You are Important to the Lord

Matthew 12:9–14 NKJV

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

1. Don’t Miss the point pious Pete!

Hosea 6:6 NKJV

6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Matthew 12:9–10 NKJV

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

in the first century the only work open to a lame man would have been begging.

the text tells us nothing about the man: it doesn't say whether he is married or single, young or old from a rich poor or middle class family. what we know is that it was the synagogue of the Pharisees.

we know that he was in the synagogue on the day of worship; as a man that would be classified as lame it doesn't seem that these Holy men even care about the man.

in fact at the end of verse 10 we see that their only point was to accuse Jesus. The man who had the withered hand was merely a prop in their desire .

In matters like these intent is everything!

a lot of times we use intention as an excuse, when we talk about intention, what we mean is motive.

the truth about motive is, a lot of times only the Holy Spirit knows the truth about what are motives are, so in truth, we need to be careful about becoming pious Pete the Pharisee.

we know that we are becoming pious Pete the pharisee when we wont to quit when things don’t go our way.

that is when we learn what we are doing is not for the lord but ourselves.

fear not, everyone that has ever started serving the Lord has had this divine attitude adjustment. if your saying to your self; “that hasn’t happened to me yet,” hang on your time is coming.

2. People before profit.

Matthew 12:11–12 NKJV

11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

these men had made provision in there strict interpretation of the law for when one of their live stalk got into trouble.

of course we make provision for our live stock because we need to not loose even money on the sabbath.

The Lord Jesus has to point out even to these great super spiritual people that people come before the comfort of sheep.

You have heard me say that I cant hang out with the super spiritual. let me be clear about what I mean:

these are people that see themselves better than others…

no matter what you have to share, the are deeper, better, clearer.

this more than simply annoying its dangerous. it’s dangerous because you’ll use the suffering of others to make a self righteous point.

3. Jesus Loves the lame man

Matthew 12:13–14 NKJV

13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Jesus talks to the man and not about his condition.

He said to the man stretch out your hand and the Healing begins in the stretching!

when I get to Heaven after I gather myself after seeing Jesus, I’m going to ask the man what he was thinking when he started to stretch it out before he knew for sure what was coming.

Jesus loves the lame man and Jesus loves you!

Good news, we love Jesus too, so by default we love you. not because its the spiritual thing to do but rather because we where unlovely ourselves once and what you see today is not self improvement its the Holy Spirit working in us.

if he did it for us, he’ll do it for you.