WEBVTT 00:00:01.770 --> 00:00:06.570 First question, see if we can get some conversation 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:09.910 going this morning. When you think of the word 00:00:09.910 --> 00:00:14.449 rest, right, what comes to mind? Maybe how you 00:00:14.449 --> 00:00:18.550 rest or when you think of the idea of rest, what 00:00:18.550 --> 00:00:22.699 tends to come to mind? A couple people. If you're 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.399 a guest this morning, we do have some interaction. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.280 I do like that when we can talk amongst ourselves. 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:30.640 It doesn't need to just be me talking at you, 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:33.020 but talking with you and having that conversation. 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:35.380 It would be interesting to see how this is answered. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.820 When you think of rest, what do you think of? 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:42.920 Just breathing, apparently. Okay, for Nikki, 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:45.280 right? That was just an exhale. I'm not going 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.640 to do that on the mic because I think that's 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.659 weird, but just breathing something out. Sure. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:56.409 Others? Calm. Okay. An idea of calmness. Okay. 00:00:56.590 --> 00:01:00.390 Yeah. I don't fully understand that one. It's 00:01:00.390 --> 00:01:04.049 very hard for me to calm down on stuff. I know 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:09.150 you're shocked. Others? Sleep. Yeah. Hopefully, 00:01:09.409 --> 00:01:11.510 when you're asleep, you're at rest, and I think 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:14.469 80 % of us understand that. I just made that 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:16.349 up, but I think it's true. Others? I heard something 00:01:16.349 --> 00:01:19.939 over here. A nap, so very, yeah, absolutely. 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:25.239 Yeah, how many good nappers do we have? Okay, 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:28.400 how many bad nappers do we have? Absolutely, 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.680 right? There are people that will say, man, I 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.819 just had the greatest power nap. And I look at 00:01:35.819 --> 00:01:38.200 them and go, I don't understand what you just 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:43.170 said. Like, oh, I just needed 20 minutes. The 00:01:43.170 --> 00:01:46.670 volume of voices in my head don't go down a hair 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:50.530 in 20 minutes, let alone try to find a 20 -minute 00:01:50.530 --> 00:01:57.590 nap. Any power nappers? Great. Do not covet thy 00:01:57.590 --> 00:02:00.530 neighbor's power nap. That's unbelievable. Anyone 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:02.989 else? When you think of resting, where's a good 00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:06.650 place to rest? Keep it appropriate. What? The 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:09.229 beach. Absolutely. Yeah, it's coming from our 00:02:09.229 --> 00:02:14.789 Florida travelers. Yes. Yeah. Alaska. Thank you, 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:17.370 Randy. Yep, there's an Alaskaflex. The Spielmans 00:02:17.370 --> 00:02:20.909 were in Alaska. But that, absolutely. I know 00:02:20.909 --> 00:02:23.449 people that have gone. It is, man, it's beauty. 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:26.050 When you're in God's creation, resting seems 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:28.590 to be so much easier, whether a beach or Alaska. 00:02:28.789 --> 00:02:34.469 Those are opposites. But anywhere else? A comfortable 00:02:34.469 --> 00:02:37.229 spot. Yeah, absolutely. A couch, a comfortable 00:02:37.229 --> 00:02:40.370 spot, right? So let me ask a question. Oh, go 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:46.819 ahead. Talking to Al? Oh, no? Okay. Al's lazy 00:02:46.819 --> 00:02:50.740 boy chair. This is getting weird, Andrea. Okay, 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.280 we're just going to keep going, right? Something 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.020 about a lazy boy chair, great. So how many of 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:58.379 us rest well? How many people can offer a confession 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:01.319 today amongst friends? How many of us rest well? 00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:11.139 Seven of you. Out of a room of 270, seven of 00:03:11.139 --> 00:03:14.740 you rest well. I think this message is going 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.300 to hit. The rest seven, you can rest well and 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:19.319 fall asleep. Because you rest well, you don't 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:21.520 need this, right? And some of you might do that 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.379 already. But understand that we don't talk about 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:28.949 Sabbath a lot. We just don't. Or if we do talk 00:03:28.949 --> 00:03:31.569 about Sabbath, we use it as some kind of defense 00:03:31.569 --> 00:03:34.830 mechanism as to why we aren't going to go do 00:03:34.830 --> 00:03:37.849 that. I will have that in marriage or premarital 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:39.949 counseling all the time. People use it as some 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:41.710 kind of trump card. Like, hey, do you want to 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:43.969 go hang out with my parents today? No, I need 00:03:43.969 --> 00:03:47.550 to Sabbath. Hey, don't you want to go see your 00:03:47.550 --> 00:03:50.469 grandson's t -ball game? No, I need to Sabbath. 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:54.419 That's not how you're supposed to use it. And 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:56.620 the Lord is going to bring that about from Luke 00:03:56.620 --> 00:04:00.539 chapter 6. We'll be in Luke 6. But before we 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.740 get there, the claim is that he's the Lord of 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:06.259 the Sabbath. That is what Jesus is claiming this 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:08.699 morning. It was Son of Man brought pressure. 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:12.099 Lord of the Sabbath brings almost even more pressure 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:15.879 than Son of Man from last week. But I want to 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:18.560 talk first, before we jump into God's Word, what 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.310 does it feel like when a good gift... becomes 00:04:21.310 --> 00:04:25.810 heavy. That this gift of rest is a gift we all 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:30.750 have been given by our Heavenly Father, yet sometimes 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:34.689 good gifts can become heavy. There are few things 00:04:34.689 --> 00:04:37.509 more tragic in life than when a gift becomes 00:04:37.509 --> 00:04:41.790 a burden. Something meant to bring life slowly 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:45.810 in some weird way that we tend to kind of navigate 00:04:45.810 --> 00:04:49.189 to, that that gift, the thing that brought life, 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:52.050 slowly becomes something that weighs us down. 00:04:52.449 --> 00:04:55.430 A couple examples. Maybe a job that once felt 00:04:55.430 --> 00:04:58.370 like a calling, super excited, like get up every 00:04:58.370 --> 00:05:00.949 day, this is great, all of a sudden becomes, 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:04.870 or slowly over time, becomes an exhausting pressure. 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:10.319 Maybe a hobby, once loved. then becomes an obligation. 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:15.180 Maybe, even if we're honest, that faith itself, 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:18.879 instead of this invigorating thing that we walk 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.899 into every day, tends just to become a thing 00:05:21.899 --> 00:05:24.579 we have to check off. Did my Bible time, Pastor 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:26.220 Jidge said show up to pray, so we're going to 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:28.040 pray, but we'll go Tuesday because it doesn't 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.060 fit in my Sunday schedule, all the things. That 00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:34.540 can easily happen. And that's exactly what happened 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:37.829 with the idea of Sabbath in Jesus' day. That 00:05:37.829 --> 00:05:42.670 in Jesus' day, the idea of Sabbath went from 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:46.189 being a gift to being a political, a religious, 00:05:46.490 --> 00:05:52.329 a moral obligation. Because the thing is, God 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:55.370 created the Sabbath, right? I was sitting down 00:05:55.370 --> 00:05:57.930 with a firefighter this week who has been going 00:05:57.930 --> 00:06:00.540 through a lot of struggles. And he was talking 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:04.000 about how he doesn't rest well. And so it's just 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.639 the sermon was already done. I was like, oh, 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:07.240 you're going to get the sermon before I even 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:10.079 give it. And sitting down with him, he's just 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.660 like, I just don't understand why I need to rest. 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.100 But then my mind, all the things. And I said, 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:20.000 brother, God himself rested. So I think we should 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.980 too. He just kind of looked at me. He's not, 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:26.079 I mean, faith isn't a huge conversation in his 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.509 life right now. Hopefully it will be. He just 00:06:29.509 --> 00:06:32.069 looked at me, and I think that connection of, 00:06:32.110 --> 00:06:35.269 wow, this God of the universe, or the God that 00:06:35.269 --> 00:06:39.670 I speak about in my chaplaincy, rested. So I 00:06:39.670 --> 00:06:41.250 want to offer that to you this morning, is if 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:43.810 that's a week wrecker for you, great. If that's 00:06:43.810 --> 00:06:45.709 a month wrecker for you, great. If that's a rest 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:47.670 wrecker for you, awesome, you're getting it. 00:06:48.009 --> 00:06:51.930 God himself took time to rest. He said, I'm going 00:06:51.930 --> 00:06:55.329 to create these days, but then I am going to 00:06:55.329 --> 00:06:59.509 rest. Rest was a gift. Sabbath was a gift. A 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:01.870 day of rest. A day of worship. A day to remember 00:07:01.870 --> 00:07:04.529 that the world is held together, not by your 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:06.589 own efforts, mine own efforts, the elders, the 00:07:06.589 --> 00:07:11.009 deacons, but by God's grace. Over time, the religious 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:14.110 rule of the day, right? We saw how that became 00:07:14.110 --> 00:07:17.089 perverted and corrupted. They started layering 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:20.970 rule upon rule upon rule around this idea of 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:23.470 rest. By the first century, there were dozens 00:07:23.470 --> 00:07:26.449 of regulations defining what's counted as work 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:29.470 and what counted as rest. Rest became this thing 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:34.269 you needed a recipe for. The gift was no longer 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:38.870 a gift. How far someone could walk was the difference 00:07:38.870 --> 00:07:41.829 between rest or work. How much grain someone 00:07:41.829 --> 00:07:45.269 could gather, rest or work. The actions counted 00:07:45.269 --> 00:07:49.290 as labor, rest or work. What was meant to be 00:07:49.290 --> 00:07:52.689 a day of rest became a day of spiritual pressure 00:07:52.689 --> 00:07:57.209 and spiritual compromise. And into that pressure 00:07:57.209 --> 00:08:00.709 -filled system, Jesus walks in, and I love how 00:08:00.709 --> 00:08:04.209 he does it. And when he begins redefining the 00:08:04.209 --> 00:08:07.290 Sabbath, he is doing something far bigger than 00:08:07.290 --> 00:08:11.980 just changing a rule. He is revealing something 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:14.980 about himself. He is revealing that the Lord 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:20.439 of the Sabbath had arrived. Another reason, and 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.759 hopefully we're picking those up, as we distinguish 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:26.399 each candle, we can see and hear another reason 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.079 why the religious system wants to ultimately 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:32.240 snuff the light of the world out. So let's jump 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.440 in. Luke chapter 6. We're going to be beginning 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:36.460 of Luke 6. We're going to be in the first 10 00:08:36.460 --> 00:08:39.120 verses. Again, we'll show it on the screen, but 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.600 if you have it in your own Bibles or on your 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:43.320 app, we use the ESV, but feel free to follow 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:45.580 along with another translation, though it will 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:48.600 read different. The first 10 verses of Luke 6. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.179 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:54.740 grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:56.840 of the heads of grain, rubbing them in their 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.409 hands. But some of the Pharisees says, why are 00:08:59.409 --> 00:09:02.029 you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? 00:09:03.049 --> 00:09:05.590 And Jesus answered them, have you not read what 00:09:05.590 --> 00:09:08.009 David did when he was hungry, he and those who 00:09:08.009 --> 00:09:10.529 were with him, how he entered the house and took 00:09:10.529 --> 00:09:13.029 and ate the bread of the presence, which is not 00:09:13.029 --> 00:09:15.970 lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also 00:09:15.970 --> 00:09:18.590 gave it to those with him? And he said to them, 00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:22.669 the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. On another 00:09:22.669 --> 00:09:24.590 Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 00:09:24.830 --> 00:09:27.970 And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 00:09:27.970 --> 00:09:30.110 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him 00:09:30.110 --> 00:09:32.909 to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath so 00:09:32.909 --> 00:09:36.470 that they may find a reason to accuse him. But 00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:38.549 he knew their thoughts. Again, two weeks in a 00:09:38.549 --> 00:09:40.529 row, knows their thoughts. And he said to the 00:09:40.529 --> 00:09:42.409 man with the withered hand, Come and stand here. 00:09:42.649 --> 00:09:44.929 And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to 00:09:44.929 --> 00:10:04.620 them, So, we see a couple different... aspects 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:07.860 of jesus doing or his disciples doing something 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:10.240 on the sabbath and the teaching that goes along 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.059 with it so the pressure point one that jesus 00:10:13.059 --> 00:10:15.480 walks into our lives and then the lives of the 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:20.860 text religion can turn god's gifts into burdens 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:24.679 okay that's pressure point one this morning jesus 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.679 and his disciples are walking through a grain 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:29.620 field Nothing bad about that, right? That's just 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:31.820 kind of ho -hum. Walking through a grain field, 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:33.960 the disciples pick the heads of grain, rub them 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.759 in their hands, and eat it. I don't fully get 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:38.799 it. I didn't really do a lot of research on it. 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:40.500 We're just going to take it as it says. They 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:42.600 rub the grain. They ate it. And immediately, 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:46.019 Pharisees confront them. Immediately, gotcha, 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.519 right? What are you doing, or why are you doing 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:54.049 what is not lawful on the Sabbath? The irony, 00:10:54.149 --> 00:10:57.149 if we really dig deep, is striking as what is 00:10:57.149 --> 00:10:59.549 going on here. The Old Testament actually allowed 00:10:59.549 --> 00:11:02.149 travelers to pick grain by hand. Deuteronomy 00:11:02.149 --> 00:11:05.549 23, which the Pharisees should know that's part 00:11:05.549 --> 00:11:09.990 of the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 00:11:09.990 --> 00:11:11.809 Deuteronomy, right? Part of the law. They would 00:11:11.809 --> 00:11:15.929 have known that. That was made a provision. Deuteronomy 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:20.539 23. The issue here was not God's law. The Pharisees 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:23.700 didn't really have a lawful leg to stand on in 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:26.539 a pure way of understanding the law. The issue 00:11:26.539 --> 00:11:32.799 was the human additions to the law. And this 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.659 is what Jesus is going to call out. You see, 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.299 the Pharisees had built layers of their own interpretation 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:40.679 around the Sabbath so that even simple actions 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.639 like rubbing grain together would be classified 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:48.200 as work. What began as a way to honor God eventually 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:51.679 became a system of pressure that someone needed 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:55.519 to endure in order to be a good believer, a good 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:01.399 Jew in that time. Instead of the rest that people 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.590 should have, they... felt watched. Instead of 00:12:04.590 --> 00:12:07.129 joy, they felt judged. Instead of freedom, they 00:12:07.129 --> 00:12:10.370 felt burdened. This is the system of oppression 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:13.649 that the Pharisees had built around the religious 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:18.009 idea of following Yahweh. But church, the temptation 00:12:18.009 --> 00:12:21.529 hasn't disappeared today. How many of you have 00:12:21.529 --> 00:12:23.909 walked through a grain field this week and rubbed 00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:28.850 wheat in your hands and ate it? It's okay. You 00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:34.100 can offer that. Exactly. Yet, Faith can slowly 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:37.720 become performance in today's aspect, in today's 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:41.000 culture, right? The person that we are online, 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.279 following all the rules, doing all the things, 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:45.639 yet the person we're doing in private, different 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:50.639 people. The performative aspect of faith hasn't 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:52.659 changed. The pressure is still there. It just 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:56.139 looks very different. We begin to measure spirituality 00:12:56.139 --> 00:13:00.980 by activity. Or, because I'm on a board, I am 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:05.669 this. Or because I am on council, I am this, 00:13:05.669 --> 00:13:08.490 said no one who ever has really been on a council, 00:13:08.649 --> 00:13:11.649 right? That that burden comes. It's not very 00:13:11.649 --> 00:13:15.110 light at times. We like to compare ourselves 00:13:15.110 --> 00:13:18.990 to others. And if we're being honest, compare 00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:21.750 is a nice word, right? Well, what's another word 00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:23.529 when we compare ourselves to others? What's another 00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:26.129 word we actually like to use but we don't tell 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:31.409 anybody? Judge. Right, judge. Thank you, Will. 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:33.590 Yeah, there you go. It was good. He was resting. 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:37.710 So, yes, he was. We like to compare, judge, other 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:41.669 people. That's part of our religiosity, if we're 00:13:41.669 --> 00:13:44.090 being honest. We wonder if we are doing enough, 00:13:44.129 --> 00:13:47.529 praying enough, serving enough. What does enough 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:51.269 mean? Because we look at other people. We look 00:13:51.269 --> 00:13:53.730 at other leaders. I'm not as good as them. I 00:13:53.730 --> 00:13:55.309 don't do it enough here. I don't blah, blah, 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:57.169 blah. All the things. Pressure, pressure, pressure. 00:13:57.429 --> 00:14:00.929 And slowly, the gift of God can begin to feel 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:05.190 like pressure. But Jesus steps on the scene. 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:08.230 And what I love what he does, and what he will 00:14:08.230 --> 00:14:11.169 continue to do in this sermon series, he restores 00:14:11.169 --> 00:14:14.919 the gift that humans have tainted. He destroys 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:17.659 the gift that humans actually have ripped apart. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.639 And he enters in, pressure point two, he reveals 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:24.940 his authority over the Sabbath. And this is an 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:29.879 aspect of the Sabbath we don't actually understand 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:34.399 at times, yet we feel this pressure a lot. Because 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:36.799 if we're being honest, and if we don't Sabbath, 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:40.179 or if someone reminds us to Sabbath, it can almost 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:43.460 be like this big brother above us of God going, 00:14:44.199 --> 00:14:47.019 When's the last time you Sabbathed, Jim? I'm 00:14:47.019 --> 00:14:49.200 keeping a ledger. You haven't done any kind of 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:50.980 Sabbath this week. You haven't done anything. 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:52.940 And it may come out like the voice of my wife 00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:55.559 or something else, you know, in the aspect of 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:59.639 Sabbath and rest. Jesus is revealing a restoration 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:04.519 to what was being created. Jesus answers the 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.559 Pharisees with the story of 1 Samuel 21. David 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:09.980 and his companions were hungry, and they ate 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:12.279 the consecrated bread normally reserved for the 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:14.659 priests, the Levites, the Levitical code. But 00:15:14.659 --> 00:15:18.120 the point of the story is clear. Human need matters 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:22.000 more than ritual regulation. Let me say that 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.679 again. Human need matters more than religion. 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:31.820 The ritual understanding of how we walk out Christianity. 00:15:33.450 --> 00:15:35.970 Then Jesus makes the pressure statement that 00:15:35.970 --> 00:15:39.470 would have shocked everyone listening. It doesn't 00:15:39.470 --> 00:15:41.870 shock us today, really, in a post -resurrected 00:15:41.870 --> 00:15:44.350 society, though it should still convict. The 00:15:44.350 --> 00:15:47.370 Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Not a casual 00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:49.950 comment. We're building it off of last week that 00:15:49.950 --> 00:15:53.929 the Son of Man is here to forgive sins. Boom. 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:58.850 Lines being drawn. Now he doubles down. The Son 00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:01.889 of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. This is a claim 00:16:01.889 --> 00:16:05.009 of royalty. This is more than just the Messiah. 00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:08.789 This is now God speak. This is Yahweh speak. 00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:12.990 The Sabbath was instituted by God himself when? 00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:17.149 Seventh day of creation. So Jesus is saying, 00:16:17.210 --> 00:16:20.049 he is Lord of the Sabbath. What is he actually 00:16:20.049 --> 00:16:23.990 claiming? I was there when Yahweh created it. 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:26.909 I am there claiming authority over something 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.690 that belongs to God alone. And what we're going 00:16:29.690 --> 00:16:32.409 to see is because he's going to say, I... and 00:16:32.409 --> 00:16:37.190 the Father are one. The Heidelberg Catechism 00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:40.090 helps us understand this moment. Again, the Catechism 00:16:40.090 --> 00:16:42.549 is one of our confessions that we follow as a 00:16:42.549 --> 00:16:45.029 Reformed Church. It's one of the three that helps 00:16:45.029 --> 00:16:48.509 us understand and interpret God's Word. And Lord's 00:16:48.509 --> 00:16:51.549 Day 12 tells us that Christ is our chief prophet, 00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:55.330 our only high priest, and our eternal king. And 00:16:55.330 --> 00:16:58.490 what Luke 6 is pointing us to is his kingship. 00:16:58.610 --> 00:17:03.330 His kingship is on display. And again, it's not 00:17:03.330 --> 00:17:04.890 just going to be words. It's going to be actions 00:17:04.890 --> 00:17:07.289 because it's Jesus and that's what he does. Jesus 00:17:07.289 --> 00:17:10.630 is not simply interpreting the Sabbath. He is 00:17:10.630 --> 00:17:13.890 declaring authority over it. The one who created 00:17:13.890 --> 00:17:17.450 the Sabbath is the one that gets to dictate Sabbath. 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:24.029 Define Sabbath. Invite you into Sabbath. And 00:17:24.029 --> 00:17:30.170 if we're being honest, is our Sabbath. You can't 00:17:30.170 --> 00:17:34.960 Sabbath in anything else. but God himself. Yeah, 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.039 you might be on a nice beach. You might be in 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.460 Alaska. You might be at a kid's t -ball game. 00:17:39.579 --> 00:17:41.140 I don't know anyone that's Sabbath -stirring 00:17:41.140 --> 00:17:45.940 that. But understanding that what is Sabbath? 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.680 Sabbath is God's gift to you to be with him. 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:53.140 That is what true Sabbath is. That's why this 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:55.839 is not just some, oh, I guess I'm just Lord of 00:17:55.839 --> 00:18:00.740 the Sabbath. It is Sabbath itself. He's declaring 00:18:00.740 --> 00:18:03.140 authority over it because what he's saying is 00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:07.279 the king has arrived. I am here to make things 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:11.380 new, including how you rest, what you rest in, 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:15.559 and who you rest with. And this is going to bind 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:19.059 anyone that lives a legalistic heart. And that's 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:22.000 the third pressure point. Legalism hardens the 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.559 heart. Luke then reorders another Sabbath encounter. 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:28.460 Jesus enters the synagogue. We know that that's 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:30.490 something he did. Right? We learned that last 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:33.190 week. A man with a withered hand is present. 00:18:33.890 --> 00:18:36.710 The scribes and the Pharisees are watching closely. 00:18:36.970 --> 00:18:39.930 Everywhere that Jesus is, the Pharisees now are 00:18:39.930 --> 00:18:42.109 going to be. Because they're watching. They're 00:18:42.109 --> 00:18:45.809 waiting. For what? To accuse him. They want stuff 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:48.769 to take him out with. They want that evidence. 00:18:48.930 --> 00:18:51.029 They want those lies. They want to twist that 00:18:51.029 --> 00:18:55.210 gotcha journalism. But they're not watching with 00:18:55.210 --> 00:18:58.400 compassion. They're watching for a mistake. Oh, 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.440 he's going to slip up. We know he's going to 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:03.660 slip up. And we know the story. So because he 00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:06.079 doesn't slip up, what do they do? They have to 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.400 create this whole ruse. They have to have someone 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.859 betray him, but that's for later. They want to 00:19:12.859 --> 00:19:15.500 see whether Jesus will heal on the Sabbath so 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:17.960 they can accuse him. And notice how pressure 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:21.599 reveals their hearts. This dude has a withered 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:24.900 hand. This dude is suffering. Not just politically, 00:19:25.180 --> 00:19:28.180 not just in the community, but physically. He 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:32.299 has a wizard hand. Jesus sees the suffering man 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:35.559 and thinks about restoration. So he asks them 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:39.079 a question. He doesn't ask the guy. The guy is 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:41.940 coming for one thing. To see if his hand will 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:45.019 be restored. If physical healing is going to 00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:48.309 take place. So you got Jesus, you got this guy 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:49.609 in front of him, but then he looks over at the 00:19:49.609 --> 00:19:52.029 Pharisees and asks them the question, because 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:54.890 he perceives their thoughts, is it lawful on 00:19:54.890 --> 00:19:58.029 the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save 00:19:58.029 --> 00:20:03.410 life or to destroy it? I think that question 00:20:03.410 --> 00:20:07.170 is fascinating, because he's putting the Pharisees 00:20:07.170 --> 00:20:10.170 on notice. He's looking at all of them and saying, 00:20:10.230 --> 00:20:13.910 how far are you going to take this junk that 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:17.890 you have created out of my word? Are you going 00:20:17.890 --> 00:20:22.750 to lean and rest in me over someone potentially 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:28.369 dying? Getting destroyed? But they remain silent. 00:20:29.150 --> 00:20:32.609 Sometimes silence is an answer. Sometimes a non 00:20:32.609 --> 00:20:36.930 -vote is a vote. Legalism always produces... 00:20:37.450 --> 00:20:42.609 Hardness. What am I trying to say? Legalism always 00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:49.349 produces hardness, harshness, and hurt. I don't 00:20:49.349 --> 00:20:52.309 know anyone that walks out a legalistic Christianity 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:56.970 and goes, this feels great. Come, be a part of 00:20:56.970 --> 00:21:02.029 my legalism. No. That's a disgusting way. I'm 00:21:02.029 --> 00:21:04.940 all about following the rules. But I also know 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:07.059 that I can't all the time. That I'm going to 00:21:07.059 --> 00:21:08.559 fall. That I'm going to need forgiveness. I'm 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.299 going to need grace. I'm going to need mercy. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.180 Thank God it's new every morning. But legalism 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.240 says, come up to me. Up here in this fake understanding 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.940 that I do everything perfectly. And that's how 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:24.759 I get my relationship with God. But Jesus enters. 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:28.339 comes down and says, no, it is not about hardness. 00:21:28.460 --> 00:21:31.160 It is not about harshness. It's not about hurt. 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:33.960 When religion becomes about rules instead of 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.240 the relationship with God, compassion does what? 00:21:37.779 --> 00:21:41.960 Disappears. We have to have compassion because 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:46.819 we have been shown compassion. The Sabbath was 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:50.539 meant to cultivate mercy instead of being a tool 00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:56.720 of judgment. Now, Pause. Time out. There are 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:00.119 some hard conversations here. Right? Look at 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.279 the state of our world with sports. Youth sports. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:07.019 Right? All of those things. Some of you, you're 00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:08.900 binding right now because you're like, is he 00:22:08.900 --> 00:22:11.259 going to call out doing sports on the weekend? 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:13.859 I'm not going to call it out, but I'm going to 00:22:13.859 --> 00:22:18.190 acknowledge that those exist. And that church 00:22:18.190 --> 00:22:20.809 virtual seems to be this little bit trump card, 00:22:20.930 --> 00:22:23.170 like, yeah, I know we were gone, but we watched 00:22:23.170 --> 00:22:25.329 online on a Tuesday, and that's all well and 00:22:25.329 --> 00:22:28.369 good, and that's something we can offer that, 00:22:28.509 --> 00:22:30.609 but I think we have to get to the heart of the 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:33.730 understanding of what is your heart around it? 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:38.190 What is my heart around this? Are we using this 00:22:38.190 --> 00:22:40.549 as a tool of judgment, or are we asking people 00:22:40.549 --> 00:22:44.130 to rest in the mercies of God to understand those 00:22:44.130 --> 00:22:47.630 areas of life? That we don't measure up. That 00:22:47.630 --> 00:22:51.650 we need Jesus. That we need to walk out. That 00:22:51.650 --> 00:22:53.670 we need to show love because we've been loved. 00:22:53.809 --> 00:22:58.549 Show mercy because we've been shown mercy. Because 00:22:58.549 --> 00:23:01.869 I don't care who you are. I don't care your faith 00:23:01.869 --> 00:23:03.710 relationship. Whether this is your first day 00:23:03.710 --> 00:23:06.359 in church or your thousandth day in church. I 00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:08.279 don't care what kind of church you grew up in. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.400 I don't care about your understanding or relationship 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.900 with God's word or prayer or Jesus himself. We 00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.539 all need restoration. Why? Because we're all 00:23:17.539 --> 00:23:23.160 broken. If we have this piece of glass that represents 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:25.779 our life, it has all been smashed on the ground. 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:28.119 And someone needs to put it together. And it's 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:29.920 not going to be you. It's not going to be your 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.099 spouse. It's not going to be the sports. It's 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:33.940 not going to be all those other things. It's 00:23:33.940 --> 00:23:36.680 going to be the Savior. That brings everything 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:40.799 together. Because Jesus restores what sin has 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:44.079 broken. Jesus tells the man, stretch out your 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.339 hand. And immediately his hand is restored. I 00:23:48.339 --> 00:23:50.740 would have loved it if Luke's writer would have 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:53.619 spent more time on this. This is where I just 00:23:53.619 --> 00:23:57.299 go, man, Jesus, I think you missed it. And then 00:23:57.299 --> 00:23:59.099 I get convicted like, well, that was a dumb thing 00:23:59.099 --> 00:24:01.359 to say. No, he did it, and that's fine. Who am 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.230 I to judge God in healing? I would have loved 00:24:05.230 --> 00:24:07.089 to know more of that interaction. I would have 00:24:07.089 --> 00:24:10.049 loved to know more about that healing. But it's 00:24:10.049 --> 00:24:12.849 a simple miracle. But it's a miracle. Why do 00:24:12.849 --> 00:24:15.970 I want more? Just receive it, Jim. But it's pretty 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:20.490 hard. Though simple, it's powerful because the 00:24:20.490 --> 00:24:23.730 Sabbath was always meant to celebrate God's work 00:24:23.730 --> 00:24:29.630 of what? Creation. Restoration. Fulfillment. 00:24:30.430 --> 00:24:34.059 That's what we rest in. Whether you take it literal 00:24:34.059 --> 00:24:36.940 and Sunday is your day of rest, what you should 00:24:36.940 --> 00:24:39.019 be doing is looking back on a week that was, 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:41.220 thanking God that you've made it, that he was 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:46.460 there, and you find rest in him. The Sabbath 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:49.259 was always meant to celebrate God's work of restoration. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.200 God rested after creation, not because he was 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:56.180 tired, because his work was complete. That when 00:24:56.180 --> 00:24:59.099 we complete something, we should rest in what 00:24:59.099 --> 00:25:03.539 God has done. And the Sabbath reminded Israel 00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:06.000 that God would be the one to restore everything, 00:25:06.180 --> 00:25:09.680 that one day sin, though it broke everything, 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.420 would be destroyed, and restoration would be 00:25:13.420 --> 00:25:17.299 everything. Jesus now stands on that promise 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:20.160 before them. He's doing way more than a healing, 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.660 way more than a teaching. Jesus is not violating 00:25:23.660 --> 00:25:26.960 the Sabbath as they want to put on him. What 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.960 he's actually doing is fulfilling. The Sabbath. 00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:34.519 And I don't know about you, but Jesus can. Why? 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:38.779 Because he is our Sabbath. That's what happens 00:25:38.779 --> 00:25:41.900 when rest walks into the room of your life. At 00:25:41.900 --> 00:25:44.680 this moment in the story, something deeper is 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:47.859 becoming clearer, hopefully. The Sabbath was 00:25:47.859 --> 00:25:51.880 never meant to be merely about a rule or even 00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:54.839 just about a day. It was meant to point to a 00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:58.500 greater reality of who Jesus is. It is meant 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:03.160 to point to salvation and restoration that only 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:07.500 God can bring. That's why you can do everything 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:12.000 you can to rest well. I'm going through a season 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:15.019 of life where I cannot find a comfortable pillow 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:18.309 to save my life. Right? I've gone through the 00:26:18.309 --> 00:26:20.490 Wonder Pillow. I've gone through America's Pillow. 00:26:20.490 --> 00:26:23.069 I've gone through whatever's. I've done shapes 00:26:23.069 --> 00:26:25.829 that don't look comfortable. And guess what? 00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:31.690 They're not. I can't find rest to save my life. 00:26:31.829 --> 00:26:34.910 I guarantee you that my bride would sometimes 00:26:34.910 --> 00:26:38.690 just go and knock me off and go find it somewhere 00:26:38.690 --> 00:26:44.630 else. A pillow and rest. Like the couch. I am 00:26:44.630 --> 00:26:48.589 striving for that. And in ways, the church can 00:26:48.589 --> 00:26:52.450 make us feel the same way. That the church makes 00:26:52.450 --> 00:26:54.029 us feel like we're not doing enough, we're not 00:26:54.029 --> 00:26:55.750 giving enough, we're not showing up enough, we're 00:26:55.750 --> 00:26:57.269 not signing up for the nursery enough, we're 00:26:57.269 --> 00:27:00.230 not doing all of these things to cultivate our 00:27:00.230 --> 00:27:02.029 relationship with God. That is what they struggled 00:27:02.029 --> 00:27:04.589 with then, and we do struggle with it now. And 00:27:04.589 --> 00:27:06.450 yes, do we need all those things in the church? 00:27:06.549 --> 00:27:09.490 We do, but if our priority is off, if we don't 00:27:09.490 --> 00:27:11.910 know who we find our definition is, none of it 00:27:11.910 --> 00:27:16.650 matters. Jesus is revealing in this moment, when 00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:19.109 he heals the man's withering hand, he is showing 00:27:19.109 --> 00:27:22.109 that true purpose of the Sabbath is ultimately 00:27:22.109 --> 00:27:24.890 restoration. That is the true purpose of the 00:27:24.890 --> 00:27:29.069 church. It's not all the mission trips, though 00:27:29.069 --> 00:27:32.230 those are great. It's not all the... First Saturday 00:27:32.230 --> 00:27:34.609 serves, which we are rocking and doing a great 00:27:34.609 --> 00:27:36.750 job. It's not about the outreach events. It's 00:27:36.750 --> 00:27:38.289 not about the council. It's not the potential 00:27:38.289 --> 00:27:41.509 building. It's restoration. Can people come here 00:27:41.509 --> 00:27:44.349 and find a restorative relationship with God? 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:48.289 That is what it's about. Because sin is going 00:27:48.289 --> 00:27:51.430 to continually try to break it. That's where 00:27:51.430 --> 00:27:55.230 Lord's Day 11 asks a question. Why is the Son 00:27:55.230 --> 00:27:58.640 of God called Jesus, meaning Savior? And the 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:02.619 answer is simply beautiful. Because he saves 00:28:02.619 --> 00:28:06.359 us from our sins. It is a sinful way of life 00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:08.900 to try to climb some kind of religious ladder 00:28:08.900 --> 00:28:14.759 to God. It's not sinful to do those things. To 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:18.720 Sabbath, right? To tithe. Walking out your faith 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.119 that way. That is all great. But when the mindset 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:25.240 and the heartbeat is to... Connect with God that 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:28.599 way and not just rest in who he is. That's when 00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:31.559 we turn it to sin. In other words, Jesus does 00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:34.180 not merely adjust the Sabbath rules. He brings 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:37.059 the salvation of the Sabbath that it was always 00:28:37.059 --> 00:28:41.119 pointing to. The rest that humanity truly needs 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:46.160 is not simply physical rest. It is the rest found 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:52.789 in forgiveness. Friend, stop sinning. And sit 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:54.950 in forgiveness. And I look at the mirror first. 00:28:55.369 --> 00:28:57.230 I could look at all of you first, but that would 00:28:57.230 --> 00:28:59.230 be hypocrisy. I'm going to turn and look at my 00:28:59.230 --> 00:29:05.109 own mirror. Stop doing those things. Stop trying 00:29:05.109 --> 00:29:09.730 to reach the spiritual top. Sit in who God is. 00:29:09.970 --> 00:29:14.170 He is the reconciler. And he wants to be reconciled 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:16.890 to you in rest. It's the rest knowing that our 00:29:16.890 --> 00:29:20.210 sins no longer separate us from a creator. And 00:29:20.210 --> 00:29:23.069 that the only one that can give us rest is Jesus. 00:29:24.029 --> 00:29:26.670 The same Jesus who told the man to stretch out 00:29:26.670 --> 00:29:30.589 his hand will one day be the one to stretch out 00:29:30.589 --> 00:29:35.470 his own hands on the cross. And through his sacrifice 00:29:35.470 --> 00:29:39.410 the deepest rest of all is secured. That is why 00:29:39.410 --> 00:29:42.740 the Sabbath ultimately finds fulfillment not 00:29:42.740 --> 00:29:47.839 in a calendar day, not in 24 hours, but in a 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.759 person, the Savior, the Lord of the Sabbath, 00:29:52.019 --> 00:29:54.519 the one who saves us from our sins. And when 00:29:54.519 --> 00:29:58.339 Jesus walks into that room of our life, true 00:29:58.339 --> 00:30:05.079 rest always follows him. So let's land this plane. 00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:08.299 What is Luke telling us then, and what is Luke 00:30:08.299 --> 00:30:11.230 telling us now? Well, then... The Pharisees believed 00:30:11.230 --> 00:30:15.250 obedience meant stricter rules. You see, Jesus 00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:18.190 revealed that obedience means trusting the Lord 00:30:18.190 --> 00:30:21.150 who fulfills the law. Then they guarded the Sabbath 00:30:21.150 --> 00:30:23.630 like a fence, but Jesus opens that door. Why? 00:30:23.890 --> 00:30:26.690 Because now many people experience enormous pressure 00:30:26.690 --> 00:30:30.970 from life, work, expectations, and even religion. 00:30:31.269 --> 00:30:35.890 But Christ offers something different. Rest from 00:30:35.890 --> 00:30:42.119 yourself. Rest from that desire to be your own 00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:44.859 God, yet rest from the desire to be the center 00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:50.460 of your universe. The rest of forgiveness. The 00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:54.799 rest of belonging to Jesus. The rest of knowing 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:57.740 that salvation does not depend on your performance. 00:30:57.740 --> 00:31:00.619 And guess what? It never has and it never will. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:09.900 But a rest in the one who gives you rest. So 00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:12.559 let's come into the rest of Christ together, 00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:16.279 church. We live in a world of pressure. Pressure 00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:19.220 to perform, pressure to succeed, pressure to 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:22.599 prove ourselves. But the Lord of the Sabbath 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.119 speaks a different word. He doesn't say, go and 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:32.200 do. Get it done. No. He says, come to me. Lay 00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:36.160 down that burden. Stop trying to earn what Christ 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:40.640 has already accomplished. Trust the one who fulfills 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:43.859 the Sabbath. Because the Lord of the Sabbath 00:31:43.859 --> 00:31:49.180 is also the Savior of sinners. And in him we 00:31:49.180 --> 00:31:53.779 will always find rest for our souls. Let's pray.