The Lord of Rest

Throughout history, there have been many things made that were intended for good, but ultimately, ended up ended up being used for great evil.

For example, Tri-nitro-tol-uene (or TNT as the kids these days call it) was invented in 1863 by a German chemist named Joseph Wilbrand. His goal was to create a honey-colored yellow dye to be used for clothing. And it wasn’t until 3 decades later that people figured out that it could be used to blow stuff up. And so in World War I the German armed forces began using it inside of their artillery shells. And so TNT’s use in military weaponry “EXPLODED after that”… (ahhh?) and went on to be used in mortar shells, hand grenades, and even the atomic bomb. And why? Because someone’s invention that was meant for good, was repurposed for evil.

When it comes to the invention of THE INTERNET, despite common misconceptions, SPOILER ALERT, it wasn’t actually made by Al GORE. Instead, it was developed in the late 1960’s in by the NWG, which stands for NETWORK WORKING GROUP, who led the way for creating the first subnetwork between systems. And though the internet was intended for good, as we are all aware of today, the internet has also become a massive force for evil. For example, today we have home WIFI networks that connect people’s computers, TV’s, media servers, phones, thermostats, security cameras (including baby monitors), and for some bizarro reason refrigerators - I don’t understand that one at all. (Ok I guess maybe if it tells you if the power goes out on it or something… but whatever) And with these “always connected” devices, comes the always at risk possibility of hackers getting into people’s networks and being able to access all of their devices. For instance, in December of 2014, over 750,000 wifi devices in people’s homes were hacked and turned into botnets, which sent out millions of spam emails. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a few years ago a Russian site appeared showing live footage from over 70,000 hacked cameras IN PEOPLE’S HOMES, who went about their daily lives completely unaware that their home and privacy had been virtually intruded upon. And why? Because someone’s invention that was meant for good, was repurposed for evil.

Zyklon B was originally created to be used to delouse clothing and disinfect ships, trucks, and other cargo vessels. And in the 1930’s, it was even used to help combat the spread of typhus. However, years later the German army (why’s it always the Germans?) repurposed this gas to be used in concentration camps to kill over one-million people! And why? Because someone’s invention that was meant for good, was repurposed for evil.

OK - one more...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

And then after the 6 days of creation, we read:

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Genesis 2:1-3 ESV

And so this 7th day was blessed by God and made to be a day of rest for His people.

And then in Exodus 20, we read:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

Exodus 20:8-10 ESV

And why? Beacause: Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

And so what happened to this wonderful invention that God created? It was turned from being a force for good into a force for evil. How? It was turned from a day of rest, to a day of labor.

What happened was the 4th commandment “remember the sabbath day and keep it holy” was a command given by God to the Israelite nation that was intended for their good. However, the religious leaders took this law from God, and they twisted it into a heavy burden that led to the opposite of rest! The rest became UNREST And, as we’ll see in our text this morning, along comes Jesus offering to remove this heavy burden and give them true rest. How can He do that? Why can He do that? He can do that for 3 reasons.

Jesus can offer sabbath rest because:

1. He is Lord of the Sabbath
2. He is the Greater Sabbath

If you remember last week, we ended with Jesus’ wonderful offer.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

See, unlike the pharisees, Jesus offered a yoke of rest, where the pharisees only offered a heavy and burdensome yoke that no one (including themselves) could ever carry - and we read of that in Matthew 23. And when I say this was a heavy and burdensome yoke, I’m not exaggerating! The way this worked was that the Pharisees created laws around God’s laws, which served to protect people from breaking God’s law. One theologian, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, points out that when it came to the 4th commandment - the Sabbath - by the time they were done putting up their fences around it they they had come up with nearly 1500 rules for keeping the Sabbath! 1500!!! I still forget my own phone number!

And so along comes Jesus who seems to go out of His way to step all over their ridiculous man-made Sabbath rules and regulations Which was a really big deal!

It was one thing for Jesus to hang out with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes - but when He began to challenge their views of the Sabbath, that was too much, because that threatened their entire Pharisaical system! It undermined their power, their authority, and even their source of income! And so Matthew is showing us how Jesus’s blatant disregard of the Pharisees sabbath laws was a big part of why He was rejected and eventually crucified.

So here is how this worked. For the Jewish people, their authority was God’s Word. And so if you were going to tell people what to do, you had to ground in God’s Word. And so how did they do that with this extra-biblical 1500 sabbath laws? With the same-ole common lie: “God told me...”

But, instead of outright saying that God told them all of this in a dream, or a whisper in the night or something, they got a little more creative about it. “God didn’t tell ME… God told MOSES!” they said. See, what happened was that Moses wrote down the law given by God, BUUUUT… God also gave Moses additional oral instruction on the specifics of how to obey these laws, and those didn’t get written down. Instead, they were passed down orally over the years, until they were eventually recorded in the Mishnah. And so according to pharisees, if you didn’t follow all of those laws around the Sabbath then you were disobeying Moses which meant that you were a sabbath breaker! Which was a big deal, because in the Bible, the penalty for that was death!

And so in our passage, Jesus and His disciples are walking through a grainfield on the Sabbath, and because the disciples were hungry they began to pluck heads of grain to eat. And this alone was a big deal, because in 1st century Judaism, the Pharisees wouldn’t do that because you might step on a stalk of wheat and plant it, which meant they were harvesting... The theologian Dr. Fruchtenbaum points out that Jesus’s disciples had violated 4 of the 1500 rules by verse 2 alone! Here’w what he says about it: “First, when they took the wheat off the stalk, they were guilty of reaping Secondly, when they rubbed the wheat in their hands in order to sparate it from the chaff, they were guilty of threshing Thirdly, when they blew into their hands to blow the chaff away, they were guilty of winnowing. Fourthly, when they swallowed the wheat, they were guilty of storing the wheat.” That’s nuts!

Now, one thing before we jump further into this, you need to know that what the disciples did here wasn’t stealing - that’s not what the pharisees are upset about, because in Deuteronomy 23:24-25 it says:

“If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

Deuteronomy 23:24-25 ESV

And so the point was, in the Jewish system, travelers could help themselves to a few heads of grain or grapes, without having to pay anyone. But, they couldn’t roll up with their pickup truck and load the back end full and take off - that would be stealing - and time travel.

So issue here isn’t that the pharisees are accusing the disciples of stealing, they are accusing them of breaking the Sabbath law, which is clearly evident by verse two. And so with this backdrop in mind, Jesus begins in verse 3 to show them why their 1500 rules are ridiculous.

So the first analogy Jesus gives, is the story of David and what he did at Nob in 1 Samuel 21 when he was running from Saul for his life. And what did David do? He ate the consecrated bread from the sanctuary, which was ONLY supposed to be eaten by the priests. And not only did David do this, but it appears he did this on the Sabbath!

So what’s Jesus’s point here? Is it: “If David can break the rules, then so can I?” Is it merely: “Two wrongs make a right?” Of course not. That would be a terrible and unbiblical argument. So what’s Jesus’s point?

He has two points:

1. He is Lord of the Sabbath

OK, first off, how does this show that their man-made laws were ridiculous? It shows this because the pharisees had a super high view of David. He was up their with Moses himself, since the Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart. They revered and honored David greatly!

And so if the oral tradition was passed on from Moses down to them, and if it was authoritative - then WHY didn’t David follow it? Because clearly in this passage he’s not following it! According to their oral tradition, David is a traveling, holy bread eating, sabbath breaker! And so the pharisees have to pick: Either should David of been stoned, Or.... is their “oral tradition” is wrong. So which is it?

Alright, secondly, what’s this Lord of the Sabbath stuff? Well, this get’s slightly complicated, so you had better buckle up here if you’re going to track with me on it.

What’s the overarching point that Jesus is making to the pharisees in verses 1-14? Now don’t answer that too quickly, because it’s sort of a tough question. I really wrestled with that one this week.

Here’s what I think it is. and it’s found in verses 7-8. Which is sort of two ideas packed into one. Jesus, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, desires mercy and not sacrifice.

“Mercy not sacrifice,” what’s that from again? If you think back a few months, you’ll remember that Jesus quoted that back in Matthew chapter 9 when the Pharisees were upset with Him for eating with sinners. And in response there and here, Jesus quotes Hosea 6, which says:

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6 ESV

And so this fits with both the illustration of David and the second illustration about the priests in the temple “profaning” or breaking the Sabbath. And what is Jesus’ point? His point is that they aren’t guilty of breaking the Sabbath. Neither David nor the priests!

Now first off, is Jesus’s point simply that they break the rules so He can too? No, The reason is because of SOMETHING GREATER.

With David, He could eat the consecrated bread because he was God’s anointed King - so He was “the GREATER” With the priests, they could do work on the Sabbath because something greater - and that something greater was the temple. And if you know anything at all about the Jewish culture of Jesus’s day you know that the temple was a place of national pride for the Jewish people. It was highly revered and honored, because it was the earthly dwelling of Yahweh’s presence amongst His people! And so do you see what Jesus is saying? He’s saying to the Pharisees, “not only do you misunderstand the purpose of the Sabbath laws, but you miss the GREATER that is before you!” He’s saying: “Something greater than the temple is here.” !!!!!

What is this greater thing? HIM!!! Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God who is THE LORD OF THE SABBATH! And who do you think knows more about the rules, regulations, and purpose of the Sabbath? The pharisees, or Him? I don’t know about you, but I am gonna go with the Lord of the Sabbath!

And what does the Lord of Sabbath say about the sabbath? He says the Sabbath is about mercy, not sacrifice, AND, if we read Mark’s account, He tells us that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath! And what does that mean? It means, the Sabbath was given by God not to be a heavy 1500 rule burden, it was given by God to be a GIFT of MERCY and REST for us! And so Jesus’s disciples, and for even David, God’s gift - the sabbath, wasn’t intended to be BURDENSOME, but RESTFUL! And so of course when we are hungry we can eat on the sabbath Of course when on the face of starvation on the Sabbath we can eat like David did, And why? BECAUSE THE GREATER DAVID IS HERE The GREATER TEMPLE IS HERE And this Great one is the THE LORD OF THE SABBATH, WHO DESIRES MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE! And this merciful gift goes back to Genesis chapters 1 and 2! It’s not just a ceremonial law that applies only to the Jewish nation! It’s also a principle that is founded in creation itself, that is for all of our good!

Alright now just calm down and let me explain that a bit. The Sabbath law is two things: It’s a ceremonial law that applied only for the nation of Israel And, it’s a general principle that is founded in creation.

And so this is why Jesus and the New Testament tell us over and over again that we are no longer under the rules and regulations of the Sabbath, Don’t go back to them, because CHRIST FULFILLED THEM FOR US AND IS OUR SABBATH REST as we read from Hebrews 4 last week. However, at the same time, don’t be a fool and disregard the creation principle of Sabbath rest!

Practically, Christians have always understood this to mean that we ought to rest once a week from our labors. We must take a day off. What day? Well, the Bible totally doesn’t tell us that, but wisdom seems to suggest that if possible, the day is best as a Sunday, since on that day we rest from our labors and instead rest with God’s people in worship. Which is actually a picture of the ultimate rest we have coming very soon.

BUT, at the same time, we are not under the Jewish rule and regulations of that Sabbath, and so some of us (like myself) must make our day of rest another day. For example, hospitals don’t shut down on Sundays, and so sometimes some of God’s people must make their sabbath rest a different day. Or for another example, churches need preachers and so preachers, like the priests under the temple system, must labor and take another day off to rest. And why? Not because doing so checks the box that makes God happy, but because a Sabbath day of rest makes us happy and is GOOD FOR US. Do you see the difference we are getting at here? It’s Mark 2:27 Mark 2:27 (ESV) “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The difference is religion vs relationship. And I am not using that as a cliche, I mean that in Christ we have the relationship with God that religion could never bring us! For Christ who is the Lord of the Sabbath is also the GREATER SABBATH Which leads us to our final point.

Jesus can offer sabbath rest because :

2. He is the Greater Sabbath

In the Bible, the word Sabbath means deep rest, or deep peace. It has very similar meaning to the word Shalom - which means peace. But how do we get that peace? How do we get that rest?

First off, let me ask you, why do you think it is that God call us to rest one day a week from our labors? Because He does - and if you aren’t doing it you absolutely need to be. Is it because it earns us favor with God? No, we already talked about that a few times - so stop bringing it up, So if it’s not because it earns us favor with God, then it must be must be the other way around... It must be because it helps GOD earn favor with us. Well how does it do that? I’ll tell you how.

Every single one of us is born restless We are born without shalom - without the peace of God in our hearts. And yet what do we do in response to that restlessness? We strive We work. We labor.

We talked a bit about this last week, but some of us labor in our relationships to find peace in them. Some of us labor in our religion - like the pharisees did - trying to find shalom through obedience and law-keeping. And some of us try to find peace through our jobs and careers.

“But preacher, I don’t get tired!” “I love my job - I find satisfaction in it.” But there’s the problem - don’t you see it? You’re trying to find rest apart from the Lord of Rest That’s why you can’t take a day off from work That’s why you can’t keep yourself from checking the sports page, or the news, or how many likes you get on your posts (whatever - you get the idea - you can make anything your source of rest). The point is: you’re trying to find your shalom, your rest, apart from the Lord of rest BUT! that’s only going to leave you weary and heavy laden!

And so like the man in verse 10 with the withered hand, we must reach out to the Lord of the Sabbath and receive the healing that ONLY He can give! And do you know the remarkable thing! He gives it EVERY TIME!

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” they asked Him What a stupid question! Is it lawful to provide peace and rest to a peace-less and restless person on the Sabbath? Of course it is!

He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.

Matthew 12:11-13 ESV

In the Chronicles of Narnia, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy ends up on a magical island in a tower with a spell book that contains a spell that she must read to set the people of the island free from their curse of being forever invisible. And when she finds the incantation she reads it which turns all of the islanders visible once more. And then, once she does, she turns to see the Great Lion Aslan before her. After thanking Aslan for coming, He tells her: “I have been here the whole time, but you have just made me visible.” Lucy then responds: “Oh Aslan, As if anything I could do would MAKE YOU visible!” Aslan then replies, but “It did,” “Do you think I wouldn’t obey my own rules?”

Church, this is the reason we can find rest in the Lord of the Sabbath. And it’s because, like Aslan, Christ follows His own rules! Think back to what we saw in Matthew 5. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, “He came to FULFILL IT!” And how did He fulfill it? By living the perfect life that was at perfect peace with GOD that you and I never could, and then exchanging His shalom for our unrest.

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” Jesus says. And don’t see why? Because CHRIST is the sacrifice that brings us mercy! And because He is, we restless souls can reach our spiritually withered hands out to Him and receive healing! We can receive peace and shalom!

Are you struggling today to find rest in Christ? Maybe you think if you reach out He will not respond with healing, and so you cling to the things of the world that ease your restlessness. If so, don’t respond like the Pharisees to Him, trust Him - reach out to Him by faith! “Do you think He wouldn’t obey His own rules?” For the cross proves just how far Christ was willing to go to obey His own rules, so that He could be our Lord of Rest who alone brings us shalom!

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.