Incomparable Matthew 12: The Rest Of The Story

let's start with prayer because we're continuing our study what book are we studying the book of Matthew let's pray together Father in Heaven I ask that you'll be with us this morning you've already been with us in the singing in the offering it's been great the children's story what a great story about that horse even a horse that knew about Sabbath and father now as we spend a few moments and turn our attention to the text of Scripture may you turn your attention to us by the spirit may we leave here with a better understanding not just of Scripture not just of the Bible but more importantly may we leave here with a better understanding of who you are maybe we know your heart and know what you're all about this is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say Amen all right let's open our Bibles to the book of Matthew does anybody know what chapter we're in okay very good Matthew chapter 12 so join me there if you would our sermon today is titled the rest of the story Matthew chapter 12 let's go there together in the twelfth chapter of Matthew we find that Matthew's Gospel is gaining a kind of momentum it's picking up speed right it's not that it started slow but it is certainly there's a rapidity to it now there's that there's a sequence there's a feel that things are picking up that Jesus is gaining in popularity but as Jesus grows in gains in popularity particularly with those who were on the fringes of 1st century Judaism right the Gentiles and the lepers and the tax collectors and the those that were outside of the in-crowd as we talked about last week the in-crowd became the out crowd and the out crowd became the in crowd as the gospel of matthew is picking up momentum we get this sense that Jesus is on a collision course with the religious leaders of his day and that is exactly what takes place in Matthew chapter 12 here we find up to this point in Matthew's Gospel the most decisive conflict and the most in-depth conflict that Jesus will have up to this point it's going to be a significant conflict and hostility and disagreement between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day particularly a group of people that were called the Pharisees what were they called everyone the Pharisees the Pharisees were the religious elite of Jesus day they were not the sad you see in aristocracy that were sort of the puppet rulers of Rome the Pharisees were the religious conservatives they were the ones who knew the Bible they were the ones who knew Scripture and Jesus is this provocative young upstart he's this he's this cutting-edge new rabbi and people are being drawn to him people are being attracted to him again not all the right people some of the wrong people were being it's wrong people I use in quotations are being attracted to Jesus and as his popularity increased he was becoming quite obviously a threat to the religious establishment conflict was bound to happen as Matthew's Gospel picks up this momentum we anticipate we expect a conflict and in Matthew chapter 12 we encounter that conflict head-on and so our presentation today is titled the rest of the story now if you just look at Matthew chapter 12 you'll notice that there's a lot of verses there how many verses are in that chapter 50 verses this is going to be a difficult one because it's a lengthy chapter this leaves me basically with two choices because it covers such an expansive material I can say a little about a lot or I can say a lot about a little or some of you might think well David if we know you it well at all you're gonna say a lot about a lot okay so today I'm going to try to be disciplined and I'm gonna try to say a lot about a little bit and then we'll just summarize the second part of the chapter we're gonna spend most of our time in the first Oh 15 to 20 verses of Matthew chapter 12 now before we get right into Matthew chapter 12 let's remind ourselves of where we've come from notice the last three verses of Matthew chapter 11 Matthew chapter 11 this is how we closed our sermon last Sabbath and Jesus gives these well-known perhaps the best known verses in the whole Gospel of Matthew right the best known verses arguably in the entire Gospel of Matthew are these verses which Jesus speaks with sympathy he speaks with passion he speaks with conviction and kindness and he says come to me all you that labor and are heavy-laden and what are the next words there and I will give you rest come to me what an invitation Jesus at this point is in his late 20s early 30s this is a this is an audacious invitation and it is pregnant with meaning for a first century Jewish audience we're gonna see that in just a moment think of the audacity of a by his standards and by the contemporary standards he was a young rabbi he was unmarried he wasn't part of the in-crowd he wasn't part of the religious elite and he has the temerity to say come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I not I will introduce you to rest naught I will show your ass naught I will teach you how to rest but I will give you rest it is mine to give I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest not just for your bodies you will find rest for a while what does it say for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Matthew chapter 11 ends with this hugely provocative hugely audacious invitation of Jesus come to me because I can give you rest as a gift not just bodily rest not just physical rest I can give you rest for your what was it everyone I can give you rest for your souls and if you had been alive in the days of Jesus and you had been somebody who was either a Pharisee yourself or sympathetic to the Pharisees you might have thought to yourself who does this guy think he is how does he have the the audacity to say that he can offer to us restfulness for our souls as we continue our series through Matthew's Gospel we find ourselves here coming to the end of our fourth chapter we've been through Jesus's son Jesus as preacher Jesus is healer those are the first nine chapters and then now Jesus is leader and in these chapters that I've taken over the last three Savas we have seen Jesus sending we have seen him encouraging we have seen him empowering we have seen him correcting we have seen him instructing and today in Matthew chapter 12 we're even going to see Jesus defending this is Jesus as a leader empowering and sending out his disciples the twelve disciples and then the outer circle that was even outside of them okay then next week we'll pick up Matthew chapter 13 we'll get into our fifth chapter which is Jesus as teacher which will take us right through to chapter 20 something that we've noted several times already in our series is that Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses and I'm not going to recapitulate that information here that that there is good textual evidence and good textual reason to believe that Matthew is presenting Jesus as a new Moses as a new deliverer who is leading God's people out of Exile here's a remarkable point though about Israelite history check this out Moses brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt that's a story that would be known to all of us here and people outside of even Christian circles would know the story of the Red Sea right the parting of the Red Sea and the exodus from Egypt but a fascinating thing happens Moses led the children of these Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness but when Moses got right to the borders right to the edge to the boundary of the promised land Moses couldn't take them in Moses was not able to take them into the Promised Land but he could get them to the borders of the promised land Moses put the baton into the hand of a man named Joshua and Joshua then led the children of Israel in to the promised land this is a key point there's almost a little symbolism here a significant amount of it in fact because because Moses as a symbol of the law check this out could not get God's people into the Promised Land Moses could get them to the borders of the promised land but then Moses places the baton into the hand of Joshua Yeshua and Joshua leads them into the Promised Land but Jesus is presented here by Matthew not just as a Moses figure but he's also presented as a Joshua figure why do I say that look at this here on the screen Jesus is not only the new Moses according to Matthew he is the new Joshua bringing rest to the world incidentally the name Joshua and Jesus are the same name it's the Hebrew Yeshua right Jesus name was Joshua and he's not just Joshua in name I want to show you that he was Joshua in terms of the fulfillment of his mission one of the great promises that the the Jews held to and that they clung to especially the early Jews going back to the time of Moses was the idea that they would have their own land this is very near and dear to Jewish hearts today right since 1948 when the the nation of Israel was founded there has always been a a passion at the core of the Jewish psyche and the Jewish mentality to have our own lands our own Strip our own place and even though you and I today might look on the news in regard you know Israel is a place that you might not want to spend a lot of time there's war it's war-torn and there's massive hostility and conflict there for for Israel and even Palestine to a degree for a people to have their own land so this is ours there are people in this room I'm looking at Blair and Emma Sam and Katie who are about ready to get their first house is that right Blair it's your house it belongs to you it is my house and many of you in this room if you own a house it's yours you have a sense of ownership and it's a place where you can go and there are well-defined boundaries and you don't have a landlord you own it probably in most cases the bank owns a lot of it but still you have the keys so that you have the keys to the door that's the point right so there's always been this idea that that you would have something that was yours it belonged to you okay that was a big part of the Jewish mentality that they would have their own place in their own land check this out all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy going back to the Old Testament Moses says when you go over the Jordan River and you live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to in here it'll be your land it'll be your nation it'll be your country you're gonna own it well what was the real attraction of having your own land and having your own place and having your own territory well here it is he will give you what's that next word there he will give you rest he will give you rest from all your enemies roundabout so that you can live in safety you'll have your own place and you won't be surrounded only by by all these hostile tribes and hostile nations you will have rest of course the modern nation of Israel is experiencing nothing like rest right but the ancient promise to ancient Israel was all you'll have your own place and you'll have land and you will rest Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 19 notice here again when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess you will not forget the promise was a promise of rest and that's in Deuteronomy that's before the time of Joshua Moses wrote that the baton is now placed into the hand of Joshua and Joshua actually did that in the sixth book of the Bible it describes the the Israelites going into the land and receiving the land we had a great sermon on this about a year ago today on the the Israelites going into the Canaan land look at this Joshua chapter 21 right down there to the end of the book and the Lord gave them what did he give them he gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers he kept his promise he said you're gonna have your own land you're gonna have your own place and you will have rest hopefully now you can begin to see the pregnancy and the significance with which Jesus is speaking when Jesus has the audacity I've said audacity several times here it was audacious it was ridiculous it was absurd for a 20-something year old rabbi to be able to say to the religious establishment of his day a strong robust opinionated stubborn Jewish religious culture to say to them come to me come to me and I will give you what did he say he would give them but not just bodily rest he said I will give you rest for your souls so you would have been well within your historical rights if you were sort of a bystander to Jesus you know you're just sort of checking him out he's going from town to town place to place if you would have just been like who's this who's this guy think he is he carries himself like he's Moses he he's now carrying himself like he's Joshua does he think he's going to give wrath the promise of rest was a promise that was near and dear to the heart of Israel the place of land the place of rest the place of reprieve the place of peace from hostility that surrounded them the rest that Jesus offers of course is not arrests from enemies that are external to us notice this the real enemy is not people but according to the Gospel of Matthew the real enemy is sin that's rebellion against God and death which is the consequence of that rebellion every human being knows about both of these things and Jesus brings rest from these that's why he didn't say I'll give you political rest I'll give you national rest I'll give you physical rest he said I will give you soul full rest you will find rest for your souls what an audacious promise realistically a what a what a what a ridiculous thing to say unless of course it was true well what follows immediately after Jesus promise of rest are two significant events that revolve around the Sabbath okay Jesus is confronted and one of the sticking points and first century Judaism with Jesus was his treatment of the Sabbath his keeping of the Sabbath his disciples keeping of the Sabbath and he was regarded both by bystanders but especially by the religious leaders of his day of playing fast and loose with the Sabbath he was liberal with the Sabbath and he wasn't strict with the Sabbath and he wasn't textual or biblical with the Sabbath and so you get the sense that this this conflict is coming a conflict over the Sabbath is coming and we encounter it in Matthew chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 we'll read the first two verses here at that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath Jesus had just finished promising rest now we're gonna talk about the Sabbath Matthew was very purposeful very intentional very organized in his presentation of Jesus and his ministry he's walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples were hungry and they began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat right I remember as a boy I grew up in Wyoming and my grandfather had a large farm that was just over the border in Nebraska and we would go visit his farm regularly as a child and when the wheat was getting ready for harvest we'd go down there and we'd pick the heads of wheat and you'd get a head of wheat your hand and you just go like that and it would basically pull the kernel of wheat out of the chaff and you just you just blow the chaff away and throw that sweet soft wheat into your mouth we just we'd spend a better part of an afternoon until our stomachs felt sick eating that's what the disciples are doing they're just walking through the edge of a field and and they're gleaning they're grabbing the little heads of wheat and they're but the Pharisees see it look they say look what your disciples are doing verse two and they said to the Pharisee said to him the religious leaders of his day look hey maybe you hadn't noticed Jesus maybe it had escaped your attention that your understudies your students your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the sabbath this is a very important story Jesus here is being accused now it's fascinating Jesus himself is actually not accused they don't say you are eating Jesus apparently was not eating but he was allowing his disciples to eat there just plucking grain right there don't have the combine out there not they don't have the Ox out they don't have the horror style they're not plowing the field that it's grabbing some grain scraping you know rubbing it in their hands blowing away the chaff and eating the grain and the Pharisees there you get the real sense that they're on the lookout they're on the prowl they're looking for something with which to accuse this provocative young upstart and so they say hey look what about your disciples they're breaking the law of Moses Jesus gives three responses and Jesus responses are a masterclass in both conflict resolution and in textual art argumentation and check this out Jesus said to them have you never read now let me just pause right there and say that that is quite an insult to people who regard themselves as experts in Scripture what an audacious thing I mean who is this guy he carries himself like this I mean he's 28 he's 29 maybe he's as old as 30 and he's speaking to people who would have been his senior in religious education would have been a senior in age who would have been his senior in in standard a standing within the religious community and he says have you not read he's gonna say that again verse 5 have you not read look at verse 7 if you had known it is a significant rebuke to call into question the conversin sea and the literacy of religious people in their own religious texts he cites three instances the first thing he tells us a story of david we're gonna come to that in a second the second thing he tells us the story of the priests in the Old Testament who profaned the Sabbath and the third thing he does is he quotes from a book called Hosea let's just go through them because they are fascinating have you never read what David did when he was hungry and those that were with him how he entered the house of God that is to say the sanctuary Moses sanctuary the the sanctuary that Moses had built the temple has not yet been built at this point and he ate the showbread that was not lawful the Pharisees had said hey your disciples are doing what is not lawful and Jesus is like well what about David he did something that was not lawful was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who are with him but only for the priests hey don't you know that story don't you know your own religious texts don't you know your own religious book don't you remember that story well there's something very interesting here fascinating Jesus is not playing fast and loose with the Sabbath he's not saying oh it doesn't really matter what you do on the Sabbath what he says is amazing he says hey don't you remember that story that story from your own book let me remind you of the story it's found in the book of 1st Samuel 1st Samuel chapter 21 now let's remind ourselves of who David is at this point in the story David is fleeing from Saul what's the guy's name that he's fleeing from so David has already been anointed as the king you might remember that story right Samuel the Prophet shows up and he says to David's father hey look one of your sons gotta show me in Division one of your son's is gonna be the king and so he brings out the firstborn Samuel is like it's not him brings up the second brings out the third brings out the fourth brings out all the sons and Samuel is like these don't look like any of the guys that I saw in my vision and then the dad incredulous Lee says well I do have a youngest boy but he's he's of no real significance he's just out taking care of the sheep and Samuels like call him bring that guy in so they bring in young shepherd boy David and when Samuel sees David he's like this is the one yeah this is the one that I saw and check this out David was anointed as king follow this carefully he was not enthroned as king he was anointed as king by Samuel on that very day when it came time for him to receive the kingdom Saul who was the king that was in in the position of the king would not give it or the throne he would not give it to David so there was this dispute about David's royal claim David believed he was the king Samuel believed he was the king God knew he was the king but his royal claim was not recognized by the religious leaders of his day or actually was recognized by the religious leaders of his day and that's the key when David comes fleeing and he comes to the sanctuary he finds a priest there the priest named as a hymn elect doesn't matter what his name is but his name wasn't him elect and David goes up to the temple and he's like hey I'm fleeing for my life Saul's trying to kill me I'm super hungry do you have any food and the priest is like man the refrigerator's totally bare but we do have the showbread but that's the that's the holy bread that's the temple bread and only the priests are allowed to eat that and David's like please give me the bread I need that bread and the priest is like all right here's the bread okay now here's a really cool thing check this out David was anointed but not enthroned he was the rightful king if that makes sense say Amen that's that's the historical story that Jesus is quoting from here the priests assistants of David hey I'm really hungry well there's nothing in the fridge take the Royal bread excuse me the holy bread take the priestly bread the priests assistant revealed his support of David and of his royal claim Jesus doesn't just cherry-pick some story out of the Old Testament think about Jesus own situation has Jesus been anointed at this point in the Gospel of Matthew was Jesus yet been anointed gay was baptized like in Chapter three he was baptized nine chapters ago so he's already been anointed he has presented himself as Israel's King but his royal claim is under dispute and what Jesus is saying is remarkable he's saying if you really understood what was happening in front of you right now there is already an anointing the true king is standing before you and the religious leaders of ancient times in David's time they understood when the true and anointed king was in front of them and they weren't antagonistic to David they supported David what are you doing that's the first point that he says first point haven't you read haven't you read what David did how he did that unlawful thing notice the next one here verse five it says or have you not read again the the the subtlety and the nuance of these insults Jesus is not being he's not being pugilistic here he's not being purposefully argumentative but they have challenged him on lawfulness and so he's asking them but what about your own text have you not read and now he quotes from the Book of Numbers how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath but they are blameless the priestly duties continued on the Sabbath right all of the priestly duties whether it was the sacrifice of animals or the going into the holy place all of those duties continued on the Sabbath and Jesus is like hey what about in your own book where the priests worked the priests worked but they were blameless Jesus here is saying there's a priest in your midst who is working he is blameless not only is there a king in your midst that you're missing there is a priest in your midst who is working and you're missing it verse 7 yet I say to you in this place there is one greater than the temple that'll be the first of three greater than statements we'll see them as we go through the text greater than the temple but if you had known what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless Jesus says they've committed no sin they've committed no crime the picking of a few bits of we eat and been you know rolling them in their hands that their guiltless but if you knew what your own Bible said Hosea chapter six I desire mercy God says I want mercy not sacrifice I'm not impressed by your devotion I'm not impressed by all these austere things you do just treat one another well that's what I'm impressed with God says now here's a fascinating thing when Jesus gives these three answers the story of David is found in 1st Samuel the priest profaning the temple is found in Leviticus and Hosea is a prophet the Jewish Division of the Old Testament was a three-fold division the law the prophets and the writings the writings were the Psalms and this Ecclesiastes and that kind of thing so the threefold division even today if you ask Jews about the division of the Old Testament they'll say the law that's the writings of Moses the prophets and the writings did you know that you notice that Jesus has carefully chosen a story from the law and the prophets and the writings Jesus has said in in a masterstroke of addressing the the concern that they have he has said look the text of Scripture is on my side not yours a king is in your midst a priest is in your midst and what God is really interested in is not these austere rules that you make but in just treating one another with mercy and with kindness and with humility what a beautiful story now Jesus then excuses himself from their verse 8 he says the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath which is again an audacious claim I am the Lord of the Sabbath I decide what is appropriate and inappropriate on the Sabbath I decide what is lawful and unlawful on the Sabbath then we come to the second of two instances that revolve around the Sabbath picking it up in verse 9 now when he had departed from there so they leave the grain fields right the Pharisees are standing there going right because he's just given them the law and the prophets and the writings and shown them that their accusation was unfounded so now he makes his way to a synagogue when he went into the synagogue that was a man there who had a withered hand so there's this guy there in the synagogue with a withered hand palsy hand and they asked him hey since we're talking about the Sabbath and since you've promised to give her about everybody rest is it lawful there's that word lawful your disciples do what is not lawful David did what is not lawful is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath this was actually a fascinating rabbinical question in the days of Jesus and there were all of these very fastidious first century rules about what was appropriate not appropriate okay in first century that there was different rabbinical schools and some rabbis said no healing on the Sabbath is appropriate another said no you can administer medication on the Sabbath as long as the medication was mixed and prepared before the Sabbath you know all of these little no that's okay but that's not okay that's okay but that's not okay so they want to see where does Jesus come down in this debate is it okay to heal on the Sabbath this man he has a palsy hand would it be okay to administer an ointment or to put some sort of a poultice or would it be okay to to heal on the Sabbath is that lawful so right at this point we're just gonna press the briefest of pauses and I want to point this out the essence of the Sabbath and of the whole law is love and life can you say amen to that the whole purpose of the law the whole purpose of the Old Testament the whole purpose of the Sabbath has as its rock-bottom foundation love all the work all the laws fulfilled in one word love and life now with that in mind I ask you a question and it's a question that a surprising number of seventh-day Adventist do not know the answer to and I'm gonna guess that you'll be just like most people I want to ask you a question that would seem really obvious and really easy to seventh day evidence and many of you here today or seventh day Evan it's not all of you of course but many of you are according to the Sabbath commandment just how does one keep the Sabbath holy I'm asking anybody want to give me an answer how okay remember how do you remember it Carl come on now don't be timid don't be Australian how do you do it okay you rest okay rest okay so you keep the Sabbath by resting how do you keep it holy according to the commandment the commandment doesn't say to pray the command doesn't say anything about worship go ahead Jackie all right Tony I knew I was gonna do that Tony I'm the commandment I want the commandment according to the commandment according to Exodus chapter 20 Deuteronomy chapter five I want to know how to keep the Sabbath you crazy seventh-day Adventist people you by the way you've given an answer that's a correct answer that's the only correct answer so far is to rest anybody else okay thought we already got that base covered Trevor we're gonna rest in God what is that what is that okay John no we're getting somewhere now let's go read the commandment let's just read it let's remind ourselves of this important commandment the 4th and the 10 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy check six days you shall labor and do all your work yep check but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God check got it yep in it you shall do no work oh here we're getting to the practical okay how do I keep it holy how do I keep the Sabbath holy in it you shall do no work you nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your cattle nor the stranger who is within your gates okay got it for in six days the Lord made the heaven the earth to sea and all that is in them and he rested the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it that's the commandment now the first thing I want you to notice about this commandment is what's not there you just read it we just read it what is not in the commandment first of all there is nothing about a ceremony in the Sabbath command nothing nothing about ceremony there's nothing about worship in the commandment isn't the word is not there there's no word about ceremony number two there's no offerings which is unusual because when you read the Old Testament if for example on the day of pass the Passover or on the feast of unleavened bread whatever II had all these offerings and you bring it this day and this certainly nothing about offerings there's no ritual washings no you got to get cleaned do all of this and bathe and stay away from women and all of that does nothing there's nothing Jewish in the Sabbath you just read it what is distinctly Jewish in the Sabbath commandment the answer nothing nothing which raises the question how do you keep the Sabbath and you and jonno gave the correct answer according to the set according to the commandment I'll tell you how to keep the Sabbath some of you might have wondered and even you've been a seventh-day Adventist Minh maybe some of you for years generationally didn't even know how to keep the Sabbath I'll tell you how to do it's real simple you keep the Sabbath by resting check by the way that's not just a physical rest it's a soul full rest we'll probably spend a moment on that and by giving others rest according to the commandment that's how you do it you won't work nor your stranger nor the servant and the household not the mail not the female not the son not the daughter not even your cow not even your horse will work on the Sabbath so you will rest the stranger that's staying with you the non-jewish strange the same with you they will not work either you will rest and all of those over whom you have control and influence you will give them rest well this sounds fascinating this is what we just heard Jesus saying at the end of Matthew chapter 11 come to me and I will give you rest I will Sabbath you you keep the Sabbath friends not by coming to church I have no problem with you being in church I think it's a great place to be I think it's good to come and sing some songs and there's nothing in the Sabbath commandment about being here and dressing up and wearing your bow tie or not nothing about that according to the Sabbath commandment you keep the Sabbath by resting and giving rest why don't we say that together we keep the Sabbath by and ok that's how we do it that's how we keep the Sabbath and this is exactly what Jesus did he gave rest he offered the Sabbath not just the literal seventh-day Sabbath he offered a soulful rest to those that were around him now because of this there are a number of things that we can be absolutely certain are appropriate and not appropriate on a Sabbath it's so simple first of all you are resting from your normal Labor's so whatever your personal occupation is right whether you're a plumber or an electrician or you're a rancher or a farmer or David told us a story about his dad was a on the dairy whatever your normal occupation is on Sabbath you rest from that okay that's like that's what you do you rest from it doesn't mean that you stay in bed all day it means that your rest it literally means just to cease from your labors doesn't mean to lay in bed all day you cease from that part but here's the other part you then extend restfulness to others you follow that which would mean that not only are you not working the normal work that you would do on the day in the course of your your career you do not cause others to work if you were refraining from work but you were causing others to work well that's not keeping Sabbath right so you couldn't you couldn't be like oh man church is done let's go get a coffee let's go down let's get some breakfast let's go sit out at a local restaurant that that's not keeping Sabbath that's just going to church as a big difference between going to church and keeping Sabbath keeping Sabbath and entering into the rest that Jesus has provided is resting yourself ceasing and desisting from the labors and occupations that that that keep most of your time and then extending that to others not allowing others to work on your behalf the stranger that is in your gates so the idea that you could go and spend money on the Sabbath or that you could go to a restaurant on the Sabbath at you could do that all of these and you could still be keeping the Sabbath is absurd now I'm a person who is not I don't like to be black and white where life is gray but I don't like to be great where life is black and white either right and I can be flexible on certain issues where he said well it could be like that oh it could be like that could be a little bit like this could be a little bit like that I can be flexible right but where scripture is not flexible I don't have the prerogative to be flexible and scripture is as clear as the noonday Sun that we keep Sabbath by resting and by giving rest by resting ourselves and by extending rest to others and so if you're here today as a Sabbath keeper let me let you know something there's a big difference between going to church and keeping Sabbath if you leave Church and go to a place or you come to you go to that place before you come to church where you are doing something anything that requires others to work on your behalf whether it's get you a meal or check you out at the checks check stand or whatever it is you are not keeping Sabbath you're just going to church and there's a big difference between keeping Sabbath the way that God intended it the passion that he has to rest and to give rest there's a big difference between that and then just sitting in a pew on Saturday morning now this gets really really awesome check this out Jesus then says Jesus answers this question about whether or not it's okay to heal on the Sabbath in a really provocative way verse 11 then he said to them what man is there among you I'm asking you guys what man is there among you that if he has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath won't lay hold of the sheep and lift it out they always that's a good point yeah my sheep oh yeah I do that and then he says of how much more value then is a man than a sheep therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath it is lawful to do it's not lawful to spend money on the Sabbath it's not lawful to go out to eat at a restaurant on Sabbath it's not lawful to order something on the Sabbath is not lawful to drop into the coffee shop and pick yourself up a coffee not that you should be doing that anyway those things are not lawful but it is lawful to be a blessing it is lawful help people that is full and then Jesus this is fascinating then he said to the man stretch out your hand and I love this because Jesus purposefully there's a real subtlety here there's a real nuance here where Jesus has carefully navigated the rabbinical debates of his day because Jesus is not laying hands on the man to perform an act of healing he simply asks the man to stretch out his hand which was no violation of Sabbath he just says to the man stretch out your hand and when the man stretches out of San check this out as he stretched it out it was restored as whole as the other and I love this verse 14 and the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him Matthew wants you to know that Jesus has been dwelling under the shadow of the cross from chapter one there are people who are plotting not just the death of Jesus but the full destruction that is to say of his influence of his reputation and of his significance they want they want Jesus gone he is a threat to them he's a threat to it the except Jesus is the consummate revolutionary and they don't like it they're made uncomfortable by it the sad you see and aristocracy as well as the conservative Pharisees they do not like Jesus and so they leave he's trumped he stumped them now twice he stumped them in the grain fields about whether or not the disciples are breaking Sabbath and he stumped them now with this man who's been made whole what did Jesus just do he gave this man rest from his pain rest from his suffering rest from his disease this man would have found a soul rest I love this I invented a word I hope you don't mind Jesus emphasized both the lawfulness and the life fulness of the Sabbath Jesus is giving life he's giving hope he's giving Redemption Jesus is not sitting in a coffee shop on Sabbath afternoon chillin with his friends he's not going out to eat because he was too lazy to have prepared a meal beforehand Jesus is emphasizing the lawfulness and the life fulness of Sabbath helping ministering healing restoring encouraging that is keeping Sabbath resting and giving rest not I'm resting here I am seventh-day Adventist remnant keeping the Sabbath I'll have that please without cheese keeping Sabbath now go wait on me go serve me clean my dishes come to my table I'm keeping Sabbath my servants my strangers within my gate you're not keeping set but I don't know what you're doing but you not keeping Sabbath you might have gone to church you know keeping Sabbath Jesus rested and he gave rest I know that there are people within the cultural confines of 'event ISM who have become accustomed to these little what they regard as gray areas these are not gray areas this is Sabbath breaking my friend straight up straight up now check this out in his marvelous book and I think there are two books that should be in your library these books these books should be in your library I'm pleading with you look at this book is just beat sitar because I've read it so many times the lost meaning of the seventh day by sig fate instead is the modern classic on the Sabbath you need this book am i right Blair you need this book it needs to be in your library and I know this is gonna come as a surprise to some of you you need to read it so oh yeah I got that book there it is similary it's in my library and some of you don't like reading very much I'll give you a smaller book this is the smaller book harder to read actually this one's called the Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel these two books the Sabbath and the lost meaning of the seventh day belong in your library and I recommend them to you without reservation notice what ton stead says in the lost meaning of the seventh day the seventh day this idea of the Sabbath must be seen as the launching pad for the most exceptional and ambitious project of social justice in the ancient world are you kidding constat this is the most ambitious social justice project in the ancient world how so how is the Sabbath about social justice and about freedom and about freedom from exploitation look at it the freedom from work and from the yoke of exploitation he continues our explicit characteristics of the Sabbath chapter Exodus chapter 20 verse 10 when the circle is drawn the Sabbath circle nothing and nobody lies outside its domain not even the barista at your local coffee shop right by the way I don't recommend you drink coffee either but that's another little charming sin that will deal with it sometime in the future the particulars on this list are amazing because watch this no parallels have been found in other cultures there are no parallels for the Sabbath and other cultures this idea that you set aside a time you set that full side of time that full time aside and you rest in it legislation of this kind says Han said in the ancient world prioritizes from the bottom up not from the top looking down giving first consideration to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society like a man with a shriveled hand the Sabbath prioritizes the week it prioritizes the exploited it prioritizes the vulnerable it prioritizes the underprivileged it prioritizes the needy the Sabbath even prioritizes animals look at this those who need rest of the most the slave the resident alien the beasts of burden are singled out for special mention in the rest of the of the seventh day the underprivileged and even mute animals find an ally friends when we go out and cause people to work for us in various capacities on the Sabbath I don't even fly on Sabbath I don't travel on Sal I don't spend money on Sabbath I'm just not doing that because I don't want to treat people worse than God tells me to treat animals I don't want to treat a human being worse than God tells me to treat an animal I need rest and you might say well they're not keeping Sabbath they don't know about the Sabbath well true enough there's lots of people that don't know about adultery lots of people don't know about killing lots of people that don't know about God's name in vain but but don't expect me as a Bible believer and as somebody who loves God to create situations for others to break what I value now I really don't steal but if you could get me that I get I'd have you'd steal that I'd give you us I'd give you some money for it I personally wouldn't sleep with a woman other than my wife but I'll watch you on a pornographic Channel sleep with somebody that's not your wife is that is that how it that is that our standard of ethics as long as you're not doing it you can give others opportunity and occasion to do it and then you can enjoy it no no the beauty of the the whole law is that it's valuing others to love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul that's what it's about and then to love your neighbor as yourself to rest and give rest to rest and give rest there's nothing about going to church I don't mind you being in church I'm happy for you to be here gets me somebody to talk to you but it's far more important to me that you keep Sabbath and it's far more important to God that you rest and give rest that you rest and give rest all right you guys have been great I told you I'd say a lot about a little and I've done that I've been I've been faithful to what I said the Sabbath rest teaches Samuel Becky Okies excellent book divine rest for human restlessness I love this the Sabbath rest teaches the greedy heart to be grateful to stop for one day looking for more and to start instead to gratefully acknowledge the blessings already received as the rest of Matthew chapter 12 unfolds we find Jesus in conflict and NT Wright summarizes this perfectly he says here is Jesus this is Matthew chapter 12 verse 15 here is Jesus surrounded by pressure on all sides his own followers don't really understand what he's doing people are badgering him from every direction to heal them to cast out spirits for to be to be there for them and every need at the same time opposition is growing Herod the so-called king of the Jews is not far away religious pressure groups are stirring up trouble some are even saying he's in league with the devil that happens later in accident in Matthew chapter 12 he knows where this is all leading and he still goes on he goes on because Jesus has a story in mind and the story that Jesus has in mind as you read through the rest of Matthew chapter 12 which we're not gonna have time to go into today and this was by calculation he tells the story of the servant the suffering servant of Isaiah chapter 42 this servant in fact I'll redo the description of it I love this behold my servant I'm in verse 18 whom I have chosen look at my servant in whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him he will declare justice to the Gentiles he will not quarrel nor cry Jesus did not love argumentation in fact verse 15 says that after these two conflicts Jesus withdrew he was not somebody that loved to tell people OFF he wasn't somebody that got a special pleasure out of confrontation he hated confrontation he withdrew from it and here it says he will not quarrel it wasn't an argumentative jerk no he just wanted to spend time with people he wanted to be in the company of people and he wanted to help them he wanted to rest and expect especially extend rest he will not quarrel a bruised Reed he will not break he's so gentle a smoking flax he will not quench so gentle till he sends justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will trust the whole world will hope upon his name Jesus then gets into a conflict about the casting out of demons which is fascinating he tells a story about binding a strongman binding him up and then going and spoiling his house but I want to jump down to our last bit here it's verses 41 and 42 the last fit jump all the way down to 41 and 42 he says a tree will be known by its fruit II the important stuff in here but here are the next two of the greater-than statements verse 41 says the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment against this generation and condemn it because they did not repent at the preaching are they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here verse 42 the Queen of the South will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here three times Jesus has in this chapter had the audacity to say a greater than the temple a greater than Jonah and a greater than Solomon what let's just walk through those I'm greater than the temple greater than the priests that minister in the temple later than everything that's associated with the temple the whole Jewish economy there was one that is greater here than that who says this kind of thing you could only say this if you were totally insane or you were who you who you claim to be truly God who says that kind of thing the next thing he says is one greater than Jonah Jonah Jonah was probably the single most successful prophet in the entire Old Testament he he went to a city preached for like a day and the whole city repented nobody else had that kind of success and he's like a greater than Jonah is here and Solomon was the greatest king in all of ancient Israel in terms of material prosperity and Jesus had the temerity to say that a greater than Solomon is here I'm greater than the greatest priest I'm greater than the greatest prophet and I'm greater than the greatest king this guy is either on a total ego trip or he is who he claims to be the lord of the sabbath and the lord full-stop the sabbath is the rest of the story it's the rest of the story God offers this to us I want to close with this I came up with this just this week I hope you like it the Sabbath is a place where God's story and our story come together every week we keep Sabbath it's a place where God's story the story that God is doing in the world his story of creation a story of redemption becomes a part of your story your weekly story I know you're busy I know you got work to do I know it's hard to put the emails and all that on stop and I get all that it's hard for me too but the Sabbath is a place where our story comes into synchronicity with God's story every week every week I'd like to say it this way we don't keep the Sabbath so much as it keeps us this is a total paradigm change for some of you it's not that you're keeping the Sabbath friends if you truly are living the Sabbath life that Jesus offers the Sabbath is keeping you you might be saying my son said just this morning he's like what do you mean the Sabbath keeps me well let me give you just a few well the Sabbath keeps you aware of God and of his creation which by the way puts you ahead of much of the world today just an awareness hey there's a really big god out there and this world does not belong to me and I can't just exploit it environmentally and criminally that the and socially that I'm not the center of the universe keeps me aware of that the Sabbath keeps you aware of Christ and of his rest of not only resting yourself but of receiving the rest that Jesus gives the sabbath keeps you from worldliness because it teaches you every single week that this world is not your ultimate destination that God has a bigger grander better plan the Sabbath keeps you from insatiable materialism more brighter fancier better the 2016 model no I need the 2017 model no I need the 2018 model I need more I need more consumerism has now been identified as a worldview the Sabbath keeps you from unquenchable consumerism right consumerism is the new communism it's a worldview it's a way of doing life consuming more me and those of us that live in first world countries like America and Australia and England and Canada and other first world countries we live like kings kings and queens if there are more than three pairs of shoes in your closet you're living like a king you're living like a queen right and we just think all of those people in China all of those people in Taiwan all of those people work for me so I can buy $10 shirts telling you man you live like a king we live like Queens and I want this consumerism cannot slake spiritual thirst you are not made just to buy more stuff not the men with your toys and not the ladies with our dresses and closing little bits and pieces you were made to worship to love to assist to rest and to give rest the Sabbath keeps you from unquenchable consumerism the Sabbath keeps you focused on what really matters that's what Heschl's book is about the Sabbath keeps you from self-centered isolationism me me me the Sabbath keeps you aware that there's a world around you that has needs to the Sabbath keeps you aware that life is more than work thank Jesus for the Sabbath in an age of rampant consumerism rampant materialism and rampant workaholic ISM we need the Sabbath the Sabbath keeps us looking forward to Friday night and not for the reasons that most people look forward to Friday night amen the Sabbath keeps you humble it keeps you kind and it keeps you socially environmentally fiscally responsible and finally the Sabbath keeps you from being lost in a crazy world it gives you a sense of place it gives you a sense of story it gives you a sense of narrative my invitation to you is don't just go to church don't just go to church on Saturday and think you're keeping Sabbath know now you can be in church and not be keeping Sabbath you can be keeping Sabbath or not be in church my invitation to you is to keep the Sabbath that Jesus intended don't keep the Sabbath let the Sabbath keep you final slide you made it you survive start keeping the Sabbath by letting it keep you to truly meaningfully and genuinely enter into the rest that Jesus offers which is a rest not just for your body you're beleaguered body because you're working too hard to support a lifestyle that you don't really need that's the case of too many in here to enter into the purpose that God created you for to love and be loved to rest to give rep to rest and give rest and to be God's Son and God's daughter Father in heaven many of us myself included have been keeping Sabbath without keeping Sabbath and Father I pray that we would let the Sabbath rest wash over us and we would have a paradigm shift on what it means to keep Sabbath to truly enter into the soulful rest that Jesus promises that we might be the best versions of ourselves and that we might make the world around us a little better whether it's just our own family or our own social circle or coworkers father teach us how to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle and rat race of this world gone mad and to come apart and rest a while to receive the rest the Sabbath rest that Jesus offers and father as we receive that rest help us to imbibe it into our inmost soul to drink it in to live it to absorb the restfulness that only you can offer a rest from sin arrest from guilt a rest from pain a rest from suffering and then father as we receive that rest too then extend that rest to others the opportunity to introduce others to Jesus to not be letting them work for us serving us and our little seventh-day Adventist Kingdom father help us to extend rest to the world around us help us truly not just to believe the Sabbath but to be kept by it and the God of the Sabbath Jesus himself said the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath Jesus is our Lord he is our King help us to receive the rest that he promises and then to extend it to those around us is my prayer in Jesus name let all of God's people say Amen and happy hey greetings from beautiful and sunny kingscliff Australia I want to take just a moment of your time first of all to thank you for tuning in watching the program I trust it was a blessing to you and your soul drawing you closer to God in His will for your life I also want to let you know that we are planning a significant expansion of our existing media ministry here at the kingscliff Church to find out more about this expansion and how you can get involved go to bring it kingscliff com you can go either to the home page or to the our gifts page to find out how you can come alongside us and support not just with your viewership but also financially and with your prayers hey thanks again so much for watching and take care you

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Keywords: Kingscliff SDA Church

Id: JI5wOL9R1Mw

Length: 57min 37sec (3457 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 28 2016