The Foolishness of Legalistic Religion
Luke 5:33-39
March 4, 2018
Well, if you’ve been with us the last couple of weeks you know that
Jesus is having another one of those amazing days.
We already saw that one amazing day in Capernaum
• Where he first cast out a demon,
• Then healed Peter’s mother-in-law,
• And ended by healing as many people as came to Him in Peter’s house.
Well, this day is pretty spectacular in its own right.
• On this day Jesus was preaching in an undisclosed city in Galilee.
• The Pharisees had shown up in force to evaluate Him
• The crowd was so big no one could get into the house, not even 4 men carrying their paralytic friend.
• Those friends tore a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down and Jesus pronounced him forgiven.
• Then to prove his forgiveness told him to get up and walk; which he did.
• Jesus left there and set His gaze on the local tax collector named Levi and called him into service.
• Levi jumped at the offer and then threw a party for Jesus in his house.
• To the surprise of the religious elite, Jesus went to the party.
Incidentally, that decision by Jesus to eat with Matthew
Would earn Jesus the degrading title of “Friend of Sinners”.
It is a celebrated title today, but it was first use a term of reproach.
But in both of those incidents that have occurred on this day
Jesus has managed to reinforce the truth of why He came.
He revealed to His hometown synagogue in Nazareth that
He came to save sinners and that is exactly what He is doing.
• He is reaching out to the poor, the guilty, the blind, the burdened, and the
wicked.
• He is calling them to repentance.
• He is granting the forgiveness of their sins.
And because of that He is starting to get some OPPOSITION.
The Pharisees scoffed at His claim to be able to forgive sin
And they scorned Him for His decision to eat with those tax collectors.
Yet both times Jesus silenced their argument.
• His claim to be able to forgive was no idle claim, He proved it by making the paralytic walk.
• And His decision to eat with sinners only made perfect sense since it was sinners He came to save.
The Pharisees keep attacking and coming up empty handed.
Well this morning we see yet another attack and this time it is regarding Jesus refusal to jump through the legalistic hoops of tradition.
I don’t know if the show caught anyone else’s attention,
But for the past 6 weeks I have watched the show “Waco”.
It was a six-part miniseries about the standoff between the FBI and the Branch Davidians under David Koresh in Waco back in the 90’s.
In addition to watching the show, I’ve researched it a little
Because it was most certainly a peculiar event.
I was mostly curious as to why so many people
Would follow David Koresh into that compound.
• The place had no running water.
• Koresh was a pedophile who was certainly guilty of statutory rape.
• If you did go in there with a wife, she would cease to be your wife and Koresh
would take her as his.
• It was a dump with really nothing sensual to offer at all.
Now look, I understand why people go to Joel Olsteen’s church.
I understand the sensual attraction to the prosperity gospel Olsteen preaches.
But why a person would willingly take their family into a trashy compound
With no running water to have this man claim your wife as his own
Was peculiar to me.
Until I found out what made it all tick.
• Koresh was a Seventh Day Adventist (granted an extremist) but that speaks
volumes.
• That is a religion based on legalistic achievement.
• People in that religion please God through their adherence and obedience.
• People grow in favor with God even through their suffering.
Koresh wasn’t selling physical comfort at that compound.
Koresh was selling favor with God.
If you’ll come suffer here,
If you’ll come sacrifice your wife here,
If you’ll do what no one else is willing to do for God
Then you’ll be acceptable
Whereas everyone else who lives in their comfortable homes will not.
IT IS THE LIE OF LEGALISM.
And once a person falls into that scheme,
THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE REQUIREMENTS.
There is always someone who is willing to sacrifice more than you,
And thus you are always challenged to prove yourself even more to God.
And under the mentality people have submitted themselves to all types of self-inflicted punishment throughout the centuries.
The tragedy is that it doesn’t work.
It doesn’t please God, namely because it is never enough.
All of our righteous deeds are nothing more than filthy rags before God.
• Jesus came to break that cycle.
• Jesus came to save sinners.
• Jesus came to take those people who were overcome with burden by those legalistic and ritualistic commands and to set them free by fulfilling God’s righteousness for them.
But He most certainly did not come to push them to be more legalistic
And that is the point of Luke’s story this morning.
There are 3 things here we see in our text this morning.
#1 THE ACCUSATION
Luke 5:33
“And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”
If you read that same account in Matthew’s gospel it reads as though it is John’s disciples who came asking that question.
If you read it in Mark’s gospel it reads as though John’s disciples and the Pharisees came together and were both asking.
And when you read it here it reads as it is a third party asking the question with regard to the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees.
What that indicates to us is that this became
A very buzzing question that everyone wanted Jesus to answer.
I don’t know who asked it first (I’d guess the Pharisees)
• But what most likely happened then was that John’s disciples chimed in and said, “Yeah, why do we fast and Your disciples don’t?”
• And then someone in the crowd chimed in and said, “Hey, that’s right, why do both of their disciples fast, and Yours don’t?”
This was a major point of contention with Jesus
And one that was clearly a matter of public curiosity.
WELL FIRST we need to point out that they could accuse Jesus’ disciples of not fasting or praying but they could not accuse Jesus of not doing it.
Luke 4:1-2 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.”
Luke 5:15-16 “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
Obviously Jesus did this quite a bit.
This accusation is regarding what He taught.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told us that
You spot a false prophet by the fruit they produce.
It seems as though the Pharisees are using that truth against Jesus.
What kind of a Rabbi would train his disciples to “eat and drink” with sinners instead of to fast and pray?
And this isn’t the only time they go after Him in regard to the questionable behavior of His disciples.
Matthew 15:1-2 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
The view was that Jesus ordained licentiousness and worldliness.
• His followers weren’t devout.
• They loved the world.
• And they weren’t committed to the truly religious practices.
We are not surprised to find the Pharisees here.
Some have wondered at why John’s disciples are joining in on the debate, but I don’t think that’s all that far-fetched either.
FIRST, you must recognize that at this point John the Baptist should no longer have disciples.
• John told his disciples to follow Jesus.
• John was now in prison.
• These men had latched on to the sacrificial life of John, but had obviously failed to get the message.
They were people who loved the feeling of superiority
That comes from the legalistic lifestyle
And on this day they are even willing to unite with the Pharisees
In order to keep that superior feeling.
And this is just something you have to understand about legalism.
THOSE WHO ARE IN LEGALISM
THRIVE ON THE CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT.
Remember what Paul wrote to the Colossians?
Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
That is a great example.
• Some legalistic group was actually condemning the Colossians
• And guilting them into all sorts of religious practices like fasts and festivals and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body and many other things.
Paul said that was pointless and that the Colossians should resist them.
But you understand the accusation.
They are accusing Jesus of teaching worldliness because His disciples eat and drink with sinners while the Pharisees disciples are committed to fasting.
That is the accusation.
#2 THE ANSWER
Luke 5:34-35
So Jesus obviously answers here in defense of His disciples.
And He should.
After all, WE KNOW WHY THEY ARE CELEBRATING.
Luke 5:27-29 “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.”
As we said last week,
• It’s just like that man who found his lost sheep
• Or that woman who found her lost coin
• Or that father who found his lost son.
They are celebrating because the Savior is here.
They are celebrating because sinners are being forgiven.
THAT CERTAINLY INS’T A REASON TO MOURN!
What is more, forcing someone to fast
When their heart is celebrating is pointless.
And that’s really the point of Jesus here.
(34-35) “And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
Right now the “bridegroom is with them”
In a sense the marriage is happening!
Sinners are being saved.
That is a happy occasion,
And it would be absolutely stupid to go mourn right now.
Now certainly the day is coming when He will leave and fasting will be called for and “they will fast in those days.”
But not now.
I think there is a real sense here in which Jesus answered the question of the crowd by saying, “Because that would be stupid!”
There is no reason for fasting over this.
It is also important to remember that fasting is not commanded.
It is implied and expected, but it is not commanded.
And while it is true that a worldly person never fasts,
You cannot peg a person as being worldly just because you don’t see it.
There are times when even the most spiritual person
Should not be fasting, but should be celebrating.
Like when Levi got saved.
So, why aren’t they fasting?
Because that would be dumb, it’s not the time for fasting.
Now, in that answer,
I hope you pick up on the implied return question of Jesus.
They said, “We fast, but Your disciples don’t, why?”
Jesus said “Because fasting right now is pointless.”
Do you pick up on the implied question?
SO WHY ARE YOU FASTING?
Well, we know why don’t we?
Matthew 6:16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
It is like what we read in Isaiah:
Isaiah 58:3-5 “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?”
What you have is a people stuck in a legalistic rut.
They are convinced that their traditions and their religious ordinances
Somehow make them more pleasing to God.
I mean surely a person who fasts has more favor with God than a person who doesn’t right?
That has been some of the most deadly logic
To ever hit the religious world.
That’s the kind of logic that drove people to go live with the Branch Davidians in Waco.
• Surely people who will give up running water for God are more acceptable than
people who don’t?
• Surely a man who will give up his wife is more acceptable to God than a man
who won’t?
Do you see how far this type of thinking can carry you?
Now granted fasting can be a very good thing.
• Fasting is anytime the spiritual takes precedent over the physical and there are definitely times when fasting is called for.
But fasting as a means of earning God’s favor is NEVER the goal.
And that is where the Pharisees and John’s disciples and even this crowd
Were so far off the mark.
There is no level of religious work that can make a man pleasing to God.
I mean, think about it.
• How many hours of fasting do you think are required to enter heaven?
• What foods do you think should be fasted from in order to enter heaven?
Watch the Catholic world right now participating in Lent,
Or watch many of the other Catholic requirements for penance.
Those are religious traditions
Meant to make a person more acceptable to God.
And all they do is puff a person up to trust in their efforts.
Listen to what Paul wrote to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:1-5 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”
For the Galatians it wasn’t fasting, it was circumcision.
Either of which can be fine in the right setting,
But NOT as a means of making oneself pleasing to God.
That sort of theology is actually demonic.
1 Timothy 4:1-5 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”
Somebody should have read that passage to David Koresh.
The mentality that says you will be more pleasing to God
If you forbid yourself from having certain things is a demonic doctrine.
Now look, we AREN’T SAYING you should just go about
And drink up the world, obviously not.
A believer should understand the danger in excessive and worldly living.
Even Paul spoke of not eating meat if it caused his brother to stumble.
I’m just pointing out that
Fasting because your spirit is intent on seeking God
Is entirely different than fasting as a means of manipulating God.
That was legalism and it was the very yoke of Judaism
That Jesus came to break.
So why don’t they fast?
• Because that would be dumb and pointless.
• The real question is why are you fasting?
The Accusation, The Answer
#3 THE ANALOGIES
Luke 5:36-39
Here we have three analogies and they all deal with the same criteria.
• We are dealing with something that is “old”
• We are dealing with something that is “new”
• And we are dealing with the idea that “no one” would do these things.
Although the specific symbolism is not defined by Jesus,
The context makes the parable very understandable.
• The “old” represents the legalistic tradition based religion of the Pharisees.
• The “new” represents the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And let’s look at what He says.
(36) “And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.”
Obviously in a natural sense you understand the absurdity.
No one would sew new cloth on an old garment for numerous reasons.
1. Why would you ruin a new garment to fix an old one?
2. Even if you would be willing to do that, it won’t work.
That old cloth is already shrunk, and the new cloth has yet to shrink.
That fix is only going to work temporarily
And then you will have two garments that are useless.
That fits the implied rebuke of Jesus
Who is pointing out how dumb
The legalistic behavior of the Pharisees is.
And in this case Jesus is saying:
IF YOU TRY TO ADD THE GOSPEL TO YOUR LEGALISTIC MINDSET,
IT WON’T FIX YOUR RELIGION AND IT WILL ONLY RUIN THE GOSPEL.
Then comes the second analogy:
(37) “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.”
There again the point is obvious and absurd.
If you try to add the new (the gospel) to the old (tradition)
You’re going to end up ruining the old and wasting the new.
And it’s the same point.
IF YOU TRY TO CONTAIN THE GOSPEL INSIDE THE LEGALISTIC TRADITIONS YOU’RE GOING TO END UP LOSING THE GOSPEL.
And I hope then you get the point that is being made.
You have two totally opposite religious systems here.
• You have the system of works based righteousness
(through fasting here)
• You have the system of grace based righteousness
(through Christ alone)
If you try to save any part of the old system and just add Jesus to it.
YOU’LL TRASH THEM BOTH.
MORE TRAGICALLY YOU’LL LOSE THE GOSPEL.
The gospel only operates under the premise
That MAN BRINGS NOTHING TO THE TABLE.
• Man has no merit upon which he rests.
• He solely resides upon the work of Christ for salvation.
Even if you love Jesus and believe in Jesus and accept Jesus
But you try to maintain even one small area of legalism,
Then you are not trusting in Jesus alone
And you have lost the gospel completely.
Again, listen to how Paul stated it to the Galatians.
Galatians 5:2-4 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Paul was saying there the same thing Jesus is saying here.
You cannot have it both ways.
Legalism and the gospel are absolutely incompatible.
They are oil and water.
If you try to maintain even the slightest thread of legalism you will ruin the gospel and waste it totally.
• It is the equivalent of Christ being of no benefit
• It is the equivalent of falling away from grace
And incidentally, those of you who have been studying with us on Sunday nights about the 5 SOLAS of the Reformation.
This is why we are Protestant (Protest-ant)
• We protest any system that gains it’s authority anywhere other than Scripture.
• We protest any system that maintains that salvation is an earned state.
• We protest any system that maintains that man is justified by any type of work.
• We protest any system that maintains that human achievement is part of salvation.
• We protest any system that allows for man to get any glory for the salvation he enjoys.
That is why we are Protestant.
BUT NOT EVERYONE IS.
(39) “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”
This DOES NOT MEAN that the old system is good and acceptable
For those who aren’t interested in the gospel.
Jesus is NOT ENDORSING the old system
As an acceptable form of salvation.
He IS LAMENTING that those who are entrenched in the old system
Very rarely are willing to leave it.
People who have grown accustomed to legalism
Have a very difficult time accepting the freedom of the gospel of grace.
WHY? Because they have to admit that everything they’ve worked for their entire life was of no value.
Could you imagine what those Branch Davidians would have to swallow in order to believe the gospel?
• Those men would have to own up to the fact that they moved their family into
that compound and gave up their wife for nothing.
• Those women would have to consent that they raised their babies in that place
for nothing.
And people aren’t easily willing to do that.
That’s why (as we learned last week with Matthew) it is so much easier
To save sinners than it is to save righteous people.
Because people who are accustomed to that old wine
Aren’t willing to just throw it aside for the new.
SO, WHAT’S THE POINT…WHAT DO WE LEARN HERE?
1) We are reaffirming the ministry of Jesus which is to save sinners, not to enforce traditions.
• That is obvious isn’t it?
• Over and over and over, He came to save sinners.
2) We are forced to measure our own doctrine/salvation and ask ourselves: “Why do I think I am acceptable to God?”
• Do I think I am acceptable because of something I have done?
• Do I trust in my own works as that which grants me favor with God?
If I do, I must repent and leave the old wine for the new
Because salvation is found in Christ Alone.
3) What sort of message do I preach to people?
The church has a tremendous reputation for being Pharisaical.
• We love to get people to conform to our standards of righteousness.
• Talk a certain way
• Dress a certain way
• Attend an acceptable amount of times
• Participate in certain ministries
And people who do that, we say, “Now they’re a good Christian”
People who don’t, we murmur, “I don’t know if they’re saved at all”
As if our activities had anything to do with earning our favor before God.
Here is the fact of the matter.
Jesus is brining glorious new garments of His righteousness
And He is offering to us that we might be clothed in His righteousness.
But instead there are many who, instead of wearing Christ’s robe,
Only want to borrow it a minute and cut a patch out of it
To use it to patch up the robe they’ve been making.
• They recognize their need for help from Christ.
• They sure need a patch cut from His robe.
• But they don’t think they need the whole robe.
NO! Jesus didn’t come to patch your robe.
Jesus came to clothe you in His.
Remember the PARABLE OF THE WEDDING BANQUET and the man who though his robe as good enough?
Well that’s what legalism thinks.
They think surely my robe is acceptable.
But listen to Jesus;
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
It’s the same message over and over and over
• You don’t have enough goodness to be acceptable to God.
• I don’t care how much you’ve fasted
• I don’t care how long you’ve prayed
• You garments are not acceptable.
Friend, you have to give up on your own efforts as a means of pleasing God and you have to trust totally in the work of Christ.
• He alone satisfied God’s righteous requirements.
• He alone endured God’s just wrath.
• He alone can clothe you in His salvation.
Trust in Him and enter the celebration.
Quit patching your old garment and trade it in for His.
