Haircuts & Hemlines

Steve Bowyer

Words & Works of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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People over Policy

Churches have had a love/hate relationship w/ rules for years.

Go back to the days when if a guy’s hair was long enough to touch his collar he was obviously a sinner and going to Hell. And the old guard ladies had their rulers out measuring the distance the hems of the young girls dresses were above their knees.

Same deal. If you could see a girl’s knees, she’s obviously a sinner.

If instruments had cords then they were evil. Maybe they didn’t realize their organs were electric.

Back-beat, Syncopated rhythm. Drum kits. I actually had a woman try to explain to me that drums didn’t belong in a church b/c satanic tribes in Africa used them and the beat patterns in their rituals.

Black plastic horn-rimmed glasses were godly. Wire framed glasses were of the devil.

I would recommend you watching the movie the Jesus Revolution if you haven’t already.

It’s based on the true story of the Jesus movement in 1968. It started in Southern CA in Pastor Chuck Smith’s dying little church. The movement was written about in Time Magazine and other National media as a phenomena of young ppl returning to the church.

At the opposite end of the spectrum was the hippie movement of Timothy Leary encouraging young ppl to drop out of school, society, organized religion and get high.

Whether it was kids turning to drugs or turning to Jesus, they were all looking for inner peace and meaning for their lives. They wanted to make a difference and feel as though they were part of something bigger than themselves.

Chuck Smith’s Calvary church was dying. Great scenes w/ older ppl in suits and ties, dresses, all prim and proper. The church was all but dead and services were dry as dust.

Pastor meets a hippie traveling preacher named Lonnie Frisbee thru his daughter. This guy Lonnie is a magnet for other young hippies looking for Jesus and a church to connect in. He starts bringing all these hippies into Chuck Smith’s church.

You’ve got this scene where the pastor is preaching, the old guard is all on his left and the new hippie attendees are all on his right and the distance between the two, tho’ a 4’ aisle, may as well have been the grand canyon. The new worship leading rock band gets up to play their new original songs and they aren’t in the hymnal. Their instruments all had electric cords and there was a drum kit in the middle of the stage.

Love Song. I had their first album. Love Song, Little Country Church on the Edge of Town, Front Seat Back Seat. I wore that cassette out in the 70s.

You get the picture. The old guard is becoming increasingly dissatisfied and unhappy about what the new radicals are doing to their church. More of free-flowing, interaction than the controlled environment they were used to. Old rules were being broken left and right.

One day the elders confront the pastor about all these changes that are completely unsatisfactory. Including, b/c the hippies come in barefoot, their dirty feet are staining their new carpet in the sanctuary.

They press the pastor to make these ppl dress like, speak like, act like the old guard.

But the church had been dying and now there was a new energy in the building and the church was growing, lives were changing, ppl were coming to Jesus in unprecedented numbers. The number of ppl Pastor Chuck was baptizing in the Pacific Ocean was astounding. Hundreds of young ppl coming forward to be immersed in their new relationship w Jesus.

The pastor was torn. Enforce the old rules. Dress codes. Decorum. Impose them on the new ppl and turn them off to Jesus and the church all over again. Or, find a way to use a rule to help everyone connect to Jesus and each other in way to maintain the work that God was doing.

Next scene, the old elders and their wives arrive at church on Sunday morning. They see a long line of hippies waiting to get into the church for services. They’re still barefoot and dirty outside and the line is moving very slowly. They get to the door and see the reason.

Pastor Chuck is there at the door, washing the dirty feet of the hippies before they come in. Their feet are now clean, not staining the new carpet. And Pastor Chuck had demonstrated Jesus to everyone who came in to worship that day.

He washed their feet. He kept a rule the drew them closer to Jesus instead of enforcing a rule that drove them away. He modeled Jesus for everyone and some were turned off and turned away.

Jesus is more concerned about ppl being helped by the rules than being held to a strict adherence to the rules.

We need rules. We need bumpers like kids get at the bowling alley. But some flexibility is called for.

If we are going to be friends, then we need a rule that we will never lie to each other or about each other. Unless your wife is planning a surprise birthday party. Then I’m probably going to lie right to your face.

You’ve probably heard that adage, rules w/out a relationship leads to rebellion. If you try to impose rules on ppl you don’t have a relationship w/, then they will rebel.

Teenagers. Church members. Community members.

But also, a relationship w/out rules will lead to ruin.

Sara and I have a few rules for our marriage. We won’t be intimate w/ anybody else. No exceptions.

PPL and organizations who have lots of rules are trying to control ppl. Rules are about top-down control. Freedom is about bottom-up responsibility.

Really, Sara and I don’t need that adultery rule. B/C, if my highest priority in our marriage is my responsibility to make her feel loved and secure, then adultery isn’t even a passing thought.

Our ultimate responsibility is to be like Jesus. And, Jesus is all about flexibility and freedom. People over policy. Relationships over rules.

Freedom is bottom up responsibility that helps people connect . Where rules are top-down control that hinder ppl from connecting.

The lesson for us, our churches and families comes from the time when Jesus healed the man w/ the withered hand on the Sabbath in the synagogue.

It’s written about in 3 passages; Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-3:6; and Luke 6:1-11.

We’re going to spend most of our time in the Luke passage this morning.

The Introduction

Luke 6:6–7 NIV

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

First, context. If you back up to the first 5 verses of ch.6 Jesus dealt w/ a situ where He and His discs were traveling on a Sabbath and were hungry. As they walked thru a grainfield, they picked the heads of the grain and ate them.

This was a violation of a strict interpretation of the Sabbath laws enforced by the religious leadership. No harvesting.

But, Jesus’s defense had 2 parts. First, they were hungry and needed to eat. Their strict interpretation of the law was not God’s original intent of the law b/c he allowed for some flexibility when necessary. Like, when you’re traveling and hungry.

Second, Jesus said, “Besides, I’m the Lord of the Sabbath.” IOW, he has the authority over the rules like the Sabbath laws. Again, God’s original intent was for the rules to serve ppl and help them. Jesus has the authority to enforce God’s intent.

Now, the setting for this miracle.

Another Sabbath in a synagogue. Think rules. Strict interpretations. Human control versus God’s freedom and flexibility and the priority of helping ppl, not hindering them.

The main players are Jesus, the religious leadership, and a man w/ a withered hand.

We don’t know why the man’s hand was in this condition. Birth defect? Accident? The language indicates it had been that way for a long time. The muscles would have atrophied. Bones and tendons weakened.

This was not a life-threatening situ, but terribly difficult as the man was unable to work in any labor intensive job and earn a living for himself and his family.

In general, Sabbath laws prevented any medical treatments unless the person’s life was in danger. Triage, stabilize then wait till the next day to treat. There was no urgency to this man’s situ.

The religious leaders had set a trap for Jesus and this man was the bait. If they could get Jesus to violate their laws then they could discredit him and take away any influence he had over the ppl, so they thought.

They watched him closely. The Greek word used here stirs emotions. They spied on Him. Gave him the side-eye treatment. “We’re not watching Him.” But they were watching Him.

It implied a sinister motive.

Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? If He did, they had him dead to rights. B/C they thought they knew how He’d have to do it. And there was no way in their minds He could do it w/out violating their laws.

One of the ways we get into trouble w/ God and make bad assumptions that lead us to question God is by limiting what we believe He can do by what fits inside our pea-sized little brains.

“If I were God and did this, then this is how I’d have to do it. Therefore, this has to be the way God does it.”

But, He’s God. He’s just a little smarter than us. Not bound by our human limitations of imagination, intelligence, strength, and ability. IOW, He can pretty much to anything whether we can think of it or not.

They thought they had it. They put Him in a box that confined Him to only doing things the way they thought He could do them.

There’s the setting. The ppl involved. The sinister motive. And Jesus in a box that fit inside the pea-sized little brains of the religious leadership.

Something is about to blow up. The box? Their brains? Maybe all of it.

The Inquisition

Luke 6:8–10 NIV

But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored.

The Inquisition in c.12 was set up by the Catholic church to eliminate all heresy from the church in Europe and the Americas. Not a stellar time in church history.

They must have got their ideas from these Jewish leaders in this synagogue.

Neither event went as well as it did in their minds as they schemed it out.

Jesus knew what they were thinking. He openly acted in response. They were sneaking around in a secretive way. He was out in the open.

He calls the man up.

They’re thinking, We’ve got Him. He’s taking the bait.

Kind of like in those comedies about army life when the sergeant asks for a volunteer and everyone in line in formation takes a step back except the 1 poor guy who they set up.

Knowing exactly what was going on, Jesus had a couple of questions for the leaders.

It’s about the law. They are experts. Jesus is just the son of a carpenter. Well, step-son of the carpenter. He bio dad is the guy who wrote the law. But, who’s counting?

First Q: Does the Sabbath law allow you to do good or evil?

The question is posed in a way that means if you can do good and choose not to, then you have done evil.

Second Q: Can you save a life? Or, should you let it be destroyed?

Implied in the question was the condition of the man’s hand prevented him from earning a living and it was destroying him and his family.

In the Matthew passage, he includes a hypothetical situ that Jesus poses to them, if a man who has only 1 sheep, and the sheep falls into a pit, can the man help the sheep on the Sabbath.

Sheep’s got to eat and drink. Can’t wait until tomorrow. And, if the sheep is stuck on its side or upside down, it will die.

Implied is, of course the man can help the sheep. Jesus’s point is how much more important is this man to God than the sheep to the man in the story. And, this man should and his condition should be more of a priority to you.

God’s original intent of the Sabbath laws was to help people. Give them a day of rest and recovery from the work of the other 6. Take time to worship. Work on your relationship w/ God and the ppl who are most important to you.

If that meant a little physical exertion, like a hike, golf, or a little touch football in the yard or a softball game at the school, then you’re doing what God intended for you to do.

The c.1 leaders had a rule about how far a person could walk on the Sabbath; a Sabbath Day’s journey. It was about a half-mile. After that, it was considered too much work and a violation.

To Jesus’s point here, if you needed to walk farther than a half-mile to help someone, do good for them, then it was not a violation of God’s law to go and do it. It was a violation of their human imposed control freak mechanisms, however. And that was how they were trying to entrap Jesus on this.

Jesus put them in a dilemma. Make the man wait another day. Suffer a little more. Delay doing a good thing. Or, do a good work now?

Your call. What should I do? Since healing him was a good work, and Jesus could do it; then to not do it that day would be considered evil according to their own law. Is it okay to do evil on the Sabbath?

He looked at them, waiting for an answer. Cue the crickets. Silence.

Okay. 4 words. Stretch out your hand. The language implies hold it up high for everyone to see.

Completely restored. The healing was immediate and complete. No need for PT or OT.

BTW, where is the issue of faith in this miracle? Not there. It’s a non-issue. There is no indication that this man had any faith whatsoever. He may have. But, that is not the point here.

The point is, the leadership tried to entrap Jesus. He took the bait. Sprung the trap. And caught them. They were humiliated publicly according to their own rules and laws.

They looked heartless and cruel. Jesus was compassionate and helpful.

When the trap sprung on the ones who set it, a number of ironies were exposed.

The Ironies

Luke 6:11 NIV

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

They were furious. The word means they lost their minds. Irrational temper tantrum. Out of control.

They were completely at their wits end and plotted to kill Jesus.

Irrational and out of their minds. Denying Who Jesus is and complaining about how He’s doing things. The obvious evidence that their Messiah is there standing next to the man He just healed. But rather than humbly apologizing and getting on board, they worked all the harder to eliminate Jesus from the scene attempting to remove the thorn in their side.

As if no one else in the room recognized who the fools were in this situ.

Irony #1

Jesus didn’t break any law. He spoke. There was no law about speaking on the Sabbath. In their minds, He was going to have to touch the man, massage his arm, stretch it Himself back into place. No. 4 words. No violation.

Irony #2

According to Mt. 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, if you hate someone so bad that you wish they were dead you have sinned. That’s a sin any day of the week, especially the day that was set aside for God. Jesus did good on the Sabbath which was the orig intent of the Sabbath. They did evil.

Irony #3

They sought to discredit Jesus. But, He discredited them. He took the bait. Sprung the trap. And it caught them, not Him.

Irony #4

In the Mark 3 passage, Mark wrote these leaders plotted w/ the Herodians how they might do away w/ Jesus. The Herodians were Jews who worshiped Herod, the leader of Rome, as a god. That was blasphemy. And to scheme w/ them, blasphemous enemies, made these leaders guilty of blasphemy, too.

Jesus showed them, and everybody else how absurdly they were strictly applying their laws violating the intent of the laws in the first place.

They tried to catch him in the act of violating their laws, but ended up violating them themselves.

As Jesus pointed out in the preceding context, the law was intended to serve ppl and be flexible and vary in its application to allow good to be done.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He has the authority to violate their human imposed control freak rules and regulations w/out violating God’s laws.

He is in the process of pointing out to them their rules are absurd and obsolete. He was flying in the face of the religious establishment of the day and His point was that there was a new way now and He was it.

The old had run its course and had come to its end. The new was on the scene and Jesus was ushering it in.

No more need for haircuts, measuring hemlines, wearing shoes to church. We sing to electric instruments, drums that keep a syncopated rhythm, sub-woofers and tweeters. And we don’t care what style your glasses are.

We’re not just Q-tips and cue balls here, either.

We just care that you connect w/ Jesus and w/ the rest of us in the room.

We have a few rules, but relationships are more important. People over policy. Freedoms over control. We do our best to challenge each other w/ responsibilities to do good and help ppl connect w/ God w/out hurting them.

Applications

Assumptions

Please don’t assume you know how God is going to do something. If you do, you may miss what He’s up to that could be amazing and miraculous in your life.

He’s God. He is not bound by your imagination. You cannot limit what God can do by not asking for it or not wording your request right.

He’ll do what He’s going to do to help His own cause. And, His cause is the best cause we could ever get caught up in.

Don’t limit God to your imagination. Don’t assume you know the only way He can work.

Need a few rules?

Do you need a few rules? A few bumpers in your gutters?

It’s a good idea to stay out of the gutter. If you don’t have the self-control to limit your behavior w/out a rule, maybe you need a rule.

No drinking, at all. Avoid certain movies. Cut up your credit cards.

You know where you stumble and fall the most. If there is 1 place where you repeat the bad behavior then maybe you need a line in the sand well before you get there again.

You draw the line and we will support you in it.

Responsibilities

Make your responsibilities your priority over your rights. You may have the right to do all this stuff. But, if it hurts somebody, the you have the responsibility to avoid it.

The responsibilities might closely resemble the big 10.

It’s my responsibility to not steal your stuff. Not to covet your stuff. Not to mess w/ your wife. And, If I murder you, it will probably hurt our relationship.

And I heard someone say once, if you’re married, you don’t have to go home a night and sleep w/ your spouse. Your marriage won’t be very good, but you don’t have to do it.

Likewise, you don’t have to go to church to be a Xian. And going to church is secondary. You don’t have to worship to be a Xian. Your relationship w/ God won’t be very good. But, there’s no rule that you have to.

It is your responsibility to do what you need to do for the relationships you have.

I have a rule for when I’m w/ friends who I know are alcoholics. They may be clean and sober for over 30 years. But, my rule is, when I’m w/ them, I won’t have any adult beverages even if they tell me I can.

My rule, not theirs. I don’t want to take the chance to be the cause of them falling off their wagon.

The relationship is too important to me.

We’re not just Q-tips and cue balls here, either.

We just care that you connect w/ Jesus and w/ the rest of us in the room.

Our ultimate responsibility is to be like Jesus. And, Jesus is all about flexibility and freedom. People over policy. Relationships over rules.

Freedom is bottom up responsibility that helps people connect . Where rules are top-down control that hinder ppl from connecting.

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