Sermon Tone Analysis

Worship Call 0809

Friday January 27th 2023

The Sabbath

Friends, learning to rest, even in labor ...

Luke 10:41.And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

One of my heroes of the faith, Watchman Nee, once said something profound about entering the rest of God.

He said, "Carnal Christians crave works; yet amid many labors, they are unable to maintain calm in their spirit.

They cannot fulfill God's orders quietly as can the spiritual believers... their hearts are governed by outward matters.

Being "distracted with much serving" (Luke 10:40) is the characteristic of the work of any soulish believer.

They have not yet entered the rest of God.”Now that Martha is in Heaven (for some 2000 years) I have often wondered how she feels about being an example of distraction and carnality, and to what extent it's possible to move away from that kind of activity into a place of rest and peace and relationship as we serve the Lord.The Sabbath is certainly an opportunity to discover and practice the kind of rest and abiding in Yeshua that Watchman recommends here.

All of us have experienced "spiritual" activity which is distracted, performance based, and undoubtedly less fruitful and effectual than it could be.

But must it always be so?

The Lord would not have rebuked Martha if He didn't hope and expect her to learn from His admonition.

Friends , there's no question that we can learn a more mature way of serving.

Mary has shown us the way, and Shabbat is the perfect opportunity to learn it.

Sit at His feet, quietly, attentively, and learn of Him.

Entering deeply into His rest will change the way you work, all the following week.

And by resting well, we improve the quality of our work and even multiply our time.

We give, He adds.

We divide, He multiplies.

We rest, and because of our abiding, He works.

Shabbat Shalom!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Going to Christian College in Dallas, Texas)Baltimore, Maryland

And this is another find day in the Lord!

We come now to the Sabbath controversy with the Pharisees when the Disciples pluck ears of grain in the fields.

What would any historical narrative be without its heroes and where would the story line go without its antagonist which once again would be the Pharisees.

Note that not all teaching came to the disciples in a classroom setting.

Not all evangelism came from revival meetings

As Jesus went about his way there seem to always be one who was hostile against him namely a Pharisee to question Jesus seeking to trap him and out of it would comes some of the greatest teaching.

These are things we should watching very closely in the life of Christ for as we go about our way growing in the word we will have antagonist in our lives.

Maybe we call them religious bullies.

They may religious they may not be but they will set the stage with others around to make the Christian look stupid but who will walk away looking stupid when the Christian is prepared for the debate.

But we are not trying to win a debate but to save souls and while the antagonist may walk or run away there are those in the audience that has been showed the light in the midst of darkness.

And last point is that you do not know when you are going to be confronted about your faith, you just have to be ready to give an answer.

Mark 2:23–28 (ESV) — 23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:3–8 (ESV) — 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath has been for some time a point of contention for the religious folks.

What it is

When it is

What the Christian can do and not do on the Sabbath

The legalities of purchasing beer on Sundays.

Is there truly a Christian sabbath that the church is to follow

There was a big controversy that took place in this area when places of business started keeping their doors opened on Sundays but worked into the evening past 6 pm.

Now I have great respect for those places of business that do close their doors on Sundays not because of the sabbath but one day that the family can stop and come together.

You see, religious people and the church in general in our day where it is ignorant of God’s word it picks up the slack with legalism.

They seek sacrifice over obedience.

Where there is no genuine relationship with the Lord there is keeping the Law.

So here it is that Jesus and his disciples are going through the grain fields probably a path going right between them.

And picking up the rear was the religious leaders the pharisees.

Jesus had already claimed to be the son of God.

Oh but that did not cause any repentance on these Pharisees hearts, of course not.

The religious police are still out in force, seeking to indict Jesus on the Pharisees idea and interpretation of scripture and the Law as they stand before the Law maker himself.

The pharisees were not out just to stir up debate mind you.

they were seeking to indict Jesus to drag him before the Sanhedrin and consequently be put to death.

So while the religious were looking to indict Jesus, the disciples were walking with Jesus.

When religious folks seek there own piety they become religious police themselves, casting stones and ridiculing those who are not on the same religious plane.

It was permissible to pluck grain to eat.

As per the law.

And that measure was their for the travelers on a long journey.

What need would Jesus and his disciples have plucking from the fields for by the Pharisaical laws one was not permitted to go more than a half a mile.

Going beyond the acceptable distance was also breaking the sabbath.

Deuteronomy 23:25 (ESV) — 25 If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

It was not the act of picking grain but on the occasion which they were doing, which was on the Sabbath, that runs from sundown on Friday and extends to sundown on what we call Saturday.

Now here is always a beautiful statement from Jesus to these clowns.

A statement that can be said to any holier than thou legalist elevating their piety over the truth of the word of God.

Mark 2:25 (ESV) — 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read

Do you not know your bible?

You are apparently ignorant to God’s word to bring up such an argument.

But the Pharisees were not ignorant, and Jesus knew it.

These religious types knew the scripture inside and out.

Upside down and sideways.

Otherwise they would not be holding the position that they were in.

this brings out another point.

Just because you know your bible and can recite it word for word, and you can draw the bible like Matt Dillion can pull a pistol.

And you may know doctrine and be very theologically minded.

It means nothing if you have no relationship with the God of the bible the doctrine the theology.

It only means that you are an religious academic egg head minus a genuine love for God and His Christ.

Jesus may be a little sarcastic here.

And once again it is a question.

When a question is asked who is now on the defense?

“Maybe you ought to go back and do your homework.

But nevertheless Jesus was teaching his disciples and this was an open door to take the pharisees and his disciples back to scriptures.

“Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

26how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

Jesus refers to 1 Sam 21:1-6 when David was fleeing from King Saul, he persuaded a priest to give him consecrated bread by claiming that he was on his way to a secret meeting with other servants of the King.

The fact what King David did was unlawful.

That which one needed to take greater issue with.

What Jesus was doing was not unlawful since what may have been breaking the law of the Pharisees was not breaking the law of God which David was doing but not Jesus who kept the Law perfectly.