Disobedient Obedience

Luke 14:1-6
When Jesus asks the question of it being lawful to heal on the Sabbath (vs. 3) he is exposing the hearts of the Pahrisees.  They were experts in the law and experts in maintaining its statutes, yet the whole time missing the key to the law: love.  They were great at disobeying the law while obeying the law.  Jesus is pointing that out to them.  The law stated to do no work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11).  But at the point where this conflicts with love for one's neighbor or God, it ceases to be obedience, for the law is absolutely dependent on love (Romans 13: 9-10, Galations 5:14).  An outward keeping of law without the motivation of love is, in reality, to not keep the law.  They were missing this completely.  Our obedience should never be at the expense of others, i.e. self-interest, (Romans 14:15).  If so, we must go back to Christ to repent and seek out true obedience.  If not done out of love, then all we have is legalism, which is to destroy life, not give life.  In this passage, the Pharisees attempts to keep the law out of self-righteousness and legalism, was resulting in their forsaking the very commands they thought they were fulfilling, a practice all too common (Mark 7:8-9).  Jesus was exposing their motivation for obedience, which was evil, even though outwardly they had the appearance of perfect law abiding.  He confirms this in his story in verses 7-9 and 12-14, further exposing their hearts.  They were evidence against themselves.  There is the temptation to adhere to rules, while neglecting the true matters of the law.  Their obedience, in actuality, stemmed from love of self, not love of God and his statutes.  The flesh is tempted by acting out of self-interest, expecting repayment and recognition for deeds done, for law kept (vs. 8, 14).  Outwardly these are "good deeds" and obedience, but inward it is self-gratification, missing the whole point.  Is our obedience disobedient?  If it causes another to stumble it is (I Corinthians 8:7-13), not matter how holy in appearance.  If we are not acting in the interest of others, for their good, we have ventured out from under obedience to Christ (I Corinthians 10:23-24, 31-33).  Christ cares much more for those around us who are lost and hurting than he does for our reputation and holiness (Luke 15:4-7), although he does care for both.  So we must ask: Are we obeying disobediently?  Have we obeyed out of self-interest and advancement and?  Has our law-keeping ventured into legalism at the expense of others?  Do we obey because we love self?  The law hinges on love, for God first, then neighbor, not keeping statutes and rules.  We can have the appearance of adherence to the law while inwardly we are far from it.  The Pharisees life and religion was built around this, although they did not see it (Matthew 19:1-9; Mark 3:1-6; John 8:1-11).  In all these situations they acted in accordance with the law, even having scripture to base their actions on, and yet were disobeying God.  We cannot simply stop at outward rules.  We must ask Christ to carry us deeper and expose our hearts and cleanse our motivations.  We must love him first and foremost, then let that extend to our neighbors, and then and only then can we truly obey what he commands us, all else is vanity (I Corinthians 13:1-3).  Do we love God and others instead of self?  Has our own personal holiness and conformity to law taken precedence over souls?  Has our own stance before God become paramount, turning to self-interest and in turn forsaking true law, the law of liberty and freedom,that considers others of more importance?  It is impossible to obey without love, no exceptions.  We must stop "obeying" and start loving.