According to Luke: A Hurting Helper!

According to Luke: A Hurting Helper!

Opening Illustration:

Way back in 1987, the Baptist Press printed a story about a traveling evangelist who had stopped at a small town for a 3 day tent revival. Things were going really well, people were getting saved. I supposed the evangelist was getting pretty confident in his preaching when he decided to conduct a miracle healing service on the third night. People were coming from far and wide and when they heard that there was going to be a healing service, the crowds swelled. At the end of the service, the infirm began to line up at the alter. One particular woman was first to come forward. She needed a good healing. The pastor was going to lay hands on her. I supposed he got a bit ahead of himself because instead of placing his hand on her head, he hit her right between the eyes. This sent the woman reeling backward. She landed on another elderly woman. The elderly woman broke the fall but she also broke her hip. The woman who he accidentally hit was left with a concussion. The two women were then suing the evangelist for 1 million dollars. 

So, whats the lesson here? Its surprisingly easy to get hurt in church.

Point:

Now for those of us who have been around church a long time, we know that there is a lot of truth in that statement. It is easy to get hurt, stay hurt and hurt others while sitting on the pews of any old Baptist church. 

Here is another thought. What about the people that come to church already hurt? No, you will not be able to tell who they are. They look just like me and you but make no mistake about it, their soul has been handicapped. They are bruised and beaten. Yes, they wear a smile on the outside but they are the sad clown on the inside. 

I have seen lots of reactions to people that come to the church already hurting. Probably the most prominent reaction to hurting people is simply avoid them. Ignore them, their problems, their hurt or whatever is bothering them. Simply pretend they are ok or that they are fine. If you ignore them long enough, everything will be fine. 

Another reaction to hurting people is abandon them. Their problems are just to big for you to handle. Maybe they got themselves in the mess they are in. Perhaps in your opinion they are getting what they deserve. So, we just cut the cord and set them free. 

Avoid! Abandon! 

You know there is another option when dealing with hurting people. Assist. We can acknowledge their problems, which is not hard because we have our issues too. We can get our hands dirty and help. 

So, what’s your response to hurting people?

Our Responses To The Hurting: Avoid, Abandon, or Assist?

Background:

In Luke 5-6 we see roughly three weeks of Jesus’ early ministry. We can measure this time in the span of Sabbath days. In Luke 5:17-26, we see Jesus teaching in the synagogues. We can make an assumption that Jesus was teaching the Sabbath as was His custom. Then we pick up in Luke 6 ad we see Jesus is walking with His disciples and picking wheat on the Sabbath. This now the 2nd Sabbath day that Jesus has a run in with the Pharisees. This morning we come to Luke 6:6-11. It is again another Sabbath. The third Sabbath day that we have discussed in as many weeks. Yet again, Jesus is misbehaving on the Sabbath day according to the Pharisees. 

The Pharisees believe that Jesus is breaking the Sabbath day commands against working and toiling. Jesus has some news for them. He is still Lord of the Sabbath. So, let’s read this morning from the English Standard Version, Luke 6:6-11 ESV. 

Luke 6:6-11 ESV

6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 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. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

3 Lessons From the Synagogue

I. Hurting In God’s House vs. 6

Luke 6:6 ESV

6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

Point:

So just another Sabbath day for Jesus. He went to the temple to teach. Low and behold if someone is not there needing help. For the record, if you cant find help at church, where can you find help? The church has always been God’s source of help and healing for the masses. In the middle ages, if people were threatened or if they feared for their life, they could run to their local church and claim “sanctuary”. They could stay at the church and be protected. 

Yet, something has happened over the years. The church has become less about healing and more about harassment. Instead of being able to find sanctuary at church, people peeled shunned. Instead of life, they find death. 

Illustration:

A few weeks ago I stood in the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

 The Basilica sits in a busy section of Paris, France. We were there handing out literature and prayer walking a large market that lays just adjacent to the church. When you enter the church you would be blown away by the beauty of the building. However, that poor church is filled with coldness, staleness, and death. Instead of being a place of worship, instead of being a place of healing, it is mausoleum. 

Inside the church there are graves. Great people who had long ago died are laid to rest there. On either side of the alter you will find grave after grave after grave. 

Point:

Rewind a few hundred years to Jesus’ day and not much has changed. The temple that Jesus was teaching in did not care so much for the hurting. The temple seemed cold, stale and dead. In their midst a man with a withered hand came. He was looking for hope. He was looking for healing. He was looking for Jesus and boy did he find Him.

Point:

So what was this man’s problem? Well Scripture tells us that his hand was withered. That is not a lot to go on but when you look at the Greek, we come away a bit more educated. The Greek term used for “watered” is actually attached to agriculture or gardening. 

The word means dry. It refers to a fruit or vegetable what has been deprived of its natural juices, it has shrunk, wasted or withered away. So, in your imagination think of a rotten tomato, a dried up grape or a rotting apple. This is the sort of mental picture that we have of this man with the withered hand. 

Point:

Now this man came to temple with a problem pretty easy to spot. Everyone would have seen his hand and been pretty grossed out. Here is the crux of my point. There are still plenty of people who come to church each week not with withered hands, but withered minds, spirits, and souls. They are not nearly as easy to spot but trust me they are here. 

They are hurting and they need help. 

Point:

Realizing that, what can we do? How can we keep Eastern Shore Baptist Church from turning into a graveyard? 

How To Help The Hurting?

1. Keep A Sharp Eye: Look deeper than the external appearances of the individual. Be willing to go deeper than the “how are you” each week.

Philippians 2:4 ESV

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

2. Keep A Soft Heart: It is easy to get jaded with other’s problems. Yet, the Bible tells us over and over again to carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters. 

Galatians 6:2 ESV

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

3. Keep A Sincere Attitude: As you will find out, the Pharisees were not since people. They did not really care about hurting people. Do you really want to help others in Jesus name so that they can experience true healing?

2 Corinthians 2:17 ESV

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

3 Lessons From the Synagogue

I. Hurting In God’s House vs. 6

II. Hard Hearted and Hard Headed vs. 7-9

Luke 6:7-9 ESV

7 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. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 

Illustration:

Here's an interesting test to see how much we could practice Christlike love for "challenging" people. The Iranian News Agency (IRNA) recently published pictures of an Iranian man who set a new world record for the number of years spent without bathing. Amoo Hadji has now gone 60 years without a bath. An article in The Middle East Monitor reports, "The man eats dead animals, and his most prized possession is his pipe, which is 3 inches in diameter, in which he smokes animal dung. Amoo Hadji lives in a stone shack built for him by his neighbours and he rests in a hole in the ground resembling a grave." The news agency also noted that when he feels cold, "he wears a helmet and lights up several cigarettes at a time." Sure, he's a bit "unlovely," but spiritually speaking, I wonder how we all appear before God.

Point:

The Pharisees had all the trappings of spiritual people. They knew God’s Word. They would go to temple. They would often display their righteous acts. They would pray in public and they were teachers and leaders. However, on the inside they looked a lot like Amoo Hadji, dirty and disgusting. You see, God doesn’t much care about the outside of a man, He looks to the heart. 

I Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Point:

In the following verses, we see that the Pharisees care nothing for the hurting man with the withered dried up hand. They did not come to the temple that day looking to see who needed help and healing. No. They came only to protect their precious law and hold on to their power. They came to watch Jesus. However they came to watch Jesus so that they could accuse Him, not worship Him. 

Point:

Here is the scary thing. Jesus knew it. He knew their thoughts. They may have had hard hearts and hard heads, but Jesus could easily see their true motives. 

By the way, Jesus knows our heart, our motivations and our thoughts. There is nothing that we can hide from Him. There is no secret that we can bury. If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, then He is also Lord of our thoughts. 

Point:

I will again point out to you that Jesus did keep the law. He was not a law breaker. Remember, life always supersedes law. I didn’t say it, Jesus did. Bringing wholeness and healing always trumps legalism. 

Point:

Oh friends, I pray that we will always be sensitive to the needs around us. May we always be willing to help, even if it means putting ourselves aside. Even if it means that we must lay down our safety and security to see someone saved. 

Quote:

C.S. Lewis discusses our safety and security when standing before God in in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver tells Susan that Aslan (the ruler of Narnia) is a great lion. Susan is surprised, since she assumed Aslan was a man. She then tells Mr. Beaver, “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”

Prayer:

As I wrote this sermon, I began to pray to God. God look deep in my spirit and show me the Pharisee. So me the man who would rather have power than peace. Show me that man who cares more about himself than others. Show me the man who would rather see Jesus silenced than see His Words set free from my mouth. 

You see friends, we are not that different and not that much has changed since the days of Christ. People are really just the same. We all have a little Pharisee in us. 

Perhaps we should all pray and ask God not just to show us the Pharisee in us, but to rid us of the Pharisee as well. 

3 Lessons From the Synagogue

I. Hurting In God’s House vs. 6

II. Hard Hearted and Hard Headed vs. 7-9

III. Healed For Helps vs. 10-11

Luke 6:10-11 ESV

10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Point:

This man had a lot more issues than a withered hand. He was considered unclean. He was considered unfit for worship. Because of his condition, He was unsanitary for serving or working. He was stuck. 

Friends that was Satan wants to do with us all. He wants to take our hands. If he can take our hands, then he can take our service. Jesus did a lot more than restore this man’s hand, He restored his ability to work, to serve, to earn and to life. Jesus, by giving this man back his hand, gave this man life. 

Brothers and sisters, there is life in service. Make no mistake, when we serve, we find life and look exactly like Jesus.

Practical Example:

We have a group of people in the church who use their hands as an act of worship. 

You heard from them this morning. They are called the Eastern Shore Builders. They use their hands each month to build wheel chair ramps, construct storage sheds, replace rotten decking, and so much more. When they arrive on a site, they pray with the person in need. Many times these people are handicapped and cannot build the ramp themselves nor can they afford to have it built. Their hands may not be withered, but their resources certainly have. 

That’s where our church and our people step in. Jesus blessed them with hands, not withered but weathered with experience. They use their hands to build and construct. They share an active witness for Jesus Christ. What an act of worship!

I am not going to rehash what Jim already said this morning. You can use your hands to be a blessing in this ministry if you like. Maybe that is not the gift that your hands can do. Maybe you can use your hands by tutoring, by sewing with the sewing servants, by joining our visitation ministry or our homebound ministry. Maybe you can use your hands by visiting the hospitals or writing notes of encouragement.

Either way, everyone who calls themselves a Christian should have a hand fit for service. 

Point:

Isn’t it great that we have a Savior who restores what Satan tried to remove. 

Point:

So, what is withered in you that needs to be restored? Has Satan withered an attitude? Has Satan withered a joy of yours? Has your view of church withered over the years? Friend, pray! Pray and ask Jesus to restore your attitude, your joy and your view of the body of Christ. Jesus is faith to renew that Spirit in you so that you can worship, so that you can serve, so that you can live. 

Remember, you were created to serve, not live a withered life.

I Peter 4:10 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another…

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