Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“Love trumps ritual & regulations”
May 11, 2014
Scripture
Luke 13:10-17
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman
was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent
over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her
forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13 Then he
put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to
the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days,
not on the Sabbath." 15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of
you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it
water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has
kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what
bound her?" 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the
people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Core Idea, challenge, and summary
Core Idea: Love & mercy always takes precedence over regulations, rituals, and
traditions
Challenge: To exhort people to demonstrate love and mercy even at the
expense of regulations, rituals, and traditions.
Summary: We sometimes get so fixated on regulations, rituals, and traditions
that we forget about their intended purposes. Following the regulations, rituals,
and traditions become the desired end state rather than the original purpose for
which they were established.
This happened in Jesus’ day. The Pharisees became so fixated on following the
letter of the law, that they forgot about the love and mercy the law was designed
to engender. For example, the numerous regulations concerning what can and
can’t be done on the Sabbath caused the Pharisees to chastise people for
demonstrating love on the Sabbath. This should cause us to ask with incredulity,
“What the heck? God wants us to love the way He loves but not on the Sabbath,
the day especially dedicated to Him?”
On numerous occasions, the religious leaders of the day chastised Jesus for
demonstrating love on the Sabbath by healing someone. On one such occasion,
Jesus healed a crippled lady in the synagogue during the Sabbath. When
chastised by the Synagogue ruler, He replied, “"You hypocrites! Doesn't each of
you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it
water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has
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Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“Love trumps ritual & regulations”
May 11, 2014
kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what
bound her?" (Luke 13:15-16) Jesus was pointing out that when the regulations,
rituals, and traditions become more important than their intended purposes, we
have a way of finding loopholes in the regulations, rituals, and traditions to suit
our needs. In this case, it was evidently ok to take care of income producing
animals on the Sabbath but it wasn’t ok to demonstrate love towards people.
Self-centeredness almost invariably results when we allow the regulations,
rituals, and traditions to become more important than the purposes they were
originally created to serve.
By demonstrating love on the Sabbath, Jesus taught us a valuable truth. The
truth is this: Love always trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions. Whenever
demonstrating love conflicts with a regulation, ritual or tradition, we should
choose to demonstrate love. For example, if there’s a conflict between attending
Sunday worship and demonstrating God’s love, we should choose to skip the
Sunday worship service and demonstrate the love. Although corporate worship is
vital to our spiritual growth, it is not more important than demonstrating God’s
love. In fact, corporate worship should lead us to demonstrate God’s love
whenever we can.
Holy Communion reminds us that love trumps regulation, rituals, and traditions.
We’ve all sinned and the penalty for sin is death. By the letter of the law, we all
deserve to die in hell. God, however, rises above the letter of the law and offers
us love and mercy through faith in Jesus. Instead of simply following the letter of
the law, God Himself came to this earth as a human named Jesus and paid the
penalty for our sins. On the third day he rose from the dead, conquering sin,
death, and evil on our behalf. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
demonstrate that love trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions. Through
Communion, we remember all this and are thus reminded that love trumps
regulation, rituals, and traditions.
Sermon
I. Introduction: Our tendency to get fixated on regulations, rituals, and traditions
A. Following the regulations, rituals, and traditions become the desired end
state rather than the original purpose for which they were established.
B. We may even forget about the original purpose for which the regulations,
rituals, and traditions were established.

One day, a mother was teaching her little girl how to bake a ham.

The mother explained, “First we cut off both ends of the ham.”
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Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“Love trumps ritual & regulations”
May 11, 2014

The daughter asked, “Why do we cut off both ends of the ham?”

The mother stated, “I’m not sure. Granny taught me to do this. Let’s
ask her.”

So, they visited granny and asked, “Why do we cut off both ends of
the ham before we cook it?”

Granny replied, “I don’t know. It’s what my mom taught me. Let’s
ask her.”

So, they went to the little girl’s great grandma and asked, “Why do
we cut off both ends of the ham before we cook it?”

The great Grandma replied, “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I only
did that because we were poor and had only one small pan. I had
to cut the ends off to make it fit in the pan. You’re not still using that
same old pan are you?”
C. This happened in Jesus’ day
II. The Pharisees’ fixation on the law
A. The Pharisees became so fixated on following the letter of the law, that
they forgot about the love and mercy the law was designed to engender.
B. Case in point: The numerous regulations concerning what can and can’t
be done on the Sabbath

The religious leaders of the day became obsessive about keeping
the Sabbath. So they developed numerous rules to regulate the
day.

This lead the religious leaders to chastise people for demonstrating
love on the Sabbath by helping others. This would have been
considered work, which was not permitted on the Sabbath.

This should cause us to ask with incredulity, “What the heck? God
wants us to love the way He loves but not on the Sabbath, the day
especially dedicated to Him?”

Jesus dealt with this on numerous occasions
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Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“Love trumps ritual & regulations”
May 11, 2014
III. Jesus and the religious leaders of His day
A. On numerous occasions, Jesus demonstrated love on the Sabbath by
healing someone
B. The religious leaders of the day would chastise Jesus for healing
someone on the Sabbath.
C. On one such occasion, Jesus healed a crippled lady in the synagogue
during the Sabbath.

When chastised by the Synagogue ruler, He replied, “"You
hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or
donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should
not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept
bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from
what bound her?" (Luke 13:15-16)

Jesus was pointing out that when the regulations, rituals, and
traditions become more important than their intended purposes, we
have a way of finding loopholes in the regulations, rituals, and
traditions to suit our needs.

In this case, it was evidently ok to take care of income producing
animals on the Sabbath but it wasn’t ok to demonstrate love
towards people.

Self-centeredness almost invariably results when we allow the
regulations, rituals, and traditions to become more important than
the purposes they were originally created to serve.
D. By demonstrating love on the Sabbath, Jesus taught us a valuable truth.
The truth is this: Love always trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions.
IV. Love always trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions
A. Whenever demonstrating love conflicts with a regulation, ritual or tradition,
we should choose to demonstrate love.

Love is like a Royal flush in poker. It beats everything.
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Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“Love trumps ritual & regulations”
May 11, 2014

Remember, the summation of the law is to love – love God,
neighbor, and self (Matthew 22:37-40)
B. Example: In order to help someone in need, you would have to miss a
Sunday worship service. Circumstances won’t allow you to do both.

Corporate worship is vital to our spiritual growth but it is not more
important than demonstrating God’s love.

In fact, corporate worship should lead us to demonstrate God’s love
whenever we can.

We should choose to skip the Sunday worship service and
demonstrate the love.
V. Communion reminds us that love trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions
A. By the letter of the law, we all deserve to die in hell. We’ve all sinned and
the penalty for sin is death.
B. God, however, rises above the letter of the law and offers us love and
mercy through faith in Jesus.

Instead of simply following the letter of the law, God Himself came
to this earth as a human named Jesus and paid the penalty for our
sins.

On the third day he rose from the dead, conquering sin, death, and
evil on our behalf.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus demonstrate that love
trumps regulations, rituals, and traditions.
C. Through Communion, we remember all this and are thus reminded that
love trumps regulation, rituals, and traditions.
D. Let’s follow God’s example and allow love of God, neighbor, and self be
our overriding power in our lives.
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