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READ: Mark 2:23
CHALLENGE: Apply Holy Spirit Led Common Sense to Making Decisions
Vv23-28 – One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
I want to look at the story and talk about that. Then I want to make some points off the story.
- THE STORY
Jesus is walking through the grainfields and as his disciples walked along they picked some grain from the field and ate it. This was legal to do and totally allowed to pick some heads of wheat as you walked through a field. This would be like you picking an apple off a tree so you don’t get hangry. It’s hardly “work”. However, since they rolled the grain in their hands, the ultra strict and unloving Pharisees declared that they were harvesting and threshing which broke the Sabbath! Come on guys – are you serious?
The Pharisees said to him – LOOK! Look at what your disciples are doing! Question. Why are you looking? Why are you paying attention to what someone else is doing? Jesus isn’t answerable to them but to God! However, the Pharisees were the Karens of the religious world! Complaining to management because the disciples of Christ did not measure up to their man-made expectations.
Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath, he was merely stepping on their interpretation of the Sabbath. The disciples were not doing anything wrong! Period! What does the Bible actually say about working on the Sabbath?
Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 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.”
That day was “holy” meaning set apart to focus on God. Thus, they were not supposed to do any physical labor. They didn’t work at all. The word “Sabbath” is about rest. It wasn’t just about fulfilling some religious check list. Don’t work on the 7th day was a beneficial and practical rule. Not you, not your children, not your servants, not even your animals are supposed to work. All of creation deserves a break one day a week.
And what’s the reason given for this glorious one out of seventh day of rest? Because in six days the Lord made everything but on the seventh day he rested meaning he didn’t work. And the implication is clear, neither should you! This principle is as old mankind because it’s part of creation order. It existed way before Moses and way before the Ten Commandments. I’ve often called the ten commandments ten statements of reality. And the reality is that we need a day of rest.
We shouldn’t be callously uptight about it, but I’d recommend resting one day a week. As for me personally, I don’t do yard work on Sunday. I don’t paint or do any physical work. When we renovated our house, I told the workers that I didn’t want to hear a hammer banging away on the Lord’s Day. What you do is what you do and I’m not LOOKING!
Here’s something I have really liked about it as my children grew up. It created a boundary. I tend to be a workaholic but Sunday was a forced stop. Since I didn’t work, it created space in the schedule to spend more time with my wife and children. We would go on a walk or take a bike ride or go get some ice cream.
As Jesus said. The Sabbath was made for us and not the other way around (v27). When Jesus was accused of working because he healed someone on the Sabbath, He said that it’s allowable to do good on that day.
Matthew is instructive. Matthew 12:7-12 – If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. V8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
If you had an animal stuck in the ditch, you’d pull it out on the Sabbath. Humans are far more important, therefore, you can heal someone on the Sabbath. Hospitals and nursing homes have work to do. Many places do. There have been times where if a friend needed my help to move a piece of furniture, I helped because it’s OK to do good.
How does Jesus handle the Pharisaic accusation? He took them back to the Bible. He answers a spiritual question with the Bible thus allowing another passage to shed light on the issue.
Remember what David and his men did when he was in need? The priest gave him the “consecrated” bread that was dedicated to God! That was only for the priest to eat because it was holy and sacred. Well, there was another rule too, you have to help people. David was God’s anointed and it was better to break that bread rule than to allow David and his men to suffer with hunger. Abiathar didn’t abide by the strict letter of the law when that rule conflicted with rules of human decency. He was allowed to make an administrative decision and say, we’re OK here.
The Pharisees are misapplying the law and Jesus set them straight. Again. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Talk about authority! He had authority to decide what was right in this situation. David was lesser, Christ is even more powerful and He set aside their silly man made rules.
But the bottom line is that the disciples were doing nothing wrong. The Pharisees were just looking for problems and if you want to find things to complain about you always will.
- LESSONS FROM THE STORY
- GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT
Hey everyone – look over here, Jesus is doing something awful. He’s sinning! They slander him with nonsense. Matthew 12 says that they were looking for a reason to accuse Christ and they wrongly label him as a law breaker when he wasn’t. And sadly, they’ll eventually win the crowd over to chant “Crucify … crucify … crucify”. The sheep follow right along repeating the same despicable words of others. Careful, careful. Get your facts straight!
This kind of nonsense happens to good people all the time. They get smeared as being something they’re not. And the scary thing is that people believe such statements without looking into it themselves. I have often said, I believe none of what I hear and half of what I see. You saw it with Charlie Kirk where people misrepresented his views and have viciously spread misinformation about him.
Ex.
Let’s stop dividing people with slurs. How about we abide by what Jesus said – Don’t judge lest you be judged. And judgment here could be condemning. The Pharisees were looking to kill Jesus. Matthew 12:13-14 – Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Judgment here could also mean being overly critical. Condemning statements are horrid. Nitpicking is not a great look either. Our nation seems bent on tearing itself down. Some people complain and smear authority and government and our way of life. To all the naysayers, I ask. What are you doing to make the world better?
For those who say, “All churches want is money”! “Really? We just put a roof on someone’s house. What did YOU DO? And if you’re doing nothing, don’t be ripping on people who are.
“Churches. Pfffff! I don’t believe in organized religion”. Do you prefer disorganized religion? Chaos? Being organized means 118 weekend lunches packed for children this week. It means the VINE food pantry. Celebrate Recovery where dozens of people are coming every Tuesday night. It allows us to make dinners for grieving families. Etc. etc. Again, I ask the cynics … WHAT! ARE! YOU! DOING? Are you doing anything other than pointing fingers?
People are making big old ugly statements about half the country, leaders, and authority. All the systems that keep us safe and prosperous are under attack. They say, all law enforcement is….fill in the blank! All landlords. All military. All corporations. All doctors. All wealthy people. Bad motives are attached to them and they are painted as the enemy and blamed for our problems. And then they hate them or perhaps even target them. “They only have what they have by taking it from the poor”. Not true but … BUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Complaining and attacking is not improving life! Violence is not changing lives. In fact, cynics never change the world or make a positive difference. Isn’t this what they did to the Jews in Germany in the Hitler days? They are the problem. Slur them. Attack them. Dehumanize them.
So, before mental zombies text out their disdain for corporations from their shiny new iphones and computers built by corporations, maybe they need to check their thinking. Another question for those who would tear down every American institution there is, THEN WHAT? What are you replacing it with? We are free right now and I for one would like to keep it that way! Any system has sinners in it. Which system protects us the most? Ours!
Jesus was healing countless people! And this is what they want to fight about? Your guys picked grain and ate it on the LORD’s day. I guess you don’t need to eat on the Sabbath! Let’s make sure that the issues are real issues. They were trumping up a charge and there was no reality to it.
(trans.) This leads us to our next point
- 2. Use Spirit Let Common Sense
We need to have discernment as we apply rules and God’s word. The Sabbath was made for man, man wasn’t made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath rule was not intended to cause someone to go hungry. It was not intended to legislate it to the point of unbearable.
For the rules that we set, we can make some exceptions when warranted. I don’t let my grandson play with my phone. However, when we were both getting our haircut and he was being his two year old self, I let him watch monster trucks. I’m not going to be a stickler to the point that it makes no sense.
If someone comes for food on an off day for the food pantry, we can still help them. Oh sorry, we can’t help you – wrong time. You have to have the freedom to make God-honoring decisions based upon the situation that you’re in!
I’m a big believer in Spirit led common sense. God put a brain between your ears and he expects you to use that. We stick to the black and white of God’s word and then encourage people in that direction. Still, sometimes you’ll have competing objectives.
You have to have discernment. I’ll give some examples. Divorce. The Bible allows two exceptions where it’s OK for divorce. You have infidelity and you have abandonment of a believer by an unbeliever. Now, we meet life in America where there could be abuse or drugs or other awful things not mentioned in the Bible. Are you saying that a person who is abused has to stay married? Of course not.
I remember a young woman whose husband dumped her at the age of about 23 years old. Some Christians said that she had to stay single her entire life. That seemed to go against a whole lot of other laws and especially considering that she was dumped by her husband and had no recourse. I thought that was Pharisaical. Yes, you’re using one law but you’re abusing many other principles.
Ex.
So again, you have to be judicial in the application of Scripture. Because sometimes these areas are going to conflict. And you have to give people a chance to grow in their walk with God.
A question that can be asked is this, “Is there anything spiritually dangerous to what we’re doing right now”. Or what’s MORE dangerous? There was nothing there.
Ex.
If we see imperfect people striving to do the right thing, I’m not getting in the way by pointing out all that they are not doing right. If you are directionally headed to Christ, I need to encourage you in your steps of obedience. I know I’ll never get perfection but I will encourage you to follow Christ. None of us plants a tree today and expect it to be full grown next spring. It takes time.
Stick to the truth. Don’t make dumb rules. Don’t hinder progress. Jesus was doing a lot of good and I would not have wanted to stand in His way. I would want to say, how can we assist you.
When Jesus came to this world, He was full of grace and truth! What if the Pharisees would have said this, “Hey, I’m concerned about how you’re satisfying hunger. How about you guys come over for dinner”. There was never a solution, there were only stones. I don’t want to be that person.
Remember the woman who was caught in adultery. You talk about discernment. When they asked Jesus what to do, he said, let the one without sin throw the first stone. They all left. Then he said, neither do I condemn you but sin no more. That’s a beautiful balance of grace and truth. May that be us.
- 3. DON’T LIVE BY THE DICTATES OF OTHERS
If Jesus listened to everything the Pharisees thought or others thought, he would not have healed people on the Sabbath.
There will always be critics. And sometimes people just don’t like you and they’re looking for any little thing. I don’t believe in feeding you ammunition, however, I have to follow God’s path.
something wrong.
- Set it straight when you can
There’s nothing wrong with setting the record straight when someone says something to you. You know there were lots of negative ninnies criticizing Jesus. He did say something to those who were talking to him. He sets them straight here and has a good biblical basis.
I’m not going to allow you to spew nonsense and not challenge that bad thinking. We haven’t checked bad behavior enough. Be nice about it but speak the truth.
- Ignore Nonsense
You can’t allow yourself to be defined by naysayers. If you listen to every critic you’d never do anything at all. Let’s not live by the opinion of others. I’m living by the rock solid word of God. We don’t stop doing the right thing because someone said it was the wrong thing. And even when it’s not warmly received, you keep doing the right thing. You keep working and striving.
How did Nehemiah respond to ridiculous lies spewed by his enemies? Nehemiah 6:8 – I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
It’s not true, you’re making it up in your head. He didn’t waste time with it. He didn’t heed it. He ignored it and kept right on working. And when you know your mission, that’s what you do.
Here it is – Get Your Facts Straight, Apply Spirit Led Common Sense, Don’t listen to naysayers.