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Crippled by Religion

Mark 3:1-6

“Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬


I don't know about you, but whenever I read this I become very aware of how oppressive and dangerous man-made religion can be. Could you imagine watching Jesus completely restore this man's deformed hand, and not celebrating with joy the work of God manifesting before your very eyes. 

Could you further imagine wanting to murder Jesus because of it. It seems preposterous. How could it be that a work of healing would cause so much venom and hatred to arise in the Pharisees hearts? It seems unfathomable. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when a community is built on man-made tradition and religion, rather than a relationship with the one true living God. 

The Pharisees in their desire to maintain and establish control over God’s people had over-time reduced God’s Word and Law to nothing more than text and tradition. These men, who were once charged with leading people into better understanding of God’s law and relationship with God through their interpretations of the law, had become hell-bent agents for doing the exact opposite. They perverted the law, they complicated it with unnecessary burdens, and weighed people down with impossible expectations that did nothing beneficial for their spiritual lives. They did this in order to lead Israel out of relationship with God Almighty and into a fear induced stupor that they could then leverage to manipulate and control people with. So when Jesus showed up and broke one of their rules in order to help someone, it caused a rage to well up in their hearts. This act of divine healing threatened their ability to be in control. They might lose influence over the very heart of the man Jesus healed and the hearts of those who were onlookers. People would see very clearly that the work of God was not restrained by the rules the Pharisee had threaded into God’s Word, thus diminishing their authority.

To the Pharisee, it did not matter that this was an astonishing miracle. It did not matter that the Messiah was standing before them. It did not matter that the people they were leading were actually encountering God Almighty in the flesh. To the Pharisee, the only thing that mattered was to stop the loss of influence. The Pharisee were so in love with their position, that they rather (this man and others like him) continue to suffer than risk Jesus challenging their broken religious system with His power, love and grace. It’s simply amazing how deeply broken and hard the human heart can become. It is sad how our fallen desire for control can cause us to fight against Jesus.

This is a sobering reality that we must guard our hearts against, in order to keep ourselves humble before God. We cannot afford to allow our desire to be in control and usurp the work of the Holy Spirit among us, especially when the Holy Spirit does something un-orthodox to our man-made traditions. Of course, the Holy Spirit will never violate the Word of God, but the Word of God will certainly demolish any perverted understandings or applications of the Word when given the opportunity. Our bad theology is not a hindrance to Him moving if we will just be willing to get out of the way. If we can just humble ourselves and admit that we are not God, we position ourselves to partner with Him in a much more efficient way. Without realizing it, we all have a desire to be in control in some way and our hearts have been hardened in places towards the Holy Spirit. We all are in a fallen condition, we all need to present ourselves before God with repentance and allow Him to soften our hearts so we can better partner with what He is doing on the earth. 

Especially in Appalachia. Hard, cold, religious churches have become a cultural norm. In this part of the country, you can pick up a rock and throw it in any direction and have a good chance of coming close to hitting a church. Unfortunately, many of those churches have gone the way of the pharisee. Built on religious tradition, void of the presence of and the work of the Holy Spirit, comfortable living with people who have been crippled spiritually, unwilling to allow the work of Jesus to heal and set free to supersede the man-made traditions and performance they built in His place. It’s the same type of religious control displayed in the passage above. Jesus is not beholden to the assembly of His Church, it’s our supreme honor to stop whatever we think we need to stop and to make room for Him to do whatever He wants to do. Jesus is the point of meetings. Unfortunately, because we love to make excuses in order to validate our opposition to Him, and because it’s often easier to go through the motions during a service and keep people happy then it is to adjust and change… This part of the country knows how to spiritually control and manipulate with man-made religion much better than other places. Appalachia is sick with religion. There is only one remedy. There has to be a people who are willing to let go of their religion and traditions to see God’s presence move in power through their lives. There has to be a people who love the Holy Spirit being the only one with permission to control. There has to be a humble people with soft hearts, who are willing to get out of the way when Jesus begins to do something that violates their religion. This is who we are learning to become at First Church. It’s not about being overly fanatical, boisterous, dramatic or rebellious to Godly order and leadership. It is about not making a God out of traditions and human experience. It is about letting go of control and convenience, and encountering people who have been held crippled with sin and bondage and introducing them to Jesus' Word and His all consuming presence. This is why we are called to Appalachia, to be a people in partnership with Him. A people with soft hearts that celebrate when Jesus moves and touches people. 


Love,

Pastor John



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