Sabbath:
The Lord of the Sabbath
Scripture Text: Luke 6.1-10
INTRODUCTION
As a young man, there were several older gentlemen that I had high regard for - the life-witness, their faith, their devotion to God. But-as-a-young-person, …I always found some things about them that was-curious. One of the things that I-thought was peculiar was the way they observed the Sabbath. They made no-bones about-the-fact that come-Sunday, …they didn’t watch any t.v. (no football, no basketball, no NASCAR); …and they wouldn’t even read the newspaper! Sunday’s were all-about worshipping and resting.
But, for them, …abstaining from all-other-activities was as-much-a-part of observing the Sabbath-day, …as-was, going to church. And I remember thinking, that was a little odd. How was watching-a-little-football, …or reading the Sunday paper ~ …how would that be breaking Sabbath?
Now, before we go any further, …let me say that these gentlemen were no-legalists. They didn’t make and keep rules just-for-the-sake of making-and-keeping rules! But, somehow, …some-way, …these-things had-become commitments for them ~ …deeply-personal-commitments that emerged in the course of living-and-applying his faith to day-to-day, …week-to-week living.
And that’s what we wanna do! Having faith, …believing in God, …trusting that God has forgiven us through the redemptive work of Jesus: …that’s one-thing. But what about life-and-living? What difference does it make in how I spend my days, …my life-energy, …how my time is organized? That’s-what Sabbath is all-about! We don’t keep Sabbath in-order to-be a Christian; …But we keep Sabbath because we already-are Christians! In-other-words, …the motivation, …the impulse to observe the Sabbath does not arise from a desperate-hope to-be acceptable to God; …but it springs from a heart of gratitude that we have already-been accepted by God!
With all-that-said, …we might wanna explore what the Sabbath is all about. What was God thinking when He established a Sabbath-day? Why should we observe Sabbath? What does it mean to “keep the Sabbath”? ~ These are important for every Christian to work-out because Sabbath-keeping is a big-deal! This is no-small-matter. If you looked up in a Bible-concordance, how-many-times the word “Sabbath” appears in Scripture, …you would find it 151 times! 94-times in the Old Testament; …and 57-times in the New Testament. I’m thinkin’ that it was pretty-important to the biblical writers!
If you were to look at the Ten Commandments, …you would find the command: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20.8). It is the fourth commandment. Many biblical-scholars have pointed-out that the first 3 commandments deal with our relationship with God (No other gods; no idols; don’t mis-use God’s name); …and the last 6 commandments deal with our relationships with one another (don’t murder, don’t lie, don’t commit adultery, etc.) But, the 4th commandment ~ the commandment-dealing-with Sabbath ~ …the 4th commandment is-like a bridge. It connects the first-three-commandments with the last-six-commandments. The commandment to observe-the-Sabbath deals-with both, our relationship to God, …and our relationships with God’s people. I’m thinkin’ that it is pretty-important to God to include it in the list of ‘Top Ten” commandments!
Another reason why it’s an-important-thing for us to practice is because by-the-time Jesus stepped onto-the-stage of human-history, …Sabbath-keeping was one of the central-characteristics of what it meant to be God’s-people. You can’t read the gospels without noticing that Sabbath-keeping is an issue that keeps-coming-up …Over-and-over again, Jesus is answering questions, …and providing new-teachings, …and volleying-complaints: …and the Sabbath is one of the main-points-of-argument between himself and the religious-leaders of the day. If Sabbath-keeping was something Jesus talked-about a-lot, …I’m thinkin’ it’s a pretty-important thing for us to understand!
TRANSITION
You might-be-wondering why we’re even talkin’ about keepin’-the-Sabbath! Some-here may-be-thinkin’ to-themselves that Sabbath-keeping is a pretty simple-concept; …you learned about it in Sunday School, when you were seven! Others-may-be-thinkin’ that Sabbath-keepin’ is such an out-of-date concept; …and maybe you think we’re wasting-our-time talkin’ about something that doesn’t have any-relevance to Christian-living in the 21st century!
Well… I hope by-now that we’ve begun to see that Sabbath-keeping is a big-deal. It was a big-deal to the biblical-writers. It’s been a big-deal to God’s people for thousands-of-years. And, it’s a big-deal to God. So, maybe we should give it the attention it deserves!
Let me make a couple of observations as-to-why it’s important for us to wrestle-with this topic.
#1 ~ we are immersed in a culture in which the value of life and time is based on productivity and accomplishments. We cut-our-“eye-teeth” in this culture and it has shaped us and our underlying-value-system in ways that we’re not-always-conscious-of. All-this-stuff about what-makes-life meaningful and worthwhile ~ …a-lot-of-the-way-we-think-about that-stuff is significantly-shaped-by our culture’s emphasis on production and successes. That’s why it hurts so-badly when we lose our job, …or when we fail at some project, …or when we feel-like we’re not really contributing. But-anyway, …that’s the first-reason why it is so-important for us to wrestle with the commandment to keep the Sabbath: …there’s something in us that puts more-emphasis on cultural values (work, production, success, accomplishment) ~ …something within-us puts more-emphasis on cultural-values, than-on godly-values (Sabbath, rest, worship). And-so, …to take-time-out to focus our thoughts-and-our-hearts on Sabbath-keeping is a way for us to allow the Spirit of God to plow-up the hard, compacted soil of heritage and cultural-values ~ …some of which is so-deeply-imbedded that we don’t-even-realize that-it’s-there!
#2 ~ The second reason that it’s important for us to wrestle with this topic is this ~ …Understanding, Keeping, and Applying the Sabbath commandment to our lives has the potential to free us from the tyranny of worldly-ambitions, worldly-values, and worldly-addictions! I don’t know if that sounds like a big-promise, or-not; …but I’m afraid many folks have lost the sense of how-big Sabbath-keeping is. So, I hope that over the next few weeks, …I hope-and-pray that God stirs up some junk-in-our hearts-and-minds!
The whole purpose of this-exploration is to-challenge and to-inspire us to a greater-appreciation, …a deeper-understanding, …a stronger-commitment to Sabbath-keeping. And in order to do that, …we’re gonna-have-to-do some soul-searching. And we may find-some-stuff that has been working-beneath-the-surface, …that really has-held-us-back from embracing the gift of Sabbath. And I hope that over-the-course of the next-few-weeks, …I hope that we begin to see how, when we don’t observe the Sabbath, …we are really subjecting ourselves to bondage-and-slavery!
Does that sound-like strong-language? Well, …it is! But, as Galatians 5, verse 1 says:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
BODY
Sabbath-keeping is a big-part of experiencing freedom-in-Christ.
Well… I’m jumpin’-ahead of-myself! Ealier, we read a curious-passage from Luke’s gospel. Two incidents happened, …involving Jesus and those-who-were-considered “religious-leaders” of-the-day. The first involved picking-and-eating some grain; …the second involved healing a crippled-man’s-hand. Both-times, Jesus was put on the hot-spot. Both-times, the implication-was: that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath-command. Both-times, Jesus used the opportunity to shed-new-light on what Sabbath-keeping was really-supposed to be-about.
I. Giving the Pharisees the Benefit of the Doubt
Now, let’s give the Pharisees the benefit of the doubt. They prized the Ten Commandments… And their greatest-desire was to not break any of God’s commands. And-so, …in-order-to protect the commandments, …they designed an elaborate and detailed system of additional rules ~ …not-so-much ‘cause they liked lots-and-lots of rules, …but-because they really didn’t-want to break one of the big-ones!
It would be like some of the rules that we come up with at home… We really-don’t-want our children to get their hand-burned by touching the hot stove-top. But, we add-rules and stretch-the-boundary so that they are protected from ever getting close-enough to the stove to get burned. So, we tell the children that they can’t come into the kitchen when Mom is cooking. Or we tell them that they are not to cross the little-threshold that stands-between the dining-room and the kitchen. The kitchen is off-limits! Is the kitchen such a bad-place for kids ~ that we have a rule saying that-they would have to stay out!?!
No!… The only-reason why the kids must-stay-out-of the kitchen is to-make-sure that they don’t break the really-big-rule: don’t touch a hot-stove!
That’s the kinda-attitude that the Pharisees had when they started coming up with layers-and-layers of rules-and-traditions. And-so, …when we read about them getting-bent-outta-shape with Jesus for picking-grain, …or for healing a crippled-man on the Sabbath ~ …just-realize that they had developed these-extensive, and elaborate rules to guard-against breaking the Sabbath Commandment! If you pick a few handfuls-of-grain, as you walk through the fields ~ …the next-thing-you-know, …you’ll break-out the combines and open a 24-hour bakery on the Sabbath! If you heal one cripple-man’s-hand on the Sabbath ~ …the next-thing-you-know, …you’ll open an emergency-care-clinic on the Sabbath!
The Pharisees saw-it-all as a slippery-slope, ...and they tenaciously held-onto their elaborate-system of rules-and-regulations. And they weren’t-gonna-stand for Jesus-and-His-disciples flaunting their “disregard” for the traditions-and-the-laws of their fathers!
In their efforts to protect and preserve the Law, …the religious-leaders added greater-burdens …and obscured the blessings that God wanted to give through the covenantal-Law. Their intentions were initially-good ~ But, over-time, these pharisaical restrictions …prohibitions …their interpretations became the focus, rather-than the heart of the Law. And-because they’d-lost-focus, …they ended-up arguing-with and despising Jesus!
II. Rule-Breaker
So… was Jesus a rule-breaker? Was He a trouble-making, rabble-rouser? Did He snub-His-nose at the good-rules that had been-in-place for several-generations? Did Jesus think He-and-His-disciples were better-than-them!?!
Keep-in-mind that Jesus came to fulfill the Law, …not to-abolish it. But, how do we understand these events, and particularly Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath?
Well… Jesus gives us the bottom-line. He says that He is the “Lord of the Sabbath”. In-other-words, the Sabbath is all about Him. Keeping the Sabbath is all about walking with Him; …it’s about submitting to His lordship. So, whatever-else-it-means to “keep Sabbath”, this we can be sure of: Jesus is the reason for the day, …He is the focus; …Jesus is what it’s all about. It is a “holy” day, because we treat it differently from all the rest.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…. [T]he Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20.8-11)
It is a “holy” day, first-of-all, because God “made it holy”. And-that’s-why we treat it differently from all the rest. We keep-it-holy when it is distinct from every other day. It has a holy-origin ~ …really-going-back to the seventh-day of Creation:
“God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Gen. 2.2-3)
It is a holy-day, …with holy-beginnings, …and a holy-purpose. But-before we get into the details of how to keep it, …how to observe it, …how to make it holy, …we have-to begin with what Jesus says is His part in Sabbath-keeping. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath ~ …and whatever-else we’re gonna discover about the Sabbath in the weeks-to-come, …this is something that we’ve gotta-come-back to.
III. Keeping it Holy
So… back-to the question: “Was Jesus a rule-breaker?”
Well, …I guess He was ~ if you’re-talkin’-about man-made rules-and-traditions. But …when-it-comes-down-to-it, …how can He be a Sabbath-breaker, …if He is the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’? It begins with Him; …it focuses on Him; …and it ends with Him.
The Pharisees had done a switch-er-ooo! Instead of focusing on the One instituted and established the Sabbath, …instead of focusing on the One who gave humanity this-gift, …instead, their focus had-shifted to man-made rules-and-regulations-and-traditions.
Those-things are fine for what they are! We all set-up these kinds of things in our lives, …in our households, …in our work-ethic.
But, our rules, …and our traditions, …and our regulations ~ …to-be-more-specific: …the particular-ways that we practice Sabbath-keeping are not more-important than the One who gave us the Sabbath and blessed it!
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is our focus. He is the One that it’s all about.
And I would suspect that if my dear friend Art Langston was still-alive, …I suspect that he’d tell-us, …that-if we’re preoccupied with whether to read the paper, or watch a football-game, …or go to the park and fish, …or jump on our bike and go for a ride on Sunday ~ …I suspect that he’d tell-us that if we’re preoccupied with those kinds-of-questions, …we’re missin’ the point of what the Sabbath is all-about! It’s about Jesus! It’s about setting aside a-day and joining-together with the family-of-God, …to worship Him, …to celebrate all that He’s done, …to listen and to watch for new-things that He’s doing, …and to rest in the knowledge that this-ole-world doesn’t-have-a-hold on our heart, …or our destiny, …or our reason-for-living! It’s all-about-Jesus! He is the Lord of the Sabbath!
CONCLUSION
Once-again: …the purpose of this-morning’s-message is simple: It’s to get our focus in the right-place… …or-should-I-say: on the right Person!
Of course, there’s still a lot more to say about Sabbath-keeping ~ …and we’re gonna explore more-of-the-particulars in the next few weeks; …and-I’m sure that God will use those times to challenge-us, …and to-expose some stuff that has shaped our habits (when it comes to observing the Sabbath).
But, today we start exactly-where we need to start: on the Lord Jesus. We don’t start with man-made rules or traditions. We don’t start with our own-personal-preferences. We start with the Lord… the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a gift from God. Let’s celebrate the Giver of this good-gift; Let’s celebrate the Lord of the Sabbath!
