The Religious Self-Protection Complex (Mark 3:1-6)

Take your Bibles with me and turn to Mark 3 this morning.

I’ve been preaching about the Pharisees. Mark 2 and the beginning of Mark 3 give us a bunch of little pictures of the Pharisees. It shows us the Pharisees next to Jesus, and when you put anything next to the Light, you see its impurities clearly.

The main point I’ve been making over an over these last several weeks is that the Pharisees are us. The Pharisees were religious conservatives like we are religious conservatives. Not to beat a dead horse, but let’s review some facts about the Pharisees:

• They started in a revival movement.
• They were determined to live by the word of God.
• They believed the Bible was 100% true.
• They were opposed to worldliness and were determined to be separate from the world.
• The name “Pharisees” means “the separated ones.”
• They put their lives where their conviction was, even going to the death rather than worship idols during Greek rule.
• They were the “old-time religion” crowd of their day.
• They started Bible schools and taught the Bible.
• They went to church, fasted, gave, dressed differently, didn’t drink, etc.

You get the idea. They were religious conservatives, but they were religious monsters. They are the consistent bad guys in the gospels. They are the ones who are most opposed to Jesus. They are the ones causing a lot of hardship for the people, but they are the religious conservatives.

So this whole series has been centered around this question:

How can Bible-believing religious conservatives become monsters?

And so far I’ve given you three answers—three “complexes” that we as religious conservative people have a tendency to get:

The first was what I called the Religious Superiority Complex. It is when we begin to look down on sinners, and we project the attitude that God actually hates people.

The second was what I call the Religious Solemnity Complex. It is when we think that God is only happy when we aren’t happy—that God wants us to be solemn and serious all the time. If the Religious Superiority Complex projects that God hates people, then the Religious Solemnity Complex projects that God hates life. Of course, the Bible teaches us that our lives should be full of “joy” and “rejoicing.”

The third was what I call the Religious Standards Complex. The Religious Standards Complex is when we boil down our religion to a list of external rules. It is when we try to build fences around God’s fences. The Religious Standards Complex makes God seem like a petty bureaucrat who is trying to make people’s lives miserable. The Religious Standards Complex may be the most dangerous one because it actually replaces the Bible. It replaces the cross.

Today, we are going to look at one more of these “complexes” which I’m calling “The Religious Self-Protection Complex.”

Let’s get started by reading our text, Mark 3:1-6:

”1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.”

This is our last story in this section about the Pharisees, and in this story, you see how far they are willing to go. They go to the synagogue, not to worship God, but to trap Jesus. They want to find something they can accuse Jesus of, and since they know that Jesus will likely heal people on the sabbath, that is the best chance they have.

So this man comes in, and he has a withered hand. Maybe you’ve seen people like this. One arm is stunted. It’s not life-threatening, but it makes their life much, much harder.

So Jesus calls out the Pharisees and heals the man. His hand miraculously grows back to look just like the other, and then Pharisees do the weirdest thing. They go out and meet with the Herodians—who were their mortal enemies—to try to find some way to destroy Jesus.

The Religious Self-Protection Complex.

Here is a definition of the Religious Self-Protection Complex:

The Religious Self-Protection Complex is when our pride and self-interest takes over and causes us to fight the wrong fight, ignore the casualties, and align with the wicked.

This one flows out of the other ones.

• We look down on others and get filled with pride.
• We invent ways to make ourselves miserable for God and take pride in that.
• We create a bunch of extra-biblical rules for ourselves and those rules are a source of pride.

And then, when anything threatens that pride, we go on the warpath, and never mind the victims and never mind who we have to align ourselves with in the process.

All the other things I’ve been preaching about are subtle. This one isn’t subtle at all. This disease is obvious to everyone but the person who has it. This is where the monsters show their ugly heads. This is where a lot of church splits happen. This one leaves lots and lots of victims in its wake.

James 3:13-16 says:

”13 Who [is] a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but [is] earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife [is], there [is] confusion and every evil work.”

God is warning us against preachers with envy and strife in their hearts. Envy and strife are self-interest and competitive infighting. That’s what we are talking about here.

When the Religious Self-Protection complex takes over, it’s not about Jesus, and it’s not about God; it’s about YOU. It’s about your success. It’s about your faithfulness. It’s about your reputation. It’s about your crowd.

I believe in earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, but I have to tell you that a majority of religious fighting isn’t earnestly contending for the faith. It’s people protecting their egos.

There are people who want to have a bigger church, a stricter church, or who want to send more of their teenagers to Bible college, and it’s all about the ego. It’s all self-interest. It’s all pride.

Look at the Pharisees in this story. Notice three things about them that tend to be true when we let pride take over:

1. They attacked the wrong people.

These Pharisees were determined to destroy Jesus and His disciples. Think about that!

They claim to be God’s people. They preach God’s word. They go far and wide to make proselytes for God. And God sends His only begotten Son, and they oppose Him.

One sad fact about religious conservatives is that they have a terrible track record of opposing God’s people.

Can I tell you something you may not know? You hear a lot about some of the preachers from the old times—pastors like Charles Spurgeon or missionaries like Hudson Taylor.

Let me tell you something about Charles Spurgeon. For most of Charles Spurgeon’s life, there were huge crowds of preachers who HATED him. There were cartoons making fun of him in the newspaper. There were sermons in pulpits all over England about how he was a compromiser or about how this part or that part of his ministry was sinful. He wasn’t welcome in a lot of old-time-religion churches.

We talk about the great missionary Hudson Taylor and his ministry in China today, but in his day, preachers said he was a freak and that he was dangerous. They criticized the way he dressed. They criticized the way he supported himself. The old-time-religion crowd hated Hudson Taylor.

The same could be said for George Whitfield, for John Wesley, and for just about every other famous man of God you’ve heard of from the past. They all had religious people stepping up to condemn them and oppose them.

The Bible says that we are to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 2) and that we should ”Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). We definitely have to deal with doctrinal error, but we also have to be careful. We have to be really careful that our opposition to people isn’t springing from our pride or our confusion.

Here is the truth: A whole lot of the “Bless God, these newfangled preachers” kind of messages you hear are coming from pride and self-protection. They aren’t anything new. The old-time religion crowd makes heroes of God’s people, but usually not God’s people working today. It’s almost always the ones from the past because they are too busy opposing God’s work today.

So they opposed the wrong people. They opposed the work of Jesus. We need to be careful that we don’t oppose the wrong people.

The second thing we see these Pharisees doing is really the main thing I want to talk about today...

2. They ignored the hurting people.

In this assembly where Jesus was preaching was a man with a withered hand—a man with a handicap; a man who was hurting.

And the Pharisees were excited. They weren’t excited because they were going to see that man healed. They were excited because they could use that man to prove that Jesus didn’t follow their silly sabbath rules.

To me, the biggest thing that stands out in this story is that the Pharisees didn’t care at all about this hurting man—just like they didn’t care at all about the man who was sick of the palsy, and they didn’t care at all about the publicans and sinners who were sick with sin. They didn’t care about hurting people. All they cared about was their position and themselves.

I want to show you something because this is important. It’s easy to miss this, but it’s important.

I want to read you some verses from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, chapter 34 verses 2 through 6:

”2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe [be] to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up [that which was] broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because [there is] no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek [after them].”

You can find passages like this—about how mad God was against the shepherds of Israel—in most of the Old Testament prophetical books. The shepherds were supposed to care for the hurting sheep. They were supposed to heal and to help. They were supposed to teach and bless, but instead they were driving them away.

Of course, it’s not talking about actual shepherds here. It’s talking about preachers and pastors. God was angry because the preachers and the pastors weren’t showing the heart of God. They were preaching over and over again at how mad God was at people and about how much they fell short, but they weren’t preaching a message of hope. They weren’t pointing people to the Lamb. They weren’t showing that God wanted them to be happy and that God wanted to bless them.

They were all about the rules. They were all about making people miserable. They were all about what was wrong with everyone, and they were driving people away from God. They were making God look ugly.

In the book of Nehemiah, they have a bit of a revival, and God’s law is read. Then the people start to mourn when they start to realize how far short they come. Notice what God says to them in Nehemiah 8:9-10:

”9 And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

When you come to church, it shouldn’t be to feel bad about yourself. It shouldn’t be to remind you of how miserable you should be for Jesus. It should be a place where the sick and the hurting are comfortable because they know there is healing there and there is joy there.

Let me go to one more passage of scripture, and I’ll make this point. Turn with me to Luke 4. In Luke 4, Jesus is preaching in his hometown synagogue where He grew up. He goes in and reads the the Bible. Notice the text He reads:

”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Then Jesus sat down. Do you know what Jesus was saying? He was saying, “You religious people! You old-timey shepherds! You don’t care about people. You aren’t after hurting people, but I’ve come to preach help to them. I’ve come to heal them. I’ve come to go after the hurting—not to chastise them, but to help them!”

Listen people: Religion doesn’t care about people, but Jesus does. Religion sees sinners to be destroyed, but Jesus sees sinners to heal. Religion sees problems to blame, but Jesus sees problems to help.

People ought to be able to come to church and know they will find help! People ought to know that when they come into the church house on Sunday, they will hear the Bible; they will see hope there; they will see Jesus there.

You don’t come to church so I can tear you up and tell you all the ways you come short and don’t measure up. That’s not what it’s about. It’s not about me preaching hot and heavy and really letting people have it. It’s about pointing people to the Great Physician.

Listen, folks: Sin might have messed your life up. Sin might be causing you all kinds of pain and you might be struggling. Jesus wants to heal you. Jesus wants to help you. He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you.

God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. People are on the outs with God, and He wants to reconcile. He wants to bring them back. He wants the prodigals to come home.

Heaven help us if the message people here is, “You aren’t good enough,” and “God hates you.”

Heaven help us if that message of the gospel doesn’t come out loud and clear.

God loves hurting people, and Jesus heals hurting people, but religion ignores hurting people.

So they opposed the wrong people; they ignored the hurting people. One more thing their self-protection caused them to do was...

3. They aligned with wicked people.

Verse 6 in our text says:

”And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.”

Now let me tell you what’s going on there. The Pharisees were the ultra-conservative religious crowd. The Herodians were the ultra-liberal irreligious crowd. These two groups were mortal enemies. This is like Ted Cruz collaborating with Bernie Sanders. This is like PETA launching a joint initiative with the NRA.

These people hate each other, but they hate Jesus more, so they finally found something that brought them together: Their pride, their self-interest, their mutual opposition to something good.

This is when this self-protection complex really rears it’s ugly head. It’s when you see what people are willing to excuse to protect their position. People will hold their nose and look away so that their position and their pride don’t take a hit.

Religion does that. Religion does that when some famous preacher is obviously into sin, and everyone is pretending like they don’t see it. “Nothing to see here, so just move along.” It’s happened so many times. It’s self-interest and self-protection. We have to protect the group, the name, the cause.

It’s ugly. That’s the only word for it: Ugly.

Listen to me, and I’m going to wrap this up. All over this country and all around the world, there are victims of conservative religion.

• There are people who got the impression that God hates them because of a bunch of religious people put them down.
• There are people who got the impression that God wants them to be miserable because a bunch of conservative religious people didn’t show the joy of the Lord.
• There are people who got the impression that God wants to micromanage every aspect of their life because a bunch of religious people multiplied and emphasized rules and standards.
• And there are a bunch of people who got the impression that God doesn’t care about them because a bunch of religious people used them and then disposed of them when they didn’t help their self-interest.

Is it any wonder people aren’t interested in church? Is it any wonder that 85% of our young people stop going to church when they hit college and never look back? Is it any wonder we have generations of preachers running for the hills into anything and everything but the “old-time religion”?

Religion can get ugly. Religion leaves a pile of victims in its wake. Religion hurts people.

But then there is Jesus. Look at Jesus in this passage. The religious people are looking down on sinners, and Jesus is loving them. The religious people are trying to make life solemn and ugly, and Jesus is enjoying it with His disciples. The religious people are making rules and rules and rules, and Jesus doesn’t care a lick about them. The religious people are all about self-interest, and Jesus is all about others.

What kind of Christians are we going to be? Are we going to be the old-time religion crowd? Are we going to turn into religious monsters like these Pharisees, or are we going to be like Jesus? Are we going to love people, have joy, keep the rules in perspective, and refuse to use people?

How about you? Let’s stand for invitation and pray.