What Matters The Most To Jesus? Series

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?