Christ the Controversialist (Part 2 of 2)

Devotional

Day 1: The Pharisee’s Checklist vs. the Tax Collector’s Cry

The Pharisee’s prayer reveals confidence in religious performance—fasting, tithing, moral comparison. But the tax collector’s broken plea for mercy exposes the lie of self-made righteousness. True acceptance comes not in stacking achievements but in empty hands lifted high. The gospel dismantles every system that measures worth by what we avoid or accomplish. Only those who admit their bankruptcy find heaven’s riches. [03:13]

“The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” (Luke 18:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you subtly thank God you’re “not like others” in your spiritual life? What would it look like to replace comparison with desperate dependence today?

Day 2: Party Clothes at the Bridegroom’s Feast

Fasting fits mourning, not weddings. Jesus declares himself the Bridegroom—his presence turns duty into delight, obligation into celebration. The disciples feast because the long-awaited Messiah has come. Joy, not rigor, marks those who know the Groom is here. To mourn now would be to miss the miracle: God has arrived, and the table is set. [05:06]

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.’” (Mark 2:19, ESV)

Reflection: Is your walk with Christ marked more by dutiful rituals or astonished joy? How might you “feast” on his presence today?

Day 3: The Elder Brother’s Refusal to Dance

The prodigal’s brother stands outside the party, resentful. His obedience was slavery, not love. He preferred earning over receiving, merit over mercy. The Father’s invitation remains: drop the ledger, put on the ring, and join the music. Righteousness that demands applause cannot enter the dance of grace. [10:04]

“But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him…” (Luke 15:28, ESV)

Reflection: What “good behavior” makes you feel entitled to God’s favor? How might entitlement be silencing the Father’s music in your heart?

Day 4: Patching Grace onto Old Wineskins

New wine bursts brittle religion. Jesus’ radical grace can’t be stitched into self-made righteousness. The gospel isn’t a patch for our moral efforts—it replaces them. Either we cling to our shriveled systems or let Christ’s fermenting joy split us open. Hybrid faith always leaks; only surrendered skins hold the vintage of heaven. [11:42]

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you trying to “add Jesus” to your existing moral framework? What old wineskin needs to be discarded to hold his new wine?

Day 5: No Stitches in the Celestial Garment

Spurgeon warned: one self-sewn stitch in heaven’s robe damns us. John Berridge labored 24 years before casting himself wholly on Christ. The gospel demands undressed surrender—no bargaining, no backup plans. Just naked need meeting divine provision. Every thread of righteousness is Christ’s; our hands hold only the needle of faith. [15:20]

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21, ESV)

Reflection: What hidden “stitch” of self-reliance are you still clutching? How can you actively rest in Christ’s finished work today?

Sermon Summary

Mark sets the question against the Pharisees, John’s disciples, and Jesus’ disciples at Levi’s house. The Pharisees cannot make sense of disciples who are eating when religious people are fasting. Their whole system assumes that acceptance with God comes by doing the right things, avoiding the wrong things, and keeping the score better than the next fellow.

Jesus answers with the picture of a wedding. The bridegroom is present, and weddings are not the place for rich crackers and a second glass of water. Christ is the bridegroom, John the Baptist has introduced him, and his friends cannot fast while he is with them. Jesus does not deny that sorrow will come, or that fasting may then be fitting, but he insists that this moment is party time because the promised bridegroom has arrived.

Luke’s Pharisee supplies the heart of the problem. His confidence lies in what he does not do and what he does do: “I fast twice a week and I give a tenth.” His religion is a righteousness he created, established, and maintained. The tax collector, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the returning prodigal all expose the same truth: God is an initiative-taking, seeking God, and Pharisaic pride refuses to enter the party because grace gives the credit to another.

Jesus’ new garment and new wine make the incompatibility plain. The free forgiveness and unmerited favor he brings cannot be stitched into the shrunken, brittle wineskins of man-made religion. The Pharisees’ way and Christ’s way cannot become a hybrid. A good God rewarding nice people for trying their best leaves the cross of Christ utterly unexplained.

Christ died not to get sinners started on the path to acceptance, but to provide a free and full salvation. His righteousness is the celestial garment, his obedience is the acceptance, and his sacrifice is the payment for sin. Spurgeon’s warning lands with force: if one stitch must be inserted into that garment by human hands, all is lost. John Berridge’s epitaph gives the only safe refuge: after years of proudly living on faith and works, he fled to Jesus alone. Christ calls the proud, the bad, the respectable, and the despairing to cast themselves entirely and unreservedly upon him.

Key Takeaways

1. The Bridegroom Makes It Party Time Jesus’ presence changes the atmosphere completely. Fasting may fit days of sorrow, but it cannot be the controlling note when the Bridegroom stands among his people. Christ’s arrival is not an invitation to grim religious scorekeeping, but to the joy of receiving God’s long-promised salvation. [05:06]
2. Grace Offends Religious Pride The elder brother refuses to enter because grace welcomes the undeserving. Pharisaic hearts can tolerate forgiveness only when it preserves their sense of superiority. Christ’s righteousness levels the ground by declaring that the worst sinner and the outwardly respectable person alike stand in need of mercy. [09:51]
3. New Wine Will Not Fit Old Religion Jesus does not offer a few helpful improvements to self-made righteousness. His free forgiveness tears apart every system built on earning God’s favor through religious performance. The life he brings requires an entirely different confidence: not in human works, but in Christ himself. [11:15]
4. One Stitch Would Ruin Grace Christ’s righteousness is not partly his and partly the believer’s. His perfect obedience, his sacrifice for sin, and his acceptance with the Father form the whole garment. Any attempt to add personal merit turns the gospel into another burden that cannot save. [15:20]
5. Jesus Alone Is The Refuge John Berridge’s life exposes how easily faith and works become a proud substitute for Christ. Even religious service can leave a person ignorant of the only ground of acceptance with God. Christ receives those who come empty-handed, needy, and without a hope apart from him. [19:24]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:51] - Why Are Jesus’ Disciples Not Fasting?
[01:50] - Confidence in Self-Righteousness
[04:17] - Fasting and Pharisaic Religion
[05:06] - Jesus the Bridegroom
[06:43] - Party Time in Christ’s Presence
[06:57] - God Seeks the Lost
[09:27] - The Elder Brother Refuses Grace
[11:15] - New Wine and Old Wineskins
[12:40] - Nice People Trying Their Best
[13:50] - Salvation Depends Entirely on God
[14:36] - The Celestial Garment of Righteousness
[17:05] - John Berridge Flees to Jesus Alone
[19:58] - Cast Yourself Entirely on Christ

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 2:18-22
“Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, 'Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' And Jesus said to them, 'Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” [00:51]

Luke 18:9-14
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 'Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” [01:40]

Luke 15:11-32
“And he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” [06:57]

Observation questions

In Mark 2, what contrast do the questioners notice between the Pharisees and John’s disciples on one hand and Jesus’ disciples on the other? [00:51]
What image does Jesus use to explain why his disciples are not fasting, and what future change does he say will make fasting fitting? [05:04]
In Luke 18, what does the Pharisee point to as evidence that he is righteous, and how does he speak about other people? [03:18]
In Luke 15, how does the elder brother respond to the father’s celebration for the returning son, and what does he refuse to do? [09:51]

Interpretation questions

Why is Jesus’ description of himself as the bridegroom such a joyful and important answer to the question about fasting? What does it reveal about why his arrival changes everything? [05:52]
How does the Pharisee’s confidence in what he does and does not do help explain why he looks down on the tax collector? [02:25]
Why would the elder brother find it so difficult to rejoice when his undeserving brother is welcomed home? How does his response expose the danger of wanting acceptance to be earned? [10:11]
What does Jesus mean by saying that new wine cannot be put into old wineskins? Why can free forgiveness in Christ not simply be added to a religion of self-made righteousness? [11:46]

Application questions

Where is the temptation strongest to measure acceptance with God by spiritual performance—such as church attendance, generosity, Bible reading, fasting, serving, or avoiding certain sins? How can those good things quietly become reasons for pride? [04:23]
When another person receives mercy after a very visible failure, is there any tendency to respond more like the elder brother than the father? What would it look like to enter the celebration of grace instead of standing outside it? [09:59]
Jesus’ presence makes his salvation good news worth celebrating. What habits or pressures tend to make Christian life feel like grim scorekeeping rather than joyful gratitude? [06:43]
“A good God will reward nice people for doing their best” sounds reasonable to many people. How would the cross of Christ challenge that belief in a conversation with a friend, neighbor, or family member? [12:46]
Christ’s righteousness, obedience, and sacrifice are the whole basis of acceptance with God. In what practical situations is there a tendency to try to add a “stitch” of personal merit to that confidence? [15:45]
Both personal goodness and personal badness can keep someone from coming freely to Christ. Which temptation is more familiar: believing that one is good enough without Christ, or believing that one is too broken for Christ? What does it mean to come to him empty-handed for refuge? [20:24]

Sermon Clips

“Jesus did not die upon the cross to get us started so that we might contribute to our acceptance by God as a result of good things that we do. Jesus died upon the cross, bearing all of our sin in himself and providing for us a free and a full salvation and a robe of righteousness which is all his righteousness, all his acceptance with God, all of his keeping of the law, all of his sacrifice for sin.” [00:15:45]

“The shrinkage will tear it apart. You don't put new wine into old wine skins because the wine that is new has still a fermentation process. And if the wine skins are old and brittle and so on, the old leather wine skins, then the fermentation process will actually blow the wine skin apart. What is Jesus saying? He's saying the wine of new life which he has come to bring cannot be contained in the shrunken brittle old wine skins of a man-made religion.” [00:11:26]

“In other words, Jesus is controversial because he is pointing out that the two approaches, one represented by the Pharisees and the other represented by himself, are mutually incompatible. They are mutually incompatible. That's what he's saying. You're not going to be able to come up with a hybrid. You can't do it. It won't be done.” [00:12:16]

“Now, I wager that if I go with you this afternoon to all the little festivities over here in Sugar and Falls and we just go up and down amongst the crowd, that will be the prevailing view of people that we meet. If there is a God, how would we how will he ever accept us? And it will come back to you again. Well, if he's a good God, he'll be happy if nice people like us just do our best. And then that begs the question, what in the world was Jesus of Nazareth doing hanging up there on that cross?” [00:13:02]

“And perhaps today you might be able to enter into your journal. I've been living for so many years proudly on the strength of faith and works. Cast myself entirely upon Christ. Cast myself unreservedly on Christ. Told them I have got not a hope in the world, Jesus, apart from you. Apart from you. That's what it means to be a Christian.” [00:20:35]

“How are you going to stand before God? Are you going to stand before God on the basis of your goodness? Or are you going to stand before God trusting in the goodness of someone else? That's the question he's asking. That's the question Jesus is posing. That is the vital question.” [00:09:09]

“Jesus was proclaiming a salvation that depended entirely upon God. The Pharisees were proclaiming a salvation that depended largely upon them. Jesus was asking men and women to face up to the fact of their leprosy stained and spoiled by sin and then to realize that he is the one who makes them clean.” [00:13:44]

“We're either going to stand before God on the basis of our own righteousness or we're going to stand before God on the basis of the righteousness of another. These folks were confident in their own righteousness. And as a result, notice they looked down on everybody else.” [00:02:25]

“You don't like this idea that the worst, most miserable, lying, cheating, scornful, immoral person is in Christ, covered over with his righteousness, accepted, redeemed, restored. and all because of another and not because of him or not because of her.” [00:10:22]

“What he is saying is that the liberating life transforming message which he has come to proclaim that of unmmerited favor with God with free forgiveness it cannot be stitched in to their form of established religion. It actually tears it away.” [00:11:57]

“But he refused to go in. Why did he refuse to go in? For the same reason that some of you still do not trust Christ. Because you like the idea of earned acceptance with God. because it puts you in a better light.” [00:09:59]

“You see the issue here is not fasting per se. It is that fasting represents the way in which the Pharisees with their systematized organized religion believed that they could be and would be accepted by God. So as long as they kept doing all these things meticulously, then God would be pleased to look on them with favor.” [00:04:23]

“And you see how insidious the sounds of established religion are ringing in our ears. Oh, you don't need that silly old stuff. You're a good fellow. You're a fine girl. How dreadful it would be, wouldn't it, to be kept to be kept from all of the wonder of what Jesus came to do. Kept by our goodness. Kept from and by our goodness. Kept from and by our badness. I'm so bad he could never fix me. What? Who do you think you are?” [00:19:56]

“So that if we actually think to ourselves that we are stitching into the celestial garment of righteousness our own stitches, then says Spurgeon, we do not understand the gospel. And I am fearful that some of you, particularly from a Roman Catholic background, are just about exactly there.” [00:16:24]

“He's not hiding behind a corner the way that it is suggested on the media that somehow or another God has gone is in disguise somewhere or is hidden off somewhere and we're all looking around for him. No.” [00:08:39]

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Alistair Begg This sermon · AI assistant

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