Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunday, June 15, 2008 – Father’s Day – Commissioning of Colville Mission Team

*Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath*

Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5

/7 //If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

8 //For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

/Matthew 12:7-8 NIV

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We are presently engaged in *a study of the Fourth Commandment*, “Remember the *Sabbath* to *keep it holy*.”

If you come from a *Catholic or Lutheran tradition*, you may know of this commandment as the *Third Commandment*.

Those traditions *combine the first two* into one and then *separate the last one* into two.

The *content* of the Ten Commandments is *not cha*nged.

Only the *numbering is different*.

I thought *you might like to know that*.

A *couple of you* have *commented* that I am *quite brave* for *having opened up this subject* and designated *a significant amount of time* to more thoroughly understand *this challenging Commandment*.

It is true that I was a *bit fearful* in *committing to tackle* *this assignment* because of the high likelihood that I *might be stepping on someone’s toes* in doing so.

But, *in all frankness*, this issue of the Fourth Commandment has been *hovering over me* for most all of my ministry.

I have *seen so vividly the impact* of the *lack of conviction* regarding this special day, *this gift* from God to *rest*, to *worship* and to *fellowship with God’s people* to our Lord’s honor -- I have seen *what happens when this day is not honored*, that I *confess to you* that I do come to this subject with *a great deal of emotion and passion*.

I have *watched many, many Christian young people* who in their *jr.

high years* were making *great progress* in their walk with Christ, *come to their sophomore or junior year* in high school and go off to *find themselves a job*.

One of the *severe realities* of part-time *jobs for young people* is the frequency of being *placed on the schedule* for the *least desired hours*.

Those hours seemed to *create a conflict* with the times for *worship*, Sunday School, *youth group* and Bible study.

Not infrequently, these Christian youth *would soon be on the fringes of the church family* and their *walk with Christ would suffer*.

A major component of their Christian support system was removed.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the *subsequent diminishing of interest* in spiritual things.

I have also *witnessed the depletion of troops* for the accomplishment of *ministry objectives* because *other commitments were made to sports teams* on Sundays.

As a *spiritual coach* filling out the roster for *Sunday night’s game*, called *Youth Group*, I have often found that we have *had to play without a first baseman*, left fielder, and *third baseman*.

*What baseball coach* would feel good about that?

What *likelihood is there* that we’d *win the game that night*?

I mention this to demonstrate that *what we believe about the significance of the Fourth Commandment* has a very real *impact on the viability of our ministry*, in addition to an *impact on the vitality of our relationship with Jesus Christ*.

God has *given us this day of rest* to make us *strong*, not to make us *weak* as *individual Christians* and as a *community of Christians.*

In our *first two sermons* we have looked at *Exodus 16,* where the practice of the *Sabbath was first outlined*, and at *Isaiah 58,* where we *gained a greater appreciation* of how the gift of the *Sabbath benefits* those who honor the day.

From those two texts *we identified 10 concepts*, truths or *meanings* attached to the Sabbath principle.

(1) The *Sabbath* is a *gift from God*.

It was *not an invention of men*.

It was *initiated* and *prescribed* by God.

(2) The Sabbath is a *day of rest* after each *six days of labor*.

This gift *distinguished **Israel** from other nations*.

It is a *testimony* that God is *an advocate for all* who were *weary* and *heavy laden*.

(3) The Sabbath is a *memorial to God’s act of redemption* from slavery and sin.

When *Moses restated* the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, he said that *the rationale for the Sabbath* was to be a day to /15 //Remember// that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day./

So the Sabbath is *a memorial to God’s act of redemption*.

(4) The Sabbath is also a *memorial to God’s act of creation* when *He rested* on the seventh day.

When Moses *first stated* the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, he said there that *the rationale* for the Sabbath had *its basis in God’s rest* from His act of creation.

/For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy./

(5) We also learned *from Exodus 16* that the Sabbath *needs* *a day of preparation*.

Successful observance of the Sabbath *requires planning and preparation*.

If we are going to *gain the most benefit *from the Lord’s Day rest, we need to *think it through* before we enter it.

Plan it out.

(6) The Sabbath is *intended for a humble, repentant and obedient people*.

Christ is Lord and we are *His servants*.

(7) The Sabbath is an *intentional act of saying “no” to our own pleasures and business* on that day to make way *for the priority of rest, worship, fellowship and ministry*.

(8) The Sabbath is to *create a new culture* on the Lord’s Day.

It is a culture *that is God-centered and glad-hearted*.

God instructs us to *call* *the Sabbath a delight*.

(9) The Sabbath is *a feast day*, not a *fast day*.

(10) The Sabbath is God’s way of *developing our skills of time management* around *His priorities*.

Now before we *get to our texts* for today, I need to say that *I will in one of the next two sermons* deal with the matter of both *the distinction of the Saturday Sabbath from the Sunday Lord’s Day* and the *continuity of the Sabbath with the Lord’s Day*.

There is *simply too much material* on this matter of the Fourth Commandment to *get it all packaged neatly* in 5 messages *without getting some things out of order*.

So, please *bear with me* on this.

I do plan to *soon address* how Sunday is *like and unlike the Sabbath*.

*The texts* we look at *today* from the *Gospels* will help us determine if *the Sabbath has any abiding significance* for us today.

*What does Jesus say* about the Fourth Commandment?

We find that *He does much of His teaching* about the Sabbath in *response* to the *opposition* of the Pharisees.

Such is *the case* in our story for today.

I’m going to *primarily work out of the Luke text*, Luke 6:1-5, and refer to the *Matthew and Mark parallel texts* when they add an *important detail*.

*Luke 6:1-5 **(NIV) */1 //One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.

/

/2 //Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are You doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” /

Well, the Pharisees had *created several additions or addenda* to the Law of God.

*They weren’t content* to simply abide by *what God had given*.

They *created extensions* and *additions* and *corollaries* to God’s Law.

The *net result* was the creation of *a great burden of rules and regulations*, of which they *pronounced themselves* as, in particular, *the Sabbath Police*.

Now they had developed *quite a list of prohibitions* pertaining to the Sabbath.

But, keep in mind, these were *their inventions*, *not God’s*.

For instance, since *reaping* was *not allowed* on the Sabbath, the Pharisees *tightened up the idea of reaping *and said that *picking was the same as reaping*.

*Threshing was wrong* so they *expanded that* to say that *rubbing their hands together* with grain inbetween was *equivalent to threshing*.

*Grinding was a violation* and when they *saw the disciples chewing the grain* they accused them of *grinding with their teeth*.

So, there was no way that anyone would not *feel the oppression of these burdensome rules and restrictions* of the Pharisees.

And, *here the Pharisees were gloating* that they had *caught Jesus and His disciples* in the very act of *violating the Sabbath*.

Their buttons were *about to burst with pride.*

But, *since* they were *doing this in the name of God and God’s Law*, and were *full of hypocrisy and pride*, you can imagine that *Jesus was not very happy* with how the Pharisees were *crushing sincere God-fearing people* with their *burdensome regulations*.

So, . . .

/3 //Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

/

Jesus was here *referring to **1 Samuel 21:1-6* and it’s *clear to me* that Jesus was *doing more* than just *jogging their memory*.

He was *mocking them* for their *ignorance* and their *abusiveness*.

He was *rebuking them* for their *hypocrisy*.

He was *bursting their bubble of pride*.

You see, as part of *the wardrobe of the Pharisees*, they would have a *box attached to their forehead* and one attached *to their wrist*.

Within the box were *portions of the Scriptures*.

It goes *back to Deuteronomy* where God is urging His people to *know His commands* and thus instructs them to *bind them on the forehead*.

*Deuteronomy 6:8 (NIV) */8 //Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

/

They *took that literally*, but *missed the point* while doing it.

The Lord’s commands *were no closer to the minds of these Pharisees* by being *in their little boxes* on their foreheads than if they had *buried them 6 feet under ground*.

It was *all for show*, like *standing on the street corner* so everyone could *see them praying*.

Jesus *exposes their hypocrisy* and their *motives*.

O, they *likely knew the story of David* eating the showbread from the temple *when his men were hungry*, but they *wouldn’t want to be reminded of it* since it would *undermine their case against Christ*.

So, Jesus was *pulling back the cover* that was keeping these Pharisees *blind to the truth of God’s Word,* truth *of which* they *wanted everyone to think* they were *great experts*.

So Jesus *reminds them*, (David entered . .

.) /4 //He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.

And he also gave some to his companions.”