What Matters the Most to Jesus?

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 23:32-43

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared March 13, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Today we begin our study of Matthew 12. By this time, Jesus was in the second year of His 3 1/2-year ministry, and William MacDonald noted that here we will see the rising hatred and hostility of the Christ-rejecting Pharisees.

*William Barclay explained that in this chapter "the hard-hearted leaders of the Jews came to their final decision about Jesus, and that was rejection. Their rejection of Christ was so evil that in vs. 24 they committed the unpardonable sin, and in vs. 34 Jesus called them a 'brood of vipers.' Matthew 12 shows us the steps that inevitably led to the cross of Christ." (1)

*As always though, Jesus shined the truth of His goodness, power, and will for our lives. Today we will see three things that matter the most to our Lord and Savior. Please think about this as we read vs. 1-8.

MESSAGE:

*What matters the most in life? When James Dobson was in college, his great ambition was to win the school's tennis championship. Jim worked and practiced until he finally won. It was a great success. And Jim was very proud to see his tennis trophy in the school's trophy case.

*But years later, much to his surprise, the trophy arrived in the mail. The school was being remodeled, and someone had found Jim's trophy in the trash. After that wake-up call, Dr. Dobson wisely said, "Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else!" (2)

*A lot of what matters to us doesn't matter at all to other people, and may not matter to us over time. But what matters to God will matter forever! And it should matter to us too. So, what matters to the Lord Jesus Christ?

1. FIRST: JESUS CARES ABOUT US MEETING THE NEEDS OF OTHER PEOPLE.

*Jesus made this truth clear when He defended His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath Day. Verses 1-4 tell us that:

1. At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

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!''

3. Then He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

4. 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?"

*This incident is found in 1 Samuel 21. There David was running for his life from the jealous rage of King Saul. David was so desperate that he went to the priest and told four lies about why he came. The young king urgently needed food and any weapons he could find. The only bread available was the holy showbread reserved for the priests. But David was able to persuade the priest to give him the showbread, and the sword of Goliath.

*According to Old Testament law, it was wrong for David and his men to eat that showbread, but the Lord put people's needs over that ritual law. William McDonald explained that "Neither David nor his men were priests, yet God never found fault with them for doing this. Why not? The reason is that God's law was never intended to inflict hardship on His faithful people. It was not David's fault that he was in exile. A sinful nation had rejected him as king. If he had been given his rightful place, he and his followers would not have had to eat the showbread. And because there was sin in Israel, God permitted an otherwise forbidden act." (3)

*In today's Scripture, Jesus put His disciples' need for food over the man-made rules the Pharisee had added to God's Law. And it helps us to understand just how ridiculous the Pharisees had gotten.

*William Barclay gave some helpful examples: "Take the case of carrying a burden on the Sabbath Day." In Jeremiah 17:21, "Thus says the LORD: 'Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.'"

*"But a burden had to be defined, and the Jewish scribes defined it as 'food equal in weight to a dried fig, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put upon a wound, oil enough to anoint a small part of your body, water enough to moisten an eye-salve, and on and on.

*It also had to be settled whether or not a woman could wear a broach on the Sabbath, or would that be carrying a burden too? Could a chair or even a child be lifted?

*To write was to work on the Sabbath, but writing had to be defined. And here is just part of that definition: 'He who writes two letters of the alphabet with his right or with his left hand, whether of one kind or of two kinds, if they are written with different inks or in different languages, is guilty. Even if he should write two letters from forgetfulness, he is guilty, whether he has written them with ink or with paint, red chalk, or anything that makes a permanent mark. . .

*But, if anyone writes with dark fluid, with fruit juice, or in the dust of the road, or in sand, or in anything which does not make a permanent mark, he is not guilty.'" (4)

*On and on the regulations went. Then Jesus came along and basically said, "Wait a minute! People are more important than man-made religious rules."

*Church: We need to put people over our programs and plans. I found that out the hard way back in the 1980's. We were having a Christmas program one Sunday night. And I can't remember what it was, but the church was packed top and bottom. And the lights were all out for the program. It was especially dark in there.

*As I was standing near the door, someone gave me a message about a sick baby. The mom was at church to see the Christmas program, but had left the baby with a relative at home. The baby had gotten worse, and they decided to take it to the emergency room.

*Well, it took me a while to spot Mom, and when I did, she was in the middle of a long row of people. There was no way to get the message to her without distracting a lot of people around her. And the program only had about another 20 minutes to go. So, I thought I'd just wait until the end. Bad idea!!! That mom was furious, and rightly so. God wants us to put people over plans, programs, schedules, and traditions.

*Jesus cares about us meeting other people's needs, and of course, their greatest need is the gospel! People need to hear about the love of God and the cross of Jesus Christ. People need to be warned about the wages of sin, and told about the gift of eternal life we all can have through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

*What matters to the Lord? People matter! Jesus cares about us the needs of other people.

2. HE ALSO CARES ABOUT US HONORING HIM AS OUR MASTER.

*In vs. 5-8, Jesus said:

5. "Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

6. But I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

7. But 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 even of the Sabbath.''

*Jesus Christ is Lord over the Sabbath, and as Peter said in Acts 10:36, Jesus "is Lord of all!" God gives us a glimpse of Christ's lordship in a prophecy He gave to Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus was born.

*Isaiah 9:6-7 says, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

*In Revelation 19:11-16, the Apostle John gives us another great look at the lordship of Jesus Christ:

11. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

12. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.

13. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

14. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

15. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

*Jesus Christ is Lord of all! And He cares about us honoring Him as our Master. How can we do that? The Apostle Paul gave us a great clue in Philippians 2. There Paul talked about how Jesus humbled Himself to be born as a man and die on the cross for us. Paul also talked about how God the Father has now exalted His Son, our Savior.

*But don't miss what Paul said about how we should honor our Lord. In Philippians 2:5-13 Paul wrote:

5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

13. for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

*The best way for us to honor the lordship of Christ is to think like Jesus, humble ourselves before God, and do His good pleasure. Do the good things God wants us to do, "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

*Christians: We can do God's good pleasure more and more, because right now God is working in our hearts to make us more like our Master. Malcolm Gladwell gave the example of how dogs tend to reflect the character of their owners.

*And Malcolm said, "The dogs that bite people are, in many cases, socially isolated because their owners are socially isolated. And they are vicious because they have owners who want a vicious dog. The junkyard German shepherd which looks as if it would rip your throat out, and the German shepherd guide dog for the blind are the same breed. But they are not the same dog, because they have owners with different intentions." (5)

*Christians: We have a new owner. We have a new Master, and He wants us to be like Him. Jesus is Lord of all! And He cares about us honoring Him as our Master.

3. BUT JESUS ALSO CARES ABOUT US LIVING WITH HIS MERCY.

*The Lord made this clear in vs. 7, where He said, "If you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." Here for the second time in Matthew's Gospel, the Lord quoted Hosea 6:6. The first time Jesus quoted that Scripture was in Matthew 9, when the Lord had gone to eat with Matthew the tax collector, the same Matthew who wrote this book.

*Matthew 9 tells the wonderful story of the paralyzed man who was brought to the Lord by four friends. Jesus healed that man, but first He forgave His sins, and the people were amazed.

*Next Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, and the Lord went to eat in Matthew's house with many tax collectors and sinners. Then Matthew 9:11-13 says:

11. . . when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?''

12. But when Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.''

*Jesus cares about us living with His mercy. He wants us to receive His mercy and then give His kind of mercy to other people.

*Thank God we can have God's mercy through the cross of Jesus Christ! The Bible speaks of God's mercy hundreds of times. In Psalm 57:9-10 King David said, "I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations for Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds."

*In Psalm 90:14 Moses prayed to the LORD and said, "Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!" Psalm 100:5 tells us that "the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations." And Ephesians 2:4-5 tells Christians that "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."

*God provided His mercy through the cross of Jesus Christ. And one of the best places to see the mercy of the cross is in Luke 23. Please look first at vs. 32-34:

32. There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.

33. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

34. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.''

*The multiplied mercy of the cross! -- "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

*Now look at vs. 39-43:

39. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.''

40. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

41. And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.''

42. Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.''

43. And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.''

*That thief fully trusted in the Lord's mercy. D. L. Moody concluded that the prayer in vs. 34 must have been what converted the thief on the cross. (6)

*Through the agony of the cross, the thief heard Jesus pray, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And the thief believed in the Lord. Nothing else could reach him, until he saw the merciful love of Jesus Christ:

-Love not for the righteous, -- But for the unrighteous.

-Not for the good, -- But for sinners.

-Not just for His friends, -- But even for His enemies.

*The thief fully trusted in the Lord's mercy. We see his faith in the request he made in vs. 42: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" What faith! That request was based on faith that Jesus was bigger than the cross, and even bigger than death.

*What faith! There Jesus was, still hanging on the cross, -- not risen from the dead. The stone had not been rolled away. But the saved thief believed that Jesus would live and reign forever. And he trusted that the Lord could save him.

*Ken Gehrels described the request this way: "Jesus, when you come there, could there be maybe a little corner for me? Jesus, when you come there, please don't abandon me to eternal darkness, to being a wandering soul with no place to go, or a soul in eternal torment. -- Jesus -- mercy!"

*This thief trusted that the Lord could save him. And when he heard the Lord's answer, he trusted that the Lord would save him, because in vs. 43, Jesus told him, "Surely, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.''

*And Ken Gehrels wrote that "Jesus didn't say, 'Maybe, -- we'll see,' or 'Someday,' or 'Why should I?' or 'Absolutely not!' Instead, Jesus said, 'Today you will be with me in Paradise.' He gave an absolute guarantee that would be served up in a moment. The thief relaxed. No more was said. No more needed to be said. It was okay, eternally okay." (7)

*That kind of trust in Jesus Christ will take you to Heaven. And it is the only thing that will get you there. As D. L. Moody said, "The thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work his way to Heaven. He had a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord. He could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into Paradise." -- And why? Because this thief trusted in the Lord's mercy. (8)

*Jesus wants all of us to receive His mercy by trusting in Him as our Lord and Savior. Then He wants us to give His mercy to everyone else.

*Christians: God doesn't want us condemning anybody, especially each other. As Romans 14:4 asks, "Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand."

CONCLUSION:

*Thank God for His miraculous mercy! Have you received it? You surely can by putting your faith in the living Lord who died on the cross for you and then rose again forever in victory over sin and death.

*Just like the thief on the cross, ask the Lord to save you. Then start meeting other people's needs, honor Jesus as your Master, and living with His mercy. These are some of the great things that matter to Jesus the most.

(1) Adapted from these sources:

-BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath" - Matthew 12:1-8 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019

-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Introduction to Matthew 12 - "Crisis" - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/matthew/12

(2) Sources:

-"Trashed Trophies" by Pastor Kevin Sanders - https://kevinsanders.org/2008/10/trashed-trophies/

-"In College, James Dobson's Goal Was to Become the School's Tennis Champion" - SermonCentral illustration contributed by Christian Cheong 01292004

(3) BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath" - Matthew 12:1-8 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019

(4) Sources:

-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - "The Eternal Law" - Matthew 5:17-20 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/the-sermon-on-the-mount-matthew-51-48

-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - "The Man Who Came by Night" - John 3:1-6 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/john/3

(5) WHAT THE DOG SAW: AND OTHER ADVENTURES by Malcolm Gladwell - Kindle Loc. 5182-85 - Source: Illustration by Jim L. Wilson - Topic: Lordship - 1 Corinthians 6:20

(6) Original source unknown

(7) Ken Gehrels online sermon: "Words of Life from the Cross" - "Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise" - Luke 23:43

(8) D. L. Moody, DAY BY DAY WITH D. L MOODY, Moody Press. Source: Sermonillustrations.com