Sermons from Lone
Rock Bible Church Sabbath: Remember, Rest, Refocus, Rejoice (Part 4) I want to promote the book “Celebrating
the Sabbath” by Bruce Ray. It is an excellent treatment of Sabbath seen through the
Christian side of things. I would encourage you to read it. Deuteronomy
5 It
would be difficult to talk very long on the Sabbath without mention of the film “Chariots
of Fire.” In that well-done film, a young man named Eric Little was a runner whose
specialty was the 100-meter sprint, which he was favored to win. The centerpiece of the
film concerned Little’s refusal to run on Sunday during the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Little was born in China of missionary
parents of the London Bible Society and following his education and young adulthood
returned to China as a missionary. He died at the close of World War II, having suffered
maltreatment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He was interned for the duration of the
war as a missionary. You can’t trust Hollywood, not
even in a good film. We were led to believe in the film that he was surprised, just prior
to the Olympics event, with the knowledge that his race was on a Sunday. In the film he is
in turmoil and everybody is all upset because he said he would not run, as though it was a
decision he had to make quickly. In point of fact, Little had the schedule for the
Olympics three months ahead of time and he knew well in advance he would not be running on
Sunday. I think it is interesting and
commendable that his convictions were well established before he got to Paris. He did not
need, on the spot, to make a tough decision. It was already made. That decision has been
disputed over the years and certainly can cause a certain measure of confusion and
consternation in the Christian community. Nevertheless, the decision stood. That is why he
had three months to train to run the 400 rather than the 100, which he knew he would not
be running. God’s people have a Sabbath
responsibility according to Scripture. It has been our quest over these past few weeks to
try to shed some light on the matter. We went chronologically, as you recall, to Genesis
with the creation of the Sabbath and the roots of rest and how it is that God ordained
work and marriage and rest prior to sin entering the world. Then how it was that, under
Moses, the day off was elaborated a bit. God’s people were to recall their slavery
and His deliverance of them from their bondage. God’s people were to observe the rule
of rest for their own sake. That was very important and underscored in Scripture. Last week we talked about apostasy and
distortion and how it was when the children of Israel went into exile. It was there that
the gift of God, a day off, became a burden as the spiritual leaders of the land of Israel
focused their attention on scrutinizing Scripture, commenting on it, and commenting on
their comments to the point that they dissected the fourth commandment into 1500 plus
rules for how to keep the Sabbath, what to do and what not to do. By the way, some
mentioned the text in Isaiah 58, about keeping the Sabbath and refraining from doing that
which is your pleasure. Recall that in Isaiah 58, that passage was written during this
time of apostasy. The Sabbath had been twisted and certainly the notion was you have to
quit doing that which is “all about you” on the Sabbath -- which is exactly
where it was headed. It had become a burden. Now, when Jesus shows up, we need to
know that everything changes. Jesus rarely left a situation as He had found it. Jesus took
the Sabbath issue head on. We wish to spend the balance of our time this morning with
Jesus and the Sabbath. Call it the renewal of rest. Point 1 - Renewal by return Return to the Law and to the testimony
as Jesus was saying. Let’s get back to what God had in mind at the beginning. We
talked a little bit last week from Matthew 5:17-20, and how it is that Jesus said not one
jot nor one tittle, which is the tiniest mark of a Hebrew letter, shall disappear from the
Law until all is fulfilled, until heaven and earth pass away. We are going back to God’s
intent, back to God’s design. Recall that He used strong language. “Nothing will
change.” “Truly I say to you.” He was emphatic. He issued a serious
warning. Don’t mess with this, don’t tweak it, don’t take from it, or you
will be considered least in the kingdom of heaven. Remember, He said, your righteousness
needs to exceed that of the Pharisees or you cannot expect to enter heaven. Serious. We
talked about it a week ago; we will not labor there today except to say it was Jesus’
intent to return the people’s thinking to what God originally had in mind with
Sabbath and that is a day of rest, a day to remember, a day to reflect, a day to
rejuvenate, and a day to look ahead to the ultimate rest which is available only in Him.
That is the original idea and Jesus is taking them there. Renewal by royal right Jesus had to re-teach Scripture to a
great extent. By the time He arrived, first century, people who had Bibles did not
understand them. For generations they had been mis-teaching them, turning it all around,
creating burdens that were unnecessary, not cultivating a living relationship with the God
of heaven. So much of what Jesus had to do was un-teach and one of the sharpest points of
friction between Jesus and the religious people came down to the Sabbath. It was huge to
them. So He met them there and whether they would receive it or not, He fixed their
thinking. Mark 2 is a great place to begin. There are half a dozen places in the New
Testament where Jesus took these people on with regard to the Sabbath. This is the first
one. Mark 2 They are plucking heads of grain so
that they might eat. The Pharisees are saying that is work and the standing heads of grain
being left alone is more important to God, than you taking care of your hunger problem.
Jesus said not a chance. He took them to task for this. He said those Pharisees are saying you
are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath. Jesus is saying don’t talk to me about
lawful. I wrote that law. Let me break it down for you. Here’s how it goes. 25And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; He didn’t pick heads of grain
from standing wheat during harvest. He ate consecrated bread, because he was hungry and
because he was God’s anointed. Because
His presence trumped any ceremonial law that may touch on it, David and his men ate. They
ate the consecrated bread that was not lawful except for the priests and he gave it to the
others who were with Him. He said to them, and this is key, this is principal number one
of renewal by royal right: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It is
for the benefit of God’s people that there is a Sabbath. Be very slow to criticize
one of God’s people who is benefiting on the Sabbath. He uses a strong word. The Sabbath, he
says, came about because of man, NOT man because of the Sabbath. They had reversed
it. That is the first principle. The Sabbath is for people. Sabbath means rest, the day of
rest is for people. People were not created for the day. Principle number 2 -- the Son of Man,
Jesus, is Lord of the Sabbath. We could probably just stop right there and ask ourselves,
do we really believe that? Is the Son of Man Lord of the day? He says He is. I believe He
is. He is going to prove He is, and if that is so, we ought to ponder it. In Luke 6:46
Jesus makes the point to those who would listen: Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not
do what I say? Whatever He makes the Sabbath to be, He is Lord of it and we are to submit
to that lordship. Renewal by royal right -- Jesus shows
up. He is the king. He gets to tell us what Sabbath is all about. Renewal by repeated restoration These are the times in the New
Testament in the gospel account when Jesus, in His ministry, deals with Sabbath-related
issues. He tends to be set up. They are after Him. They would rather do away with Jesus
than see their Sabbath unraveled because of Him. In Matthew 12, He has just said (verse
8) the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath and now He is going to demonstrate: 9Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. The synagogue is the place the Jewish
people gathered to worship. Their worship primarily focused on the reading of the Psalms,
the singing of some hymns, and focus on the Scripture. So it should be a pretty biblical
place to be on this special day of the week. On the Sabbath there was a man with a
withered hand. They questioned Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Not
that they really cared. They just wanted to accuse Him. They just want to make an issue.
They want to discredit Him. Keep in mind that someone who is injured or mangled or maimed
or in any way an anomaly, among the beautiful people in this culture, was looked upon as
one who probably had it coming, probably was guilty of something. It was very easy for the self-righteous to look
down on the injured, on the lame, on the ill, and as we shall see in John 9, on the blind.
They have Him in the synagogue and
they are wondering, “Is this a setup?” I suggest it is. 11And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a
sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it
out? Yes, you could do this. If you had a
sheep who was in a pit or caught in something, you could release it, that was allowed by
the rabbis. Think of the implications of this. If you had a sheep then that would be ok. 12"How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then,
it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." The Sabbath, recall, was made for man.
What better day to do good for man than on the day that was made for man? So rather than
spit on the ground and make clay and some of the other things, He didn’t even reach
out or lay a hand on this guy. He simply spoke. 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!" He
stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how
they might destroy Him. What’s up with this? He is in the
business of doing good to man. He is in the business of restoring, and of setting free and
of placing in proper eternal context. He is giving these people what God wants them to
have and the Pharisees, who want to work their way to heaven and establish their own
righteousness and think they are better than the rest, would prefer that He be destroyed.
It is lawful on the Sabbath to do good. People are more valuable than animals. Luke 13 Eighteen years! She had several
strikes against her. One is her malady; she is bent double. Two, it has something to do
with demonic forces, and three, she is a woman. 12When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her,
"Woman, you are freed from your sickness." He laid hands upon her. I’m
wondering about that. He does things differently on different occasions, when He is
healing and so forth. He laid hands on her whereas He spoke to the fellow with the
withered hand. Why might He be laying hands on her? Probably to show that is ok. She is a
woman and it is ok. It is an acceptance gesture, a gesture of intimacy, a gesture of
friendship, a gesture of closeness. He touched her. I wonder how long it had been since
she had been touched in kindness. He laid hands on her. Immediately she
was made erect again. She began glorifying God because she, as the beneficiary of His
grace, knew where it was coming from. Don’t think for a minute she had not tried
other avenues of healing. Don’t think for a minute that an evil spirit could plague
her and not know that this was not from God. She gives glory and she is right. It is the
Sabbath but that is great! What better day to be set free? What better day to be liberated
than the day that God has proclaimed as His special day? But the synagogue official is
indignant because she was healed on the Sabbath, saying to the multitude there are six
days when you should do your work. Come and
get healed then, not today. Could they be more wrong? Could he have been more wrong? 15But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does
not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away
to water him? You have to do that if you are going
to get him to the water. You have to go through a certain amount of effort to take care of
your critter. 16"And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan
has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the
Sabbath day?" 17As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the
entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him. They are getting it! They are
beginning to understand that the Sabbath is God’s day and on God’s day good
things are coming. In John 5 there is a very interesting
passage. 1After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went
up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is
called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and
withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; This is where you go or you get
someone to take you if you think you have any hope of being healed. There was a smattering
of superstition connected with this place and there was a sense that there would be an
angel who would show up from time to time and would stir the water. We are not sure what
the root of all this is, but these folks are not here if they are not desperate. The idea
is if you are the first one in the water after it is stirred, you have hope of being
healed. A certain man was there who had been
38 years in his sickness. When Jesus saw him lying there He knew he had been that way 38
years. He asked what seems to us to be an obvious question, “Do you wish to get well?”
The sick man answered, “I don’t have any way of getting in the water. My friends
will get me this far, but they have other things to do and they don’t know if the
water is going to move. They’re not going to stick around and get me in there. So I
just sit here.” I find it interesting that Jesus did
not say, “Here, let Me.” We do not see Jesus stirring the water. We don’t
hear Him saying, “I know when the angels are going to be here and I’ll be here
for you.” No, He just completely bypasses the pool, the superstition, the crowd, the
human helplessness. Just blows past it! He says, “Get up and walk, take your pallet,
this mat that you have been lying on. Pick it up and walk.” So he did. Thirty-eight
years and he is up, he picks up his pallet and heads through the crowd. Uh-oh. Wrong day.
It was the Sabbath and he was carrying his mat. The Jews were saying forget the 38 years,
forget the months, weeks, days of frustration watching other people come and go in the
pool. Forget it. You are not supposed to carry your pallet. The man said, the man who made me well
said I could. Remember the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath and if He says pick up your
pallet and walk, then that is what you do. Jesus found him later and said to him,
you have become well. This is just a little hint here. We do not know the whole story, but
he said stop sinning or you could end up in worse shape. Somehow this man’s malady
was connected with sin and we have no idea of the details of that. That is not to say that
everyone who has a malady is that way because of their sin or some sort of sin problem,
but in this case it is true. The Son of Man, as Lord of the Sabbath picked a good day to
say, “Stop sinning.” This life you just led that is characterized by sin and
superstition and helplessness -- walk away from it. Carry your pallet. Walk away from it,
including the sin that has held you down. I am going to conclude with a summary statement. Jesus’ arrival and His interaction with people on the Sabbath day, the day of rest, demonstrate that this is the right day for an uplifting encounter with Jesus Himself. The Sabbath is appropriate for that. It is a day to reflect on and to appreciate His saving work. It is a day to see Him clearly, to draw near to Him and away from the world, a day to enjoy His rest. "Scripture
taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Jim Carlson 2006, Lone Rock Bible Church, Stevensville Montana, USA |