According To Luke: Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath

According To Luke: Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath

Opening Illustration:

There are some really strange laws out there. I did some research and found a few of them. Notice that they are all dealing with issues in the church. Check them out.

Young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi, unless it’s in a church. 

In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather duster while she’s in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in jail. 

No one can eat unshelled, roasted peanuts while attending church in Idanha, Oregon. 

In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except police. 

No citizen in Leecreek, Arkansas, is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment. 

Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, Virginia. 

Turtle races are not permitted within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana. 

Point:

Laws are not all bad. As long as laws are interpreted correctly, laws can be very helpful. However, in Jesus’ day, we have some commands given by God, interpreted incorrectly by man, and instead of helping clarify sin, these laws because a noose around the necks of the people. These laws did not save, rather they were sinking people. 

Answer me this question this morning…

Are You Law-Abiding or Liberated?

Background:

Yet again we come to another poor judgement by the Pharisees. The Pharisees at this point in history were less men of faith and religion and more rule keepers. They were constantly trying to put on display their righteous acts and their pious behavior. The theme of trying to make Jesus look unrighteous and unholy continues in Luke 6 from Luke 5. As we read the story, we see that the Pharisees compare Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath against the Law. 

Specifically the Pharisees have two problems with Jesus and His disciples. First, they were traveling on the Sabbath. They felt that Jesus had walked to far. The second grievance was that Jesus and His disciples were harvesting by picking grain along the road. Again, on the Sabbath you could not walk to far, lest it be work, nor could you harvest grain because that too would be work. 

This morning, I want to accomplish two things. First, I want us to listen to the Words of Jesus. If Jesus is Lord, as we said last week, this means that He is Lord of everything, including the Sabbath. Next, I want to talk briefly about the benefits of the Sabbath. 

For the record, Jesus did not break the Sabbath. Hardly. The Pharisees had interpreted the Sabbath command incorrectly. The Pharisees had forsaken the entire law of God and only interpreted this command concerning the Sabbath in that vacuum. Jesus interprets the command correctly. He uses the entire counsel of God’s Word.  We will discuss that in a moment. 

For now, let’s read Luke 6:1-5 from the ESV. 

Scripture

Luke 6:1-5 ESV

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. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus’ Is Lord of The Sabbath!

I. Sabbath Defined vs. 1-2

Luke 6:1-2 ESV

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. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

Introduce Why Should I Observe The Sabbath Video

Of all the commandments, I believe that I break the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy the most.  I have always struggled with resting.  I work all the time it seems.  Sunday is not a day of rest for me. Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath day, is certainly not restful as my family runs from event to event, from game to game.  I have weddings that I perform on Saturdays.  During warmer weather, we play baseball.  I wash cars and do yard work.  “Well preacher, don’t you have an off day?  Couldn’t you use that as a Sabbath day?”  I could but I don’t.  I go to the gym, take care of things around the house, pick up kids from school and go to more practices.  As a father of three and a husband to one (one’s enough) I find myself never resting. 

Friends, let me tell you, when it comes to law breakers I am at the top of the list.  So are you.  We live in a go go go society.  We work hard.  We don’t sleep long. We eat worse.  So, when it comes to the Sabbath and keeping it holy, I am a law breaker.  I am guilty.  Case closed.  

But it’s not all bad news this morning.  Our salvation is not dependent on keeping the laws.  We are not saved by keeping the commandments.  That’s what Scripture says.  

Galatians 2:16 NLT

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law."

Listen to what Martin Luther had to say in 1518…

"It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his 'good works' unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's."

So, we are not saved by the commandments or the law, but the law is beneficial because it reveals our sin.  I agree with Martin Luther, we are not saved by our works. Saying this, I believe that the practical application of observing the Sabbath is beneficial to all of us and I am going to start trying to find ways to observe it.  Researching and studying this commandment has opened my eyes to value of resting.  Let me share with you what I have learned and maybe we can all work on this aspect of our life.  

Scripture:

Exodus 20:8-11 ESV

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Point: So What Does Sabbath Mean?

According To The Baptist Faith And Message

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

“Shabbat”

Shabbat is primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The word "Shabbat" comes from the root Shin-Beit-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.

If you don't take a Sabbath, something is wrong. You're doing too much, you're being too much in charge. You've got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you're not doing anything.

-Eugene Peterson

Jesus’ Is Lord of The Sabbath!

I. Sabbath Defined vs. 1-2

II. Sabbath Derailed vs. 2-4

Luke 6:2-6 ESV

2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”

Illustration: Hijacked 

I read about an airplane that had been hijacked somewhere in Europe. As the hijacker made his demands to the pilot, something amazing happened: the pilot realized that the hijacker did not speak French. The pilot did speak French and knew that most of the passengers also spoke French.

So the pilot spoke to the passengers over the public address system of the aircraft. But he spoke in French, so the hijacker never really knew what the pilot was saying. The pilot said:

"The hijacker has demanded that we land right now. I am going to do that. Keep your seat belts fastened and you will be OK. As soon as we land, I am going to slam on the brakes. Since the hijacker is standing in the aisle, this will rock him backward. I will them immediately hit the gas, and this will rock him forward. He will fall flat on his face.

"When he falls, those of you in aisles one through ten are to pounce on him. The flight attendants are going to use the coffee makers to heat lots of hot water. Once you have him down, they will pour the hot water on him. By that time, I will have opened the cabin door, and the police will get him."

The plan worked perfectly!

Point:

Planes are not the only things that get hijacked easily. The Pharisees tried to hijack God’s commands and Jesus pours some pretty hot water on them. 

Point:

This is a very difficult moment to understand in the Bible. I struggle with this conversation because I actually see where the Pharisees were coming from. I like rules. I like structure. I like the black and white and honestly I find a great deal of comfort is strict boundaries. 

If you are parent you know what I mean. We try to provide the exact same atmosphere in our homes. We have rules and boundaries that we expect to be followed. We expect our children to stay within the boundaries that we have set. If they do so, they are blessed. If they do not, then there is punishment. 

Humans love rules and routines. We may say that we don’t but all of us function in the everyday routines that we have created for ourselves. We become very uncomfortable when we break from those routines. 

The Pharisees were rule makers and enforcers. They loved the routines, patterns and commands in the Bible. They loved them so much that they created rules for the rules. It was not just good enough for them to take comfort in the routine of life, they also had to make sure that everyone else was following suit. 

The Pharisees were more concerned with enforcing the law and less concerning with the spirit of the law. 

Essentially the Pharisees had missed the point. So over the top the Pharisees were about keeping the law that they would:

Rather see people starve than be fed.

Rather see people thirst than drink.

Rather see peoples ability to work go up in flames that extract their ox from the ditch. 

Rather see people remain sick than be well. 

Rather see people remain blind than see.

Rather see people remain mute than speak.

Rather see people remain disabled than healed.

Rather see people deaf than hear. 

You see, most of Jesus miracles came on a Sabbath. Read for yourself, Jesus loved to heal on the Sabbath and the Pharisees could not stand it. Jesus, in healing people, was working and working on the Sabbath was strictly forbidden. 

Point:

The Pharisees have hijacked the the law. They cared more about about the legalism of the commands instead of the spirit in which the command was given. 

Point:

Are we guilty of doing the same today? Sure we are! We miss the forest for trees all the time when it comes to faith. Jesus was more concerned with the spirit of the law than the letter of the law and he gives examples of David. David was starving. He entered the temple where only priests were allowed to go. He took bread that only priests were allowed to eat and he ate it. God, being God, does not want anyone to starve. God certainly knew what the law was but God’s greater concern was life. 

God’s greatest concern is always life! 

The Pharisees cared nothing about life. They only cared about the law.

Point:

A few months ago I was a part of a panel discussion with the Alabama Baptists in Prattville. The topic came up about racism and how Alabama Baptists are responding. This was in the wake of all the Confederate Monuments being taken down. There was a clear divide among white Baptists and black Baptists. There was a white pastor who was serving in Selma. The church he was serving at still had rules on the books that African Americans, blacks, were not allowed to attend services. It was a white only church. Hard to believe that that sort of racism still exists but it does. The pastor was moving to have the rule stricken from the books. He was looking to change the law. However, the church pressed against him not wanting the rule to change. Their outcry? “What would happen to the building if we allowed members of a different race to attend?”  

They cared more about a building than about people. They would rather their building sit empty than minister to young black boys and girls in their community. 

You see, they missed the spirit of the law and replaced it with the wrong letter of the law. 

They cared more about the material than the man. 

May it never be so with us. 

John 15:10 ESV

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

Jesus’ Is Lord of The Sabbath!

I. Sabbath Defined vs. 1-2

II. Sabbath Derailed vs. 2-4

III. Sabbath Defended vs. 5

Luke 6:5 ESV

5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Point:

The Pharisees tried taking Jesus to task about the Sabbath. They felt they corned the market on the day of rest. There was just one problem. Jesus owned the Sabbath. Remember, Jesus is Lord. If He is Lord, then He is Lord of everything, including the Sabbath Day. 

When Jesus tells the Pharisees that He is Lord, He is giving them some pretty impressive information. 

The word being used is kü'-rē-os, κύριος, δεσπότης. 

he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

1. the possessor and disposer of a thing
1. the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
2. in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor

Jesus is not necessarily making a statement about the Sabbath. He is making a statement about himself. Jesus is Lord. The owner. The possessor. The disposer. He is in control. He is the master, the sovereign, King and chief. 

How can you tell someone that owns something what he is to do with it? 

Friends, I want you to remember that the law is only beneficial in discovering sin. It has no benefit to salvation. Only Jesus saves. Only Jesus heals and redeems. 

Jesus clarifies that the Sabbath day was not meant to lock people down, it was mean to liberate them from work. The Pharisees were actually breaking the Sabbath because they were working so hard trying to keep it perfectly.  

Brothers and sisters, the Sabbath is met and kept in the person of Jesus. Jesus is our Sabbath. He is our rest. We can rest in Him and have full confidence in Him.

Sadly, the Pharisees were missing their greatest source of rest because they were missing Jesus.

Point:

Friends, let me remind you that Jesus does want us to rest. He provides the example of rest for us. When is the last time you stopped, rested in your salvation, took some time to refocus and renew your strength?

Are you feeling burned out and burned down?

Perhaps you need to stop, breath, rest, and reinvest in God’s Word.

Remember, if Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, He is Lord of You!

Jesus Is Lord Over Us!