"Lord of the Sabbath" Matthew 12a_Oct 24 2021
God With Us • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsJesus is Lord of the Sabbath and he is our Sabbath rest
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Redemption Church Update
Redemption Church Update
Thank you for joining us
The title of my sermon is “Lord of the Sabbath”
But before I get into that message, I wanted to mention a few things
Redemption Church is a home church
We planted this church in Jan, 2020 with 23 people present in a school building our first day
When covid hit, it changed our direction - and it forced us retreat into our home - and forced me to accept that it was okay to preach on YouTube and Facebook
It even forced us to put together a website
It forced us to reevaluate how and where God wanted us to serve
For a while, I was frustrated because of all this change - and to be honest, one of my hardest challenges was to preach to a camera
Until I realized that in the big picture, covid was forcing us to do nothing
That it was the Lord who was helping us develop a new vision - and a new way to share the gospel…through technology
The Lord has ordained this church, and many other wonderful churches, to reach many people online
Currently, we have a reach of about 150 people online
Not all of whom are always engaged with us - but our influence is now greater than 23
Technology is today’s equivalent of the Roman road system that enables the gospel to reach many people - even from a humble home church like ours
But even with all of this technology, we still desire in-person fellowship with others
But because this is our home, we are obviously limited in how we invite others - and share with others exactly where live
I’m asking you to consider three ways in which you can support us:
1.) Please pray for us...
2.) Please support us online:
Please like our video messages on FB and YouTube - if you would, please subscribe - and feel free to even comment
Please consider sharing our video messages with others
Please check out our website, redemptionchurchnashville.com - we are still working on it. I ask that you refer to it now, and in the future
Our mission and our partners are on the website to give you a better picture of what we’re all about
3.) Lastly, if you share a passion for what we’re doing - and you’d like to visit, please reach out to me - let’s talk!
My personal email and number is easily accessible - through our video description, and our website, etc.
We meet Sunday mornings and we’re putting together a Sunday evening Small Group
(Pray…)
Sermon
Sermon
Matthew 12 starts off with two short stories about Jesus and the Pharisees
Matthew 12 is the first time we see Jesus actually encounter the Pharisees
John the Baptist dealt with the Pharisees
Jesus talked about them
In Chapter 9, the Pharisees confronted the disciples of Jesus
But this is the first time we read about a direct encounter with Jesus and the Pharisees
In this first story, the Pharisees confront Jesus - that he might be breaking the Law
Verse 9 goes right into the next story - it’s a classic example of the Pharisees trying to use their own logic to outsmart and trick Jesus
I went through the NT and identified the various strategies the Pharisees used against Jesus
Judging / referring to proof texts - “Not lawful to do on the Sabbath”
Blatant false accusations - “He casts out demons by the prince of demons”
Tricking / testing / trapping
Calling Jesus out - “Show us a sign”
All of these tactics were ultimately made to trap Jesus - I could just imagine their strategy meetings before confronting the Son of God
Think about it - these are all tactics the world uses against Christians
They will accuse you and condemn you
They’ll try to trick you or trap you, using their logic
They will call you out
They will sometimes even try to use scripture on you
The Pharisees were never successful at trapping Jesus
Jesus was the greatest apologist - you could never win an argument & you could never trap Jesus in your logic
In most cases, Jesus would answer their question with a question
There was never a way to trap him - he was always several steps in front of them
They often were made to be more foolish once Jesus was done with them
Today, we’re going to look at two stories in Matt 12
Both of them involve encounters with Jesus - and they both center around the Sabbath
I want us first to look at the law Sabbath and what it was - of all the encounters with Jesus and the Pharisees, the Sabbath was a big issue with them
The Pharisees had made a bid deal of about the Sabbath
They thought, “Jesus claims to be so perfect - but if we can just catch him breaking the law of the Sabbath, we can prove he’s a phony and not the Messiah.”
Here’s what was going on:
In the Ten Commandments, God commanded his people to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” And to do no work
The Pharisees came along and said, “Well what exactly is ‘work’?”
The Pharisees then added their own laws on top of the Sabbath Law - they outlined 39 specific rules to what exactly work is.
I have all 39 here:
1. Carrying
2. Burning
3. Extinguishing
4. Finishing
5. Writing
6. Erasing
7. Cooking
8. Washing
9. Sewing
10. Tearing
11. Knotting
12. Untying
13. Shaping
14. Plowing
15. Planting
16. Reaping
17. Harvesting
18. Threshing
19. Winnowing
20. Selecting
21. Sifting
22. Grinding
23. Kneading
24. Combing
25. Spinning
26. Dyeing
27. Chain-stitching
28. Warping
29. Weaving
30. Unraveling
31. Building
32. Demolishing
33. Trapping
34. Shearing
35. Slaughtering
36. Skinning
37. Tanning
38. Smoothing
39. Marking
The Pharisees were self-appointed
We don’t see them in the OT
They came along during the intertestamental period
[“We’re finally going to be the ones to follow the rules”]
Let me just pause and make the point - we are no longer bound by the Mosaic Law and we are no longer bound by the Sabbath Law
If you have your own practical way of resting once a week - and you dedicate that day to the Lord, on your own - that’s wonderful
My own family does our own version of that
But if you think, in a legalistic way, that we are under that Law - then you need to follow it to the letter
Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
Be careful about what you’re legalistic about
In one sense, it’s hard to rest
I think the Pharisees knew that - that’s why they had to specifically outline what was rest and what was work
We have it built into us (most of us) to work
Did you know - that in the garden, the Lord never commanded Adam to work?
He told them to be fruitful and multiply
And to subdue the earth - and have dominion over every living thing
He commanded him which tree to not eat from
But he never commanded Adam to work - he “purposed” him to work
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
It’s built into us to work - that’s why the sin of laziness is so frowned upon in the Bible
It’s hard to rest - resting is like grace - it’s a time we don’t have to do anything, but rest and receive
At the center of the good news of the gospel - is that Jesus did it all for us
We want to make ourselves acceptable - but the gospel tells us we are already acceptable
Grace is a hard concept for us to swallow!
[Someone holds the door for you…]
The Bible says that God set the example for the Sabbath - because he rested on the seventh day - and he made it holy
God rested, so the Israelites rested
But think about it - God never actually needs to rest
Resting on the Sabbath points us to Jesus
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
He is our rest - he is our substance
But God knew it would be a challenge for us to rest - he set the example and rested from his work
God set the example of how to rest in Jesus - right there in the 4th commandment in Ex 20
Listen to this from Hebrews:
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
I used to wrestle with the idea of “striving to rest” - but it makes sense because we want to do the work
We want to meet God half way - resting in Jesus does not come naturally
If you want to be a Christian, you have to rest in Jesus
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
These words are so soothing to our souls - so comforting - but coming to Jesus goes against our grain
We’re like the Pharisees! We want to add rules - we want to take the gospel and make a religion out of it
We want to take the gospel and make our own idols
The pinnacle of Christian maturity is to drop our self-effort and completely trust in the Lord
What a sin it is to resist this concept and to add our own work
It’s literally like saying, “God rested, but I’m better than God - I don’t need to rest. I’ll just come up with my own version of Christianity. Maybe I’ll dazzle God while I’m at it!”
How insidious!
And the Pharisees came along and took this beautiful Law
They come face-to-face with the true Substance of the Sabbath
They took the concept of rest - and added rules to it
In by doing so, they forced rest to become work
Our first story begins - It’s the Sabbath day - the camera fades-in to Jesus - walking through the grainfields with his disciples