Lord Of The Sabbath - Luke 6:1-11

If you have ever felt like faith is just another way to measure yourself, Luke 6 cuts straight through that pressure. Pastor Spencer's message begins with an honest look at how many people define Christianity as moral effort and rule keeping, then we see Jesus do something surprising: he takes his sharpest shots from the most religious people in the room. The tension is not really about a calendar day. It is about who has the authority to say what pleases God, and whether God’s commands are meant to crush us or restore us.

As this message walk through two Sabbath scenes in Luke 6, we learn that Jesus’ invitation is not “try harder” but “come to me.” 

Transcript

eligion That Cannot Give Rest

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Now, if you were to do an honest evaluation about Christianity in our world today, right? Let's just say you were to go in your workplace or somewhere around the world or even the college campus and ask them, most people, what Christianity is about. Many will say something like this Christianity is about being a good person. Most of our world, when they look at Christianity, they think Christianity is about being a good person, right? It's about living morally, it's about following certain rules so that God will accept you. In other words, many people assume Christianity is primarily about religion, right? Kind of like a system of behavior that earns God's approval. But when you read the gospels carefully, you begin to notice something surprising. The strongest opposition Jesus faced does not come from the immoral or the irreligious. It doesn't come from the tax collectors or even the sinners. Instead, the fiercest opposition we see that comes to Jesus as we've been reading through Luke and as we're going to continue to read from Luke and in the other gospels is from the most religious people of his day. You see, this is one of the greatest ironies of the gospel. The very people who study the scripture most in a very crafted and careful way were the ones who failed to recognize the Messiah when he stood before them. The reason is not difficult to see. See, Jesus did not simply come to challenge sinful behavior, but he came to expose the emptiness of self-righteous religion. He confronted a system that trusted more in a human effort rather than in the grace of God. So in Luke chapter 6, we see kind of one of these confrontations. The conflict kind of centers around the Sabbath and what some believe about what is and what is not the Sabbath. But the real issue I want us to give today is the real issue is kind of beneath the surface. It's not just what that Sabbath is or when it is, but it's much deeper. You see, the real question here is about authority. Who has the authority to interpret God's law and determine who truly pleases him? In this passage, Jesus reveals something extraordinary. He is not merely a teacher of the law, he is the Lord of the Sabbath itself. You see, the central truth of this passage is simple but profound. Our main point for this passage is this Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath, and true rest is found only in him. This is the main passage, kind of these verses, is that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and true rest is found only in him. To understand what Jesus is teaching, I want us to look at these two scenes that we're going to see in this passage today. The first one we see in Luke 6, 1 through 5, and that's this: that the Sabbath, the Sabbath was given as a gift. Luke begins with a simple moment of life of Jesus and his disciples. He says this on a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain folds, his disciples plucked and ate some hiddens of grain, rubbing them in their hands. So let me kind of set the picture that's happening here. Jesus is with his disciples. They've been wandering around for a while. We've already read further earlier in Luke when he's already done some things. The healing of the paralytic, some other things where many people were gathering. And so now they're gathering, they're walking on the Sabbath, and they come about these cornfields, which was probably cornfields, and they were walking. And it was known to be in the Old Testament, uh, there was a law given to where if you were hungry, you could, and you saw open field, you could take from that field as long as you were not greedily taking. But if you were hungry, you could walk, you could walk along and grab a little corn stalk and and and shuck. I don't know, I've never lived in a place that has corn. I don't know about any of you, but they would rub it together and the kernels would come off and they would eat them, not like we eat corn today, right? It wasn't buttery good corn, but it was enough to keep them fed. And so that's what they were allowed to do. And in that times, they would walk, right? And so Jesus, in these moments with the disciples, they saw some corn stalks, they were walking along and they gathered and they ate and they kept going. Well, in this time, and much like we're going to see, continuing on in this chapter of Luke, is that the Pharisees were looking on with intriguement, not seeing the great things that Jesus was doing, but much rather with a list of things that they could quickly check off for ways that they could go against Christ. They were waiting for him to mess up. All right, this guy says that he's the Messiah. Oh, we're gonna have a list of things that could come against him. And so they're sitting in the back. I mean, they were in a cornfield, so I'd just picture this. I like the picture as a little humorous, that they were hiding in the corn stalks and just like watching, kind of an awkward thing to do it. But they were watching and waiting on what Jesus and the disciples were doing. So in the midst of this moment, they saw this, right? They saw the disciples picking grain and coming about this. And so the Pharisees immediately object. They say, Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? Now, to understand this accusation, we need to understand how the Sabbath command had been interpreted by the religious leaders of Jesus' day. You see, the Sabbath originated in creation itself. Genesis 2 tells us that after six days of creation, God rested on the seventh day and blessed it. Later, God gave the Sabbath command to Israel in Exodus 20, when he instructed his people to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. The Sabbath reminded Israel that their lives depended on God's provision rather than their own constant labor. It was a reminder to them that what God had done and what he continues to do in their life today, that their labor ultimately only leads to unrestfulness, anxiety, but the rest in God leads to a joy. But over time, religious leaders began to build up detailed regulations about the Sabbath command. You see, the intention of the Sabbath may have been to actually guard the law, but the result was that the law became buried under layers of human tradition. Rabbinic writings later identified 39 categories of work that were forbidden in the Sabbath. 39 different categories of work that you could not do on the Sabbath. And then each category was expanded with numerous detailed interpretations. There were rules about how far you could walk on the Sabbath. You see, after a certain amount of steps, that becomes work. It's called a Sabbath day's journey. There were regulations about carrying objects from one place to another. You can only carry so far, and the object can only weigh so much, because if it was too far or too much, it could be considered labor. There were debates about tying knots. You see, some knots were allowed, but some knots were not because they could be used in labor. Some teachers even argued about whether someone could look in a mirror on the Sabbath. Because if you were to look in the mirror on a Sabbath, you might see a gray hair. And if you see a gray hair, you may want to pluck that gray hair from your head, which would then be considered work. You see, these are the fine details that they had kind of created within this law on the Sabbath. There were also strict limitations on healing. You see, if you're if your life, if you were had a life-threatening illness or disease or something happening, then you potentially could be healed. But if it was, if it was on the fringe of life-threatening, you would have to wait on another day. Like just think about what's like so if you got your arm cut off but it wasn't life-threatening and you could hold the blood in enough, would you have to wait? Like, think about the limitations they kind of created on this day. For those who had kids, like that would be horrible. Like, think about dealing with your kids on illnesses, not only like the sympathy you have for them, but then sometimes when they get whiny when it's not really a big sick, just think about those things you have to deal with all day long. These limitations that they kind of put on this. And so by the time Jesus, the Sabbath, which God designed as a day of rest and blessing, by the time Jesus came, the Sabbath had become surrounded by a complicated system of rules. So when the Pharisees saw the disciples picking and eating grain with their hands, they interpreted those simple actions as harvesting, threshing, and preparing food. They came against him and said, Uh-oh, uh, you guys, you're breaking the rules of your breakfast. See, I told you this Jesus guy, he's breaking the laws that God has commanded. But in fact, they were missing the bigger picture. And Jesus immediately exposes their misunderstanding by directing them back to the Sabbath. What does Jesus say here? He's actually going to quote 1 Samuel here. Jesus answered them, Have you not, have you read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. See, Jesus refers here to 1 Samuel when David and his men were fleeing from Saul and were giving the consecrated bread from the tabernacle. See, according to ceremonial law, that bread was reserved for the priest. But in the midst of men who were hungry and desperate for food, the priest opened that up to them. In that moment, human need took precedence over ceremonial restrictions. Jesus' point is not that the law of God can be ignored. I don't want us to think that. That's not what Jesus is saying here. His point is that the Pharisees had misunderstood the purpose of the law altogether. The Sabbath was not intended to burden God's people with endless regulations, but yet it was meant to remind them that God himself was their provider. The Sabbath was a gift to the people. The Sabbath was a gift from God that they could rest on the Sabbath, realizing truly who was their provider. And the Pharisees had taken that gift and turned it into something that was about rules and regulations. You might think of it like this. For maybe some of you growing up in your home, your parents had it maybe a day of the week or a time that was constrained to family time. Anybody ever have that? Like, hey, this is our family time. You have to be here during this time. All right, maybe only my family. I guess all of your family said, we don't care, go do whatever you want, right? But maybe growing up, your family said, Hey, this is an appointed time where you are going to hang out with your family. And in your teenage years, you said, Well, that is not so exciting. I have other plans. I have other things I'd rather go do. I have other adventures I'd rather go do. I have other people I'd rather be with. But your family said, no, this is a set appointed time that we have. But when the day is over, we often realize how meaningful that time was. How much we enjoyed being with our family, how much we enjoyed spending time with our parents and our other siblings. And as we grow older, we begin to understand just how valuable those moments of connection are. As you have kids and you try to designate time where it's like, hey, this is family time, this is hanging out, you truly understand how meaningful those moments are. How it helps you to connect to your family. In a similar way, God gave the Sabbath to his people as a reminder that they were not slaves to endless labor, but they could stop, rest, and enjoy fellowship with him. That was the meaning of the Sabbath altogether. Is that there's rest in God as we get to enjoy the moments with God. We get to enjoy his presence. You see, I don't know about for some of you guys, but my week oftentimes gets busy with many different eventful things. And it's constantly going. And some of those things are great and loving, some of those things are work and maybe not so enjoyable. And so maybe sometimes in your same life, it's the same way. But man, in the moments that I even get to spend with my family, the rest and joy, like how much joy I have from that. In that same way, God has gifted us even this Sunday morning that we get to gather as believers as a joy. So my prayer for you is that you did not wake up this morning anxious, frustrated that you had to come to church. But I hope that Sunday mornings is a joyous moment for you where you get to find rest. Where you don't have to worry about work and you get to be with other believers. See, that's why God gave us a Sabbath, so that we could stop, rest, and enjoy fellowship with Him. But the Pharisees took that and transformed that gift into a burden. And then Jesus makes a remarkable declaration. He says, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. This is not simply an interpretation of the Sabbath command, it is a declaration of authority. Jesus is saying, I am Lord over the Sabbath. You were trying to debate and decide what and when the Sabbath is. I am Lord over that Sabbath you debate over. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man, a title drawn from Daniel 7, where the Son of Man is giving everlasting dominion and authority by God. By claiming to be the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is declaring that he has authority over the very law that the Pharisees were attempting to defend. John Calvin once wrote, Christ declares that the Sabbath was subject to his authority because the Son of God is the Lord and authority, author of that law. You see, the Pharisees believed that they were defending the Sabbath, but the Lord of the Sabbath was standing right there in front of them. The first thing that we see here is that the Sabbath was given as a gift, and Jesus is the Lord of that Sabbath. Now, the second thing that we get from the second story that Jesus is going to give us here is in Luke 6, 6 through 11. Luke then moves to another scene that we see on another Sabbath day. On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand had withered. The scribes and Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. In the same way that I like to imagine them that they were peeking through the cornfields, ready to mark what Jesus was doing wrong. They were sitting in the synagogue and they see Jesus walk in. And in the same way they're ready. They're like, let's see what Jesus is going to do wrong here today. Another Sabbath, let's see what work he's going to do. So the Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so they could find a charge against him. But he knew their thoughts and told the man with a shriveled hand, Get up and stand here. So he got up and stood there. And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? To save a life or destroy it? After looking around at them all, he told them, Stretch out your hand. And he did, and his hand was restored. They, however, were filled with rage and started discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus. You see, the second thing that we see here is that religion without mercy is dead. Religion without mercy is dead. Now Luke specifically tells us it was the man's right hand for a reason. You see, in the ancient world, just as much as even now, but in the ancient world, this detailed mattered. Most people relied heavily on manual labor for you to be a part of society, a vital part of society, a vital uh father of your household to be able to take care of your household, right? You need to be able to do manual labor. Well, this man here had a crippled hand, easily meaning that he could have the loss of employment, a loss of dignity, and the loss of independence. This man likely lived with a daily reminder of what he could no longer do. Yet Luke quickly shifts our attention away from the man and towards the religious leaders in the room. Notice how Luke describes their posture. They were watching Jesus carefully, but their hearts were not open. They were not listening to learn from him, they were not seeking an understanding, they were looking for an opportunity to accuse. This is one of the tragedies of hardened religion. When the heart becomes proud and self-righteous, even the works of God can become offensive to people. Instead of rejoicing at the possibility that a suffering man might be healed, the Pharisees were more concerned about whether Jesus would violate their traditions. Instead of seeing Jesus do miraculous work, they were more worried about if he was going to break a law that they had created. And Jesus knows exactly what they are thinking. Luke tells us that he calls the man for it and has him stand in front of everyone. So Jesus wasn't just trying to do this to the side. He knew what the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing in those moments. So he stood in front of everybody and he called that man for it. Not only was he not hiding what he was about to do, he was going to put it on display for everyone to see. He tells us that he calls the man forward and has him stand in front of everyone. The moment becomes very public. Everyone in the synagogue now understands that something significant is about to happen, and their eyes are all on what Jesus is about to do. But before he does, Jesus asks this question. This question that Jesus asks exposes the real issue here. Jesus is not trying to debate technol technicalities about the law. And said he's forcing the Pharisees to confront the heart of God's commandment. A law that was given to promote goodness, mercy, and justice. The Sabbath was meant to celebrate the goodness of God's creation and the kindness of his provision. In fact, the Old Testament repeatedly emphasizes that God values mercy over every ritual. That God values mercy over empty rituals. In Hosea 6, 6, the Lord says, For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice. The knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Later, Jesus actually quotes that very confronting, very verse when he's confronting religious hypocrisy in Matthew 12 7. He says, If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the guiltless. The Pharisees had studied the law extensively, but they had missed the heart behind it. Their interpretation of the Sabbath had become so rigid that they were willing to ignore the suffering of others in order to preserve their rules. And so they remained silent. And their silence is revealing. They knew the answer to Jesus' question, but acknowledging would undermine their entire system that they had created. Mark's gospel gives us an additional detail about this moment. In Mark 3:5, we read that Jesus looked around them with anger and he grieved at the hardness of their heart. He saved this man and he looked around at the Pharisees to see the way that they were reacting to it. And when they reacted in the way they did, he had anger in his heart and he was grieved. Grieved for the reaction. Grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He knew in the midst of those moments that they weren't going to get it. You see, that phrase is important. Jesus is not merely frustrated with their logic, he is grieved by their spiritual spiritual condition. Their hearts have become hardened against compassion and against the truth. These people who were supposed to be the leaders of proclaiming who God was had hardened against the very thing that they taught. The very truth that they taught. Thomas Watson Watts wrote, The heart of man is like a stone until God softens it with grace. And that is exactly what we see here. The Pharisees had knowledge of Scripture, but their hearts were unmoved by mercy. They had built an entire religious identity about rule keeping, yet that system had left them incapable of rejoicing when God's goodness was displayed. Jesus then turns to the man and gives a simple command: stretch out your hand. Now, at first, again, he had a withered hand. It might seem like an impossible request. The man's hand was withered. That was the problem. Yet the power of Christ accompanies his command. As the man obeys, the miracle happens. Strength returns to his muscles. Movement returns to the joints. And the hand is completely restored. I don't know about you, but have you ever seen anybody in life that maybe has had some part of their body that has not worked for a long time? That strength is completely gone. Growing up, I had a grandfather who got hurt in a motorcycle accident and he was had stuck to a wheelchair for most of his or for the rest of his life. And he had to move himself constantly, and he had a little movement in his legs, but he had to move himself constantly. And just seeing the way that he had to try to give up to move from a wheelchair to a bid, other things like that. You see how much the muscles just don't work anymore. Years and years and years without being able to move and move those certain parts. Rick Mortis sets in. Where you can't move much, or your legs and your joints and your muscles lock up and are tight. And so you imagine this guy's hand in the moments of this. But you have the power of Christ here. We see the strength turn back to his muscles, movements return to the joints, and the hand is completely restored. It's a beautiful picture of Christ's authority. You see the same people who were rejecting Christ's authority a bit ago missed out on seeing the joy of Christ's authority in the midst of this. A miracle brought back to somebody's life. Instead of rejoicing in the fact that what Jesus did didn't meet up to their standards. And so what did they do? They rejected him and pushed him away in a greater way. You see, this is a beautiful picture of Christ's authority. Just as he speaks and sickness disappears, so also he speaks and sinners are given life. But the response of the Pharisees is shocking. Luke tells us that instead of celebrating, they were filled with fury. Why? Because Jesus in that moment exposed the emptiness of their religion. His act of mercy revealed how cold their hearts had become. Their system of righteousness depended on their ability to control and define obedience. But Jesus demonstrated that true righteousness flows from a heart transformed by God's grace. Just as much as that was a warning in them, it's a warning to us today as believers. It's a warning to us who attend church, who read scripture, who maybe think that we are on a pedestal somewhere. Religious knowledge without humility can produce pride. Moral discipline without grace can produce judgmentalism. And traditions that once served a good purpose can become idols when they replace love for God and love for his people. You see, the irony of this is that the Pharisees believed that they were defending God's law. In their hearts, they believed that what they were doing was right and good to God, but in doing that, they were missing out on God's great gift. See, in reality, they were resisting the very God who had given them the things that they were celebrating. Let us be very careful as believers in this room to not resist the mercy of God, to not put things that maybe are traditions that we hold to, things that we think that were always right, which may not be necessarily, things that we have added on to scripture as beliefs that aren't necessarily scriptural things, resisting God's mercy and joy in that. We see that religion without mercy is dead. And the third thing that we see here is that the Sabbath points to a greater rest. You see, to understand this passage fully, we must recognize that the Sabbath was never intended to be an end to itself. But yet it pointed beyond itself to something even greater. When God instituted the Sabbath in Genesis 2, it was connected to creation. God rested after completing his work and he set apart the seventh day as holy. Later in Exodus 20, the Sabbath command reminded Israel that their lives depended on God's provision rather than their own endless labor. Moses was reminding that the Sabbath is a good thing, that this commandment is not such a rule for you to follow in a grievous way, but is a good thing for you to sit and not work, but yet to rest in God's grace one day of the week, to just totally be reminded of who God is. The Sabbath command reminded Israel that their lives depended on God's provision rather than their own endless labor. But the Sabbath also pointed to something greater and deeper. The Old Testament prophets began to speak about a coming time when God would restore his people and bring them into true rest. For example, Isaiah 58 paints a beautiful picture about what this Sabbath means. It describes the Sabbath as a delight, a day for when God's people turn their attention toward him and find joy in his presence. Isaiah 58, 13 and 14 says this If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day is the Lord honorable. If you honor it, not going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or taking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. Yet even the Old Testament Sabbath was not the final destination. The writer of Hebrews explains clearly in Hebrews 4, 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. In other words, the Sabbath reminds us and points us to a greater rest that comes through Christ. You see, human beings were created to live in fellowship with God. But sin shattered that relationship. And ever since the fall, humanity has been restless. I mean, look at our world today. We live in a restless world. Everyone's always seeking to find their own personal joy somewhere. And it always leads them restless. It always leads them wanting more. We search for satisfaction and success, relationships, possession, entertainment, and achievement. Yet none of those things can give the soul the rest it deserves and needs. The reason is simple. Our deepest problem is not physical exhaustion, it is spiritual separation from God. The reason is simple. Our deepest problem, again, is not a physical exhaustion, it is a spiritual separation from God. That is why Jesus later says in Matthew 11, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Notice the invitation. Jesus does not say, come to a new system of rules and regulations. He says, Come to me. True Sabbath rest is not found in a day of the week, but yet it is found in relationship with the Son of God. I'll say it one more time. True Sabbath rest is not found in a day of the week. It is found in a relationship with the Son of God. Augustine famously captured this truth when he wrote, You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. That rest becomes possible because of the work of Christ. Jesus lived the life we could never live. He obeyed the law of God perfectly, fulfilling every command without sin. And then he went on to the cross and bore the punishment that our sins deserved. At the cross, Christ accomplished the work that sinners could never accomplish themselves. He satisfied the justice system, secured the forgiveness of sins, and opened the way for reconciliation with the Father. And when he rose from the grave three days later, he demonstrated that work of redemption was complete. Because of that finished work, anyone who turns from sin and trusts in Christ can experience the rest that Sabbath has always pointed towards. Not temporary relief from a busy schedule, but peace with God, freedom from the burden of guilt, and the assurance of eternal life. You see, the Pharisees believed they understood the Sabbath, but they had missed its purpose entirely. What God had given as a blessing had become a burden to their hearts and in their hands. They were so focused on preserving their traditions that they could not recognize the grace of God standing in front of them. And if we are honest, the same danger can exist for us today. It is possible to know the language of faith. It is possible to attend church regularly, to read scripture, to remain rel to maintain religious habits while the heart slowly drifts away from God. We can become so focused on maintaining appearances that we forget the very reason that Christ came. You see, Jesus did not come to create another system of rules. He came to accomplish what we never accomplished. And every one of us carries that kind of spiritual exhaustion. We feel the weight of guilt. We feel the pressure to measure up. We feel the constant sense that we must somehow prove our worth to others and to ourselves and even to God. And even maybe today you came into this room feeling the same way. But here's the joy is that the gospel speaks directly to that weariness. It tells us that the work that truly mattered had already been finished. That on the cross Jesus bore the punishment for the sins that we deserve. And because of that finished work, the invitation of Christ still stands. It's not an invitation to try harder. It's not an invitation to clean yourself up first. It's an invitation to rest. To stop striving to earn what Christ has already secured. To trust in the one who lived perfect life that you and I could never live and died the death that you and I deserve to die. This is the rest that the Sabbath always and has will point towards. It is a rest of forgiveness, a rest of reconciliation to God. The rest of knowing that your standing before God does not depend on your performance, but on the righteousness of Christ. And that invitation remains open today. Jesus still says, Come to me and I will give you rest. So the question this passage leaves before us is simple. Are we still trying to earn what Christly freely gives? Or have we truly come to Him and found rest in our souls? Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful, God. We are thankful for the rest that you have given us. I pray as believers, maybe some of us have walked into this room today just restless. God, maybe the sin in our lives had made us struggle with trying to feel worth it to you, Father. Trying to feel worthy. God, I pray that we would just be assured that the work on the cross has been completed for us. God, that we can sit and rest, knowing that you are the true Sabbath. That, yes, God, you have given us this Lord's day as a joy. And God, let us not forget, as Scripture has called us, to join with one another. God, to sing praises, to see your word, to have communion with one another, that these Sundays are such a joy to us that I hope it is. But Father, the true Sabbath is that we get to rest in you as Lord, that you had the work on the cross. Father, I pray if there's anyone in this room that is not a believer this morning, that they would cling to that rest, that they would run to that rest, that you would open their eyes to the salvation that you gift us, and they can rest in you. God, we are thankful for the work that you have done for us. God, I pray for us who maybe are weary and broken today, that you would allow us to rest in you. That we would have a peace in your name. For it's in your name we pray. Amen.