite of what they did, to break out of this religious box in our thinking that so easily gets established.

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We need to learn to surrender to Jesus completely. Listen, Jesus is going to challenge you. As he points you back to the word of God, it's going to challenge you. And if you let him, he'll silence you so that there's no rebuttal that you can bring back to all those things that you were saying. God, I don't like this. I don't agree with this. I'm feeling this way. I know I shouldn't feel this way, but I feel this way. But then as he reveals himself to you and speaks to you and shows you the boundaries, shows you the standards, shows you the word of God,

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then it's the time for us to surrender. That's the time for us to say, okay, yeah, I don't have to understand because you told me to trust you, that you'll work all things together for good. Okay, so I'm going to trust you. I don't understand still, but I can trust you. I don't have it all figured out, but I can rest and know that you are good. It doesn't make sense to me that this course of action is the best course of action, but that's what you've said to do. So

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I'm going to trust you and I'm going to surrender to you completely and do what you've asked me to do. I mean, it makes sense to me. Hey, me and her, we could, you know, live together even though we're not married. It's, we're going to, we're going to get married eventually. And so in doing so, you know, we can save some money and it makes a lot of sense. I don't understand why you don't think that's a good idea, God. But you say it's not a good idea. So I'm going to surrender to you and I'm going to be obedient.

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God, I don't understand why this lifestyle, well, this course of action, I don't understand why this opinion, why this... I don't understand. I think differently, God. But then as He points you to the Word, as He shows you, as He reveals to you, then that's when we need to surrender and say, well, you're God. And so I don't necessarily agree. I don't understand it, but I'm going to surrender to you. I'm going to be obedient as you speak to our hearts. God is bigger than

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than any box that you would try to fit him in. He's bigger. His love is vast, much more than we can understand. His mercy and grace, as high as the heavens. We can't fully comprehend it. And we would like to limit God to what we're comfortable with. But God will not be limited by your comfort levels. And he's going to ask you to step out of your comfort zone. He's going to ask you to do things that you don't want to do. He's going to work in ways that you're not going to be excited about and crazy about.

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He's going to work in ways in your life that you're not happy about. He's going to work in ways in other people's lives and around the world that you might not be happy about. And so we need to learn to watch Jesus closely because that's evidence of that religious system that we've established in our own hearts and minds. Watch Jesus closely. Let Him break those barriers. Let Him set the standard. Let Him show you what's really important, how He works. And then respond to Jesus honestly.

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Be real with the Lord. Don't try to pretend like you're not feeling that way when you're feeling that way. And you can tell the Lord, Lord, I know it's wrong to feel this way, but I feel this way. I know it's wrong to think this way. I know this attitude that I have is not right. I know it's not good. I know it's destructive. I know this sinful practice that I have. I know this pattern is destructive to my life. But Lord, I feel like I'm trapped and I don't know how to get out of this. That's okay. You can tell God that. He's big enough. He can handle it.

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Respond to Jesus honestly and then surrender to him completely as he brings you face to face with the truth, with the reality, with the word of God. Then surrender. You don't have to wait till everything's answered and you understand everything to surrender. Then it's not surrender. Surrender is, I still have my weapons, you know. I still have my thoughts, but I'm giving up. I'm going to let you be God. I'm going to let you run my life. I'm going to submit to you. As we follow these three steps, it's not a one-time thing.

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But this is going to be ongoing in our lives. We have to watch Jesus, respond honestly, and surrender completely, repeatedly, so that we don't build up these religious systems and become like these religious leaders. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for us here that you would protect us from those religious things, God, that really hinder us and keep us from you and cause us to approach you on an entirely different basis than what you've established. Lord, help us.

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instead to watch you closely, to pay attention to you, to model ourselves after you, to follow your example and see what's important to you and what you care about. The way that you work would help us to look to you. And it will challenge us. It will be different than what we expect. And so Lord, help us to learn to respond honestly. Lord, to be real with you, not to pretend, not to live a charade, but to learn to express to you what's really going on in our hearts.

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Lord, that we would cast our cares upon you, knowing that you care for us. And then, God, as you reply, as you respond, as you speak to us, I pray that you would help us to surrender completely. Lord, that we would give in and allow you to be God and be obedient to you. Even if it's different than how we were brought up, even if it's different than how we ever thought, even if it's different than what we want, help us, God, to surrender, to allow you to be God, to be submitted to you.

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In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.