Lord of the Sabbath

I find myself saying some of the same things my parents would say to me. You know, anybody else relate to that? Like sometimes it’s you know is this really something worth fighting over? You know, I I say that to my kids and then I I hear my parents voice in the back of my head saying that to me, you know. One thing about disagreements, whether you’re a kid or an adult, is that in the moment, when you think you’re right, it feels like the most important thing in the world, doesn’t it?

It’s probably not, but it can feel that way. And in this passage, we see there’s a disagreement between Jesus and our old friends, the Pharisees. They’ve come back for more, right? And and Jesus is one who shows us how to disagree. He doesn’t just tell us the right answer and he doesn’t just tell us why we need him.

All of that is important, but he shows he models for us what godly, good, gracefilled disagreement looks like. And Luke includes these stories of Jesus and the Pharisees clashing for a reason. You know, it’s easy for us to want to beat up on the Pharisees. They’re kind of seen as the bad guys in a sense because they oppose Jesus. But we can learn a lot from the Pharisees.

The reason that we can learn from them is because as they draw attention to issues they have with Jesus in that stark contrast, we learn more about Jesus. Like for example, when Jesus tells the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven.” And their immediate problem, that raises a red flag for them. They say, “No, only God can forgive sins.” And Luke is drawing our attention to that point and saying, “Look, this is who Jesus is.”

the the very objection they’re raising is highlighting who this Jesus is. That’s why he’s saying these things. And so we can thank God that he works all things together for good, including the grumbling of Pharisees. And Luke is using these interactions with Jesus to show us that he really is the God who came for you. He came on a mission to save us.

So here’s the big idea this morning. Jesus because Jesus is Lord, he can provide the true Sabbath rest for his people. That’s the big disagreement in this passage. It’s all about the Sabbath. What do we do with the Sabbath?

So, if you would please stand for the reading of God’s holy and perfect word. Would like to stand as a way of saying we recognize God’s word is our authority. We we come under it right now. Luke chapter 6 says, “On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the presence which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat and also gave it to those with him. And he said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching a man whose hand right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. Thank you. You may be seated. Again, as you read through the Gospel of Luke, whether we’re going through it here on Sunday or you’re reading through it on your own, keep in mind that Luke’s overarching goal is that we would contemplate who Jesus is. That that we wouldn’t miss the big picture about him.

And this happens to be about the Sabbath. How does Jesus relate to the Sabbath? Big dispute here. Maybe doesn’t fully resonate with us because here we are in the 21st century and and it’s easy for us to look at this and say, you know, these these Pharisees, they they fussed about everything, including even the Sabbath. But we need to keep in mind as we try to step into the first century Israel, this Sabbath principle was very important.

And it was a very sacred thing to Jewish people. It’s what marked them out as the people of God. Everybody else, you know, they they would work whenever day whatever day they wanted. They would work on Sundays. They’d work on Saturdays.

No big deal. But the Jews said, “For one day out of the week, we’re going to stop everything and we’re going to rest in who God is. We’re gonna look to him and acknowledge he’s our provider.” So, it wasn’t like the Pharisees were alone in wanting to honor the Sabbath. Was a across the board.

Every Jew, every faithful Jew cared deeply about the Sabbath. It’s hard to find an exact comparison, but it might feel a little bit like how important coming to church on Sundays is to us, only more so because it was a national identity. It might feel a little bit like how much emphasis we want to put on Christmas and Easter. But for them, it wasn’t just a holiday or or a day to celebrate. It was a sacred thing that they said we have to do this every week, not just once a year.

In the ten commandments, God had said, “I created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day. So, I want you, Israel, to work for six days and rest on the seventh.” That’s the day you give to me. That’s the day you honor me and worship me. So, that’s the context in your notes.

The Sabbath was a core practice to maintain Jewish identity. It would be a little bit like saying they didn’t know who they were as a people without the Sabbath. This is what separated them from the Gentiles and the pagans. This is what preserved their Jewishness. They they did things like eating kosher.

They worshiped at the temple. They celebrated the feast. And they observed the Sabbath every week. So we need to understand this scene in that light. And Luke introduces this passage by saying this all happened on a Sabbath day.

Verse one says, “On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” You get the sense that the Pharisees were just following Jesus around everywhere he went, like paparazzi, just hungry to catch him doing something wrong. What is Jesus going to do today? What what can we pin on him today?

Apparently, they had nothing better to do. They’re just so focused on Jesus. And it’s interesting that they would be so obsessed with him and yet be so opposed to him. Some of you might know someone like this in your life, someone who’s your constant critic, right? Right?

They don’t notice the good things you do, but they’re happy to tell you all the things you’re doing wrong. That’s the Pharisees. They want to find out what is Jesus going to do that we can pin on him, that we can say to everybody in Israel, this guy is not your guy. He’s not your Messiah because of this. Later in this chapter, Jesus will say, just remember when you criticize others, remember that the standard you use on others is going to be used on you.

Remember that. As a dad, I’ve had to work on this. It’s so easy to go around and and call out things that my my kids might be doing wrong, but I’ve tried to work on being a dad who catches my kids doing the right thing. Right? God calls us to be those who build others up, not tear them down.

He wants us to be those who who see the good. And everyone is in need of encouragement. Every person you meet today and going forward, everybody needs encouragement. Have you thought about that? There’s not one person that’s going to say, you know, I’m all tapped out.

I I can’t handle any more encouragement today. You know, everybody needs it. And you can be that blessing, that person that says a word of encouragement into someone’s life when they most need it. When everybody else seems to be dragging them down and everybody else seems to be criticizing them, you get to be the person that says, “Hey, this is something you need to hear. This is something that will encourage you.”

Here we see the Pharisees were the self-appointed Sabbath police. They’re going around and they’re they’re raising red flags here. Now, at this point, the religious leaders had made this long litany of laws of what not to do on the Sabbath. All these can’t do this, can’t can’t you know, walk this distance, can’t you know, serve a meal, can’t prepare a meal, those kind of things. And they called this fencing the law.

And the idea was God’s law is so important to us that we’re going to build up some more man-made laws around that as a perimeter just to keep God’s law safe. So nobody will even get close to breaking it. The problem, of course, is that then you’re dealing with man’s law, not God’s law. God’s law actually permitted the disciples to do this. In fact, there is a verse in Deuter Deuteronomy 23:25 that says, “If you’re hungry, you can pick grain from your neighbor’s field.”

And the disciples weren’t out there, you know, harvesting a whole field. They’re just trying to fill their hungry bellies. And that’s what was permitted by the law. And one thing we see about the Pharisees is that they do not give up easy. Remember, they have come back to him over and over.

You’d think they’d learned by now that you can’t outsmart Jesus. And yet they keep trying. Something that stands out to me from this passage is that despite how eager the Pharisees are to catch Jesus doing something wrong, Jesus always has a response for them. It’s not as though he gets caught with his tongue tied or he he’s suddenly caught flat-footed and has nothing to say like, “Oh man, I I don’t know how to respond to this.” He always knows exactly what to say.

It’s like the Pharisees just keep trying to pin Jesus down and he effortlessly outmaneuvers their attack every time. As the Messiah, his words carry power. And Jesus is the most secure human being in every sense. He knows who he is. He knows what he believes.

And he responds with conviction. I think that’s something we can all learn from Jesus. We live in a very polarized culture where we don’t always do disagreement very well. People often bash each other instead of trying to learn from each other. We pick teams.

You know, you got a team for politics, a team for theology, a team for ethics, and then once you’re in that team, you just make sure that you oppose the other team and you make them look foolish, you make them look bad, you make them look evil as much as possible. That’s not healthy. Honestly, I know haven’t been perfect in this area of disagreeing. Well, I’m sure all of you are doing great. But people in general can get downright nasty when they disagree.

They don’t know how to disagree well in the way of Jesus. And that’s a sad thing. And [snorts] this only gets worse online. You know, this is that it’s almost like everything is amped up to the worst degree online where people feel the freedom to just spew out insult and it becomes like this playground fight where people say the worst possible things about each other instead of engaging over the issues in instead of wanting to see a disagreement as an opportunity to sharpen one another, learn from one another, and grow. It’s it’s become an us versus them.

And look, it’s it’s good to give reasons for why you believe in Jesus, but even when it comes to standing up for Christ, if you’re coming across as someone who’s just trying to bash the other person with logic and reason and show them how foolish they are for not believing in Jesus, even there, we misrepresent Jesus. So, this is an opportunity where as Christians, we can learn to put Christ on display even in the way we disagree with others. Proverbs 3:7 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes.” In other words, if you have too lofty a view of yourself, it’ll skew your perception. You’re you’re going to think that in every disagreement, your job is to prove how right you are and how foolish the other guy is.

But if instead we see disagreement as a chance to help one another and grow together, it can be a good thing, can be helpful. So the first principle in your notes is to disagree. Well, we need both courage and kindness. Courage and kindness. That’s how Jesus did it.

For some Christians, their issue is not so much that they’re loud and proud, but that they’re too soft-spoken. They’re they’re too afraid to engage in disagreement. I think we all kind of have a natural disposition one way or the other. We we will either want to fight when we come across conflict, you know, stand up for what’s right and and bash the other person down or we will have flight. We will take flight.

We’ll we’ll want to run away because we don’t want to have any kind of conflict. We don’t want to have any kind of disagreement. And so we leave opportunities for when we could be speaking the truth into a situation and we don’t use those opportunities for good. But neither fighting nor fleeing is the loving response. Now, in certain situations, obviously, disagreement could get to the point where it’s it’s not even worth engaging because if the other person just wants a shouting match, all you can do is maybe try to diffuse the situation or walk away.

But on the whole, love doesn’t run away just because someone disagrees. It doesn’t cut people out of your life. It doesn’t cancel people. It doesn’t say, “I’m never going to associate with you anymore because you disagree with me.” No, love engages for the sake of the truth.

And Jesus did not run away from disagreement. We see that clearly in this passage when someone disagreed with him all through the gospels. In fact, the only time that I can find Jesus going silent is before his accusers on his way to the cross. But in every other case where he is challenged and he knows this is my opportunity to stand for the truth. I’m going to speak boldly and charitably.

I’m going to stand for the truth, but I won’t hold people in contempt. I won’t show contempt to others as I share the truth. I’ll do it with grace. And that takes courage because in many ways it might be easier to walk away. You know, we because we live in that polarized culture a lot of times we feel like it’s not even worth it.

Just leave it alone. You know, I that person’s settled. I might as well not say anything. But opportunities for speaking the truth come our way all the time. And if we do it with love, if we do it with kindness and patience, it’s important to do.

[snorts] Think about this. Those early Christians didn’t get crucified, thrown to the lions, and speared to death because they ran away from every disagreement. No way. They knew what they believed. They were people of conviction and they knew the way, the truth, and the life in Jesus.

And they wanted to speak that truth even when people oppose them initially. It’s because love demands that we do this. Again, without courage, we will all go silent in the face of disagreement when truth needs to be said. [snorts] I would like to think that at the end of the day, I can ask myself and really wrestle with that question. What price am I willing to pay for the sake of Jesus?

What am I willing to endure? What what hostility, what kind of opposition am I willing to endure for the sake of Jesus and proclaiming his love? At what point do I say, you know what, it’s not worth it. I think for those early Christians, they knew in their hearts, I am going to stand for Jesus even when people oppose me. I’m going to be bold.

Jesus Jesus knew his Bible well. And so he helps respond with scripture as he often does. He tells them basically, “You guys are thinking about the Sabbath in the wrong way. You’re accusing us of breaking the Sabbath, but let me show you from scripture where you’re going wrong.” He begins by telling them the story of David from the Old Testament in 1st Samuel 21.

And in verse three, it says, “Jesus answered them, have you not read?” Now, this is Jesus poking a little fun here. Because these guys were the Bible experts of their day. And so he’s basically saying, “Aren’t you guys like the experts on this book? Haven’t you read have not you read this passage from 1st Samuel 21 where David when he was hungry and he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the presence which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat and also gave it to those with him.”

In that passage, Jesus is mentioning David and his men were on the run. King Saul was this jealous king who wanted to kill David. He was the threat to his power. And so they run and they come to the tabernacle and they go to the priest, aim him. And him says, “Look guys, I know you’re starving.

The only food I have here is the bread of the presence.” This was the sacred bread. It was there to basically symbolize God’s presence is with his people. And he will provide for his people. And so it was only for the priests to eat.

According to the law, David and his men should not be touching that bread. But a himch looks at the situation and because he knows God. He knows the true character of God. He recognizes that he has a higher duty in this situation to meet basic human needs. These guys are starving.

They need food. And if he asked himself, you know, is God a God who is for life or against it? The answer was clear. I don’t I don’t have to think twice about this. You guys can have this bread.

I know it’s according to the law. It’s set aside for the priests only, but I’m going to give it to you guys because you guys are hungry. And that violated the letter of the law, but he did it anyway. So follow Jesus’s logic. He’s bringing up this story because he’s saying, “If even David and his men when they were starving were willing to violate the letter of the law because they were so hungry, should not you recognize that my followers when they’re hungry can pick grain on the Sabbath?

It’s meeting a basic human need.” Jesus was telling them, “You’ve claimed to have mastered theology, but you need to rethink who God really is. Do you think that God laid down those laws because he wanted people to starve? Is that why he did that? You need to rethink who God is.

That’s what Jesus is telling them. And then Jesus gives another reason these men are permitted to pick grain on the Sabbath. He says, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” So notice Jesus isn’t just debating scripture. He’s telling them who he is.

Every chance Jesus gets, he pushes the issue of his identity. He’s saying, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath.” And by forcing them to deal with claims about himself, he’s he’s pushing the issue beyond just the Sabbath. They want to debate the Sabbath. He’s saying, “No, I want you to think about me.

Think about who I am and how that relates to the situation.” This was a massive claim. Secondly, in your notes, when discussing differences, our central conviction must be the lordship of Jesus. That’s got to determine everything. Should we engage or not engage?

How should we speak to this person? What matters that I say here? The lordship of Jesus is that all determining reigning factor in that conversation. How do I represent Jesus? How do I show others the love and kindness and mercy of Jesus?

If I’m not doing that, I better stop because it’s all about the lordship of Jesus. Jesus has already been given several titles in Luke. He’s been called the son of the most high, savior, Christ, Lord. And then at his baptism, remember the the father looked at him and said, “This is my beloved son with whom I’m well pleased.” And then Luke has shown Jesus’s authority to heal, to forgive sins, to cast out demons, to call people to follow him.

And now he makes this enormous claim. He says that he is the son of man. He takes this title to himself drawn from Daniel 7. Some people assume son of man, that must mean Jesus is saying, “I’m only a human. I’m I’m a mere man.”

But that’s not what happens in Daniel 7. One like a son of man comes. He is a man, but he comes before the ancient of days and he receives a kingdom and all dominion and power and glory and worship. So really by claiming the title son of man, Jesus isn’t saying I’m just a man. He’s saying I’m more than just a man.

I am a man, but I am the one who will receive all dominion. All will worship me. All will serve me. Every nation will bow down to me. That’s the claim he’s making.

And he’s also the Lord of the Sabbath because who else could be the Lord of the Sabbath? Who but God could claim a title like that? The Sabbath command came from God. And of course, Jesus is not going to be opposed lightly here. They they hear this.

They recognize what he’s saying, and this causes more friction. But Jesus is standing for the truth. [snorts] In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus explains the real purpose of the Sabbath. He says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” And see, if you understand God is a God who is for life, not against it, you’re going to understand what the Sabbath is really all about.

It’s not a reason to weigh people down, is not a reason to burden people and push people down and point out everything they’re doing wrong on the Sabbath. That day was designed to be a day of healing and restoration and getting your eyes on who God is and how generous he is. That he would give us so much. God designed the Sabbath from the beginning to be a day of worship to remember who he is. In our fast-paced technology saturated world, this command actually is all the more important because, you know, we are so good at hurrying through life.

We’re so good at going through days and filling our schedules and and packing everything in. And the Sabbath is God saying, “I have a gift for you. One day out of the week, I want you to take time aside just for me. Just just stop what you’re doing. Rest.

Rest in me. See, God knows that we have a capacity as human beings. We are finite. We’re not God. We can’t keep going on forever.

He can keep the world spinning just fine without us. It’s not as though you stop for one day out of the week and and that labor is going to cause this huge problem. No, it’s it’s going to be good. It’s going to be right. Jesus says he is the Lord of the Sabbath because he will provide for his people.

He came to give us rest. That’s what we’re all desperate for. Anybody here exhausted? Anybody here know what that’s like? To to feel like your tank is empty because you’ve been running and going and working.

And Jesus says to you, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. I’m going to give your soul rest. I’m going to give you exactly what you need, but you need to push pause. You need to stop and get your eyes on me. Luke then tells us another time about a Sabbath happening.

This could be just a week or two later. We don’t know. But again, Jesus isounded by the Pharisees. Only this time, Jesus is teaching in a synagogue. And it says that they were watching to see if he would heal anyone.

You know, how dare he heal somebody on the Sabbath? And Luke says they were eyeing him carefully. And in God’s providence, there was a man sitting there in the crowd in the sa in the synagogue who had a withered hand. He had a disability. We don’t know.

It must have been atrophied or it could have been something that he was born with, some kind of deformity in his hand. But the good doctor Luke tells us with clinical precision it was his right hand. He points that out because that’s his best hand. In other words, when all the other young men were learning how to drive a plow and catch fish and build homes, this guy was out of work. This guy had a withered hand.

He had a disability. And so that put him at a disadvantage for all these things in life. And at this time, we don’t know that much about him really other than he had this disability. At that moment, Jesus looks right at him. Jesus sees him.

And I love that Jesus notices people. All through the gospels, Jesus takes time to notice people. It’s not as though his schedule’s so packed or so rigid that he he can’t stop for anyone. You know, no, I got to get through this lecture or, you know, I’m on to, you know, do some a preaching circuit over by the Sea of Galilee. I can’t talk to you blind man.

He doesn’t do that. He pauses. When people cry out for him, he listens. He says, “What would you like me to do for you? How can I help?

I’m here for you.” Jesus had time for people. And it says that these religious people were were watching him. And Jesus knew what they were up to. This is one more reminder that Jesus is God because he can read their minds.

He knows exactly what they’re up to. And so he looks at this man with a disability and he he says, “Why don’t you go ahead and stand up? Stand up. Come on, get up. And and everybody’s looking at him like this is a feeling a little bit awkward for him.

Maybe he’s he’s used to people staring at him, but not in a good way. And now the spotlight’s on him, and there’s no subtlety. Jesus wants everybody to see him. But Jesus has a reason for that. He says, “I have something for you.”

Now, this guy, we don’t know everything about him, but we know that he did want to be healed. Because anybody with a disability will tell you it’s something that they think about. And Jesus says this in verse 9, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save life or to destroy it? So just imagine the tension building in that room.

And Jesus asks this brilliant question. Jesus is so good at asking questions. He cuts right through it all, right to the heart of the matter. What is the Sabbath really about? What do you guys think?

Do you think it’s a day that we hurt people or help people? Do you think it’s a day that we encourage and give life to someone who’s broken and hurting? Or is it a time to destroy life, kick people to the curb? And in that moment, as the questions hanging in the air, it says Jesus looked at each one of them. Can you imagine that?

Jesus with that piercing gaze looking at each person. What do you guys think this Sabbath is about? Remember back in Luke 2, we read about the 12-year-old Jesus. It says he was in the temple with the religious leaders and he was asking questions and giving answers that were astonishing. And we see that played out all through his adult life.

His answers were astonishing, but his questions were devastating. And this one is no exception. He’s forcing them to see the true impact of their endless laws. Law upon law, building up this long tower, this wall that separates people from a true relationship with a generous God. He tells them they’ve missed the true purpose of the law.

See, the Pharisees thought of law as restriction. Jesus thought of law as restoration. It’s restoration to what we were always meant to be. And no, the Sabbath was a day of healing and renewal. And so Jesus is turning the tables on them.

And ironically, he’s saying to them, “I’m not the one breaking the Sabbath. You guys are the ones breaking the Sabbath.” In a sense, they treated God like a cosmic killjoy out to stop all enjoyment of his world. But Jesus said, “God is a king who’s given us these creation principles for the good of his people so that we would enjoy him.” And the more you interact with the Pharisees, the more you see just how lost they were because of their reaction.

Their hearts had grown cold. They had no love for this man. They didn’t care about him. He’s just one more guy that needs to get back in shape. But Jesus loved this man.

We don’t even know his name. But Jesus loved him and saw his need. And he knew the Sabbath was a day that this man needed to experience mercy. And so verse 10, after looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” Well, that’s something he couldn’t do.

He’s got a withered hand. But in that command, stretch out your hand, that power suddenly went into his hand. Suddenly, he could do something he never could do before. And it says, “And he did so. And his hand was restored.

Jesus brings restoration. He makes people new. He gives life and joy and freedom. The third principle in your notes, true followers of Jesus will prioritize mercy over judgment. That’s what James 2:13 says.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. These Pharisees had kept this very long list of little things that you need to do to be godly. But they had missed the big things. Things that Jesus called the weightier matters. Things like justice and love.

They had forgotten about those big picture things that God cares about. So that’s a good reminder for us. You can be doing all the right things outwardly, but you can miss the big picture. You can miss the reason you’re doing it. You can see that these Pharisees, they weren’t relating to God.

They were performing for him. That’s how they thought of God is that’s someone I need to perform for to make him want me to to love me to so that I can earn his acceptance. They weren’t relating to him. They were performing for him. The Sabbath reminds us to slow down enough to let our heart align with God’s heart.

To stop and ponder the things that truly matter. Things like love, mercy, forgiveness, and peace. These are the things that matter to God. God is for life, not against it. That’s why he gave us the Sabbath.

And the Sabbath will feel like a waste of time when you’re ruled by busyness. Because there’s always going to be more to do. That that to-do list never goes away. It keeps growing actually. And so the Sabbath says, “Put that aside just for now.

Just for today. Give me this day so that you can know who I am.” And then we read in verse 11, “But they were filled with fury.” That word in the Greek means unthinking madness and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. On the one hand, this is bizarre.

Here, Jesus has just healed this man with a withered hand, and their response is, “Okay, how can we get rid of this guy?” You know, they’re ready to destroy life. Just like Jesus was talking about, he’s giving life. They want to destroy life on the Sabbath. And that shows us the natural outcome of a hardened heart is violence.

It it’s opposed to life. And so even Jesus bringing restoration, the stark contrast is so evident there. And the thing about mercy is that until you’ve received God’s mercy, it’s going to feel like an uphill battle to show mercy to others. If you know how much mercy you’ve received from God, it will be the natural overflow of your life. You’ll enjoy showing mercy to others because God has shown you endless mercy.

Faith in Jesus always shows up in actions. 1 John 3:17 says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing ministry as tasks, checkboxes, things I got to do. Ministry is people. That’s why we do ministry.

Again, Jesus made time for people. And in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says, you know, if you had a sheep, he tells the Pharisees, if you had a sheep that fell into a pit, you wouldn’t hesitate to go get that sheep out because that’s your sheep. But how much more valuable is a person, a human being, than a sheep? He’s bringing the issue to this point that this man with the withered hand, he matters to God. He has value in Christianity.

Human beings have inherent value. They’re not treated like animals. That they’re not means to an end. That’s why all over the world, including in this church, Christians have always practiced ministries of mercy. People who couldn’t respond, couldn’t reciprocate are shown love.

People who have disabilities are cared for and valued. Why? Because they’re made in God’s image. God loves them. And if I’m going to love God, I need to show mercy.

That’s what Jesus did. Jesus embodied mercy. And maybe [snorts] at the very least, you can think of mercy as a willingness to inconvenience yourself to meet the needs of others. A willingness to take time out of your schedule, your day, that precious time, and and say, “I’m going to give it towards serving someone in need.” That’s mercy.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful. They’re going to receive mercy.” The merciful don’t just wish the hurting were cared for. They actually do something about it. They don’t just send good vibes.

They actually go themselves to do something. They share the gospel with others because they care about where others spend eternity. When they find out there’s a need, they they mobilize. They they act to do something about that. They live out the mercy they’ve received.

And so, here’s a a good question for us, a good application question. Is the Sabbath for Christians today? It’s a question that’s been long debated. Speaking of differences and disagreements, Christians have been debating this one for about 2,000 years. But Romans 14 reminds us that some issues are a matter of personal conviction.

What day do we honor the Sabbath? Is this still active? My own take is that Jesus didn’t just do away with the Sabbath. He didn’t he didn’t throw it in the trash bin, but what he did is he gave it fresh meaning. Hebrews 4 says, “There remains,” it’s New Testament book.

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Remembering the Sabbath reminds us that salvation is by grace, not works. It’s not your effort. It’s God’s efficiency. He does it all.

Jesus went to the cross and paid for all of your sins. He did the entire work of salvation from A to Z. There’s no work left for you to do to earn a spot in heaven. So, we can rest. That’s what the Sabbath points us to.

We can rest in all that God has done for us. We don’t have to carry that impossible burden of earning a spot in heaven. The early Christians started gathering for worship on Sunday. Sunday became like the new Sabbath for them in a lot of ways because that’s the day that Jesus rose from the dead. And so they called it the Lord’s day because he is the Lord of the Sabbath.

They also committed to rest on that day because they recognize this pattern has been there since creation. Six days of work, one day of rest. And that fits our design as human beings. Research has shown this. Even secular social researchers have said you know what if people just go and go and go their life expectancy is going to shorten their efficiency their actual work is going to be less productive if they don’t take that one day out of seven to rest and for us as Christians we recognize that we gather we worship and we get our eyes on the Lord and recognize all the work we do in the rest of the week it’s all because of him we we don’t want to fool ourselves and think that this energy and strength comes from ourselves.

It’s from him. And so we give him this day. I’ll leave you with this question. What would it look like for you to incorporate the Sabbath principle into your weekly rhythm? Now, this is something like for some of us, we’re already doing this, but I would say that all of us can think more deeply about this.

What does that mean? That God wants me to rest, to to put down the phone, to pick up my Bible and get my eyes on him, to stop from all the frenetic energy, all the busyiness, and make time in my schedule to just be with God. That’s what the Sabbath points us to, and that’s what we need. Let’s pray together. Gracious Father, I thank you that you are a gracious God who shows us what rest looks like.

True rest in you. It’s not about just stop

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,774 words.