Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I remember when I was in basic training, down in Fort Benning Georgia, a beautiful place.

I began basic training towards the end of the summer and moving into fall, it was beautiful there, surrounded by nothing but tall trees and forested land.

But, as nice as it was, I was not there for vacation or to take in all the scenery.

I was there to be transformed into a soldier and that was not an easy task.

Basic training was meant to be hard and because it was hard, we would try all kinds of things to get out of cleaning or training for even just a day.

Just a single day of rest is all we wanted.

One of the ways we did this was to go to church on Sunday (I can feel the judgement now).

The drill instructor would come down screaming at us, asking who wanted to go to church and a whole group of young men would line up ready to go in there Sunday best PT uniforms.

Now, the drill Sargents were not blind to what was happening, but they could not deny us our time in church, so long as we were not in the field for training exercises.

So, for many of us, it was a day of rest, but for all the wrong reasons, it was selfish and had nothing to do with God.

So, before we get into todays text, I want us to take a moment and look at what the Sabbath actually is and why the Pharisees seem to make a big deal out of it.

What is the Sabbath?

Lets go back to Genesis 2:1-3 for just a moment and see the very first instance of the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath day is a day, instituted and consecrated by God for God, where man was to find rest with God from all their works.

This was generally observed from Friday evening to Saturday evening.

In the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the Sabbath day is described like this.

The Sabbath served the twofold purpose of being a day set apart for the worship of God (Exod.

31:13–17) as well as for the rest and recreation of man, esp.

slaves, and cattle (Deut.

5:14).

F. L. Cross; E. A. Livingstone

It was a good and holy day created for mankind and like all good things, after the fall, we corrupted it with our own sinfulness.

We took what was good and holy, and overtime began to place our own laws and traditions on top of it.

Let us fast forward a bit to Exodus 31:14 and we will see a law given to Moses by God, because man had taken what God gave them and corrupted it.

Because the Sabbath day was holy, to break it was a capital offense.

Now, over time the religious leaders began to make their own laws, in an attempt to protect the holy day.

In their own zealous way, the Pharisees were following their own precepts, sometimes at the expense of life and mercy, which in no way jeopardized the Sabbath but rather dignifies the Sabbath by keeping with the true essence of the day.

In the Mishna, a Jewish book sort of like a catechism, there are about 39 specific acts forbidden on the Sabbath.

For example, you were not allowed to travel more than a 1,000 cubits on the Sabbath, you could not dust your house, and women were not even allowed to wear perfume or else they would be in violation of breaking the Sabbath.

The Jews would selfishly even use the Sabbath to get out of military exercises, just like I did in the army.

Because it was a holy day, no one could deny them the opportunity to observe the Sabbath.

But, these were not laws given by God, they were mans attempt at keeping what God had already made holy, holy.

What we are going to see in todays text is that Jesus is Lord even over the Sabbath.

What I men by that, is that if Jesus is Lord, than He is our holy Sabbath.

So let’s begin moving through our text today and see this work out.

Read the first portion of the text.

Mark 2:23-28

Jesus and the disciples are accused.

What was happening?

Jesus and the disciples were walking to the synagogue on the Sabbath.

As we move into chapter three we will see that Jesus and the disciples are most likely walking to the synagogue, being it was on the Sabbath.

It is also probably late summer time as the grain fields seem to be ripe for harvest.

They were picking heads of grain to eat on their way.

Since the grain fields were ripe, the disciples were picking heads of grain, probably to eat, on their way to the synagogue.

It is important to understand here that the disciples were well within the law at this point.

Let us look at Deuteronomy 23:25 (it should be on the screen for you)

A Sickle is just a tool used for reaping, or cutting down a crop.

The disciples did not have any sickles in their hands and they were not doing any reaping.

Therefore, they were will within the boundaries of the law.

The accusation.

The Pharisees see them picking heads of grain and accuse them of breaking the Sabbath by working.

The approach the Pharisees took regarding the law and more specifically the Sabbath day, was to be overprotective of it and to place their own laws on top of God’s laws.

Sometimes, these new laws could be distorted and used for personal gain and sometimes they were held as being more authoritative than God’s own laws.

The laws that the religious leaders had made over the years, could be interpreted in a number of ways to meet their agenda.

Much like when someone twists Scripture to meet their needs rather than seeking the true meaning of the text.

For example;

We love to put this verse on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers.

I even know people who have this verse tattooed on them.

But, this verse is not about succeeding in life, it isn’t about being prosperous or having some extraordinary strength within ourselves.

This verse, in context, is not about winning football games, it is Paul talking about being content with the life that God has given him to live.

Whether that life is prosperous or it is a life in prison for the sake of the gospel, which is where Paul wrote this letter from.

Because of Christs strength within us, we can be content in any life situations.

Do you see how deceptive we can be with ourselves and others, by not being clear and honest about what we are reading and teaching.

In this same way the Pharisees seen an opportunity to be deceptive and accuse Jesus, along with his disciples, of breaking the Sabbath by way of working.

And now lets move on and we will see Jesus’ response to the Pharisees.

Jesus uses David as an example.

Jesus reminds the Pharisees of a story about David breaking the Sabbath.

Turn to 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and we will read this portion of David’s story.

David and his men were running from Saul, who wanted them dead, and they were probably starving.

David goes to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech gives him the holy bread, the bread of the presence which only the priests were allowed to eat on the Sabbath.

What Ahimelech had just done, even though it was on the Sabbath, was an act of mercy toward David and his men.

So, Jesus acknowledges that David, according to the law, had broken the Sabbath.

But according to the true spirit and essence of the Sabbath, David and the priest did nothing wrong.

Then Jesus makes this important statement.

Mark 2:27

Jesus makes an important theological statement about the Sabbath.

Remember that in the beginning God consecrated the seventh day as a day of rest, in which man could enter a time of peace and rest with their God.

It was a day, made for man, in which man could find refreshment with God.

Ironically, for the Pharisees, the day of rest was no longer a day of rest; but one of works by keeping a bunch of laws.

David and disciples, in true essence of the Sabbath, did nothing wrong.

Here Jesus is reminding the Pharisees about the true nature and essence of keeping the Sabbath, “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was not a means to restrict man, but to be a blessing for man.

God made the Sabbath for you and for me.

God rested on the seventh day and He demands that we step back and rest with Him.

Have you ever just had one of those moments, it was super stressful and when it is was over, you could just step back, take a deep breath and fill the weight of it all just lift off your shoulders.

The Sabbath is Gods way of allowing His people to step out of their work and just take a breath; with Him.

Listen, God wants you to rest.

That doesn't necessarily mean sleeping for 24 hours.

But, it should be a time spent with God, reflecting on what has taken place during the week, what God has done, being thankful and worshipping God in peace; being refreshed for the week ahead.

Now verse 28 we are going to come back to in just a little bit, so we are going to move on to chapter 3 verses 1-6.

Read Mark 3:1-6

Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

Whats happening?

Jesus and his disciples make it to the synagogue and notice a man with a withered hand.

So, imagine with me for a moment.

Jesus and the disciples come into the synagogue, the disciples have a seat up front and Jesus makes his way to the front so that he can teach.

The same group of Pharisees that just accused them in the fields are now standing at the back of the room, plotting and waiting for Jesus to say or do something, so that they could accuse him.

Then you have this man, with some sort of withered hand sitting in the crowd and Jesus calls him forward.

Jesus calls a man forward and presents a question.

Now, it is highly probable that Jesus knows the hearts of these Pharisees and what they are doing.