What Matters Most | Matthew 12:1–14
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Intro: Thank you Leighton for leading us in worship. If you have your Bibles with you tonight please turn to Matthew 12. We are going to be looking at Matthew 12:1-14. As you turn there, I want to ask you a question. What do youth groups do? Give me a few things that you would say youth groups do. Now, let me ask you this. What are things youth groups must do. You see, that’s not the same thing necessarily. There’s things we do, and I think it’s ok for us to do, but aren’t necessarily what we have to do. Churches in general have this. But we run into problems when the things we do, become the things we must do. They become bigger than the one we do them for. The maid idea of tonight’s text is that we must make sure that religious ritual does not overtake Jesus or others in importance. As we do here at Maynard, would you please rise in the honor of reading God’s Word.
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 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?
Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Verses 1-8
{Exposition} The passage starts with verse 1 where we read Matthew 12:1
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
{Exposition} Now Jesus didn’t own this field. But the OT law required harvesters to leave some grain on the plant so that voyagers or the poorest of the poor could come and get some. It wasn’t using a tooll to harvest, it was literally just using one’s hand to grab it and rubbing it together in the hands to get the part you could eat, all without using any kind of tool. This was allowed. It was in verse 2 that they ran into problems. Verse 2 reads Matthew 12:2
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
{Explanation} To understand what’s happening here, you have to understand why the pharisees were saying that the disciples have violated the law. Eating was not against the Mosaic law, but working was. God said in the ten commandments that Exodus 20:9-11
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Explanation: So why, why were the Pharisees mad? It’s not because of what the law said, but ways they had added to the law. Rabbis in this time had divided work into 39 categories. 39. This included the harvesting, the separating of the grain from the chaff, which you can think of as like the peel, and then getting it ready to store or eat. Jesus disciples violated all of this. So they are getting called out on this. They didn’t really violate anything in the actual law, just the man made law. So Jesus then responds. Matthew 12:3-4
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 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?
{Application} In response to what they are saying, Jesus asks them a simple question, “Have you read?” I don’t want to just gloss over those words. If somebody were to ask you those words, what would your answer be? Are you prepared to defend what you believe based on what the Bible says? This only comes by knowing your Bible. Knowing your Bible doesn’t come from showing up on a Sunday or Wednesday. It doesn’t come by going to youth events. No, reading your Bible comes from studying the Word of God on your own. It comes from making it a part of your routine. That doesn’t mean you need to know everything, but God doesn’t reward laziness. Spend time in the Word.
{Exposition} But going back to the passage. Jesus says Matthew 12:3–4 “He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 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?” To know what he is referring to, we have to examine a scriptural account from the OT. David was not yet King of Israel, and was actually running away from the King, Saul, so he was not killed. And he goes to the temple really hungry, and the priest gave him the bread that sat out and was consecrated and was only suppose to be eaten by the priests. It wasn’t lawful for them to do that, but there was a reality that need to do right to somebody in need trumped ceremonial law. And Jesus was ready with another example. We read in verse 5 Matthew 12:5
Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
Exposition: Remember, nobody is suppose to work on the Sabbath. But the priests still had duties that were to be handled on the sabbath. Why did they never bat an eye at this. It’s because the priests worked in the temple. The temple was the dwelling place of God. It was where His presence was here on earth. So, those jobs still had to be done. Jesus is pointing out two things. One, that there is scriptural precedent for letting human need trump the ritualistic practices of worship, even when those practices were prescribed by scripture. It’s true when somebody is in need, and in serving at the temple. He then goes one step further.
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
Exposition: Jesus tells them that something greater than the temple is there. Wait a second, the temple is where God dwelt on earth. It is where the Pirest were to mediate on behalf of the people. The only way something or someone could be bigger than the place God dwelt is if that person is, wait a second, if that person is God Himself. Jesus is making a pronouncement about Himself here that should change the way all those questioning him approach Him. He’s not bound by these laws sent down by God, because He is God Himself. This sets up for what is going to come in verses seven and eight. Matthew 12:7-8
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Exposition: The passage Jesus quotes is from the book of Hosea. There we read Hosea 6:6
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Exposition: What Jesus is saying here would not have been lost on those He was speaking to. He’s telling them God is not after just actions that can point to how well they are following the rules. He’s not looking for a bunch of checklists. No, he wants.He wants people who are so in tune with Him, that pointin to cold customs isn’t the extent of their worship. How does Jesus know this Matthew 12:7-8
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Exposition: You remember how Jesus said something greater than the temple was there, it’s Him. The sabbath was created by God at creation. If Jesus is Lord of The Sabbath, He must be Lord over creation. This makes Him God.He has the authority to say being real is greater. Just being religious does not mean one has a heart for Jesus.
Illustration: In preparation for tonight, I looked up some things that some works based denominations, if you want to call them them, add to the idea of what God requires. Ethiopian Orthadox believes that you must practice their strict interpretation of Christianity. One must practice rest on Saturday and Sunday. There must be veneration of sints and angels. One must participate in Baptism, Eucharist, which is communion, confession and anointing oil to be saved. None of this is based in scripture, but it’s become a part of what they do. In Catholocism, they also have the holy days of obligation. They require priests not to be married even though scripture permits church leadership to be married. All of this is adding to scripture. You could attend all the high holy days, believe in all of these things, check your list, and have no relationship with Jesus.
Application: But man, don’t we do the same thing sometimes. So often when I ask somebody if they know Jesus, they tell me, yea I go to church. Or, yea, I read my Bible. We cannot just let doing church things or things that we think are what a Christian does be the extent of our relationship with Jesus. It has to be Jesus. It cannot start with us, it has to start with what Jesus has done.
Verse 1
Explain the custom. Why this wasn’t stealing and what was being done.
Verse 2
Why it was not lawful
Talk about the man made additions to the law
Verses 3-4
Tell what David is referring to
Verse 5
Tell what Jesus is referring to
Verses 6-8
Jesus is saying that all the ritual is tied to him, he’s not tied to the ritual
Jesus is after hearts that reflect God not ritual for the sake of ritual
Doing church stuff is no replacement for relationship with Jesus.
Transition: Jesus has already laid the foundation for his view on the sabbath. He thinks He is greater than the Sabbath and the man made rules do not apply to him. Well, knowing this, the pharisees try to set him up.
Verses 9-15
Verse 10:
And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
They are clearly trying to set him up
The additions to the law did not allow for treating non-life threatening medical conditions
Verse 11-12
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
The law did allow for rescuing an animal that was in danger if it was a beast of burden or something similar. Jesus showed the hypocrisy in their standard
We must be careful not to value things such as religious practice more than the well being of human beings.
Verses 13-14
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Jesus knows what is happening, but he also knows what the right thing to do is, and he does it anyway.
Jesus knew they would start to conspire against him when He did this, and he did it anyway.
Conclusion: The pharisees were holding on to what was important to them. Who knows why they added to the law the way they did. That’s something really only for them to know. But whatever it was, it became comfortable. It was what they knew and largely what made them who they were. What are you holding onto that you hold more important than Christ. Do you let yourself be defined by youth group more than being a follower of Christ? If you didn’t have the ping pong table the trips or the meals together, would Jesus be left? If you tonight realize that you have not given your life to Christ and He is not what defines you, don’t wait. Turn your life over to Him and allow Him to become your identity.
