Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: There have been debates concerning the Sabbath ever since Jesus confronted the Pharisees. What's permitted? What isn't? Is it on Saturday or Sunday? Is it in fact obsolete? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg helps us think through those questions and offers biblical answers.

Alistair Begg: A pattern has been developing that some of us will already have picked up. It is this confrontation between the reality and vitality and joy and freedom which Jesus as the Savior comes to bring, in contrast to all of the dull orthodoxy and formality and legality which the religious leaders have been propounding to their people for so long. Now the nature of the conflict as it is here before us in these 11 verses has to do with the Sabbath, and these two incidents both take place on the Sabbath.

Now I want you to turn with me, if you would, in your Bibles into the Old Testament, and let's just be clear about the background to what the reference is regarding these things in the Gospel of Luke chapter 6. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2, describing the completion of the work of creation, we read, "By the seventh day 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."

If you turn forward one book to Exodus chapter 20, you discover that what God has established in the Sabbath as a creation ordinance, he now, following the sin of man, lays down as part of his moral law. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates."

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. In Deuteronomy chapter 5, it is reiterated what we have just read. It comes from the 12th verse and goes through. The point I want us to notice is in verse 15, where God says, "I want you also to remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."

In other words, he says not only is there the remembrance of the cessation of God's work in creation, but there is the remembrance of God's mighty work in redemption. And when you remember this day, he says, you will recall not only God's cessation from the work of creation, but you will recall the wonder of redemption, having been redeemed by his outstretched hand and brought from the bondage of Egypt.

Now with that as a backdrop, you can turn back now to Luke chapter 6. The word Sabbath, our English word Sabbath, simply means rest or cessation from work. Did you ever wonder why God took six days to create everything? Clearly, he did not need to take six days. God is able to create instantaneously, ex nihilo, and he could do as he chose. But he decided that he would take six days. Did you ever wonder why it is that it says he rested on the seventh day? Clearly, God did not rest because he was tired, for it is impossible for him to be fatigued.

So the Bible does not say that God rested on account of tiredness, but simply that he rested from his work of creation. And in doing these things, he establishes a pattern which has to do with six days of work and one day of rest. A pattern which, as we've seen, began as the very plan of creation from the beginning of time. God establishes this for Adam and Eve in the framework of their existence prior to the fall into sin. And then what began as a creation ordinance becomes a divine commandment.

The parallel passages in this section here in Luke introduce one or two side notes. For example, in Mark's Gospel, Mark records that Jesus did not simply say, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath," but he also said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Now this is one of these phrases that gets trotted out by all kinds of people, and half the time you wonder if they know what it is they're saying. And certainly, you wonder why it is that they seem to be able to make application of it in some of the most diverse ways.

What is Jesus saying there? The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Well, in other words, it was given not to the Jews per se. It wasn't given to Israel. It wasn't given to the chosen people. But the Sabbath was given initially to mankind in general. In other words, it was given to everybody because it is for everybody's good. And the very cycle of events that God has created within the mechanism of time is purposeful.

In fact, if you ever wondered why there are seven-day weeks, because if you divide seven into 365, it doesn't really go. Couldn't we have got it in a different fashion where it all divided nicely and everybody could feel comfortable? Why is it done in this way? What is the purpose in this? And is there an abiding element to it? So much so that this morning as we sit here, the incidents that are before us now in Luke 6 are actually matters of abiding impact whereby we're going to have to understand them and make application to our lives.

Now these two incidents both take place on the Sabbath. You'll notice verse 1, "One Sabbath Jesus was," and then verse 6, "On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue." The first incident involves the disciples picking corn, the second the healing of the man with the shriveled hand. In verses 1 through 4, Jesus declares his authority as Lord of the Sabbath, and then we might say that in verses 6 and following, Jesus demonstrates that authority in the healing of this man's shriveled hand.

It's always very important that we understand the verses within the light of the surrounding context. Chapter 5 ends with Jesus giving these pithy statements concerning the patching of clothes, concerning new wine and new wineskins, concerning the whole issue of why it would be that people who were present at a wedding reception would say no to the food when a wedding reception is supposed to be an occasion of great joy. And he was warning against the idea that you could take the old dimensions of external religiosity and simply add to it a little bit of Jesus and his teaching.

No, he says that will not do. You don't take a patch from a new piece of clothing and sew it onto old clothing; you will destroy both. You do not pour new wine into old wineskins; it will blow the wineskin apart as it ferments and matures. You must put new wine into new wineskins. Now immediately, it comes then to this issue of the Sabbath. The Pharisees were big on fasting; the disciples were big on feasting. The Pharisees were some sad-looking characters, and the disciples were glad characters.

And indeed, as you read verse 1 in light of that, you have this picture in your mind of Jesus and his disciples going through the cornfields and of just a happy, carefree journey and the picking up of these bits and pieces as they go along. Picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands, eating the grain, maybe throwing bits and pieces at one another, maybe dropping them in one another's hair. The sense of abandon as they go through these things.

Now the background to this is in Deuteronomy 23:25. You needn't turn to it, let me quote it for you. The law of God said, "If you enter your neighbor's cornfield, you may pick the ears with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing corn." In other words, it's okay for you to have a wee bit, but don't go in there with a combine harvester and take it all down and put it in lorries and truck it back to your back garden. That is illegitimate. But in terms of just simply going through, picking up a little piece, rubbing it between your hands and so on, all of us have plenty, he says, and we can share in that way.

In light of that, the disciples are doing what they're doing, and then notice our friends are back in verse 2, the Pharisees pop up again. Some of the Pharisees asked—don't you find yourselves saying, "Where do these characters keep coming from?" I mean, it doesn't matter where they are, all of a sudden the Pharisees are there. And you can imagine Jesus and his disciples just going through the cornfield—the corn was as high as an elephant's eye—and all of a sudden, from around one of the bends when they've just begun to eat some of the stuff, whoop, four or five of these guys are standing right in front of them.

And they're not there to say, "Hey, good morning, lovely day, nice corn, having a wonderful day are you? Good to see you again." No, they're all complaining. "Why are your disciples doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" Now the question primarily has to do with the "when," the final phrase "on the Sabbath." But it is interesting that it also has to do with the "what," doing what is unlawful. Haven't we simply read from the law of God and discovered that what they were doing was not unlawful?

And if so, how then can these Pharisees declare what they were doing to be wrong? Well, the answer is simple. Because the Pharisees weren't content simply to have the law of God. They had a souped-up version of the law of God. They had their own version. And as time passed, they added to it more and more accretions, more and more little bits and pieces that they tagged onto the express plan of God which had been given for the good of those who would obey him. And they had some 39 principal works. They had them divided into six subcategories, all of which were forbidden on the Sabbath.

You can just imagine them going into their books. They're bringing out the little black book from somewhere and going, "Yes, violation 1A, 1B, 2C, 2D, and 2F. Why are you doing this, you bad people?" So they were absolutely hamstrung because the Pharisees had encumbered the law of God with accretions of their own invention. That was not unique to the Pharisees. That has gone on all through time and is present today in many circles of Christianity. And we are not immune from it in this place.

And therefore, we must be very, very clear that we do not immediately jump and find ourselves on the side of the liberty of the disciples because, frankly, many of us have within us an incipient form of Pharisaism which is tempted to jump out and confront people at every corner along the road. "Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Didn't you know it's wrong to do that? You're not allowed to do that," and so on, especially as it relates to the Sabbath. I know a great deal about this.

They were perverting God's law, they were impugning God's wisdom, they were usurping God's authority. And any time that you and I are tempted to add our own little shibboleths to the clear directives of the law of God, whatever they may be, whatever they have to do in relationship to our culture or our background or whatever else it is, even for the best of reasons, then we do the same. We pervert his law, we impugn his wisdom—we say we are wiser than God—and we usurp his authority.

So they address their question to the disciples, "Why are you doing what's unlawful on the Sabbath?" Now notice Jesus, their leader, steps forward and answers on behalf of his followers. And look at how he answers them in verse 3. "Well," he says, "let me just ask you, have you been reading your Bibles lately?" Or he might have said to them, "Trapped in that little box that's on your forehead, or wrapped on those little boxes that are around your wrists where you like everybody to know that you are so into the Bible that you tie them to your head and tie them to your wrists, I wonder if you've been opening those boxes lately. And I wonder if when you open them, you actually read them."

Because if you read them, you may recall the incident in 1 Samuel 21 where David and his boys went in and ate the consecrated bread that was supposed to only be eaten by the priests. There were 12 loaves, one representing each tribe of Israel. They were cleared off at the end of the week. The priest then had to go in and eat 12 loaves—no one else could eat them—and then they put 12 new loaves out. David and his friends show up, they're hungry, and they go in and eat them.

He says, "I wonder, do you remember that?" And he gave some to his companions. And then he says, "Let me just mention to you that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Now the inference is clear. If David's boys did not break the spirit of the divine Sabbath, then Jesus' boys were not sinful on account of eating these corn ears because it was, first of all, allowed in the Old Testament law and, secondly, it was for their physical well-being.

Now notice a principle here that's very, very important. Jesus, in replying in this way, lays down this principle: that no ceremonial provision must stand in the way of providing for the essential needs of life. No ceremonial provision must stand in the way of providing for the essential needs of life. Whether it is in the eating of the corn or whether it is in the healing of the hand. And the Pharisees were guilty of burying the real law of God under a mountain of man-made foolish traditions.

And as Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus is guarding it against the distortions and perversions with which the Pharisees had surrounded it. I do not subscribe to the view that I hear frequently propounded that in declaring the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus was essentially saying, "And so we can put all this Sabbath business aside." No, Jesus was not dealing with the use of the Sabbath, he was dealing with the abuse of the Sabbath. And he is guarding it from all of the stuff that the Pharisees were doing to it, thereby making it burdensome and making it ugly and grotesque and nothing like what God had planned from all of creation. He never canceled the use of the Sabbath; he corrected the abuse of the Sabbath.

Now in verse 6, we come to this second incident, which is not outside, it's inside. Now this is taking place in the synagogue, where Jesus is teaching. It's also on another Sabbath day. Luke says there was a man there whose right hand was shriveled. Interesting that the doctor shows such detail again. It wasn't just a hand, it was his right hand, which in the majority of instances would be the hand that was most necessary for his well-being. He tells us that the Pharisees, who popped up once again, were motivated by a desire to accuse Jesus.

That was their motivation. Verse 7, they were there not to rejoice in the teaching of the Bible, they were there simply looking for a reason to accuse the teacher. People come to worship for all kinds of reasons. You sometimes wonder if some don't come simply in order that they might find something with which to disagree, so that they can send a fax or an email first thing on Monday morning. You preach your heart out and someone comes up to you afterwards and says, "I don't really think that what you said about X or Y or Z was really accurate at all, and I think you're full of hot air." Well, thank you very much for sharing that, and may God bless you too.

These Pharisees were not there because they wanted to learn the Bible; they were there because they wanted to accuse the teacher of the Bible of wrongdoing. If Jesus experienced that, then every Bible class teacher and Sunday school leader and so on has known something of it also. Looking for a reason to accuse him. Verse 8, Jesus knew what they were thinking. Now those of you who have studied all the way through should hear a bell going off in your head. Are you hearing it?

Well, let me tell you what it was and you'll go, "Aha." Chapter 2, verse 35, the prophecy of Simeon. Part of the prophecy of Simeon, you remember, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against," which is exactly what is taking place. Notice verse 35, chapter 2, "so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed." This is what's going to happen, says Simeon, when this child emerges as the teacher of Israel, the thoughts of hearts will be revealed.

Jesus now, teaching in the synagogue, confronted by the presence of the Pharisees, knows the thoughts of their hearts. Now let us not miss something here this morning. As surely as that was true, it is true now. That Christ, who is sovereign and master over all, he made us all, he knows the thoughts of our hearts. Both speaker and each of us as we listen. Therefore, it is a dumb idea for us to try and pretend that we are something that we're not, or to create on our externals some kind of spirit that would give the lie to those around us that we are particularly devoted or particularly interested. When in point of fact, the Lord Jesus looks out on the crowd and he knows our hearts as he knew their hearts.

And so he takes this man, he takes the offensive position. He says to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." Now I don't think that a man with a shriveled hand would particularly want to be made the center of attention. In fact, I think that those of us who have known anything of physical impairment, either shared ourselves or shared in the lives of our loved ones who have dealt with this, know that it is a quite devastating thing to be put center stage when one is aware of these disfigurements or impairments.

So what is Jesus doing? And why would the man have such confidence to take his place in the center of the synagogue? Well, simply because Jesus said "Get up," and so he got up and stood there. And with the man standing there, Jesus then says to these accusing Pharisees, "Let me ask you a question." And let me paraphrase it to get to the heart of it. "Is it right on the Sabbath to do good and save life as I am about to do? Or is it right on the Sabbath to harm and destroy life as you are so clearly intent on doing?"

Now any child in the synagogue would be able to answer that question immediately. They'd be able to stand—well, it's only right to heal and save life, Lord Jesus, it is clearly not right to be involved in those other dreadful things. Now technically, healing according to the law was permitted only if the illness was life-threatening. And this, you see, was the kind of technicality that these Pharisees loved.

And Jesus says, "Away with all that kind of legalistic nonsense. Here this man has the opportunity to be healed. It would be sinful to leave him in his pitiable condition, but you want to use the synagogue and you want to use the law as a means of putting a barrier between those who are in great need and the liberation that they may discover." Isn't that a dreadful thing when people will seek to employ the Word of God and the worship of God's people and use it as the very antithesis to what God intends for to be done with it? And it happens all the time. Pharisees of every hue and in every generation have a great problem with liberty.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. We'll hear the conclusion of today's message on Monday. In addition to the sound biblical teaching you hear each day on Truth For Life, we select books to recommend to you that will help you grow in your faith and apply the Scriptures to your life. Today we're recommending a book titled "Good News for Parents: How God Can Restore Our Joy and Relieve Our Burdens."

If you are a parent like me, whether your kids are young or well into adulthood, you know how challenging parenting can be. The truth is we never stop worrying about our kids, even when they become parents themselves. Well, the book "Good News for Parents" is an encouraging book that focuses on the fruit of the Spirit, specifically how to trust the Holy Spirit to help you respond to the pressures and anxieties of parenting and how to cast your burdens on the Lord as you grow in grace.

Request the book "Good News for Parents" when you donate today. You can give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org/donate, or you can arrange to set up an automatic monthly donation when you visit truthforlife.org/truthpartner, or call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lepine. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church and enjoy the Sabbath this week. On Monday, we'll consider why Jesus' teaching concerning the Sabbath creates joy in some people and fury in others. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.