The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage (Luke 10:13-17)

The dangers of legalism and spiritual bondage are demonstrated in the account in Luke 13:10-17 when Jesus heals the crippled woman. Legalism makes people captives as much as any physical disability. The synagogue ruler was angry because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. It is hard to believe that something so beautiful could be so upsetting, but it reveals the bondage he was in—a bondage that was worse than the crippled woman’s bondage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCxyV95irrs The dangers of legalism and spiritual bondage make people captives as much as physical disabilities as shown when Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Table of contentsFamily Worship Guide for The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage (Luke 10:13-17)Sermon Notes for The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage (Luke 10:13-17)Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part one) suffering.Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part two) shame.Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part three) bitterness.Lesson two: we can’t free people physically, but we can spiritually.Lesson three: The synagogue ruler was in greater bondage than the crippled woman. Family Worship Guide for The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage (Luke 10:13-17) Directions: Read the verses and then answer the questions: Day 1: Luke 13:1-4, 11, John 9:2-3, Job 1:20—What do you think could have kept this crippled woman from attending corporate worship? What might keep you from attending corporate worship? Why do you think suffering, shame, and bitterness might keep people from church? What can we tell ourselves to prevent this from happening? Day 2: Luke 13:12-13—What is legalism and spiritual bondage? What keeps people in spiritual bondage? What does it look like when people are in spiritual bondage? What can people do to be delivered from spiritual bondage? Why is spiritual bondage so dangerous? Day 3: Luke 13:14, Galatians 5:1—why was the synagogue ruler’s bondage worse than the crippled woman’s bondage? In other words, why is spiritual bondage worse than physical bondage? How can Jesus set us free? What does Jesus set us free from? What doesn’t Jesus set us free from? In other words, what do we continue to struggle with after being in Christ? Sermon Notes for The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage (Luke 10:13-17) Please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word and turn to Luke 13. Luke 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. You may be seated. Let’s pray. The title of this morning’s sermon is: “The Dangers of Legalism and Spiritual Bondage.” On Sunday mornings we’re working our way through Luke’s gospel verse by verse and we find ourselves in Luke 13. We will look at verses 10 through 17. Jesus’ ministry is well under way and the people have been amazed, not just at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing. In this morning’s verses we will get to see him perform a healing that amazes some and upsets others. Look with me at verse 10… Luke 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  Even though the opposition continued to rise against Jesus he was still welcomed into some synagogues on the Sabbath. On this particular Sabbath there was a woman who was unable to stand up straight for eighteen years, because of a disabling spirit. It’s hard to know exactly what that means. I read quite a few commentaries and they don’t all agree. Here are the two things I can tell you that I feel confident about: First, she wasn’t demon possessed. But second, there was a demon causing her condition. We know it was a demon because we can’t imagine a godly angel doing this, and in verse 16 Jesus said she was bound by Satan. Beyond that, I think anything we might say is speculative. We shouldn’t think that all physical problems, or even many of them, are caused by demons. But in a sense, as I said in a previous sermon, all suffering is the result of sin. When sin was introduced, so too was suffering. We are all affected by the fall, and it seems like part of that is God allowing the devil and his demons to afflict us up to a point. But what I would really like us to focus on is we see this crippled woman worshipping. Apparently, she was a regular worshipper because no one seemed to take special notice of her. I want to point out three things about her worship that we can learn from. She might shame many of us, myself included, regarding reasons we don’t worship corporately…and this brings us to lesson one… Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part one) suffering. She wasn’t hindered from worshiping because of her suffering. Sometimes I feel frustrated about how difficult it is to get all of our children ready for church on Sunday. But I’m guessing whatever difficulties we have pale in comparison to how difficult it was for this woman to get ready, get around, and make it to worship…but she did. If you’ve ever had back trouble, you know how tough simple tasks become. You don’t sleep well because every time you move you wake up. You can barely dress yourself because every movement of your body hurts. You’re exhausted before you even leave the house…if you leave at all! I don’t want to compare my lower back problems with this woman’s problems, but I can tell you that when my lower back was hurting the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed…say nothing about go somewhere. But she still went to worship. There was: No handicap access No special seating No railings to hold Nothing to make it more comfortable for her It was about as hard as it could be, but there she was, mingled among the regular worshippers. The quality of her physical life was poor, but the quality of her spiritual life was good. Regardless of what she experienced physically her focus was on spiritually resting in Christ. Instead of looking downward at this life, she looked upward to heaven. We live in a fallen world. Illness, injury, and infirmity will affect our physical quality of life. But they don’t have to affect our worship. This woman teaches us that we can enjoy a spiritual quality of life regardless of our physical condition. The next part of lesson one… Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part two) shame. Do me a favor and briefly look back at verses one through five: In verse two some Galileans were murdered and Jesus asked a question that reveals the people thought they were murdered because they were worse sinners than everyone else. In verse four some people were killed by the tower in Siloam when it fell, and Jesus asked a question that reveals the people thought they were killed because they were worse sinners than everyone else. It’s similar to the man born blind… John 9:2 [Jesus’] disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” We can tell the thinking of the day is people suffer because of their sin. If this woman has been suffering terribly for 18 years, what do you think she thought most people thought about her? That she is a terrible sinner! She must’ve been evil to be suffering this much. So, I would say she suffered physically, but she also suffered mentally and emotionally as she thought about what people thought about her. Listen to this interesting quote from Adam Clarke… “[Her] situation [was] equally painful AND HUMILIATING; the violence of which she could not support, and the SHAME OF WHICH SHE COULD NOT CONCEAL.” Why do you think Adam Clarke said that her situation was not only painful but also humiliating and shameful? Because she had to live with what people thought about her. I’m sure people stared at her and whispered about her. But she still continued to corporately worship. This is important because shame is one of the most common reasons people don’t go to church. They feel shame because of what other people think of them: They’re going to look at me differently. I’m not like them. They probably know some of the things I’ve done. They’re going to think bad things about me. This woman encourages all of us to go to church and not worry about what other people think. The next part of lesson one… Lesson one: don’t be kept from worshiping because of (part three) bitterness. I read two commentaries that really helped me imagine how bad her situation was, and I would like to share them with you to help you put yourself in her place. Charles Spurgeon said… “For eighteen years she had not gazed upon the sun; for eighteen years no star of night had gladdened her eye; her face was drawn downward towards the dust, and all the light of her life was dim: she walked about as i