Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Exodus 20: 8-11; Mark 2:23-28

Theme: The Law has a greater purpose than to be followed with blind, careless literalism.

We’re looking at the Hard Sayings of Jesus, and this is one of them.

The “hard part” of the saying is actually verse 28 where Jesus claims that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Commandment

The Condemnation

The Conflict

The Correction

I. THE COMMANDMENT

““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

On it you shall not do any work, ... .”

(Exodus 20:8–10, ESV)

“One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.”

(Mark 2:23, ESV)

1. the passage opens by setting the scene for us — it is the Sabbath

a. Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Synagogue for Shabbat Services

b. the word Shabbat derives from the Hebrew verb shavat and simply means rest

2. to this day Jewish people consider Shabbat as their first and most sacred institution, and remains Judaism’s most distinctive and characteristic practice

a. a day of rest is one of its most pervasive and long-lasting gifts to Western civilization

b. it is a 25-hour observance, from just before sundown each Friday through the completion of nightfall on Saturday

3. it is important for several reasons

A. SHABBAT COMMEMORATES GOD RESTING AFTER CREATING THE WORLD

1. the story, of course, is found in Genesis — for six days straight God is creating heavens and the earth

a. all that exists; all that we see and experience with our senses, and all that we can’t came into existence by the word of God

1) He spoke the word let there be ... and there was

2) and our Lord Christ, who is the Living Word, was right there by the Father’s side as the instrument of that creative effort

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

(Colossians 1:15–17, ESV)

2. on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done (Genesis 2:2-3)

a. God then blessed the seventh day and made it holy

B. SHABBAT CELEBRATES GOD’S DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM SLAVERY

1. Shabbat is not merely a day of physical rest, but also a day of spiritual delight

a. it is a day of worship and includes singing, and prayer, and Scripture reading, and fellowship, and preaching

2. Shabbat serves as a memorial to God‘s act of rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt

“he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’

” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.

25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.

26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

29 See!

The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days.

Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”

(Exodus 16:23–30, ESV)

3. the Christian overtones in Shabbat are obvious

a. Shabbat is the immediate predecessor of the Christian Lord’s Day where Christians worship by singing, and praying, and Scripture reading, and fellowshiping, and preaching

1) it’s our day for physical rest and spiritual delight

c.

Shabbat is also the foreshadowing of our deliverance, as the Lord's Day serves as a memorial to God's act of rescuing sinners from bondage to sin

C. SHABBAT COMMENDS WORK AND REST

1. the Sabbath points us to two fundamental truths of life

a.

1st the commandment teaches that work is an essential part of life

1) God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to tend it

2) God created us for work, blessed us with abilities, and calls us to glorify Him through our vocation

3) according to Martin Luther, we respond to the call to love God and love our neighbor by fulfilling the duties associated with our everyday work

a) there is a sacredness to work because to do so is to imitate the God who made us in His image

ILLUS.

Right now we are living in a strange time.

There are millions of job openings across America — something like 10 million.

Hourly pay has risen, in some sectors by more than 10% in a year for two years in a row.

On the surface, conditions seem ripe for a boom in the U.S. labor market.

And yet, large numbers of Americans are choosing not to go to work or even look for work.

In September 2021 alone, 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in a continuation of what is known as The Great Resignation, which has seen Americans resign enforce throughout 2021, putting a severe strain on companies’ ability to staff up their workforce.

A report that came out yesterday revealing that a full 23% of employed Americans plan to quit their jobs in the next 12 months.

(Better working conditions, higher pay, and burn out were the top three reasons given).

4) part of being made in the image of God means that we are made for work

a) God worked for six days, and saw everything He had mad as “good” ... indeed “very good”

5) after the Fall, however, sin changed the nature of work

a) no longer was work the joyful tending of a perfect Creation … mankind’s disobedience changed work to a struggle not only to provide sustenance, but a struggle against the impact of sin on that perfect Creation

6) the Fall may have changed the nature of work, but it did not diminish the importance of and necessity of work

b. 2nd, the commandment teaches that rest is an essential part of life

1) science has discovered what God new about us all along — we need a day of rest

2) a day of rest reduces stress, reduces inflammation and the risk of heart disease, boosts your immune system, adds years to your life, restores mental energy, makes you more creative, improves short-term memory, makes you more productive

3) for the Christian, we recognize the importance of a rest day, but also the importance of a worship day

... the Commandment, Men Need to Observe a Day of Rest That Involves Worship

II.

THE CONDEMNATION

“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?”” (Mark 2:23–24, ESV)

“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.””

(Mark 3:1–3, ESV)

1. the Pharisees are accusing Jesus’ disciple of breaking the laws of the Sabbath by picking and eating grain

a. this seems like such a minor thing to us, but it was obviously a big deal at that time

A. YOU SHALL NOT WORK ON THE SABBATH

1. it’s the fifth commandment, and pious Jews were not to break it

a. the commandment, of course, begs the question, What is work?

ILLUS.

Even today, the rules of Sabbath-keeping among Orthodox Jews is a tangled web of dos-and-don’t’s.

Current Jewish Sabbath day rules forbids driving on Shabbat or turning on a switch that ignites a stove.

A pious Jew is not to carry even their keys or a handkerchief.

But that can be gotten around by converting something carried into something worn.

So is the key becomes a necklace it’s now permissible.

None of us would regard those things as work, but Jewish law does.

On the other hand, the law does not forbid moving a heavy piece of furniture inside one’s home on the Sabbath, but moving it from the home to an unattached garage is work.

Abraham Chill, one of the leading Orthodox Rabbis of the 20th century, wrote that “ ... work is the production, creation, or transformation of an object.