3 Attitude Adjustments Christians Need

Secular -

Mrs. Henderson, a pillar of the community and known for her incredibly large, wide-brimmed Sunday hats, arrived at service one morning a bit late. The sanctuary was packed, and the only available seat was next to Mr. Peterson, who was notoriously grumpy and easily distracted.

Mrs. Henderson squeezed into the pew, and as she settled in, her enormous hat, adorned with plastic grapes and fake velvet roses, completely blocked Mr. Peterson's view of the altar and the choir.

He tried to lean, he tried to duck, but the hat was an immovable, floral mountain. Finally, unable to take it anymore, Mr. Peterson leaned over and whispered, rather loudly, "Madam, I wish you would remove your hat! I can't see a thing!"

Mrs. Henderson turned her head slowly, gave him a stern look, and whispered back, "Mr. Peterson, I'll have you know that this hat was paid for by the fruits of my labor!"

Mr. Peterson didn't miss a beat. He leaned in close and retorted, "In that case, I suggest you ask your grocer for a refund! Because what you have on your head are the roots of all evil!"

Historical/Cultural Context -

This Gospel is written by Matthew, also known as Levi who was a former tax collector. It was most likely written between AD 50-60. Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. Matthew wrote primarily to Jewish believers—people who knew the Old Testament well. Matthew had one goal: to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Connecting the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Christ, proving that every word God spoke was coming true in Jesus. The key themes of the Gospel include Jesus as King, The Kingdom of Heaven, Fulfillment of Prophecy and discipleship.

Biblical Text -

Matthew 12:1–21 NKJV

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which 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 that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One 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. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 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. 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? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - To Walk In The Freedom Of Christ We Need To Avoid Legalism, Do Good & Be Humble.

Life Point- Avoid Legalism

Exegetical -

Matthew 12:1–8 NKJV

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which 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 that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One 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. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Homiletical -

Is this scripture telling us that Jesus stole some grain? The answer is, of course not. There was a practice during this time that you would not thresh the outer edges of your grain field so that those who are traveling can pick it and eat. It was also for those in need.

Let’s talk a little about legalism. Humans have the innate ability to make things hard. We like to compete too.

When God gave His commands the Jews decided they should not cross the line. So to make it harder they added their own rules that wouldn’t allow them to get anywhere near the line. They took the not working on the sabbath to a whole other extreme. Which made things harder for people to follow.

In reality you can’t fully follow God’s laws anyway. So why make it harder?

You see the law shows us just how sinful and in need of Jesus we are.

Galatians 3:24–25 NKJV

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

So what were these Pharisees doing in the fields anyway? They have a command that says they can’t be more than 3,000 feet away from their houses on the sabbath. So they broke their own commands. That is what we find by people who add laws and rituals as part of the main issues of Christianity today. They are not necessary for salvation and the Christian life but Pharisees you see will always add to the commands of God, and in so doing they will go after people even if it means they brake their own man-made laws and traditions.

Jesus chose an illustration to bring up before the Pharisees. He talked about David eating the Holy bread from the altar of God that was supposed to be only for the priests during that time. But the priests as David fled from Saul’s wrath gave up that bread to feed him and his men as they were hungry. Jesus’ emphasis is on love and relationship being more important than law and ritual.

Now what is Jesus getting at when he is talking about priests in the temple profane the sabbath and are blameless?

Well what is is the sabbath but a day of rest from work?

But you see temple priests worked twice as hard during the Sabbath because people would bring twice the amount of sacrifices on that day yet they are blameless before God for working on that day.

Interesting isn’t it? This is one reason we can honor God with a day of rest any day of the week. Traditionally, Sunday is that day for us, not Saturday. To say you must worship on Saturday is legalism and does not have to be followed.

Matthew 22:34–40 NKJV

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Then Jesus points to Himself as the One who is greater than the temple. Which to the Pharisees would be blasphemy

He Then points to Hosea the prophet stating God desires mercy more than sacrifice.

Jesus points to a prophet, to the priests, and to a king. Which all points to Jesus. He is prophet, High Priest, and King. He is subtly and ingeniously pointing to the fact that he is the Messiah. But these priests have no idea about it because they are too worried about their own traditions, rituals, and man-made laws.

Remember that Jesus fulfills the law, so don’t get hung up on traditions, rituals, and man-made laws.

Illustration -

Martin Luther in the 16th century illustrates the battle against legalism. As he grappled with guilt over sin, he realized that salvation is a gift received by faith alone, not through any works or adherence to church traditions. Luther’s declaration at the Diet of Worms, which was a mock trial against him and his writings, that he could not recant what was against his conscience paved the way for the Reformation, this highlights grace over legalism. Today, the same principle frees us from the burden of endless rules.

Life Point - Do Good

Exegetical -

Matthew 12:9–13 NKJV

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 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. 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? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Homiletical -

Now Jesus goes from the fields and goes to the pharisees synagogue, which is like a church. A meeting place to learn about and worship God.

So these same Pharisees ask Jesus if it is lawful to heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath.

Why?

So they can accuse Him of wrong doing.

You see the Pharisees had a rule. No healing work can be done on the Sabbath. So for example if a man was bleeding out it was lawful to put a wrap around the wound to stop the bleeding. However, it was not lawful for a man to put any kind of healing ointment on the wound. That would have to wait to the next day.

Do you see how ridiculous man-made laws can be?

Now, one thing about a Pharisee is they love attention. They don’t like it when the attention is taken from them so they will do anything to get it back from the person who stole it. In this case they sought to discredit Jesus so they could call Him a sinner.

Folks this still happens today. Today you will find that there are people who want to be the center of attention and want to be the leader, even if they say they don’t sometimes, but if anyone starts to take their lime-light the gossip train starts chugging down the track.

Now Jesus perceives this and brings up their hypocrisy. By talking about a sheep that falls in a ditch and how they would reach in to save that sheep. Then He says of how much more value is a man compared to a sheep?

Jesus says something that would have blown their minds. He taught with authority, which the Pharisees and scribes did not. He said with authority that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath

Now in order to cement this teaching in their minds, He decides to do a miracle and heals the man’s withered hand. This way it would be hard for them to dismiss Him as some kind of wacko or false teacher. Why? Because He did the miracle. Can anyone else do a miracle during this time? No, remember before Jesus God had been silent for 400 years.

Life Point - Be Humble

Exegetical -

Matthew 12:14–21 NKJV

Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

Homiletical -

The Pharisees were so mad and embarrassed over Jesus that they decided to leave and plot how they might destroy Him. I am not talking figurative here. I mean absolutely literal.

So Jesus find out about this. either one of two ways. Because He is God in the flesh and it was revealed to Him or someone told Him. But How could someone tell Him if there is no one around but the Pharisees that are doing the plotting? So I believe it was revealed to Him supernaturally.

So what does Jesus do?

He withdraws from the people and probably heads to the wilderness because that was His custom.

But after His teaching and healing the people followed Him and notice it says He healed them all. That means every last sick one was healed. He also tells them to not tell anyone.

You ever notice when Jesus does great miracles he tells people to not tell anyone? This is probably for two reasons. 1) He was tired and could not handle another huge crowd of people 2) He wanted to stay off the Roman radar so He could fulfill His purpose.

Now did people always listen to Jesus?

No, they went and told people because they were so excited about being healed.

Also notice how Jesus does ministry. He is humble about it and doesn’t do His own advertising. He didn’t have to.

If today modern ministries that do so called “healings” would follow this model of ministry then they wouldn’t have to advertising either. Trust me the word would get out.

Does Jesus do healing today? Yes, but not like during this time. Now it is through the church, in humility and prayer. Not in big flashy fly-by-night ministries.

James 5:13–15 NKJV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So what is my role in this? To simply anoint with oil, which was used as a healing balm and a symbol for the Holy Spirit, and pray. Whether they get healed or not is up to God. But notice it talks about the forgiveness of sin. This is a spiritual healing as well. The verses following this explain how to obtain the spiritual healing.

James 5:16–18 NKJV

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Now, when we come to the end of our scripture, which is a quotation from Isaiah we find at the end it says The Gentiles will trust in His name. That comes to pass when Jesus opens up the church to the Gentiles in the book of Acts.

Life Principle– To Walk In The Freedom Of Christ We Need To Avoid Legalism, Do Good & Be Humble.

Call to Action – altar call….